USA > Ohio > Hamilton County > Cincinnati > The Cincinnati miscellany, or, Antiquities of the West, and pioneer history and general and local statistics. Volume II > Part 36
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employed to their advantage, the heavy disburse" ments have proved a seasonable and sensible benefit to the labouring class. The payments were made in cash, also, the principle of giving orders for work not being resorted to here.
Let me now advert to its interior condition, as it will exhibit itself when ready for the services of the 2d proximo. An altar of the purest Car- rara marble, made by Chiappri of Genoa, occu- pies the west end of the Cathedral. This is em- bellished with a centre piecc, being a circle with rays, around which wreaths and flowers are beautifully chiseled. It is represented to me by those who possess more knowledge and taste on such subjects than I pretend to, as a piece of ex- quisite design and workmanship: At the oppo- site end is put up an immense organ of forty-four stops and twenty-seven hundred pipes; lately finished by Schwab; of our city, which cost $5,400. One of these pipes alone is thirty-three feet long, and weighs four hundred pounds: There is no doubt that this is an instrument su- perior in size, tone and power to any on the con- tinent, that in the German Roman Catholic Church at Baltimore, by Schwab, perhaps, ex- cepted. The following paintings will occupy the various compartments in the Cathedral:
St. Peter liberated by the Angel:
Descent from the Cross.
Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin:
St. Jerome in the attitude of listening to the trumpet announcing the final judgment:
Christ in the Garden:
Flight into Egypt.
The St. Peter is by Murillo; well known as the head of the Spanish school; and was a present to Bishop Fenwick by Cardinal Fesch, uncle to Napoleon. The others are by some of the first artists in Europe.
The two windows next the altar are of stained glass, and serve to give us of the west an idea of that style of diffusing light to edifices devoted to religious purposes in the old world.
There will be the largest assemblage of pre- lates and subordinate clergy of the church on the occasion of consecrating ST. PETER's, which has ever been gathered in Cincinnati. Archbishop Eccleston, of Baltimore; the Bishops Flaget, of Louisville; Miles, of Nashville; Henni, of Mil- waukie; Kenrick, of St. Louis; Chanche, of Natchez; De la Hilandiere, of Vincennes; Pur- cell, of Cincinnati, and the Coadjutor Bishop of N. York, McCloskey, attended by the usual retinue of vicars general, pastors of congregations, acoly- tes, &c., will perform the consecration services.
There will no doubt be an immense attend- ance upon that day from all parts of the west, as well as spectators from our own city.
1 learn upon inquiry, that the ceremonies of
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the day commence at six o'clock, A. M., and that | to a great extent they will take place outside of the Cathedral and within the Cathedral grounds. Some of the rites require the floor of the build- ing to be kept free for the passage and repassage of those engaged in the consecration services. In the afternoon the Cathedral will be thrown open for public worship.
Rev'd. J. F. Wood, a native as it were of our city, will deliver an address on that occasion to the audience assembled outside, explanatory of the exercises, &c., of the day.
I have devoted a larger share to-day to this than is usually alloted in the Advertiser to such subjects; but much inquiry has been directed to this matter, and I have collected or ascertaincd these facts to gratify the curious on such topics.
Journal of John G. Jungmann.
Who has not heard of the Moravians? A band of Christian brethren who were the first since the days of the Apostles to embark in the mis- sionary enterprise; and in the lapse of an hundred years after, having wakened up in some sense to their duty various powerful and extensive de- nominations of Christians, arc still as they al- ways have been in proportion to their numbers at home, the largest body of missionaries in the world.
More than one hundred years since a colony of the Unitas fratrum, or Moravians, emigrated to Pennsylvania, and made settlements in Bethle- hem and Nazareth, in Northampton, and Litiz, in Lancaster counties, in that state. Having suc- ceeded in placing the Indians to the north and west under the influences of civilization and christianity to a great extent, they formed mis- sionary establishments in what were then the forests of Ohio, their principal settlements being on the waters of the Muskingum. Here they succeeded also in gathering churches among the Indians of the west; and up to 1782, the period of the memorable massacre, by a horde of white savages from Western Pennsylvania and Vir- ginia, which has rendered their memory for ever infamous, the labours of these brethren were abundantly successful in causing the desolate and solitary places to be glad, and the wilderness to blossom as the rose.
What dangers had to be met and privations en- dured by these missionaries, may be judged by the history of early pioneers of Kentucky and Ohio. The narrative which follows gives a graphic picture, by one of that band who labour- ed with Spangenberg, Zeisberger, Senseman and Heckewelder, for a long series of years in the cause. I give it from the journal-hitherto un- published-in his own words.
" My father, J. Jungmann, was a Huguenot,
driven from France in 1720, by the persecutions of that date. He fled to Hockenheim, Germany, where he found employment as a teacher of mathematics and music. After remaining there eleven years, he emigrated to America in 1731, landing in Rhode Island, after enduring, with others, almost unheard of sufferings on board the vessel in which he embarked from Germany. I was born in Hockenheim, shortly after his arri- val there, April 19, 1720, and with the rest of the family accompanied him on the voyage.
" There had been a great emigration from Ger- many to America, which had been encouraged by letters received from the emigrants. My pa- rents concluded to visit that country also, and came by water from Neckenhausen to Rotter- dam, whence they sailed on a vessel bound to America, having one hundred and fifty-six pas- sengers, besides the ship's crew, expecting to reach that country in six weeks, although pro- visioned for twelve. We put into Falmouth, England, where we remained three weeks, taking on more passengers. We again sailed, and twelve days afterwards the captain observed that we were now one half our journey, which filled our hearts with thankfulness and rejoicing. But we were becalmed-visited soon after with a dreadful storm-and after being eight weeks out from England, were put on short allowance of bread and water, the last four weeks having no bread at all, and but one pint of water per day to supply father, sister, and myself-my younger sister, step-mother, and her two children having died under their sufferings. We were obliged to purchase cats at one shilling and six pence, and rats and mice at six pence each, and buy what water we needed for subsistence. We found out that the villanous purpose of the captain was to starve us all to death, that he might obtain our effects, in which he succeeded to a great extent, only forty-eight of the passengers surviving to reach the land, and those only escaped by revolt- ing on the captain, and compelling him to make the American shore, where we landed, after being twenty-five weeks on our passage from Rotter- dam. Judge the state of suffering in which we all were, and our indignation on finding out that the captain and crew had secret supplies hidden in the long boat. On landing, four Indians stepped on board the vessel, of whom one of the passengers who could speak a little English, fal- ling on his knees, supplicated a little bread and water, and assistance to take us on shore. Our ghastly looks told our sufferings, and the Indians returning for their friends, came down in a body and compelled the captain to release us all. They took us to their cabins where we were fed like little children, and by the mercy of God were restored finally to health and strength, after
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a long confinement. Such benevolence in sava- | for the first time, Pat's peculiarities became most diverting.
ges appeared amazing to us. After being thus recruited, which took five months, my father concluded to remove to Philadelphia, and bought one hundred acres of land in the neighbourhood for fifteen pounds ten shillings."
Here the family settled down in peace and comfort, and soon prospered in their worldly cir- cumstances. The father married again, built a distillery and brew house, and carried on a cooper shop. The son cut himself severely with an axe, and no one knowing what to prescribe, he mixed white and yolk of eggs in some fresh butter of which he made a poultice, applying it as hot as could be borne, taking gunpowder inwardly, and effected a cure. He now gets acquainted with the Moravians at Bethlehem, under whose preach- ing he becomes under religious exercise, and joins the society. I shall resume his journal in my next.
Steamer Great Britain.
It is a curious circumstance that the progress of steamboat building for ocean navigation has just brought us, as the point of perfection, to the model and proportions of the first vessel of which we have any record. I allude to the ark built by Noah. The dimensions of the Great Britain are-length three hundred and twenty-two feet, breadth of beam fifty feet, depth thirty-one and a half feet. The dimensions of the ark were-length three hundred cubits, breadth fifty cubits, depth thirty cubits. It will be seen, therefore, that the ark was nearly twice the size in depth, breadth and length of the steamboat, the cubit being twenty-two inches. Both had upper, lower, and middle stories.
If, after the experience and accumulated knowledge of forty centuries, we have not im- proved on the proportions of the first sea vessel, after resorting to every shape and species of water craft, have we not here an additional argu- ment to the truth of divine revelation, that a -vessel so completely adapted to its purpose, must have been planned by the Great Architect of the Universe. " As for God, his work is perfect."
Irish Wit and Humour.
I was much struck with the peculiarities of the Dublin audience. The national anthem, follow- ed by " St. Patrick's day," was invariably played in the course of every evening's performance at the Crow Street Theatre. These two airs con- stituted the barometer of public opinion. When pleased, Pat applauded both. But if things did'nt go to his liking, he vented his spleen on the first, and applauded his own national air in proportion. At all times, the gallery stamped an accompani- ment to this latter, as well as to all other popu- lar airs, besides joining in chorus. But when a new Lord and Lady Lieutenant visited the theatre
" Pat Mooney!" shouts a voice in the gallery. " Halloo" answers Pat, from the opposite sdie.
Voice .- Can you see 'em, Pat? (Meaning the Lord and Lady Lieutenant.)
Pat Mooney .- I can.
Voice .- Well, what's he like ?
Pat Mooney .- Oh, mighty like a grazier, or a middle-man. Any way, he has a good long nose of his own. (Loud laughter, in which his Lord- ship joins.)
Voice .- Is he clever, think you ?
Pat Mooney .- I'd be sorry to make him sinse- keeper. (Laughter again.)
Voice .- Does he look good-natured?
Pat Mooney .- Well he does, and enjoys a joke, too-Heaven bless him !- like a gentleman as he is.
Voice .- Then we'll not have to send him back ?
Pat Mooney .- No, I don't think we shall. We may get a worse. (Roars of laughter.) They say he's mighty generous, and means to spend his money amongst us like a prince.
Gallery .- We'll keep him, then-we'll keep him. Three cheers, lads-three cheers for the Lord Lieutenant! (Cheers and laughter.)
Voice .- Well, and what's she like, Pat?
Pat Mooney .- Oh, nothing particular. She'd not frighten a horse. (Roars, her ladyship join- ing.)
Voice .- Is she tall ?
Pat Mooney .- Wait till she stands up.
Voice .- May be she's stout, Pat?
Pat Mooney .- Faix! you may say that. It is'nt the likes of her lives on buttermilk. (Roars.)
Voice .- Do you think she's good-natured?
Pat Mooney .- Oh, I'll engage she is. She has the raal blood in her, and there's plenty of it. (Roars and " Bravo!" from the gallery.)
Many voices .- She'll do then, Pat?
Pat Mooney .- Och! she will-she will. I'll engage for her Ladyship.
Voices .- We may keep her then, may we?
Pat Mooney .- Och! the longer the betther- the longer the betther. (Roars.) It's her Lady- ship that'll speak the good word for the man that's in thrubble, and never let the dacent woman want that's in the straw-God bless her!
Gallery .- Bravo! bravo! Three cheers for her Ladyship! Three cheers for the Lady Lieuten- ant! (Cheers and Laughter.)
Pat Mooney, (seeing the Lord Mayor)-My sowl to ye! Dan Finnigan, is that you?
Gallery .- Ah! ah! Is that you, Dan Finni- gan !- is that you? (Hisses and laughter.)
Pat Mooney .- Faix! it's good for the likes of us to see you down among the gintry there, Dan Finnigan. (A loud laugh, at which his Lordship does not seem particularly pleased.) Och! you need'nt look up so sour at us! Many's the good time you've sat up here yourself; you know it is, you ould vinegar bottle! (Roars.)
Voice .- Sure the world's gone well with you any way, Dan Finnigan. Ye had'nt them white kid gloves-
Pat Mooney .- No, nor that grand cocked hat there ---.
Voice .- No, nor that white wand, ye cormo- rant! When you kept the chandler shop, and cheated Mike Kelly out of a farden's worth of pipes, and --
Gallery .- Ah! ah! Who cheated Mike Kelly?
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»who cheated Mike Kelly? (Great confusion, during which the orchestra strikes up.)
But these gallery blackguards did not always let their rulers off so easily. When the Duke of Rutland, whose family name was Manners, with the Duchess, first visited the theatre, Mooney and his echo were in the house also, In the in- terval between the play and afterpiece, a voice was heard from one side of the gallery, " Who slept with Pig Plunket last night?" which was instantly answered on the opposite side by the reproof, " Manners! Manners! you blackguard." The Duke, himself not remarkable for bashful- ness, could not stand this rasping down, and with his Dutchess precipitately quitted the theatre.
St. Clair,
The reverse of fortune which Belisarius is said to have experienced, when poor, old and blind, he was reduced to ask alms, Date obolum Beli- sarius is usually considered the most striking in history, and so extraordinary as to raise doubts of its truth, But the downfall of the Roman soldier was hardly more abjeet, than we have an authenticated case of, in the instance of St. Clair.
Arthur St. Clair was a patriot and soldier of the Revolution, high in the confidenee of Gen'l. Washington, a good judge of men and their merits, and received at his hands the command of the troops raised in 1791 to chastise the aggres- șions of the hostile Indians of the Northwest, as well as the commission of Governor of the terri- tory of that name.
The unfortunate issue of that expedition is well known; but it is not so well known at the present day, that St. Clair was little more suc- cessful in carrying on the government of the Territory committed to his charge, he being in- volved in continual difficulties with his associates in the legislative council, as well as the judicial authorities. These grew out of mistaken views of the nature and extent of his authority, and had the effect of rendering him as odious in his civil capacity as he had previously become as a soldier, Yet St. Clair, although unsuited by temper and disposition, and still more by the gout, to which he was a martyr, for the active and arduous labours devolving on him in the west, was a good man, a gallant soldier, and an accomplished scholar. But the campaigns of the west, with the exception of that of Wayne's, have never been successfully waged by other than western men. St. Clair was an European, had hardly become Americanized thoroughly, when he came to the frontiers, and never was a western man in habit or in feelings. This was in fact an unfortunate appointment, a rare ex- ception in the exercise of a judgment of men and merits, for which Washington was remarkable.
When the territory became a state, and the people of Ohio sovereigns, St. Clair, like Othello, found his occupation gone. He had nothing to expeet at their hands, and returned to Pennsyl- vanja, where he had formerly resided. His re- sources limited at best, were soon exhausted by journeys to Washington to obtain the allowance of unsettled claims against the government. His pecuniary circumstances become worse and worse, and he was finally compelled as a means of support to sell whisky by the gill and chestnuts by the quart, to travelers crossing the Allegheny ridge.
After dragging out a miserable existence for several years in this mode, Congress granted him a small pension, which, however, he lived but a short period to enjoy, sinking to a melancholy grave under privations, which former habits ill fitted him to endure. Such was the close of a life, the prime of which was spent among the great fathers of the Revolution in eouneil and in camp, as their leader or their equal. He had succeeded Haneoek as President of the Continen- tal Congress, and bore arms amidst the severest scenes of the Revolution, and through its whole course.
As usual, what was denied to the living was freely accorded to the dead. His countryman, Burns, was nearly starved to death. A tithe of the expense lavished on monuments to his mem- ory, recording a nation's shame rather than the poet's glory, for it needs no such record, would have made his life comfortable. So with St. Clair. He too asked for bread and they gave him a stone. After the lapse of years, his resting place was traced out with some difficulty, bis re- mains removed to Greensburg, Pa., where an obelisk twenty feet in height, erected by his Ma- sonie brethren, emblazons the bitter lie that re- publics are not ungrateful.
Rats.
A correspondent who is greatly annoyed by rats, and finds no, remedy in the various traps, dogs and cats, rat butter, &e., to which he has resorted, asks if I cannot point out some method of getting rid of these vermins. He could hardly have applied to. a better source of information, and as others doubtless labour under the same difficulty, I shall communicate my reply through my own columns, for general benefit.
In Pennsylvania, as an older settlement and an extensive grain growing district, these vermins of course are abundant. There, as here, traps. have been resorted to with little effeet, barely serving to act upon the young and inexperienced rats. The Pennsylvania Germans, finding they cannot extirpate the race, make it a rule, when these pests become too troublesome, to get the
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neighbouring schoolmaster to write a notice to these rats to quit the premises, just as they would to any other tenant. The document is left in one of the rat holes and immediately gnawed to pieces, which is the usual acknowledgment of service, The rats, without delay, then take up their march, and may be seen traveling of a moonshiny night, along the public road, in bat- talions, to the dwelling or barn of the individual to whose premises they are directed to remove.
I annex a copy of one of these notices, issued by a farmer in Lower Saucon township, North- ampton county, which may serve as a form in like cases. Perhaps if used here it had better be translated into English, as our Cincinnati rats may not understand dutch.
nehmt Obacht.
Mit dem fond ihr benachrichtet tag ihr bey Empfang dics, Die von euch bisher bewohnte ges band verlaffen mügi, im fall ihr tics nit thut, merd ihr die praf empfangen von die vorgefthrice ben Befcą.
Ricder Gancon taunfelip marg 10 1820.
Conrad 21 r mig.
Ich munfch das ihr gum Sans Solafperger schn felt.
1 well recollect the trial of a case before a magistrate in a German settlement in one of the western counties of Pennsylvania. John Eisen- nagle brought suit against Jacob Breyfuss, for damage incurred by the said John in the said Ja- cob sending his rats to the premises of Eisen- nagle. The magistrate, Esq. M-, was a man of good sense and some humour, and con- cluded the best way of settling such a difficulty was to let it take its course, alleging, however, that as the parties were both neighbours and on good terms with him, he proposed for the sake of saving costs, that the witnesses should be exam- ined without being sworn, which was assented to. The parties made their statements, and the witnesses were heard. It was clearly proved that the rats, had been, up to a certain period, abundant at Breyfuss' house, and scarce at Eisen- nagle's, and scarce at Breyfuss' and plenty at Eisennagle's at a later date. One of the wit- nesses proved the fact of a notice being given the rats by Breyfuss; but did not know to whom they were sent. There was much irrelevant matter, owing to the nature of the suit. After hearing the case fully, the Squire remarked that it ap- peared very probable that the rats at Eisenna- gle's were the same lot which had infested Brey- fuss; but gravely remarked, that he sat there not to judge of probabilities, but by proofs, and therefore, as there was no evidence to the identi- ty of the rats, or any one of them, he was con-
strained to give judgment against Breyfuss for costs of suit.
I have known much ill-will on this score be- tween farmers in that neighbourhood, who were supposed thus to have exchanged rats; but this. was the only instance within my knowledge in which things proceeded to extremities.
Charlemagne.
On the occasion of the late continental visit of Queen Victoria of England, at Aix-la-chapelle, the great Cathedral was lighted up at night from roof to floor, with a brilliant display of wax tapers, which rendered the spectacle as light as day. And this at the tomb of Charlemagne, whose ashes repose in this great temple-himself its highest trophy-one of the greatest men of any age or country! Napoleon, a being better qualified to appreciate the character of Charle- magne, behaved with more dignity and in better taste on his visit to the scene. In 1804, just when Bonaparte had progressed into Napoleon, he visited Aix-la-chapelle, Josephine, who ac- companied him, indulged in the caprice of sitting upon the marble throne. But the Emperor, though he did not control this indecorous whim of his Creole wife, attired himself for the occa- sion, from a deep sense of deference to that mighty name, in full regimentals, and stood, si- lent, motionless, and bareheaded, before the chair of Charlemagne. Charlemagne died in 814. In 1814, one thousand years afterwards, almost to an hour, occurred the fall or moral death of Napoleon. In the course of the same fatal year, the allied sovereigns visited the grave of Charles the Great, when Alexander of Rus- sia mounted his gala uniform, in imitation of Napoleon, while Frederick William of Prussia appeared in an undress, and the Emperor of Austria in a great coat and round hat. The King of Prussia entered into all the details of the coronations of the German Emperors, with the Provost of the Chapter; but the two Empe- rors observed a profound silence. All these are now as silent as Charlemagne! Napoleon, Jo- sephine, Alexander, Frederick William, and Francis II., are cold in their graves.
I say nothing of the military exploits of Charlemagne, for he has been equaled if not surpassed in this line. But the man, who in 793, conceived and commenced the plan of con- necting the Rhine and the Danube, by a canal, an undertaking which he was compelled by cir- cumstances to suspend, and which he never had an opportunity to resume, must have had a mind one thousand years in advance of his cotempo- raries, and well deserved the honors, which Na- poleon, in the plenitude of his glory, felt due to. the illustrious dead.
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Europe, was nearly completed at the last ac- counts. It was to have been opened for naviga- tion in a few days, between Nuremburg, and shortly after, through its whole extent, from the Danube to the Mayn.
Though the completion of this great work has been reserved for modern time, its conception and commencement belong to an age and gener- ation ten centuries distant. In 793 the Emperor Charlemagne formed the purpose of establishing a water communication from one extremity of Europe to another, by means of a canal which should unite the waters of the Rhine with those of the Danube. With this object an army of workmen was assembled, the Emperor himself superintending and directing their labors, and for several months the undertaking was most in- dustriously prosecuted. But sickness breaking out among the laborers, and distant wars de- manding Charlemagne's attention, the enterprise was abandoned, only to be resumed after the lapse of more than a thousand years.
A Chapter on Business Signs.
If I had space, a volume would hardly do jus- tice to this subject. Half a column must suffice at this time.
Some partnership firms are oddly put together. In Philadelphia a dry goods firm on Second street, bore the euphonious title of Sheepshanks &. Shufflebottom. On Front street, the firm of Schott &. Fell carried on business. As each side of the door bore a partner's name, it became a regular amusement of the boys to read and call out as they passed by, James Schott-and Jona- than Fell.
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