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The Mi it ! wliiir'rr t!n Mit . i:iv r, i.
ir
.t r.tHonr.
The foUawinjr, I'anza, ( pnrrxlv on prl rf f he Ire;,
pir Petition.) wcrr picked up trtfenUy week on tin
!orc icr Co en. The line tlut re lift. iniI tn
iHcjpblepTmnwh' from the rnanovniitr which' m
torn,uhjf been hnl in keeping a refractory pair of
v uiskera in pood order.
... . -I'iyi.the 'rrow of a poor old num.
plifc-d jm-nt hm Wnr him to jrour horc :
Lei not Kti iff r!i.iititc ttm with her fan i
Oh! give three cker, if you can give no more
Thcie well-made clothe my w'nli to pKw b. p k,
Thrw curling lock diiif my l.-nplhtnU ), rs
And the bluff whiiker on each ample rhctk,
Miyht itrike an Indian warrior with fear.
The house which once 1 f.mdlv thought m own
Bcene of my triumph has now f-aM o hhine ;
For Justice there shall fix Iter jrol.lc n tlinmr,
Ami tnith, and Lw, and liberty, rornhine.
Hani ii the f.te of the infirm and weak !
Here, a I craved them-to dirace my wiiV,
They laid another bride I mint not seek,
And saucy Dcnman b:ulc me mend my life.
Had fte reduced me, I should not repine ;
My friendi have brought me to llic staff you ser,
And your condition will be oon like mine
They'll bring you too to want and misery.
A h'lge Green Bug delighted they display
ed)' us a Lrk I viewed the valued plie
Hut O ! itk triakurf milt in ilirt away,
Beneath the flash of llrougham'a inrjuiriii eye.
My sprightly Canning, soother of my care,
Keen a a Rat the coming storm to se c,
Departed, w hen I tamper'd with the prars,
And lift the It:i to Gilford and to me.
Pity the mhtow- of a poor old nan,
W ho? c gilded yacht has borne him to your shore .
Let not bin wife chastise him with her fan ;
Oli ! give three cheers, if you can give no more.
tuiti. Ft should Ijfc i,. c :ry u.i.d aw i.I.s
of the inw: of himself. There ii nomin;;
ttilhin the reach of our stntcs so- indu ativc
f the vnrioui changrs of animated iMturr, nj
the vi rrctalile kingdom rxhibits to our view
Kvcry'8C4nm of the year U depicted upon the
countcnancei of the inhabitant! of thii lover
Horldt ,Knowtug that iits urc thiis' Riding
with 'an almost imperceptible velocity. upon
trie. current of time, wc thnulil losfnot)npor
tu'tity in making prcparati'm for the great
and lait rhanre which awaits iih. Were we
pom-iaed of the immense treasures of.41 Col
conda," they would avail us nought in this
'Ill.lAlKAVlllnl A It H-ltta. . . . .
wit-uiiiui lam uwui it vmi tiny iiiaiauics uuu
titles vanish from our view. Nothing hut a
consciousness of a virtuous and -well-spent
life itflords consolation in -a dyine hour.'
rirnH pressed whh i such feelings, we here dose
the present number of the "Athenian Club"
hut not without the hope that it may remind
our readers of the shortness and uncertainty
of human life.
N. I). After the publication of this number
of the 44 Athenian Club," vc will make our
exit, in order to make room for the proceed
ing of our State and National Legislatures
Original.
( roa -rut wnrra riiouuii
BT 0BAV1AU I.OS(,tAFF, ESQ.
We Fperul our year la a Ulc that is told" aiai t.
The four seasons of the year have been
correctly compared to the gradations of hu
man life. The vernal spring represents child
hood and early youth ; the summer, mature
age; the fall, declining years; and dreary
w inter the frigidity of old age. Thus every
season of the year reminds us of the contin
ual change to which human nature is subject.
The autumnal period has now arrived, and
the vegetable kingdom has, in a great degree,
been divested of its foliage and odoriferous
flowrrs. The present aspect of the forest is
calculated to awaken moral reflections in those
who believe in a future state of rewards and
punishments. The natural world exhibits, in
glowing colors, the impress of a Deity. The
great luminary of.heavm diffuses, by its ra
diant beams, light and heat to every object
disseminated upon this sublunary world.
But the contratted mind of man is unable to
explore whh certainty the many suns and
worlds which may be situated in the immen
sity of space; By the use of the Telescope,
the science of astronomy has been enriched
by the discovery of many planets, which, pre
vious to that period, were-unknown to mortal
man ; and had it not been for that noble in
vention, lie would have remained in igno
rance of these immense globes, which are
situated at too great a distance to be viewed
by the natedreyc. The names cf Newton
and Ferguson have acquired immortality.
. JVhelc.lux urianjt iniaginatiqns,T:andrEmrfi
powers ot invention, have shed a lustre upon
the heavenly science of astronomy, unknown
to their predecessors. Mankind are, there
fore, much indebted to those illustrious men
for their almost super-human discoveries.
Uut !h's 'digression .from tlixs original
design of this essay. But the mind inadvcK
tial objects, whkh the. nature of the present
suecrimifie
' The pres.-nt seast.n of the vearslumhl re
mind every individual ql" the instability ol
X-..' : ft ' i . ..' .. . y ..
HKMIV niANCISCO THE I.ONT..L1VRL).
Hit New-York jiapcrs announce to u the recent death
of llrxat FmuiMd, at the astoninhing age of one hun
dred sii. tliiny-four year. At thi moment Ui following
cstrart fnm Trofcbsor Sillimau Tour between Hartford
and 'iuebcr, will not be uninteresting :.. Intd.
The old man of the age of Louis XIV.
Two miles from Whitehall, on the Salem
road to Albany, lives ilenry Francisco, ana-
live of trance, and of a place which he nro.
nounced W.v, but doubtless this is not the
orthography, and the place was nrobablv some
obscure village, which may not be noticed in
nups ana uazetteers.
Having a few hours to snare before die de
parture of the steam boat for St. John's in
L-ar.aua, we rode out to see (probably) the old
est man in America. He believes himself to
be one hundred and thirty-four years old, and
the country around believe him to be of this
great age. When we arrived at his residence,
(a plain farmer's house, not painted, rather out
of repair, and much open to the wind,) he was
up stairs, at his daily work of spooling and
wtndfcg yarn. This occupation is auxiliary
to that of his wife, who is a weaver and, al
though more than eighty years old, she weaves
six yards a day, and the old man can supply
her with more yarn than she can weave. Sup
posing he must be very feeble, we offered to
go up stairs to him, but he soon came down,
walking somewhat stooping, and supported by
a staff, but with less apparent inconvenience
than most persons exhibit at eighty-five or
ninety. His stature is of the middle size, and,
although his person is rather delicate and slen
der, he stoops but little, even when unsupport
ed. His complexion is very fair and deli
cate, and his expression bright, cheerful, and
intelligent. His features are handsome, and,
considering that they have endured through
one third part of a second century, they a'reJ
regular, comeiy, ana wonderfully undisfigur
cd by the hand of time. His eyes are of a
lively blue ; his profde is Grecian, and very
fine ; his head is completely covered with the
most beautiful and delicate white locks ima
ginable j they are so long and abundant as to
lall gracefully from the crown of his head,
parting regularlylrom a central point, and
reaching down to his shoulders his hair is
perfectly white, except where it is thick in his
neck when parted there, it shews some few
dark shades, the remnants of a former century.---
. "- " - ---
He still retains the front teeth of hU
jaw ; his mouth is not fallen in, like that of
icuTar-
IV. n; ihct d;tri v. c n-e fr.abhd to fix thr
old peordccgenerallynd
ly, are like those of middle life ; hfs voice is
strong anu sweet toned, although a little trem
' "; "dung very iime impaired, so
that a voice of usual strength, with distinct
articulation, enables htm to understand ; his
eyesight b sufficient, for his work, and he
distinguishes large print, such as the titlcpage
of the Bible, without trlasse ; hit hUl
. . . O r "vu"" ia
idn:.ha
una iiuw a cougn ana expectoration.
He informed us; that his father, driven out
of 1-ranee by religious . persecution, - fled to
Amsterdam ; by hisxaccQunt irmyst have been
on account of the persecutions of the French
Protestants, or Hugohots, in the latter part of
the reign of Loui XIV. At Amsterdam,
lus rather married his mother, a Dutch wo-
. ...v..... ujtu x- ruiicc.
time of h: birth, pro idi d lie ib correct in tin
mam luct j lur he tayi hi was preicnt at mirr n
Annt'a toron.tiori,and was then sixteen years
old, the 3 lit day of May, old stile. Jlisf.i
tht r,(us heuMcrts.) after his return from I lot
bnd, had ogain been driven from France, by
persecution, and the second time took refuge
in Holland, and afterwards in England, where
he rrrided, with his family, at the time of the
coronation of Queen Anne, in 1702, This
m ikes Francisco to hare been horn In 1C351
to have been expelled from France in 1091,
and therefore to have completed his hundred
and thirtv. third vear on the 1 1 th of 1 Jit I une i
.j j . - . - r
of course he, i now more than three months
advanced Jnhi -hundred
year. It is notorious, that about this time
multitudes of French nrotestatfts fled, on ac
count of the persecutions of Louis XIV, re
sulting fromthr revocation of the edict of
Nantz,- which occurred -Uclobor-1 3, 1 08 J
and. "notwithstanding the guards ' upon the
frontiers, and other measures of precaution
or rigor. to prevent emigration, it is h i ll known
that, for years, multitudes continued to make
.i j .i -i i . i . t
tneir escape, ana iuat mus i.ouis tost six nun
dred thousand of his best and most useful
subjects. I asked Francinco if he taw Queen
Anne ctowned I lie replied, with great an
imation, and with an elevated voice, Ah !
dat I did. and a fine lookincr woman :lie was
too, as any dat you will see now a day.'-
He said he fought in all Queen Annt's
wars, and was at many battles, and under ma-
W J w
ny commanders, but his memory fails, and he
cannot remember their names, except the
Duke of Marlborough, who was one of them.
lie has been much cut up by wounds, wlrch
te shewed us, but cannot always give a very
distinct account of his warfare.
He came out, with his father, from England,
to New-York, probably early in the last cent
ury, but cannot remember the date.
Henry Francisco has been, all his life, a
very active and energetic, although not a stout
iramea man. lie was formerly lond ol spir
its, and did. for a certain period, drink more
than w as proper, but that habit appears to have
been long abandoned.
In other respects he has been remarkablv
abstemious, eating but little, and particularly
abstaining almost entirely from animal food,
his favorite articles being tea, bread and but
ter, and baked apples. His wife said that, af
ter such a breaklast, he would go out and work
till noon ; then dine upon the same, if he could
get it, and then take the same at night, and par
ticularly that he always drank tea, whenever he
cotutt obtain it,tnree cups atatime,three times
a dav.
The eldest people in the vicinity remember
Francisco, as being always, from their earl
iest recollection, much older than themselves ;
and a Mr. V tiller, who recently died here, be
tween 80 and 90 years of age,' thought Fran
cisco was one hundred and forty.
On the whole, although the evidence rests,
in a degree, on his own credibility, still, as
many things corroborate it, and as his char
acter appears remarkably sincere, guileless,
and affectionate, I am inclined to believe that
he is as old as he is stated to. be. He is real
ly a most remarkable and interesting old mat ;
there is nothing, either in his person or dress.
of the negligence and squal'rdness of extreme
age, especially when not in elevated circum
stances ; on the contrary, he is agreeable and
attractive, and were he diessed in a superior
manner, ancl placed in a handsome and well
furnished apartment, he would be a most beau
tiful old man.
. Little could I have expected to converse,
and shake hands with a man who has been a
soldier in most of the wars of this countrv
for one hundred years who, more than a cCn-
j' ...
lury.ago, lougtit under Marlborough, in the
wars of Queen Anne, and who. "fair-tad v
grpwn up to manhood,) saw her crowned oV
ill Ijrscl sli mid hear anJ d ar. The auster
ity of the Mosaic dispensation lus, it is true,
!rtn meliorated by the milder reign of the
(luipel of Peace, but still ths whole artillery
of Jehovah's wrath is arrayed against intern
pcrar.ee It is not expected that nnv additional tcr-
ron can he thrown ncross the path of those
who are indulging in this detestable (vicef e. ,
pecially when they disregard the denuncia.
dons of their Creator yet, tvhilc we daily
witness, its deleterious effects on society, it
seems to be the? duty of all to contribute their -mite
towards arresting its protrreii Tha
brightest laurels of the veteran soldier are of.
ten tarnished by it the well earned reputa
lion of the patf tot statesman is frequently ob
Biuiiu iium n wain ui urmncss w resist mis
evil ; and sometimes, even the elevated char
actcr of the reverend divine is prostrated by
a too rcadycquicsccn
circtct7.:woteJiCGntiatid)
peace of hundreds and those who were the
most happy become the most miserable.
Will my readers accompany nie to that
wretched hovel, and view the emaciated be
ings that inhabit it ? See the atronized moth.
v ' . O -------
er bending with sorrow over her unfortunate
offspring ; tears have robbed her eyes of their
. it.
lustre anu ner piteous aspect bespeaks inim
itable woe j her prospects were once cheer-
inc,and her animated countenance disclosed
the calm serenity of her bosom. Little did
t i t -
sne tninr, when she gave her plighted hand
at the altar, and when pure and unsullied af
fection lit up the flame of her incense, that
the object of her adoration would leave her
to penury and want, but, alas ! in the flow
er of her days, she has to pass through the
furnace of affliction. He, who was bound by
all the sacred ties of love and honor, to nourish
and support the tender plant consigned to his
care,leavcs it to'perish for want of his fostering
attention. She pines away her days in secret
anguish, and bathes her nightly couch in tears
while he is wasting his days and nights in
a.. i l T-i
uiasijjuuuu uiiu ucuauencry. a nc time was
when he would zealously have reprobated such
ingratitude in others but the svren voice of
- - '
pleasure enticed him from his wife and his
home, to court his own destruction- Con- 2
science, at first, was reproachful, and caused
some slight repugnance ; he has now been so
long a votary to his wine, that this silent but .
faithful monitor is totally disregarded ; and
-1
hundred and t wen tVeight vtars atro. and in
Uke century before the last, was driven from
r ranee oy me proud, magnificent; and intol
erant Louis XIV, and who has lived 11 fort Um
fourth part ofalithe time that the human race
nave occupied this globe !
What an interview ! It is like seeing one
come back from the dead, to relate the vmt
of centuries, now swaJlowed,uji k,thc abyss
of time! . yr '
1
-llellguma.
4 j m
the tears of a weeping wife have long since
been unavailing. At his death, (which, from
V lien t. w.ic fit-r. 1.1 l; r 1 .
n - v udis.uiu, nis ntner again
fled on account of de religion," as'he ex
piessed it, flor his lancnuo-e. alil.mK .......
Jglble .hng.ishns marked by French pe-
iiiiiiu everv iniiviriiini n ,t u. i nMmu uv t.r(,,,fh n. . .m iL ,L; ,, . , . i -
' ; r 01 cuiiariries.v. . He. savs. he .; -LLL "r"" inc ee-tm ol: the aii
nio.-i -niF.,rHAntr.sTn coiKiLn.
BKWATtE'OF 1MEMPKKAM:f
"c is a glutton and u drtinkanl ; end ell the mm V the
j muw swite mm.vui troiiex teutiie the.
n . ' " ' DEtT.xi: 2D, 21.
I nis was a part of that awful law. nrnmnl.
gated in thunderings from Mount Si nai. for
the government of tho Israelites. If there
was stubborn and rebellious son, who was a
t v
his trembling limbs and bloated countenance
i t a v .
appears nign at hand,; he can bequeath noth
ing to his children but beggary and distress
they cannot even boast of that 'poor inherit
ancea father's good name. His helpless
and innocent partuer too, with broken heart,
is f ist verging towards the tomb ; her pain
ful conflicts will soon be over. Peace to her
bosom as she heaves her last swelling sighs.
May she enjoy that happiness in another and
a better world, which her virtues entitled her
to in this. . TT "
a a a .
uthout that widowed mother, reclining
with maternal sorrow over 'the last; earthly -remains
of her only son. Had he fallen bv
the casual diseases incident to our nature, or
been cut down by the cruel hand of nestilence.
her anguish might admit of some alleviation,
and her tears be sweetened by the recollec
tion of his many virtues but this soothincr
palliative is taken from her. In the morning
of his life, disregarding her advice and en
treaties, he became a companion of the devo
tees ot intemperance and rushed into the
vortex of dissipation; which soon erased all
the tender admonitions of her who-was-wrap-,.
ped up in his welfare. He was hurried on
by the seductive voice of the sons of wicked
ness, until he became too deeply involved in
tnmWtirlo m.l ,nfB.l,L,l l,.i:.,.A T
y ' w 1 aaa v J l Jbngi V 'V aM
his former purity and fell a victim to his otvn
imhrnrlin.. o.il T..!!.. 'Tl !l tlmsm
when a mother's: soothing voicezeold calm
the agitated sensibilities of youth, and when
it was his hiirhest hanniness to trntitv her and
c 11 j -
relieve her of her cares when hfrproudly and
generously anticipated the period that he could
repay her for all her maternal solicitude' That
time has 1 passed "a way. He is ncw Insensible
to her warning voice and histoid clay can
make no retribution for the-trrorsof his life.
The "grave' admiti of ho aTonerient. - '
Would that such exampleSjAviich are con
tinnally before our eyes? mint
dency to arrest the prowess of some amia
ble; youth, as he standvdn the threshold ..oT
this pernicious practice. Let him pause and
reflect, ere reflection be too l;te, that, by pur-
fsuing his course, he'maT brinirthe erev half
. C L ! . I I ' . 1 . - L. m.
01 nis veneraoie' parents in sorrow 10 '.
grave and iavolveihlmself in irretrievable
ruin and disgrace.
"t hi A n iTf-tiiftT.
1 . ' . . . . ' ' "
Hie VOICe 01 h S .1 her nr in mntk... f,. . i- . . .-V' . ' .
. i V v4s ot tne DOOt TSt rrmenlrnnrc. .F ee lrom
trace thy steps anxl
may, m kindness, ciF
and b ot It
the
urinffrtforthe sKirer and sedulously A zs,?..
.t:
uf if m -iici -i . . v i rri M;a.r w nt. iiv -i 1 1- 111 .111 wvv
Jt - x'. I.