Puslapio vaizdai
PDF
„ePub“

Within the last few weeks a most depress- | ing publication has been brought out in this modern Alsatia. Its very title is enough to make one shudder. It is called The Obituary, and treats, as the prospectus has it, of all subjects relating to "interments." In the number before me, the frontispiece engraving for it is illustrated-represents "The Embalming of Joseph," and there are two other lively "cuts:" one, "The Shrine of Edward the Confessor," the other, "The Monumeut of Gervase Alard, Admiral of the Cinque Ports." Perhaps the most interesting part of the paper it is issued weekly-is the long list of deaths. Singularly enough-and the comic journals have not been slow to note this fact the publisher's name is Croke.

The Covent Garden Promenade Concerts are a great attraction this year-more attractive, indeed, than they have ever been since the time of Jullien. Arditi is a splendid conductor, and has a fine body of instrumentalists under his sway. He has been giving us charming selections from Mendelssohn and Wagner. What an energetic little man he is! How he enters into every movement of his orchestra! It was amusing to see him, on the first night, patting players and singers on the back and giving them words of praise.

By-the-way,

the new soloist, Mademoiselle Christino, is not a great acquisition. Her voice is powerful, but unsympathetic; moreover, she is by no means prepossessing in appearance.

One of our most recently-issued volumes contains many good anecdotes anent famous men. It is called "The Life of Mrs. Fletcher." Mrs. Fletcher was the wife of an able Scottish barrister, and, at the time "Auld Reekie" was the literary centre of Britain, mixed a good deal in society there. Here is a pleasant extract from her diary:

[ocr errors]

"The latter part of the year 1802 was interesting to us in a public way, by the commencement of the Edinburgh Review. We were fortunate enough to be acquainted, more or less intimately, with several of the earliest contributors-Mr. (now Lord) Brougham, Mr. Jeffrey (afterward Lord Jeffrey), Dr. John Thompson, Mr. John Allen, Francis Herner, and James Grahame, the author of The Sabbath.'... The authorship of the different articles was discussed at every dinner-table, and I recollect a table-talk occurrence which must have belonged to this year. Mr. Fletcher, though not himself given to scientific inquiry or interests, had been so much struck with the logical and general ability displayed in an article of the Young Review' on Professor Black's chemistry, that in the midst of a few guests, of whom Henry Brougham was one, he expressed an opinion (while in entire ignorance as to the authorship) to the effect that the man who wrote that article might do or be any thing he pleased. Mr. Brougham, who was seated near me at table, stretched eagerly forward and said, 'What, Mr. Fletcher, be any thing? May he be lord-chancellor?? On which my husband repeated bis words with emphasis, 'Yes, lord-chancellor, or any thing he desires.' This opinion seems to confirm Lord Cockburn's words in another place concerning the young Henry Brougham, of the Speculative Society, that he even then 'scented his quarry from afar.'"

We are very fond, as you know, of making fun of the propensity some of your American journalists have for calling rival brothers of the pen hard names, but, after all, we ourselves have among us not a few redacteurs who are given to bespattering one another with uncomplimentary epithets. For instance, only a day or so ago, the editor of one

[blocks in formation]

History of the English People," and the Rev. Science, Invention, Discovery.

Dr. Farrar's eloquent "Life of Christ." The former-no short history was ever so unanimously praised before-is in its eighteenth thousand, the latter in its fifteenth edition. Messrs. Macmillan, Mr. Green's publishers, are, by-the-way, about to issue a three-volume library edition of the "Short History "-one which will treat more fully than the other does of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The same firm, too, will shortly publish a work on "The Russian Power," by Mr. Ashton Dilke, the brother of Sir Charles Dilke, the proprietor of the Athenæum, who by this time is, I presume, among you. Mr. Ashton Dilke has spent a good deal of time of late in the Muscovite Empire (his father died there), and very few know more about it politically; ergo, we may expect a volume which will be especially useful to politicians and statesmen. I have already told you that he is editor and owner of the Dispatch, which, under his régime, is picking up its lost circulation wonderfully. A complete edition of the poems of that sweet songstress Miss Christina Rossetti is also announced by Messrs. Macmillan.

I am very glad to see that Olive Logan bas been doing her best to dispel one of the delusions into which many of you New-Yorkers have fallen. After reading her recent lively letters in the Daily Graphic, you will, I am sure, no longer regard Mr. Joaquin Miller as a kind of poetic savage. I myself met Mr.

Miller once or twice when he was over here

some months ago, and, I am bound to add, was most pleasantly surprised by his ways and manners. A more modest, courteous, and affable gentleman could not be found in these islands; moreover, he is an excellent conversationalist. True, he is somewhat eccentric in his dress-but then most bards are. I sha'n't forget for a long while the heartiness with which he shook my hand on my wishing him God-speed on his departure for your shores, or the earnestness with which he bade me "give his love to Bob," meaning Robert Buchanan, whose poetry we had been talking about, and whom, by-the-way, he has never

seen.

Gravestone-literature is both curious and amusing, as has been often shown. Seldom, however, has a more striking collection of epitaphs been brought together than that just collected by a London contemporary. For example, according to one correspondent, this curt epitaph is in Croydon church-yard:

"Died of a horse and cart; "

while this equally suggestive one is in the church-yard of Penrith :

"Here lies Moll, Fol de rol rol".

which surely must have been written by the same hard-hearted and unforgiving Benedict who inspired the following couplet, to be found in the Old Gray Friars burying-ground, Edinburgh:

"Here snug in grave my wife doth lie;
Now she's at rest-and so am I!"

Gowalton church-yard, Notts, would also seem to be not without its quaint epitaphs; any

STANLEY'S PORTABLE BOAT AND RAFT.

GEOGRAPHICAL explorers at the lege

ent day cannot fail to acknowledge their obligation to the inventor and mechanic. The English Arctic Expedition enters upon its hazardous journey equipped with all the appliances that science could suggest or genius invent. Ice-crushers, chisels, anchors, and knives; water-bottles with leather mouths; improved knapsacks and snowshoes; sledges and ice-boats; tents of improved pattern and compact form; harpoonguns of a form recently described and illustrated in these columns; and compact cooking apparatus-these and many other equally serviceable articles were to be found upon the list of supplies, and to these are added the many forms of condensed and preserved foods; the variety of these being such as suggested by the physiologist as most nutritive and heat-producing.

Nor is it in the field of arctic exploration alone that the genius and constructive talent of the traveler is called into play. If ice-boats and sledges are needed for the journey to the pole, no less are portable boats and rafts desired by the African explorer. Owing to the absence of roads, and, at times, the impenetrableness of the forests and·jun. gles, the only highway is the river, to and from which boats must be carried by the natives. Having by his former experiences become acquainted with the needs of the country, Mr. H. H. Stanley, under the patronage of the New York Herald and London Daily Telegraph, seems to have determined to enter his old fields of research more fully equipped than before, and it is to two of his ingenious contrivances that attention is here directed.

Since in these regions the natives are their own beasts of burden, it is evident that any boat, to be of service in the interior waters and great lakes, must be of such a form as to render its transportation on the backs of the guides possible. Comprehending this need, Mr. Stanley caused to be constructed for his use two forms of sailing-craft, the one a boat and the other a life-raft.

The boat as here illustrated is, when put together, forty feet long and six feet four inches wide. It is composed of five waterproof sections, which may be firmly united by means of bolts and clamps. This craft, the largest that has yet floated in the rivers of interior Africa, has been christened the Livingstone. The life-raft, as shown in the second illustration, is of a form that might wisely be adopted for use nearer home. It is composed of six India-rubber pontoon-tubes, which may be inflated at pleasure by means of bellows. These tubes rest transversely on

LIVINGSTONE

STANLEY'S PORTABLE BOAT.

10000

STANLEY'S PORTABLE RAFT.

three keels, to which are lashed the poles shown above. The bow and stern consist of triangular compartments, and the whole during transportation may be packed in a convenient form. Its whole weight is three hundred pounds, which can be divided into five loads of sixty pounds each. In the construction of this raft the explorer has given to our steamship companies a hint that might wisely be heeded. As Stanley starts out on a journey of general exploration, we doubt not that these facilities for water-travel will add greatly to the success of his schemes. Possibly it remains for him to explore that mightiest of African rivers, the Congo work which the Geographical Magazine regards as "the most worthy object of an African explorer," adding that "he who succeeds in laying open the hidden secrets of that fa

[ocr errors]

mous stream will rank second to none in the glorious roll of English travelers." Should it happen, however, that this honor should fall upon an American, we are certain that our contemporary will be equally willing to grant him all the P praise that he will merit. Already Stanley has a rival in this field should he choose to enter it, but we doubt not Lieutenant Cameron would welcome him as did Livingstone, and avail himself of these modern appliances to aid in the prosecution of a work that, according to the worthy authority above quoted, may be regarded as "the grandest geographical exploit achieved during the present century."

W. H. DALL, the Alaskan explorer, contributes to the American Naturalist for August an exceedingly interesting and valuable paper on Alaskan mummies. At the time of the appointment of Alphonse Pinart as commissioner of the French Government to explore and report on the ethnology past and present of our newly-acquired Territory of Alaska, we ventured the assurance that, as the result of the combined labors of Messrs. Dall and Pinart, decided acquisitions to our present knowledge of that country might be looked

brought up to the chin, and the whole body secured as compactly as possible by cords. The bones of the arms were sometimes broken to facilitate the process of compression. In this posture the remains were dried. This required a good deal of attention, the exuding moisture being carefully wiped off from time to time. When thoroughly dried the cords were removed, and the body usually wrapped in a shirt made of the skins of aquatic birds with the feathers ou, and variously trimmed and ornamented with exceedingly fine embroidery. Over this were wrapped pieces of matting made of elymus-fibre carefully prepared. This matting varies from quite coarse to exceedingly fine, the best rivaling the most delicate work of the natives of Fayal. The technical and artistic skill shown in the manufacture of this matting is one of the most suggestive facts elicited by these observations. In certain instances a further water-proof covering was added. This was made froui the split intestines of the sea-lion sewed together. The exterior covering was usually made from the skins of the sea-otter or other fur-animals, and the whole was finally inclosed in a case of seal-skins, coarse matting, or similar material secured firmly by cords, and so arranged as to be capable of suspension. This case was sometimes cradle-shaped, especially when the body was that of an infant.. In the latter case it was often composed of wood ornamented in a crude fashion, and painted with red, green, or blue native pigments. The whole, being carved or adorned with pendants of carved wood, was then suspended by braided cords of whale-sinew from two wooden hoops like the arches used in the game of croquet. It is impossible to read of these acts of devotion as exhibited in the very nature of the work described without having awakened in the heart sentiments of tender sympathy and pity for the devoted friends, and most of all the loving mothers who, away among those rock-bordered and sea-encompassed islands, centuries ago felt, as we feel, the same pure reverence for the dead and the same worthy desire to honor their remains. So constant and devoted was this love of the Aleutian mother for her child that we are told that the body of the little one, after being dressed in the richest of garments that her industry and skill could provide, was often retained in the house for months, where its presence doubtless taught the same lesson of love and hope that the mother of this day still heeds and hearkens to. While the ethnologist and historian acknowledge their obligation to these explorers for the service rendered to science by their faithful researches, others who read may not wait for their decision before advancing to claim a willing kinship with that race whose love and reverence for their dead make their memory worthy of all honor by the living.

[graphic]
[graphic]

for. The communication to which we refer embodies the results of these observations in one branch of research, and from it we condense as follows: The practice of preserving the bodies of the dead was in vogue among the inhabitants of the Aleutian Islands and the Kodiak Archipelago at the time of their discovery, and probably had been the custom among them for centuries before. So hard and unyielding is the soil in these regions that burial is impracticable, and, owing to the difficulties attending the process of cremation, it is the present custom of the inhabitants of the Chuckchee peninsula, on the Asiatic side of Beliring Strait, to expose their dead on some hill-side to the tender mercies of bears, dogs, and foxes. In the Yukon Valley, where timber abounds, the dead are placed in wooden coffins, which are elevated on four posts. As a further protection against wild beasts, long strips of fur or cloth are fastened to these posts, the agitation of which by the wind serves to frighten away the intruders. In certain instances the bodies are doubled up to economize space, others are packed around with clay, while the Norvikakhat Indians sometimes place their dead erect, surrounding the body by hewn timbers secured like the staves of a cask. On the Aleutian Islands, however, the soil is unfrozen, but wood is scarce, the only source of supply being that which is drifted on the shore by ocean-currents. Abundant caves also exist, and the absence of wild animals renders the exercise of more imposing burial-rites possible. Hence it is that in these quarters we find more attention given to the burial or preservation of the dead. It is a singular fact, noticed by Professor Dall, that no people have ever adopted the plan of committing their dead to the sea. Passing from these descriptions of the practices of the ruder tribes, the writer describes the method adopted by the Kaniag and Aleut branches of the Esquimau stock in preserving the dead. The body was prepared by making an opening in the pelvic region and removing all the internal organs. The cavity was then filled with dry grass, and the body placed in running water. This in a short time removed all the fatty portions, leaving only the skin and muscular tissues. The knees were then

WHILE engaged in the same general field of research as that indicated in the above report of Professors Dall and Pinart, Henry Gilman, of Detroit, directs the attention of anthropologists to the artificial perforation of the cranium, a singular practice connected with the burial ceremonies of the aboriginal inhabitants of this country. This practice or rite consisted in the boring, probably with a rude stone implement, of a circular aperture in the central portion at the top of the skull. This hole is of a diameter varying from one-third to one-half of an inch, and is flaring at the surface. The examples that suggest the present inquiry were taken respectively from the great mound on the river Rouge, Michigan, and from a mound on the Sable River. From this latter

mound from ten to fifteen skulls were taken, all similarly perforated. These skulls were isolated, no other remains having been interred with them. A skull found at Saginaw, Michigan, had three perforations, arranged about the central part of the cranium. While Mr. Gilman hesitates to advance even an hypothesis regarding the purpose or cause of this practice, Dr. Prunières regards the motive, as respects a similar treatment of the neolithic skulls of the Lozère, as either medical or superstitious. Attributing disease to supernatural agencies, he deems it probable that the opening was made in order that the evil spirit might escape through it. As these latter skulls are those of men existing during the prehistoric, polished Stone age, the significance of this theory, should it be established as a correct one, is apparent, in defining to a certain degree the intellectual 'status of these people, and the existence of certain crude, religious ideas among them. It is the opinion of Dr. Prunières that, in certain instances, the subjects lived for several years after having had their skulls trepanned in the manner indicated. As there is no evidence that these prehistoric surgeons or sorcerers worked with any but stone instruments, it is evident that with these they had become exceedingly expert, since the operation of trepanning, even with all the modern appliances, is yet regarded as one calling for the exercise of great skill and professional knowledge.

A NOVEL method for propelling or towing canal-boats has recently been introduced in Belgium, which is described in the Scientific American as follows: "The tow-path is laid with a single rail, weighing some sixteen pounds to the yard, and fixed on traverses a little more than three feet apart. The locomotive has four wheels, two of which are placed directly along the axis of the vehicle, one in advance of the other, and the others one at either side. The first pair are directing and the second driving wheels. The directingwheels are grooved and fit the rail; the others have rubber tyres, which give purchase on the macadamized road, and which press thereon to the extent of 0.07 pounds to the square inch. By means of a simple mechanism, the weight of the machine may be thrown upon either the driving or directing wheels at will. In the former case the maximum, and in the latter the minimum, of adherence is obtained, to suit the conditions of a loaded or an empty boat. There is but a single road, with rotary engines provided at suitable distances. Each locomotive tows one boat; and when a meeting takes place of two traveling in opposite directions, the engines change boats and retrace their paths. The locomotives weigh four tuns cach, and travel about three miles an hour, with full boats, carrying a cargo of one hundred and fifty tons each." This method is doubtless a novel one, but the question naturally arises, In what degree is it better than the common two-track railway, since, though but one rail is used, there is need of a careful grading of the whole road-bed?

Our readers will recall the fact announced in these columns that the dust and ashes from the volcanoes of Iceland were conveyed upon the wind to Sweden, where they fell in dense clouds, thus announcing in advance of the regular news-channels the disasters that occasioned them. Another incident illustrating the power of the wind as a conveyer of solid matter is given by Dr. Hawtrey Benson, of Dublin. This relates to a fall of hay that was observed at Monkstown. As described in Nature it ap

[ocr errors]

peared in the form of "a number of dark flocculent bodies floating slowly down through the air from a great height, appearing as if falling from a very heavy, dark cloud, which hung over the house." The pieces of hay picked up were wet, "as if a very heavy dew had been deposited on it. The average weight of the larger flocks was probably not more than one or two ounces, and, from that, all sizes were perceptible down to a simple blade. The air was very calm, with a gentle under-current from southeast; the clouds were moving in an upper-current from south-southwest." The air was tolerably warm and dry, and the phenomenon is thus accounted for by Dr. J. W. Moore: "The coincidence of a hot sun and two air-currents probably caused the devolopment of a whirlwind some distance to the south of Monkstown. By it the hay was raised into the air, to fall, as already described, over Monkstown and the adjoining district."

THE announcement is now made that the Bessemer Steamboat Company is in liquidation, and that the Channel steamship Bessemer is for sale. At the same time we are informed that the Castal's receiving praise for her sea-going qualities. Our readers, who, by the aid of illustrated descriptions, have been fully instructed as to the peculiarities of these two rival vessels, will recall the novel features in their construction-the Bessemer being a four-wheeled steamship, and fitted up with an oscillating cabin, while the Castalia is a double-hulled vessel. The failure of the Bessemer is said to be "in consequence of the want of requisite accommodations in the French harbors." Notwithstanding this statement, the public will doubtless be persuaded that the real trouble is with the oscillating cabin, which proved to be unwieldy and useless in a rough sea. Should it, however, be proved that the defect is with the harbors and not the ves

fessors of recognized position, whose pledge shall be exacted that the occasion is one which calls for the operation upon the conscious, living subject.

IT is announced that Professor Proctor is again to visit this country on a lecturing tour. He will lecture before the same audiences which listened to him before, opening with a second course of twelve lectures before the Lowell Institute, Boston. After fulfilling his Eastern engagements, he will extend his lines so as to include San Francisco, New Orleans, and Quebec. We have had frequent occasion, since Professor Proctor's departure, to refer to bis favorable commendations of American science and scientific methods, and, on the principle that "he who would have friends must show himself friendly," Professor Proctor returns sure of a hearty welcome; add to this his recognized ability as a student and popular lecturer, and we feel safe in promising for him full and appreciative audiences.

DURING the early preparation for the English Arctic Expedition, we announced that a request had been made for the privilege of using the provisions that were left at Disco by the American party led by the late Captain Hall; we now learn that these provisions i have been found, in a fair state of preservation, and it is certainly a source of congratulation that what miglit well have been supposed to be lost may yet serve to aid in the prosecution of the work for which they were originally intended.

Miscellany:

NOTEWORTHY THINGS GLEANED HERE

AND THERE.

sel, we doubt not that Mr. Bessemer will per- WE glean from a recent pamphlet, by J.

sist in his plan, and adapt his cabin to a vessel of less draught. That so experienced an engineer should have intrusted the modeling and construction of his vessel to those who were so incompetent as to build it of too great a draught for the well-known harbor of Calais, can hardly be believed. Hence this enterprising and experienced engineer will be compelled to demonstrate the practicability of his cabin or own up to its failure, and the consequent sale of the Bessemer.

SHOULD the movement against the indiscriminate practice of vivisection, which is now being made in England, prove successful, the efforts of American workers in the same cause will be greatly lightened. For this reason the contest becomes one of more than mere local interest. While many of the most distinguished English physiologists have declared in favor of greater restriction in the practice, others are coming forward in its defense. As it is probable that the final settlement of the matter must come in the form of legislative action, it seems wise that the people, whose voice is law, should be so advised as to act intelligently on the question. The position we have heretofore taken is one that still appears to us the only wise and tenable one: viz., no vivisection shall be permitted the only purpose of which is to establish or demonstrate a recognized physiological truth; no such operation shall be permitted when every needed result can be obtained after the previous administration of an anesthetic; and finally if, in the course of original research, vivisection is deemed necessary, it shall be practised either by or in the presence of pro

Lewis Farley, Esq., on "The Decline of Turkey," a few significant statements:

No matter what their origin, however, the first thought of modern Turkish statesmen is to make money. They know their tenure of office is insecure, and they seize their opportunity. It is true, there was always peculation and corruption at the Porte, but these habitual vices were, to some extent, kept in check by Fuad and A'ali. Since the latter's death, however, all control has ceased, and corruption is the rule from the highest to the lowest. Their creed is: "The country is going hopelessly to the dogs; let us take care of ourselves." When Mahmoud Pasha fell from power in August, 1872, amid the execrations of the populace, there was a little sum of £100,000 found to be missing, for which he had given an order under his own hand; and this money has, I believe, never yet been accounted for. In England, the richest country in the world, the prime-minister receives £5,000 per annum; in Turkey, the poorest country in Europe, the grand-vizier draws £30,000 a year, while the civil-list, and the salaries of all the high officials, are vastly more than those of the queen and ministers of Great Britain. Mr. T. Brassey, the honorable member for Hastings, who is on a cruise in his yacht, the Sunbeam, has sent home for publication a series of letters relating to his voyage. Dating from Constantinople, he writes, relative to the Government of Turkey: "The authorized civil-list of the sultan is about £1,200,000, and, by means of more or less arbitrary grants, it is actually little short of £2,000,000 a year. All along the shores of the Bosporus vast pal

[ocr errors]

aces and elaborate kiosks occur in succession at a distance of a little more than a mile apart. Some of these buildings are furnished in the most costly style. The daily dinner of the sultan-he always dines alone-consists of ninety-four dishes; and ten other meals are prepared in case it should be his fancy to partake of them. He has eight hundred horses, seven hundred wives, attended and guarded by three hundred and fifty eunuchs. For this enormous household forty thousand oxen are yearly slaughtered; and the purveyors are required to furnish daily two hundred sheep, one hundred lambs or goats, ten calves, two hundred hens, two hundred pairs of pullets, one hundred pairs of pigeons, and fifty greengeese. Between the profligate luxury of the establishment of the sovereign and the miserable poverty of too many of his subjects, the contrast is truly melancholy. The incomes of the principal ministers of state are such as would grievously shock the radical reformers of our own country. The salary of the grandvizier is £30,000; of the Minister of Finance, £15,000; of the Minister of Public Works, £11,000; and so in proportion for the other principal ministers."

That, however, is not all. Each ministerial department is supposed to have its own separate budget, but that budget is always exceeded. Every department issues its own mandats or promissory notes, and these mandats are discounted at heavy interest by the local bankers, who thus realize enormous fortunes. I do not, of course, mean to state that the issue of treasury bonds is pernicious per It is the abuse, and not the use, of such obligations to which exception must be taken; the abuse consisting in converting that which should be a temporary-and, in such sense, a justifiable expedient for the assistance of the treasury-into a perpetual annuity on the imperial revenue. It is practically impossible to correctly estimate the income of the state, but it is even still more impossible to estimate its expenditure. Expenditure without limit is, if any thing, worse than uncertainty of income, but when the two are combined, the difficulties of the situation are indefinitely increased. To remodel the fiscal system so as to insure a sufficiency of revenue, would, however, bo a task far beyond the capacities of the present ministers of the Porte, whereas the issue of mandats and treasury bonds is an operation which commends itself for its simplicity and facility of execution.

This borrowing continues until the moneylenders have no more cash to advance, and then comes the necessity for a new loan. Promises of financial reform are lavishly made, a prospectus is issued, the local bankers of Constantinople convert their mandats and treasury bonds into the new stock, and, when a quotation is obtained on the stock-exchange, the bonds are gradually transferred into the hands of the unsuspecting English investor. government and the local financiers are then in a position to resume the same system of borrowing and lending, with the same inevitable result; the only persons really benefited being the ministers and saraffs. Not a piaster

is

The

spent in developing the resources of the country, or in improving the condition of the people.

The whole financial system is, in fact, as far as the state is concerned, a gigantic sham asham, in the manipulation of which the ministers and the local bankers accumulate Wealth, and the state accumulates debt; in which the morals of the community are systemcally sapped, and the estate of the citizen systematically plundered. If Turkey is doomed

ati

to fall, she will owe her destruction to the want of honor and capacity in her rulers, and her decline will date from the death of A'ali Pasha. The root of the evil, which is fast bringing Turkey to ruin, is the unchecked extravagance of the civil-list, and the irresponsible expenditure in the ministerial departments of the state.

THE latest poem by Robert Buchanan is from an Irish legend, and bears the title of "The Faëry Reaper: "

'Tis on Eilanowen,

There's laughter surely! For the Fays are sowing

Their golden grain. It springs by moonlight So stilly and purely, And it drinks no sunlight, Or silver rain; Though the shoots upcreeping No man may see, When men are reaping,

It reaped must be;
But to reap it rightly,

With sickle keen,
They must lead there nightly
A pure colleen!

Yes, pure completely

Must be that maiden,
Just feeling sweetly

Her love's first dream.
Should one steal thither
With evil laden,
The crop would wither

In the pale moon's beam! For midnights seven,

While all men sleep,
'Neath the silent heaven
The maid must reap;
And the sweeter and whiter
Of soul is she,
The better and brighter

Will that harvest be!

In Lough Bawn's bosom

The isle is lying,
Like a bright-green blossom

On a maiden's breast-
There the water-eagle *
O'erhead is flying,
And beneath the sea-gull

Doth build its nest.
And across the water

A farm gleamed fair,
And the farmer's daughter
Dwelt lonely there:
And on Eilanowen

She'd sit aud sing,
When the Fays were sowing
Their seeds in spring.

She could not hear them,

Nor see them peeping;
Though she wandered near them
The spring-tide through,
When the grouse was crowing,
The trout was leaping,
And with harebells blowing

The banks were blue.
But not by moonlight
She dared to stay,
Only by sunlight

She went that way.
And on Eilanowen

They walked each night,
Her footprints sowing
With lilies white!'

*The osprey.

When the sun above her

Was brightly blazing, She'd bare (God love her!) Each round white limb. Unseen, unnoted,

Save fay-folk gazing,
Dark-haired, white-throated,
She'd strip to swim!
Out yonder blushing
A space she'd stand,
Then falter flushing

Across the strand-
Till the bright still water
Would sparkle sweet,
As it kissed and caught her
From neck to feet!
There, sparkling round her
With fond caresses,

It clasped her, crowned her,
My maiden fair!

Then, brighter glowing

From its crystal kisses, The bright drops flowing From her dripping hair, Outleaping, running Beneath the sky, The bright light sunning Her limbs, she'd flyAnd with tinkling laughter Of elfin bowers, The Fays ran after

With fruit and flowers!
Could the Fays behold her,
Nor long to gain her?
From foot to shoulder

None white as she!
They cried, "God keep her,
No sorrow stain her!
The Faery Reaper

In troth she'll be !"
With stalks of amber

And silvern ears,
From earth's dark chamber
The grain appears.
'Tis harvest weather!

The moon swims high!
And they flock together
With elfin cry!
Now, long and truly

I'd loved that maiden;
And served her duly

With kiss and sign;
And that same season
My soul love-laden
Had found sweet reason

To wish her mine.
For her cheek grew paler,

Her laughter less,
And what might ail her
I could not guess.
Each harvest morrow
We kissing met,
And with weary sorrow
Her eyes seemed wet.

[blocks in formation]

?

"The moon is gleaming,
The faeries gather,
Like glow-worms gleaming,
Their eyes flash quick;

I try while reaping

To name 'Our Father!' But round me leaping

They pinch and prick-
On the stalks of amber,

On the silvern ears,
They cling, they clamber,
Till day appears!
And here I'm waking
In bed, once more,
My bones all aching,

My heart full sore !"

I kissed her, crying,

"God bless your reaping! For sure no sighing

Can set you free. They'll bless your wedding Who vex your sleeping; So do their bidding,

Ma cushla chree!

But oh, remember!
Your fate is cast,.
And ere December
Hath fairly past,
The Faery Reaper
Must be a bride,
Or a sad, cold sleeper
On the green hill-side!"

"Sure wedding's better

Than dying sadly!" She smiled, and set her

Soft band in mine.

For three nights after
She labored gladly,
'Mid fairy laughter,

And did not pine;
And when the seven

Long nights were run,
Full well 'neath heaven

That work was done: Their sheaves were slanted, Their harvest made, And no more they wanted A mortal's aid.

THE Royal Statute Revision Commission of England have, in their labors of condensing and revising the enactments of Parliament, unearthed many strange old laws. The subjoined, pertaining thereto, is from the London Daily News:

In the course of their labors the commissioners have brought to light curious and forgotten pièces of legislation. They have dug up strange laws, quite as suggestive and as alien to our modern world as the flint knives of an early civilization found in the drift-deposits. Until the other day there were in force, or at least there were to be found in the statute - book, enactments more fitted for a community of Bushmen than for Englishmen. It provokes sometimes a shudder, and sometimes a smile, to read of the terrible or quaint engines which were slumbering in retirement. It is not generally known that until 1868 the Statute of Laborers was regularly printed as portion of the law of the land. The curious foreigner who consulted our statutes twenty years ago would there find that Parliament, to restrain the malice of idle and wicked servants who wished excessive wages, "to the great damage of the great men," had named the wages which servants must be willing to receive, and had ordered that "stocks be made

[ocr errors]

and obsolete. We enter a world of buried
ideas when we peruse their preambles. Their
is to
purpose
"discour
encourage" this or
age "that. They are inspired by a confident
belief that an act of Parliament can alter all
things, the laws of Nature or the heart of man
alike. They recoil from no difficulties or ob-
stacles, and prohibit all commerce with France
with as much coolness and conciseness as if
they were making mere municipal regulations.
Nothing is too minute or too large for them to
handle. They settle the religion of the realm
and the wages aud dress of the people.

Mr. Froude once wrote an ingenious essay, the nucleus of his greatest work, to show how much neglected lore, useful to the historian, lay in the statute-book. And it cannot escape the most careless reader of the schedules of the revision statutes that a multitude of interesting facts have been turned up and for the first time exposed to general view. What a picture do not these repealed statutes give of the relations between England, and Scotland, and Wales! "No armor, victual, or other refreshment," says one pithy and concise enactment, "shall be sent into Scotland without the king's license upon pain of forfeiture thereof." A host of measures offensive or disrespectful to Welshmen had to be repealed. Not only was it a crime to carry armor or provision into Wales, but the Eistedfodd itself was menaced, seeing it was declared that "no conventicula or congregation shall be suffered in Wales for any council or other purpose without license of the chief officers of that lordship and in their presence."

in every town" for the punishment of the ill-
conditioned and the ungrateful hay-maker not
content with the statutory penny a day, or the
thresher who stood out for more than two-
pence-halfpenny a quarter. This is not the
only statute lately in force or regularly re-
printed which breathes a sublime disregard of
political economy. How astonished would be
the city to learn that it is only a few years
since the statute-book declared that "no man
shall take profit by exchange of gold or sil-
ver!"
What would be the reflections of our
great iron-masters if they were informed that
by a recently-repealed act of Edward III. it
was expressly stipulated that "iron made in
England and iron brought into England and
gold, these shall not be carried out of the realm
of England on pain of forfeiting the double to
the king." We do not know that very many
alien merchants would have settled among us
had they been aware of the existence of a
statute declaring that they must prove that
they employ within the realm all the money
which they earn there. Mr. Ruskin, who is
never weary of descanting on the commercial
iniquities of our time, would read some of
the early statutes with pleasure, and would
deplore their loss. He would be delighted to
find severe penalties against the makers of
shoddy-cloth, whose malpractices are minute-
ly and graphically described in the preamble
of one enactment: "Certain evil-disposed and
deceitful persons," says this garrulous statute
of the Elizabethan times, "using to buy and
ingross into their hands great store of linen
cloth, do use to cast the pieces of cloth over a
beam or piece of timber made for their pur-In scarcely less evil odor were Irishmen. In
pose, and do by sundry devices rack, stretch,
and draw the same both of length and breadth;
and that done, do then with battledoors, pieces
of timber and wood and other things, sore
beat the same, ever casting thereupon certain
deceitful liquors mingled with chalk and other
like things, whereby the cloth is made to ap-
pear not only much finer and thicker to the
eye than it is indeed, but also the threads
thereof be so loosed and made weak, that
after three or four washings it will scarcely
hold together." It is curious to find that
nearly two hundred years ago our ancestors,
troubled as we are with the abuses of specu-
lation, were engaged in passing acts "to re-
strain the number and ill-practices of brokers
and stock-jobbers." But for the most part
the objects of the repealed statutes are strange

our own day we have been familiar with the
cry,
"Ireland for the Irish;" but in the days

Of

of the Tudors England for the English was an accepted principle of the legislature. We find Parliament declaring that " Irishmen and Irish clerks-mendicant shall quit the realm" in the interest of quietness and peace. course the statute was disregarded, and we observe that in a subsequent reign Parliament returns to the charge, and declares that all Irishmen repairing to the University of Oxford must take their departure. A vivid glimpse of the rapine and lawlessness of past ages is got from an act recently in force, which empowered the justices of Northumberland and Cumberland to raise men to repel the MossTroopers of the Borders. It is one of many similar statutes only recently repealed.

Notices.

SCIENTIFIC BOOKS.-Send 10 cents for General Catalogue of Works on Architecture, Astronomy, Chemistry, Engineering, Mechanics, Geology, Mathematics, etc. D. VAN NOSTRAND, Publisher, 23 Murray Street, New York.

TO RAILWAY TRAVELERS.-In order to save trouble and anxiety in reference to which route to select previous to commencing your journey, be careful and purchase a copy of APPLETONS' RAILWAY GUIDE. Thousands and tens of thousands of Railway Travelers, would as soon think of starting on their journey without their baggage as without a copy of the GUIDE. Price, 25 cents. D. APPLETON & Co.,

Publishers, New York.

MONTHLY PARTS OF APPLETONS' JOURNAL.—APPLETONS' JOURNAL is put up in Monthly Parts, sewed and trimmed. Two out of every three parts contain four weekly numbers; the third contains five weekly numbers. Price of parts containing four weekly numbers, 40 cents; of those containing five numbers, 50 cents. Subscription price per annum, $4.50. For sale by all booksellers and newsdealers. D. APPLETON & Co., Publishers, 549 & 551 Broadway, New York.

APPLETONS' JOURNAL is published weekly, price 10 cents per number, or $4.00 per annum, in advance (postage prepaid by the publishers). The design of the publishers and editors is to furnish a periodical of a high class, one which shall embrace a wide scope of topics, and afford the reader, in addition to an abundance of entertaining popular literature, a thorough survey of the progress of thought, the advance of the arts, and the doings in all branches of intellectual effort. Travel, adventure, exploration, natural history, social themes, the arts, fiction, literary reviews, current topics, will each have large place in its plan. The JOURNAL is also issued in MONTHLY PARTS; subscription price $4.50 per annum, with postage prepaid. D. APPLETON & O Co., Publishers, New York.

« AnkstesnisTęsti »