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OEKTENNIAL BKLI*, BT B. F. UILOIT • K • X«4>elfyTd blacksudiUs in the air, ' - Smite your sweet anvils good ana strong! Y« lions in your lofty lair. Boar out from tower to tower, along . ' ~ 11»e wrinkled coast* and scalloped seas, Till winter meets the orange breeze : * From bridal lands that always wear t tlM wtaage-blossoins round their hair. . Centennial Bells, ring on; ^; Poor out, ye goblets, far and near. Your grand melodious iron flood, Till pine and palm snaii thiuk they heir The axes smite the stately wood, i Nor dream the measured cadence m'MUM TRj* clock-tick of the continentl Xbe fOOt-i®" O* n n'OiIu that u€ST3 "The field-dsy of a hundred years, Centennial Bolls, ring on! , Ye bloooonifl of the furnace fires, - Ye iron tulips, rock and swing, ' Hie People's Primal Ape expires, A hundred years the reigning king Stiike one, ye hammers overhead. Ye rusty tongues, ring off the red, Bttg up the Concord Minute Men, Ring out old Putnam's wolf again. Centennial Bells, ring on 1 •Where prairies hold their flowery breath Like statues in the marble ledge-- Where mountains set their glittering toeth ; Through wide horizon's rugged edge, And hold the world with granite grip As steady as a marble lip. And here, and there, and everywhere, With rhythmic thunder strike the air. Centennial Bells, ring on! Sine down the curtain ta To-day A&d gi ve the Past the right of •winy, TBI fields ot battle red with rust. Shine through the ashes and the dust Across the Age. and burn as plain As plowing Mara through window-pane. How grandly loom like grenadiers These heroes with their hundred years I Centennial Bells, ring on! Ring for the blue-eyed errand boy That quavered up the belfry stair, " They've signed it! Signed itand the Joy Boiled forth as rolls the Delaware. The old man started from a dream, JHttqrhfte hair blew, a silver Btreain, Above his head the bell unawung Dumb as a morning-glory hung; The time had come awaited long, : Bis wrinkled hand grew young and strong, He grasped the rope as men that drown Clutch at the life-line drifting down, Die iron dome as wildly flung AS If Alaska's winds had rung. Storage that the founder never knew, When from the molten glow he drew That bell, he hid within its rim AH anthem and a birthday hymn. So rashly rung, so madly toned. Its old melodious volume lost, Iti-thrilled horizon reat and cleft, Ot sweet vibration all bereft, And yet, to hear that tocsin break ^The silfr.ee of a hundred years, Its rude discordant murmur* shake And rally out the soul in cheers Would set'me longing to be rid ,, Of sweeter voices, and to bid * ^Centennial Bells be dumb! Although no mighty Muscovite, No iron welkin rudely hurled, Jhat bell of Liberty aud Right |#'*Was heard around the Babel world Land of the green and golden robe! A three-hours journey for the Sun, Two oceans kiss thee round the globe, Up the steep world thy rivers ran r> geologic ice to Jute. A hundred years from night to noon! In blossom still, like Aaron's rod! The clocks are on the stroke of one, * One land, one tongue, one Flag, one God! Centennial Bells, ring on! THE STORY OF THE SlGXim In the days of the Continental Congress the delegates used to travel to the capital, at the beginning of each session, from their several homes, usually on horseback : fording streams, sleeping at miserable country inns, sometimes we&tlier-bcund for days, sometimes making circuits to avoid threatened dangers, sometimes accomplishing forced marches to reach Phila­ delphia in time for some special vote. There lie before me the unpublished papers of one of the signers of the great Declaration, and these papers comprise the diaries of several such journeys. Their simple records rarely in­ clude bursts of patriotism or predictions of national glory, but they contain many plaintive chronicles of bad bed and worse food, mingled with pleasant glimpses of wayside chat, and now and (hen a bit of character-painting that recalls the jovial narratives of Fielding. Some­ times they give a passing rumor of "the glori­ ous news of the wureiiderhig of the Omouel of the Queen's Dragoons with his whole army," but more commonly they celebrate "milk toddy and bread and butter" after a wetting, or "the best dish of Boh pa tea I have drank for a twelvemonth." When they arrived at Phila­ delphia, the delegates put up their horses, chadgdt *tMor tiflmgf gear for them habiii- mentor-which TrumboU las immortalized, and fathered to Independence Hall to greet their brother delegates, to interchange the gossip of the day, to repeat D Franklin n last anecdote or Francis Hopkinson'e last gibe; then pro­ ceeding. when the business of the day was opened, to lay the foundation for a new nation. "Before the 19th of April, 1775," said Jef- fenen, " I had never heard a whisper of a disposition to separate from the mother-coun­ try." Washington said: "When I first took command of the army (July 3, 1775), I ab­ horred the idea of independence; but I am now fully convince s that nothing else will save us." j.i « only fey dne!liug uu such words as these that we can measure that vast educational procEtis which brought the American -people io ike Seeiaratioc of Independence, in 1776. The Continental Congress, in the earlier "fl oilth s of that year, had for many davs been steadily drifting on toward the distinct asser­ tion of separate sovereignty, and had declared it irreconcilable with reason and a good con­ science for the. colonists to take the oaths re­ quired for the support of the Government under the Crown of Great Britain. Bat it was not till the 7th of June that Richard Henry Le>«> of Virginia, rose aod read tlieee reeo- lottKtt: "That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States: that they are absolved from ail allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political con nection between them and the State of Great Britain is, and ought to be. totally dissolved. "That it is expedient forthwith to take the most effectual measures for forming foreign alliances. ° "That a pian of confederation be prepared ana transmitted to the respective colonies for their consideration and approbation." These resolutions were presented under threct instructions from the Virginia Assembly, the delegates from the colonv selecting 5Ir Lee as their spokesman. Thev were at once M&piddd, probably after previous understand­ ing, by John Adams, of Massachusetts--Yir- i and Massachusetts being then the lead- i ̂ w1#®8!* u\»Wa9 a actl for it was I doubtful whether anything better than a degrading death would await these leaders if unsHCcessful. Gage had written, onlv the rear len "* hu hands at JtonkeT UiUr that 'their hves were destined to the cord. Indeed, the story runs that a smylar threat was almost as frankly made to the sou of Mr. Lee, then a schoolboy in Eng­ land. He was one day standing new one of his teachen when some visitor asked the oues tl?2i , "What ^-V0 tha,t?," " He is the son of Richard Hewy Lee, of America," the teach­ er *eplied. On this the visitor put his hand on the boy's head and said: "We »hall yet see your father's head upon the Tower HilT'--to which the boy answered : " You may have it when you can get it,'1 This was the way in which "the danger was regarded in England •* and we know that Congress directed the Secretary to omit front the journals the names of the mover and seconder of these resolutions. The record only says. "Certain resolutions re­ specting independence being movea and sec­ onded, Itemized, That the consideration of them be deferred until to-morrow morning and that the members be enjoined to attend punctually at 10 o'clock, iu order to take the same into' consideration." On the next day the discussion came up promptly and was continued through Satur­ day, June 8, and on Monday, June 10. The resolutions were opposed, even with bitter­ ness, by Robert Livingston, of New York by Dickinson and Wilson, of Pennsylvania, and by Rutledge, of Bouth Caro inal The latter is reported to have said privately, pinia ing c solid "that it required the impudence of a New Englander for them in their disjointed state to propose a treaty to a nation now at peace; that no rewon could be assigned for pressing into this measure but, the reason of every madman, a show of spirit." On the other hand, the impudence, if such it was, of John Adams, went so far as to defend the reso­ lutions as stating "objects of the most stupen­ dous magnitude, in which the lives and liber­ ties of millions yet unbar" were intimately interested;" as belonging to "a revolution, the most complete, unexpected and remarka­ ble of any in the history of nations." On Monday the resolutions were postponed, bv a vote of seven colonies against five, until that day tliree weeks ; and it jwas afterward voted (June 11), "in the meanwhile, that no time be lost, iu case Congress agree thereto, that a committee be appointed to prepare a Declara­ tion to that effect." Of this committee, Mr. Lee wonld doubtless have been the Chairman, had he not beeu already on his way to Virginia, to attend the sick-bed of his wife. His asso­ ciate, Thomas Jefferson, was named in his place, together with Johii Au&Euo, of Masssr- chusetts. Benjamin Franklin, of Pennsylvania, Roger Sherman, of Connecticut, and Robert R. Livingston, of New York. This provided for the Declaration ; and, on the appointed dav, July 1, 1776, Congress pro­ ceeded to the discussion of the momentous resolutions. Little remains of us of the de­ bate, and the best glimpse of the opening situa­ tion is afforded to the modern reader through a letter written by Mr. Adams to Mercy Warren, the historian--a letter dated "Quinoy, 1807," but not printed until within a few years, when it was inserted by Mr. Frothingham in the ap­ pendix to his invaluable " Rise of the Republic of the United States." The important passage is as follows: " I remember very well what I did say; but I will previously state a fact as it lies in my memory, which may be somewhat explanatory of it. " In the previous multiplied debates which we had upon the subject of independence, the delegates from New Jersey had voted against us ; their constituents were informed of it and recalled them, and sent us & new set on purpose to vote lor independence. Among these were Chief Justice Stockton and Dr. Witherspoon. In a morning when Congress met, we expected the question would be put and carried without any further debate ; be­ cause we knew we had a majority, and thought that argument had been exhausted on both sides, as indeed it was, for nothing new was ever afterward advanced on either side. But the Jersey delegates, appearing for the first time, desired that the question might be dis­ cussed. We observed to them that the ques­ tion was so public, and had been so long dis­ cussed in pamphlets, newspapers, and at every fireside, that they could not be uninformed, and must have made up their minds. They said it was true they had not been inattentive to what had been passing abroad, but they had not heard the arguments in Congress, and did not incline to give their opinions until they should hear the sentiments of members there. Judge Stockton was most particularly impor­ tunate, till the members began to say, 4 Let the gentlemen be gratified,' and the eyes of the assembly were turned upon me, and several of them said: ' Come, Mr. Adams ; you have had the subject longer at heart than any of us, and you must recapitulate the arguments.' I was somewhat confused at this personal application to me, and would have been very glad to be excused; bat, as no other person rose, after some time I said: 4 This is the first time in my life when I seriously wished for the genius and eloquence of the celebrated orators of Athens and Home ; called in this unexpected and unprepared manner to exhibit all the argu­ ments in favor of a measure the most impor­ tant, iu my judgment, that had ever been dis­ cussed in civil or political society, I had no art or oratory to exhibit, and could produce noth­ ing but simple reason and plain common sense. I felt myBelf oppressed by the weight of the subject, and I believed if Demosthenes or Cicero had ever been called to deliberate OL so great a question, neither would have relied on his own talents without a supplication to Minerva, and a sacrifice to Mercury or the God of Eloquence.1 All this, to be sure, was but a flourish, and not, as I conceive, a very bright exordium ; but I felt awkwardly. "I wish some one had remembered the speech, for it is almoet the only one I ever made that 1 wish was literally preserved." "John Adams," said Jefferson long after­ ward to Mr. Webster and Mr. Ticknor, "was our Colossus on the floor. He was not grace­ ful, nor elegant, nor remarkably fluent, but he came out occasionally with a power of thought and expression that moved us from our seats." It seems a pity that no adequate specimen re­ mains to us of "this straightforward eloquence. And yet it is cause for congratulation, on the whole, that the only speech fully written out after that debate, was the leading argument for the negative. Long years have made us familiar with the considerations that led to na­ tional independence ; the thing of interest is to know what was said against it; and this is just what we happen to know, through the record of a single speech. After any great measure has been carried through, men speedily forget the objections and the objectors, and in a hundred years can hardly believe that any serious opposition was ever made. How utterly has the name of John Dickinson passed into oblivion I--and yet, up to the year 1776, he had, doubtless, con­ tributed more than any one man, except Thomas Paine, to the political emancipation, so far as the press could effect it, of the American peo­ ple. The "Farmer's Letters" had been re- [>rinted in London with a preface by Dr. Frank-in • they bad b66n tz&nslsitcd into Frsnch, slid * they had been more widely read in America than any patriotic pamphlet, excepting only the '4 Common SGUSO " of PEine. Now their &uthor Is forgotten except through tho college he founded--because he shrank at the laat mo­ ment before the storm he had aroused. Who can deny the attribute of moral courage to the man who stood up in the Continental Congress to argue against independence? But John Adama reports that Dickinson's mother used to say to him: "Johnny, you will be hauged ; your estate will be forfeited or confiscated ; you will leave your excellent wife a widow," and so on; and Adams admits that if his wife and mother had held such language, it would have made him miserable, at least. And it was under this restraining influence, so unlike the fear­ less counsels of Abbv Adams, that Dickinson rose on that 1st of July and spoke thus: " I value the love of mv country as I ought, bat I value my country more ; and I desire this illustrious assembly to witness the integrity, if not the policy, of my conduct. The first cam­ paign will be decisive of the controversy. The Declaration will not strengthen us by one man, or by the least supply, while it may expose our soldiers to additional cruelties and outrages. Without some prelusory trials of our strength, we ought not to commit our country upon an alternative, where to recede would be infamy, and to persist might be destruction. "wo nstancei s recollected of a people with­ out a battle fought, or an ally gained, abrogat­ ing forever their connection with a warlike commercial empire. It might unite the differ­ ent parties in Great Britain against us, and it might create disunion among ourselves. "With other powers, it would rather injure than avail us. Foreign aid willmot be obtained but by our actions in the field, which are the only evidences of our union aud vigor that will be respected. In the war between the United Provinces and Spain, France and England as­ sisted the provinces before they declared them­ selves independent; if it is the interest of any European kingdom to aid us, we shall be aided without such a Declaration ; if it is not, we shall not be aided with it. Before such an irrevoca­ ble step rtliall be taken, we ought to know the disposition of the great powers, and how far they will permit one or more of them to inter fere. The erection of an independent emnire on this continent is a phenomenon in the world; its effects will be immense, and may vibrate round the globe. How they may affect, or be supposed to affect, old establishments, is not ascertained. It is singularly disrespect­ ful to France to make the Declaration before her sense is known, as we have sent an agent expressly to inquire whether such a Declaration would be acceptable to her, and we have res,-ion ?,ve heJs D0W arrived at the Court of Versailles. The measure ought to be delaved till the common interests shall in the bestman- ti°e58Q by common consent. Be- d°°r tot accommodation with Great v £° 1,6 ahut' until we know 3^™ ca° b® obtained from some compe­ tent power. Thus to break with her before we have compacted with another, is to makl «- penmeuts on the lives and libertieTof riiy countrymen, which I would sooner die than agree to make. At best, it is to throw us into the hands of some other power and to-lie at mercy, for we shall have passed the river that is never to be repassed. We ought to retain the Declaration and remain masters of our own fame and fate.' These were the opinions of the " Pennsylva­ nia Fanner," as condensed by Bancroft from Mr. Dickinson's own report, no words being employed but those of the orator. In the field, some of the bravest men were filled with simi­ lar anxieties. It was thus that rhe new Adju­ tant General, Joseph Reed, described the mili­ tary summon: "With an army of force before, and a secret one behind, we stand on a point of land with 6,000 old troops, if a year's service of about half can entitle them to this name, and about 1,600 raw levies of the prov­ ince, ma&y disaffected and more doubtful; every man, ftom the General to the private, acquainted with our true situation, is exceed­ ingly discouraged. Had I known the true pos­ ture of affairs, no consideration would have tesipiiu mo io t»k« pai i iu thin scene ; and this sentiment is universal." This statement was not laid before the Con­ gress, to be sure, but one from Gen. Washing­ ton, conveying essentially the same facts, was read at the opening of that day's session. In Bpite of this mournful beginning, and notwith­ standing the arguments of Mr. Dickinson, the opinions of the majority in Congress proved to be clear and strong ; and the pressure from their constituencies was yet stronger. Nearly every colony bad alreadv taken separate action toward independence, and, on that 1st day of July, the Continental Congress adopted, in committee, the first resolution offered by the Virginia delegates. There were nine colonies in the affirmative, Pennsylvania and South Carolina voting in the negative, the latter unanimously, Delaware being divided, and New York not voting, the delegates from that colony favoring the measure, but having as yet no instructions. When the resolutions came up for final action; in convention, the next day, jthe state of things had changed. Dickinson and Morrison of Pennsylvania had absented themselves and left an affirmative majority in the delegation ; Ciesar Rodney had returned from an absence, and brought Delaware into line; and South Carolina, though still disap­ proving the resolutions, joined in the vote for the sake of unanimity, as had been half prom­ ised by Edward Rutledge, the day before. Thus, twelve colonies united in the mpmentous action ; and New York, though not Acting, yet indorsed it through a State Convention within a week. The beet outburst of contemporary feeling o ver the great event is to be found in a letter by John Adams to his wife, dated July 3, 1776. He writes as follows: "Yesterday the greatest question was de­ cided which" ever was debated in America, and a greater, perhaps, never was nor will be decided among men. • * * When I look back to 1761, * * * and recollect the series of political events, the chain of causes and effects, I am surprised at the sud­ denness as well as greatness of this revolution. Britain has been filled with folly and America with wisdom. * * * It is the will of Heaven that the two countries should be sundered for­ ever. It may be the will of heaven that America shall suffer calamities still more wast­ ing and distresses still more dreadful. * * * But I submit all my hopes and fears to an Overruling Providence, in which, unfashion­ able as the faith may be, I firmly believe. * * "The 2nd day of July, 1776, will be the mest memorable epocha in the historv of America, I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty, * * * from one end of the continent to the other, from this time forward for ever­ more. "You will think me transported with en­ thusiasm, but I am not. I am well aware of the toil, and blood, and treasure that it will cost us to maintain this Declaration, and support and defend these States. Yet, through all the gloom. I can see the rays of ravishing light and glory; I can see that the end is worth all the meaus. And that posterity will triumph in that day's transaction, even though we should rue it, which I trust in God we shall not." John Adams was mistaken in one prediction. It is the Fourth of Jtily? not the 2nd, wjlich has beeu accepted by Americans as "the most memorable epocha." This is one of the many illustrations of the fact that words as tnall as deeds are needful, since a great act murfytW incomplete until it has been put into a nlting form of words. It waa the vote of July 2 that changed the thirteen colonies into independent States; the Declaration of Independence only promulgated the fact and assigned its reasons. Had this great proclamation turned out to be a oonfused or ill- written document, it would never have eclipsed in fame the original resolution, which certainly had no such weak side. But this danger was well averted, for the Declaration was to be drawn up by Jefferson, unsurpassed in his time for power of expression. He accordingly framed it; Franklin and Adams suggested a few verbal amendments ; Sherman and Liv­ ingston had none to offer; and the document stood ready to be reported to the Congress. - Some of those who throng to Philadelphia, this summer may feel an interest in knowing that "the title-deed of our liberties," as Webster called it; was written in "a new brick-house out in the fields"--a house still standing, at the Bouthwest corner of. Market and Seventh streets, less than a quarter of a mile from Independence square. Jefferson had there rented a parlor ana bedroom, ready furnished, on the second floor, for thirty-five shillings a wtok *, and he wrote the Declaration in this parlor, upon a littlo writing-desk, three inches high, which islill exists. In that modeot room we may fancy Franklin and Adams listening critically, Sherman and Livingston approvingly, to what was for them simply the report of a committee. Jefferson had written it, we are told, without the aid of a single book; he was merelv putting into more systematic form a series of points long famil­ iar; and Parton may be right in the opinion that tho writer was not conscious of any very strenuous exercise of his faculties, or of any verv eminent service done. ^ Nothing is so difficult as to transport our- st Ives to the actual mood of mind in which great historic acts were performed, or iu which their actors habitually dwelt. Thus, on the 7th day of that July, John Adams wrote to his wife a description of the condition of our army, so thrilling and harrowing that it was, as he says, "enough to fill a humane mind with horror." We fancy him spending that day iu sackcloth and ashes; but there follows on the same page another letter, written to the same wife on the same day--a long letter devoted solely to a discourse on the varieties of Eng­ lish style, in which he urges upon her a care­ ful reading of Rollins "Belles Lettres," and the Epistles of Pliny the Younger. Yet any one who has ever taken part in difficult or dangerous actions can understand the immense relief derived from that half hour's relapse into '• the still air of delightful studies." And it is probable that Jefferson and his companions, even while discussing the title-deed of our lib­ erties. may have let their talk stray over a hun­ dred collateral themes, as remote from the im­ mediate task as were Pliny and Rollin. During three days--the 2nd, 3d, and 4th of July -- the Declaration was debated in the Congress. The most vivid historic glimpse of that debate is in Franklin's consola­ tory anecdote, told to Jefferson, touching John Thompson, the hatter. The amendments adopted by Congress have always been ac­ counted as improvements, because tending in the direction of boncisenes and simplicity; though the loss of that stern condemnation of the slave trade--" a piratical waif are against human nature itself'--has always been re­ gretted. The amended document was finally adopted, like the Virginia resolution, by the vote of twelve colonies. New York still abstain­ ing. If Thomas McKean's reminiscences, at 80, can bo trusted, it cost another effort to secure this strong vote, and Caesar Itodney bad again to be sent for, to secure the Delaware delegation. McKean says, in a letter written in 1814 to John Adams: " I sent an express for C.-vnar Rodney to Dover, in the county of Kent, in Delaware, at my private expense, whom I met at the State House door on the Fourth of July, in his boots; he resided eighty miles from the city, and just arrived as Congress met." Jefferson has, however, thrown much doubt over these octogenarian recollections by McKean, anu thinks that he confounded the different votes together. There is little doubt that this hurried night-ride by Rodney was in preparation for the 2nd of July, not the Fourth: and that the vete on the Fourth went quiet! v through. But the Declaration, being adopted, was next to be signed; and here again we come upon an equally hopeless contradiction in testimony. This same Thomas McKean wrote in 1814 to ex-President Adams, speaking of the Declara­ tion of Independence, "No man signed it on that day"--namely, July 4, 1776. Jefferson, on the other hand,' writing some years later, thought that Mr. McKean's memory had de­ ceived him, Jefferson himself asserting, from his early notes, that " The Declaration was re­ ported by the committee, agreed to by the House, aiid signed by every member present, except Mr. Dickinson." But Jefferson, who was also an octogenarian, seems to have for­ gotten the subsequent signing of the Declara­ tion parchment, until it was recalled to his memory, as he states, a few years later. If there was a previous signing of a written docu­ ment, the manuscript itself has long since dis­ appeared; and the accepted historic opinion is that both these venerable witnesses were mis­ taken; that the original ueoiaraiion was signed only by the President and Secretary, John Han­ cock and Charles Thompson; and that the gen­ eral signing of the parchment copy took place on August 2d. It is probable, at least, that fifty-four of the sixty-six names were append­ ed on that day; and that it was afterward signed by Thornton, of New Hampshire, who was not then a member, and by McEetuo, who was then temporarily absent. Jefferson used to relate, "with much mer­ riment, " says Parton, that the final signing of the Declaration was hastened by a very trivial circumstance. Near the hall was a large stable, whence the flies issued in legions. Gentlemen were in those days peculiarly sensitive to such discomforts by reason of silk stockings; and when this annovance, superadded to the sum­ mer heat of Philadelphia, had become intoler­ able, they hastened to bring the business to a conclusion. This may equally well refer, how­ ever, to the original vote; flies are flies, whether in J uly or August. American tradition lias clang to the phrases assigned to the different participants in this scene: John Hancock's commentary on his own bold handwriting, 44 There, John Bull may read my name without spectacles;" Franklin's, "We must hang together, or else, most as­ suredly, we shall all hang separately;" and the heavy" Harrison's remark to the slender El- bridge Gerry, that, in that event, Gerry would be kicking in the air long after his own fate would be settled. These things may or may not have been said; but it gives a more human interest to the event, when we know that they were even attributed. What we long to know is, that the great acts of history were done by men like ourselves, and not by dignified ma­ chines. Even those who look with the greatest pride and hope upon the present and future of this nation, must admit that the Continental Con­ gress contained in 1776 a remarkably large pro­ portion of ablt and eminent men. The three most eminent delegations, naturally, were from what were then the three leading States --Virginia, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania. Virginia contributed Thomas Jefferson, who framed the Declaration; Richard Henry Lee, whose resolutions preceded it; Francis Light- foot Lee, his brother; Wythe and Braxton, who had stood by Patrick Henry in the old House of Burgesses; Nelson, who had first proposed organizing the colonial militia of Virginia, and who later, as a General in the field, bombarded his own house at York- towu, aud Harrison, afterward the father of a President. Massachusetts sent Hancock, the President of the Congress; uamuel Adams, who shared with Hancock the honor of being excepted from a royal pardon; John Adams, "our Colossus on the floor;" Elbridge Gerry, afterward Commissioner to France and Vice President of the United States, and Robert Treat Paine, who had acted as public prosecu­ tor after the Boston massacre. Pennsylvania contributed Dr. Franklin, "the Genius of the Day and the patron of American Liberty Robert Morris, "the financier of the Revolu­ tion," by whose sole credit the Continental army was sustained in its closing campaign, and who was afterward a prisoner for debt; Mor­ ton; who had been a member of the "Stamp Act Congress;" Ross, the mediator between the colonists and the Indians; Dr. Rush, re­ nowned for science and for humanity; Clymer, soldier, student, writer, and prison reformer; the Irish-born Taylor and Smith, and the Scotch Wilson. Yet the other Colonies were represented bv delegations hardly less eminent. New York sent Livingston, of •'Livingston's Manor," the correspondent of Edmund Burke, and one of the framers of tho " Address to the People of Great Britain," in the first Continental Con­ gress ; Lewis, the Welsh merchant, to whom the British Government had given 5,000 acres of land for his services in the French and In­ dian war; Floyd, who, during the greater part of the Revolution, was an exile from his home, leaving it in the hands of the British ; and Morris, afterward succeeded ia Congress by his more famous brother, Gouverneur. New Jer­ sey sent Hopkinson, lawyer, wit and poet--the author of "The Battle of the Kegs;" Dr. Witherspoon, the Scotch clergyman, President cf Princeton College ; Stockton, a patriot, and the ancestor of patriots ; Clarke, known as "The Poor Man's Counsellor;" though not a lawyer, and " honest John Hart." New Hamp­ shire had chosen Dr. Bartiett, the first to Bign the parchment roll; Dr. Thornton, who suc­ ceeded Gov. Wentworth, and became acting- Governor of New Hampshire ; and Whipple, who rose from a cabin boy to be a General com­ manding with Stark at Bennington, and under Gates at Saratoga. Connecticut sent Roger Sherman, shoemaker, lawyer and judge, who had studied while working at his bench, and had become a profound lawyer on borrowed iaw books ; Huntington, afterward President of Congress, and Wolcott, who defended the Con­ necticut coast against Tryon, and, later, made gsace with the Six Nations. Rhode Island sent opkins, who had introduced a bill into the Rhode Island Assembly to abolish slave importation, and had, at the same time, emancipated his own slaves; and Ellery, whose house was burned by the British army as soon as it took pos­ session of the island. Delaware had elected Rodney, who rode eighty miles, as already stated, to be present at the vote for independence; Read, who fchad roused his colony to contribute for the suffer­ ers by the Boston Port bill, aud McKean, the only man who served in a Congress through the whole Revolutionary war. The South Car­ olina delegates, forming at first the only dele­ gation which had united in opposing indepen­ dence, were equally united iu finally approving and practically sustaining it, Middletou losing his fortune in the cause, Hay ward being scarred for" life by a gunshot wound, and both, with Rutledge, being imprisoned for a year at St. Augustine by the British ; while young Thomas Lynch, who had come from the London Temple to espouse his country's cause, escaped the dangers of war only to be lost at sea at 30. These were all natives of the colony from which they came ; but North Carolina and Georgia were honorably represented by what we should now call "carpet baggers." North Carolina sent Hooper, a Massachusetts man, who had studied law under James Otis ; Hewes, the New Jersey Quaker, and Penn, the Virginian, who afterward rallied the mountaineers of his adopted State against Cornwallis, Georgia, again, sent the Virginian, Walton, who nad learned to read by the light of pine knots when a carpenter's apprentice; the English Gwin­ nett, and Hall, of Connecticut, who at first came alone to the Congress, and was admitted to represent his district before the young colo nv had made up its mind. Finally, Maryland was represented by Chase, who, as Judge upon the bench, afterward said |to a timid Sheriff doubtful about getting some rioters to jail. 41 Summon me, Mr. Sheriff, and I'il take em ;" by Paca, who said, after his first session, that the Virginia gentlemen atone seemed able to cam' «ei the Government, so that no one else was needed ; Stone, one of Abe committee that afterwards framed the Articles of Confedera­ tion, and Charles Carroll, who, lest some name­ sake should share his risks, added " of Carroll- ton" to his name. This is the story of the signing. Of the mem­ bers who took part in that silent drama of 1776, some came to greatness in consequence, be­ coming Presidents, Vice Presidents, Governors, Chief Justices or Judges; others came, in equal­ ly direct consequence, to poverty, flight or imprisonment. •' Hunted like a fox by the en­ emy "a prisoner twenty-four hours without rood," "not daring to remain two successive nights beneath one shelter "--these are the rec­ ords we may find in the annals of the Revolu­ tion with respect to many a man who stood by John Hancock on that summer day to sign his name. It ;JS a pleasure to think that not one of them ever disgraced, publicly or conspicu­ ously, the name he had written. Of the re­ joicings which, everywhere throughout the colonies, followed the signing, the tale has been often told.' It has been told so often, if the truth must be confessed, that it is not now easy to distinguish the romance from the Bim- Ele fact. The local antiquarians of Philadelphia id us dismiss forever from the record the picturesque old bell-ringer and his eager boy, waiting breathlessly to announce to the assem­ bled thousands the final vote of Congress on the Declaration. The tale is declared to be a pure fiction, of which there exists not even a local tradition. The sessions of Congress were then secret, and there was no ex­ pectant crowd outside. It was not till the Sch of July that Congress Bent out circulars announcing the Declara­ tion; not till the Gth that it appeared in a Philadelphia newspaper; and not till the 8th that it wbs read by John Nixon in the yard of Independence Hail. It was read from an ob­ servatory there erected by the American Philo­ sophical Society, seven years before, to observe the transit of Venus. The King's arms over the door of the Supreme Court room in Inde­ pendence Hall were torn down by a committee of the volunteer force called " Associators." These trophies were burned in the evening in the presence of a great crowd of citizens, and no doubt amid the joyful pealing of tho old "Independence" bell. There is also a tradi­ tion that on the afternoon of that day, or pos­ sibly a day or two earlier, there was a joyful private celebration of the great event, by Jef­ ferson and others, at the garden-house of a country-seat in Frankfoid (near Philadelphia), then occupied by Dr. Enoch Edwards, a leading patriot of that time. It is certain that a portion of the signers of the Declaration met two years after, for a .cheery commemoration of their great achieve­ ment, in the Philadelphia City Tavem. The enjoyment of the occasion waa enhanced by the recent deliverance of the city from the Eresence of Gen. Howe, and by the contrast etween this festival and that lately given by the British officers to him. A brief glimpse at the patriotic occasion, from the hitherto un­ published diaries of William Ellery, may well close this narrative. " On the glorious Fourth of July (1778), I celebrated in the Oity Tavern, with my brother delegates of Congress *nd a number of other gentlemen, amounting, in the whole, to about eighty, the anniversary of Independency. The entertainment was elegant and well conducted. There weie four tables spread; two of them extended the whole length of the room, the other two crossed them at right angles. At the end of the room, opposite the upper table, waa erected an orchestra. At the head of tho upper table, and at the President's right hand, stood a large baked pudding, in the center of which was planted a staff, on which waa dis­ played a crimson flag, in the midst of which was this emblematic device: An eye, denoting Providence ; a label, on which waa inscribed, 'An appeal to Heaven ;' a man with a drawn sword in his hand, and in tho other the Decla­ ration of Independency, and at his feet a scroll inscribed, 'The declaratory acts.' As soon as the dinner began, the music, consisting of clarionets, hautboys, French horns, violins, and bass viols, opened aud continued, making proper pauses, until it was finished. Then the toasts, followed by a discharge of field-pieces, were drank, and so the afternoon ended. In the evening there was a cold collation and a brilliant e&hibition of fireworks. The street was crowded with people during the exhibition- * * * * * * * "What a strange vicissitude in human af­ fairs ! These, but a few years since colonies of Great Britain, are now free, sovereign and in­ dependent States, and now celebrate the anni­ versary of their independence in the very city where, but a day or two before. Gen. Howe exhibited his ridiculous Champhaitre."--Sorib- ner for July. "The Sick Man." * The almost historical phrase applied to the Empire of Turkey of "the sick man," is not modern or new. If any one will refer to English history, they will find that a certain Sir Thomas Roe, Ambassador from England in the time of James II., to Constantinople, said in dispatches which have often been quoted since, "Turkey is like the body of an old man, crazed with vices, which puts on the appearance of health* though near its end." But, as has been said, threatened empires, like threatened men, may live long. Two centuries ago the Empire of the Sultan, to an intelligent observer, looked as near its end as it does now. The ruler was an absolute tyrant, spend­ ing on palaces and women the means wrung from an over-taxed peasantry. There was no restraint upon him, except the one terror of an Oriental monarch-- a sudden uprising of the religious classes, who might transfer the throne to his nearest male relative. There is in Turkey no Parliament, no impeachment, no charter, no opportunity for the peo­ ple to present their wrong to the thrnoe. The only remedy is violent outbreak and sudden murder. This sword hangs over the harem of every Sultan. His wild pleasures and forgetfulness of jus­ tice may suddenly be punished in blood. This species of popular justice worked well in early Turkish history. There can be very few royal houses in Europe rvith such a continued history as that of the present Sultan. For at least five centuries the faithful and sub­ missive Turks have followed the crescent of the house of Othman, and, though they liavfe murdered generation alter generation of the royal debauchees, thev have still kept on the throne descend­ ants of the family which led them through such careers of blood and con­ quest as no other nation ever trod. The founders of the family were men of might. The present representatives are voluptuaries;' cowards and tools of skill­ ful Ministers.--New York Timet. Not Commonly Known. The origin of the terms " 6 penny," " 10 penny," etc., as applied to nails, though not commonly known, is in­ volved in no mystery whatever. Nails have been made a certain number of pounds to the 1,000 for many years, and are still reckoned in that way in Eng­ land, a lOd. being 1,000 nails to 10 pounds, and 6a. being 1,000 to 6 pounds, a 20d. weighing 20 pound to the 1,000, and having jus one-half the number of nails to the 10 pounds of the 10d., and in ordering the buyer calls for the 3 pound, 6 pound, or 10 . pound variety, etc., until, by the Englishman's abbreviation of pun for pound, the abbreviation has been made to stand for penny instead of pound, as originally intended; and when it comes to less than one pound to the 1,000, such as tacks, brads, etc., they are reckoned 6 ounces, 8 ounces, 12 ounces, etc., and- the manufacturer who would make less than 1,000 nails to 10 pounds for a lOd. nail would be looked upon as a cheat, as in former times the difference in the cost of the manufacture of one pound of small nails ovef the larger sizes was much greater than now. As nails are now made and sold, the dealer only asks for the sizes needed by the usual desig­ nation, and the fact that there are now but about two-thirds of the number of nails formerly called for in the pound does not lessen the volne. A CAiiiPORNiA man grafted a slip of dark-red rosebush on an oak, and the , result is a black rose. Brown roses were got from a graft on a locust. little AT LiTrt.tff, _ t by little," the torrent eald, §fc *• it swept along Its narrow bed, * Chafiug in wrath and pride. *• Little by little," aud " day by day,"J And with every wave it bore away A grain ot Band from the banks which to w' Like granite walls on either aide. '-'v \ • ?• • It came again, and the ruebing tide Covered the valley far and wide, For the mighty banks were gone. A grain at a time they were swept away; 4nd now the field* and the meadows lay Under the waves, for the work was " Little by little," the tempter aald, As a dark and a canning nnare he spread For the young unwary feet. " Little by little," and " day by day," I'll tempt the careless soul astray,* Into the broad and flowery way. Until the ruin ia made complete. " Little by little," sure and slow, We faohion our nature of bliss or woe As the present passes away. Our feet are climbine- flip bright Up to the region of endless light, Or gliding downward into the night, "Little by little," and "day by day." Visrroi Corns. Pith and Point, that always come foot A COMBINATION look--The marriage ceremony. No WOMAN with a proper appreciation of her rights will marry a man so tall that she can't reach his hair. "ALL is wanity," remarked a tinware peddler the other day. "What's life to me bat holler and tin sell ?" A FUND of $100,000 has been sub­ scribed in New Hampshise, the interest to be used in prosecuting violators of the liquor law. AN Irish peasant, being asked why he permitted his pig to take up his quar­ ters with the family, replied : "Why not ? Doesn't the place afford ivery convanience that a pig can require ?" "DON'T, come to see me any more just yet, John ; father has been having his boots half-soled, with two rows of nnila around the toes," wrote a guileless girl to her adorer. AN enterprising but ignorant South American has sent to an .Albany locomo­ tive shop for 100 "cow-catchers, expects to use them in taking wild cattle on the plains of Paraguay, in place of the lasso. • "PLEA SB send me one broom, and see that the handle is stronger than the last one was," wrote a Chicago woman to her husband last week, in a hand full of character. Her husband pretends that he hit his head against the door in the dark. MORTON MOMIOHAEL wishes to call the Exhibition a "Wondrous fair." Why not a "Passing fair?"--Graphic. That's so; why not ? You pass the fare when vou enter, and keep passing the "fair after yon are in.--Norriatown Herald. Tracy were talking of a death, when one man asked: "What were his last words?" "He didn't say anything," was the reply. " That's just like him," said the first man, with an approving nod. "There was no gas about him. He was all business." « THIS memorandum, evidently poetic, was picked up in Fairmount Park last week : "Her dome uprears--flood of tears--twine the laurel wreath--Wash­ ington's teeth--strong as their springs, and as their ivory pure--hewer, fewer, skewer--gone to lunch." AN old '49-er entered a barber shop, the other day, and, taking off his coat, said: "Yes, I do want a shave, and I don't keep a bottle in the shop, nor I don't want the hair on the back of my neck shaved; so you chaps look live and go slow, or I'll multilate you." 4 'CIRCUMSTANCES alter cases, y6u know," remarked a Scotch lawyer to an old farm­ er client. Verra true, sir," replied the farmer, "and cases alter circumstances as weel; for, man, I mind when ye were young and had but few cases, your cir­ cumstances werna ower braw." COL. BEN WILSON, of West Virginia, noted for politeness and debate, wis in­ formed by his physician that his end was near. "Of course, you know, doc­ tor," said the invalid, "but may I in­ quire on what you predicate your theo­ ry?" The funeral was postponed. JONES says he seldom has felt a like degree of un-equnaimity and a desire to break a commandment and some one's head, as when to-day his next door neighbor brought back a buffalo robe he had borrowed last January; and asked Jones if he had got a spare thermometer. THE new cook has been strongly rec­ ommended; but the first three dinners have been something too dreadful, and the mistress has ventured on a few words. Cook--"Well, mem, I dessay you think you're right; but, wherever I've been cook before, they in general found it best to take things as I give'em 'em." OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES says that it is not by his permission that a part of his latest poem has been changed to read : From flounces frothed with creamy lace Peeps out the pug-dog's smutty face, ' #r spaniel rolls his liquid eye. Or stares the wiry pet of Skye-- Oh woman, in your hours of ease How fond you are of purps and--fleas! THE editor of the Brooklyn Argus is unmarried, and the Detroit Free Press says he thinks muslin dresses are cut out with a lawn mower. Such ignor­ ance is painful. Some one should in form him that muslin dresses are knit, after the manner of a pair of stockings.-- Norristowti Herald. And yet--bflt, then, we are as ignorant %s Argus him- pelf--isn't there a kind of women called grass widows whose lawn dresses are laundressed by machines like luwn mow- ers? We merely ask for information.-- Philadelphia Bulletin. More Trouble for farmers./ A new enemy to the growing crop of corn has been discovered this spring, which is committing considerable de­ struction in some sections of the coun­ try. It is a peculiar black worm, which can scarcely be crashed on the loose earth, as it is incased in a suit oi armor difficult to break. They operate in the corn-hills by eating off the young plants. As many as ten or twelve worms are found in one hill. The cutworm has hitherto been of great annoyance, but this new pest is said to bejeven more de­ structive. In some townships farmers are busy replanting cornfields that have beeu thus devastated. Paris green has been found to be as efficacious in ex­ terminating these worms as it is in de­ stroying the potato bug. Powdered white hellebore is said to be ve cacious.--Reading (Pa.} Times, 1