"I spent a night with my companions in the dingy-looking hamlet of Petersburg, where I picked up the following particulars respecting an almost obsolete custom peculiar to this section of the country. It is termed running for the bottle, and is a kind of interlude or episode in a marriage celebration. When a buxom lady is about to be married, every body is invited to the wedding, and two entire days are devoted to feasting and dancing, when the time arrives that she is to be taken to the residence of her lord and master. This change of location is accomplished on horseback, and the groom and bride are invariably accompanied by their guests, who combine to form, as they journey in pairs, a truly imposing cavalcade, varying, according to circumstances, from one to two hundred persons. The day of the march is of course a pleasant one, and the journey to be accomplished is perhaps five miles. At the residence of the groom every thing is of course in a state of preparation for the reception of the party, and with cspecial care a bottle of choice liquor, richly decked out with ribands, has been prepared, and placed upon a high post at the front gate of the dwelling. While the cavalcade are on the move, and have arrived within one mile of the desired haven, the master of ceremonies steps aside upon his horse, and extends an invitation to all the gentlemen present to join in a race for the bottle, which is known to be in waiting for the winner of the race, whose privilege it will be to drink the health of the bride on her arrival. Fifty of the younger men in the party have perhaps accepted the invitation extended to them, and, leaving the procession, they make ready and start off at full speed for the much desired bottle. The road is winding, and perhaps stony, and stumpy, and muddy; but what matter? Away they fly, like a party of Indians after buffaloes; while along the road, it may be, cattle are bellowing, sheep blating, dogs barking, hens cackling, and crows cawing. The goal is now in sight; one effort more, and the foremost horseman is at the gate, and has received into his hands from the hands of the groom's sister the much desired bottle; and then ascend the huzzas and shoutings of that portion of the people assembled to welcome the bride. Meanwhile the cavalcade comes in sight, headed as before by the groom and bride, and, as they approach the gate, the winner of the bottle steps forth upon his horse, and, pouring a portion of liquor into a goblet, presents it to the bride, and has the satisfaction of being the first to drink the good health of her newly-married ladyship. The huzzas and shoutings continue, when, in the midst of the direst confusion, the ladies are assisted into the house, the horses are stabled, and a regular siege of two or three days' dancing and feasting and carousing succeeds, with which the wedding is terminated." THE MYSTIC FLOWER. There is a flower, a mystic flower, And fragrant is that flower, I ween, Nor Time can bid its stem decay, Nor Death shall steal those charms away But, nurs'd by Grace with dews sincere, It lives through heaven's eternal year, O! 'tis a flower of wondrous worth, And dear to all above! Sweet CHARITY-its name on earth But angels call it LovE. Q. Various Intelligence. THE GRAND EXHIBITION. The Grand Exhibition of the Industry of All Nations, in the Crystal Palace at LONDON, was opened on Thurday, May 1, with appropriate and imposing ceremonies. Just before twelve o'clock, which was the hour appointed for the arrival of the Queen, the rain that had been falling at intervals during the day ceased altogether, and the sun shone forth from a cloudless sky. On the appearance of the Royal cortège, the utmost enthusiasm was manifested by the people who thronged the vicinity of the Palace, and, in the midst of the cheers of the multitude, and the flourish of military music, the Queen, accompanied by Prince Albert, the Prince of Wales, and the Princess Royal, was ushered into the interior of the building. She was welcomed by the vast assemblage with repeated and universal cheers, ladies waved their handkerchiefs, gentlemen their hats, and the whole scene presented a spectacle of unrivalled splendor. After she had ascended the throne, which was a raised platform surmounted with a blue canopy ornamented with feathers, the National Anthem was sung by an immense choir under direction of Sir Henry Bishop. When the music had ceased, Prince Albert presented to the Queen the report of the proceedings of the Commissioners, to which she replied in a short speech. The Archbishop of Canterbury then offered the prayer of inauguration, at the close of which the Hallelujah Chorus was sung. A procession was now formed, composed of the architect, contractors, and officials engaged in the construction of the Crystal Palace, the Foreign Commissioners, the Royal Commissioners, Foreign Ambassadors, and the members of the Royal Family. After making the circuit of the building in the procession, the Queen resumed her seat on the platform, and announced by a herald that the Exhibition was opened. A flourish of trumpets and a discharge of artillery proclaimed the fact to the thronging multitudes on the outside. The Queen, attended by the Court, then withdrew from the building; the choir again struck up the strain of the National Anthem; the barriers, which had confined the spectators within certain limits, were removed; and the whole mass of visitors poured over every part of the magnificent edifice, eager to gratify a highly excited curiosity. The number of exhibitors, whose productions are now dis played in the Crystal Palace, is about 15,000. One-half of these are British subjects. The remainder represent the industry of more than forty other nations, comprising nearly every civilized country on the globe. The Exhibition is divided into four classes; 1. Raw Materials; 2. Machinery; 3. Manufactures; 4. Sculpture and the Fine Arts. A further division is made, according to the geographical position of the countries represented, those which lie within the warmer latitudes being placed near the centre of the building, and the colder countries at the extremities. The Crystal Palace, which was commenced on the 26th of September, and has accordingly been completed in the short space of seven months, occupies an extent of about 18 acres, measuring 1,851 feet in length, and 556 in breadth, and affords a frontage for the exhibition of goods amounting in the aggregate to over 10 miles. It can accommodate at one time 40,000 visitors.--Inter. Mag. THE PRESIDENT'S VISIT. We note here, with pleasure, that bis Excellency Millard Fillmore, the President of the United States, attended by the Hon. A. H. H. Stuart, the Secretary of the Interior, has recently paid a short visit to our State, and during his rapid transit, has been every where received with all the honors and attentions that were due alike to his station and himself. We should like to follow him, with some particularity, on his little tour, enlivened as it was by so many agreeable incidents, (some of which we had the satisfaction to witness ourselves,) but we can only say briefly, that he arrived at Old Point on the morning of the 22nd ult., and on the next day visited the fortress where he surveyed the works, and reviewed the small military force under General Bankhead. On Tuesday, the 24th, he visited Norfolk, Portsmouth, the Navy-Yard and the Naval Hospital, and returned to Old Point the same evening, where he attended a ball given in honor of his presence. The next day, Wednesday, the 25th, accompanied by Secretary Stuart, and General Bankhead, he embarked in the small naval steamer, Engineer, and proceeded up the river on his way to Richmond: pausing awhile at Jamestown, where, of course, he found History at home, and spent some time in exploring the tombs, and other relics of antiquity, with much interest. Resuming his rout, he next called at Claremont, and afterwards at Lower and Upper Brandon, where he saw, says the Enquirer, the teeming wheat-fields, whose rich and golden harvest was just about be 66 ing brought to the ground"-with "one of Hussey's beautiful Reaping Machines, dashing along, and throwing off the heavy sheaves in fine volume, ready for the binders and shockers;" when, to shew, perhaps, that he had been, and still could be, a "working man,' "he astonished the natives" and charmed all the company, by "skilfully binding up a sheaf himself with a double tie." The next day, Thursday, the 26th, after breakfast, (reinforced by "a party of ladies and gentlemen of the neighborhood,") he pursued his voyage, and successively landed at the ancient seats of Westover and Shirley, at which latter place he was joined by the Postmaster General, Mr. Hall, with Mrs. H. and Mrs. S., Miss Apollonia Jagella, (the Hungarian Heroine,) and some others, and so recruited, proceeded to Richmond, where he arrived the same evening, (about 9 o'clock,) and where he found the Mayor, with the volunteer companies, and a large concourse of citizens, who had been waiting for him for some time, and who now escorted him through a heavy fall of rain, mixed with thunder and lightning, which might have seemed somewhat ominous, but was in fact only typical; for what was all that "pother" to the "pilot" who had so lately weathered the storm," and carried our good ship, the United States, into the port of peace? So he "steered right on" again, and well supported by his gallant officers, and steady crew, arrived safely in a snug harbour at the old Powhatan. 66 On Friday, the 27th, a little after 11 o'clock, accompanied by Messrs. Stuart and Hall, our Guest was escorted from his lodgings to the Southern portico of the Capitol, where Wm. H. Macfarland. Esq., in the name of the citizens of Richmond, a large crowd of whom were assembled about the stand, and in the area below, saluted him in a brief and pertinent address, to which he replied in a very handsome and taking answer, which was received with "great applause." (Messrs. Stuart and Hall also were called out and addressed the citizens with happy effect:) after which he was conducted by the committee into the Hall of the Convention and presented to the body—who all rose to receive him-when the presiding officer, the Hon. John Y. Mason, greeted him in a most courteous speech, to which he replied in a peculiarly becoming manner, and was cheered, as the reporter states, with "tremendous applause." After this, the chair was vacated, and he was introduced by Mr. Mason to many members of the body, and soon retired from the hall. The Convention then adjourned for the day; when a collation was served in the Senate chamber, after which he was conducted over the Capitol grounds, to the Washington Monument, and other objects of interest, then to the State Library, and back to the Powhatan House, |