543 take sure aim, "is, I suppose, because they are the | Stoneman, District of Columbia, for the purpose of only people that can't be trusted in the dark!" A BOYNTON correspondent writes: Rev. Colonel Granville Moody, of Ohio, better known as the "Fighting Parson," preached a sermon on a Quarterly Meeting occasion, in July, 1865, in the New Foundry Methodist Church, Washington, District of Columbia. At these meetings it is the custom to take up a collection for the support of the presiding elder and for other purposes. On this occasion, after Colonel Moody had closed an earnest, eloquent discourse, he said: getting mounted. But at the time Grant pushed Lee out of Mine Run the exigency of the service as infantry. Among them was the Second New required several of these regiments to take the field York Mounted Rifles. Among the lucky ones to get mounted was the Third New Jersey Cavalry, who wore very gay uniform cloaks lined with yellow, and the Hussar cap, and were called in the division butterflies by the boys; and expressions like this might often be heard on the march: "There goes a butterfly; ketch him and put him in a can teen!" One day the Second New York Mounted Rifles were halted and at rest to allow a battery to pass. "The stewards will now please pass around the baskets, and collect two hundred dollars!" This novel appeal for money put the audience in The boys were very tired, and nothing was said the best of humor, and they paid the amount. A FRIEND of ours has a little son, three years of age, very brave, and remarkably considerate for one of his years, as will be proved by the following circumstance: One day a cow ran at him unceremoniously; the child naturally betook himself to his heels. His elder brother meeting him as he was rushing into the house inquired the cause of his somewhat hasty movements. The heroic child replied "that he wasn't afraid at all, but he thought he might scare the cow if he staid!" EVERY place has its eccentric characters. When these remarkable personages were distributed Swas not forgotten. Uncle Edward "still lives," and as he is continually "putting his foot into it,' we are continually having something new to laugh If his blunders upon the third rehearsal prove more blundering, like the "Washoe Papers" they are all founded on fact. at. In this section wood-surveyors are appointed, whose business it is to measure the wood which is brought to market for sale. they were all out of town; Ned at this time was One day it happened anxious to have the load which was on his wagon measured; he ran from one place to another vainly endeavoring to find the right man. At last, becoming perfectly disgusted with the whole race, he declared he was going to the Selectmen to have more surveyors appointed, so as to have "some of them at home when they are all gone away!" Again, speaking of the worthlessness of boys when together, says he, "You take one boy alone, and another boy with him, and he'll do more work than two boys together!" A "COAL-MINE" writer says: In the show window of one of our book stores, on the Fourth, was displayed a very pretty device, consisting of a wax figure representing the Goddess of Liberty, draped with the American flag, etc. Over the head of the figure was the inscription, "Victory!" A group of Emerald islanders (in which, bythe-way, our town, like all mining towns, abounds) stood looking in the window, when suddenly one of them, perhaps more of a "scholar" than the rest, commenced spelling out the inscription. Said he: "V-i-c, vic, t-o, to, ry, Victory; what do they want wid the Quane av Ingland in there, along wid the Shtars an' Shtripes, I wonther?" until one of the Third New Jersey (an orderly) came pany C, a boy that never could keep still, looked up, riding through alone, when Johnny H, of Comand in a quiet way saluted the Third New Jersey with, "How are you, butterfly?" Third New Jersey turned partly around in his saddle, with a smile, and saluted with, "How are you, caterpillar ?" Johnny H- never said butterfly again until his own regiment was mounted. I HAD not been long in New Orleans when I was to sing ?" "Yes," I replied, and named a song. wished to know who wrote it. "William Cullen Bryant, of New York, the great American poet-of course you have heard of him ?" "Oh yes," she replied; "I have heard his minstrels sing!" topsis smile to be taken for the manager of Dar How would the venerable, gray-bearded ThanaBryant's minstrels! a desk in one of the departments of the metropolis, UPON the second call of the President for 300,000 more, several regiments from different States were roused-is rather dangerous to those who encounter THE Colonel-like all amiable people, when raised for the cavalry arm of the service, and, be- him; and makes threats of "trashing and smashfore taking the field, were rendezvoused at Camping" in a manner to alarm quiet, unoffending mor tals. One day, at his office, desiring to pass into a brother-clerk's room, he found the entrance obstructed by a gentleman sitting in the doorway, whom he politely requested to move. The gentleman neither looked at him nor replied. The Colonel made his request again, in a more decided manner, with the same result. Our Colonel's patience being exhausted, he made a more touching appeal by upsetting the contumacious offender upon the floor. The occupants of the room rushing to the scene of action explained to him that his victim was a deaf mute, upon which the enraged Colonel exclaimed, in an injured tone, "Vell then, vy didn't he tell me so ?" back and treat you." He went back to the tavern and treated his "Resolution" till he was drunk as usual, and went home to boast of the strength of his resolution to his good wife. THE old Colonel owned a flock of hens, which he was very careful to keep shut up during planting season, and his wife would let them out occasionally to enjoy themselves in the garden. The Colonel seeing them in the garden one day, supposed of course they belonged to his neighbor, and, greatly enraged at the destruction of his property, he seized his old musket and blazed away at them, and sent a lad with the dead chickens to his neighbor's house, with a message couched in language rather more A LETTER came a short time since to the Drawer, forcible than polite. The next day the operation indorsed on the outside as follows: "SOLDIER'S LETTER-shove it ahead, Plenty of hard tack, but no soft bread, Six months' pay due, and nary a red." A FEW years since the Legislature of Michigan passed what was termed the "Four-Gallon Act," which prohibited the sale of ale or malt liquors in less quantities than four gallons. Governor Wisner -who, in the late rebellion, as Colonel of the Twenty-second Michigan Infantry, gave up his life for his country-signed the bill, and it became law. The day after it took effect the Governor, being in a saloon-a place he very seldom visited-called upon some friends to take a glass of ale with him. The ale was drank, and the Governor threw down on the counter a quarter eagle gold-piece in payment. The bar-tender put the money in the drawer, and went directly about other matters. The Governor called his attention to the fact that he had not given him back his change, when the bar-tender remarked, "Governor, the piece you gave me just paid for four gallons of ale, and you can have the rest of the four gallons when you choose to call for it. You, Governor, signed the law that compels us to sell the liquid so, and should not complain if its practical workings do not suit you." Governor Wisner's friends here brought in the laugh, and he good-humoredly joined with them. Whether on account of this experience, or for other reasons, the "Four-Gallon Law" was afterward repealed. ONE of our lovers in Vermont writes: Many years ago, when Dover, New Hampshire, and the adjacent county were first settled, there lived in the town of Somersworth, in that State, one Colonel Higgins, a notorious old toper, who was in the habit of visiting a tavern near where the village of Great Falls now stands, and partaking rather freely of toddy, and returning by way of Dover, where he always wound up with getting jolly drunk, and going home in that plight, much to the annoyance of his good wife. One fine morning he started on his usual rounds, and his wife entreated him rather harder than usual to see if his resolution would not let him get by that tavern once. So the old Colonel made his usual visit to Great Falls, and did not visit the tavern; then went to Dover, as usual, and when he approached the tavern he put spurs to his horse and dashed by, much to the astonishment of the landlord and the by-standers. He did not go but a few rods, however, before he wheeled short around and exclaimed, "Well done, Resolution! You have done nobly to let me get by that tavern once, and now I will go was repeated, and so on for several days; and the Colonel was greatly astonished at his neighbor's silence and good-nature, as he never sent back any more than very polite thanks for the "gift," as he expressed it. Well, it so happened that the Colonel went to look after his hens one day, and found but very few in the pen. After looking and wondering for a while the reason for his neighbor's goodnature dawned upon him, and he was heard to exclaim, "I have been killing my own hens, and that old rascal has eaten them all!" The old fellow never heard the last of those hens, and was never known to shoot another. A WESTERN pettifogger once broke forth in the following indignant strain: "Sir, we're enough for ye, the hull of ye. Me and my client can't never be intimated nor tyrannized over; mark that. And, Sir, just so sure as this Court decides against us, we'll file a writ of progander, Sir, and we-" Here wanted to know what he meant by a writ of prohe was interrupted by the opposition counsel, who gander. "Mean? why, Sir, a writ of progander is a—a—a—it's a—wa'al, I don't just remember the exact word, but it's just what'll knock thunder out of your one-horse court, any how." A LONDON letter-writer says that a cheap bookseller in London has put out the following sign: FOR SALE HERE: Mill on Political Economy. Ditto on the Floss. PROFESSOR W————, of University, is something of a wag, and the boys seldom get the start of him in the way of practical jokes. One day, going into recitation-room, Freshman class present, he found a sheep sitting tied in a chair. His sole remark, addressed politely to the sheep, "How are you, Freshman ?" rather turned the joke on the boys. Similarly, when, at another time, opening his desk, a goose flew out, "Aha, gentlemen! another class-mate, I see!" NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE. No. CLXXXV.-OCTOBER, 1865.-VOL. XXXI. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1865, by Harper and Brothers, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Southern District of New York. VOL. XXXI.-No. 185.-00 ing of the California quicksilver mines, the proprietors and lessees of the old Almaden mine controlled the bullion of the world. The monopoly of quicksilver confers extraordinary powIn foreign hands it would be a serious drawback, if not an insuperable barrier, to the development of our mineral regions, and might, in the event of war, prove disastrous beyond all other causes to the finances of our country. The discovery of vast and inexhaustible deposits of cinnabar within our own borders almost simultaneously with the rush of emigration to our gold placers and subsequent dis precious metals in the barren recesses of the mountains has led to the building of cities, the opening of new and important branches of trade, and the settlement and cultivation of rich arable valleys, hitherto occupied by roving bands of In-ers. dians. In regular progression one beneficial result has followed another, till nearly the whole of that vast region divided in part by the Rocky Mountains and stretching west to the Pacific Ocean, bordered on the north by the British Possessions and on the south by Mexico, has been redeemed from the sway of the nomadic tribes and rendered available to the uses of civilized man. Already a population approach-coveries of silver, must be regarded as peculiaring a million of hardy, enterprising, and intelligent freemen is spread over the States of California, Oregon, and Nevada, and the Territories of Washington, Idaho, Montana, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona. All the industrial pursuits are represented, from the high-comprehending as it does the very basis of our est branches of science to the most primitive grades of muscular labor. ly fortunate. It relieves us of all apprehensions for the future, and enables us to wield a controlling influence upon the price of quicksilver in the markets of the world. The subject is one of such unusual importance, financial prosperity, that I am induced to believe the results of my observations during a recent visit to New Almaden will not be uninteresting to the readers of this Magazine. Information bearing so directly upon the supply of the precious metals from our new Territories seems peculiarly appropriate at this time. I examined our great quicksilver mines very thoroughly, and obtained some reliable data in reference to their history and present condition. It is no reflection upon the author of the interesting article on New Almaden which appeared in the June number of Harper for 1863, to say that great changes have taken place both there and throughout our mineral possessions on the Pacific coast since 1857, the date of his visit. The famous quicksilver mines of New Almaden are situated in Santa Clara County, California, twelve miles from the Pueblo of San Jose and about sixty miles south from San Francisco. The rancho upon which the principal mine was discovered comprehends the valley of Capitancillos. This valley runs nearly north and south, and lies among the mountains of the Coast Range. According to tradition the tribes who resided in it in early days were governed by two chiefs of diminutive stature but great muscular strength, upon whom the Spaniards conferred the affectionate sobriquet of "Capitancillos," or the "Little Captains," and hence the name of the valley. Throughout this vast range of country deposits of the precious metals have been found in veins of such richness and magnitude as to challenge credulity; and there is scarcely a mineral adapted to purposes of human industry which does not exist within its limits. In contemplating the present condition and probable destiny of this great interoceanic world one is apt to be dazzled by the splendor of the considerations involved, and lose sight of the wonderful system of coincidences by which the designs of Providence are carried into effect. The discovery of gold and silver in California and the adjacent Territories would have been of little avail but for another discovery within our territorial limits of a mineral indispensable in the operations of mining. None of the precious metals can be separated from the baser products of the earth in which they are found imbedded without the use of quicksilver-an article approximating in value more nearly to bullion than any other mineral, and possessing peculiar affinities for which there is no substitute. It is the only known substance which unites readily with gold, silver, tin, lead, zinc, bismuth, and other metals, and gathers them into the form of an amalgam. Prior to the discovery of the New Almaden mines the principal cinnabar lodes of which we have any knowledge were those of "Guanca Velica" in Pern, "Idria” in Austria, and “Al- The revolution of Mexico opened to the restmaden" in Spain. The earliest mention made less spirits of the mother country a new field for of quicksilver was by Aristotle and Theophrastus, enterprise and adventure. Many persons of who called it fluid silver. In the time of Pliny distinguished intellectual attainments and great the mines of Almaden yielded annually 700,000 force of character found their way to Upper pounds of cinnabar. The supply from these California as colonists; and their descendants sources is limited, and would be wholly inade- are now prominent among the proudest families quate to the demands of our new mineral re- of the native population. By the ruder inhabgions, even if other considerations were not in- itants they were called the gente de razon-peovolved. But the use of a product derived from ple of reason or intelligence-which is still the sources over which we have no control, and so distinctive appellation of the superior orders. essential to our mining interests, would be liable These early colonists found in the valley of to serious difficulty in cases of national misun- Capitancillos a cave to which the Indians were derstanding. It is a well-known fact in the in the habit of resorting for a vermilion-colored history of financial affairs, that, before the open-earth with which to adorn their bodies. This mercurial pigment produced an irritation of the skin. The simple minded aborigines supposed it must be an invention of El Pulli, the Evil Spirit, to punish them for some offense, and they made annual offerings to him in the hope of procuring his forgiveness. Finding him inexorable after the lapse of sufficient time for any ordinary spirit to relent, they washed the paint from their bodies and trusted to other means for salvation. These tribes have passed away. The Capitancillos and their followers are no longer known save in the traditions of the country. The progress of civilization has nearly swept them from the memory of man. Up to the year 1824 the vermilion cave was not known as a mine. In that year a French gentleman named Antoine Surrol, who resided in the vicinity, conceived the idea of working the ore. Supposing it to contain gold or silver, he sent to the town of San Luis Obispo, some three hundred miles down the coast, for a flask of quicksilver with which to prosecute the work. His experiment, of course, was a failure, and nothing more was heard or thought of the cave until 1845. Early in that year the Mexican nation, under the Presidency of Paredes, found itself in imminent danger of a war with the United States. A native of Switzerland, John A. Sutter, who had served in the armies of Napoleon, had emigrated to California, and established near the banks of the Sacramento a rancho, or farm. In order to ward off the attacks of hostile Indians he had erected a strong defensive work, then and now known as "Sutter's Fort." Sutter having hospitably received many of the adventurous Americans who crossed the plains at that period, became enamored of their discourse, which breathed the spirit of liberty; and, possibly fired by the story of Tell and Gessler, inclined to make the fort a rendezvous for such of his new friends as chose to surround him. The Mexican Government was prompt in adopting measures to resist the threatened incursions of the Americans. Don Andres Castillero, a cavalry officer of the Mexican army, was dispatched to California with instructions to negotiate with Sutter for the purchase of his fort. It was deemed of great importance to possess this strong-hold; and Castillero was empowered to pay for it, if necessary, as much as a hundred thousand dollars. Sutter, with an unselfish devotion to our interests which has never been properly appreciated, rejected the offer. Castillero, during his sojourn, visited the valley of the "Capitancillos," where he was received with the hospitality due to his official position. The vermilion cave was shown to him as one of the curiosities of the country. Being a person of some culture he discovered, as he thought, something more interesting than demons in this mysterious place, and consulted on the subject with a priest named Real, a man of great shrewdness and learning, who resided at the Mission of Santa Clara. They together resolved |