In January, 1837. the standard of fineness was 
changed to !)00 thousandths, or nine parts of pure 
gold and one of alloy in every ten parts of stand¬ 
ard metal, at which it now continues. The 
weight of the coins was not altered, and all gold 
coins made after July 31,1831, aro legal tenders 
according to (heir nominal value. 
In 1852. a branch for the coiuage of gold and 
silver was established at San Francisco, Cali¬ 
fornia. Tho Issues from this branch bear the 
letter S on the reverse. 
Gold Dollars, weighing 25 grains, were first 
coined in 1849. 
was ortgtnauy a pianiauou uuu.'c, ^ 
been added a curious supet structure—a tower— 
which is used as a signal station. The quarters 
of General Hunter and his staff front upon the 
water, and are simple enough to satisfy the de¬ 
mands of the most exacting democrat. The 
Major-General commanding the Department of 
the South gives audience in a room so plainly 
furnished that citizen Jones of New York would 
think himself hardly used to occupy it as an 
office; the only ornaments I noticed were a fine 
military map over the fire-place, and a pair of 
well-wom pistol-holsters, suspended from a peg 
in the wall. 
»♦*»***** 
Fourteen miles above Hilton Head lies Beau¬ 
fort. a pretty village, made up of what in the 
South are called “mansions,” square, comforta¬ 
ble-looking wooden houses, with verandas and 
large gardens. This was the summer and winter 
pleasure resort of many of tho South Carolina 
conspirators and traitor's. Here, in cool quiet, 
they hatched their treasonable plot—and 1 must 
say the nest seems a pleasant one. Beaufort— 
pronounced Jiufort —stands on the bank of a 
broad river, where it gets a cool breeze in tho 
hottest summer day. It is a retired nook of the 
world, where contemplative traitors might cozily 
chat and fear no sudden arrival of prying stran- 
GOLD COINS OF THE UNITED STATES 
TWO WEEKS AT POET ROYAL. 
From an article in the June issue ot Harpers 
Monthly Magazine, we make the following inter¬ 
esting extracts. We would be glad to give it 
ca tire, but its length renders such a course im¬ 
possible: 
The bay of Port Royal is wide and^deep. It 
has room and to spare f_. - - 
swing 
entrance 
which beset the mariner 
Savannah . 1 - 
water did not secure a 
trade, and become more 
the rival cities I have named 
come to see more 
the harbor, and si 
cate system c‘ - 
alone connection can 
it is not difficult to believe that neither Charles¬ 
ton nor Savannah is likely to lie ruined by Tort 
Is- you would not be a foot, 
(Jo to school; 
Learning helps to make the man; 
Get instruction while you can; 
Life la short—'tlx but a span; 
Go to school. 
If you would not be a dunce, 
Go at once; 
There is danger in delay, 
Do not stay at home to play, 
Take your satchel and away; 
Go at once. 
If you wish to speak, take care— 
Do not swear; 
Swearing makes one seem so mean; 
Alwajs keep the conscience clean; 
Let good morals reign supreme; 
Do not swear. 
If you would be happy here, 
Persevere: 
Straight and pleasant is the road 
That leads to happiness and God; 
Choose the path that Jesus trod; 
Persevere; 
[Juvenile Instructor. 
Much objection 
was made to those pieces on ac¬ 
count of their minute size, and 
in 1854 another issue was made. 
The new pieces are larger and 
thinner than the old ones, and 
in general appearance resemble the Three Dol¬ 
lar pieces. 
The Double Eagle (value $20. weight 516 grs.) 
was first issued in 1850. Previous to Dec. 31, 
lor a thousand ships to 
at their anchors; it is not difficult of 
and those who know of the dangers 
-7 bound to Charleston or 
, wonder often why this noble piece of 
share of the Southern 
famous than either of 
But when you 
nearly the islands which make 
itudy upon the map the intri- 
of creeks and swamps by which 
be had with the main land, 
Gold Dollar 
THE DISOBLIGING BOY. 
Double Eagle, $20 
1853, 7,288,768 pieces, amounting to $145,775,360, 
had been issued. 
“Rufus, I want you to go and pull up the 
weeds round the currant bushes near the groat 
honey-suckle,” said Mr Newton one morning to 
his son of ten years. “ Can’t I do it at noon, sir? 
1 just want to finish this." Rufus was whittling 
out an arrow. “ Well, noon, then, only don’t for¬ 
get it,” said his father. Noou came; Rufus got 
home from school, and his father tro m the s tore. 
“ HavoyouTdono the weeding 1 told you to do?” 
asked Mr. Newton. 
“ 0, father, ’tis so awful hot,” said Rufus in a 
fretful tone. “ Can’t you get old Doloff to do it?” 
What do you think of a boy that will say that to 
his father? • 
“ Rufus, run up stairs and get my purse,” said 
his mother. “ Can’t Carrie go? You ne ver a sk 
her to do things,” answered the little boy, with- 
out offering to move. Carrie jumped up , went 
and brought the purse to her mother, 
jjrAs Rufus took his cap. “Stop,” said Mrs. New¬ 
ton, “ I want to give you a bundle to take to Mrs. 
Thorn.” * 
“ O, mother,” said Rufus, with an unwilling 
twist Of his shoulders, “ won’t it do just as well 
after school?" That’s the way he treated his 
mother. 
Dear old grandmother sat with her hands 
folded, for want of a skein of yarn. When Rufus 
came in, she took her knitting work, and unroll¬ 
ing it, “llufus," said she, “ I want some Uttle boy 
to go down In town and buy me a skein of white 
yarn. Do you know of any little boy who would 
like to do so much for his old grandmother?" “ 1 
don’t know as 1 do,” anawerered he. *$ “Well, 
don’t you want to go?" finding a more direct 
application to meet her wants. “ O, grandmoth¬ 
er, it rains,” cried the little boy. “ Rains, does 
it? That alters tho case. I did not know it rain¬ 
ed;” and she turned to the window, looking 
over her spectacles. •• 1 t*s is just ;/oiny to, said 
Rufus. “ I’m SO beat out of playing foot-ball.” 
“ (), well," said the old lady, patiently folding 
her hands again. That is a disobliging boy’s 
As I walked under the generous shade of mag¬ 
nificent live-oaks which abound hereabouts, and 
drank in the quiet spirit of the seene, I caught 
with it a sense of the base use to which this 
piece of earth had been put Here, beneath 
these live-oaks, in this grove of tall and spread¬ 
ing pines, by these budding orange-trees. In the 
portico of "the rural church, the Rhetts, tho 
Bamwells, the Prascotts, the hundred other 
leading traitors, conferred together) here they 
deliberated; here they planned, in sober coun¬ 
cils, the ruin of their country; here was nurtured 
I that gigantic and inexcusable crime which has 
Old Earle, $10.60 
The whole number of Eagles struck previous 
to and including 1804, was 132,602. Their issue 
was then discontinued, and no more were coined 
until 1838. 
Of the Half-Eagle, which was of the samo^de¬ 
gree of fineness, but only one-halt' the weight 
of tho Eagle, three styles were produced pre¬ 
vious to 1334: 
The Three Dollar pieces were first issued 
during the year 1854. Thu device adopted lor 
the reverse of the coin, a wreath of com and 
cotton, is exceedingly appropriate and beuutiful. 
We are not ro favorably impressed with that of 
the obverse, and hope some of oar native artists 
will be able to suggest a design at once more 
appropriate and beautiful. 
worm refuses to touch it. Ono use the planters to tne gre 
made of it; in the broad flat cotton-fields you another o 
see large palmettos standing at regular and wide accursed, 
distances, like sentinels. Beneath these the 
slave-mothers left their infants while they la- A mor» 
bored near by atnODg the cotton; and hither the cosst® 
they came, at appointed hours, to suckle thuir Paris Isl 
little ones. The planters exhibited a certain what nu 
ingenutty in selecting this tree for the purpose, stops frt 
A pine or live-oak would in time have grown too shore; it 
large, and. spreading its branches, would have ness of r 
covered a considerable space of ground with its tho negr 
shadow. The palmetto is short, naked to the view; ai 
crown, and there bears but a narrow circumfer- ho shad; 
ence of leafage. It is worthless as a shade-tree, the air 
except In these cotton-fields, where its narrow thought, 
bell sufficed for the appointed use, and at the busy wo 
time robbed the master of the very least l° n S <or 
«te3=Sti 
mSA 
tnrmruin,, 
Quintuple Eagle, $50* 
Old to Eagle, $5.25 OldttE. 
Quarter-Eagles were first coined 
their number was limited until IBM. 
same 
portion of sun. 
I was surprised to find few—if any—of those 
princely domains here, of which we heard so 
much in other days, when the “Southern gen¬ 
tleman’s” voice resounded through the land 
Binging his own praises. We saw none of those : 
estates of 2,000 and 2,500 acres, which I looked 
for: these sea-island planters had the reputation 
of being enormously rich; but most of the 
“places” hereabouts are of moderate exteDt— 
from 200 to 300 acres; and the universal testi¬ 
mony of the negroes is to the effect that the 
masters were a “close” set. Perhaps, like the 
impoverished Venetian nobility in the last cen¬ 
tury, they spared and pinched at home in order 
to spend profusely abroad. 
Coming from the blustering and bleak March 
winds of New York, the climate here was en¬ 
chanting. The breezes are soft, the skies have a 
tropical radiance; the yellow jessamine was in 
full bloom on the I5th of March, and filled the 
air with its strong porfume, which is much like 
the delicious fragrauce of our spring violets. 
This jessamine grows rankly in this loose sand, 
and overruns the trees by the road-side, covering 
them with its profuse canary-colored bloom. In 
the gardens roses were already in full flower; 
the orange trees were white with their ordorifer- 
oub blossoms, and the splendid magnolia was 
preparing to flower. 
Walking is Impossible in these islands by rea¬ 
son of (he soft sand; but many of the rides are 
enchanting. The landscape is, to be sure, some¬ 
what monotonous; but on every hand you come 
upon magnificent trees; now and then you find 
a noble grove; and there are quiet nooks and 
corners on the roads, which speak of a peace 
which the surrounding war has not yet succeeded 
in disturbing. The air is full of the multitudi¬ 
nous song of birds, in which I suspect tho mock¬ 
ing-bird plays a various part; _you see him flit¬ 
ting from tree to tree, and find him screaming at 
you, now with the hoarse “ caw, Caw ” of the 
crow, now with the cheery chirrup of the red- 
bird, and again with a full burst and prolonged 
trill, which must be his own. 
With all these is a fresh, spicy, exhilarating 
breeze, sweeping from the water through the 
I LI pines and cedars, which reminds you of the 
i pleasant country-side of old Cape Cod in mid- 
summer, or the spicy gales of the Maine coast in 
Kl September. 
VEGETATION ON THE AMAZON. 
Thk magical beauty of tropical vegetation re¬ 
veals itself in all its glory to the traveler who 
steers bis boat through the solitudes of these 
aquatic mazes. Hero the forest forms a canopy 
over his head; there It opens, allowing the 
sunshine to disclose the secrets of the wilder¬ 
ness; while on either side the eye penetrates 
through beautiful vistas into tho depths of the 
woods. Sometimes on a higher spot of ground 
a dump of trees forms an island worthy a Eden. 
A chaos of bush-ropes and creepers flings its gay 
flowers over the forest, and fills the air with the 
sweetest odor. Numerous birds, partly rivaling 
in beauty of color tho passifloras and bignonias 
of these hanging gardens, animate the banks of 
the lagune, while gaudy macaws perch on the 
loftiest trees; and, as If to remind one that death 
is not banished from this scene of Paradise, a 
dark-robed vulture screeches through the woods, I 
or an alligator rests, like a black log of wood, 
or a somber rock, on the tranquil waters. Well 
he knows that food will not be wanting; for river 
tortoises and large fish are fond of retiring to 
these lagunes. * * * If tho Nile — so re¬ 
markable for its historical recollections, which 
carry us far back into the bygone ages — and the 
Thames, unparalleled by the greatness of a com¬ 
merce which far eclipses that of ancient Carthage 
and Tyre — may justly be called the rivers of the 
past and the present, the Amazon has equal 
Quintuple Eaglo, £60* 
Previous to the existence ol so perfect com- 
mfrcial arrangements as now exist between 
the Atlantic and Pacific States, the want of a 
circulating medium was severely felt; conse¬ 
quently, private bankers commenced the issue 
of coins bearing their own imprint. These 
coins, although containing as much pure gold 
as those they stand for, are not legal tender, and 
are usually subjected to a discount varying from 
one-half to five per cent, from their nominal 
Old W Eagle, $2.62 
In 1834, in consequence of the scarcity of gold 
in comparison with silver, these coins became of 
more value, for commercial and manufacturing 
purposes, than the legal value affixed to them, 
and their circulation was perceptibly diminish¬ 
ing. In order to preserve equity in the value of 
the two metals, Congress enacted that thereafter 
the weight of the Eagle should be 258 grains, of 
which 232 grains should be pure gold. This 
gave as the standard, 899t thousandths. The 
gold coins minted anterior to this enactment 
were made legal tender at 94 R-10 of a cent per 
pennyweight, or $10.66 tor an Eagle. They are 
usually passed, however, at $10.50. 
New designs were adopted for the coins which 
still remain in use. 
room 
S A??** 
M» Eagle, £5 
Little Kindnesses— “Mother,” said a little 
girl, “ I gave a poor beggar child a drink of water 
and' a slice of bread, and it made me so glad, I 
shall never forget it,” Now children can do a 
great many things worth a “ tbaulc you.' Kind 
offices are everywhere and at all times needed; 
for there are always sick ones, poor ones, besides 
dear ones, to make happy |by kindness; and it 
goes further towards makiDg borne happy than 
almost anything else. Kind offices are "‘thin 
everybody’s reach, like air and sunshine, and if 
anybody feels fretful, and wants a medicine to 
cure it, we would say, do a “ thank yOtt’s" worth 
of kind offices every hour you live, and you 
will be cured. It is a wonderfulj sweetener of 
Panics. —The following Eastern story con¬ 
tains a moral well suited to the present, time:— 
There is an old story in the East of a man 
journeying, who met a dark and dread appari¬ 
tion. “Who aro you?” said the traveler, accost¬ 
ing the specter. “ 1 am the plague,” it replied. 
“And where are you going?” rejoined the 
traveler. “I am going to Damascus to kill 
3,000 human beings,” said the Bpccter. Two 
months afterwards, the man returning, met the 
same apparition at the same point. “False 
spirit!” said he, “why dost thou deal with me in 
lies? Thou declarcdst thou wert going to slay 
3,000 at Damascus, and lol thou hast slain nearly 
30,000.” “Friend,” replied the plague, “be not 
over-hasty in thy judgment; I killed indeed but 
my 3 , 000 , fear killeul the rest.” 
The cuts below represent a coinage 
Georgia gold. They are designated s 
“Bechtler” coins. 
4RN 
Tuk evils from which a morbid man suffers 
most are those that don t happen. 
A false friend is like the shadow on the sun¬ 
dial, appearing in sunshine, but vanishing in 
shade. 
The village of Hilton lload is a place which 
has grown up since the capture of the forts in 
November, 1861. The houses are, for the most 
part, of the “shanty” order of architecture, 
familiar to Californians and other new settlers. 
The most prominent and ambitious building 
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