SONNET-NATURAL CURIOSITY-LACONIC EPISTLES. thing concerning them. Bertram, at long intervals, returned to Swatara, and the house of his two friends was his home. It was on one of those visits that he had his most severe service to perform. That service was to close the eyes, and assist to place in this narrow enclosure the remains of the friends of his infancy, youth, and now advancing age. A distant but legal heir made his appearance, as claimant of the estate, and summoned Bertram as a witness at the opening of the will. Both the heir and the witness were, however, equally astonished at the reading, as 'Wilson Bertram' was declared sole and universal heir. 551 district of Niagara, is perhaps, one of the most curious heat of summer, which is the only time the ice accu- The entrance of the cave is under an immense rock, "Bertram as much expected to be made com- apparently solid; its depth or distance to the extremimander-in-chief of the United States army, and ty is about 25 feet; the sides are of hugely solid rocks, mild words would have induced him to relinquish extending into the mountain, some of which lie partly the bequest. But chose insolence and above the surface. The water which congeals into abusive insinuations, and had a rough, rude, and ice oozes out of the rock that hangs over the cave; it as you know, an obstinate old soldier to deal hangs in icicles, above, and may be found on the botwith, so had his folly for his reward: and the old tom frozen in cakes. A sudden transition from an atsergeant is now going to see that the double oakmosphere where the thermometer will rise 90, to a reis preserved, and you will have to sleep this night entering the cave in summer, renders great caution gion where it will fall several degrees below zero, on under the roof Sergeant Bertram. necessary to visitors, who should never enter in a state of perspiration, nor remain too long. Near the cave are great numbers of rocks, apparently solid, and of the largest size that I ever have seen, lying above the ground; they all have the appearance of having been thrown out by some great convulsion of nature. The wild aspect of these rocks, softened by a festoon of ivy and other beautiful vines, and the corresponding grandeur and rarity of all surrounding objects, renders the scene highly picturesque. Written for the Casket. SONNET. To gaze upon a lovely face, The mirror of a lovelier mind, Gives to my sight More pure delight, Than India's boasted, sparking gem, In sable night's bright diadem. By virtue formed, What features e'er so rich, so rare, What heart is proof Who stands aloof- When grace and soul combined are seen? Their matchless sway, But one as ice-berg cold, I ween. O! woman, sent by heaven to be, With man, the partner of life's cares, 'Tis then thou'rt loveliest, when in thee The mind, in lustre bright, appearsWith magic art, Around the heart, Frequent calls, through the public press, have been made upon the scientific, to account for the ice appearing only in the hottest weather, and dissolving as soon as the weather grows cool; but none, I believe, have yet risked a public explanation of the cause of so singular a phenomenon. I may, therefore hazard my opinion at some future time, though I am far from making scientific pretentions. I only hope to be the means of exciting some of our physiologist to the elucidation of a subject, which to thousands who never saw the cave, may seem incredible, and perhaps to all who have, an insolvable mystery. There are many places in America where ice and snow remain during summer; but it is believed that this spring is the only one that apparently acts directly contrary to the seasons of freezing and thawing, and which remains to be accounted for upon principles satisfactory to the enquiring mind.-Canada paper. LACONIC EPISTLES.-A very celebrated Diplomatist whose time, at one period of his life, was so engaged in matters of political importance, that he could scarcely find a moment to attend to social duties, and a certain facetious colleague used to say, that he never dotted his I's or crossed his T's, for the purpose of saving time. It is not therefore probable that such a man would fritter away his precious existence in writing letters to friends upon subjects unconnected with ambition or party intrigues? He however broke through his determination in the following instance: A lady with whom he was well acquainted, married a young French nobleman, the choice of her heart. Scarcely had the Honey Moon passed away, when the husband was attacked with severe illness and died. The diplomatist being informed that the affliction of the lady was so intense, that night and day she did nothing but weep that sorrow would soon bring her to the grave -deemed it an imperative duty to write a letter of condolence. This he performed-but, reflecting that true grief is always laconic, and wishing her to unD. F. N..derstand how alive his feelings were to the irrepar 'Tis then thou twin'st love's golden chain. From thee we meet, able loss she had sustained, he wrote these words and they formed the whole contents of the condoling letter: "Ah! Madame!!" Six months passed away-and grief and sorrow passed also away with the fleeting months. The fair lady followed the example of the Dame of Ephesus, and took to herself another husband. No sooner had the writer of protocols heard this news than he evinced more than usual alacrity in coming to the conclusion of writing a congratulatory epistle, which was accordingly despatched. He again reflected, that if grief be not loquacious, joy is also laconic-and so he wrote: "Ho! Ho! Madame!" EGGS OF INSECTS. Insects' eggs are not all of an oval form like those of birds, but some are like a pear, some like an orange, some like a pyramid, and some like a flask. The eggs of the gnat, for instance, may be compared, in shape, to that of a powder flask, and the mother gnat lays about three hundred at a time. Now each egg, by itself, would sink to the bottom of the water: yet the gnat puts the whole three hundred together in the form of a little boat, and in such way, that they will all swim on the surface of the water; and a very curious way she has of managing this. shift their eggs according to the changes of the day and night, and also of the weather, placing them near the surface of their nests when it is warm and dry, and deep down when it is cold or wet. In consequence of being exposed to the same temperature, all the eggs of any particular species, in any given district, are hatched exactly at the same time, or at most within a few days; and when such eggs are numerous, an immense number of catterpillars make their appearance all at once on plants and bushes, and give rise to the notion that they are brought by winds, or generated by what is called blighting weather, though this is as absurd as to say the wind could bring a flock of cattle, or that the blight could gene. rate a flight of sparrows or rooks without eggs to hatch them from. A TRUE STORY.-"Truth," says Lord Byron, "is often stranger than fiction." This remark will be found strictly in point in the following narrative. There resides at present in the vicinity of Boston, a venerable clergyman, whose character for learning, pe ty, and active usefulness, has seldom, if ever been surpassed. When young, he was very poor, and entered Harvard College with almost no means of support, apart from the expected liberality of the College-Faculty, who have a considerable charity fund at their dispo sal. Reduced almost to despair, he one day took his staff, and walked from Cambridge to Boston, to see, if he could procure a situation in a vessel, or some other laborious employment. Like other insects, the gnat has six legs. Four of these (the four fore-legs) she fastens to a floating leaf, or to the side of a bucket, if she is on the water contained in one. Her body is thus held level with the waHe was supplied with all the sums from this resource, ter, except the last ring of her abdomen, which is a consistent with the justice due to other claimants, but little raised. This being done, she begins to make use still he remained in a condition of hopeless indigence. of her other two legs, (or hind legs) and crosses them Matters had arrived at such a pass, that unless he in the shape of the letter X. The open part of this X, should be soon provided with a set of linen, he could next to her tail, serves as a kind of scaffolding, to sup-no longer remain in College, or obtain his education. port the eggs she lays, until the boat is formed. Each egg, when laid, is covered with a kind of glue; and the gnat holds the first laid egg in an angle of the X until the second egg is laid by its side, and glued to it; she then glues another egg to its other side. All these stick together thus, making a kind of triangle, or figure of three, and this is the beginning of the boat. Thus she goes on, piling egg upon egg, keeping the boat in proper shape by her useful hind legs. As the boat grows in size, she pushes it from her by degrees, still adding to the unfinished end next to her body. When the boat is half built, her hind legs are stretched out thus, the X or cross form is no longer wanted, and she holds up the boat as cleverly as if it was done with two outstretched arms. The boat is at length completed, and an excellent boat it is, quite water tight. For though it is very small and delicate, yet no tossing of the waves will sink it; and nothing can fill it with water or turn it upside down. In fact, the glue with which it is cover ed prevents it from ever being wet. Even if the boat be pushed down to the bottom of the water, up it comes again quite dry: so that it is better than the best life boat that has ever yet been invented. When arrived near the ferry, which at that time occupied the place of the present Cambridge bridge, he perceived that something had got fastened to the end of his staff. He made several attempts to knock it off as a useless encumbrance, but found that it would obstinately adhere to the point of the staff. he discovered that it was a gold ring, set with very Curiosity at length impelled him to examine it, when brilliant diamonds. He carried it immediately to a jeweller, who was a gentleman of great integrity and benevolence. On acquainting him with his situation, the jeweller paid him down a handsome sum on the spot, and requested the young man to call on him for assistance in future. The linen was purchased, the shirts were made up by the young man's sisters, and his prospects from that day grew brighter and brighter. The ring, which so singularly forced itself into his The eggs of insects are not, like those of birds, al-hands, was probably dropped by a British officer in the course of our revolutionary war. ways smooth, but are sometimes ribbed, and sometimes tiled, or otherwise sculptured or carved on the outside. The shell of an insect's egg is rarely or ever brittle, like that of a bird, but composed of a tough membrane which, in some instances, can be stretched out, as appears from the eggs of ants and some other insects growing considerably larger in the process of hatch ing. The mother insects, usually dying before their eggs are hatched, do not sit upon them like birds, except in the singular instance of the earwig, which, from the proceedings of one kept by me in a glass, in March, 1832, appears to attend more to shifting the eggs about to places where they may receive moisture, than any thing like hatching by covering them. Ants Horace Walpole mentions an anecdote of a man having in his time dropped down dead at the door of White's Club House, into which he was carried; upon which the members of the Club immediately laid bets whether he was dead or not; and upon its being proposed to bleed him, the wagerers for his death interposed, alleging that it would affect the fairness of the bet! Mr. Grattan, in his history of Holland and the Netherlands, says that few factions have excited such violent commotions in the world, as was excited in Holland on the ridiculous question of "whether the hook caught the fish or the fish caught the hook." GHAUT OF CUTWA-STATE HOUSE OF KENTUCKY-DEATH. THE GHAUT OF CUTWA, INDIA. The opposite plate of the Ghaut (or Indian Temple) of Cutwa, is taken from a small island in the Hoogly river. The several ranges of stone steps, or stairs, are only all to be seen in the dry season when the river is at the lowest; they are for the purpose of bathing; a religious ceremony indispensable with many castes of the Hindoos, and a custom highly conducive to health. The natives of both sexes enter the water in their clothes, and after performing their ablutions and prayers, re-ascend to the shore, trusting to the warm beams of an ever brilliant and glowing sun to dry their garments. India's daughters, rising thus like Naiads of the flood from the bosom of their adored river, their finely wove simple garb, consisting of one long piece only, and of every varied hue, clinging closely to their figure, exhibit a symmetry of form which might fairly vie with the Medicean Venus. Indeed the mass of the Hindoos of both sexes of the upper provinces of Bengal, are perfect models for the sculptor. The term Ghaut, or Gaut, is used in the East Indies to describe a temple with steps, as well as to denote a passage or road from the coast to the mountainous or upland country. STATE HOUSE OF KENTUCKY. The annexed beautiful and accurate representation of this building was taken with a Camera Obscura, by Mr. Bramborough, an English artist, who recently passed through Frankfort. The lucid and graphical description which follows, was furnished by Mr. Gideon Shryock, the accomplished architect, who planned the building and superintended its construction. This building is situated in the town of Frankfort, near the centre of a public square, which is handsomely covered with blue-grass, and planted with various ornamental trees. 553 The door opens into a Vestibule, twenty feet broad and thirty-three feet long; having a committee room of the same size on either side, and a lobby in front leading to the stairway, which is of marble and is enclosed by a circular wall, having an entrance in front and on either side, and is lighted from the Cupola above by twelve large windows. The ascent is by a straight flight of steps to a large plat-form about five feet high; from each end of which there is a circular flight, which traverses the circular wall and meets in a platform at the top. The stairway leads to a lobby (on the second floor) thirty-five feet square, having the well-hole of the stairs (which is enclosed by an iron railing) in the centre. From this lobby there are doors communicating with the several apartments of the second story. This part of the building is arched with a spandrel dome, the angular spaces are filled with pendentires, terminating in a circular ring, on which a cylindrical wall is built, supporting the Cupola. The interior of the Dome is finished with raised pannels and ornamented in stucco, superbly executed; and produces that pleasing magic effect usual with a vast concave in such a situation. The Senate Chamber is on the second floor in the front part of the house; being thirty-three feet broad by sixty-two feet long; having a spacious lobby with elevated seats at one end, separated from the Chamber by two Ionic columns and proper antia; supporting a full entablature; the frieze and cornice continued entirely around the room; the ceiling richly ornamented with square sunk pannels. The floor is covered with a rich and durable carpet, made in the Penitentiary; and is occupied by the mahogany chairs and tables of the Senators. The Representatives' Hall is in the opposite end of the second story, being forty-eight feet broad and sixty-two feet long, and having a lobby and The front elevation of the building presents a gallery on the south side of the room. The ceilHexastyle Portico, of the Ionic order, the pro-ing of this room is also elegantly finished with portions of which are taken from the temple of Minerva Polias, at Priene in Ionia. The exterior walls present a smooth surface of polished marble of a light grey colour, obtained from inexhaustible quarries on the banks of the Kentucky River, near Frankfort. The Portico | is built of a darker grey marble. The columns are four feet in diameter and thirty three feet in height, supporting a marble prediment and entablature which is continued entirely around the building. The whole of the roof is covered with copper; from the middle of it rises the cupola, the basement of which is formed by a square pedestal of twenty-five feet on each side; which rises two feet above the apex of the roof; and on which is placed a circular lantern, twenty-two feet in diameter and twenty feet high, surmounted by a hemispherical dome. The flanks of the building have side doors to enter a passage leading across the house; and the rooms appropriated for the Federal Court and Court of Appeals. The length of the building, including the Portico, is one hundred and thirty-two feet, its breadth in front is seventy feet. The main entrance is at the south end, by a flight of marble steps extending along the whole front, and rising four feet high to the Portico, which projects eleven feet from the front wall of the house. square sunk pannels and other ornaments in stucco. Behind the Speaker's chair hangs an elegant full length portrait of Lafayette, executed by Jewett, at the order of the State. The building was commenced in the spring of 1827, and finished in the fall of 1830; and cost ninety-five thousand dollars. A MEDITATION ON DEATH. Thou hadst a sting once like thy sire, And now thou art become a tame and harmless thing: That our triumphant God, to punish thee, A Hath snatched the keys of hell out of thy hand, porter at the gate of life, thy mortal enemy, Let May, when we die, And thither flie, us into the courts of heaven through thee. [Jeremy Taylor. |