WINE.
'Old Noah, when he anchor'd safe on
The mountain's top, his lofty haven,
.And all the passengers he bore
Were on the new world. set ashore
He made it first his chief design
To plant and propagate a vine,
Which since has ovcrvhelm'd and drown'd
Tar greater numbers on dry ground,
!Of wretched mortals, one by one,
Than all the flood before had done.
The following communication, as
will be seen from the date, has been on
hand for some time, but we could not
couvenienlly give it an earlier inser
tion. Fret Press.
FOR THE FREE TRESS.
City of Nuisances, Feb. 11,182s.
Dear Toby: An opportunity now of
fers, and with eager avidity I seize from
my standish a grey goose quill, for the
purpose, dear Toby, of scribbling to you
the following wretched intelligence of
an old-field school companion, with
whom, "in days gone by," you have
often wielded the "cat paddle," and
with it drove the bounding trab ball"
over the hills and far away; and with
whom from the welcome hour of twelve
o'clock to the much detested one of
"come to books," you used to ''hide
And whoop" and chase the sham fox
through that antiquated field of many
dales and vales and pigmy pines, whose
extent was a full mile in every direction
from the door of that stately Pine Pole
Academy, under whose roof of slabs we
lisped a, b, c, together; and within whose
doors I manfully received one rueful day
if you recollect, forty stripes save one
upon my carcass, on account of butting
your brainless noddle against its wall of
jogs in time ol books. Ay, with eager
ness I embrace this opportunity to ac
quaint you that I am yet groping upon
that side the grave where "all is vani
ty," delusion and moonshine; where
man appears and disappears like bubbles
on a troubled sea, and where folly
reigns with more than sovereign sway.
My home you sec is the City of Nui
sances, where sweet quagmires of putre
faction grace its streets and perfume its
atmosphere; where mountains of brick
bats, blockades of horse and mule carls,
timber and work benches deny yon
passage without a fractured pericranium
or a dislocated neck; where struts the
sweet flavored swinish nobility along
the streets, with all the importance of
pot-paunch dignity; . where the horned
milch dames incessantly low forth most
enchanting musicand the canine gentry
warble mellifluous solos; where nezrocs
are suffered to engross the streets, and
revel and romp on the hallowed Sab
bath; where poverty-stricken mechanics
and countcrhoppers are forced by Police
law to surrender their pitiful earnings to
the Collector, for the praiseworthy pur
pose of filling up hog holes, old wells,
levelling mole ridges, draining dish wa
ter quagmires, et cetera, once a week;
where city law-makers convene once a
moon, and debate a whole day upon the
practicability of removing a nuisance,
filling up a hole, a ditch, a well, or such
like matters of prodigious import. Such
friend Toby, is the place of my resi
dence; yes, here lives your old-field
school companion, with nothing that he
can call his own, save an old blue coat
more holy than righteous, a pair or so of
breeches of very ancient stitch, a shirt
or two as aged as your granny's night
cap, a pair of shoes cut from the hide of
one that has long since ceasen to browse
and bellow, an old hat as destitute of
shag as the vermin to which its original
fur belonged, and an old crop-cared puss
on whom 1 look witn reverence, and
who 1 regard as the only faithful friend
of which I can boast with any degree of
.-w. j . x 4 venture 10 can mine.
i no other of Adam's progeny under the
Smnnrw nf heaven would have mem,
were the v even .ouereu .
bidder. Thus appareled and thus her
friended, as Pindar Cockloft says:
"I'm jogging; down the hill of life, ;
Without the comfort of a wife; ,
And though I ne'er a helpmate chose,
To wash my clothes and mend my hose;
With care my person to adorn, .
And spruce me up on Sunday morn-
Yet do I love the gentle sex,
And yet do they my brain perplex."
Like Pindar Cockloft I love the gentle
sex. and were I one of dame Fortune's
favorites, or in other words, were I the
reverse of what I am in point of that
great indispensiblc, which the whole hu
man family worships more than they do
the great author of their being, I think
it more than probable that I should ven
ture to seek the heart of a maid I much
M-Iove: but situated as 1 am, 1 deem it
foil V in the first degree even to think of
her. Consequently, friend Toby, I have
resolved never to bow to that ideal god
called Hymen, unless the present state
of things undergo a speedy mutation in
my behalf; but such a mutation, dear
Toby, will never take place "therefore,
I will drop the subject, new nib my pen
and proceed to acquaint you that since
I have been residing in this terrene Ely
sium something or other (God knows
what) has transmogrified mc into a sort
of poetaster; for every once a moon I am
beset with a strange poetical whim, and
sit me down with quill in hand and a
ailv closed, and wear a grave and mys-
tprinus ail, ill orticr IU cum-tai uiu
fects of a barren mind.
I have become
I
little puny muse inco. and we hammer
out such wretched effusions of doggerel
verse about this thing and that, as utter
ly confounds that tuneful tribe called
the sacred Nine, and renders tuneless
every harp and lyre in this section of
Christendom; for which I am gibed and
sneered at by the literati, who never fail
to remark whenever I come in their
view, "there goes a poor infatuated noo
dle, who deems himself poet because
perchance he makes a rhyme or so after
studying a whole fortnight and ransack
ing all the sing-song heroes, from him
who sung the siege of Troy down to the
immortal father of Childe Harold."
Here, dear Toby, follows a specimen of
my poetical powers; read and weep, but
1 would advise ycu not to read in too
great a haste, lest it might give you the
lockjaw:
Little care I for your pitiful sneers.
Your dull criticism, your gibes and your
jeers.
I mind my own business, and sweat for my
bread,
Pick my own teeth and scratch mv own
head:
Drink my own grog and gnaw my own
bone,
iTye don't like me, pray let me alone.
This is the wayr in which 1 jog along
upon this terrestrial ball; I mind my
own business and gnaw my own bone,
meddle with nobody's concerns, and
daily pray that no one will tamper with
mine. Yet, I wish to get along in a
manner that would please every body
and myself too; but finding this one a
mong the greatest impossibilities under
heaven, I shall no longer try, but con
tent myself to follow that guide which
nature has given me (propensity;) in
doing this 1 obey Ilim who put me here,
and in obeying Him, I do that which 1
conceive to be wholly unavoidable.
They say here that I am a strange sort
ot tellow, in short, a perlect non
descript. Such an appellation as "non
descript," dear Toby, would be morti
fying to yourself and to everr other per
son of the smallest particle of sensibility;
and in fact, it would somewhat wound
my callous feelings, were I to regard or
even oestovv any itiinir like a solitary
thought or care upon such an unnatural
epithet. That I am a singular sort of
genius I shall not doubt for a moment;
but I am just what I am, and to be oth
erwise would require a thorough regen
eration of me; therefore, I shall endea
vor to content myself to remain what I
am, as it is physically impossible to be
the reverse. I have altered much since
we played "cat" together, in that old
field of many pines. I was then gay
and hopeful, but now I am one of your
morose and gloomy looking sort of ge
nius, extremely taciturn, because I can.
not, (like the most of people) talk when
T lllirn nnllilnn- tn . i
inasmuch as I am fullv convinced tha Lm p1T ? 7 ' ?u4nuy, i
u.iy .uuvinceu, umjam compelled to keep my hps perpetu-
very thoughtful and melancholy of late,
for I have discovered that all under the
sun is "vanity of vanities;" and when 1
reflect that fife's but a dream and the
world all a cheat, I sit me down in pen
sive mood and sing:
What is here to make life dear,
. There's nothing that I've seen;.
Tho' gay hope whispers something's here,
She tells a fib, I ween,
for when 1 thro' life's vista peep,
I seize the cup and sigh and weep;
For nothing's in the view to cheer,
All is hopeless, vain and drear.
No, nought is here to make life dear,
Hope's a lying jade O fie!
Our graves are gaping for us near,
Like flitting phantoms on we hie.
Here to-day in trappings gay,
To-morrow gone to rot in clay.
Blooming maids and manly forms,
All stow'd away as food for worms.
I must confess, dear Toby, that it is
nonsense in the extreme to suffer such
gloomy reflections to piey upon one's
mind; but, friend Toby, how can I help
it? I anticipate your answer there
fore, I will endeavor to brave with forti
tude the ills of life; I will look forward
and hope for to-morrow, and never give
up the ship: but on the contrary, I will
hang on and grin, and when over life's
rough sea I have passed, and safely an
chored in the port of oblivion, I wish
you, dear Toby, (in case you survive
me) to procure a cypress shingle, or
some such durable wood, and plant it
firmly at the foot of my grave, and give
some poor bottle-inspired Bard a drink
or so of good old Anligua, to compose
and inscribe thereon some such epitaph
as Ihe following, to wit:
Here lies, beneath this silent sod,
The strangest bard that ever trod
Cowskin, horse, or calf;
Had ye seen him in his day,
Musing o'er a doggerel lay,
It would have made ye laugh.
But
His harp is mute, it hangs unstrung,
Upon the willow tree;
A cypress wreath around it's clung,
And'neath it sleepeth it he.
No more sings he the doggerel lay,
No more the vulgar song;
Beneath the sod he slunibtrcth, ay,
And here he'll slumber long.
Disturb not the sleep o' the Bard o'Man,
Drop a tear as ye pass by his grave;
Ye zephyrs mild the willow tree fan,
And ye tall weeds around him wave.
He his worldlv task has done.
And 's now retired from the light o' the
sun;
He's gone we hope to the land o' the blest,
In his grave let his songs with his ashes
rest.
I remain your very sincere friend and
humble servant,
SUA DRAG II NOODLE, Esq.
Chief Cook and dumplin spinner
to his sacred majesty the King
of Nonsense.
A Printer recently had his pocket
picked in New-York, but nothing of
consequence was lost, as might have
been expected. We should as soon
think of robbing a lawyer's office.
Editor wishes rather to diffuse Usef ,
information, than to waee a , . 1
warfare: and to edifv. nm.ic . 2aJ
his leaders, with literary, scientific6
religious matter, and ocp.ainn.i .
of wit and humor: and promotp k "
nnritv of thft nonnlp. Uv
1 ., 1 17 iCts01va!.
and
Us
Pros.
Notice.
LL Persons are hereby cautioned a
gainst purchasing from Isaac D. Gui
on, the land of Thos. Guion, deceased
the Subscriber having a lien on said
land, under authority of the will of
said deceased, for the sum of 1500,
which must be paid before the said Isaac
i). buion is entitled to the land.
IVM. X. D UP REE.
Jan. 2d, 1828. 23
able improvements in asrrinihn... .
mechanic arts, domestic economy
whatever else can he likely to enccw
general industry, morals and vin5
ihan to figure in politics. Nopains
be spared to make the paper worth r
money we ask for it: and we earnest
request our subscribers to recollect t' J
they, and they only, are real patf
who pay us according toourttrm
To those who will not be content u
less we avow at the start, our pclitl
sentiments and preferences, we haveU
a word to say. Neutrality, itJJ
seem is no favorite with Providtnce
since we are so formed, that it is scarce'
ly possible for us to stand neuter inour
hearts, although we may often deem it
prudent to appear so in our actions: and
in politics, be who affects to be neutral
usually acquires for himself the name of
trimmer. We dislike the epithet, ari
therefore shall claim, and freely exer
cise the riht of freedom of opinion and
choice: Nevertheless, we freely accord
to mose, who dissent Irom us in sent
iment, all that we claim for ourselves.
! A candid and generous support we con
ceive we justly owe to those whem the
Nation has called to administer the Go
vernment, so long as they appear to do
their utmost to promote the general
weal. , That the present Administration
have done this, and are actuated by the
purest patriotism, we cannot for a roo
, ment entertain a doubt: therefore they
merit our respect and confidence.
Temperate and well written article
will be cheerfully admitted into the
Freeman?s Echo: reserving to our
selves the right of softening harsh ex
pressions, or entirely excluding such
matter, as shall be calculated to provoke
j angry disputation in our columns: and
we respectfully solicit our numerous
highly gifted friends in the town and in.
the country, to give to the Freemayj
Echo, an occasional hour of their lei
sure. A hearty welcome at our office,
shall always greet the labors of theirper.!.
A careful weekly report of the state
of the market, shall be given; which,
with the arrivals at, and departures from
this port; and the supplies on hand, and
for sale, which our mercantile friends,
may, from time to time, announce in the
Freeman's Echo, will enable our coun
try friends, and the neighboring mer-
j chants to know the chances for tn&
and the prospects for good bargains
And lastly, it cannot be, that so respect
able a town as Washington, and so deep
ly interested, as the people of this, ari
the adjoining counties are, in an inline
acquaintance with the commerce, trade
and markets of this port; and withal, &
pride and manifest profit, every ciuz-11
must feel for, and derive from a regu
larly published and well conducted
newspaper in this place we say, it3C"
not be that they will suffer the paper19
languish for the want of adequate patro
nage. The proprietor has determines
to give the public spirit and liberality0''
the town, the adjacent towns and the
surrounding country, a fair trial. '
erality, will impart to the pnperhcaM
vigor and usefulness; but it liberality
will inevitably crush the tones ot oJJ
ECHO ere long, to grow feeble as
faint and, anon to die upon the ear.
prospectus
OF THE
Freeman's 'Echo.
'pllIS Paper will be published weekly,
in the town of Washington, N.C. by
JOSEPH B. IIINTON,
On a royal sheet, with good type;" and
will be devoted to the interest of our
country and our country's friends. The
TERMS.
The Freeman's Echo will be Pcre
num to subscribers: one half payable a
receipt of the first number, and the?',',
half on the receipt of the 26th, or11
paid within the year.
it7"No subscription received for 3 J.
term than One Year, nor will any Pap,
discontinued until all arrearages are p
exctpt at the option of the Editor.
AU subscribers, who do not gve fj.e
press notice to the contrary at the end j
year, will be considered as wishing to f
nue their subscription; and the paper
sent to them accordingly.
iThe first No. will be published cn
day the 4th of April next.
March, 1823. ,ff.
Subscriptions to the above l
per will be recciv ed at this Office,
the Post-Office in this place.