Ashtabula weekly telegraph. [volume] (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1853-1873, 1870-03-26
Prom the Patterson tJusrdiab.
Queer Freak Of Chicken-Trunbles
OF Colored Citizen,

VueeF IIeaK 0I o aUnlCken-TTOnDJe3
OF q Uolored Citizen.
Near Patterson there lives n coloreL
person named James Stewart, whom the
community, by common consent, have
dubbed Commodore Stewart. lie is a
talented but exceDtric individual. aud has
n weakness for chickens. On one occa.
sion, being found rear n poultry yard.
under suspicious circumstances, be was
intcrogatcd somewhat sharply by the
owner the premises, as follows:
wei jim, what are you doing here u
"Oh, Muffin, muffin jess walkin' roun'."
Nv hat do you want with my chick
ems -
Muffin nt ALL was ouly lookiu' at
'cn, dcy look so nce''
This answer was both eonciliatory and
conclusive, and would have been satisfac.
tory had it not been for Jim's bat. This
was too large for its wearcr's head, and
1t seemed TO have mtoion entirely mnus-
ual with hats, and manitestly due TO some
remarkable cause II seemed to contract
and expand, aud move Of itself, and
clearly without Jni's yOlition. So the
next inquiry was:
Nv hat is the matter with your hat p
"My hat ? OATS an old bat. Use fond
of dat hat. ...
We'll take it off and let's look at it,"
"Take dis hat off? No sab. III ketch
cold in my head sartain. always keep
my hat OH when I'm out O doors"
And with that Jim was about beating
a has'y retreat, when at his first step,
low "kluk, kluk, kluk," was heard com
ming only too clearly from the region of
his head gear. This was fatal, and Jim
was stopped and forcrd to remove his
hat. when plump aud halfgrown chick
en- jumped out, and ran hastily away.
The air with which the culprit gazcd al
ter 1t was Il studY for painter; il cx-
pressed to perfection wonder and per
pleXity blended, but not trace of guilt
Slowly he spoke, AS though explaining
the matter to himself, and accounting for
SO remarkable incident.
! "Well, if dat amt de funniest ting
eber did see. Why, dat ar chicken must
have cium up de leg o my panialoons.' -
DIGNITY or LABoR.-We have heard
among the idlers, who float like drift
N.
uous filings ut those whose heritage is toll.
They snrer at what they term lie hard
and swarthy hand of labor, but they for
get that of all that Is useful, luxurious,
or beautiful OH this earth, toll has been
the creator; that, from the marble pal
ace to the white kid gloves of the tailor's
most exquisite walking sign, all has been
wrought out by hutiian hands-much of
it, too, at Il painful cost to human hearts,
far more sensitive to the real dignity Of
manhood than the most bedizencd or per
tuned Of those scorucrs OF labor. 1t is
the toll of hard hands that reared empires
IN the old, and planted irpnblcs i'll the
wilderness Of the new wurld-that ha,
hewn the rock IN the quarry & built tle
temples and monuments Of natious--thai
has achieved whatever fame bGdngs to
genius, with the scul pior's chisel, the
painters pencil and the poets pen--that
has winged the ocean With white sails,
and exchanged the produce OF adiffrrcut
clime-that has measured the circle OF
the stars, and plnmed the lightning To
descend upon wires and be the new Mcr-
curry of the world Labor, why man of
idlenesS, labor rocked you in the cradle
and II punished your pampered lite; with
out II, the woven silks aud wool upon
our back would be in the silk worms
hes & the tlreces in the shepherds fold.
For the meanest thing that ministers to
human want, save the air Of heaven, man
is indebted td toll and even the air, by
God-wise ordination, is breathcd with
labor. 1t is only the dronts who toll
not, who intest the hive of activity like
masses OF, corruption and decay. The
Lords of the earth are the wOrkinglneh
who can build or cast down at their will
and who can retort tie sneer OF the 'sotl
handed" by pointing to- tlitit trophies
wherever, art, science, civilization and
humanity, are known. Work on, mar
of toll, thy royalty is yet to be acknowl
edged, as labor Iises onward TO the high
est thrones Of power. Work on, and, il
the language of true poet, be
A glorious man and thy renown shall be
Borne by the winds and waters through all time
While there's keel carve il DIN The ssi
From cline TO cline,
Or God OrGains that iGleness il crime /!