SCHOOL HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA, FROM 1854 TO 1879. By JOHN WHEELER MOORE. 24mo, pp. 323. ALFRED WILLIAMS & Co. Raleigh, N. C., 1879. This work has been adopted by the Legislature of the State as a text-book for schools. The lasting nature of early impressions renders it of the highest importance that they should be correct. This is the first of the histories of North Carolina which touches upon the period of the late civil war. The unwillingness of North Carolina to join in secession, the devotedness she showed to the Southern cause after she joined it, and her "hearty submission to the fortunes of war" at its close are told in a manner most commendable for its patriotism and freedom from that narrow partisan bias, which still holds apart the sections of a country which cannot but be "one and indivisible." ELIHU BURRITT. A Memorial Volume contain a sketch of his life and labors, with selections from his writings and lectures and extracts from his private journals in Europe and America. Edited by CHAS. NORTHEND. 12mo, pp. 479. D. APPLETON & Co. New York, [1879]. For a large class of readers biographies have a peculiar fascination. Man is at best a selfish creature, and is perpetually reasoning concerning himself. In the study of the lives of others he is constantly engaged in reflecting as to how he would have conducted himself under similar conditions of fortune or experience. But those biographies are most valuable, indeed those only are of instructive value, which concern individuals who have had a purpose in life, which they have kept continually in view. Whether the purpose be realized or not, the processes chosen to attain it are of themselves a lesson. Man, Goethe says somewhere, "cannot take himself out of the atmosphere in which he lives," cannot step out of the magic circle which the ancients termed fatality, and poetic myths have described as the fairy web woven at birth by attendant fairies or interfering imps. Elhu Burritt, whose reputation filled America and Great Britain, as the Learned Blacksmith, a quarter of a century ago, was one of those rare exceptional men who devote every energy of his life to a special work of public value. His purpose was the elevation of the social and moral condition of his fellows. He was an Apostle of Peace to mankind. An excellent mechanic, he found time even while engaged in daily manual labor of the severest kind to train his mind, develop his remarkable powers of memory, and fit himself for the work of a teacher of men. In 1841 he began his lectures, which he aptly illustrated from the lessons of his own experience. When the Oregon question threatened an open rupture between the United States and Great Britain, he engaged actively in an effort to arrest the warlike tendency of the American people, in which he was heartily joined by some equally earnest men of Manchester. In 1846, in consequence of his cooperation in the cause of peace, he visited England, sailing on the steamer which took out the news of the settlement of the Oregon dispute, and at Manchester and Birmingham organized an international association called the "League of Universal Brotherhood." His biographer, in as great measure as possible, using the language of Burritt, shows how great the influence of a single unselfish, devoted philanthropist has been in the world. He sums up his character in the just sufficient phrase, that his "talents and efforts were wholly consecrated to the promotion of Peace, Freedom and Humanity." The selections from his writings-of which the story of a pedestrian tour entitled, Walk from London to John O'Groat's, enjoys the widest reputation are charming reading for young or old, and full of entertainment as well as instruction. THE WHITE MOUNTAIN GUIDE-BOOK. Fifteenth edition. 16mo, pp. 230. EDSON C. EASTMAN. Concord, 1879. Many excellent hands have taken a part in this guide-book. The Rev. Thomas Starr King wrote the description of the Eastern Side of the Mountains for the first edition of 1858. Its practical value to tourists has been since greatly increased by maps of routes and of the mountain region. There are some pretty illustrations. GENERAL HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF SHARON, LITCHFIELD COUNTY, CONN., FROM ITS FIRST SETTLEMENT. By CHARLES F. SEDGWICK. 8vo, pp. 207. Second edition. CHARLES WALSH. Armenia, N. Y., 1877. Mr. Sedgwick published a sketch of the town of Sharon in 1839. For reasons which he states in his preface, the present history has been elaborated from the first effort, and con ains many new details as also the recollections of many of the old worthies of the town. Sharon was publicly laid out and settled in 1738. It contributed a large number of men, more than one hundred to the first enlistment of troops for the revolution in 1776; one of its companies, commanded by Captain David Downs, marching for Canada; the remaining three for New York, where they took part in the disastrous campaign of the same summer. Sharon troops were later in the affair at Danbury, and her militia joined in the grand rally which enmeshed Burgoyne, A series of biographical sketches, alphabetically arranged, follows the historical sketch, and appendices are added, containing deeds, list of soldiers of the revolution, names of college graduates, representatives of the town in General Assembly, etc. SUMMER VACATION AT MOOSEHEAD LAKE AND VICINITY. A practical guide-book for tourists, describing routes for the canoeman over the principal waters of Northern Maine, with hints to campers and estimates of expense for tours. Illustrated with twenty views, etc. By LUCIUS L. HUBBARD. 16mo, Pp. 145. A. WILLIAMS & CO. Boston, 1879. Of all months in the year, September and October are the best for camping out. nature is at its best, the bracing air inviting exercise, and the insects no longer haunting the woodpath or the stream borders. If the reader be tempted to camp out, the most attractive mode of hunting or fishing excursion, he will do well to visit the Moosehead region, and to take with him this practical guide, which lays down a number of admirable tours. Then A MEMORIAL OF CALEB CUSHING, In this volume will be found a record of the exercises taken in various parts of the country on occasion of the death of one of the most remarkable men of this century. The chief feature in its pages is the eulogy delivered by the Hon. George B. Loring, who recited in glowing sentences the conspicuous services rendered by Caleb Cushing, for a period of time extending over two generations of men, as scholar, jurist, statesman, author, diplomatist, legislator, magistrate. Of an eminent puritan stock, distinguished in the church and the law, he brought to the public service, which he espoused in his early manhood, every trait requisite to success. versatility of mind, vast acquirements and extraordinary memory, combined with an untiring energy and capacity for labor; his grasp of subject and his minute attention to detail, have rarely been equalled, and certainly never excelled; and to administration after administration, even those with the political opinions of which he differed, he was the chosen mentor on innumerable occasions, when his knowledge of His international law was essential to correct diplomatic action. The only fault found with his character was an alleged want of political consistency, but it is hard to measure the operations of an intellect so large as his by ordinary standards. Personally he was one of the most fascinating of men, and his conversation full of graphic illustrations. Long before his death the animosities he had aroused had faded away, and his loss was universally lamented as a national calamity. The city of his birth honors herself in this memorial to the memory of her most distinguished son. LA CROSSE, THE NATIONAL GAME OF CANADA. By W. G. BEERS. New edition, containing the laws of the game as recently amended. 16mo, pp. 276. DAWSON BROS. Montreal, 1879. The name of Lacrosse is not likely to be forgotten so long as history preserves the memory of the massacre of the British garrison at Michillimimackinac by a party of Indians, who surprised the fort while apparently intent upon this exciting game. From time immemorial it has been the national game of the northern tribes. An interest in it was renewed in 1860, and a set of rules published by Mr. Beers, who may, therefore, justly lay claim to having uralized" the sport. It first met popularity in Montreal, when the Iroquois Indians of Caughnawaga introduced it, has been adopted by various clubs, and has maintained a permanent existence with occasional periods of great popularity. nat TROUTING ON THE BRULÉ RIVER, OR LAWYERS' SUMMER WAYFARINGS IN THE NORTHERN WILDERNESS. By JOHN LYLE KING. 12mo, pp. 293. THE CHICAGO LEGAL NEWS CO. Chicago, 1879. This is another of those breezy, summery volumes which breed discontent in the minds of citizens home bound, in this torrid year, when the planets are astray and weather prophets abound. It tells of an excursion of three Chicago iawyers into the northern wilderness; an unsettled region, uninhabited even by Indians, which is traversed by the Brulé and Michigami streams. Those who would follow in the footsteps of the adventurous party will do well to take this fascinating volume with them as a mentor and guide. It will teach them how to conduct themselves towards each other, as well as towards the beasts of the field, and the birds of the air, and most particularly the finny tribes on which they must chiefly depend for their "daily bread." FOR OR a proper understanding of the event which I have undertaken to describe, it will be necessary to know the condition of the British wood-pile. The winter of 1779-80 was one of unusual severity. Heavy falls of snow in the vicinity of New York began about the middle of December, and these, added to the intense cold, soon cut off all communication with the city by water. By the middle of January the North River between New York and Paulus Hoeck could be crossed on the ice by the heaviest cannon, and soon afterwards "Provisions were transported upon Sleighs, and Detachments of Cavalry marched from New York to Staten Island (11 Miles) upon the Ice."1 The cold was not only intense but long continued. As a consequence, fuel became so scarce in the city as to cause great anxiety. The wood on hand rose to such a fabulous quotation, that the British Commandant was forced to fix the maximum price at four pounds sterling per cord. So limited was the supply, that at one time all the fuel belonging to the army in the city was "70 cords of Wood and 80 Chaldrons of Coal," " and the Barrack Master was driven to "purchase a number of old Ships and Hulks to be cut up" to warm the shivering army. "The Raven, A Brig & Schooner belonging to His Majesty," were devoted to this purpose. This scarcity, and the consequent high price of fuel, added to the urgent appeals of the British officers, with the offer of one dollar per cord for cutting, stimulated many efforts to supply the garrison. Whenever the scouting patriots were not too near, the Heights of Bergen, covered as they were with a heavy growth of timber, were a tempting field to the woodcutter. Paulus Hoeck as a depot, and its garrison to supply covering parties to the woodsmen, were brought into requisition. With these shifts, and the aid which the tory inhabitants of Bergen gave them, the British army passed the winter. But the 2 sufferings and annoyances already endured prompted early and abundant provision against their recurrence. During the following summer the crash of falling timber, under the sturdy strokes of the woodman's axe, was a familiar and frequent sound from Fort Lee to Bergen Point. The wood was thrown over the rocks or hauled to the shore to be loaded on boats for transportation to the city, or stored at Paulus Hoeck for the use of that garrison and to supply the New York market when needed. The refugees and inhabitants of uncertain patriotism were largely engaged in this business, and by it were at once enabled to testify their loyalty to their king, and earn a livelihood for themselves. But while the work was thus profitable both in a patriotic and personal view, it was not wholly unattended with danger. The patriots of the irregular as well as of the regular army, at uncertain and unexpected times, overran this paradise of the woodchopper, rendered his prospective profits in the business somewhat precarious, and now and then abridged his personal ability to serve his king. This made necessary the construction of redoubts and block-houses, into which the woodchopper could retreat at night, and to which he could fly in case of attack by day. The attempt of General Wayne to destroy one of these blockhouses is the subject of my story. On the New Jersey shore of the Hudson, directly opposite Eightieth Street in the city of New York, is a ravine, through which furnishes a very good pass from the river to the top of the heights. It also supplies an easy grade for the hauling of wood from the swamps to the landing on the shore. The soil and gravel carried by the water down this ravine have formed a small plateau a little above the level of high tide. The gorge is funnel-shaped, with the small end at the top of the hill, and through it the water from the swamps on the high ground flows to the river. Ascending this ravine the bearing is north, and thus the land lying on the northeast, or between the gorge and the river, assumes an angle somewhat acute. The easterly or river side of this triangle consists of the Palisades, which are precipitous, though at this point broken and irregular. The southerly side is closed by the ravine, with its rocky and precipitous bank, decreasing in height as it ascends the mountain. These two sides are inaccessible to attack. The third side of the triangle opens upon a level field on the top of the mountain. Within this triangle, and thirty-three feet northeast of the bank of the ravine, and eighty-seven feet northwest of the palisade on the river side, stood the block-house. Its foundation was about fifteen feet square. It was constructed of logs, in shape probably, like most structures of the kind, and mounted two pieces of artillery. The traces of the foundation as they exist at this time show the river side of the structure to have stood on a line running northeast and southwest. The door, and probably the only entrance, was on the southwest side and towards the ravine. Fifty feet to the south of the block-house is a cleft in the rock. This is twelve feet wide at the bottom, but narrows in the ascent so as to admit the passage of only a single person. The bottom of the cleft is thirty-eight feet below the level of the block-house, and forty-three feet, horizontally measured, from the top. It offered the only entrance into the works from the ravine or river side. Across the field in front, and about sixty yards distant from the block-house, an abatis was constructed from the bluff on the river to the bluff on the ravine. It must have been about two hundred and twenty-five feet in length. Within this abatis, and probably extending from bluff to bluff, was a stockade, near which was a parapet. The only entrance to the block-house through the defences was "a subterraneous passage sufficient only for one man to pass." Whether this "passage" refers to the cleft in the rock already described or to one under the stockades is perhaps somewhat doubtful. If to the latter, it is probable that the opening was to the left of the block-house. This would give access to the brook further up the gorge. But I am inclined to the opinion that the cleft in the rock was the "subterraneous" entrance referred to. It was a natural passage, one impossible to be passed if defended, and opening at the nearest point to water for the garrison, and to the landing for communication with New York, near the door of the block-house, and the only way of escape towards Paulus Hoeck which Wayne was careful to cut off. The construction of this work was due to an organized effort of a few refugees to induce their compatriots "to be employed on ample wages to cut fire wood for the use of his Majesties Garrison at New York." Those inclined to engage in the enterprise under Tom Ward and others were requested to call at the house of Jacob Jeralemon between the 19th and Tuesday, the 25th day of April, 1780. On the latter day the opportunity to join the enterprise seems to have closed. There is no doubt that a sufficient number were enrolled for the object contemplated, for on the night of Wednesday, the 30th day of April, a body of refugees, under Colonel Abraham Cuyler, who was in command (probably for the reason that he outranked Ward), crossed the river and occupied the ground. Apprehensive that they might be disturbed in their work, General Pattison, then in command at New York, ordered Major Lumm, then in command at Paulus Hoeck, to send one hundred men |