A LETTER FROM HOME.

Lyttelton Times, Volume I, Issue 11, 22 March 1851, Page 7

A LETTER FROM HOME.

Tipperary Gazette. With trembling hand we break the seal, And scarce can check the starting tear, That tells how sensibly we feel Our absence from the loved—the dear. And recollections of the past Will crowd across the youthful mind; And dreams too bright, too fair to last, Dreams of the friends we've left behind. Perchance that record may contain Tidings of bitter heartfelt woe ; Or come with joyful mirthful strain, Mocking the thoughts of ill below. It may be in a mother's hand, Watching with all a mother's care, And breathing in mute eloquence A mother's love—a mother's fear. Or should a joyous sister write, To cheer her absent brother's heart, What else can equal the delight The welcome messenger imparts. The sharers of our weal or woe, The loved, the absent, not forgot; For memory flies, and oft will glow Around the well-remembered spot. And brightest does she paint the scene, When friends like this arrive to cheer; And in their purest, fondest mien, Do parents, friends, and home appear. And should the cold world's frowning eye Dim for a while this beauteous light, / At thy command the shadows fly, i] And day succeeds the darkest night. "Who does not this fond sentence prize, Where'er he rests—where'er he roam, His soul will sparkle in his eyes At this—"A letter from my home." From the Spectator. The Revenue-tables just published are like certain puzzles "of folded paper, which will convert into a variety of objects. Regarded in an annual point of view, it appears that they exhibit an increase of 645,0001. ; but in a quarterly point of view, they make out a decrease of 289,0002. So that the nation should laugh on the annual side of its countenance, and cry on the quarterly. A more remarkable incident is the fact, that the quarterly decrease is only not " more satisfactory" than the annual increase. If we consider the absence of the cholera panic which imparted a nourishing abundance to the rum and brandy duties, it is quite delightful to find the decrease in the Customs only 1000/. or so ; for although the duties in question have fallen off to the extent of .200,000/., sugar, tea, tobacco, raisins, currants, and other articles, have rallied bravely; which attests the national prosperity : for how can there be an increase of consumption in plum-buns, mince-pies, without a decided progress of the nation ? The deficet of 184,0002. in Excise is ascribed by the explanatory Globe to the remission of the brick diities, about 240,000/., besides return of duties on stocks, to the amount of 23,000/.; leaving the Excise decrease a virtual increase. In like manner, the decrease of 179,000/. on stamps is accounted for by the fact that people have not bought stamps ; which is probably true: it is presumed that they waited for the operation of Sir Charles Wood's law; and then it will be explained that the decrease of duty will account for any further decrease of revenue. All of which is very delightful: for if there is a decrease, it shews that the country is saving something, in its personal capacity, for duties remitted ; and if there is an increase, it shows that the nation is under a flourishing disregard of expense; and the current tables shew both. Perhaps the most surprising fact of all is the immense importance made out of these little balancings of increase and decrease. However, it is a charming circumstance to find the revenue always as well as can be expected. A short time after the arrival of the ship Mary Anne into one of the Liverpool docks last week, one of the officials connected with it sent over a messenger to the Custom House, with the astounding information that the landingwaiter had omitted examining the trunk of one of the passengers. A landing surveyor was immediately sent over to the dock to discharge the necessary duty, who, on arriving at his destination, asked to see the passenger's trunk, upon which he was gravely referred to the "elephant," which the vessel had brought over for the Regent's-park Zoological Society. The surveyor good-lmmouredly laughed at the joke, and acknowledged himself fairly "sold." The total amount of gold dust received in the United States from California since the commencement of the "diggings," up to the present time, is 20,100,000^ dollars.