"The day was consumed in the interchange of news between the captain and myself (though, I confess, it might have been better employed), and the night found us seated round a temporary fire, which the captain's sons had kindled up for the purpose of dyeing eggs. It was a common custom of those days with boys to dye and peck eggs on Easter Sunday and for a few days afterward. "There was, however, another and an allabsorbing subject which occupied the minds of the boys during the whole evening, of which I could occasionally catch distant hints, in under tones and whispers, but of which I could make nothing until they were explained by the captain himself. "The boys,' said the captain, as they retired, are going to turn out the schoolmaster to-morrow, and you can perceive they think of nothing else. We must go over to the schoolhouse and witness the contest, in order to prevent injury to preceptor or pupils; for, though the master is always, upon such occasions, glad to be turned out, and only struggles long enough to present his patrons a fair apology for giving the children a holiday, which he desires as much as they do, the boys always conceive a holiday gained by a turn-out' as the sole achievement of their valor; and, in their zeal to distinguish themselves upon such memorable occasions, they sometimes become too rough, provoke the master to wrath, and a very serious conflict ensues. To prevent these consequences, to bear witness that the master was forced to yield before he would withhold a day of his promised labor from his employers, and to act as a mediator between him and the boys in settling the articles of peace, I always attend; and you must accompany me tomorrow.' I cheerfully promised to do so. "The captain and I rose before the sun, but the boys had risen and were off to the schoolhouse before the dawn. After an early breakfast, hurried by Mrs. G. for our accommodation, my host and myself took up our line of march toward the schoolhouse. We reached it about half an hour before the master arrived, but not before the boys had completed its fortifications. It was simple log-pen, about twenty feet square, with a doorway cut out of the logs, to which was fitted a rude door, made of clapboards, and swung on wooden hinges. The roof was covered with clapboards also, and retained in their places by heavy logs placed on them. The chimney was built of logs, diminishing in size from the ground to the top, and overspread inside and out with red clay mortar. The classic hut occupied a lovely spot, overshadowed by majestic hickories, towering poplars, and strong-armed oaks. "As I before remarked, the boys had strongly fortified the schoolhouse, of which they had taken possession. The door was barricaded with logs, which I should have supposed would have defied the combined powers of the whole school. The chimney, too, was nearly filled with logs of goodly size; and these were the only passways to the interior. I concluded, if a turn-out was all that was necessary to decide the contest in favor of the boys, they had already gained the victory. They had, however, not as much confidence in their outworks as I had, and, therefore, had armed themselves with long sticks; not for the purpose of using them upon the master if the battle should come to close quarters, for this was considered unlawful warfare; but for the purpose of guarding their works from his approaches, which it was considered perfectly lawful to protect by all manner of jobs and punches through the cracks. From the early assembling of the girls, it was very obvious that they had been let into the conspiracy, though they took no part in the active operations. They would, however, occasionally drop a word of encouragement to the boys, such as 'I wouldn't turn out the master; but if I did turn him out, I'd die before I'd give up.' These remarks doubtless had an emboldening effect upon the young freeborns,' as Mrs. Trollope would call them ; for I never knew the Georgian of any age who was indifferent to the smiles and praises of the ladies-before his marriage. "At last the schoolmaster, Mr. Michael St. John, made his appearance. Though some of the girls had met him a quarter of a mile from the schoolhouse, and told him all that had happened, he gave signs of sudden astonishment and indignation when he advanced to the door, and was assailed by a whole platoon of sticks from the cracks: Why, what does all this mean?' said he, as he approached the captain and myself, with a countenance of two or three varying expressions. "Why,' said the captain, 'the boys have turned you out, because you have refused to give them an Easter holiday.' 66 During this colloquy I took a peep into the fortress, to see how the garrison were affected by the parley. The little ones were obviously panic-struck at the first words of command; but their fears were all chased away by the bold, determined reply of Pete Jones and Bill Smith, and they raised a whoop of defiance. "Michael now walked round the academy three times, examining all its weak points with great care. He then paused, reflected for a moment, and wheeled off suddenly towards the woods, as though a bright thought had just struck him. He passed twenty things which I supposed he might be in quest of, such as huge stones, fencerails, portable logs, and the like, without bestowing the least attention upon them. He went to one old log, searched it thoroughly, then to another, then to a hollow log, into which he looked with equal caution, and so on. "What is he after?' inquired I. "I'm sure I don't know,' said the captain, but the boys do. Don't you notice the breathless silence which prevails in the schoolhouse, and the intense anxiety with which they are eyeing him through the cracks ?' "At this moment Michael had reached a little excavation at the root of a dogwood, and was in the act of putting his hand into it, when a voice from the garrison exclaimed, with most touching pathos, 'O messy, he's found my eggs! boys, let's give up.' "I won't give up,' was the reply from many voices at once. "You coward, Zeph Pettibone, you wouldn't give a wooden egg for all the holidays in the world.' "If these replies did not reconcile Zephaniah to his apprehended loss, it at least silenced his complaints. In the mean time Michael was employed in relieving Zeph's storehouse of its provisions; and, truly, its contents told well for Zeph's skill in eggpecking. However, Michael took out the eggs with great care, and brought them within a few paces of the schoolhouse, and laid them down with equal care in full view of the besieged. He revisited the places which he had searched, and to which he seemed to have been led by intuition; for from nearly all of them did he draw eggs, in greater or less numbers. These he treated as he had done Zeph's, keeping each pile separate. Having arranged the eggs in double files before the door, he marched between them with an air of triumph, and once more demanded a surrender, under pain of an entire destruction of the garrison's provisions. "Break 'em just as quick as you please,' said George Griffin; our mothers 'll give us a plenty more, won't they, pa?' "I can answer for yours, my son,' said the captain; 'she would rather give up every egg upon the farm, than see you play the coward or traitor to save your property.' “Michael, finding that he could make no impression upon the fears or the avarice of the boys, determined to carry their fortifications by storm. Accordingly, he procured a heavy fence-rail, and commenced the assault upon the door. It soon came to pieces, and the upper logs fell out, leaving a space of about three feet at the top. Michael boldly entered the breach, when, by the articles of war, sticks were thrown aside as no longer lawful weapons. He was resolutely met on the half-demolished rampart by Peter Jones and William Smith, supported by James Griffin. These were the three largest boys in the school; the first about sixteen years of age, the second about fifteen, and the third just eleven. Twice was Michael repulsed by these young champions; but the third effort carried him fairly into the fortress. Hostilities now ceased for a while, and the captain and I, having leveled the remaining logs at the door, followed Michael into the house. A large three-inch plank, (if it deserve that name, for it was wrought from the half of a tree's trunk entirely with the axe,) attached to the logs by difference. In this instance the terms were equitable enough, and were immediately acceded to by both parties. Michael rose in a good humor, and the boys were, of course. Loud was their talking of their deeds of valor as they retired. One little fellow about seven years old, and about three feet and a half high, jumped up, cracked his feet together, and exclaimed, 'Pete Jones, Bill Smith, and me can hold any Sinjin that ever trod Georgy grit.' By the way, the name of St. John was always pronounced ‘Sinjin' by the common people of that day; and so it must have been by Lord Bolingbroke himself, else his friend Pope would never have addressed him in a line so unmusical as Awake, my St. John, leave all meaner things.' means of wooden pins, served the whole school for a writting desk. At a convenient distance below it, and on a line with it, stretched a smooth log, resting upon the logs of the house, which answered for the writers' seat. Michael took his seat upon the desk, placed his feet on the seat, and was sitting very composedly, when, with a simultaneous movement, Pete and Bill seized each a leg, and marched off with it in quick time. The consequence is obvious; Michael's head first took the desk, then the seat, and finally the ground, (for the house was not floored,) with three sonorous thumps of most doleful portent. No sooner did he touch the ground than he was completely buried with boys. The three elder laid themselves across his head, neck, and breast, the rest arranging them-Nor would Swift, the friend and companion selves ad libitum. Michael's equanimity was considerably disturbed by the first thump, became restive with the second, and took flight with the third. His first effort was to disengage his legs; for without them he could not rise, and to lie in his present position was extremely inconvenient and undignified. Accordingly, he drew up his right, and kicked at random. This movement laid out about six in various directions upon the floor. "Tut!' said Captain Griffin, young Washingtons mind these trifles! At him again.' "The name of Washington cured their wounds and dried up their tears in an instant, and they legged him de novo. The left leg treated six more as unceremoniously as the right had those just mentioned; but the talismanic name had just fallen upon their ears before the kick, so they were invulnerable. They therefore returned to the attack without loss of time. The struggle seemed to wax hotter and hotter for a short time after Michael came to the ground, and he threw the children about in all directions and postures, giving some of them thumps which would have placed the ruffle-shirted little darlings of the present day under the discipline of paregoric and opodeldoc for a week; but these hardy sons of the forest seemed not to feel them. As Michael's head grew easy, his limbs, by a natural sympathy, became more quiet, and he offered one day's holiday as the price. The boys demanded a week; but here the captain interposed, and, after the common but often unjust custom of arbitrators, split the of both, have written 'What St. John's skill in state affairs, 'Where folly, pride, and faction sway, Remote from St. John, Pope, and Gray." THE HISTORY OF THE PEARL. the Exhibition of the Industry of All precious stones. Among these there is the monster pearl which far exceeds in size any other specimen of the kind in the exhibition or in England. It weighs eighteen hundred grains, and is two inches long, and four and a half in circumference. We are all familiar with the appearance of the pearl; a few sentences therefore of the history of this interesting jewel may assist our lady-readers' appreciation of it. The pearl, so called on account of its form, from the Latin word sphærula, a round body, is found attached either to the inner part of the shell of the pearl oyster, or else in the thick fleshy part of the animal itself. This beautiful jewel, known as the pearl, is produced by the oyster itself, and is formed of a material secreted by the animal. The real cause of the oyster's forcing this substance within its bivalve house, seems to be in fact nothing more than an effort of the little animal to get rid of a source of irritation, such as a grain of sand or some such small foreign body, which has insinuated itself between the mouth of the oyster and the shell, or some enemy of the oyster perforating the shell from the outside, to get within reach of its prey. In either case, the oyster envelopes the sand or other substance, or closes up the aperture, formed with a smooth coat of membrane, over which it spreads a layer of nacre or pearl. The word nacre comes from a Spanish word signifying mother-of-pearl, or the shell in which we find the pearl. In both these cases we usually find the pearl adhering to the internal surface of the shell. The best and the most valuable specimens are however generally found in the body of the animal; and the source of irritation in this case is proved, according to the attentive observations of Sir Everard Home, to be an ovum or egg of the oyster, which, instead of coming to maturity, and being thrown out of the shell by the mother along with the others, proves abortive, and remains behind in the capsule in which all the ova were originally contained. This capsule being still supplied with blood-vessels from the parentanimal, goes on increasing in size for another year, and then receives a covering of nacre, the same as the oyster spreads over the internal surface of the shell. The animal adds a fresh layer every year to the nucleus thus formed, which thus increases in size; and it is probable that the oyster deposits this pearly covering, not so much in any regular quantity as in proportion to the amount of irritation it experiences from the exciting cause. times for pearls: these statements may or may not be correct; we therefore proceed to speak of the actual money-producing value of some of the pearl-fisheries of the present day. In 1804 the government of Great Britain leased the pearl-fishery at Ceylon for $600,000 for one year; but in 1828, it brought only $153,060. The value of the pearl fisheries of Bahrim in the Persian Gulf, may be reckoned at more than $1,000,000 annually; or taking the produce of the whole Gulf, not far short of $1,750,000 per annum. Of course our readers are aware that the pearls are obtained by divers. In the Ceylon fishery as many as fifteen hundred divers are sometimes employed. The divers share the profits of the fishery, in a certain proportion-a mode of employment which gives the laborers about $1 25 or $1 50 a day. Of course, this is considered most excellent pay in a country in which the ordinary rate of wages seldom exceeds about one shilling a day. The divers in six or seven fathoms of water, usually remain immersed about fifty or fifty-five seconds; a reward having been offered to him who could remain longest under water, it was gained by one who remained at the bottom for eighty-seven seconds. The diver carries down a sack with him in which to put the oysters, and which, when filled, is pulled up by a rope into a boat on the surface ready to receive it. If the diver is exhausted, he is pulled up with the bag; but this is seldom the case, as it is much easier to rise to the surface of the sea than to keep at the bottom. The business of a pearl fisher is not considered by any means unhealthy, and the period of fishing the-which seldom occupies more than two months in the spring is considered as quite a holiday by the laborers in the Indian islands. The use of a diving-dress and apparatus has never, we believe, been tried in the pearl fisheries. The peculiar luster of the true pearl, and which distinguishes it from all artificial means of imitation, arises from the central cell, which is lined with a highly polished coat of nacre, and the substance of the pearl itself being diaphanous, rays of light easily pervade it. The chemical constitution of the pearl is carbonate of lime (of which common chalk is another form); hence the possibility of the luxurious Romans dissolving them in vinegar and drinking the solution. The story of Cleopatra is well known, in which, in order that she might be enabled to expend a larger sum in one feast than Mark Antony had done in the series of sumptuous repasts he had provided for her gratification, she took a pearl from her ear, said to be valued at $403,645 80 of our money, and having dissolved it in vinegar, drank off the solution. Large sums are mentioned by ancient historians as having been given in former All along the coasts of Ceylon and Coromandel, on the shores of the Persian Gulf, and on various parts of the Pacific coast of South America, as well as at Algeria and the Bay of Panama, the pearl oyster makes his home. Each bank is available only for about two months in seven years; and the banks are seldom disturbed till the oysters are supposed to be in a fit state for gathering. When the oysters are brought to land, they are thrown into a pit and allowed to rot, so that the pearls can be extracted without injury to their delicate structure. Very little preparation is necessary to fit the pearls for sale, as regularity of shape is not much regarded by the purchaser. The largest pearl of which we have anything like a correct account, is one which the King of Persia bought of an Arab in 1633 for $550,000. It is pearshaped, of a regular form, and without the slightest blemish. It measures six inches and three-quarters in diameter at the largest part, and is nearly one inch and a half long. Pearls are found in various places in Great Britain, and there was a specimen or two in the Exhibition of Scotch pearls. From 1761 to 1764 $50,000 worth of pearls were taken at Perth. The rivers of the counties of Tyrone and Donegal have also yielded pearls. Mother-of-pearl is the lining or inner part of the shell of the pearl oyster, and differs from true pearl only in form, and in being less compact and lustrous. It is the large oysters of the Indian seas alone which secrete this coat of sufficient thickness to render it available for the purposes of manufacture. Nearly one million pounds-weight of this mother-ofpearl are annually imported into Great Britain. In the early part of last year a ship arrived in London from the Bay of Panama with upward of two million pearl shells, to be used principally in the manufacture of shirt buttons. It is curious to think that the pearls which deck the head of a queen, and the buttons which the poor bachelor sews on to his "other shirt," are precisely alike in structure, came from the same miserable diseased oyster, were fished up by the same dusky Indian divers, and differ in nothing but an artificial money value ! nuptial celebrations of various countries. They present every variety; and though affected more or less by the indolent, or poetic, the energetic, or superstitious temperaments of different nations, we think it will generally be found that in proportion as women are reverenced, and as civilization becomes far advanced, marriage festivities are conducted with proportionally increased solemnity and simplicity. Let us see how such matters are arranged in the South Sea Islands. There, if the union contemplated is between parties of rank, four large piles of plantains, yams, cocoa-nuts, bread-fruit, fish, cakes, bananas, with a baked pig on the top of each, are, early in the morning, arranged in front of the house of the bridegroom, and the spectators assemble round them decked in new dresses, and their bodies anointed with sweet oil. Then the bride, closely vailed in fine matting made from the bark of the mulberry-tree, is brought to the same place, and her feet, hands, and face being first anointed with sandal wood and tumeric, she takes her seat, and mock duels with clubs are performed in her presence, followed by boxing and wrestling matches, after which the bride and bridegroom, accompanied by their friends, who sing as they walk, enact a sort of procession before the spectators, who greet them with loud acclamations. The bridegroom then commences a dance with his young men attendants, during which the bride is led into her future habitation; the heaps of provisions are next distributed or scrambled for, succeeded by another boxing match; and the lighting up of the abode of the bridegroom, with singing and dancing in the evening, conclude these somewhat barbaric festivities. Those of the Tartar races are quite dissimilar; and as each man may possess four wives, it is not surprising that the affair becomes one of barter, and the price of a woman, varying, according to her beauty, from twenty to five hundred rubles, is first determined upon between the father and the suitor, after which the latter is permitted to pay his respects in person to his future bride. When the price agreed on has been all paid, the young woman's companions come to her father's house the evening before the wedding, and the females offer condolences on her quitting the parental roof, which are responded to by two male friends, who sing songs |