DUTCH BANKER OF LOUISVILLE WHO KEPT RESUMING. The Missouri Democrat relates the following anecdote of a sagacious and persevering Dutchman, in Louisville, (Kentucky,) who "kept resuming" as fast as he could "realize." He evinced a good spirit, and set an example which might be profitably followed by some who are not Dutchmen :— At the height of the panic and run upon the banks and bankers in Louisville, a German banker of that city named John Smidt, found that he had paid out all his money, and that he was compelled to stop. Instead of writing a card for publication, he announced his suspension by a handbill affixed to his open doors, in which he said he had no money on hand, but expected in a day or two to make some collections, and that he would then resume payment. Accordingly, in a day or two, another handbill appeared on his doors announcing that he had collected some $15,000, which he would pay to those of his creditors who should first call on him for it. This was soon paid out, and the first handbill again displayed, and in a few days he announced that he had collected some more money which he was ready to pay on demand. This manly and straightforward course had the effect which was to have been anticipated. His German fellow-citizens seeing that John Smidt was in earnest about paying his debts, and was not disposed to higgle for an extension, concluded he was a man who ought to be sustained, and accordingly came forward and deposited the sums they had withdrawn, and induced others to do the same thing. At the last accounts there was no run on John Smidt. He was doing a perfect land-office business, and was able to assist those who were in want by the money of those to whom his pluck had given confidence. EXAMPLE WORTHY OF IMITATION. A correspondent of the Christian Mirror says, that at a meeting of the directors of the extensive Glass Works it was decided to turn off a large number of hands, and also to reduce the wages of those who remain, 30 per cent. And what is still worse, these men have employment only half of the time He adds: In view of these things, a gentleman who has for his tenants a large number of the workers at our glass factory, has, in the generosity of his heart, concluded to give them their rent free for the coming winter. We would say to all those who own houses tenanted by the industrious, laboring poor, "go and do likewise.” CHANGE FOR A DOLLAR. The Boston Post says, since the banks have "shut down" on the specie, some of the people hold on to what coin they get hold of, to the annoyance of the retail traders, who are importuned every hour to change a bill for a small purchase. The Post relates an anecdote of a Celtic woman who entered a grocery and called for "cint's 'orth o' sand." The article was measured out, and put into the customer's pail, who tendered a one dollar bill to take his pay out of. "I can't change that for so small an amount," exclaimed the grocer; "you may take the sand, and be welcome to it." "Indade, sir, and it isn't the sand that I'm wanting at all at all; but it's the sulver--the spashy that ye'll be giving me back." "LIVES OF AMERICAN MERCHANTS." Lives of American Merchants. By FREEMAN HUNT, A. M., Editor of the Merchants' Magazine. Two volumes, octavo, pages 608 and 605. New York: Derby & Jackson. 1858. The work above named will soon be published, and exclusively by subscription. In the principal cities of the United States, publishers' agents are (or will be) appointed, who will have specimen copies, and canvass for subscriptions. Those desiring to subscribe who reside in less populous places (as well as those in cities who, if not soon waited upon by canvassers, wish to obtain early copies) are respectfully requested to send their names to the publishers, or to Freeman Hunt, at the office of the Merchants' Magazine. The following is a consecutive list of the biographies in the two volumes : INTRODUCTORY ESSAY, By George R. Russell, LL. D. THOMAS HANDASYD PERKINS. By Hon. Thomas G. Cary. THOMAS PYM COPE, By Hon. Joseph R. Chandler. PETER CHARDON BROOKS, JONAS CHICKERING, By Rev. John L. Blake, D. D. ASA CLAPP. PATRICK TRACY JACKSON, By John A. Lowell. HENRY LAURENS. WILLIAM PARSONS. By Hon. Edward Everett, LL. D. ELIAS HASKET DERBY, By E. H. Derby, Esq. SIR WILLIAM PEPPERELL, Bart., STEPHEN ALLEN, By William M. Allen, Esq. ABBOTT LAWRENCE, By Hon. Nathan Appleton. By Rev. S. K. LOTHROP, D. 1). By David Ralph Jaques, Esq. By Alexander Walker, Esq. By Hon. Josiah Quincy, LL. D. By W. K. King, Esq. JAMES BROWN, The two volumes contain nineteen portraits on steel, viz., of- Thomas Handasyd Perkins. | Samuel Slater. Thomas Pym Cope. Peter Chardon Brooks. Jonas Chickering. Asa Clapp. Patrick Tracy Jackson. Major Samuel Shaw. Harry R. W. Hill. James Brown. The subscription price of the work, bound in handsome library cloth, is $5 ; bound in library sheep, $6; bound in half calf, or half antique, $8; bound in full Turkey, gilt, $12. THE BOOK TRADE. 1.-American Eloquence; a collection of Speeches and Addresses by the most eminent Orators of America; with Biographical Sketches and Illustrative Notes. By FRANK MOORE. In two volumes. 8vo., pp. 576, 614. New York: D. Appleton & Co. Two splendid volumes of American eloquence, furnishing a convenient and popular library edition of "the most celebrated speeches and addresses, forensic and parliamentary, of the principal orators and statesmen of America," many of which have never before been incl ded in collections. Specimens of the eloquence of the Continental Congress, fully illustrating the principles, and portraying the sufferings, of the Revolutionary period, have been given. Selections from the earnest and able discussions in the State Conventions, of the principles involved in the adoption of the Federal Constitution, form no inconsiderable portion of the work. The two volumes embrace sixty-one names, each prefaced with a comprehensive biographical notice of the orator. We give the list in the order of Mr. Moore's arrangement, viz., James Otis, Patrick Henry, Richard Henry Lee, William Henry Dravton, Joseph Warren, James Wilson, William Livingston, Fisher Ames, John Rutledge, James Madison, John Jay, Edmund Randolph, Alexander Hamilton, John Hancock, John Adams, George Washington, Elias Boudinot, John Dickinson, John Witherspoon, David Ramsey, Samuel Adams, Josiah Quincy, Jr., Benjamin Rush, Robert R. Livingston, H. H. Brackenridge, Charles Pinckney, Luther Martin, Oliver Ellsworth, Christopher Gore, Red Jacket, Uriah Tracy, Henry Lee, Gouverneur Morris, Robert Goodloe Harper, Thomas Addis Emmet, George Richards Minot, Harrison Gray Otis, De Witt Clinton, John Marshall, Rufus King, James A. Bayard, William Pinckney, Albert Gallatin, James Hillhouse, John Randolph, Wm. B. Giles, Edward Livingston, Samuel Dexter, John Quincy Adams, Tristam Burges, Wm. Hunter, Tecumseh, Daniel Webster, Joseph Story, William Wirt, John C. Calhoun, John Sergeant, Wm. Gaston, Robert T Hayne, and Seargent S. Prentiss. Mr. Moore has evinced marked discrimination in the selection of speeches, &c., from each erator or statesman, and we prize the work highly, and regard it as an invaluable addition to the political and historical literature of the country. It should find a place in every State, college, or other library in the Union. 2.-Abridgment of the Debates of Congress, from 1789 to 1856. From Gales & Seaton's Annals of Congress; from their Register of Debates; and from the Official Reported Debates, by John C. Rives. By THOMAS HART BENTON, author of the Thirty Years' View." Volume Five. Royal 8vo., pp. 757. New York: D. Appleton & Co. This, the fifth volume of Mr. Benton's admirably prepared Debates of Congress, commences in May, 1813, amid the stirring scenes of the second and last war with Great Britain, and brings the history down to the close of the 14th Congress, March, 1817. It contains the interesting debates which preceded the establishment of the second national bank, with the views of Calhoun, Clay, Randolph, Webster, and other eminent statesmen, on that important subject. It is well remarked, in a note from the publishers, that in a "time like the present, when financial disasters have spread so much suffering through the land, it is no less interesting than it is profitable to pause for awhile, to take down from its shelf the record of the past, and from it to gather those lessons which shall teach us to avoid the perils which have been fatal to others, and to view with calmness and intelligence the exciting questions of the present moment." eminently a national enterprise, prepared with entire impartiality and fidelity to truth of history. The index attached to each volume is satisfactorily full and copious. It will form a complete and comprehensive history of the legislation of the United States. It is 3.--The New American Cyclopedia: a popular Dictionary of General Knowledge. Edited by GEORGE RIPLEY and CHARLES A. DANA. Vol. I. Royal 8vo., pp. 762. New York: D. Appleton & Co. Notwithstanding the "hard times," the first volume of the American Cyclopedia has made its appearance, and promises all that we were led to anticipate from the learning and ability of the accomplished editors, and the liberality of the publishers, who have secured the best names in Europe and America to contribute to its pages, not excluding real talent and learning which may not yet have won distinction. It is designed to furnish (and we have evidence in this first volume) a popular dictionary of universal knowledge. All branches of scholastic erudition are fully represented, and the scholar and professional man will find it stored with references in every sphere of learned inquiry. Throughout its successive volumes the work (we have every indication and assurance) will present a fund of accurate and copious information on astronomy, natural philosophy, mathematics, mechanics, engineering, the history and description of machines, law, political economy, grammar, and music. The natural sciences are to form in the successive volumes a leading feature, with all the new discoveries in physiology, anatomy, and hygiene. In history we are to have, not merely a catalogue of barren dates, but a copious narrative, under their appropriate heads, of the principal events in the annals of the world. Biography, not only of the gifted dead, but the distinguished living, written by personal acquaintance or special research. “The industrial arts, and that practical science which has an immediate bearing on the necessities of daily life, such as domestic economy, ventilation, the heating of houses, food, etc., will be treated of with that thoroughness which their great importance demands." The article on agriculture is copiously and comprehensively discussed in the first volume. In the foregoing notice we have done little more than give an abstract of the plan of the work. But we are willing to risk our reputation on its successful completion. The work is published exclusively by subscription, and will form, when completed, fifteen large octavo volumes, each containing some 700 two-columned pages. The second volume is announced for the spring of 1858, and the successive volumes at regular intervals of two or three months. 66 46 4.-Young America in Wall-street. By GEORGE FRANCIS TRAIN, author of Young America Abroad." 12mo., pp. 404. New York: Derby & Jackson. The first half of this volume consists of the letters written by Mr. Train to the Merchants' Magazine in 1857, and published as 'European Commercial Correspondence," in volumes xxxvi. and xxxvii. The latter half consists mainly of fresh articles, prepared for the volume itself after his return from Europe in October last. Our readers are familiar with his style, which is always graphic and entertaining; and many of them will readily obtain this volume. It will be remembered that many of his predictions concerning the financial revulsion of 1857 proved true, thus evincing a remarkable sagacity for a young merchant and financier. Some may deem his remarks on "old fogyism" as too severe, but these are chiefly directed against the "ism," and are not made an occasion for personalities. An appendix embraces several statistical tables of permanent value, and facts and figures are everywhere presented throughout the volume. 5.-Sketch of the Life and Ministry of the Rev. C. H. Spurgeon. From Original Documents. Including Anecdotes and Incidents of Travel; Biographical Notices of former Pastors; Historical Sketch of Park-street Chapel; and an Outline of Mr. Spurgeon's Articles of Faith. 12mo., pp. 141. New York: Sheldon, Blakeman & Co. Although a hastily written book, the author enters into the spirit of the subject of his memoir, and has given us what appears to be a graphic and glowing sketch of his brief but popular ministry. We confess we have no great admiration of the genius of the man or the preacher. He appears to us as an actor, rather than a sound, logical, and rational Christian. The portrait affixed to the volume does not strengthen our faith in the high moral character or purity of the man. We may be in error, but such are our convictions. 6.-The Life and Times of Aaron Burr, Lieutenant-Colonel in the Army of the Revolution, United States Senator, Vice-President of the United States. By J. PARTON, author of "Humorous Poetry of the English Language," "Life of Horace Greeley," etc. 12mo., pp. 694. New York: Mason & Brothers. The story of Burr's "strange, eventful life" is now told by one who seems to have studied his character with the mind of a philosopher. No American statesman was ever more universally denounced. John Neal, some twenty years ago, published a paper in one of the periodicals of the day, entitled "The Man of One Virtue." That man was Aaron Burr, and that virtue was self-reliance. The author of the present memoir has availed himself of every accessible source of information, condensing the "trial for treason," which covers more than three thousand pages, consulting the literature of the period, the correspondence of Jefferson, Hamilton, and Adams, the newspapers of that day, which he found in great numbers in the library of the New York Historical Society, and finally Aaron Burr himself, through his surviving friends and connections. Mr. Parton is apprehensive that some of his readers may think "the good in Burr's character is too conspicuously displayed, or his faults too lightly touched. To such he would say, that it is the good in a man who goes astray that ought most to alarm and warn his fellow-men. To suppress the good qualities and deeds of a Burr, is only less immoral than to suppress the faults of a Washington." In either case, the practical use of example is lost. He thinks, moreover, that Aaron Burr has been most cruelly and basely belied, by men far beneath him in moral respects. "Aaron Burr," says the author," was no angel-no devil; he was a man and a filibuster." The opinion of the author, near the close of the volume, that "Burr was, upon the whole, a better man than Hamilton," will strike many strangely; but the graver errors, the radical vices of both men belong to human nature, and will always exist to be shunned and battled. Aside from the views of the author, which the reader may accept or reject, the volume contains more facts connected with the eventful life and times of Burr and his cotemporaries, than can probably be gathered from any other single source. 7.-The New York Speaker: a Selection of Pieces designed for Academic Exercises in Elocution. By WARREN P. EDGARTON, Professor of Oratory and Rhetoric, Hudson River Institute, Claverack, N. Y. With Introductory Remarks on Declamation, by WILLIAM RUSSEL, author of "University Speaker," "Pulpit Elocution," "Orthophony," etc. New York: Mason Brothers. This volume comprises a selection of pieces, in prose and verse, suited to the practice of academic elocution. The introductory remarks on attitude and gesture, as connected with the exercises in recitation and declamation, were prepared by Mr. Russel, a highly accomplished elocutionist. The selections are made with marked taste and discrimination. 8.-The California State Register and Year-Book of Facts for the year 1857. Published Annually. 12mo., pp. 352. San Francisco: Henry G. Langley & Samuel Matthews. It The plan of this work, which has been carried out with singular fidelity in this first volume, is to furnish statistics, full and reliable, concerning each branch of the resources of the State, and a complete exhibit of the finances thereof, including the different county and municipal organizations, carefully prepared and arranged, from information through official and other reliable sources. contains nearly as much matter as the "American Almanac," and, as a State work, will not suffer by comparison with that useful book of reference. The commercial, civil, and other relations of California with all our large cities cannot fail of securing for it a circulation beyond its locality. We regret that our limited space prevents us from giving even an outline of the table of contents. We commend it with confidence to all who would be well informed in regard to the "Golden State." |