Henry M. Brooks

“ No moments glide away more agreeably than those that are employed in writing to a friend. Happy am I in having frequent opportunities of exhibiting my sentiments to you, and in return receiving yours, which palliates in some degree, the sorrow our separation occasions.——The glaring absurdities of the dress of the Boston ladies, occupied the greatest part of my two last letters. ”

“ One thing is certain, that however in most kingdoms and empires the people are taxed at the will of the prince, yet in America, the people tax themselves, and therefore cannot tax themselves beyond their abilities. ”

“ If the Sun or Moon look pale, look for Rain: if a dark Cloud be at Sun-rising, in which the Sun soon after is hid, it will dissolve it, and Rain will follow: if the Sun seem greater in the East than commonly, it is a sign of Rain, if in the West about Sun-setting there appear a black Cloud, you may expect Rain that night, or the day following, if in the winter time thick white Clouds appear in the South-east near the Horizon at Sun rising, they portend Snow, a day or two after: If black Clouds appear there, it is a sign of Rain. ”

“ Let truth never be deemed a libel, and let the Liberty of your Press be extended.
And all, &c.
10th. Let the noble (tho enlisted) sons of Ireland never become the hired assassins of their countrymen.
And all, &c.
11th. Let the army which eats the bread of Ireland, be her guardian and protector, and not the base invader of her rights and liberties.
And all, &c.
12th. Let him who first proposed a mortgage on the revenues of Ireland, be accursed in the annals of your country. ”

“ The lad had never been away from the Shoals till he reached Long wharf on his way to Cambridge. He had never seen a horse, nor heard a church bell. On landing, he saw many horses attached to various vehicles; and speaking to his father, said, "Only see what queer cows they have in Boston! they are not shaped like ours, and are all without horns." In passing by the Old South, in Cornhill, the big bell of that church struck up a peal, the effect of which nearly drove the young man mad.
Salem Observer [1829] . ”

“ Some notice shall be taken hereafter of the misrepresentations and falsehoods of Laincourt, Weld, Bulow, and a number of others, relative to the United States.
An AMERICAN.
Worcester Spy.
SECRET LOVE.
From a very rare volume of old Poetry.
The fountaines smoake, and yet no flame they shewe;
Starres shine all night though undeserned by daye;
And trees do spring yet are not seen to growe;
And shadowes move although they seem to staye;
In winters woe is buried summers bliss,
And love loves most, when love most secret is. ”

“ Two or three millions can more easily be raised in produce, than one million in money. This collected and deposited in stores and magazines, would, by bills drawn upon these stores, answer all the expenditures of war and peace. In one country it has been tried with success for ages; I mean in China, the wisest empire the sun hath ever shined upon. And here, if I recollect aright, not a tenth of the Imperial revenues hath been collected in money. ”

“ To these agreeable attributes and conversational powers he adds such a mirthfulness of fancy, and genuine heartiness of good-humour, to all men, women, and children who have the good fortune to make his acquaintance, that I should have no scruple—if it were not too great a liberty—in naming him as the person I have been most pleased with in all my recent travels. ”

“ WHEN he came to Philadelphia, in 1723, he was first employed by one Keimer, an eccentric genius, as a pressman, for he was then printing an elegy of his own composition, on the death of Aisquila Rose—and as he had but one small font of types, and used no copy, but composed the elegy in the press, he could not employ him in the composition. Keimer was a visionary, whose mind was frequently elevated above the little concerns of life, and consequently very subject to make mistakes, which he seldom took the pains to correct. ”

“ Salem Observer, 1826.
Compliment to New England. In a speech made by Mr. Lyell, the eminent geologist, at a late meeting of the British Geological Association, he said—"Were I ever so unfortunate as to quit my native land to reside permanently elsewhere, I should without hesitation choose the United States for my second country, especially New England, where a population of more than two [Pg 56] millions enjoys a higher average standard of prosperity and intellectual advancement than any other population of equal amount on the globe." ”

“ Tuck, in the early part of the last century, was ordained minister of Star Island, one of a cluster called the Isles of Shoals, his parish offered him, beside the usual parsonage house, a quintal of fish each family, but no money, as a salary. It is well known that the fish cured at these islands are called dun fish, and have the highest reputation for excellence wherever known. They are caught in the depth of winter, and are fit for market before the hot weather. They derive the name of dun from the color which they assume. ”

“ I hear it's a mighty clever book for children.—And why not for grown people? cried the Captain, taking up the book. Why, quoth the Virginian, because I mean my three boys, who are from 11 to 14 years old, shall be good scholards at their larning—they can all say their letters already, and the youngest can spell.—The Boston sea Captain opening the bible found these words: "Search the scriptures;" and without saying any thing himself, pointed out the passage to the Virginian.—Pugh! ”

“ The custom of eating pudding before meat is still very common in Yorkshire, England. The following extract from a Boston paper of 1819 shows that John Adams, in 1817, kept up the old style of dinner, which, as might perhaps be imagined, was not confined to the common people, so called. ”

“ The effeminacy of exotic fashion has not at present extended its pernicious influence so far as to induce them to commit the rearing of their children to mercenary nurses, who are sometimes the very dregs of a people; and whose vicious habits of taking a drop of the good creature to drown sorrow, does not promise redundancy of health and vigour to those suckled by them—on the contrary, children thus unnaturally thrown from the arms of a parent into those of a nurse, are, almost without exception, weak and puny ”

“ Holyoke, of Salem, president of the Massachusetts Medical Society, who died in March, 1829, at the age of one hundred years and eight months, wrote a letter, a few months before his death, in answer to a request that he would furnish some particulars of his mode of living. Dr. Holyoke was through life noted for being remarkably temperate in all things. ”

“ As [Pg 17] the Quarters of the Moon, Aspects of the Planets and Weather set down Exactly according to the Aspects, Courts, Spring Tides, Rising and Setting of the Sun, Sun and Moons place, time of Full Sea at Boston, the Eclipses, High Ways, &c., with several other Curiosities. Calculated for the Meridian of Boston, the Metropolis of New-England, Lat. 42, 24, but may serve any part of the Country, (even as far as New-York,) without sensible Error. By Samuel Clough.
The Heavens to us, God's Glory do make known,
By th' Firmament, his handy work is shown. ”

“ Good West India Rum 2 Spoonfuls, Good Cider whether new or old 3 Spoonfuls, of Water 9 or 10 Spoonfuls—of this Mixture (which I suppose to be about the strength of common Cider) I drink about 1-2 a Pint with my Dinner and about the same Quantity with my Pipe after Dinner and my Pipe in the Evening, never exceeding a Pint the whole Day; and I desire nothing else except one glass of Wine immediately after Dinner the whole day. ”

“ When madness breaks forth, the first care of the physician is to reduce and keep his patient low, in order to check the velocity and whirl of his thoughts; and if possible to procure sleep, by quieting the internal turbulency. ”

“ How to make an APPLE PUDDING.
Being a curious, elaborate and sublime Dissertation,
never before published.
By YANKEE DOODLE, Esquire.
(In Continuation.)
Chapter.—How and about NAMES.
Nugæque canoræ. Hor.
I LOOK upon it as the greatest happiness of my life, that fortune has given me a name that corresponds with my nature and constitution. Patriotism is the strongest passion; and I glory in being a Yankee.—A Yankee is any man born in New-England—and New-England contains the three northern States, and a certain little, pestiferous, pseudo Island. ”

“ R. Turner, who has published a book called Classical Geography, gives the following account of the cities of Philadelphia and Newyork. "Philadelphia, (says he) is the finest and best situated city in America, containing thirty thousand houses and one hundred and twenty thousand inhabitants, who are mostly quakers!!!"—"Newyork contains three thousand houses and twelve thousand inhabitants!" ”

“ THE OLDEN TIME SERIES. GLEANINGS CHIEFLY FROM OLD NEWSPAPERS OF BOSTON
AND SALEM, MASSACHUSETTS SELECTED AND ARRANGED, WITH BRIEF COMMENTS BY HENRY M. BROOKS Literary Curiosities
"Old and new make the warp and woof of every moment. There is no thread that is not a twist of these two strands. ”

“ I am fond of Fruit, and have this 30 or more years daily indulged in eating freely of those of the Season, as Strawberries, Currants, Peaches, Plums, Apples, &c., which in summer and winter I eat just before Dinner, and seldom at any other time, and indeed very seldom eat any thing whatever between meals.—My Breakfast I vary continually. ”

“ Let triumph in their eyes appear,
Nor dare to make an angel mourn.
Salem Register, 1819.
Varieties.
Origin of the word Dun.—Dunny, in the provincial dialect of several countries, signifies deaf: to dun, then, perhaps may mean, to deafen with importunate demands. Some derive it from the word donnez, which signifies give; but the true original meaning of the word owes its birth to one Joe Dun, a famous bailiff of the town of Lincoln, so extremely active and so dexterous in his business, that it became a proverb, when a man refused to pay, "Why do you not dun him?" ”

“ His honest industry was rewarded by the acquisition of a comfortable property, which he has left for the enjoyment of his family. The long train of white people who followed his remains to the grave, testify to the esteem in which he was held. ”

“ Before this time doubts concerning many cherished doctrines had been openly expressed in Boston, Cambridge, Salem, and other places; but Gibbon had rejected and attacked the whole Christian system as false, which was a very different matter.
For the CENTINEL.
Mr. Russell,
A WRITER in the Centinel of the last Saturday, under the signature of Christianus, says, "that an abridgment of Gibbon's history (if his information be true) is directed to [Pg 98] make a part of the studies of the young gentlemen at our University." ”

“ She was a woman, who, through life, has been remarkable for her silent resignation to the divine will. What renders the last part of her life remarkable, is, that she lived 39 days without any sustenance whatever, except about two spoonfuls of wine with water daily ”

“ A step or two conveys him to that fatal spot, where the most guilty of all the miserable beings who have ever suffered, was perfectly innocent compared with him.—He lives despised by the nobility and gentry, and execrated by the people at large—countenanced by none excepting their Britannic and Satanic Majesties, and such of their adherents, respectively, who are looking for promotion under their royal masters. ”

“ If they are reproved for such conduct, the answer invariably is,—'Isn't this a land of liberty?' I was one forenoon myself stopped at the lodge and offered a vote, with the preliminary question,—'Are you a Clay or a Jackson man?' In Boston, a person seen with a segar in his mouth in the street, is counted a blackguard; but in New-York no gentleman [Pg 57] makes his promenade without one. In Boston, a housekeeper would be placed at the Sessions dock for suffering the refuse of his mansion to be thrown into the street ”

“ In the Western country he found no symptoms of hospitality—witnessed only idleness and licentiousness, and experienced every where brutal rudeness and unbounded extortion. The western people usually combine in cheating all travellers, and sometimes "rifle," that is shoot residents among them who do not choose to descend to their own level. ”