The Portland daily press., 1862-12-05

procements-Napoleoni pillo,r-Rerenue.
BosToN, Dec Sd, 1862.
To the Editors Of the Daily Press:
Copper currency has obviously drelined,
since the Journal and some other daies have
risen in price to postage stamp each. In
other words, we can all make even change now
with red stamp, instead of having to wait
to receive an old, dull cent, or a dingy blue
stamp in exchange. The reason that we are
all confined to the use of postage stamps, in
stead of postal currency, for making change
in this city, probably is the texture of the pa
per of which the 10 and % cent checks are
made The checks are made on such fimsy
paper that, after passing through weeks SER
vice, they resemble in appearance piece of
parchment soaked in acid; they are yellowish
brown, crumpled and torn at the edges. SO
that one feels pretty sure that the checks of
the present issue must soon become one of the
things of the past, and each tradesman seems
to be boarding up the few he can get hold Of.
as curiosities to hand down to his children
In future centuries this, which we hoped
should be called the second cycle of the gold
en- age, will be termed the age of postage
stamps and cobweb checks.
Last night there was considerable excite
ment in ceratin quarters, because of the ru-
NOR in the ''World,' that Burnside had been
dismissed. Men in the basement of the Old
State House said, 1--WE told you SO, they are
making way for 'J c. F. Burnside was only
make-weight for the time being &c, &c. =
But this morning there is great confidence ex-
pressed everywhere that the "WorId," for the
thousandth time, is mistaken, and that ''the
source not likely to be deceived was sold by
somebody. But we shall see.
Busteed gave splendid lecture at fremont
Temple last night 1t was production rel
ished highly by those who admire quiet disser-
tation instead of spread eagle splurge. His
subject was knowledge! where does it come
from, and what is it good for?' He deemed
the press to be "more than common carrier
of news; it is the great public mind" Phil
lips speaks next week. OF course it will be
upon the last acts of the Administration.
The great wheel at Faneuil Hall will begin
to revolve again on Monday the sth Instant
Boston has been rather behndhand in furnish
ing nine months men for the war. 1t is not
pleasant to think of conscription within mile
of the State House; within cannon-shot of
Bunker HILL Probably the drafting commits
sioner will go through the farce of giving the
wheel twirl, taking out a single name, and
announcing that enlistments can go on till the
next day. Nearly five hundred more are to
go from this city.
There has been good deal of trouble of
late in the Mercantile Library Association of
Boston. Some fault has been found with the
President and couple of his friends, on ac-
count of official mismanagement. Last even
ing he was requested, by a very unanimous
vote, to resign his Office "within five minutes
He did so; and we hope, for the sake of the
usefulness Of the Society, that it viii now
move along quietly. Somehow or other the
NJ. L. Association in Portland never gets into
any troubre at all.
What magnificent thing modern improve
ment of all old places is If you wish to see
this finely exempified, walk into the old grave
yard, on Charter and Hull streets, and view
the objects of the labors of the improuers of
to-day. The old burying ground, which, with
its narrow, crooked paths, was one of the sole
relics of the Trimountain times, has been dug
and spaded and untwisted, till the strai ghten-
ed lines of humble slate head-stones look like
the rows in vegetable garden. Why in the
world could not this one poor spot, hallowed
in the seventeenth century, have been kept
out Of the hands Of the modernists? Were
they ashamed OF the lack of order and taste
evinced by the men of 1888? Or was there
some other cause which served to render the
old landmarks and old wayc distasteful to the
present generation? imagine the reason to
have been this the old paths were not quite
wide enough for female fashions in 1862 and,
accepting this as the solution, we see at once
what is meant by the olt-used phrase, "Skirts
Of modern civilization.
In the corner of the yard there is a thrifty
young willow which was brought from the
former grave of the Emperor Napoleon. The
dry leaves rustic to-day ON its waving branch
es, just as the leaves of he parent tree, damp
with the sea-mists of the island, rustled in the
wind of st. Helena, during the Emperors exile.
There is something profoundly catholic in this
diffusion of historical trees, and one cannot
help gazing at tree like this with more than
ordinary interest This is owing to the fact
that, to their interest as relics, as remembran-
GERS is added life. Some time shall wish to speak
of the old elm on the Common, but now, as
commenced to write about the rage for mod
ern improvements, let me quote from a plac-
ard lately posted in Cambridge: "For sale. The
wood and timber of the old honse near The
Common, reserving the bricks and iron, &C.
Can you realize that they thus talk to-day of
the old mansion near the elm under which
Washington first drew his sword as Command
er-in-chief? They probably wished to reserve
the bricks as mementoes!
How very skillfully the revenue tax is ar
ranged. The simple revenue from the tele-
graph and express offices in this city since
Monday last is double the amount estimated
And yet this money comes from those who
hardly know the difference between the
amount in the cash-box on Saturday last and
today. Those who complain of the law are, in
most cases, those who will not be obliged to
pay single cent to the government. Just as
in England, "those who prate most largely
against the income tax are those who don't
own halfpenny when night comes"
! wanted to speak of the "New Aquarial
Gardens" and of Booth, but shall have to defer
. To tha,.