USA > Ohio > Hamilton County > Cincinnati > The Cincinnati miscellany, or, Antiquities of the West, and pioneer history and general and local statistics. Volume II > Part 64
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So all the sympathy and consolation for my night's troubles I had met at last, was to be ta- ken for a drunken, brawling rowdy by these qui- et, sober Germans.
To Readers.
My correspondent " H." in his article, " Yan- kee Tricks," gives the history of a pork opera- tion, the point of which may be no more obvious, at first sight, to my readers than it was to me. But if we make out the bill, we can as readily discover the shave, as doubtless did the clerk at the sale.
Had the purchasers selected the hogs as the sel- ler expected-the man taking the best who paid the highest, and the poorest hogs going with the lowest price, the bill would have been- First choice, 7 hogs, 200-1400 at 3 cents $42.00 Second “ 7 hogs, 100-700 at 1 7.00
Third " 7 hogs, 50-350 at ¿ 1.75
$50.75
But as the choice was made-
7 hogs, 50-350 at 3 cents, $10.50
7 « 100-700 at 1 cent, 7.00
7 " 200-1400 at è cent, 7.00
$24.50
This was a neat thing, and according to the laws of trade, fairly and lawfully done.
Life in Florida.
A public meeting of the citizens of Jackson- ville, Florida, appointed a committee to memo- rialize the Legislature of that State, to supply the Supreme Court Rooms of a newly erected Court House with the necessary furniture. I quote the the suggestions of the committee in their own language.
"The committee recommend the immediate purchase of the following articles of furniture, and that as the expense attendant will be too enormous to borne by the publie, they sincerely trust that the Governor will be patriotie enough to " run his face" for them.
" One pine table, for the lawyers to sit upon; four rush bottomed chairs, for the lawyers to put their feet upon; one pine beneh, large enough for the witnesses and lawyers, that have nothing to do, to go to sleep upon; and one yellow pine spit- toon, six feet by six.
" Your committeo, in suggesting the purchase of this article, would respectfully represent, that the old one, which was only three feet by three, was broken over the head of an eminent leading counsel, during a little difficulty, and that it is advisabte to have one in future, that cannot be lifted, and that can afford ample accommodations for the whole bench and bar, and assembled wit- nesses."
We may smile at Floridian notions of con- venience, but there are accommodations alluded to-the sleeping bench particularly-if made suf- ficiently large, which would be very desirable elsewhere as a place of repose during the long winded harangues of some of the lawyers.
"Yankee Tricks."
This is a common term for anything very smart, done in the way of trade, no matter in which of the States the doer was born. I ap- prove of the old saying-" Let every tub stand on its own bottom." I am no Yankee, but have been well acquainted with many of them in the way of business and friendly intercourse. They are generally pretty cute, cautious, and saving men, though liberal promoters of charitable and publie institutions, to which objeets a single Yan- kee State, (the Old Bay,) or perhaps the town of Boston only, has, within the last thirty years, given more than the whole of the States south of Mason & Dixon's line have done since their first settlement; and of what these have given, it is probable more than half was from Baltimore alone. Let any Yankee take a journey south on a real good horse, and when he returns see if the beast he rides does not shew he has been out yankeed. He is some how or other induced to trade or swap till it ends in a bit of carrion, un- less indeed his good horse is stolen, for horse fan- ciers (thieves) are as plenty as he goes along south as they are scarce in the New England States, Joekeys are no doubt to be found in all the States. We have them in Ohio, but all that I have known came here from south of the line. If such folks are otherwise respectable, the only way is to put them upon their man-describo the horse you want and about the price you would be willing to give, and you will seldom be disappointed in price or quality. I remember reading in a southern paper of a Yankee trick. It stated that some bales of cotton were returned from Glasgow, that were made up of cotton seeds and trash-the sweepings of the warehouse, with a nice plating of excellent Sea-Island. I heard the late Col. Humphreys, Sen., of Philadelphia, tell of a parcel of piteh-of which he used a large quantity in his business of ship building-which on melting proved to be about seven-eighths stones. I was told in a southern city, a story
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about half a large grindstone, which was returned as not being tobacco :- with it came the ware- house marks, by which the honest planter was easily discovered. The merchant who was the original shipper of the tobacco, kept shady, but afterwards sold the planter a barrel of sugar in which was the said grindstone; and, wonderful to relate, it was never discovered-at least it may be so surmised-as the buyer never mentioned it. Another " Yankee trick" I can vouch for :- A hogshead of tobacco came from the same south- ern city, to New York; it was there sold and paid for-but before delivery, a letter came from the shipper, directing that it should be particular- ly examined, as another hogshead of the same crop had been sold to a manufacturer, which, on breaking up, was found to be a cheat. It was accordingly examined, particularly; and in the centre was a very large oval pebble stone, which weighed, I think, three hundred and twenty pounds. To fix it in its place, long, slender oak pins were driven at short distances all round it, and very neatly done. Above and below, and all round it, the tobacco was excellent, and the whole appearance of the hogshead was such as would warrant an inspector to pass it, or a purchaser to buy it on sight; particularly if the tobacco was undergoing its sweat, as at such time opening it, by letting in the air is injurious and causes mouldiness. I was once riding with an esteemed friend, and we met with a man who had grossly cheated him. Said my friend to his brother Yankee, "it is such rascals as you who when driven from home, settle where you are not known, but are soon found out in your old dirty tricks, that forty or fifty miles round give a bad name to all New England." As to the dealers in horn gun flints and wooden nutmegs, I give them up to be buffeted. though the nutmeg busi- ness was not so very bad after all. A country store-keeper, who had dealt in the article, on be- ing asked about it, said they were very pretty looking nutmegs-made he believed of saw-dust; that those made of sassafras were reasonably good, but those of elm or beech, wasn't worth a curse.
I once saw a very neat specimen of Yankee cuteness when traveling south. Some where be- low Baltimore the stage was delayed crossing a stream, by being behind several wagons which would have to cross over before it, It was a cold morning, and the stage passengers got out and crossed over in the first boat, to a country store near the ferry, so as to warm themselves before the stage got over. One of the passengers was a quiet-looking, youngish man, evidently one of the " Universal Yankee Nation." He had little or nothing to say while in the stage, except when answering a question, which he did mod- estly and understandingly. In the store were
several tall, lathy-looking men, who had proba- bly came there to take their morning bitters. One of them addressed our passenger with-" I say, stranger, a'n't you a Yankce?" " Yes I be one of the people so called." " Well, you Yan- kees are said to be good at guessing, now I'll bet you a pint of rum I'll guess nearer the weight of that roll of tobacco than you can." " I don't drink rum, but will take my share in ginger- bread." The man then took up the roll of pig- tail, and after a short handling, said-" The weight is four pounds, ten ounces and a half; now what do you say?" His opponent handled the roll for some time ;- " Well, what do you. say?" asked the other. " Why I say four pounds, ten ounces and a half." This raised a general laugh at the proposer, who said it was not fair, and it was left to the company to decide; but, honour bright, his own companions, wild-look- ing creatures though they were, gave it against their friend.
Some years since, a sloop was drifting with the tide up a river in Old Virginia; a boat was ahead, as if towing her, but the men only occasionally gave a pull or two, merely to keep the sloop in the channel. She had a cargo of notions, con- sisting of Boston china, (Hingham wooden ware) onions, apples, coffins in nests, cheese, potatoes, and many other articles, " too tedious to men- tion." At a house near the river, a large num- ber of people were gathered, and the captain, thinking some trade could be made, came to an- chor and went on shore, with his mate and one of his seamen. He found there was to be a sale of the personal property of a deceased planter or farmer. Before the sale began he made a pretty considerable trade for his notions. The sale com- menced with the live stock, part of which con- sisted of hogs, which were put in three lots of seven each; terms, cash down, for live weight, sinking the offal. Part of the drove were very fine and fat, but they decreased in quality and weight down to lean shoats and small pigs, most of them so feeble as to be hardly able to raise a squeal or grunt, without laying down or leaning against the wall. The first choice of seven would average, say, two hundred pounds net weight; the next best one hundred pounds, and the last about fifty. Well, the captain purchased the first lot at $7 per hundred; the mate the next at $1; and the sailor the last at 50 cents. When the delivery was made, the captain, to the astonish- ment of Old Virginia, chose the seven lightest. An honest buckskin said-" Why, captain, what a d-d fool you are; don't you know you have the choice?" " Yes I do, and I choose these nico little roatsers." Thie mate made choice of the next in size, so that the leavings fell to the poor sailor. The grunters were all put on board and
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the sloop went her way up the river with a new | Blair & Co., nearly opposite the Franklin Cot- article of trade. H.
CORRESPONDENCE.
Mr. C. CIST: Dear Sir,-
I do not pen this communication for the pur- pose of publieation; neither do I write in a spirit of controversy, the subject being of too trifling a nature: but I wished to submit to your excellent judgment another derivation of the word Ecuyer, instead of the word equus, which, with great plausibility of correctness, you gave in your last. You very properly correct my derivation of the term; but in my first communication, I merely wished to say, the corresponding word, answer- ing to the English esquire and French ecuyer in its application, was the Latin armiger. Our equerry, I agree with you, has its root in equus; but will you allow me to suggest another, and in my opinion, more probable derivation of the word, viz: the Latin scutum, a shield, from whence the French ecu, also a shield or buckler. The transition from ecu to eeuycr, would be easy .enough. If the word in dispute is derived from equus, we must suppose that esquire and equerry denote the same thing-a groom of the horse: But the term has had a too widely known mean- ing, as signifying an honourable title, amongst the Romans as armigeri, the French as ccuyer, and English esquire, to allow us to suppose it de- rived from such a menial source.
February 9th, 1846.
PHIL.
Covington.
Cincinnati has progressed in her improvements to a point, which in the advanced value of ground, brings into competition as advantageous scites to dwellings 'and factories, our neighbours of Covington, Newport, and the adjacent parts of Delhi, Fulton, and Millcreek townships.
A recent visit to Covington has impressed me strongly with the conviction that a large portion of our citizens must find homes across the river, as a necessary consequence of our rapidly in- creasing density of buildings. Streets are being laid out in the new parts of Covington, in which lots have been extensively sold at prices advan- cing, from time to time, in nearly the same ratio as in our suburbs, to the north and west. These have principally been taken by individuals who continue to carry on business on this side of the Ohio.
I shall take an carly opportunity of pointing out some of the features which especially mark the progress of our sister city, refering at present merely to the fact that a new and extensive roll- ing mill and steam grist mill, are about being erected by A. L. Grrer & Co., of Covington, im- mediately west of the bagging factory of M. J.
ton Factory of our own city. This new estab- ment will make the sixth for the supply of iron to the Cincinnati market. Ten years will not elapse before our city will lead Pittsburgh as far in the market for this article as we now do in all other manufactures-glass and cotton yarn ex- cepted.
Covington is already, I suppose, the fourth city in Kentucky for magnitude and population. By the census of 1850 it will probably be the second ; and if it shall maintain for forty years its present ratio ofimprovement, must eventually become the great city of that state.
Building for 1846.
Although the weather is still of chequered and unsettled character, yet spring is evidently advancing, and with its approaching revival of buds and of flowers, is a revival of building op- erations. All over the city there are extensive preparations for putting up dwellings and stores to supply the increasing wants of the city. The unprecedentedly low water of last year shut out the regular supply of lumber to this market and cheeked various building operations here, which would otherwise have been made, and which will therefore add to the regular annual improvements of Cincinnati.
The buildings of the year past I judge will' . reach in the computation now in progress 1250; nearly the same as for 1845. It must be recol- lected, that independently of the reason just given why part of the improvements of 1845 will be thrown into 1846, that the buildings-brick espe- cially-of last ycar, are of a character greatly su- perior to those of its predecessors in magnitude and importance, and consuming at least twenty millions more bricks in their construction. The public edifices alone of 1845, are of greater ex- tent, value and consequence, than almost all other public buildings in existence heretofore. In this estimate it must be understood is included thic great Cathedral, which, although in progress of erection for four years, has not been rendered ready for service until 1845, and is even yet not entirely finished.
Notwithstanding the number of dwellings put- ting up in Newport and Covington, and Storrs, Dellii, Fulton, and Millcreek townships, whose owners or occupants are doing business in Cin- cinnati, a greater number of buildings will be put up in Cincinnati for 1846, than has ever yet been known.
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One ni a Time.
In a western city, which shall be nameless, a sheriff's deputy in attendance on the courts of justice, was ordered by the judge to call John Bell and Elizabeth Bell. He immediately began, at the top of his lungs-
"John Bell and Elizabeth Bell!"
"One at a time," said the judge.
" One at a time-one àt a time-ONE AT'A TIME!" shouted the crier.
" Now you've done it," exclaimed the judge, out of patience.
" Now you've done it-now you're done it- NOW YOU'VE DONE IT!" yelled the deputy.
There was no standing this; the court, bar and bystanders broke into a hearty laugh, to the per- fect surprise and dismay of the astonished crier.
Legislative Wit.
During a late debate in the Ohio Legislature, on what are called the Black Laws, one of the representatives from the Western Reserve- Cheesedom, as it is nicknamed at Columbus-in advocating their repeal, disclaimed any local in- terest on the subject, there being few negroes in that part of the State. This brought out a Mr. Stanley, who remarked in reference to the dis- claimer-" I believe it. Yankees and negroes cannot well live together. Negroes generally follow shaving for a livelihood, and we Yankees are in the habit of shaving ourselves." " Yes," added Mr. Gallagher, our city representative, "and every body else." (Great merriment.)
Notice.
The " Young People's Magazine," as well as the Literary Emporium, two of the New York monthlies for January and February, liave been laid on my editorial table. I take pleasure in re- commending them to readers who arc cloyed with the preserved citron of sentimental narra- tive which pervades generally the periodical lit- erature of the East.
Derivations.
In my article on derivations, I omitted to 110- tice two or three.
The origin of the name Doomsday book, was for a long time hidden in obscurity. At last a persevering explorer ferreted out, by ascertain- ing its original title in a black letter manuscript -that the term doomsday was merely a corrup- tion of Domus Dei-the house of God, i. e. the religious house in which it had been kept for safety.
A more amusing instance of corrupting a word, or phrase, is the expression, Tit for tat, evidently a childish pronunciation of " this for that," being probably a slap or punch retaliatory.
Chronological Table.
Feb. 19th .- Galileo, born, 1564.
20th .- Voltaire, born, 1694.
21st .- Archbishop Cranmer, burnt, 1556.
22d .- GEORGE WASHINGTON, born, 1732 .. Sir Joshua Reynolds, died, 1792.
23d .- The Peacock taken, 1813.
Errors of the Fress.
Typographical blunders are sometimes so de- trimentally and strangely wrong, that it would seem as if they were not always accidental. In a publisher's announcement, instead of " Cricket on the Hearth, a Fairy Tale of Home-for sale' at the bookstores," the following travestie ap- pears: " The Critic on the Heat, a Fiery Tale of Rome, for sale at the bootstores."
Kron Steamboat Hunter.
This boat, which is propeled by the submerged horizontal propelers, invented by the officer whose name she bears, left Cincinnati on Friday, the 8th inst., for Louisville. She made her run to. the mouth of the Great Miami-twenty-two miles -in one hour and twenty minutes-nearly six- teen miles an hour. This is a rate of speed un -. precedented for any boat like the Hunter-but one hundred feet in length-and seems to indi- cate that the propelers have not had fair play at the East, where they have been considered a failure.
Shakspearc and the Bible.
An obscure Scotch peasant, calling on business at a gentleman's house, in Edinburg, saw a bust of Shakspeare, and these lines from the Tempest, inseribed beneath it :-
" The cloud capt towers, the gorgeous palaces The solemu temples, the great globe itself Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve And like the baseless fabric of a vision, Leave not a wreck behind."
The gentleman secing the peasant's eyes at- tracted by these lines, asked him if he had ever seen anything equal to them in sablimity. His reply was just and striking. " Yes I have. The following passage from the Book of Revelation. is much more striking :-
""" And I saw a great white throne and Him that sat upon it, from whose face the carth and the heaven fled away, and there was no place for them.'"
Journal of Memphis Convention.
I observe this journal is published at last. Will my brethren of the Enquirer or Eagle have the kindness to see that the copies due to the Ohio delegation, for which they paid in advance, will be forwarded by the individual whose business it may be to do so?
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Enw Micraturs.
The last number of Hunt's Merchants' Maga- zine has an article humorously illustrative of the necessity for members of the bar, especially in the United States, to make themselves better ac- quainted with mercantile subjects aud terms than is generally the case :---
" Many ludicrous mistakes," says the writer, " have occurredl by reason of the ignorance of judges and lawyers upon general and commer- cial subjects. It is related of an English barris- ter, that in examining a witness he asked, " where a ship (in question) was at a particular time?" " Oh," replied the witness, " the ship was then in quarantine." " In Quarantine was she? and pray sir, where is Quarantine?"
Mr. Chitty, whose writings are well known to the bar, mentions the case of a judge, who after being engaged six hours in the trial of an insu- rance case, on a insurance policy upon Russia duck, on his charge to the jury complained that no evidence had been given to show how the Rus- sia duck, (mistaking the cloth of that name for the bird,) could be damaged by sea water and to what extent
Turkish Panishment.
.
The celebrated French author, Dumas, in his pleasing accont of " A Fortnight at Sinai," nar- rates the following characteristic anecdote of pun- ishment on the person of a baker at Cairo, who had been convicted of fraud. He was nailed to his own doorway by one car, and at such a dis- tance from the ground that the whole weight of the body rested on the great toes, and no relief could be procured without tearing the ear, to which no Mussulman of honour can submit. M. Dumas was at first inclined to intercede for him, but, on secing his cars bored, with holes like a seive, he thonght him too old an offender to be worthy of his efforts; and placing himself oppo- site, made a sketch of him instead. While so oc- cupied, he overheard the following curious dia- logue between the culprit and the guard placed over him, to see the chastisement fulfilled. " Brother," said the baker, " there is a law of our Holy Prophet, which says, ' that we ought to aid each other.'" The guard continued to smoke without making any reply. "Brother," agam said the baker, "hast thou heard me?" The guard gave no other sign of attention than puf- fing out a large mouthful of smoke. " Brother," resumed the offender, " one of us two might help the other, and be agreeable to the Prophet!" The puffs of smoke continued to follow each other with provoking regularity. "Brother," porse- vered the sufferer, in a melancholy tone, " put a stone under my feet, and I will give you a pias- ter"-worth about three pence English-abso-
lute silence. " Two piasters"-a pausc-" three piasters "-smoke-" four piasters." "Ten," said the guard. The car and the purse of the baker had a long struggle; at last pain gained tho ascendency, and the ten piasters rolled at the feet of the guard, who picked them up, counted and pocketed them, placed his chibook against the wall, rose, procured a small pebble, placed it un- der thic feet of the baker, and resumed his smo- king. "Brother," said the delinquent, " I do not feel any thing under my feet." " Nevertheless," answered the guard, " there is a stone. I have chosen one proportioned to the sum; give me a talari. (four shillings English,) and I will put a stone under thy feet so beautiful, and so adapted to thy situation, that when thou art in paradise thou shalt regret the place thou didst occupy at the door of thy shop." Again did pain get the better of the baker, who had the stone, and the guard his talari.
Small Pox.
Theinhabitants of the good city of Boston were thrown into a great excitement last weck, by the startling announcement that a crier had been heard ringing his bell, and proclaiming, " lots of small pox in Nashua street." On examination, however, it was discovered that a slight error had been committed, the crier having said-" Lost, a sınall box, in Nashua strect." This altered the complexion of things materially.
What is Luxury ?
A candle would have been a luxury to Alfred; a half-crown cotton gown to his Queen. Car- pets in lieu of rushes, would have been luxuries to Henry VII. Glass windows in lieu of horn to his nobles. A lettuce to Henry VIII's Queen; silk gloves and stockings to Queen Elizabeth; and so on, ad infinitum. Mr. Charles Waterton, the author of some works on natural history, in his account of his family, tells us that one of his an- cestors, in the time of Henry IV, " was sent into France by the King, with orders to contract a royal marriage, and was allowed 13s. a day for his trouble and traveling expenses."
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Recollections of the last Sixty Years .-- No. S.
BY Col. J. JOHNSTON, of Piqua.
In the year 1801, the Society of Friends bc- longing to the yearly meeting of Baltimore com- menced their labours of love among the Miamis of the Wabash, thirty-five miles southwest of Fort Wayne. William and Mahlon Kirk, with other assistants, were sent out from Maryland to conduct the agricultural operations, and introduce among the Indians such of the mechanic arts as were suited to their condition. The Friends were gaining fast upon the confidence of the Miamis, until the traders, whiskey, and rum sellers, with other bad men in the Indian country, began to poison the minds of the Indians against their best friends, for such were the Quakers; and the benevolent enterprise was finally, after some years given up, and the mission transfered to the Shawanese of Ohio, and continued until their final removal southwest of Missouri. The so- ciety, at a very considerable expense, introduced farming among the Shawanese; built them a grist and saw mill, at Wapaghkonetta; and the writer of these sheets was made the almoner of a female friend in Ireland-whose name he was not per- mitted to know-to the amount of one hundred pounds sterling, to be expended in stock and im- plements of agriculture among the Indians of his agency, which trust he faithfully executed, send- ing an account of the expenditure, with a suita- ble address from the chiefs, through the hands of the committee of Friends for Indian concerns at Baltimore. Acts such as the preceding, with the accounts transmitted through the Delawares of the just and humane government of the Quakers in Pennsylvania towards the primitive Indians, has made them all repose great confidence in per- sons of their society; and if I were young, in the prime of my years, and once more placed in the management of the Indians, I would take for my assistants in the service none but Quakers, and with such, and just men in the administra- tion of the government, I would want no soldiers to keep the Indians in subjection. See how the Cherokees are distracted with interminable and bloody feuds, by reason of Schermerhorn's trcaty, made with about one tenth of the nation; and with the knowledge of this fact, ratified by the Senate and President of the United States. Al- ready some of the best men in the nation have been assassinated in consequence; and at this moment the United S. dragoons are in the Chero- kee country-Lieutenant Johnston, my own son among them-hunting up the murderers and try- ing to restore peace. The latter is impracticable: the cause lies too deep-too much blood already shed ;- and all this by the unjust acts of the gen- eral government, in wresting their country from them under the solemn mockery of a treaty made
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