ST. PAUL'S CHURCH, ALBANY. THIS very spacious and elegant edifice, consecrated to the worship of God, and instruction in the doctrines and duties of the gospel, is situated at the corner of South Ferry and Dallius streets. It was finished and dedicated in August, 1829, in fifteen months from the commencement of the work. The services on the occasion were performed by Bishop Hobart. The dimensions of this handsome building are as follows, viz.: its length, eighty-four feet; width, sixty-two; height of the walls to the cornice, thirty-two feet: with a semi-octagonal vestibule projecting sixteen feet, and rising to the front pediment of the main roof. The building is of rough, unwrought stone, (from three and a half to two feet in thickness,) and of the Gothic style, the design being from an ancient temple of that order. The original plan embraces the erection AN ESCAPE FROM INDIANS. THE following adventure occurred during an invasion of our Niagara frontier by the British in the last war, and is detailed in a recent GuideBook at Niagara Falls, by J. De Veaux, Esq. The hero of the story is the present comptroller of the finances of this state: The roads had been deeply broken up, and were frozen in that state, and it was impossible to proceed with wagons; a very little snow ena bled the inhabitants slowly to move along with sleighs. They were fleeing from a relentless and cruel enemy. The rear of the fugitives was brought up with a two-horse sleigh, driven by a young man who was walking by the side of his horses. In the sleigh lay his brother, who one week before had his leg amputated just below the thigh. His condition was very feeble, and to proceed rapidly, rough as the roads then were, would have been death to him. There was no alterna tive but to continue the moderate pace at which they were moving. The driver was armed with a rifle. At that, and distrustfully, behind him, he alternately looked; for he knew the foe was near at hand. At length, the war-whoop with its ac companying yells, broke upon their ears. The disabled brother besought the other to leave him to his fate, and by flight to save his own life."No," he replied, "if we are to die, we will perish together.' The party of Indians that pursued them were in full sight; and one far in advance of the others, called to them to stop, making threatening ges tures and raising his rifle. With the same slow pace the horses proceeded; the driver coolly collecting himself for the conflict, in which there were such fearful odds against him. The Indian sprang forward and was within a few paces of the sleigh, when the young man, suddenly turning himself, quickly raised his rifle, and firing, fatally wounded his pursuer. The savage plunged for ward, fell, and his body rolled out of the road. A yell of vengeance from the band in the road, came like the knell of death upon the brothers. At that moment, a friendly party of the Tuscaroras were seen descending the adjacent mountain; and the well-directed fire they opened upon the British Indians, obliged them precipitately to retire. The driver of the sleigh was the Honorable Bates Cooke, and the invalid was his brother, Lathrop Cooke, Esq. The interior finish is also Gothic, painted in imitation of oak. Below, there are one hundred and thirty-eight pews, and sixty-six in the gallery. The pulpit, screen and altar were designed and drawn by Mr. George Vernon, and built by Mr. J. Bigelow. The screen is twenty-four feet wide, supported by four octagonal Gothic columns, in panel-work, and rising about eighteen feet from the chancel floor. The columns are finished at Mr. B. Cooke, at the battle of Queenston, was the top with pinnacles, ornamented and encircled by leaves and vines; in the centre of the screen, and pilot of the boat that led the van on that occasion; the boat was brought to the exact point designa immediately over the pulpit, there rises a pedi-ted, and the men, though fired upon by the sentinel, ment, supported by clustered columns and an arch; the pediment is also surmounted with a richly ornamented pinnacle extending to the ceiling, and standing in relief, in a niche prepared to receive it. The top of the screen and bases of the pinnacles are finished with castellated battlements, and the panel-work in quatre foil. The church is supplied with a large and splendid organ, from the factory of Henry Erben in New York. The way to cure our prejudices is this, that every man should let alone those that he complains of in others, and examine his own. who gave the alarm, were landed without loss. THE difference between good and bad inten tions is this: that good intentions are so very satisfactory in themselves, that it really seems a work of supererogation to carry them into execution; whereas evil ones have a restlessness that can only be satisfied by action: and to the shame of fate be it said, very many facilities always offer for their being effected. BENEVOLENCE is the light and joy of a good mind: "it is better to give than to receive." THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY Aster, Lenox and Tilden Foundations. I island of etimes writ de county of 2nd, about t ar of Newpo d; its ave were feet Libe eOl rcular Amare Lapida THE island of Conanicut or Connanicut, as it is sometimes written, lies in Narraganset Bay, in the county of Newport, and state of Rhode Island, about three miles west of the pleasant town of Newport. Conanicut extends toward the north between seven and eight miles, and as far south as the most southern portion of Rhode Island; its average breadth being about one mile. The western shore is about three miles from the Narraganset coast; and on this point is the village of Jamestown. It was purchased of the Indians in 1657, and was incorporated by its present name, in 1678. The soil is remarkably luxuriant, producing grain and grass in great abundance. There are about five hundred inhabitants in the village. The south end of the Island is called 'Beaver's Tail' and here the Rhode Island light-house was erected in 1749, for the convenience and safety of vessels sailing in the bay of Narraganset, and the harbor of Newport. The ground at this place is twelve feet above the surface of the sea at high tide. From the earth to the top of the light-house cornice, it is fifty-eight feet. There is a gallery around this part of the building, and within stands the lantern, which is eleven feet high and eight feet in diameter. In the same quarter of the island may be seen the "Old Fort Conanicut." This is an ancient circular fortress. It once served to guard the passage of Narraganset Bay, but is now in a dilapidated and deserted state. The present appearance of its ruins is correctly delineated in the above engraving. The Besides the truly delightful Conanicut and Rhode Island, Narraganset Bay embosoms many other beautiful and exuberantly fruitful isles, such as Prudence, Patience, and Hope, with a few smaller islands. Its chief harbors, independent of Providence and Newport are Wickford, Warren, Bristol, Greenwich and Pawtuxet. rivers Providence and Taunton, and numerous lesser streams, flow into this capacious bay, which is "at once the ornament and the nursing-mother of Rhode Island." But to describe this elegant sheet of water, is to delineate much of the most beautiful and useful in nature. It opens into the southern coast of the State, between Seaconnet rocks on the east and Point Judith on the west, and spreading out the noble harbor of Newport, and narrowing and shallowing inland for nearly twenty-eight miles, amid the most diversified and attractive scenery, it terminates in the convenient though not very deep harbor of Providence. Varying from one mile to fifteen, its average breadth is about ten miles; and its waters afford plentiful supplies of the finest oysters, lobsters and fish. It was at the head of this bay of Narraganset, that Roger Williams, the great founder of Rhode Island, fixed himself and his followers, when he fled from religious controversy in Massachusetts, in the year 1636, nearly two centuries since, calling the place of their retreat "Providence." Mrs. Hutchinson, the female Antinomian leader, soon followed Mr. Williams, and settled on "Red Island," now termed Rhode Island, which name it and they are at the distance of about thirty miles. A distant view of them is given in the engraving above. View near Conway, New Hampshire. derived from the Dutch, and, contrary to the common opinion, signifies the same as the former appellation. These two little colonies were united by charter procured by Williams from The scenery about Conway is interesting and Charles I. in 1643-4. A second charter was picturesque in a high degree. It is a flourishing obtained from Charles II, in 1663, and is the basis town of nearly two thousand inhabitants. The of the present government; Rhode Island being soil is excellent; a great part being alluvial, or the only state in the union without a written intervale. But the river sometimes rises suddenconstitution. The last historic event, particular ly, by the freshets, nearly twenty feet above its to this little colony for upward of one hundred usual level; which sweep off the bridges, and years, was the foundation of Brown University in cause other evils and inconveniences to the in1664. This tranquil period was terminated in habitants. Conway is adjoining Fryeburgh, in 1765, by the stamp-act, against which, and every the county of Oxford, Maine; and it is nearly the other violence of the British government, the peo- same distance from Concord, the capital of New ple of Rhode Island opposed a steady and effec-Hampshire, that it is from Portland. The view tual resistance. As early as 1774, the royal here presented, contains some evergreens of the stores and artillery in the colony were seized; fir kind; and a hut, or log house, such as were, and when the day of open war dawned, one of the and still are the dwellings of the early settlers in most effective generals of the Anglo-American New Hampshire and Maine. nation sprung like a youthful lion from among the farmers of Rhode Island. Though morally united from the outset of the contest, it was however, the last of the "thirteen" which acceded to the present form of government under the constitution of 1787. Her acquiescence was not ob. tained until May, in 1790. CONWAY lies on both sides of the river Saco, which falls into the Atlantic ocean, in Maine, between the towns of Saco and Biddeford. It is about sixty miles distant from Portland; and the principal road from Portland to the White Mountains, passes through Conway. There is a fine view of these remarkable mountains from Conway; DESERT OF CALIFORNIA. THIS immense plain, the existence of which was, until very recently, wholly unknown, is situated in the central part of Upper or New California, in Mexico. It is limited on the north by a mass of rocks, which separate it from the head waters of the Lewis river, on the west by an ir regular chain of mountains, extending in paralle ridges along the shores of the Pacific Ocean, on the east by the western branches of the Colorado, and on the south by the valley of the Colorado. Its area is equal to that of Virginia, and consists of an elevated plateau or table-land, flanked on all sides by descents more or less inclined. |