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CHEROKEES OF THE ARKANSAS.

Letter from Dr. Palmer, Dated July 15th, 1830.

In giving an account of the station occupied by Dr. Palmer before the removal of this portion of the Cherokees, it was mentiontioned that the families then settled around him, intended to remove and settle together on their new lands. This intention they in part carried into effect. The school is now on the same footing as formerly, except that a portion of scholars are boarded in the mission family on the condition that their parents furnish their provisions. Others board with their parents. The Indians expect to defray the principal expense of the station.Missionary Herald.

The school was opened and Kept up according to the arrangements made by the district. At first there were about a dozen scholars, and in a few days the number increased to thirty, twenty of whom were little girls. This was five or six more that we intended taking, but we could not well reject them. They all were comfortably clad and provided with bed chothes; and Col. Webber furnished the bread stuff and meat for their board. With the exception of two or three, the scholars were all very steady, and seemed to make good progress in the common branches of education; and what rendered the school more interesting and orderly was the interest taken in it by the chiefs of the district. They felt that the school was theirs, and for the good of their children, and that it was dependent in a measure upon them for patronage. If at any time difficulty should occur in the management of the school, I was directed to send for the chiefs of the district, which would relieve me and ward off any blame. From time to time wholesome regulations were adopted: one of which was, that the scholars of the school shall all be required to attend public worship on the Sabbath, when it is held in the neighbourhood where they are; and they shall not be permitted to range about the fields for play or sport on the Sabbath. To secure the school from interruption by drunken persons, the district council passed a law to inflict a penalty upon any such offender.

The school has been interrupted some by my medical practice. There was an epidemic through the country, last winter and spring, which proved fatal to numbers of the Cherokees. While it prevailed I was called off frequently; but to save the school I rode a good deal in the night, and sometimes a medical student who is reading with me assisted me in the school.

I am convinced that our school would be sufficiently large, if the whole burden of support should rest upon the parents. Many of them are abundantly able.

In the medical department I have had more to do than I could wish. I have avoided labor of this kind as much as I could with propriety, in order to save my time for other purposes. In some cases, however, I have gone to visit the sick when I was not called for, knowing the people to be strongly attached to their ancient mode of conjuration, or prejudiced against all white people and par·

ticularly missionaries. While the epidemic before spoken of was most alarming, I providentially heard of its violent attack upon a Cherokee woman, wife of a full blood Cherokee, and a known enemy of the missionaries and of the Christian religion. He is a man of some property, reputation, and influence among his people. Knowing his prejudices, Mrs. Palmer and myself had taken frequent opportunities to call upon him and show ourselves friendly. It was a Sabbath morning when I heard of his wife's sickness, and as there were several others in the neighborhood attacked at the same time, I concluded to omit public worship. Accordingly I took my interpreter and spent the day in visiting the sick who had not sent for me. When we came to this man's dwelling, I found him waiting on his wife with despair depicted in his countenance. She was so prostrated by only a few hours operation of this dreadful malady, that she could not be raised up in the bed without fainting. I said "My friend, I heard of your wife's sickness, and have come too see her; and if you wish it, I will try to help her; it may be I can help her." He said he was glad I came, and would be thankful if I would do something for his wife, for he despaired of her recovery. I applied the usual remedies for two or three days, when she had so far recov ered as to be able to walk about. Upon a subsequent call at his door, he appeared glad to see me, and would have me get down and go in, and his wife set food before me with an appearance of great pleasure. Now, thought I, the way is open to interweave with our conversation some religious remarks. But before the thoughts were matured, he directed the interpreter to say to me, "I believe if you had not come to visit my wife, when she was sick, that she would now have been in her grave." As he said this, tears flowed freely down his cheeks. I told him I was thankful if God had made me the instrument of saving her life. "Within a few days," continued he. "I have been thinking much about your business. I see you travelling often night and day, in all kinds of weather, to visit the sick. I go to your house and see a large family of children, not your own, whom you labor to instruct, and on every Sabbath I hear of your preaching to our people the word of God. From this time you may look upon me as your friend. I have been at your meetings once or twice, and have heard a little of the word of God, and what I have heard is good. I will now listen to it, and on every Sabbath when it is practicable, my family and myself will be present at the place of worship" I said I was glad to hear him talk so; that Mrs. P. and myself had left dear connections to come into this distant country for the sole purpose of doing him and his people good; that we loved them,jand therefore labored for them cheerfully; and that we wished to see them happy in this life, but especially we wished to teach them the way of salvation, so that they might be happy in death, and happy in the world to come. I told him I hoped he would keep his promise, and attend meetings, where he would hear more of God and the way of salvation. This man afterwards insisted upon giving me a very lovely little boy of his, about two years old. While attending upon his wife, I observed he was much attach

ed to this child, and I told him pleasantly he must give him to me, and I would make a doctor of him. He said with a smile he would. I thought no more of it; but since then he has brought him, and formally given him up, and I have ventured to receive him. This is but one instance among many of the favorable influence of the medical practice among his people. Conjurors in this neighborhood and their incantations have generally, it may be said, gone into disrepute, even with the full blood Cherokees.

JEWISH COLONIES IN CHINA.

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Among the evidences for the canon of the Old Testament, there is a very remarkable one arising from the Jewish colonies settled in China and India, about the Christian era, or even some centuries earlier. They all declare that they originally brought with them, and had preserved in manuscripts, which they regarded as of great value, the very same sacred books which they, in later times, found in the possession of their brethren in Europe and nothing appears from any other quarter, in the least to invalidate their testimony. In the last century, the remains of a Jewish colony were discovered in China, which had been established in that empire about the year seventy three after Christ, perhaps even three hundred years earlier.Seven hundred families, of the tribes of Judah, Benjamin, and Le. vi, who had escaped the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus, made their way over land to China, and there either founded or reinforced the colony in question. Seventeen centuries of persecution, massacree, or apostacy, have reduced them to a very small number. They are now found only at Kai-zongfu, one hundred and fifty miles from Pekin, and amount to six hundred persons. They had taken with them their Scriptures, and had preserved them for eight hundred years; but at the end of that period, a fire destroyed the synagogue and their manuscripts. To repair the loss they obtained the Pentateuch, which had belonged to a Jew who had died at Canton. Not only the synagogue but private persons possessed transcripts of this manuscript. But what is extremely remarkable, and highly important to us, is, that besides the Pentateuch, they preserve different portions of the remaining parts of the Old Testament, which they say they saved from the fire in the twelfth century, and an inundation of the river Hoango, A. D. 1446. With these fragments they have formed a supplement to the law, divided into two parts. The first contains small portions of Joshua and Judges, the four books of Samuel and Kings complete, and the Psalms. The second contains some portions of Chronicles: Nehemiah and Esther almost complete; of Isaiah and Jeremiah, the whole within a little; and of Daniel, and seven out of the twelve minor prophets, some fragments.-Christian Observer.

A Good Dive.-A large anchor, weighing between 6 or 7000 lbs. was taken up in Newport, R. I. Harbor, on Friday, by a diving bell, supposed to have been lost by the English or French Fleet, during the Revolutionary War.

AN ALLEGORY.

One of the fathers has an allegory to the following effect:

A hermit was conducted by an angel into a wood where he saw an old man cutting down boughs to make up a burthen. When it was large, he tied it up, and attempted to lift it on his shoulders and carry it away; but finding it very heavy, he laid it down again, cut more wood and heaped it on, and then tried again to carry it off. This he repeated several times, always adding something to the load, after trying in vain to raise it from the ground. In the mean time, the hermit, astonished at the old man's folly, desired the angel to explain what this meant. "You behold," said he, "in this foolish old man, an exact representation of those Christians, who, being made sensible of the burden of their sins, resolve to repent, but soon grow weary, and instead of lessening their burden, increase it every day. At each trial, they find the task heavier than it was before, and so put it off a little longer, in the vain hope that they will by and by be more able to accomplish it. Thus they go on adding to their burthen, till it grows too heavy to be borne; and then in despair of God's mercy, and with their sins unrepented of, they lie down and die. Turn again, my son, and behold the end of the old man whom thou sawest heaping up a load of boughs." The hermit locked, and saw him in vain attempting to remove the pile, which was now accumula> ted far beyond his strength to raise. His feeble limbs tottered over their burthen; the poor remains of his strength were fast ebbing away; the darkness of death was gathering around him; and after a conclusive and impotent attempt to lift the pile, he fell down and expired.

A BEGGING BUSINESS FROM THE BEGINNING.

Such was the sneering exclamation of a great man, in an audible whisper, during the remarks of Joseph L. Tillinghast, Esq. in the House of representatives on Wednesday of last week, relative to the national provision for the Deaf and Dumb at Hartford, and on question of a further provision on the part of this State for our own Deaf and Dumb.

"A begging business!" Aye, truly the cause of justice and of mercy, of truth and of righteousness, of intelligence and of human-、 ity, always has been "a begging concern" in this reckless world of But what then? It is the noblest of all causes.

ours.

never "a

The cause of ignorance, of vice, and of misery, was begging concern." War and plunder, rapine and devastation, fraud, speculation and gambling do not go a begging. Lotteries do not go a begging. Theatres do not go a begging. Raree shows and mountebanks do not go a begging. Venal votes do not go a begging. But the cause of education, the cry of the needy, the silent imploring of the dumb, go a begging. And great patriots snuff up their noses.

They declare their shame as Sodom, and hide it not. The time, we trust, will come, when the claims of such patriots will go a begging." Providence Investigator.

AN ARTIST WITHOUT ARMS.

A Miss Sarah Biffin, a lady of uncommon talents as a miniature painter, without arms: some years ago created much interest among the higher class in England. The new king has been pleased to notice and reward her. Her father was a draper, and educated her much care. At an early age she displayed great talents for drawing, and at nineteen years of age expressed a wish to receive instruction; her father accordingly placed her under the tuition of an artist named Dukes, and she was shortly after exhibited in every part of the united kingdom. She arrived at such perfection in her art, that the Duke of Sussex presented her with the largest medal at the Society of Arts in 1821. On the 6th of September, 1824, she was married to Mr. Wm. S. Wright, a gentleman who had long been attached to her. As the ceremony of marrying a lady without arms may be looked upon by some as a matter of difficulty, the following was the mode adopted by the parson. Mr. W. was desired to hold the ring against the shoulder of the lady, and afterwards, having put it on a gold chain which she wore round her neck, it was placed in her bosom. In addition to her other accomplishments, she is considered a superior singer and a most agreeable companion. Her face is intelligent, and her appearance generally prepossessing.-Balt. Emerald.

STATE OF EUROPE.

The state of Europe at this moment, is the most singular in the annals of diplomacy. There is no war, but there is no peace.— There is no rebellion, but there is no obedience. There is no revolution, but every continental throne trembles. A popular spirit of insubordination has arisen, without a popular knowledge of the principles of rational liberty; and all Europe is fevered with a restless anxiety for rights which none of its monarchs can concede without ruin, and none of its nations can possess without a total change of the inhabitants, laws, and feelings of the people.

London Journal.

Laudable Conduct.-A gentleman from Catawissa was so unfortunate as to loose his pocketbook containing several thousand dollars, on the Centre turnpike one day this week; it was picked up by a young man named Arthur Bradford, who sought out the owner, returned it, and refused all compensation. In these hard times, and this wicked world, such acts of honour should be recorded, and strung together like the beads of a rosary, in enumerating which, humanity may hope for oblivion of its frailties.--Miners'. Journal.

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