Romance in Real Life.--Mrs. Gaines.

As the case of this extraordinary woman has for a long time past excited the interest of the people of this country, we think it will not be uninteresting to give our readers a slight sketch of her early life. Myra Clark, now Mrs. Gaines, who is well known to our citizens, having in early life resided here, was born in New Orleans, her father, Daniel Clark, well known in the political and commercial history of Louisiana, being a partner of Col. Davis of this county. Her father died, and when only a few months old she was adopted by Col. Davis, and brought up as his own child. A man by the name of Ralf destroyed her father's will, and obtained possession of the whole immense property of her father, consisting of nearly the whole of the new part of New Orleans, at that time worth FIVE MILLIONS of dollars, and now worth much more. She lived in entire ignorance of her parentage for a long time. The first idea she had of her parentage, was being taunted by a girl at school with the fact that Col. Davis was not her father. Afterwards she discovered it from some papers which she found, while looking for some documents which she was to send to the Colonel at Harrisburg, they at that time living in Pennsylvania. Some time afterwards she visited the Sulphur Springs, Virginia, and while there, on account of her carriage breaking, she became acquainted with a young man, named Wm. Whitney, a son of Gen. Whitney, of New York. Soon afterwards he visited her in Philadelphia, but the Colonel not approving of the match, he was forbid the house. Col. Davis soon after moved to Delamore place, near Wilmington, and Miss Clark not being permitted to see her lover, she corresponded with him.

To prevent detection, her letters were directed to Miss Mary Ann Williamson, now the wife of Rev. Cory Chambers, of this city, daughter of our late Mayor and Postmaster, she carefully keeping the secret, and punctually delivering the letters into the hands of Miss Clark and sending her letters to Mr. Whitney in return. Miss Clark was by this time fully acquainted with her parentage and the immense estate of her father. At last she received a letter from Mr. Whitney, urging her by all that she held true and the love she bore him, to elope with him. The plan was laid and the time fixed. Mr. Whitney was to be at New Castle, where she was to join him. None was let into the secret but Miss Williamson. To prevent detection, Miss Clark called all the dogs together about Col. Davis' place that evening, put them in one of the outbuildings, and locked them all up. At last the night came, and a terrible one it was too ;-the wind howled, the rain poured in torrents, and the darkness was only now and then illuminated by fearful flashes of lightning. Undaunted by the raging elements, Miss Clark stepped from her bed-room on the balcony, and by means of a pillar of the balcony or a rope, managed to reach the ground in safety and immediately ran as fast as she could to Wilmington. It was a fearful night for a girl so small, so young and delicate, to venture abroad alone, and unattended. On her way, if possible, the rain become heavier, and the flashes of lightning more vivid.

At last she reached the residence of Mr. Williamson, drenched with rain, and the top of her ban box beat in by the violence of the storm. Miss Williamson was waiting alone in the passage to receive her, the low knock

Captain Franklin's First Journey. WHEN Captain Parry was despatched on his first attempt to explore the Polar sea, with a view to the discovery of a passage into the Pacific ocean, it was considered not only that the expedition might be assisted in that object, but also, that material advantage might be rendered to geographical science, by the advance of a party over land to the shores of the Pacific sea, following the route by which Hearne had reached it in 1772.Accordingly, on the recommendation of the lords of the admiralty, lieutenant (now Sir John) Franklin was appointed by earl Bathurst, the then secretary of state for the colonies, to the command of a party for this service, consisting of Doctor John Richardson, a naval surgeon, well skilled in natural history; Messrs. Hood and Back, two admiralty midshipmen ; and two English seamen named Hepburn and Wilks.

This party left Gravesend on the 23d of May, 1819, in the Hudson's Bay company's ship, Prince of Wales; and on the 30th of August reached York Factory, the principal depot of the Hudson's Bay company.Here they received every possible assistance from the servants of the company, who used the utmost endeavors to forward their progress, and readily instructed them as to the different modes of travelling which it might be advisable to adopt. On the 9th of September, the party commenced their river journey into the interior, and on the 22d of October, reached Cumberland House, having travelled a distance of 600 miles.The winter was now beginning to set in; and the effect of a few days' frost convincing them of the impracticability of a further advance that season, they resolved to remain at this post until the ensuing spring. A conversation however with the gentlemen who had the charge of the establishment, was sufficient to assure Captain Franklin of the necessity of his proceeding, during the winter, in.o the Athabaska departme.it, in order that he might be enabled to secure guides, hunters, and interpreters, and obtain information as to the countries lying to the north of the Great Slave Lake, before the season for active operations had begun.— Accordingly on the 18th of January, 1820, he departed for Fort Chepewyan, accompanied by Mr. Back and the seamen Hepburn; leaving Dr. Richardson and Mr. Hood at Cumberland House, to devote the remainder of the winter to scientific pursuits, with the intention that they should follow with the baggage early in the spring, as soon as the navigation was open. The other seamen, Wilks, having proved to be quite unequal tɔ the fatigue of the journey, was discharged, and sent home by the next ship.

The mode of winter-travelling practised in these countries is twofold;by conveyance in dog-sledges, or by walking in snow shoes. The sledge is slight, and simple in its construction, consisting merely of two or three thin boards, which curve upwards in front, and are fastened together by peices of wood running across their upper side. Its length is eight or ten feet, but the breadth inconsiderable; and the edges have a lacing attached to them, which serves to secure the lading. When used by the trader for his personal conveyance, it assumes a more finished character and appearance, under the name of cariole. A covering of leather is then fixed so as to protect the lower part of the body; and the whole machine is painted and ornamented according to the taste of the proprietor.

AUGUST, 1848.

A snow-shoes is made of two light bars of wood, connected by several transverse bars, the spaces between which are filled with a fine netting of leathern thongs. To this the foot is attached by straps passing round the heel, but only fixing the toes, so as to allow the heel to rise after each step. To those who are unaccustomed to the use of these implements, the miseries occasioned by walking in them are said to be dreadful in the extreme: Galled feet and swelled ankles, and a track marked with blood, are the invariable accompaniments of the traveller's first trial; but the acuetness of his sufferings is gradually diminished, and soon cases altogether. More than two months had elapsed before Captain Franklin reached Fort Chepewyan, the distance being 857 miles from Cumberland House. The whole of this journey lay through an inhospitable region barren and almost uninhabited. The party travelled by day, and rested at night.Their mode of encampment was simple, and exposed them sufficiently to the severity of the weather. It consisted merely in clearing away the snow from the ground, and covering the space with pine-branches, over which the party spread their blankets and coats. A store of fuel was collected for the night, and the fire then kindled ; and sledges were unstowed, the dogs unharnesed, and the provisions hung upon the trees out of the reach of these voracious animals. Supper was then cooked, and the weary travellers ranging themselves round the fire with their feet towards it, at length slept in warmth and comfort, without any other canopy than the heavens. The engraving above from Captain Franklin's Narrative, will convey a correct notion of the manner of making this resting-place.

On the arrival of spring, Dr. Richardson and Mr. Hood rejoined their companions at Fort Chepewyan; and active preparations were now made for the advance of the expedition. A party of Indians were procured, to serve as guides and hunters, until they reached the mouth of the Coppermine River, and undertook to join them at a subsequent stage, where they were also to be met by a Mr. Wentzel, a clerk of the North West Company, who offered himself as a medium of communication with those people, among whom he had lived long and familiarly. Sixteen Canadian voyagers were also engaged to accompany them throughout the whole journey; and with these our five countrymen set out, on the 18th of July, for Fort Providence, which they reached on the 29th. Here they were joined by Mr. Wentzel and the Indians, and, on the 2d of August, finally departed, hoping to reach the mouth of the Coppermine before the season should expire. A variety of impediments, however, so obstructed them, that they were far distant from that point, when they found it necessary to form their winter establishment. The spot selected for this purpose, was reached on the 19th, and a house was there built, which was afterwards named Fort Enterprise. In the mean while, an excursion was made by the officers to the head of the Coppermine River at Point Lake, about sixty miles to the northward, to satisfy themselves of its size and position. The winter was passed in dull monotony; the officers employed themselves in writing out their journals. The provisions, however, of the party, were greatly reduced and their ammunition nearly expended. To procure a further supply, Mr. Back proceeded to Fort Chepewyan, and returned after an absence of nearly five months, during which he had travelled 1104 miles in snow-shoes with no other covering in the woods on the wintry nights than a blanket and deer-skin.