New York Clipper (Nov 1856)

"JENNY JONES," (BT BLA.CK BASHAW, AND OWN SISTER TO IfiE YOUNG STALLION " LIGHTNING,") DRIVEN BY JOEL CONKLIN. THE LOST RING; Or, Tba Qama of F4Wiu. A TALE OF ASTOUNDING MYSTERY. WBITTBN roR TBI RIW TOBI CLIPrlB. BT BIK W . MoiB —In tht followtDg Ule th* author plidgaa hU rtpaUtton u to tht multy of »r»ty loaldent whioh oeosra Id It—the tale, not tb* npatttlon. The (Tent oame nndar bU penonal obatrTa- Uon, tod the inhaDpj hero aod heroine are, at preunt, llriog Id proFoand giltF aad nelaneholf In an ujlnm eipreulr balll for their lubliktlan. Thautonlthed nider mar Hell aielalm, *lth the loDortal Bard: " Oan taoh tUD|a be, aad oome opon a> like • laiBaur oloid!" " When tbeie prodlRlai Ss 10 ooDjolntlj meet, let not men uj, 'TheM are thair reaione—thejr ar* natnral lor, I bellBTe, iitj are portentoaa tblsgi Vnto theolimitt that tbe/ point npon." jDLiua 0;ieiB. About twentr yeara ago, In the northern part of £ag- land, or, tt might have been la the soulhern part or Scot- land, there happened a singular ovent wbloh was long in- volved In the profoundeat myetery, till, a few yeara elnoo, ohaace brought to light the daikneas itith which the avent jiaa ensbrowded. At the tlma o( its occnrrenoe numerous voralons were given of tho etory, not one of whlob contained the correct atatcmeat of facta ; but tho reader of the OLirrEs may rely upon the prcaent narra- tive aa Btrlotly tmo. Mr. Bomnieraadyk<), when a yonng man, waa married to a ;oung and lovely woman, to whom ha waa fondly attached. It would be Impoaalble to give a perfect de- Bcrlptlon of thig beautiful patt; It will aufflce to tay that Mr. Sommerandyke wag a model of eymmetry and nanly beauty, and bia charming eponae embodied in her person the beauty of Yonua, the atatellneea of Juno, aad the wladon ot Uloorva. " Tbrloe happy pair t" A patty of friends, attached to the family, ware invited to pata gone daya with them, at the bueband'a country ' maaalon, to celebrate the happy event. The reader nay ' di^elleve tho offer woa readily accepted by tho many cou- Ii^alulatlog frlenda, and in the evening of tho marriage ''obratlon, the party, after dlnuiBlog tho numeroua lux- "'"'B provided by tbe happy couple, began to amueo Blon oalveB with playing "pawiu." During the game, " goIngi'Dg waa redeemed with the ezoeptlon of the wed- ' g, and tbe gueeta were a long time cmplovcd in ir it, wondering where it could bo hid. Not be- flnd it, nor obtaining any answer to their re- Ties, they became alarmed, and every body. tcith ell (A« urvanii, were engaged In tbe search. The house was ransacked from tbe attic to the collar. The garden, the grounds about, everything was explored lA vain. Thinking it might have been stolen bv one of the aervanta, notice was Tell at the jewelers' shops in the neighboring town to stop it if it ehonld be olTcred for sale. But nothing conid be heord relatlre to the where- abouta of the lost ring, and the husband and wife lament- ed their unexpected misfortune, and wereolwaya tortured at the mere mention of thle mysterious loss. Great waa tho lamentation theteoC Time rolled on apace, and, after a lapse of ten years, a large gold Jith, whicn bad been a favorite of Mrs. Sommer- andyke, died; ahe recollected approaching tho open glaes vcBsel, oontalnlog tbe golen specimen of the finny tribe, when she played pawns on her memorable marriage night, ten years before. The thought flaabed across her eiclted brain like chain llghtnbg through a huge aom- bro bank of clouds. Could it he T Frequent perusals of sundry fairy tales had Impreascd upon her mind the fea- sibility of auoh an oconrreoce. Uorcover, she had dream- ed one night, after she bad fallen asleep, reading Don Leander'e adventures, that the above-mentioned gold flah swallowed her ring. Having Implicit faith in the prog- nostication of dreams, Mrs. Sommerandyke determined to cause the fish to be opened, and ipottrnurUm examination held on it Motioe was given to ber friends, and on the following day they were assembled In the parlor of the magnlOcent mansion, to witness the operation of dissect- ing, aa performed by a distinguished surgeon of the town. On removing a part of the entrails, Jaa( in that peculiar place where she had dreamed the lost ring had lodged, what, gentle reader, or uogentlo, just as yon may bu, do you imagine waa discovered In that identical spot t Ay, what was found there t Why. you exclaim nnbeailatlng- ly, tho lost ring to be sure. Uosophlstloated reader ; no euch thing; they found nothing, verily nothing. Aa the proverb hath it: Et n'Aiio, nihil fit; or. In plain Eogllsh, it Is all humbug to believe in fairy tales or dreams, which, as the immortal Shakespeare taja, "in the children of an Idle brain, Begot of nothing bat vain ranttej; Wbleh li aa tbin of inbattnn u (be And mora Inoonitaat than tk* wind," THE MAGICAL MANGO A wnrrBR In Cbambera' Journal, tbus explalna one of the most wonderful of tbe many tricks of tho Jugglers of India: " Everybody has heard of tbe Indian Juggler's trick of producing a ycoag mango tree from a aeed which be takes from his bag, and eubmlta to yourexamluatiun. The seed Is sound aod St for planting. The juggler collects a quantity of earth, moistens It with wattr, and taking a mango-stone from his bag, plants it in the earth he has prepared. Over all he places a moderate allied rouud basket, upon which he epreada his cloth, or a native blanket. Alter an interval of discordant music and in- cantation, tbe cloth and basket are removed, the muddy seed is taken from the earth, and you obwerve that long, slender white fibres, forming tho root, have sudden- ly shot out. Again it Is planted, and covered as before, aud tbe music becomes more diicordaot,and the incanta- tion more furious. At lenglh tbe charm lacompietu, aod the removal of tbe basket displays a young end tender shoot, with two opening leaves at its aummlt. Exclamo- tlooB of surprise from tbe bystanders, and satisfaction from the band of jugglers, complete tho aecood acL Again all iscoveredupauew; and the uar-spllttlng music goes on. Suddenly the coverings are removed, and, to the amazement aud dullgbt of all, tbe Orst shoot of a young mango tree, with Its small light-colored leaves, makes lis appcaranco. Seven yeara ago I was the spec- tator of such a scene at Madras, where I had gone on sick leave, and was glad of any amusement to relieve the monotony of a forced cooQaemcnt to the house. I bad a shrewd suspicion that. If I could examine this tree of mir- aculous growth, It would turn out a simple affair. Act- ing on this idea, I suddenly seized it, and, in spite of tho clamor of tho Jaggiers, bore it off, It certainly bad tbe appearance of a real mango-shoot There was tho dirty stone, wet and discolored, with the earth clinging to it From its lower part, the white Qbres ot thu recent root streamed out with a most natural appoarauce, whilst from the upper side sprang a perfect young shoot, six or eight inches In height, with tbe leaves In their earliest growth. A basin of water solved the mystery, for, on washing the stone, I found It old and dry, and split down on one side. From its cavity I took out a small bundle of grass roots, one end of which waa tied with thread, and withdrew the young shoot ot the mango from tbe top of the stone. Here you have only one purl of the apparatus of decep- tion. It is perfected in toe following mauner: The man- go, an evergreea, growing in almost every largo garden tn India. A confederate first pulla a sufnolent riuantity of the foots of gross, whioh are white, long, aud flbroui, and resemble tho first growth of .roots from thu noogo- seed. He ties them up, inserts the lie end iu Iho clelt stone, and gives them secretly with the cloth to his chief, who plants a mango atone beforo your eyeH, aud whilst patting the cloth over the twiket, dexterously withdraws iti and subslltutes the stone with the roots. The moU* earth in whlob It is burled removes all appesitooe oi deception. Again the confederate is ready with his pro- grefslvo slips of mango, which, at eveiy removal of ttie basket, be contrlvaa to place within reach of the operator without being aeon ; and tbs latter, In bis manipulations whilst coverlug up tho basket with the cloth, slips thsm into the upper part of tbe slit In ihe mango-stone. The eame process may be continued so aa to give you theinit growing In Itsvarloua stages, but this, of oonrse, must depend on tho trick being performed In the fruit-season. I was twenty-threo years In India, and never met mtb anybody who could explain the modiu operandi. of this trick, though almost all—not all, felt that it yia »trlok. THE PRAIRIE DOG. In Captain Marcy's Exploration of the Red Blver of Louisiana, are given aomo Interesting facts about ttat singular anlmaH the prairie dog. lie says: "Passing through these dog villages, tho little animals are aeon In countless numbers, sitting at the entrance of their subter- ranean dwelllDgs, presenting ao much the appearwoe or stumps of small trees, and so Incessant is the olatter or their barking, that It requires but itltlo effort of the Im- agination to fancy one'B self surrounded with the busy hum of a city." The immense number of anlnials In some of these towns, may be conjectured from tho large spioe they Eometlmes cover. Captain Maroy passed one of Iheso towns, twenty-five miles In length, and »UPP<»«0« " to be OS large In other directions. It would embraw on area of six hundred and twonly-Dve "^u"* hundred and nlno slx thousand acrea. J5? holes at twenty yards apart, the uwal distance, and M«h dwelling occupied by four or Ave dogs, »ho whole popnlir tlon of this trick would be In round """JcMorty n^^ Hons of doBs. Tho food ol these enimaie conalsU prlnoi- paily of aXrae, wiry grass, *bloh grow. «n .hundanM Sn ilevaled plains, often many miros ^y'W which docs Doi seem necessary to Ibolr Ml»t«MS. About The last of October, the pralrlJ dog careftilly oloMi all tbe oassM^B to his habitation, and turns In fer a Iodb nap. lie keeps housed unUI the warm days of spring, when be reraoves the obstruotloDS In front of hUdoor and emerges full of life, fun and frollo. The ratUesnako is often an Inmate of their dwellings, nod BometlmeB preys on them when hungry! Hb whoso soul dofli not Bing, need not try to do so with his throat.