gcls_courant_011 4

92 THE COURANT; A SOUTHERN LITERARY JOURNAL.
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"grindrock" for "grindstone." There seems to be an
aversion for the good old Anglo-Saxon word stone.
So the word "peacock" is never heard here, but
"peafowl." Nor does the "cock" every crow here, but
the "chickens" crow.
"I did not go to do it," for "I did mot mean to do it."
"Refuse lumber;" here the Southerner always ac-
cents the last syllable improperly. And so in the word
"contrary" he improperly accents the middle syllable.
"Medicine" is called "truck," as "Son, take this
nice truck the doctor has left you."
What strikes the Northerner most when he comes
here, is the universal custom of calling everything
"tricks." For instance, a new machine is a nice "trick."
Picking up any article, our Southern friend will say,
"Whose trick is this?" And so the word "traps" is
often used. As, "He has gone and taken all his traps
with him," instead of "goods."
A man's "baggage" here is often called "plunder."
The fish "perch" is called "pierch," or "peerch."
"Crack a smile" is in common use, instead of "to
smile."
One expression of Southerners is far preferable to one
of Northerners. I refer to the word of endearment
given to a little child. The Yankee calls him "Bubby,"
which is grossly improper. The Southerner says "Bud-
dy." How sweet and expressive is the latter appella-
tion; for are not children tender "buds" of mortality?
Let our Northern friends learn from this.
In the South, "boards" are split shingles. Every-
thing in lumber that is sawn is called by him "plank,"
no matter if only an inch or a half inch thick.
"Onct" and "twiced" are general, instead of "once"
and "twice."
"Nary one," for "neither one," or "ary one," for
"either one," is common.
"Sort o' cloudy" is used for "somewhat cloudy."
"It sticks out," for "it is quite apparent."
The planter seldom "raisês" cotton, but generally he
"makes" cotton.
"Hand-write" is always used for "hand-writing."
We have no "pails" here, but "bucket" is the word.
"A cotton patch," "potato patch," etc., are used in-
stead of "field."
"Watermelons" are frequently called "watermillions."
A friend at parting said to me, "Call often, I wish
to use with you." I afterward learned he wished "to
associate" with me. So, if stock or deer frequent a par-
ticular locality, they are said "to use" there.
It is common to use the word "allow" here errone-
ously. For instance, "I allow to go to town to-morrow,"
for "I intend;" and "I allowed he knew his own busi-
ness," for "I presumed," etc.
"Lots" of anything, for "much," or a "great num-
ber," is common.
I never heard of a "wash-dish," or a "wash-basin"
here, but all the time a "wash-pan," whether made of
tin or earthenware.
One ox is always called "an oxen," and if more than
one, "oxens."
There is no such word as afternoon here; but "even-
ing" instead.
If there has been much rain, you often hear of "a
power of rain."
I have noticed that many young ladies are called
"Puss" by their friends out here. The wife of a man
with whom I boarded was always called "Puss" by
every one, though that was not her name.
The Northerners are universally termed Yankees.
And it is here a term of reproach or derision rather than
of honor. Strictly speaking, the inhabitants of all these
States are Yankees--a name, you know, given to Ameri-
can rebels by the people and army of Britain. And
among all other nations the American is called Yankee,
whether he hails from Vermont or Mississippi. Though
the Southerner tries to shake off the sobriquet, it never-
theless as much belongs to him as to the New Eng-
lander. YANKEE.
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The New York Century thus lets in on the ornament-
ation of the national Capitol generally, and the De Soto
particularly. The critique--not the first of the kind
upon that work--carries conviction to the mind even of
one who has never seen the picture:
"The pictures in the Rotunda have various degrees
of merit and demerit. The best is that old signing of
the Declaration, now an American classic, by Trumbull.
The worst, and the worst that can be, is that piece of
man-millinery, in which De Soto and his gallant crew,
after hardships innumerable, are seen approaching the
banks of the Mississippi in full gala-day costume of the
Court of Madrid, in silks and satin, velvet, Cordovan
leather, feathers and embroidery, with flags flying, horses
prancing, and no hint of the journey behind, or the fate
before them; with only a vision of naked, enticing In-
dian women hospitably awaiting their arrival on the neigh-
boring shore."
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For the Courant.
GREEN SPOTS.--No. 2.
THE CONGAREE.
-----
BY MRS. MARTIN.
-----
I've read about the classic "Rhine,"
Have seen the "Aye" and "Nith;"
And every stream sung by "the Nine"
I am acquainted with;
But none of them, howe'er renown'd,
Possess the charm for me,
That my fond heart hath ever found
In my own Congaree.

I've view'd the calm "Connecticut,"
Sail'd up the glorious "North,"
They feast my eye, my fancy, but
They call not feeling forth,
Like that to which my heart of hearts
Rushes tumultuously,
When memory or sight imparts
A glimpse of Congaree.

What is the "Amazon" to me,
Tho' widest of the wide?
The "Mississippi," tho' I see
It as De Soto spied,
When first its grandeur burst upon
His sight entrancingly--
Unto my partial eye there's none
Like noble Congaree.

The "Mersy's" tide I've floated on,
And the "Potomac's" wave;
Thence view'd the home of Washington,
And, passing, wept his grave.
The "Jordan" and the "Nile" both are
Most sacred unto me;
Yet my "Abana and Pharpar,"
Is my blest Congaree.

The "Pactolus" that flow'd o'er gold,
The "Ganges'" cleansing flood--
Altho' I might one's wealth behold,
Or, with the multitude,
The other's vaunted virtue try,
What were it all to me?
In poverty I'd rather die,
Beside sweet Congaree.

For O, beside its sylvan stream,
When life with me was young,
When youth indulg'd in fancy's dream,
And caroll'd her sweet song;
E'en there, a coy and bashful muse
I woo'd and won, may be,
At early morn, or twilight dews,
By thee, fair Congaree.

And listen'd to thy tuneful surge,
Rippling the live-long day,
Or, to thy eddy's wailing dirge,
That seem'd to mourn alway;
O, didst thou mourn the Indian race,
That, erst, frequented thee?
Their footprints on thy shores we trace,
Romantic Congaree.

Their arrow's pointed barbs we find,
Along thy shelving banks,
And tears mine eyes do often blind,
To think how thinn'd the ranks
Of those brave warriors of the past,
Who've found oblivion's sea,
Like to the leaves of autumn cast
On waves of Congaree.

No more of this depressing thought--
Associations dear
Be with those healing waters brought,
The smile e'en with the tear;
Made up of pensive joy and grief,
The mingled feeling be,
Tears bring unto the heart relief,
Tears wept by Congaree.
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TRANCENDENTALISM.--"You know, madam, that you
cannot make a purse out of a sow's ear."
"Oh sir, please fan me. I have intimations of a
swoon. When you use that odious specimen of vulgar-
ity again, clothe it in refined phraseology! You should
say, 'It is impossible to fabricate a pecuniary receptacle
from the auricular organ of the softer sex of the genus
Hog.'"
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We sleep, but the loom of life never stops: and the
pattern which was weaving when the sun went down, is
weaving when it comes up.
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Wisdom is better without an inheritance, than an in-
heritance without wisdom.
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If you spend the day profitably, you will have cause
to rejoice in the evening.
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THE GROUPING OF VOLCANOES.
-----
"Even more than the form and height of volcanoes
is their grouping, because it leads us to the great geo-
logical phenomenon of elevation over fissures. Such
groups of volcanoes, whether they have been elevated
according to Leopold von Buch, in lines, or simultane-
ously around a central volcano, indicate the part of the
earth's crust in which (whether it may have been from
the lesser thickness of the rocky strata, or from their
nature, or from their original fissuring) the tendency of
the molten interior to break forth has met with least re-
sistance. Three degrees of latitude are included in the
space in which the volcanic activity manifests itself
fearfully in Etna, in the Æolian Isles, in Vesuvius, and
the Phlegræan Fields from Puteoli (Dicæarchia) to
Cumæ and to the fire vomiting Epopeus on Ischia, the
Tyrrhenian Ape's Island, Ænaria. Such a connection
of analogous phenomena could not escape the notice of
the Greeks. Strabo says, 'The whole sea, beginning
from Cumæ to Sicily, is traversed by fire, and has un-
doubtedly in its depths hollow passages communicating
with each other and with the main-land. Such an in-
flammable nature as is described by all, shows itself, not
only in Etna, but also in the country around Dicæarchus
and Neopolis, and around Baiæ and Pithunsæ.' Thence
arose the fable that Typhon lies under Sicily, and that
when he turns himself, flames and water burst forth,
and sometimes even small islands and boiling water.
'Often, between Strongyle and Lipara, (in this wide
sweep) flames are seen to issue from the surface of the
sea, when the fire opens for itself a passage from the
cavities in the depths, and violently forces its onward
way.' In Pindar the body of Typhon is so vast, that
'Sicily, and the sea-surrounded heights above Cumæ,
(Phlegra, the "field of burning,") lie on the monster's
shaggy breast.' Typhon (the raging Enceladus) be-
came in the Greek popular phantasy the mystic designa-
tion of the unknown cause of volcanic phenomena, lying
deeply buried in the bosom of the earth. By the situa-
tion and space assigned to his bulk, they indicated the
boundaries and connected action of the particular vol-
canic system. In the richly imaginative geological pic-
ture of the interior of the earth in Plato's grand con-
templation of nature, in the Phædo, this connected sys-
tem is, with still greater boldness, extended to all vol-
canic systems. In it the lava streams draw their sup-
plies from the Pyriphlegethon, where, 'after it has often
rolled round and beneath the earth,' it pours itself into
Tartarus. Plato says expressly that in the fire-vomiting
mountains, where such are found on earth, small
portions of the Pyriphlegethone are blown out. The
expression, 'driving out with violence,' may be under-
stood to refer to the motive force of the previously in-
closed and suddenly and forcibly escaping wind, on
which subsequently Aristotle, in his 'Meteorology,'
founded his whole theory of volcanic action."--Von
Humboldt's Cosmos.
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A design for the monument to commemorate the bat-
tle of Lake Erie has been prepared by Tom Jones, the
Ohio sculptor, and accepted. It is thus described by
the Columbus Journal:
The base is about thirty feet square, from which rises
a square block, having the entrance to the column, and
supporting a panel on which will be cut in bas relief
that most glorious event in the history of Perry, when
he quitted the dismantled Lawrence, and with the bat-
tle-flag upon his shoulder, passed in a small boat, through
the raking fire of the enemy, to another ship. The next
important feature of the monument will be the broad-
side of the man-of-war, with its port-holes and cannon
protruding; and above this will rise in majestic propor-
tions the lofty column, representing the sturdy mast of a
vessel, the top surrounded with sea-shells, among which,
as in water, is placed the cap of the monument, formed
with the prows of four noble ships of the line. This
will be the striking feature of the monument--the bold
prows, with their cut-waters and figure-heads, making
the corners of a masterly Corinthian capital. From the
centre of the capital will rise the crown--a ship's cap-
stan, and worked out to the life; and upon the whole
stands a statue of the noble Perry, fifteen feet high. The
small island on which the monument will be placed is
three hundred feet broad, and twelve hundred feet long,
shaped like a coffin; and at equal distances from the
sides and upper end is the highest point, rising forty
feet above the water, solid rock. The monument will be
one hundred and sixty feet high, which, with the forty
of the island, gives an altitude of two hundred feet.
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A wise man will dispose of time past to observation
and reflection; time present to duty; and time to come
to Providence.
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Where love is, there is no labor, and if there is labor,
the labor is loved.
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