PUBLICK SQUARES. BY REV. HEMAN HUMPHREY, d. d. The English people, in good circumstances, seem to be much more anxious than we are, to secure the luxury of deep front yards, and of large open spaces in the rear of their dwellings. They want room— they want fresh air-they want, when within doors, to be as much retired as they can from the noise and bustle of the streets. Nothing would induce those of them who understand what real comfort is, and who have the means of securing it, to submit to that kind of strait-jacket confinement which many of the people of this country so ingeniously contrive for themselves and their children. and refreshed by publick squares and gardens, which must be regarded by every man of taste, among the brightest ornaments of the city. Of these there are from thirty to forty, chiefly in the west part of the town; and many of them, such as Russel Square, Gray's Inn Gardens, Lincoln's Inn Fields, St. James' Square, &c., are quite extensive. Some of them can not cover less than from six to ten acres. How exceedingly these bright and verdant oases, these charming shaded promenades, lying within a few minutes walk of a million of people, must minister to their health and comfort. Who would consent, for half the bank of England, to have them cut up into small building-lots, and covered over with stone and brick and mortar? Who will not say, that were another London to be built, in any part of the British empire, there ought to be many more, and larger publick squares reserved, in laying out the new city, than there are here? In London proper, that is in the most ancient part of the city, which was walled in, the dwellinghouses, as well as other buildings, are very compact, and most of the streets are miserably narrow. But in the newer parts, embracing Westminster, South- But it is the great parks of the metropolis, which walk, Chelsea, Islington, Hackney, &c., the lots on more than any thing else, delight the eye, and exwhich the houses are built, are so large and so well cite the admiration of the stranger. At least it was laid out, as often to give a rural appearance to those so with me. There are four of these, the smallest very extensive quarters of the city. For long dis- of which would, in an American city, with which I tances, on some of the most important streets, as on am acquainted, be regarded as a wasteful appropriathe New City road, for example, the houses are built tion of land, which, if brought into market, could, in so far back as to give ample space in front for trees, half an hour, be sold for millions of pounds sterling. shrubbery, and flowers. It is often from fifty to a Were we to lay out such a city, we should be much hundred feet from the outer gate to the porch. If, more likely to calculate how many dollars it would in going home from his place of business, the mer-take, to cover a single large park, which some might chant is justled at every step, and almost run down propose to fence off and adorn, than to consider by the crowd, the moment he reaches his own door, what countless multitudes of people must want it, he is free. He enters, and the tumult dies away.- for air and exercise, and necessary relaxation in all He breathes a pure air, and looks out from every coming generations. window of his dwelling, not so much upon high and naked brick walls, as upon the sylvan and floral beauties by which it is surrounded. I have often thought, what would be the condition of London without her publick squares and gardens and parks? Where could her vast population go for pure air, and to throw off care and business and study? How could such a world of human beings hope to escape the ravages of pestilential diseases? In parts of the city, where the luxury of spacious court-yards and gardens cannot be enjoyed by every family, I observed here and there, a charming little park, or square, neatly enclosed by a high iron rail- And how could I help contrasting London, in the ing, and apparently belonging to a number of fami- features of it which I have briefly delineated in this lies in the immediate vicinity. These enclosures, letter, with the populous growing cities and towns in tastefully laid out into gravelled walks, and adorned the United States? No people in the world have so with fine shade-trees, shrubbery, flowers, and ivy- much land, so much room to do just what they clad summer-houses, are favourite resorts in pleasant please, as we have. A mile square, or five mile weather, and it is especially delightful to see very square is nothing to us; and yet, no people under young children, spending hours together with their the sun are so covetous of every foot of land, where nurses, in these miniature Elysian fields, inhaling there is any prospect of thriving business, and a .ne fresh breezes, and playing upon the smooth growing population. It would seem in our large grass-plats, and among the bushes. How very dif- commercial cities, and even in places of limited ferent, I could not help saying to myself, is this trade, as if all the men of business wanted to crowd young freedom and early exposure to air and sun- into one narrow street, and to erect as many buildshine, and soft showers too, if one happen now and ings as possible, upon every square acre, that is octhen to surprise them in the midst of their sports-cupied at all. Who has not been struck with this from that tender imprisonment, to which the children of wealthy families, are for the most part doomed in our own cities. And how very striking, I may add, is the contrast, too, between the rosy health of the former, and the white, lily complexion and frailty of the latter. It is easy to conceive how, in the laying out of every large town, these little enchanting squares and ellipses might be reserved for every ten or twenty families; and every body must see, how much they would add to the beauty of the place, and how essentially they would minister to the health and comfort of the population. The newer and better parts of London are adorned gregarious propensity, in passing through the new and flourishing towns and villages of this country? Utica, Geneva, Oswego, Rochester, Buffalo, Cleveland, Chicago, Cincinnati, and a hundred others.Why, one would judge, from their extreme compactness, that they were to be fortified, like the old European towns, to prevent the incursions of barbarians. Should merchants and other men of business, who happen to cast their eye upon this letter, smile at my ignorance of the great facilities of trade, as they probably will, and tell me that they find a thousand advantages in what I call their strait-jacket and hud dling systems, it would not become me to dispute the | don in America; but are we not every day told that matter with them at all. But whatever may be true New York, at least, will one day vie with that proud in regard to business, there can be no good reason, I metropolis of the British empire. The whole of am quite sure, for bringing out whole blocks of dwel- York island, I believe, is already laid out in anticipaling-houses to the very line of narrow streets, so as tion of the future greatness of the city. New York to have no yard in front, and then by narrowing the has her Battery, I know; and a few publick squares blocks, to crowd the houses one upon another in the of moderate extent, have been reserved in the plan; rear, so as to leave no space for gardens or fruit- but where is the reservation for even one great park yards, when thousands of acres of cleared land, or to impart beauty and health and comfort to this comprimitive forest, lie all around, inviting the builders mercial emporium of the Western continent? How to extend their town over just as wide a surface as grievously will this want be felt, when it comes to they please. This strange want of taste and fore- number a million of inhabitants, and how bitterly cast, this unaccountable disregard to health and com- will they regret the narrow policy of its founders. fort and beauty, will be matter of the deepest regret to those who come after us, some two or three hundred years hence, when many of our towns, which are now just springing into existence will have become great cities; and it will be too late to remedy the evils of our absurd and contracted policy. What a pity, that in fifty growing towns, which I might name, no open squares, of any extent, were left, in laying them out, and that as far as they have been extended, almost every rod of ground is covered with buildings. In most cases, perhaps something might yet be done, to redeem these embryo cities from everlasting discomfort, by seasonably purchasing and laying out the grounds which lie in the vicinity, so as to leave ample room for air and exercise for trees, and shrubbery, and flowers-for gravelled walks and wide avenues. How much to be desired is it, that suggestions of this sort should be speedily acted upon by those who now have it in. their power to bless unborn millions, with health and convenience; and that those men of wealth and SINGULAR DEXTERITY OF A GOAT. enterprise, who are founding new cities and towns in the far west and elsewhere, should, in the same "Upon our road," (from Jerusalem to Bethlehem,) way, hand down such invaluable comforts and bles- says Dr. Clarke, in his Travels, we met an Arab sings, if they do not their own names to a grateful with a goat, which he led about the country for exposterity. And may I not just add in this connex-hibition, in order to gain a livelihood for itself and ion, how easy it would be to plant avenues, and lay owner. He had taught this animal, while he acout little malls and parks, and pleasure-grounds, in companied its movements with a song, to mount and around our thousand thriving villages. How greatly would it add to their beauty and multiply their attractions. I am mortified when I think how difficult it is, in most cases, to raise even a few dollars for any such purpose. In acting upon the maxim, that those who come after us must take care of themselves, as we have done, we neglect to take care of our own health and comfort. 66 upon little cylindrical blocks of wood, placed successively one above the other, and in shape resembling the dice-boxes belonging to a backgammon table. In this manner the goat stood, first upon the top of one cylinder, then upon the top of two, and afterwards of three, four, five, and six, until it remained balanced upon the top of them all, elevated several feet from the ground, and with its four fect collected In the small provincial towns of England, more upon a single point without throwing down the disattention has been bestowed upon this subject than jointed fabrick upon which it stood. The practice is with us. Still much remains to be done there as very ancient. It is also noticed by Sandys. Nothwell as here. At the last session of parliament, Mr. ing can show more strikingly the tenacious footing Buckingham, the great champion of temperance, possessed by this quadruped upon the jutty points brought in a bill which was favourably received, to and crags of rocks; and the circumstance of its abilaid and encourage the people in making such health-ity to remain thus poised may render its appearance ful and ornamental improvements as I have just men- less surprising as it is sometimes seen in the Alps, tioned. It was thought the bill would pass, and that and in all mountainous countries, with hardly any whatever appropriations the government may be in-place for its feet, upon the sides and by the brink of clined to make, will impart a favourable stimulus to most tremendous precipices. The diameter of the the people. In respect to reserving and laying out pleasuregrounds upon a grand scale, in or near any of our cities, it may be said that we have no London, with its million and a half of people to be provided for; and that it would be absurd in us to fence off such territories as Hyde and Regent's Park for publick accommodation. It is true, we have as yet no Lon upper cylinder, on which its feet ultimately remained Never speak to deceive, nor listen to betray. That scul! had a tongue in it, and could sing once!-HAMLET. Reader! what do you imagine we have catered for you now? Or rather, what new subject do you think that rummaging science of geology has added to its extended list of discoveries? O Solomon! Solomon! here is something new under the sun. Thy extraordinary wisdom, wonderfully comprehensive though it was, could not have embraced this subject in this peculiar modification. "Trees, from the cedar tree that is in Lebanon even unto the hyssop that springeth out of the wall;" beasts, fowls, creeping things, and fishes, were familiar to thee, yet here is a craniological development which never could have entered thy imagination. Baron Cuvier never dreamed of it in all those profound investigations which he had the patience to make concerning the remains of the Siberian mammoth, the mastodon, the megalonyx, the giant lizard, the Irish elk, the wapiti, and those deceased monsters of the Nile. If, peradventure, the learned philosopher had stumbled upon it, it is our opinion that he would have been completely nonplused. Even Peale cannot number it in the long catalogue of his wonderful curiosities. Professor Hitchcock has discovered no stony bird-tracks like it in the ornithicnitical valley of the Connecticut. There is not a scull like it, in all that vast catacomb, the cabinet of the Phrenological Society at Paris. No art or science is acquainted with it, no mortal has ever before seen it or described it. You may imagine it looks very like a deer's head, and must have belonged to one of that genus of animals. But it did not. the broken horns, that peculiar eye, and that singular cartilaginous whorl, or nasalogical appurtenance. Perhaps the latter appendage induces you to include it among the tapirs. It does not belong there. It has recently been determined by geologists that this country had an antediluvian existence, and that there were estuaries and rivers here, which were visited by large birds? But it is plainly no bird's head.— Recur then to the western prairies; think of those uniform rows and circles of trees, those mounds and remnants of ancient fortifications, those monstrous bones of the salt-licks. There we have indubitable evidence of the primitive existence of things upon a large scale. Might not this subject have been an inhabitant of the earth in that day and generation, and after having laid for ages under the clod of the valley, is now exhumed to be exposed to the publick gaze? Nay, indulgent reader, it was reserved for us first to unfold the truth in this matter, and it shall no longer be withheld. This curious specimen of natural history was exhibited to us by Mr. John Hooper, of Bridgehampton, Long Island. It was found on that Island, and dug out of low marshy ground in tide-water. It is not the head of an animal, though it precisely resembles one. But it is a natural vegetable root, several inches in length, and of the figure represented in the engraving! The root, we are informed, is highly esteemed for its medicinal virtues. It is vulgarly called quassia root, and is, we believe, seldom found in this country. The exact reObserve those delicate flesh lines, that semblance of this specimen to the head of an animal, strong jaw bone, the tattered muscles of the neck, renders it quite a remarkable curiosity. ANTHRACITE COAL TRADE OF PENNSYLVANIA. | lie near together on the easterly side of the Susque Written by the Hon. CALEB CUSHING, from Mass., for the North hannah, upon or below its north branch, and bear a striking similitude each to the 'other in geographical We visited, recently, the anthracite coal mines in position, extent of area, and geological features. the interiour of the state of Pennsylvania. The They are, first, the coal-field of Mauch Chunk and spectacle of enterprise, industry, and prosperity, Schuylkill; secondly, that of Beaver Meadow, Shawhich we there beheld, was most imposing to the mokin, and Mahoney; and thirdly, that of Lackawanna eye, and most instructive to the mind. In the heart and Wyoming.-Each of these fields forms a long of a wild broken territory, amid the sharp ridges of elliptical basin, with a well-defined border of red the Alleganys, intersected by the hundred rivers and shale, and surrounded by a barrier of long and sharpstreamlets which swell the tides of the Delaware mounted ridges. Two of these fields, the first and and Susquehannah, in what was but a few years ago the second, run side by side, ranging a little north one of the most desert regions of the United States, of east; the remaining one is somewhat apart from we found a numerous and fixed population, with all them, and has a more northerly direction. They the appliances of refined life, and a multitude of im- may be considered, indeed, from their proximity and provements, in rail-roads, canals, and other publick general resemblance, as constituting one single coalworks, of which the most advanced people in Amer-region; although, as will hereafter be explained, ica, or even in Europe, might justly be proud. A there is great difference in the superficial character new world seemed to have sprung up in the wilder-of the country which they respectively traverse. ness, as if by enchantment. Smiling villages were There is a difference, also, in their history, and in spread out in peace and abundance beneath over- their statistical relations; which renders it necesshadowing peaks, and beside mountain-tops reaching sary they should be treated of separately and someup their bleak summits to the sky. The dwellings what in detail. of cultivated competency, and warehouses stored The Mauch Chunk and Schuylkill coal-field comwith merchandise, stood on the very edge of the old mences near the river Lehigh, on the east, and primeval forests of the continent. Here was the reaches westerly to the left bank of the Susquecentre of a vast business, which had all at once viv-hanna, extending thus about seventy miles in length, ified the surrounding country, converted the wildest waste into the theatre of active life, given a fresh stimulus to individual enterprise, created an inexhaustible source of wealth to the state in which it lay, and opened a new commerce and a new bond of fraternity to the whole Union. We left the scene, with a strong and abiding sense of the energy and spirit of our people, with renewed admiration of the resources and destinies of our country, and with deepfelt gratitude to that bountiful Providence which bestowed upon us this our happy land. We cannot hope to communicate our feelings and impressions by words; the scene should be seen to be appreciated. Nor shall we attempt to do so. Neither shall One portion of this field, its western extremity, we enter into any speculations or inquiries concern- on the Swatara, and near to the Susquehanna, is not ing the geological history, formation, or natural char-accessible for the Atlantick trade, in competition with acter, of anthracite coal. The objects we have in the residue; and therefore, although it has a limited view are more plain and practical. We have col-market in the interiour, it is not possessed of the lected, from personal observation, from correspond- same general interest and importance as that which ence, and a large mass of printed matter, a variety is watered by the Schuylkill and Lehigh, and need of facts respecting the production and commerce of not occupy our attention. anthracite coal, a summary statement of which we propose to lay before the readers of the Review. while it is only from one to five miles in width, being pressed in between Broad mountain on the north, and Sharp mountain on the south. These mountains, and the coal-field itself, are penetrated more or less by numerous streams, particularly the Swatara, the Schuylkill and its branches, and the Lehigh, affording outlets for the coal, and natural passes for the location of canals and rai-lroads, which pervade the district in all directions. But there is room for distinction as to the different parts of this field, in regard to the position of the coal, its quality, the mode of working it, and the means of its conveyance to market. At the eastern extremity of the field, are the works of the Lehigh Coal and Navigation company, which Pennsylvania abounds in mineral treasures of the are, in many respects, peculiar, and are conducted most useful kinds, that is, iron and coal; these being on a scale of great boldness of design, and comprethe precise means, out of which the actual grandeur bension of enterprise. Disregarding the obvious and opulence of Great Britain have in great part outlets of the basin by the waters of the Schuylkill, sprung. On a future occasion we may recur to its they have ascended the mountain-barrier to its very deposites of iron ore, and of bituminous coal; our summit, entered the coal-field by a rail-road, and thus present concern is with its anthracite coal exclusive- diverted the coal from its natural channel to the waly. It is singular that, with the general knowledge ters of the Lehigh at Mauch Chunk. To effect this they already possess of their unexampled mineral object, Messrs. Josiah White, Hazard, and Hauto, resources, and their liberality in the promotion of having acquired the property of the Mauch Chunk publick improvements, the people of Pennsylvania mines, obtained an act of incorporation with mining have not caused to be made an accurate geological and trading privileges, and undertook the task, which survey of the whole territory of their state, by suit- had repeatedly before been attempted without sucable scientifick persons, according to the course re-cess, of rendering the river Lehigh navigable. To cently pursued in the state of Massachusetts. So enable them to accomplish this, the state ceded to far as the anthracite of Pennsylvania has been ex- them the sole jurisdiction of this river, for the displored, and its presence fully ascertained, it occu-tance of eighty-three miles, and the free and unconpies three separate and distinct beds or fields, which trolled use of its waters. This grant has rightly VOL. III.-55 been deemed since an improvident one; but the | facility and profit; because they can be so propped company proceeded to execute what they had undertaken with a spirit worthy of the enterprise. At an expense of about two millions and two hundred thousand dollars, they made their mines accessible to the river Lehigh, and opened the river itself, by a series of works, considered the best of their class in the United States. During the year 1834, the freight transported on the Lehigh canal, amounted to 129,083 tuns, of which 106,518 tuns consisted of coal, and the residue of flour, iron, lumber, stone, and other articles of merchandise. The coal of the Lehigh company, at least at their old and principal works, forms an immense mass of carbonaceous matter, intermixed with alternate layers of earth and slate. This deposite they strip, or uncover, by digging off the superincumbent earth, so as to leave bare the mass of coal, as in a clay-field; and thus the coal is mined. It is conveyed a short distance up the ridge of the mountain top, thence it ascends by means of an inclined plane, and a railroad upwards of eight miles in length, to a chute of seven hundred feet in two hundred and fifteen of perpendicular height, at Mauch Chunk, when it is embarked in the navigation of the Lehigh. This rail-road, being the first of any extent ever constructed in the United States, has in years past attracted the attention of travellers on this account; as also from the interesting fact of a descent on a rail-road for eight or nine miles, by the mere specifick gravity of the cars. It is also curious, in another point of view. Enormous trains of loaded coal-cars descend by gravity, to the head of the chute, after which the empty cars are to be returned to the mines and reloaded. They are accordingly drawn up the inclined plane by teams of mules; but these animals cannot be induced, either by persuasion or force, to descend the plane on foot, and it becomes necessary to provide cars, in which they may ride down, and which they very contentedly draw up again, together with the empty coal-cars. Circumstances like these give zest and piquancy to the inspection of the works of this Company; the relish of which is enhanced by the beauty and sublimity of the surrounding scenery, mountain after mountain stretching out beneath your eye, as you glide in your self-moving carriage along the descending side of the long ateep ridge, overhanging the bright village of Mauch Chunk. and roofed, as to enable the miner to remove all the coal, without any hazard; while those of twenty or thirty feet must be worked in chambers, and large pillars of coal be left to support the roof; and even then the miners are exposed to injury from falling fragments or masses of the mineral. It is the universal practice in this region to undermine. As the veins generally dip in the direction of the mountainsides, the mode of working in the interiour of the mine is regulated in part with reference to this fact. They run a drift, or tunnel, into the mountain above the water-level, and construct a rude rail-road upon its floor, and then pierce the seam of coal horizontally for a convenient distance; by which means the entire breast, as it is called, of the seam is exposed; and the miners work up the acclivity until they reach the summit or outcrop, throwing the coal behind them, where it is loaded into cars, drawn out by horses, screened and separated into the different sizes, and conveyed to the landings, or shot at once into canal-boats. In some cases, very ingenious mechanical contrivances are used in screening the coal; of which a very perfect example is to be seen at the station of the Delaware Coal company.— Hitherto the veins have been worked almost exclusively from the water-level upward; and instances occur, of two, three and four seams of coal, one above another; but experiments are now in train for pursuing the veins in the opposite direction downwards, by sinking shafts below the water-level, and clearing out the water through the agency of steam power, as in England. There is a great diversity in the quality of the coal in the various parts of this basin, and even in a single region of it. In his very able report, Mr. Packer speaks of this point somewhat inaccurately. He alludes to the fact that some of the coal ignites more readily than the rest; and that the red-ash coal is by many regarded as of superiour quality; and then proceeds to say: "With these exceptions, there is little difference in the quality of the coal of the region; certainly no more than in trees of the same species, growing upon the same soil, or in coal taken from different parts of the same mine; and if coal of a superiour or inferiour quality be found in market, it is only because the vender has been more or less careful in freeing it from slate or other impurities."— This is far from being correct. If the writer had But the most interesting and valuable part of the said that there was the same difference in quality, coal-field is the central or interiour track, known as as between trees of different species, say walnut, the Schuylkill Region, which is twenty miles long, oak and maple, growing upon the same soil, it would and from three to four broad. In this region, the have been a more just representation of the fact. numerous headquarters of the river Schuylkill have This truth is perfectly notorious to those who are cut boldly through the strata of coal, presenting a familiar with the coal region. Anthracite is now succession of elevated summits and deep ravines, divided, for practical purposes, into three classes: admirably fitted for extensive mining operations. that which burns freely and leaves a residuum of Here the coal is in veins, generally having an incli- red ashes; another harder and more difficult to ignation or dip to the south, and consequently reaching nite, leaving a residuum of white ashes; and purthe surface, when they are discovered by the depres- chasers of coal for consumption can rely upon this sion of the soil over the coal in the process of de- as an easy and conclusive test of its quality. The composition, and by the cropping out, as the black Lehigh coal is white-ash, less easy of ignition, but dirt, which often appears at the surface, is termed. esteemed for manufacturing purposes: the SchuylThe dip is an angle of from forty to sixty degrees, kill coal of the better mines is red-ash, and the most the vein descending to an unknown depth. The valuable for domestick use. Very frequently, howbeds vary in thickness, from one or two up to thirty ever, you will find veins of an inferiour quality, feet. Those of from five to twelve feet are consid- within fifty or a hundred yards of the best. In a ered the best, as they can be worked with greater transverse section of the several coal veins from the |