PHILADELPHIA PORT FOLIO: A WEEKLY JOURNAL. strong relish for the beauties of nature, and was passionately fond of music and poetry. speaks of his parents:-" I inherited from my Schiller was her favourite child-Goethe thus father a certain sort of eloquence, calculated to enforce my doctrines to my auditors; from my mother I derived the faculty of representenergy and vivacity."-Lord Erskine's mother ing all that the imagination can conceive, with then held. He was instantly tried and conwas a woman of superior talent and discernment; by her advice, her son betook himself demned; a linen shirt was thrown over him, to the bar. Thomson; Mrs. Thomson was a of his crime, and after being paraded in this upon which was painted a rude representation woman of uncommon natural endowments, ignominious dress through the streets of the with a warmth and vivacity of imagination scarcely inferior to her son-Boerhaave's motown, he was draged at a horse's tail, and hang--Sir Walter Scott; His mother, Elizabeth, ther acquired a high knowledge of medicine. ed on a gallows.-Tytler's History of Scotland. her beloved child apparently to the very top of humane persons took pity on her; and when the mast! The monkey was a very large one, and so strong and active, that while it grasped cured, she retained her original purpose, sought the infant firmly with the one arm, it climbed out the King, told her story, and showed her the shrouds nimbly by the other, totally unemfeet, still seamed and scarred by the inhuman barrassed by the weight of its burthen. One treatment she had received. James heard her look was sufficient for the terrified mother, and with that mixture of pity, kindness, and inconthat look had well nigh been her last, and had trollable indignation which marked his characit not been for the assistance of those around ter, and having instantly directed his writ to the her, she would have fallen prostrate on the resided, had him seized within a very short Sheriff of the county where the robber Chief deck, where she was soon afterwards stretch-time, and sent to Perth, where the court was ed apparently a lifeless corpse. The sailors could climb as well as the monkey, but the latter watched their motions narrowly; and as it ascended higher up the mast the moment they attempted to put a foot on the shrouds, the captain became afraid that it would drop the child, and endeavour to escape by leaping from one mast to another. In the mean time, the little innocent was heard to cry; and though many thought it was suffering pain, their fears on this point were speedily dissipated when they observed the monkey imitating exactly the motions of a nurse, by dandling, soothing, and caressing its charge, and even endeavouring to hush it asleep. From the deck the lady was conveyed to the cabin, and gradually restored to her senses. captain ordered every man to conceal himself In the mean time, the below, and quietly took his own station on the cabin stair, where he could see all that passed without being seen. ceeded: the monkey, on perceiving that the This plan happily succoast was clear, cautiously descended from his lofty perch, and replaced the infant on the sofa, cold, fretful, and perhaps frightened, but in every other respect as free from harm as when he took it up. The humane seaman had now a most grateful task to perform: the babe was restored to its mother's arms, amidst tears, and thanks, and blessings.--Macdiarmid's Sketches from Nature. Etiquette-When the patriot Roland attended the Tuileries with strings in his shoes, a courtier went up to Dumouriez, who was then Minister, and, with symptoms of excessive astonishment, whispered, no buckles!" Dumouriez answered, "Ah, sir, "That gentleman has all is lost!" The courtier's anxiety about such a trifle was a subject of pleasantry to Dumouriez, who, on this occasion, without intending it, made a reply at once prophetic and philosophical. The barrier of etiquette broken down, the Swiss guards fought in vain.-Italy as it is. An Italian Practitioner.-It is very much in the style of Italian finesse, to let a deceit work its own way. An English gentleman at Florence had a fall from his horse: besides some slight bruises, he felt great pain in one of his thumbs; the pain was soon attended with inflammation; the surgeon continued to dress this thumb after the other hurts were cured. One day, he being obliged to be absent, his son attended. "Have you visited the Signor Inglese?" said the father to the son in the evening. "Yes, I have drawn out the thorn, and "Blockhead that thou art," said the father," then there is an end of the shop!"Italy as it is. Cruelty of a Highland Chieftain, and its Punishment. In the Highland districts, one of those ferocious ketheran Chieftains, against whom the King (James I.) had directed an Act of Parliament, had broken in upon a poor cottager, and carried off two of her cows. Such was the unlicensed state of the country, that the robber walked abroad, and was loudly accused by the aggrieved party, who swore that she would never wear shoes again till she had carried her complaint to the King in person. "It is false," cried he; " I'll have you shod myself before you reach the Court;" and with a brutality scarcely credible the monster carried his threat into execution, by fixing, with nails driven into the flesh, two horse shoes of iron upon her naked feet; after which he thrust her wounded and bleeding on the highway. Some The honourable Mr. of the tongue," replied the other, "I only The election of the reverend gentleman, The wits are merciless on the election, and The inferiority of the sons of celebrated Lord Bacon-His mother was daughter to daughter of D. Rutherford, W. S., was a woman of accomplishment. She had a good taste peculiar mind; but his mother was distinguishfor, and wrote poetry, which appeared in print in 1789.-Napoleon's father was a man of no ed for her understanding.-Lord Mornington, musician, and no more, but his lady was rethe father of the Wellesleys was an excellent markable for her intellectual superiority. The gent person. bler, but the mother was a singularly intellifather of the Emmetts, in Ireland, was a babThe fate of two of her sons was unhappy, from their republicanism, but the ties. Sheridan's father was a weak creature, scended from the mother.-Young Napoleon three were possessed of the most striking abilias his whole career showed; the genius deis the son not of his father's mind, but of Maria Louisa's-he is an Austrian. The moral to be drawn from all this is, if men desire to have clever sons, ry clever women. let them marwish to lead quiet lives, they may perhaps But the experiment may be perilous for the present time; and if they better let it alone. gives the following anecdote of the witty BarMr. Jekyll.-Colman, in his Random Records, in Colman's chambers in the usual round cage, rister, whom he numbers among his early performing the same operation as a man in a friends. One day, Jekyll observed a squirrel claimed, Ah, poor devil, he is going the Home Circuit! treadmill, and looking at it for a minute, ex March of Intellect-The Perfection of Impudence!-A beggar, with an instrument as offensive to the car as were the bagpipes to the imexactly beneath the window of a house where mortal Shakspeare, commenced his grinding a party had just sat down to dinner. Disgusthalfpence to the vagrant, with a hint that "he ed with the horrible discord they sent a few might go on." The answer was exquisite-" I brilliant witticism the beggar had a shllling! never, goes on under sixpence!" For this THE LITERARY PORT FOLIO. It is intended that this journal shall contain such a variety of matter as may make it acceptable to ladies as well as to gentlemen; to the young as well as to the old. While we shall take care that nothing be admitted which would render the work unfit for any of these classes, wo shall endeavour to procure for it sufficient ability to entitle it to the attention of all of them. To these ends we have secured an abundant supply of all foreign and domestic journals and new books--and we ask the assistance of all who are qualified to instruct or amuse the public. Upon this assistance we depend in a great degree for our hopes of success, for however the abundant stores to which we have access, may enable us to supply matter highly interesting to our readers, we think it of thing from home. even more importance to give thera something peculiarly adapted to the present time and circumstances; some Communications should be addressed to "E. Littell for the Literary Port Folio,"-and subscriptions will be thankfully received by E. Littell & Brother, corner of Chestnut and Seventh streets, Philadelphia. Subscriptions are also received by Thomas C. Clarke, N.W. corner of Chestnut and Seventh streets. Wanted-to solicit subscriptions for this work, a suitable person. Apply to E. Littell Brother. No. 18. PHILADELPHIA, THURSDAY, MAY 6, EDMUNDS rushed franticly out of the house, but the thrilling shriek of the sufferer's agony, as if in pursuit of the wretched man, reached his ears when many yards distant from the place. In vain did he rush on. The fearful sound seemed kept together in its full and terrible distinctness by the wind, and he a hundred times imagined that the scene he was endeavouring to escape from met him at every corner of the road. When his imagination rested for a moment, he was assailed with thoughts more terrifying than the visions of his heated fancy. Conscience-cold, clear, penetrating conscience-made the darkest places of his dark heart visible: the whole long train of past villanies, with all their evil origin and awful consequences, were before his eye; he could not, by all the agony with which his spirit struggled, rend one item from the damning list; and he felt his own tongue, spite of himself, framing into syllables the harrowing judgment of futurity. The night was wild and gloomy. The moon was up, but a dense mass of vapoury clouds had been gradually obscuring her rays, and her presence was now only recognised by the faint dim line of light which marked her solitary journey. Even this at length disappeared, and, as the clouds were packed closer and closer together by the rising wind, every object in the landscape became lost in one continuous and unvaried gloom. Edmunds had now proceeded-hurrying almost unconsciously along-more than three miles. The darkness of the night, the perfect loneliness of the path, and the utter stillness of the surrounding country, favoured the horror of his mind; and the frightful idea rushed upon him, that his reason was staggering under the oppressive load of conscience. There was a sickness at his heart, he had never before felt, as this thought came across him; and he shortened his steps, as if determined to make a sterner resistance to the wracking terrors of his memory. relief which his quick and long walk had before given him, he was now entirely exposed to the torment of his situation; and, as the clouds shifted about in the dusk heavens, and the wind rustled among the thin branches of the tall trees, many were the forms and voices that seemed to be threatening him with retribution. Often he thought that the sounds he heard had a distinctness which even his appalled fancy could not have given them, and he more than once sank down on the thick grass which formed his seat, and grasped it as if to save himself from approaching danger. But the wind was rising in that strange and sudden manner which generally preludes the tempest storms at the end of autumn. A sudden gust swept wildly through the thicket, and whirled the heaps of dried leaves that lay on the ground till they fell again like a heavy shower of rain. Then the low heavy breeze came moaning on till it ended in a faint shrilly sound, and left all again in perfect silence. For a short time it seemed as if the moon would burst through the shattered clouds, and that the night, after this capricious rising of the wind, would resume its clear and tranquil brilliancy. But the breeze again came, and with a deeper and longer continued murmur. Again the clouds closed upon the struggling moon, and complete darkness followed the hush of the blast. Edmunds watched these changes of the elements with an intensity of apprehension, as if he alone were the object for which the tempest was to send forth its terrors. With eye and ear on their utmost stretch, not a leaf or a cloud stirred, but it was perceived by him; and in every pause of the wind, he turned up his anxious look to the sky, as if the next sound he heard was to be the pealing of his own death-watch. At length the heavens spoke. The trees, the low underwood, and the massy clouds, seemed to have felt the breath of a breeze he had not perceived, and as they moved and rustled under its secret power, the whole fury of the long gathering tempest burst like a cataract from the sky. The flash of the lightning, the roaring of the thunder, and the deluging fall of water which beat down all beneath it, seemed to meet in the same instant, and to threaten every thing exposed to the storm with instant destruction. But the witness of this elemental war had no time to look around on the present ravages of the storm. It had but begun its ruin. Again and again the clouds clashed together in their furious onset, and the lightning darted through the constant and heavy rain as if aimed each time at some devoted thing upon the earth. Stricken with fears which he had never before felt, Edmunds moved not from the spot where he stood as if doomed beyond escape to perish there, he made no attempt to find either safety or shelter, and he remained insensible to all but the supernatural terror of the tempest. The place where the agitated man was thus lingering, was at the turning of the rude country road he was traversing, and led to a small spot of rising ground, thickly covered with copse-wood and a few tall straggling fir-trees. Edmunds forced his way through the thicket, and threw himself down on the brow of the hill it skirted. For a moment he felt as if he had discovered a place of rest, and absolute It was not the rolling of the thunder only solitude had calmed his perturbed mind; and which gave a voice to the raging storm. The he began to resort to those subterfuges of a wind and rain, rushing and bursting continulicentious reason, by which he had often be- ally from every part of the heavens, filled the fore succeeded in silencing conscience. He air with a thousand voices; and the clamours compared his own conduct with that of many and shrieks of raging or perishing multitudes of his old associates: he found excuses for his seemed swelling in the distance. But there first errors in his inexperience, and for his la- was one cry which Edmunds could not lose in ter ones, in the strength of temptation; and the confused murmur: it rang in his ears he began to think, that, after all, the sum of above all others; and, in the gleam of the his guilt was not absolutely so great as he had lightning, he thought he beheld the form of imagined. But these thoughts only lasted for her from whom it proceeded. The storm a moment. Again the image of Eleanor rose raged louder; the rain fell in heavier torrents, before him, and he felt her cold hand grasp his and the night, as it waxed later, appeared to arm in the convulsion of phrenzy. Then double its terrors. But the voice, which so again he heard that wild cry which had been held his imagination, was still upon the his terrible farewell as he rushed from the breeze. He thought it approached him; but house, and all his reasonings and calculations as the wind blew from one and then another gave way to thoughts which had a more pow-quarter, he felt that it was but fancy, and he erful hold upon his mind. With not even the strove to shake away the terrifying idea. But 1830. this was impossible. A dreadful thought seized his mind: he imagined he saw the wretched being whom he had left; her voice seemed to sound close beside him; he rushed forward in a delirious terror, and, horror-stricken, found himself clasped in the arms of the mad and dying girl. "THE FIRST FIT."'* Alas for the days of "bald John Barleycorn!" Hech, Sirs! that the reeming swats and soulstirring "het-pint" should fall in all their glory, strength, and vigour, before so humble a competitor and weak-spirited a champion as “the bree o' the coffee pea."t I can never forget the wit inspiring and mirth-creating "het-pint," nor the ready laugh at the "jests and jokes of a happy new year's morning in the Land o' Cakes: on that eventful morning, every feeling, redeeming to the faults of frail humanity, abounds in the breast of every true Scotchman; friend and foe then peacefully exchange the flowing horn of healing "het pint" with reciprocal wishes of "Good health, happiness, and prosperity," as emphatically spoken as honestly meant. * The "First fit," or First foot, is so styled, as being the first person to enter the threshold of the house early, in the first hour of the first day of the year, and always a bachelor and favoured friend of some one of the young ladies of the family he enters with a handful of "short breed" (buttered cake) and cheese, and a bright, shining brazen tea-kettle-" singing full of het-pint, or hot pint," a palatable beverage composed of whiskey, ale, eggs, oatmeal, burnt sugar, and divers spices; a glass or horn of which every individual of the family is compelled to swallow "for luck." If the appointed "First fit" has been fortunate through life (and as they are invariably young men just entering on a life of business, who are chosen for this important office, they can hardly have been otherwise,) he is considered to impart a portion of "his good luck" to the family, to whom he has been the first visitant of the year. Sundry alarming mishaps, however, may attend the entrance of the "First fit," and give rise to many forebodings of evil, in the minds of the true believers in the efficacy of "his good luck." Thus, his dropping any part of the short-breed foretells the loss of a friend during the year; if any part of the cheese should also fall, the loss of a relation is inevitable; but the most dire of all mishaps is, the spilling any portion of the "het-pint" from the kettle, which foretokens, that none of the young ladies of the family will enter into the blessed bands of matrimony during the year: and, should it befall any of the lasses to spill the liquor from the horn, or leave even but one drop in its bottom, after drinking, then is she irrevocably doomed to lead apes for ever! The first visit of the "First fit," on entering the house, is to the bed-room of the parents; the second, to that of the young female branch of the family-a visit of pure innocent mirth, when, what is wanting in wit, is more than compensated for in joyful laughter. The last visit is to the boys (few of the youths, who have grown to man's estate, are on this morning at home); the contents of the kettle are then disposed of by the servants, which is again replenished by the busy house-keeper, and a sound sleep crowns the happy orgies. It was recently stated by the daily press, that warm coffee had been substituted for the good old-fashioned "het-pint," in the orgies of the "First fit" this year, by a new race of Scotchmen calling themselves "Temperate Societies." O tempora! O mores! Well do I remember, though many years have since sped and gone, the eager palpitation of my young heart, on the last night of the old year, while anticipating each foot-fall on the pavement, or knock at the door, to be that of the anxiously expected "First fit." Repeatedly would I leap from my bed, and, from the upper landing of the staircase, inquire, at the top of my voice, to the annoyance of the whole family," Gif it was twal o'clock yet?" Twelve o'clock, though not the least hastened by my impatience, did arrive. Twelve 'o'clock-(the twelfth stroke of which is the last mournful knell of the old, and first merry peal of the new year,)—that superstitious hour, big with events attending the future fortunes of men and matrons, and lads and lasses of the land of hills and heather; and with it also comes the indispensable "First fit," bringing with him the weal or wo of the new-born year. Manifold were the preparations and arrangements for his reception; auld Duncan, "the hinger-on o' the family," was seated at the kitchen "chumley lug," with his brawny legs crossed, half asleep, and leaning on the massy poker; it was Duncan's duty to take care that, at least, one blazing fire was kept up in the house during the awful change which was fast approaching-the death of one year, and birth of another. On the opposite side, sat "bare-legg'd Beckie," the lass o' the housin, telling, bare-legg'd and bare-footed Wee Effie, the scullion, a tale full of horror and diablerie, till her uncombed hair made ineffectual attempts to disentangle itself, and stand an end. Tibbie, who was at once cook, housekeeper, and major-domo, was busily employed preparing hot ale, with other ingredi ents, wi' a wee drap of comfort to replenish the kettle o' the bonnie" First-fit." Such was the scene below stairs: now for a peep above. The aged progenitors of a happy fainily had long retired to bed, but not to sleep on such a morning their usual peaceful slumbers gave place to reminiscences of "Auld lang syne;" they too had experienced the fleeting hours of youthful hope and gaiety; and busy memory said, that on such a morning, more than one link had been riveted to the chain of their mutual and long-cherished love. The ever-anx ious mother, while she crept closer to the bosom of him of her earliest affection, and still dearest regard, gave words to her pious thoughts, and audibly breathed a prayer to the throne of the Almighty for the well-being of her venerable and venerated husband, and her beloved children. A solemn amen! from the lips of the husband and father, testified how devoutly he accorded with the earnest supplication of her, with whom " he had long and lovingly speeled the braes o' time." A small bed-room, adjoining that of the parental pair, was occupied by their three daughters,* Chirsta, Janet, and Ruth, now" women grown," and lovely as the graces. The happy and guileless girls had placed themselves, on the occasion of a new year's morning's festivity, literally "as thick as three in a bed;" with hearts light and pure, and minds free from care, they kept up a constant tittering and giggling, while waiting the fondly expected visit of the dear "First fit," and his equally wished for companions. The continued whispering, and the occasional suppressed laugh, proved that they were putting to some purpose, woman's high prerogative, the tongue; yet scandal or malice made no part of their conversation: what was the subject of their tattle, I may leave my more inquisitive female readers to guess. Not entirely, however, to disappoint the many fair readers of The Athenæum, I will essay to inform them in what manner the sisters were attired, for the reception in their bed-room of male visiters at such an hour. The three laughing lasses reclined on their bed, simply covered by *I am sorry that the names of the fair sisters are so plebeian; but in Scotland, thirty years ago, those of Wilhelmina, Rosamenta, and Lillatina, had not come in fashion. men. a counterpane white as snow; they were cumstance by no means unfrequent, it seemed KILLING CROWS. [The following article we extract from the "Friend," where it is entitled, Rambles of a Naturalist, No. 12.] Had I succeeded in obtaining some living crows, they were to be employed in the following manner. After having made a sort of concealment of brushwood within good gun-shot distance, the crows were to be fastened by their wings on their backs between two pegs, yet not so closely as to prevent them from fluttering or struggling. The other crows, who are always very inquisitive where their species is in any trouble, were expected to light down near the captives, and the latter would certainly seize the first that came near enough with their claws, and hold on pertinaciously. This would have produced fighting and screaming in abundance, and the whole flock might gradually be so drawn into the fray, as to allow many opportunities of discharging the guns upon them with full effect. This have often observed, that when a quarrel or fight took place in a large flock or gang of crows, a cir tree and settle on its very summit. Presently a few more would arrive singly, and in a little while small flocks followed. Conversation among them is at first rather limited to occasional salutations; but as the flock begins to grow numerous, it becomes general and very animated, and by this time all that may be expected on this occasion have arrived. This may be known also, by observing one or more of them descend to the ground; and if the gunners do not now make the best of the occasion, it will soon be lost, as the whole gang will presently sail off, scattering as they go. However, we rarely waited till there was a danger of their departure, but as soon as the flock had fairly arrived, and were still crowded upon the upper parts of the tree, we pulled triggers together, aiming at the thickest of the throng. In this way, by killing and wounding them with two or three guns, a dozen or more would be destroyed. It was of course needless to expect to find a similar opportunity in the same place for a long time afterwards, as those which escaped, had too good memories to return to so disastrous a spot. By ascertaining other situations at considerable distances, we could every now and then obtain similar advantages over them. About the years 1800, 1, 2, 3, 4, the crows were so vastly accumulated and destructive in the State of Maryland, that the government, to hasten their diminution, received their heads in payment of taxes, at the price of three cents each. The store-keepers bought them of the boys and shooters, who had no taxes to pay, at a rather lower rate, or exchanged powder and shot for them. This measure caused a great havoc to be kept up among them, and in a few years so much diminished the grievance, that the price was withdrawn. Two modes of shooting them in considerable numbers were followed, and with great success; the one, that of killing them while on the wing towards the roost, and the other attacking them in the night when they had been for some hours asleep. I have already mentioned the regularity with which vast flocks move from various quarters of the country to their roosting places every afternoon, and the uniformity of the route they pursue. In cold weather, when all the small bodies of water are frozen, and they are obliged to protract their flight towards the bays or sea, their return is a work of considerable labour, especially should a strong wind blow against them; at this season also, being rather poorly fed, they are of necessity less vigorous. Should the wind be adverse, they fly as near the earth as possible, and of this the shooters, at the time I allude to, took advantage. A large number would collect on such an afternoon, and station themselves close along the foot-way of a high bank, over which the crows were in the habit of flying; and as they were in a great degree screened from sight as the flock flew over, keeping as low as possible because of the wind, their shots were generally very effectual. The stronger was the wind, the greater was their success. The crows that were not injured found it very difficult to rise; and those that diverged laterally, only came nearer to gunners stationed in expectation of such movements. The flocks were several hours in passing over, and as there was generally a considerable interval between each company of considerable size, the last arrived, unsuspicious of what had been going on, and the shooters had time to recharge their arms. But the grand harvest of crow heads was derived from the invasion of their dormitories, which are well worthy a particular description, and should be visited by every one who wishes to form a proper idea of the number of these birds that may be accumulated in a single district. The roost is most commonly the densest pine thicket that can be found, generally at no great distance from some river, bay, or other sheet of water, which is the last to freeze, or rarely is altogether frozen. To such a roost, the crows which are, during the day-time, scattered over perhaps more than a hundred miles of circumference, wing their way every afternoon, and arrive shortly after sunset. Endless columns pour in from various quarters, and as they arrive pitch upon their accustomed perches, crowding closely together for the benefit of the warmth and the shelter afforded by the thick foliage of the pine. The trees are literally bent by their weight, and the ground is covered for many feet in depth by their dung, which, by its gradual fermentation, must also tend to increase the warmth of the roost. Such roosts are known to be thus occupied for years beyond the memory of individuals; and I know of one or two, which the oldest residents in the quarter state to have been known to their grandfathers, and probably had been resorted to by the crows during several ages previous. There is one of great age and magnificent extent, in the vicinity of Rock Creek, an arm of the Patapsco. They are sufficiently numerous on the rivers opening into the Chesapeake, and are every where similar in their general aspect. Wilson has sig. nalized such a roost at no great distance from Bristol, Pa., and I know by observation, that not less than a million of crows sleep there nightly during the winter season. To gather crow heads from the roost, a very large party was made up, proportioned to the extent of surface occupied by the dormitory. | Armed with double barrelled and duck guns, which threw a large charge of shot, the company was divided into small parties, and these took stations, selected during the day-time, so as to surround the roost as nearly as possible. A dark night was always preferred, as the crows could not when alarmed fly far, and the attack was delayed until full midnight. All being at their posts, the firing was commenced by those who were most advantageously posted, and followed up successively by the others, as the affrighted crows sought refuge in their vicinity. On every side the carnage then raged fiercely, and there can scarcely be conceived a more forcible idea of the horrors of a battle, than such a scene afforded. The crows screaming with fright and the pain of wounds, the loud deep roar produced by the raising of their whole number in the air, the incessant flashing and thundering of the guns, and the shouts of their eager destroyers, all produced an effect which can never be forgotten by any one who has witnessed it, nor can it well be adequately comprehended by those who have not. Blinded by the blaze of the powder, and bewildered by the thicker darkness that ensues, the crows rise and settle again at a short distance, without being able to withdraw from the field of danger, and the sanguinary work is continued until the shooters are fatigued, or the approach of daylight gives the survivors a chance of escape. Then the work of collecting the heads from the dead and wounded began, and this was a task of considerable difficulty, as the wounded used their utmost efforts to conceal and defend themselves. The bill and half the front of the skull were cut off together, and strung in sums for the tax-gatherer, and the product of the night divided according to the nature of the party formed. Sometimes the great mass of shooters were hired for the night, and received no share of scalps, having their ammunition provided by the employers; other parties were formed of friends and neighbours, who clubbed for the ammunition, and shared equally in the result. During hard winters the crows suffer severely, and perish in considerable numbers from hunger, though they endure a wonderful degree of abstinence without much injury. When starved severely, the poor wretches will swallow bits of leather, rope, rags; in short, any thing that appears to promise the slightest relief. Multitudes belonging to the Bristol roost, perised during the winter of 1828-9 from this cause. All the water courses were solidly frozen, and it was distressing to observe these starvelings every morning winging their weary way towards the shores of the sea in hopes of food, and again to see them toiling homewards in the afternoon, apparently scarce able to fly. In speaking of destroying crows, we have never adverted to the use of poison, which in their case is wholly inadmissible on this account; where crows are common, hogs generally run at large, and to poison the crows would equally poison them; the crows would die, and fall to the ground, where they would certainly be eaten by the hogs. Crows, when caught young, learn to talk plainly, if pains be taken to repeat certain phrases to them, and they become exceedingly impudent and troublesome. Like all of their tribe, they will steal and hide silver or other bright objects, of which they can make no possible use. THE PARTHIAN CONVERT. JOHN. (Continued from p. 115.) APAME was at first incredulous, but when the eclipse took place on the day and hour predicted by the young philosopher, and she examined the appearance of the sun, both with her naked eye and through a glass, which he had prepared for the purpose of taking a more accurate observation of that natural phenome non, she became convinced that she had been worshipping one of the works of her Creator, instead of the Creator himself; and from that day she listened with awakened attention to the truths of revelation, in which Theron was eager to instruct her. Those who listen to truths with an unprejudiced ear seldom stumble at them. Apame heard them with singleness of heart, and those gracious promises which render the Christian religion so peculiarly soothing to the desolate and afflicted, were as a precious balm of healing to her broken spirit. She had not yet passed that lovely season of life in which it is so natural to hope, and when the woes of the present are blended with the bright hues with which the smiling imagination of the inexperienced adorns the unknown future, and the elastic mind of youth is ready to weave fresh garlands of every flower within its reach to replace the perishing blossoms of human bliss, whose frail and fading nature has already been the cause of so many tears and unnecessary sorrows,-sorrows which we madly prepare for ourselves when we suffer ourselves to form ideal schemes of happiness, seeking our rest in things which were never meant to satisfy the longings of an immortal being, fast travelling from the vain illusions of time and sense. But Apame's regrets were too deep and poignant to admit of her receiving consolation from common sources. The happiness she had tasted had been so exquisite during its brief duration, as to leave an aching void in her bosom, which no earthly enjoyments could ever fill, and the world was to her a dreary desert; but at the time when its worthless vanities were most apparent to the heart-sick mourner, who panted to be released from her weary pilgrimage, though in dark uncertainty to what home of refuge her parting spirit was destined, after its escape from the storms and afflictions of its mortal sojournheaven, with its bright perspective of everlasting joys and ineffable peace, was suddenly opened to her mental vision, and the drooping wings of Hope were plumed by the victorious energies of new-born Faith, and pointed to that promised haven of repose. How beautiful is that light which, springing up from darkness, shines more and more unto the perfect day! Apame was now a believer; and a holy resignation, the precursor of that serenity which the world can neither give nor take away, had succeeded to the frantic bursts of despair which had at one time threatened to prostrate reason, or destroy life in their stormy violence. She mourned still, in the faithful fondness of a widowed heart, for that husband from whom she had been so cruelly separated; but she recognised the hand of the Lord in all that had befallen her, and she meekly acquiesced in his dispensations, and daily besought him that he would deal with Salamenes, as he had dealt with her, by teaching him the ways of life, that they might be reunited in another and a better state of existence, where all tears should be wiped away, and sorrow should be no more. The heavenly frame of mind to which Apame had attained was not, however, the work of a day; for it was by slow, progressive degrees that this change had been effected; and nearly two years had elapsed since she was first carried into captivity. Theron, who rejoiced with a holy joy in the conversion of his fellow-captive, had long been desirous of obtaining for her an admission into the visible church of Christ at Rome, by baptism; but no opportunity occurred for both visiting the place of the Christian's secret assemblies for the purpose of divine worship in company, till Pompeia left her father's house to pass some time at the villa of her husband's father at Campania. The long wished moment at length arrived; and Theron conducted Apame and his young pupil, Lucius Pompeius, to a large subterranean apartment in an obscure part of the city, where the Christians PHILADELPHIA PORT FOLIO: A WEEKLY JOURNAL were gathered together for the performance of the Sabbath duties of prayer and praise. They met in the greatest secrecy; for the persecutions which, under the weak and sanguinary tyrant Domitian, had revived in fierce violence against them, had thinned their numbers, and rendered the utmost caution necessary on their parts. Yet notwithstanding the destroying rage of the heathen emperor and his barbarous emissaries, proselytes were daily added to the church. On entering this gloomy vault, which being impervious to the light of day was feebly illuminated by a large iron lamp suspended from the ceiling, casting broad and dusky shadows on the murky walls and the rude benches, on which the meanly attired male and close-veiled female part of the congregation were seated on opposite sides of the apartment, without respect of persons, Apame's mind involuntarily reverted for a moment to the splendour of the temple of Mithra, with its blazing altar and gigantic columns of polished marble, its gorgeously robed priests, dimly seen through clouds of incense, and the long train of haughty worshippers, clothed in scarlet and gold, who resorted thither with the sound of the sackbut, dulcimer, cornet, and flute, amidst the clash of cymbals and the shouts of assembled thousands, and she thought, meantime, how truly divine in its essence must be that truth which, in its simple, unadorned majesty, could outweigh all the vain pomp and outward magnificence, in which error had adorned the sinful shrines of idolatry. And when the first notes of the divine strain of melody, with which the Christians commenced their worship, broke upon her ear, tears rushed to her eyes, and her very soul was overpowered with ecstasy as she listened to the following hymn, in which all assembled piously joined. HYMN OF THE PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANS. Our hearts Thy temples are, O Lord, VI. Till praises from each varying tongue, When the hymn was concluded, the congregation, sinking upon their knees, joined devoutly in the prayer which was offered up to the throne of grace in their behalf, by a venerable man who officiated as priest. A portion of the scriptures was then read; but when the priest should have delivered an exhortation, or sermon, to the little flock on their moral and religious duties, he was attacked with a sudden indisposition, which rendered him incapable of proceeding, and he beckoned to a young dea- Apame, who had from the commencement "Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart -She started, for the accent of the Parthian it was his own-the voice of Salamenes-of It was with difficulty that the youthful wife Yet her fond heart knew not how to separate "In one day I was deprived of a warrior's every peril, and through every affliction: yea, and we will rejoice. And if I for a moment desire my bonds to be broken, it is that I might go forth to declare his name to the benighted thousands of my own people; for oh, when I think that the wife of my bosom is an alien from the church of God, and still sits in the cession for her with unutterable groanings." dark valley of the shadow of death, my heart bleeds within me, and my spirit makes interThe voice of Salamenes failed-he shrouded anguish of a husband could not be repressed. his face in his mantle and wept, for the strong situated in a similar manner with regard to Many among the congregation who were their nearest and dearest ties, were affected, even more powerfully than himself, and joined with fervent supplication of heart and soul in the prayer with which Salamenes concluded"That the Lord would be pleased to extend should confess his name, and all flesh see the his kingdom on every side, till every nation salvation of God." closing petition to the throne of mercy was at length broken by Theron advancing with The reverential silence that followed the deacon, and demanding for them admission Apame and Lucius Pompeius to the young into the visible church of Christ, by baptism. my husband," said the young and lovely wife "Thy prayers have been heard for me, oh, of Salamenes, unveiling herself as she knelt at his feet in preparation for the holy rite; and raising to his face eyes wet with tears of holy joy, and overflowing with tenderness. the husband and the Christian, at this unlooked Who shall describe the mingled transport of expected meeting prompted the husband and the for happiness? Surprise and rapture at the unlover to snatch the long lost desire of his eyes to his heart; but the holy feelings of the minister of God prevailed over the fond weakness of the flesh, and it was not till he had with his sign of her admission into the Christian church, own hand administered to her the outward spotless love on the fair brow of his beloved, that he ventured to imprint the holy kiss of his beautiful, his wedded wife. Then, and not overpowered every other feeling; and folding till then, he yielded to the gush of joy that her to his bosom, he wept over her in the fulness of heart, and with a loud voice returned for the conversion of his wife, who was thus thanks to God in the congregation of his saints, unexpectedly restored to him. band," said Apame, yielding to sudden appre- exclaimed a familiar voice from among the con- It was Pompeia, who had that day entered The conversion of Pompeia having been |