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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a3c85bb --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #62863 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/62863) diff --git a/old/62863-0.txt b/old/62863-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index e171f10..0000000 --- a/old/62863-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,2216 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Chambers's Journal of Popular Literature, -Science, and Art, No. 743, March 23, 1878, by Various - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll -have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using -this ebook. - - - -Title: Chambers's Journal of Popular Literature, Science, and Art, No. 743, March 23, 1878 - -Author: Various - -Editor: William Chambers - Robert Chambers - -Release Date: August 7, 2020 [EBook #62863] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHAMBER'S JOURNAL *** - - - - -Produced by Susan Skinner and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net - - - - - - - - - -[Illustration: CHAMBERS’S JOURNAL - -OF - -POPULAR - -LITERATURE, SCIENCE, AND ART. - -Fourth Series -CONDUCTED BY WILLIAM AND ROBERT CHAMBERS. - -NO. 743. SATURDAY, MARCH 23, 1878. PRICE 1½_d._] - - - - -TOBY. - - -Toby was a sheep of middling size, lightly built, finely limbed, as -agile as a deer, with dark intelligent gazelle-like eyes, and a small -pair of neatly curled horns, with the points protruding about an inch -from his forehead. His colour was white except on the face, which was -slightly darker. - -As an old sailor I wish to say something of Toby’s history. I was -on board the good brig _Reliance_ of Arbroath, bound from Cork to -Galatz, on the left bank of the Danube. All went well with the little -ship until she reached the Grecian Archipelago, and here she was -detained by adverse winds and contrary currents, making the passage -through the islands both a dangerous and a difficult one. When the -mariners at length reached Tenedos, it was found that the current -from the Dardanelles was running out like a mill-stream, which made -it impossible to proceed; and accordingly the anchor was cast, the -jolly-boat was lowered, and the captain took the opportunity of going -on shore for fresh water, of which they were scarce. Having filled his -casks, it was only natural for a sailor to long to treat himself to -a mess of fresh meat as well as water. He accordingly strolled away -through the little town; but soon found that butchers were as yet -unknown in Tenedos. Presently, however, a man came up with a sheep, -which the captain at once purchased for five shillings. This was Toby, -with whom, his casks of water, and a large basket of ripe fruit, the -skipper returned to his vessel. There happened to be on board this -ship a large and rather useless half-bred Newfoundland. This dog was -the very first to receive the attentions of Master Toby, for no sooner -had he placed foot on the deck, than he ran full tilt at the poor -Newfoundland, hitting him square on the ribs and banishing almost every -bit of breath from his body. ‘Only a sheep,’ thought the dog, and flew -at Toby at once. But Toby was too nimble to be caught, and he planted -his blows with such force and precision, that at last the poor dog was -fain to take to his heels, howling with pain, and closely pursued by -Toby. The dog only escaped by getting out on to the bowsprit, where of -course Toby could not follow, but quietly lay down in a safe place to -wait and watch for him. - -This first adventure shewed that Toby was no ordinary sheep. How he -had been trained to act an independent part no one could tell. His -education, certainly, had not been neglected. That same evening the -captain was strolling on the quarter-deck eating a bunch of grapes, -when Toby came up to him, and standing on one end, planted his -fore-feet on his shoulders, and looked into his face, as much as to -say: ‘I’ll have some of those, please.’ - -And he was not disappointed, for the captain amicably went shares -with Toby. Toby appeared so grateful for even little favours, and so -attached to his new master, that Captain Brown had not the heart to -kill him. He would rather, he thought, go without fresh meat all his -life. So Toby was installed as ship’s pet. Ill-fared it then with the -poor Newfoundland; he was so battered and cowed, that for dear life’s -sake he dared not leave his kennel even to take his food. It was -determined, therefore, to put an end to the poor fellow’s misery, and -he was accordingly shot. This may seem cruel, but it was kind in the -main. - -Now there was on board the _Reliance_ an old Irish cook. One morning -soon after the arrival of Toby, Paddy, who had a round bald pate, be -it remembered, was bending down over a wooden platter cleaning the -vegetables for dinner, when Toby took the liberty of insinuating his -woolly nose to help himself. The cook naturally enough struck Toby -on the snout with the flat of the knife and went on with his work. -Toby backed astern at once; a blow he never could and never did -receive without taking vengeance. Besides, he imagined, no doubt, that -holding down his bald head as he did, the cook was desirous of trying -the strength of their respective skulls. When he had backed astern -sufficiently for his purpose, Toby gave a spring: the two heads came -into violent collision, and down rolled poor Paddy on the deck. Then -Toby coolly finished all the vegetables, and walked off as if nothing -had happened out of the usual. - -Toby’s hatred of the whole canine race was invincible. One day when -the captain and his pet were taking their usual walk on the promenade, -there came on shore the skipper of a Falmouth ship, accompanied by -a very large formidable-looking dog. And the dog only resembled his -master, as you observe dogs usually do. As soon as he saw Toby he -commenced to set his dog upon him; but Toby had seen him coming and -was quite _en garde_; so a long and fierce battle ensued, in which -Toby was slightly wounded and the dog’s head was severely cut. Quite a -multitude had assembled to witness the fight, and the ships’ riggings -were alive with sailors. At one time the brutal owner of the dog, -seeing his pet getting worsted, attempted to assist him; but the -crowd would have pitched him neck and crop into the river, had he not -desisted. At last both dog and sheep were exhausted, and drew off, as -if by mutual consent. The dog seated himself close to the outer edge of -the platform, which was about three feet higher than the river’s bank, -and Toby went, as he was wont to do, and stood between his master’s -legs, resting his head fondly on the captain’s clasped hands, but never -took his eyes off the foe. Just then a dog on board one of the ships -happened to bark, and the Falmouth dog looked round. This was Toby’s -chance, and he did not miss it or his enemy either. He was upon him -like a bolt from a catapult. One furious blow knocked the dog off the -platform, next moment Toby had leaped on top of him, and was chasing -the yelling animal towards his own ship. There is no doubt Toby would -have crossed the plank and followed him on board, had not his feet -slipped and precipitated him into the river. A few minutes afterwards, -when Toby, dripping with wet, returned to the platform to look for his -master, he was greeted with ringing cheers; and many was the piastre -spent in treating our woolly friend to fruit. Toby was the hero of -Galatz from that hour; but the Falmouth dog never ventured on shore -again, and his master as seldom as possible. - -On her downward voyage, when the vessel reached Sulina, at the mouth -of the river, it became necessary to lighten her in order to get her -over the bar. This took some time, and Toby’s master frequently had -to go on shore; but Toby himself was not permitted to accompany him, -on account of the filth and muddiness of the place. When the captain -wished to return he came down to the river-side and hailed the ship to -send a boat. And poor Toby was always on the watch for his master if no -one else was. He used to place his fore-feet on the bulwarks and bleat -loudly towards the shore, as much as to say: ‘I see you, master, and -you’ll have a boat in a brace of shakes.’ Then if no one was on deck, -Toby would at once proceed to rouse all hands fore and aft. If the mate -Mr Gilbert pretended to be asleep on a locker, he would fairly roll him -off on to the deck. - -Toby was revengeful to a degree, and if any one struck him, he would -wait his chance, even if for days, to pay him out with interest in his -own coin. He was at first very jealous of two little pigs which were -bought as companions to him; but latterly he grew fond of them, and -as they soon got very fat, Toby used to roll them along the deck like -a couple of foot-balls. There were two parties on board that Toby did -not like, or rather that he liked to annoy whenever he got the chance, -namely the cook and the cat. He used to cheat the former and chase -the latter on every possible occasion. If his master took pussy and -sat down with him on his knee, Toby would at once commence to strike -it off with his head. Finding that she was so soft and yielding that -this did not hurt her, he would then lift his fore-foot and attempt to -strike her down with that; failing in that, he would bite viciously -at her; and if the captain laughed at him, then all Toby’s vengeance -would be wreaked on his master. But after a little scene like this, -the sheep would always come and coax for forgiveness. Our hero was -taught a great many tricks, among others to leap backward and forward -through a life-buoy. When his hay and fresh provisions went done, Toby -would eat pea-soup, invariably slobbering all his face in so doing, -and even pick a bone like a dog. He was likewise very fond of boiled -rice, and his drink was water, although he preferred porter and ale; -but while allowing him a reasonable quantity of beer, the captain never -encouraged him in the bad habit, the sailors had taught him, of chewing -tobacco. - -It is supposed that some animals have a prescience of coming storms. -Toby used to go regularly to the bulwarks every night, and placing his -feet against them snuff all around him. If content, he would go and lie -down and fall fast asleep; but it was a sure sign of bad weather coming -before morning when Toby kept wandering by his master’s side and would -not go to rest. - -One day Captain Brown was going up the steps of the Custom-house, when -he found that not only Toby but Toby’s two pigs were following close -at his heels. He turned round to drive them all back; but Toby never -thought for a moment that his master meant that _he_ should return. - -‘It is these two awkward creatures of pigs,’ thought Toby, ‘that master -can’t bear the sight of.’ - -So Toby went to work at once, and first rolled one piggie down-stairs, -then went up and rolled the other piggie down-stairs; but the one -piggie always got to the top of the stair again by the time his -brother piggie was rolled down to the bottom. Thinking that as far as -appearances went, Toby had his work cut out for the next half-hour, -his master entered the Custom-house. But Toby and his friends soon -found some more congenial employment; and when Captain Brown returned, -he found them all together in an outer room, dancing about with the -remains of a new mat about their necks, which they had just succeeded -in tearing to pieces. - -Their practical jokes cost the captain some money one way or another. - -One day the three friends made a combined attack on a woman, who was -carrying a young pig in a sack; this little pig happened to squeak, -when Toby and his pigs went to the rescue. They tore the woman’s dress -to atoms and delivered the little pig. Toby was very much addicted to -describing the arc of a circle; that was all very good when it was -merely a fence he was flying over, but when it happened that a window -was in the centre of the arc, then it came rather hard on the captain’s -pocket. - -In order to enable him to pick up a little after his long voyage, -Toby was sent to country lodgings at a farmer’s. But barely a week -had elapsed when the farmer sent him back again with his compliments, -saying that he would not keep him for his weight in gold. He led the -farmer’s sheep into all sorts of mischief that they had never dreamed -of before, and had defied the dogs, and half-killed one or two of them. - -Toby returned like himself, for when he saw his master in the distance -he bleated aloud for joy, and flew towards him like a wild thing, -dragging the poor boy in the mud behind him. - -Toby was taken on board a vessel which was carrying out emigrants to -New York, and was constantly employed all day in driving the steerage -passengers off the quarter-deck. He never hurt the children, however, -but contented himself by tumbling them along the deck and stealing -their bread and butter. - -From New York Toby went to St Stephens. There a dog flew out and bit -Captain Brown in the leg. It was a dear bite, however, for the dog, for -Toby caught it in the act and hardly left life enough in it to crawl -away. At St Stephens Toby was shorn, the weather being oppressively -hot. No greater insult could have been offered him. His anger and -chagrin were quite ludicrous to witness. He examined himself a dozen -times, and every time he looked round and saw his naked back he tried -to run away from himself. But when his master, highly amused at his -antics, attempted to add insult to injury, by pointing his finger at -him and laughing him to scorn, Toby’s wrath knew no bounds, and he -attacked the captain on the spot. He managed, however, to elude the -blow, and Toby walked on shore in a pet. Whether it was that he was -ashamed of his ridiculous appearance, or of attempting to strike his -kind master in anger, cannot be known, but for three days and nights -Toby never appeared, and the captain was very wretched indeed. But when -he did return, he was so exceedingly penitent and so loving and coaxing -that he was forgiven on the spot. - -When Toby arrived with his vessel in Queen’s Dock, Liverpool, on a -rainy morning, some nice fresh hay was brought on board. This was a -great treat for our pet, and after he had eaten his fill, he thought he -could not do better than sleep among it, which thought he immediately -transmuted to action, covering himself all up except the head. -By-and-by the owner of the ship came on board, and taking a survey of -things in general he spied Toby’s head. - -‘Hollo!’ he said, ‘what’s that?’ striking Toby’s nose with his -umbrella. ‘Stuffed, isn’t it?’ - -Stuffed or not stuffed, there was a body behind it—as the owner soon -knew to his cost—and a spirit that never brooked a blow, for next -moment he found himself lying on his back with his legs waggling in the -air in the most expressive manner, while Toby stood triumphantly over -him waiting to repeat the dose if required. - -The following anecdote shews Toby’s reasoning powers. He was standing -one day near the dockyard foreman’s house, when the dinner bell rang, -and just at the same time a servant came out with a piece of bread for -Toby. Every day after this, as soon as the same bell rang—‘That calls -me,’ said Toby to himself, and off he would trot to the foreman’s -door. If the door was not at once opened he used to knock with his -head; and he would knock and knock again until the servant, for -peace-sake, presented him with a slice of bread. - -And now Toby’s tale draws near its close. The owner never forgave that -blow, and one day coming by chance across the following entry in the -ship’s books, ‘Tenedos—to one sheep, 5s.,’ he immediately claimed Toby -as his rightful property. It was all in vain that the captain begged -hard for his poor pet, and even offered ten times his nominal value -for him. The owner was deaf to all entreaties and obdurate. So the -two friends were parted. Toby was sent a long way into the country to -Carnoustie, in Forfarshire, to amuse some of the owner’s children, who -were at school there. But the sequel shews how very deeply and dearly -even a sheep can love a kind-hearted master. After the captain left -him, poor Toby refused all food and _died of grief in one week’s time_. - -‘I have had many pets,’ says Captain Brown, ‘but only one Toby.’ - - - - -HELENA, LADY HARROGATE. - - -CHAPTER XVI.—LIFTS A CORNER OF THE MASK. - -Ruth Willis bending forward, her gloved fingers clasped upon the open -letter that she held, and her pale face on fire, as it were, with eager -passion, seemed sadly out of tune with the still beauty of that silvan -spot, where first the crystal Start, freed from its moorland cradle, -gushed forth as a real river, although of puny dimensions, bearing -its watery tribute to the sea. Above, arched the feathery larch, the -slender hazel, and the tapering ash. Branches of the mountain-ash -projected like the stone frettings of some medieval belfrey. The clear -sweet warble of mavis and merle came throbbing softly to the ear -from the dim green heart of the summer woodlands. The letter which -she had purloined—the theft may have been prompted by the impulse of -the moment, and it is charitable to hope that such deeds were new to -her—was now hers, to peruse at her leisure. She read it then, did -Ruth Willis, again and again, slowly and deliberately, scanning and -weighing every word, as though she had been a student of the cuneiform -character, puzzling out Babylonian tablets by the aid of vague and -tentative keys to the long-dead language of which they bore the impress. - -The letter ran thus: - - 8 BOND’S CHAMBERS, - ST NICHOLAS POULTNEY, LONDON. - - DEAR SIR SYKES—It might be as well perhaps that we should come - to an understanding at once respecting the business on which I - spoke to you at the _De Vere Arms_ some days since. I do not - know whether you are aware that I hold evidence substantiating - the entire circumstances of the case, which I could at any time - reveal. I will mention no names of place or person, since this - is unwelcome to you; but in return for my consideration for - your interests, and for those whose prosperity and good name - are _now_ knit up in yours, I consider myself to possess a - claim upon your confidence. I therefore permit myself to think - that as your legal adviser I could conduct your affairs so that - you should be under no apprehension for the future, provided - always that the entire management (professionally) of your - estate and property should be placed in my hands. This, after - due consideration, I think would be the most expedient manner - of settling matters for the advantage of all parties concerned. - - Trusting that you may see this arrangement in the same light as - myself, and that it may meet with your approval, as the only - means of arriving at a definitive understanding, I shall await - your reply. I beg to remain, my dear sir, very obediently and - faithfully yours, - - ENOCH WILKINS, _Solicitor_. - -Such was the letter which Sir Sykes Denzil had unguardedly left upon -his library table; and it may be admitted that a more impudent epistle -has rarely been addressed to a gentleman of equal station to that of -the proprietor of Carbery. It was difficult at first sight to believe -that a demand so audacious in itself, and so offensively urged, could -be intended as anything else than a sorry jest. Yet that the writer was -quite in earnest, nay more, that he felt himself assured of not craving -in vain for the coveted boon, was palpable to so attentive a critic as -was Ruth Willis. - -‘If any man had dared to write thus to me,’ she said, slowly hissing -out the words between her half-shut teeth, ‘and I had filled the -position held by yonder pompous dolt, I would have—ay, given him cause -to repent it.’ - -And the lurid light that glimmered in her dark eyes, and the hardening -of her shrewd pale face until it seemed as though of chiselled marble -rather than sentient flesh, and the swift and sudden gesture with -which she raised and shook her clenched hand, as though it held a -dagger—these signs were the revelation of a fierce and unscrupulous -nature, kept down by the pressure of circumstances, but ready at pinch -of need to flame forth, as the hot lava bubbles and seethes beneath -the crust of cold ashes in which the vines of the Italian peasant have -struck root. - -Again and with deliberate care did the baronet’s ward read the letter -through. Then she refolded it and replaced it in her pocket, and then -consulted her watch. Only a few minutes had as yet elapsed since her -escape—for it was little else—from the mansion. - -‘I must not go back as yet,’ she said thoughtfully. ‘By this time the -whole household will be astir like a hive of angry bees, if, as is all -but certain, Sir Sykes has not had self-control enough to keep his own -counsel as to the loss he has sustained. He should have burned this -choice epistle the moment he had made himself master of its purport; -but he is of that order of men who treasure up the very proofs that -sooner or later overwhelm them with a weight of silent evidence. Was it -not the learned forger, silver-tongued, plausible Dr Dodd, who was left -alone with the fatal document that brought him to the gallows, alone -in a room where a brisk fire was blazing? One flash of mother-wit, -one motion of the hand, and nothing but a heap of tinder would have -remained to bear witness of the fraud. But no! The doomed wretch waited -passive for the hangman’s fingers to adjust the hempen noose about his -miserable neck. So would not I!’ - -Again the girl glanced impatiently at her watch. - -‘How Time lags!’ she exclaimed petulantly, as she marked the slow -crawling of the thin black minute-hand around the dial; ‘heeding -nothing, influenced by nothing, inexorable in his measured pace. It is -a pain to such as I am to be forced to loiter here inactive, when there -is a foe to cope with, a peril to avert.’ - -She said no more, but paced restlessly to and fro along the river-bank, -beneath the arching boughs, with somewhat of the air and tread of a -caged panther wearing away the sullen hours of captivity behind the -restraining bars. Her very step had in it somewhat of the litheness -which we notice in the movements of the savage, and the working of -her keen features told how deeply her busy brain was pondering on the -events of the day. Ruth’s face, when once it was withdrawn from the -observation of others, was a singularly expressive one. When she had -left the room wherein Jasper had fallen asleep among his pillows, -the countenance of Sir Sykes’s ward had been eloquent with weariness -and contempt. Now it told of resentment restrained, but only in part -restrained, by a caution that was rather of habit than of instinct. - -‘An hour more! yet an hour,’ said the girl at length, again looking -at her watch, and then she stood leaning against the tough stem of a -quivering mountain-ash that almost overhung the brawling torrent. She -still kept in her left hand the book which she had had with her when -entering the library at Carbery; but even had not the volume been -one which she had lately perused, she was in no mood for reading. -Manifestly her mind was shaping out some desperate resolution. - -‘I will do it!’ she said at last, lifting her head with a defiant -glitter in her lustrous eyes; ‘before I sleep it shall be written. I -know and gauge beforehand the risk of such a course; know too that I -am loosening my own grasp on the helm if I invite another to aid me. -But that is better than to be foiled at the outset, and after weeks -spent in this self-schooling, and in the sickening task of cajoling a -shallow, knavish egotist, such as the future Sir Jasper will be until -his dying day. Let those look to it who for their own schemes venture -to cross my path!’ - -The hour, however slowly it might appear to pass in the estimation of -one whose nerves were on fire with excitement, nevertheless did wear -itself out, and there was an end of waiting. With tranquil step and -unruffled brow, Sir Sykes’s ward returned to her guardian’s house, to -find, as she had anticipated, confusion and dismay prevalent there; the -servants sullen or clamorous, the baronet’s daughters distressed, and -Sir Sykes himself in a state of feverish suspicion, which almost made -him forget the traditions of good-breeding. - -‘Do you, Miss Willis, know anything of this?’ he asked half rudely, the -instant that he caught sight of his ward. - -‘I—know of what?’ returned Ruth innocently, as she lifted her eyes, -with a startled look, to his. - -‘You forget, papa,’ said Lucy Denzil, almost indignantly, ‘that Ruth -has heard of nothing. She was away from the house all the time.’ - -‘Yes, yes; I beg pardon of course,’ exclaimed the baronet reddening, -but still fixing his eyes searchingly on the placid face of his ward. - -The Indian orphan bore his scrutiny with an admirable composure. Her -lower lip trembled a little, as was natural, when she turned towards -Lucy. ‘Pray do tell me,’ she said, ‘what has happened? for it really -does seem as though I had been unfortunate enough to make Sir Sykes -angry with me.’ - -‘Papa has lost a letter—a letter of importance,’ said Lucy, blushing -as she spoke; ‘and as the servants deny all knowledge of it, and its -loss’—— - -‘Say theft, not loss!’ interrupted the baronet with unwonted harshness. -‘I make no doubt that the letter was stolen from my desk in the -library, on which I had left it for but some two minutes, while I went -to speak with my son in the White Room. The French window nearest to -the fireplace was open, giving an easy means of entry, as of egress, -for the purloiner of this letter, who must have been on the watch for -an opportunity of surprising my secrets—that is to say,’ stammered Sir -Sykes, who felt the imprudence of these last words—‘of basely prying -into my private correspondence.’ - -‘Are you quite, quite sure, papa dear,’ pleaded Blanche, ‘that you -left the letter there, instead of bestowing it in some safe place for -safe keeping, which may afterwards have escaped your memory, and will -presently be recollected? Such things have happened often and often, -even to the most methodical, and’—— - -‘There, there, my girl!’ broke in the baronet peevishly. ‘Have I not -heard that argument repeated _ad nauseam_ by every man and maid that I -have questioned; and is it not the stock answer to all inquiries after -missing trinkets or valuables unaccounted for? I grant that I can prove -nothing. If I could’—— - -He did not complete the sentence, but crushing down the wrath that -almost choked his voice, turned away. Nothing, at this unpleasant -conjuncture, could be in better taste, or more simple, than Ruth’s -demeanour. She began to cry. It was the first time since the day of her -arrival that any one at Carbery had seen her in tears, and now both -Blanche and Lucy came kindly to kiss her and console her with whispered -entreaties to excuse Sir Sykes for an indiscriminate anger which there -was much to palliate. But Ruth soon dried her eyes, and going up to her -guardian laid her hand upon his arm and looked up timidly in his face. - -‘Let me be useful,’ she said. ‘Let me help in hunting high and low for -this letter; pray, pray do, dear Sir Sykes, you who have been so very, -very kind to me since I have been here.’ - -Nothing could be prettier. And Sir Sykes, though in his present -irritable condition he actually shuddered at her light touch upon his -arm, as though he had been in contact with a snake, was compelled to -say a word or two of apology. - -‘I am greatly annoyed,’ he said awkwardly, ‘and have been unjust and -inhospitable, I fear, and must ask you to forget my rudeness. I am best -alone.’ - -Sir Sykes therefore withdrew, and for some time was seen no more; while -Jasper, who had been an amused spectator of the turmoil, sauntered -back to the White Room, muttering as he went: ‘Lucky, rather, that -this child had so perfect an alibi, or the governor would have tried, -convicted, and sentenced his only son and heir as the light-fingered -captor of his lost property. A new sensation, it strikes me, that of -injured innocence. And talking of that—how nicely Miss Ruth, be she -who she may, played her part—not one bit overdone—it was perfect! We -breathe here an atmosphere of mystery; but it will be strange if, when -I am all right again, I do not make a push to get at the governor’s -secret, whatever it may be.’ - -The letter, it need hardly be said, remained undiscovered by the -volunteer searchers who undertook the quest of it; but gradually the -indignant household became more calm, and the general voice confirmed -the comfortable opinion, that Sir Sykes had unwittingly locked up the -missing document in some desk or drawer, whence it would one day be -satisfactorily extracted. - - - - -CURIOUS RESEARCHES INTO HUMAN CHARACTER. - - -There can be little doubt that the domain of mental science is -being invaded on more than one side by the sciences which deal more -especially with the material world and with the physical universe -around us. When physiologists discovered that the force or impulse -which travels along a nerve, which originates in the brain, and which -represents the transformation of thought into action, is nearly allied -to the electrical force—now one of man’s most useful and obedient -ministers—one avenue to the domain of mind was opened up. And when -physiologists, through the aid of delicate apparatus, were actually -enabled to measure the rate at which this nerve-force travels along -the nerve-fibres, it may again be said that physical science was -encroaching on the domain of mind, being in a certain sense thus -enabled to measure the rapidity of thought. - -A study, exemplifying in a more than ordinary degree the application of -the methods of physical science to the explanation of states of mind, -was brought under the notice of the members of the British Association -at the last meeting of that body. In the department of Anthropology, or -the science investigating the physical and mental constitution of the -races of man, Mr Francis Galton, as president of this section, devoted -his address to an exposition of the classification or arrangement of -groups of men, according to their habits of mind, and their physiognomy. - -Of the curious and absorbing nature of such a study nothing need be -said. Lavater’s method of pursuing the study of character through the -investigation of the features of the human face has long been known. -But Lavater’s system is on the whole much too loose and elementary to -be regarded as satisfactory by modern scientists, whose repudiation -of phrenology as a system capable of explaining the exact disposition -of the brain functions, has unquestionably affected Lavater’s method -also. Mr Galton refers at the outset of his address to the fact we have -already alluded to—namely, that physiologists have determined the rate -at which nerve-force, representing a sensation or impulse of thought -and action, travels along the nerves. The common phrase ‘as quick as -thought’ is found to be by no means so applicable as is generally -supposed, especially when it is discovered that thought or nervous -impulse, as compared with light or electricity, appears as a veritable -laggard. For whilst light travels at the rate of many thousands of -miles—about one hundred and eighty-six thousand miles according to the -latest researches—in a second of time, nerve-force in man passes along -his nerves at a rate varying from one hundred and ten or one hundred -and twenty to two hundred feet per second. Or, to use Mr Galton’s -words, nerve-force is ‘far from instantaneous’ in its action, and has -‘indeed no higher velocity than that of a railway express train.’ - -As we could naturally suppose from a consideration of this fact, -small animals presenting us with a limited distance for nerve-force -to travel, will avoid rapid blows and shift for themselves in the -struggle for existence at a much quicker rate than large animals. -Take two extreme cases in illustration of this fact. A mouse hears a -suspicious or threatening sound, and at once, so to speak, accommodates -its actions and movements to its protection. The ear of the mouse, as -one of its ‘gateways of knowledge,’ is situated so close to the brain -that the interval which elapses between the reception of the sound -by the ear, or between its transmission as an impulse to the brain -and the issue of a command or second impulse from the brain to the -muscles of the body for the purpose of movement, is too short to be -perfectly appreciated by the observer. In a whale, on the contrary, -which may attain a length of eighty feet, a much longer interval will -elapse before action of body follows on nervous impulse, seeing that -the nerve-impulse has a longer distance to travel. Assuming that in -such animals as the whales the nerve-action travels at the rate of -seventy or eighty feet per second, it follows that in a large whale -which has been struck near the tail by a harpoon, a second or so will -elapse before the impulse is transmitted to the brain, whilst another -second will pass before the second impulse is sent from the brain to -put the muscles of the tail in action for the purpose of retaliating -upon the harpooner. In such a case it is assumed that the brain of the -animal will be the nervous centre or station at which information is -received, and from which instructions are in turn telegraphed to the -various organs and parts of the body. In the actual details of the -case, however, it is probable that the spinal marrow of the animal -or some part of it would act as the ‘head-office’ for receiving and -issuing commands. We know that a headless frog will wipe off with one -foot a drop of vinegar that has been placed on the other, and in the -absence of the brain we thus assume that the spinal cord may act as a -nerve-centre. - -Doubtless the spinal marrow discharges this function naturally; and in -view of this latter supposition, the interval between the reception of -a blow and the muscular actions of an animal would be of less duration -than in the case we have just supposed, where the brain is regarded as -the central station of the nervous system. As an eminent authority in -physical science has remarked, ‘the interval required for the kindling -of consciousness would probably more than suffice for the destruction -of the brain by lightning, or even by a rifle-bullet. Before the organ -(that is, the brain) can arrange itself, it may therefore be destroyed, -and in such a case we may safely conclude that death is painless.’ - -But confining ourselves to the domain of human thought, it seems -perfectly clear that the differences between persons of different -temperament are in reality referable in great part to the varying -rates at which nervous impulses are transmitted through the nerves, and -to or from the brain. The difference between a person of phlegmatic -disposition and a person of sanguine temperament, may thus be properly -enough referred to the varying rates with which sensations and feelings -are appreciated and acted upon. Disposition or temperament thus becomes -referred, secondarily, to the manner in which and aptitude with which -nerves receive and transmit impressions. Primarily, of course, we -must refer the exact causes of the quicker or slower transmission of -impulses to the constitution of the individual who exhibits them. - -Mr Galton gives a very interesting example of the differences to be -observed between various individuals in the respects just noted, by a -reference to a practice common amongst astronomers. He says: ‘It is -a well-known fact that different observers make different estimates -of the exact moment of the occurrence of any event. There is,’ he -continues, ‘a common astronomical observation in which the moment -has to be recorded at which a star that is travelling athwart the -field of view of a fixed telescope, crosses the fine vertical wire by -which that field of view is intersected. In making this observation -it is found that some observers are over-sanguine and anticipate the -event, whilst others are sluggish, and allow the event to pass by -before they succeed in noting it.’ This tendency of each individual is -clearly not the result either of inexperience or carelessness, since, -as astronomers well know, ‘it is a persistent characteristic of each -individual, however practised in the art of making observations or -however attentive he may be.’ And so accustomed indeed are astronomers -to these differences in observers, that a definite and standing -phrase—that of the ‘personal equation’—is used in that science to -express the difference between the time of a man’s noting the event -and that of its actual occurrence. Every assistant in an observatory -has his ‘personal equation’ duly ascertained, and has this correction -applied to each of his observations. This most interesting fact -relates exact or mathematical science in the most curious manner to -the mental character of an individual. Mr Galton, however, does not -rest merely with the announcement of this latter result. He goes much -further in his theoretical inquiry, and suggests that peculiarities in -the respect just noted might be found to be related to special points -in the conformation of the body. Thus could the ‘personal equations’ -of astronomers be related to the height of body, age, colour of hair -and eyes, weight, and temperament, some valuable facts might be -deduced regarding the union of definite characters to form a special -constitution. - -Some other methods may be cited of estimating the differences between -various temperaments in appreciating sensations and in acting upon -them. If a person is prepared to give an instantaneous opinion as -to the colour of a certain signal—black or white—but is unaware of -the particular colour which is to be exhibited, and if he is further -instructed to press a stop with his right hand for the one colour -and a left-hand stop for the other, the act of judgment necessary to -determine the particular stop in each instance, is found to occupy an -appreciable interval. This is particularly the case if a single signal -has been previously shewn, and the observer’s quickness of sight has -been tested and calculated by his pressing a single stop whenever he -saw the object. The comparison between the interval elapsing between -the mere sensation of sight and the act of pressing the stop in the -latter case, and the interval which elapses when the observer has to -make up his mind as to the difference between two signals, is seen to -be very marked. - -Setting thus before his mind a certain number of tests of individual -temperament and character such as have been illustrated, the observer -may next proceed to the task of discovering whether persons who exhibit -similar qualities of mind in these experiments, can be proved to be -related to each other in other particulars of their physical or mental -disposition. Mr Galton has ingeniously suggested that by an arrangement -of mirrors, four views of a person’s head might be taken at once, and -would thus afford an ordinary photographic portrait, a portrait of a -three-quarter face, a profile view, and a figure of the top of the head -respectively. Such a series of views would present all the aspects -required for a comparison of the general as well as special contour of -the head of the individual with the heads of others photographed in -like manner. - -Our author, whose researches on the heredity of men of genius and the -transmission from one generation to another of qualities belonging -to the highest development of man’s estate, are well known, turned -his attention to the opposite phase of human life and character, and -investigated in an avowedly casual, but still important manner, the -likenesses and differences between members of the criminal classes -of England. The social and practical importance of a study such as -the present may be readily estimated. There are few persons who have -not considered the bearings and influence of criminal antecedents -upon the offenders of the present day. Although to a very large -extent our temperaments and dispositions are of our own making, and -are susceptible of the favouring influences of education and moral -training, there can be no doubt of the truth of the converse remark, -that to a very great extent the traits of character we inherit from our -parents exercise an undeniable influence over us for weal or for woe. -If, therefore, through research in the direction we have indicated, it -can be shewn that criminality runs in types, our notions of criminal -responsibility, and our ideas regarding the punishment, deterrent and -otherwise, of the criminal classes, must be affected and ameliorated -thereby. - -That criminality, like moral greatness, ‘runs in the blood,’ there -can be no doubt. It would in fact be a most unwonted violation of the -commonest law of nature, were we to find the children of criminals -free from the moral taints of their parents. As physical disease -is transmissible, and as the conditions regulating its descent are -now tolerably well ascertained, so moral infirmities pass from one -generation to another, and the ‘law of likeness’ is thus seen to hold -true of mind as well as of body. Numerous instances might be cited of -the transmission of criminal traits of character, often of very marked -and special kind. Dr Despine, a continental writer, gives one very -remarkable case illustrating the transmission from one generation to -another of an extraordinary tendency to thieve and steal. The subjects -of the memoir in question were a family named Chrétien, of which the -common ancestor, so to speak, Jean Chrétien by name, had three sons, -Pierre, Thomas, and Jean-Baptiste. Pierre in his turn had one son, -who was sentenced to penal servitude for life for robbery and murder. -Thomas had two sons, one of whom was condemned to a like sentence for -murder; the other being sentenced to death for a like crime. Of the -children of Jean-Baptiste, one son (Jean-François) married one Marie -Tauré, who came of a family noted for their tendency to the crime of -incendiarism. Seven children were born to this couple with avowedly -criminal antecedents on both sides. Of these, one son, Jean-François, -named after his father, died in prison after undergoing various -sentences for robberies. Another son, Benoist, was killed by falling -off a house-roof which he had scaled in the act of theft; and a third -son, ‘Clain’ by nickname, after being convicted of several robberies, -died at the age of twenty-five. Victor, a fourth son, was also a -criminal; Marie-Reine, a daughter, died in prison—as also did her -sister Marie-Rose—whither both had been sent for theft. The remaining -daughter Victorine, married a man named Lemarre, the son of this couple -being sentenced to death for robbery and murder. - -This hideous and sad record of whole generations being impelled, as it -were, hereditarily to crime, is paralleled by the case of the notorious -Jukes-family, whose doings are still matters of comment amongst the -legal and police authorities of New York. A long and carefully compiled -pedigree of this family shews the sad but striking fact, that in the -course of seven generations no fewer than five hundred and forty -individuals of Jukes blood were included amongst the criminal and -pauper classes. The account appears in the Thirty-first Annual Report -of the Prison Association of New York (1876); and the results of an -investigation into the history of the fifth generation alone, may be -shortly referred to in the present instance as presenting us with a -companion case to that of the somewhat inaptly named Chrétien family. -This fifth generation of the Jukes tribe sprang from the eldest of the -five daughters of the common ancestor of the race. One hundred and -three individuals are included in this generation; thirty-eight of -these coming through an illegitimate grand-daughter, and eighty-five -through legitimate grand-children. The great majority of the females -consorted with criminals: sixteen of the thirty-eight have been -convicted—one nine times—some of heinous crimes: eleven are paupers -and led dissolute or criminal lives: four were inveterate drunkards: -the history of three is unknown; and a small minority of four are -known to have lived respectable and honest lives. Of the eighty-five -legitimate descendants, only five were incorrigible criminals, and only -some thirteen were paupers or dissolute. Jukes himself, the founder of -this prolific criminal community, was born about 1730, and is described -as a curious unsteady man of gipsy descent, but apparently without -deliberately bad or intently vicious instincts. Through unfavourable -marriages, the undecided character of the father ripened into the -criminal traits of his descendants. The moral surroundings being of the -worst description, the beginnings of criminality became intensified, -and hence arose naturally, and as time passed, the graver symptoms of -diseased morality and criminal disposition. - -The data upon which a true classification of criminals may be founded -are as yet few and imperfect, but Mr Galton mentions it as a hopeful -fact, that physiognomy and the general contour of the head can be shewn -to afford valuable evidence of the grouping of criminals into classes. -This method of investigation, however, it must be noted, is by no means -a return to the old standing of phrenology, which, as all readers know, -boasts its ability to mark out the surface of the brain itself into -a large number of different faculties. The most that anthropologists -would contend for, according to the data laid down, is, that certain -general types of head and face are peculiar to certain types of -criminals. Physical conformation of a general kind becomes thus in a -general manner related to the mental type. - -The practical outcome of such a subject may be readily found in the -ultimate attention which morality, education, and the state itself, may -give to the reclaiming of youthful criminals and to the fostering, from -an early period in their history, of those tendencies of good which -even the most degraded may be shewn to possess. If it be true that we -are largely the products of past time, and that our physical and mental -constitutions are in great measure woven for us and independently of -us, it is none the less a stable fact, that there exists a margin -of free-will, which, however limited in extent, may be made in the -criminal and debased, and under proper training and encouragement, the -foundation of a new and better life. - - - - -MONSIEUR HOULOT. - -IN THREE CHAPTERS. - - -CHAPTER II.—TO-DAY—TROUBLE. - -Winter came and passed away without anything happening to break the -even tenor of existence. Spring came, and with spring the appearance of -a new novel of Mr Collingwood Dawson. Having had a considerable share -in its manufacture, I felt naturally anxious to know the result of its -appearance. I had an encouraging note from Mrs Collingwood Dawson: -‘Much liked—goes off very well:’ and I saw from the advertisements in -the papers that the notices of the press were generally favourable. At -the head of them all was the following extract from the _Hebdomadal -Review_: ‘High capacity—very good—many readers—enticing interest.’ -Tributes of appreciation that were valuable from a periodical rarely -given to praise overmuch any one unconnected with the house it -represents. - -Soon after I had another note from my employer: ‘I am coming over -to confer with you on literary and other matters; please make all -necessary arrangements. I shall be accompanied by a female friend, but -not, alas, by Mr Collingwood Dawson!’ - -The steamer that plies the Lower Seine in the summer months, came -puffing up the river one fine breezy morning, and dropped into a little -boat that put off to meet her, two female passengers, a quantity of -boxes, and a little white dog. I recognised my expected visitors, and -hastened down to the landing-place to meet them. I explained that my -house was not big enough to take them in; but that I had secured rooms -at the hotel close by, and that my wife and I hoped to have as much of -their society as they could give us. - -After they had settled down in their new abode, Mrs Collingwood Dawson -came over to see me, and was shewn into the pavilion. - -‘I am in a good deal of doubt and difficulty,’ she said; ‘and I have -come to ask your opinion and discuss matters with you. But as it is no -use putting half-confidence in you, and your opinion will be of little -good unless you know fully all the circumstances of the case, I mean -to tell you everything; and will first begin, if you please, and if it -does not bore you too much, with a little sketch of my life.’ - -I assured her that I should have great pleasure in listening to her, as -anything connected with her was of interest to me. - -‘I am,’ she began, ‘the daughter of an official of the old India -House; and my father, who had held a good position there, and enjoyed -a good income, left at his death no other provision for his widow and -only child, myself, but the pensions to which we were entitled—a very -handsome one indeed for my mother; and for myself some seventy pounds -a year, which ceased at my marriage. He had been during his lifetime -very fond of good society, especially literary society; and thus from -early years I had been acquainted with many people who followed that -profession. Consequently it is not surprising that I tried to add to -an income sufficiently narrow by literary work, although I confess -that I had no particular talent, and certainly no enthusiasm for the -task, and met with little success. In this way I became acquainted with -several publishers and many authors; among others was my first husband. -He was a man of great intellectual power and force of will, but quite -without any ballast of judgment or common-sense. Still I was very much -enthralled by his influence, and he having formed a violent passion -for me, insisted on marrying me. Young and ill-advised, I gave way to -his impetuosity, and married we were. I soon had cause to repent the -hasty step. He had been a man of most irregular habits; and after a -brief period of devotion to me, he resumed them. Our household became -a scene of constant jars and quarrels; he wearied out my life, and I -must have wearied out his. The beautiful soul that I thought I had -recognised as enshrined in his somewhat ill-formed and stunted figure, -had no existence for me. He was malignant and detestable, utterly—most -utterly.’ - -Her voice trembled with anger at the retrospect, whilst her eyes filled -with indignant tears. - -‘It was an ill-assorted match evidently,’ I said. ‘But why did you not -agree to separate?’ - -‘I shrank from mentioning such a thing; with all his faults, I believed -that he was still at the bottom devotedly attached to me. Besides, such -a step is always distressing and compromising. No; I went on bearing my -troubles, not silently indeed, for I have too much spirit, I confess, -to make a meek and uncomplaining wife; but I bore them anyhow, although -I confess that any affection I ever had for him had been lost in the -embroilments of our married life. You may think that I was to blame, -and that if there were a real attachment on his part towards me, I -ought to have been able to manage him; but I tell you no! There was a -certain malignity in his nature that made him spiteful and tormenting -even to those whom he loved. Anyhow, life was a sorrowful burden to me -whilst he was with me.’ - -She rose, looking quite overcome by the recital of her troubles. Her -eyes were filled with tears; her hands trembled nervously, as she -raised them to press the hair back from her forehead. I murmured a few -words expressive of sympathy and good-will. - -‘Well!’ she said, sitting down and wiping her eyes with a pretty -embroidered handkerchief; ‘not to dwell upon my troubles. I was at -last relieved from the hateful knot by his death—a death I believe -he contrived in a way that should leave me in as cruel and doubtful -a position as possible. He left home one day without giving me any -intimation that he would stay away—that was his general practice—or -leaving me any money to carry on the household expenses. And the next -thing I heard of him was from a little village on the coast, that he -had been drowned while bathing. I believe that he committed suicide. I -ascertained that he had been informing himself most minutely of the set -of the tides and currents about the coast, and with fiendish ingenuity -had taken to the water at a time when the tide was certain to carry his -body far out to sea.’ - -‘But what object could he have had in that, madam?’ - -‘Don’t you see? The pension which I had lost in marrying revived on my -widowhood. But he had contrived that his body should never be found. In -vain I applied to the authorities to renew my pension. There had been -several cases of attempted personation and fraud about these pensions, -and they utterly refused to renew mine without absolute proof of my -husband’s death. This I was unable to afford to their satisfaction, his -body never having been discovered. Still the circumstantial evidence -was most strong, and I was advised to bring an action in the way of a -petition of right. A circumstance, however, occurred,’ said the widow -with a slight blush, ‘which rendered such a step unnecessary.’ - -‘Ah! I see,’ I cried; ‘you married again?’ - -‘Yes; and this time my venture was more fortunate. My second husband -was an officer in the army, frank and free and brave. No young couple -could have been happier. But alas! we were neither of us prudent in the -management of our affairs. We had small means in the present, but great -expectations, and we were too sanguine to think of the possibility of -disappointment. Life became a series of feasts and fêtes. My husband -sold out of the army, and we lived gaily enough on the proceeds of his -commission, till that was all gone, and we saw ourselves brought to the -verge of ruin. I must tell you that my husband was also of a literary -turn, and wrote military sketches and so on, that brought in a little -money, but nothing substantial. - -‘We had one resource still left—the house in which we lived; it had -been my mother’s, and at her death she left it to me. It was a pretty -little house in the neighbourhood of St John’s Wood; but it was -leasehold only, and the lease had not more than ten years to run. We -had found it under these circumstances impossible to mortgage our -interest. We might have sold the lease; and that with the furniture, -which had also been my mother’s, would have realised five or six -hundred pounds. But when that was gone, where should we look for -shelter? Charles’s great expectations’—— - -‘Pardon me for interrupting you. You have mentioned your husband’s -Christian name: it will make your narrative clearer if you tell me also -his surname.’ - -‘Collingwood was his name—Charles Collingwood.’ - -‘And the name of the first one was Dawson?’ - -‘You have guessed rightly. To continue. Charles’s great expectations -had all come to a bad end. A rich relative, who had brought him up for -his heir, took a great dislike to me, and cut him out of his will, -for no reason in the world but that he had married me, and that we -were very poor. When he died, and we found this out, it seemed that -the world had come to an end for us. What was to be done? Live in the -most niggardly way we might, but we could not live on nothing. First -we began to sell the less essential parts of our belongings. We lived -on old china for three months; and then we began on our paintings. -We had some good ones by English artists, which my father had left -behind him, and these kept us for a while. But this was like burning -the planks of the ship to keep the engines going. Charles had tried -hard for employment in the meantime. For the governorship of a colony; -for a consulship; the post of adjutant of militia; the same thing in a -Volunteer regiment; for the chief-constableship of a large town; for -the management of a brewery; and ever so many things besides. All of no -use. - -“We must take in washing,” said Charles; “and I will become a second -Mantilini, and turn the mangle.” - -‘Lodgers were our next thought, and that seemed more feasible. Then -some one advised us to let our house furnished. We put an advertisement -in the papers, and by great good luck we had an offer for the whole of -the house at once. Six guineas a week for May, June, and July. We made -up our minds to take cheap lodgings somewhere on the coast, and spend -only half our weekly six guineas, which would thus last us six months -instead of three. As we were packing up our belongings and storing away -the packages in the lumber-room, Charles stumbled over a lot of old -boxes, from which arose a cloud of dust. - -“What are these old things?” he cried. - -“I don’t know anything about them. They were my first husband’s books -and papers.” - -“Books, eh?” said Charles. “Let’s have a look at ’em;” and broke open -one of the boxes. This, however, turned out to be full of packets of -manuscripts. Charles made a wry face over them, but he took out a -packet and began to read it. I went on with the work. I had everything -to do then, I must tell you, for we had dismissed our servants, and -lived in the house by ourselves with only a char-woman to help—quite in -picnic style. - -‘Well dinner-time came, and Charles, who was still up-stairs reading -his manuscript, brought it down with him and laid it beside his plate, -and went on again reading directly after dinner. - -“I tell you what it is, old woman,” he said, as we went to bed, “I feel -muddled with it all, and rather as if I’d been supping off pork chops -and Welsh-rabbit; but there’s something in that fellow’s writings, only -they are coarse, decidedly coarse.” - -‘But I am tiring you,’ said Mrs Collingwood, looking up with a smile. - -‘Not at all. I am highly interested. Go on, please.’ - -‘We went away to the sea-side, and Charles took several packets of -manuscript with him to amuse him, as he said, during the long days. - -“Do you know,” he said to me one evening, “I think one could make -something out of these things. If we cut out the objectionable passages -which I expect were in the way of their publication”—— - -“My dear Charles,” I said, “these were his religion, and he would not -have touched a word for worlds to make them more acceptable.” - -“And died a martyr to the faith, eh?” said Charles. “Well, I shan’t be -so very particular. There’s enough for a three-volume novel here, and I -shall expurgate it and try its luck.” - -‘Charles was never much of a penman, but I was a neat quick writer, and -thus the copying fell upon me. Charlie did the botching and patching, -and dictated as I copied. But what a task it was! I am sure the mere -writing of it was worth all we were destined to get for it, let alone -the author’s work and our amendments. Then we got a lot of the most -taking three-volume novels from the library, and counted the words and -lines, so as to get ours about the right length. It was finished at -last, just as our house became vacant; and as soon as we got back to -town I took it to a publisher. It was agreed that I was to do all this -part of the work, for my poor Charlie used to say that if anything -happened to him, I should find the use of these habits of business.’ -Here she paused. - -I coughed doubtfully. My knowledge of human nature led me to attribute -the arrangement to shyness and laziness on his part. I did not, -however, venture to disturb Mrs Collingwood’s illusions. - -She resumed: ‘To our surprise and joy, after a delay of not more than -three or four months, we heard from the publishers accepting our novel. -We did not get any large sum for it, it is true, but it was highly -thought of, and was to be well advertised; and that was the chief -point. Whenever the author was inquired for, I gave out that he was my -husband, but that he was an invalid. Charlie really was poorly at the -time,’ she said blushing. ‘Ah, you shake your head; but in these days, -my dear M——, it is necessary to be _rusé_ as well as clever.’ - -‘But why not have given it out as the work of a deceased author?’ - -‘Ah, that would never have done! A publisher takes a first novel -because he hopes for another and a better. Of what use is it to puff -the one golden egg of a dead goose? No; we were right there—events have -shewn it. Well, our novel was, as you know, a success. It went off -like wild-fire, and our publishers fed the flame adroitly by issuing -one edition after another—all of the same impression. All this time we -were at work upon another, which also went down, although not so much -relished as the first. I think we had purified it a little too much. -Avoiding this error in a third, we again made a hit. Our fortune was -now made and publishers were at our feet. But we were in this strait: -we had come to an end of our finished works; all that were left -now were mere sketches and outlines, many too vague, and others too -extravagant to be of much use to us. Charles had good judgment and some -critical power, but he had no creative faculty, neither had I. Happily -we did not deceive ourselves on this point. The question to be solved -was how to supply the want. To Charles the idea first suggested itself -of trying to secure assistance from outside. It was quite evident that -it would be useless to think of any person well known in the world of -letters. We set ourselves to study the more obscure literature of the -day.’ - -I bowed politely, but with some inward mortification. - -‘Oh, don’t think _you_ are in question now,’ said the lady with an -arch smile; ‘wait to the end of the story. My husband came home one -day in a state of great excitement. He had in his pocket a copy of the -_Weekly Dredger_, which contained an instalment of a serial story just -commenced. - -“Read that,” he cried. When I had finished: “Now, what do you think?” - -‘But I was trembling all over with terror. - -“What’s the matter?” he cried. - -“O Charles!” I said, “if I did not know it was impossible, I should say -that no one but my late husband could have written this.” - -‘So strongly was I penetrated with this idea, that for a long time I -forbade him to make any inquiry after the author. At last we were so -pressed to supply another novel that I consented that he should make -inquiries. The story in the _Weekly Dredger_, we found, had become -so grotesque and bizarre, that finally the editor brought it to an -abrupt close himself, refusing to take any more of it; and he made no -difficulty whatever about telling our business agent in confidence the -name of the writer. I must tell you we had found it necessary to employ -an agent, Mr Smith, who has served us faithfully enough, but who was -never permitted to see my husband. Well, Charles wrote cautiously to -the author of this queer story, who, it seemed, lived in France; asking -him to send specimens of his stories, and specifying the quantity -required for possible publication, with his terms. We had in reply a -pile of manuscript. Judge of the relief I felt when I found that the -handwriting was quite unfamiliar to me. His terms were so low that -we had no difficulty in undertaking to accept all his work. For some -seventy pounds a year we secured everything he wrote. A great deal of -the stuff was utterly useless to us, but every now and then he gave us -the framework of a powerful story. Well, all of a sudden he turns sulky -and refuses to send any more. Charlie would have found some one to -supply his place, no doubt. But now I come to the great misfortune of -my life’—with faltering voice—‘the death of my dear husband.’ - -‘Your husband dead!’ I cried, quite unprepared for the announcement. - -‘Yes, he is dead; and unhappy me, I have not been able to mourn his -loss except in secret and with precautions. The funeral even was -conducted with as much caution as if he had been a felon, and we had -been ashamed of having to own that he had belonged to us. And he was -the kindest, most affectionate—— - -‘But it was his own wish,’ she went on after a pause. ‘He planned out -everything. You see that although our writings—compilations should I -call them?’ she said with a faint attempt at a smile—‘brought us in a -nice income, yet we were pleasure-loving people, and had always been -accustomed to plenty of society, and we had saved nothing out of it. -We have two children, a boy at Rugby, and a daughter at an expensive -school; and there is poor Charlie’s sister, the lady who accompanies -me, and she has no one else to depend upon but me. Besides, as Charlie -urged before he died: “_I_ am not Collingwood Dawson,” he said; “why -should my death be the cause of his? Keep him alive, old woman, to be -a support to you and the children and Lizzie.” Those were almost his -last words, dear brave fellow!’ She rose and left the room, overcome by -uncontrollable emotion. - -My thoughts, after Mrs Collingwood quitted me, were rather of a serious -turn. I reflected that my own interests were bound up in the same -cause, and that my own livelihood hung very much upon keeping up Mr -Collingwood Dawson as a going concern. It was too late to go back now. -If I had gained experience I had lost connection. My own place had been -filled up. Mr Collingwood Dawson had become as necessary to me as to -the widow and her family. Still the idea of a person who never died, -who enjoyed a sort of corporate existence, or like the living Buddha, -transferred his identity from one body to another, a being who could go -on writing novels and publishing them till the crack of doom, struck -one with a kind of awe. - -As a relief to the troubled current of my thoughts I took up a -newspaper which Mrs Collingwood had brought with her. It was -the _Hebdomadal Review_, the number containing the review of -Collingwood Dawson’s last novel. I turned to the page with a kind -of pleased excitement, for the short abstract that I had seen in -the advertisement, as you have seen, was calculated to give me the -impression that the critique was an appreciative one. It was so short -that I have no scruple in giving it _in extenso_: ‘If it be necessary, -and we suppose it is, that silly ill-educated people should be supplied -with the morbid trash suited to their high capacity, there is no reason -why Mr Collingwood Dawson should not cater for their wants. We can -say of his novel that it is very good stuff of the kind. The pity is -that there should be so many readers for this kind of stuff. We only -hope that young ladies of the class who find Mr Dawson’s compilations -acceptable, will not be unduly led away from the paramount claims of -seam and gusset and band by the enticing interest of his story.’ - -Satire like this does not hit very hard, however, and my only feeling -after the first disappointment was of amusement at the ingenuity that -had been able to extract the sting from it and secure the latent honey. -One word, however, seemed dangerous—‘compilations.’ Was it possible -that the critic had discovered the composite nature of Mr Collingwood -Dawson? - - * * * * * - -‘Can you lend me five pounds?’ said a gruff voice behind me. I turned -and saw the squat figure of M. Houlot close to my chair. - -It was an embarrassing question. There was nothing in M. Houlot’s -appearance to invite confidence—at all events to the extent of five -pounds. At the same time, M. Houlot had in my mind loomed into -considerable importance, for since I had heard Mrs Collingwood’s -story, I had identified him with the third portion of Mr Collingwood -Dawson. - -‘Oh, if it requires consideration, don’t think about it,’ said Houlot -roughly. ‘I won’t trouble you.’ - -‘Stop a minute,’ I replied; ‘wait. I don’t know whether I have the -money. I must ask my wife.’ - -‘Oh, you are one of the wretched slaves of a petticoat, are you?’ said -Houlot with a rasping laugh. ‘I should have thought you had lived -through _that_ stage of your development.’ - -‘As she will be the principal sufferer if the money should not be -returned, she is entitled to a voice in the matter.’ - -‘Look here! If it comes to asking your wife, I’ll withdraw my request. -I know what that means, well enough. But if you are afraid of not -getting your money back, I’ll give you security.—What security? Why, -manuscripts worth ten, twenty pounds. I should say, if I were some -people—of priceless value.’ - -‘Ah!’ I said to myself, ‘there is Houlot, who has quarrelled with his -bread-and-butter, and now he comes to me to borrow money to go on with. -Would it not be better to send for Mrs Collingwood, to see if this is -really the man who supplies her with her plots; and if so, to make the -peace between them, and get him to continue the supply?’ - -Mrs Collingwood saved me the trouble of sending for her. I saw her -coming across the garden to the pavilion. She was composed now and -cheerful; she led one of my girls by the hand, and was telling her a -story, I fancy, in which the child seemed uncommonly interested. - -Houlot was standing leaning against the mantelpiece with his back to -the doorway, and under his arm his stick, which he was rubbing with the -point of his hook, as was his custom when vexed. I saw Mrs Collingwood -coming in at the doorway—door and windows were wide open. All of a -sudden her face whitened all over, and she tottered backwards. I ran -to her assistance; but when I reached the garden, she had already -disappeared within the house. - -‘Am I a hobgoblin, that I frighten people?’ said Houlot savagely, -coming to the door. ‘Where’s that woman who ran away?’ - -I made no reply; and he went on rubbing his stick with the iron hook, -apparently in a very evil temper. - -‘I want that money particularly. I want to go to England and expose -this Collingwood Dawson, to strip him of his borrowed plumes, and shew -the British public what a daw this fellow is whom they admire. Come; -give me this five pounds, and let me go.’ - -‘I can’t say anything more to you just now,’ I replied. ‘I will let you -know to-morrow.’ - -‘That will lose me two days; I want to start to-morrow.’ - -‘I can’t help it. I can’t let you have the money now.’ - -Houlot saw that I was in some flurry and confusion, and thought -probably that I was afraid of him, and that by bullying me a little he -should get what he wanted. - -‘Come now!’ he cried; ‘go and get me that money. I know what I know, -and I am not to be stopped for a paltry five-pound note.’ - -My reply was to shew him the door. He scowled at me, fingered his stick -as if he had a mind to hit me, thought better of it seemingly, and went -out growling inarticulately. - -‘Where is he, that man?’ cried Mrs Collingwood meeting me in the -doorway of the house, looking quite livid with fear. ‘What do you know -of him? Where does he come from?’ - -‘He is your correspondent, the author of your plots.’ - -‘Ah, then is he my husband!’ she cried in a voice that, though low and -subdued, was full of anguish. ‘What a wretched being am I, to have seen -him!’ - -‘It would have been worse still had he seen you,’ I muttered. ‘Come, -Mrs Collingwood—come into the garden, into the open air; you will be -better there. Take my arm; keep up your heart; all will be well yet.’ - -‘Where is he? where is he?’ was all she could say. - -‘He is gone; you are quite safe.’ - -We began to pace up and down the garden together, she wringing her -hands and writhing with pain and emotion. - -‘Do consider,’ I said, ‘that he has kept out of the way all these -years, and that he is not likely to trouble you now.’ - -‘Oh! I can’t bear to think. The children—poor Charlie, what will become -of us all?’ - -‘The children will take no harm,’ I said, ‘if you act prudently. All -will be well; and your late husband is out of the reach of any trouble.’ - -‘Ah yes, poor Charlie! I wish I had died with him. Even now he may be -reproaching me! How dreadful, dreadful it all is!’ - -I could not give her much consolation; for besides these troubles of -the heart, other and less manageable difficulties I saw were impending. - -At the first blush it was impossible to say what would become of us all -in this imbroglio. Certainly if any one were entitled to be considered -Collingwood Dawson, it was the man who had originated the works by -which he had obtained his fame. On the other hand, he would never have -had any success himself. No publisher would have looked twice at books -which were so violent and coarse. All the labour and pains that had -been taken in bringing his writings into an acceptable form, were they -to go for nothing? And was it to be allowed that a man who had thrown -off all ties and abandoned his place in the world, should resume them -when other people had made them worth possessing? It seemed not; and -yet the law would be on his side. - -There was only one consoling feature in the position—the man had no -money. He could not move without that; and if he had been able to -obtain it from any other source, he would hardly have come to borrow -from a stranger; but this was a very frail barrier after all. He might, -if he were determined to get back to England, find his way to the -nearest port, and get passed home by the consul as a distressed British -subject. Why he had not gone over to England when he first discovered -the use that had been made of his talents, was probably because he -waited to complete some work he had in hand, which might serve as an -introduction to the publishers, and a sort of voucher for his claim. - -Was there, however, no possibility of mistake? Was it perfectly -certain that this was the missing husband? Mrs Collingwood had no hope -that there was any error. She knew him perfectly. It was impossible -that there should be two such people in the world together, identical -in mind and in person. That his handwriting had so completely changed, -seemed to her unaccountable; but it did not move her faith in his -identity. And an explanation was soon found for this; for he had lost -his right hand since his flight, and consequently wrote with his left. - -I said just now that I could give Mrs Collingwood no comfort; but there -was one thing that bound us all together and insured sympathy between -us: we were so to speak all in the same boat. Our livelihood depended -upon keeping up the integrity of Collingwood Dawson. - - - - -A MOORLAND WEDDING. - - -It was in the month of June last year, when the days were about their -longest, that the scattered dwellers in the upland parish of L—— were -excited by the intimation of a marriage in one of their glens. Among a -sparse population an event of this sort necessarily happens but rarely, -and as a consequence when it does happen it comes attended by much more -‘pomp and circumstance’ than would otherwise accompany it. As an angel -sent by some gracious fate, it stirs the stagnant pool of existence, -and revives hearts that may have drooped through dreary days of -solitude. The people who have participated in it are livelier in their -talk and wear a blither aspect for days and weeks afterwards. - -A breeze was blowing through the bright June sunlight, and the shadows -of a few clouds were moving quietly across the hills, when about -three o’clock in the afternoon I set out on foot for the scene of the -marriage that has been referred to. The point from which I started lay -upon the highest tract of cultivated land at the head of a prettily -wooded valley, and I had to walk seven miles by mountain-side and glen -before reaching the cottage that was my destination. For the first -portion of the way there is an excellent cart-road—excellent for a -hill-country whose pastoral-bred pedestrians do not greatly need roads; -but after some three miles have been got over the traveller finds -himself almost literally at large among the mountains, with but a -feeble indication of a foot-track along the brow of a deep ravine, and -a mountain stream below. - -Continuing my course, the glen began to expand again, and its slopes to -lose their covering of brushwood. A strip of level verdure, broadening -as I ascended, stretched on each side of the water; and after following -several windings of the stream without any change in the character of -its banks, the moorland cottage that I was in search of lay before me. - -The first thing I observed was an animated crowd of people streaming -out of the door two and two, and setting off for an elevation that -stood some distance to the right. On arriving at the cottage I learned -that these were the bride’s people gone to meet the party of the -bridegroom, and to take part in ‘running the broose,’ which is a -foot-race among the young lads for the bride’s-maid’s handkerchief. -Herself the goal, the bride’s-maid, fluttering in white and scarlet, -had ascended to a knoll before the cottage, and some time afterwards -held up a silk handkerchief to the eyes of the expectant runners. - -I fancy there are few spectacles that produce in one’s mind a stronger -sense of savage freedom than that of civilised human beings let -loose, coatless, vestless, bonnetless, to race among the hills. In -less than two minutes from their starting on the homeward race they -had sunk out of view at the foot of the highest hill, and when they -hailed in sight again, they were much more widely scattered than at -the beginning. Two or three in the rear had already dropped out of the -race; but those in the front seemed to be still running with energy -and determination. Once or twice again we lost them in the hollows, -and each time they reappeared we could notice that their number was -gradually getting smaller; so that by the time the leader swept across -the stream in front of us, all other competitors had given up the -contest as hopeless. A cheer broke forth as he struggled up the knoll -panting and bemired to clutch the coveted prize, which, with similar -ones thus gained, I find it is a great ambition among the young men in -some districts to accumulate. The winner of the ‘broose’ was a tall -and finely formed youth of fair complexion; with clear blue eyes and -well-cut features. - -As soon as the stragglers had come forward, followed by the bridegroom -and his man, amid tremendous cheering, the marriage ceremony was -proceeded with in the kitchen. It was a long low-roofed apartment, -with innumerable shoulders of mutton in all the stages towards ham, -depending from the rafters. The bride was led out of an anteroom, -resting on her father’s arm. He was a rather oldish man, with the -history of a good many troubles plainly written upon his face. The -bride was a broad-shouldered, brown-visaged, and gray-eyed maiden -of about four-and-twenty; and her future husband, a loose-limbed, -amiable-looking youth in a lavender necktie and fiery red hair, -looked possibly a year or two younger. The service was performed by a -Presbyterian clergyman, and was accordingly a short one. Immediately -it was over there was a multitudinous shaking of hands with the happy -couple. It was interesting to note the various phraseologies in which -the numerous guests severally expressed their good wishes; all the -degrees of feelings from that of ordinary regard to the most ebullient -affection, being apparently represented. - -While this process was going forward, the mother of the bride, a -sallow-faced person with kindly black eyes, and gray hair smoothed -neatly across her brow, took up a position by the fire to advance -arrangements for the tea. You could see that the good woman was greatly -excited and confused. Probably she had never had so many people under -her humble roof before; and there were ‘grand folk’ among them too, -the surrounding farmers and their families, for whose (comparatively) -delicate palates she was quite unaccustomed to prepare food. Every -now and then while proceeding with her duties, she would catch up -the corner of her ample white apron, and wiping the perspiration -from her forehead, would draw a long sigh, as of sadness or fatigue. -The movements of the company around her seemed to attract her but -little; all the evening she wore a preoccupied expression, and it was -evident that she had within her mind a picture of her own, on which -her thoughts were dwelling. But what the scene was that was calling -her away from the merriment of the hour I possessed no means of -ascertaining; and the reader is at liberty to fill up this blank in the -narrative as best delights his fancy. - - * * * * * - -A portion of the company now seated itself at a heavily laden tea-table -that was laid out in an adjoining chamber; and here let me remark -that as Scottish weddings are celebrated in the afternoon or evening, -the entertainment known by the English as the déjeûner, is unknown -to their northern neighbours. But there are few such teas served in -cities or even in Lowland dwellings as had been that night prepared for -us. The result of a good week’s labour of several women in carrying, -boiling, and baking, seemed to be placed upon the board. Let the reader -remember that it was in Scotland that this wedding took place, and he -will appreciate the bill of fare the better. It was by no means a much -varied one, but the several articles had been provided in unlimited -supply. Fresh baked scones lined each side of the table in castellated -rows; platefuls of dark-coloured ‘braxy’ ham, cut from the mutton that -hung on the rafters, stood in between them, with here and there a pile -of thick cut, deeply buttered bread. There were also buns, ‘cookies,’ -biscuits, and gimcracks, that must have been carried painfully over -miles of moorland; and raised majestically at the head of the table was -a little white bride-cake surmounted by a solitary flag. - -When the company had crushed themselves into seats around the -table, and were just going to operate upon the braxy, a big-boned, -bleached-looking old man was furtively led on to the end of a bench -that had been placed near the door. I soon discovered that, after the -minister, this was for the time being the most important of the invited -assembly. He was in fact no less a personage than the fiddler, and -was, as he ought to have been, in keeping with the character of the -traditionary musician, almost stone-blind. This Demodocus had been led -hither from his dwelling five miles over the hills by a little boy, -his grandson, who had fair hair, and wore faded velvet and corduroys. -The heartiness with which the veteran musician laid in a store of -victual against the labour of a long night’s fiddling, was a most -refreshing sight. He was a long-faced, heavy-jawed man, and had rusty -gray hair that fell unkempt upon a much worn velvet collar. A large -scarlet cotton handkerchief was twisted carelessly about his neck, -and came down in a loose fold upon his breast. He wore an aspect of -silent passive misfortune; and as you looked at him it was difficult to -imagine music dwelling in his soul, how much soever it might dwell in -his fiddle. - -As soon as the tea was ended, or rather this first instalment of it, -he was guided to an elevated seat that had been prepared for him in a -corner of the kitchen, where he began scraping and preluding with his -fiddle. To many of the lads and lasses this was the first intimation of -the musician’s presence; and it was the signal for a little preliminary -coquetry with the eyes, while it lit up their honest faces with blushes -and expectant smiles. - -A Scottish wedding without a dance is next door to no wedding at all, -so little time was lost in stepping to the floor. There were Scotch -reels, country-dances, and polkas, and now and then a quadrille was -decorously walked through by the two or three young farmers and their -sweethearts. But unquestionably the Scotch reel was the favourite, and -maintained the precedence throughout the whole of the entertainment. -As most readers doubtless know, this is a lively and stirring dance, -that permits a good deal of jumping and stamping, and is admirably -adapted to the social requirements of a warm-hearted and excitable -people. Whether its popularity in Scotland has anything to do with the -Celtic origin of the inhabitants, I do not take upon me to suggest; -but certain it is, that after seeing it performed, as on the present -occasion, with all the vivacity that belongs to it, you would not -think of associating it with a grave and solemn-minded race. To the -uninitiated onlooker it is nothing but an indistinguishable confusion; -in which he may observe that there is a great deal of bobbing with the -head and shuffling with the feet, and that it is in nowise adapted to -a staid person of fashion. Nevertheless it stood in high favour on -the present occasion, and seemed to please abundantly the agile young -persons who performed in it. What matter to them though it should be -unfashionable! They had come to this wedding to enjoy themselves; and -much as the horrid crew in ‘Alloway’s auld haunted kirk’ despised -foreign cotillons, so did these children of hills and valleys stick to -their native reels and country-dances. - -After a time, when the music had begun to work in his soul, and he had -been set athinking upon ‘the brave days of old,’ you would notice a -reverend senior bravely leading out some gay and handsome maiden, and -challenging another gray-headed veteran to face him in the dance. These -exhibitions of pluck and spirit in the fathers uniformly evoked hearty -plaudits from the company; and some one would call out to ‘Archie’ the -fiddler, ‘to put his best foot foremost this time.’ Archie had by this -time got worked into a state of considerable energy and enthusiasm, and -was in some respects quite a different character from that of two hours -ago at the tea-table. The colour had travelled back to his old withered -cheek, and his features looked a deal more soft and flexible; his -face and form seemed much more indicative of life; youth seemed to be -coming back to him at the call of his own fiddle. It was interesting to -observe as he became enthusiastic in his fiddling, how sympathetic was -his every motion. How his rickety old legs crossed and bobbed up and -down; the body in a tremble, and constant movement in the shoulders; -while the head was perpetual motion, now hanging down upon his breast, -now erect and turning on its socket, now thrown backwards, and such -eyes as were in it—poor ‘ruined orbs’—directed restlessly towards the -ceiling. Archie’s _tout ensemble_ was a visible embodiment of the -doctrine that music incites to motion. - - Music has charms to _stir_ the savage breast - -no less than to ‘soothe’ it. Now and then the dancers would cease a -while, and seated in benches round the room, would listen in silence to -a song. A broad-faced, dull-eyed, young shepherd, with more energy than -finish, sang _My Hielan’ Hills_, and a dark pawky little man recited -out of a corner very slyly, _Rabbin Tamson’s Smiddy_. _The Laird o’ -Cockpen_, _Why Left I my Hame?_ and _Willie brewed a Peck o’ Maut_, -were also given; the last named being received with great enthusiasm. -There was little culpable indulgence in whisky that I observed. This -may have been owing to the judicious arrangements of the host for -refreshing his guests during the evening with the national ‘toddy’ -instead of the more potent undiluted spirit. Several times a tray was -handed round, bearing piles of bread-and-cheese, and a large jug full -of the resuscitating beverage; and though the latter in some cases was -a little freely partaken of, there was no unseemly manifestation of its -effects. - -And thus, through the warm hours of that summer’s night, with lonely -hills listening in their dreams, the wedding festival of the shepherd’s -daughter glided merrily along. The sun had been already near two hours -climbing up the east, and the pale morning light had once more shot -its rays into many a glen and hollow, when these mountain merry-makers -ceased their saturnalia. The evening before, they had assembled for -the feast trim, fresh, rosy, and buoyant; and when the ‘garish day’ -sent his mocking light through the narrow window-panes and shone upon -the forms of the dancers, they looked rosy and buoyant still. The -smoothness had departed from their hair and the aspect of freshness -from their garments; frills and ribbons had been dragged awry; but -the colour was as fresh in their cheeks, and their eyes were quite as -lustrous as when eight hours before they had stamped and bobbed and -‘_hooch’d_’ through their first Scotch reel. The most of them would -tramp their half-dozen miles and more back over the hills, and go -through the usual labours of the day with hardly a symptom of fatigue. - -When all had come out of the cottage, and immediately before the -separation, about three-fourths of the party congregating on the -little knoll before the door where the bride’s-maid had stood with -the handkerchief on the previous evening, sent forth a long-drawn, -far-reverberating cheer. Then followed a tumultuous shaking of hands, -with many a kindly spoken farewell; and then finally they departed, -each group on its own path, for their wide-scattered farms and -cottages. Some days would pass during which the memory of the wedding -would be continually in their thoughts, forming a mental picture that -gave them solace in the midst of outward dreariness. But gradually the -lines of the picture would lose their vividness, and it would be less -frequently recurred to by the fancy, less fervently yearned after by -the heart. Emotions that had been stirred by that night’s entertainment -would after a while subside again; the old duties would present -themselves anew, calling for the old labour and attention; and harmony -would be again established between the inward life and the outward -circumstances. - -The newly married couple had arranged to stay at the cottage till the -afternoon, and then to set out for their future home, which lay in the -adjoining parish, and about ten miles away. That parish in its whole -extent was high-lying and pastoral; and therefore the dwelling to which -they were going would be in every way as lonely as the one from which -they were departing. From what I had noticed of the bride’s mother, she -would undoubtedly feel melancholy over the losing of her daughter, -the last that had remained with her out of five; and I can think of -her that afternoon, when the two young people had left her, slipping -out to the door, and having shaded her eyes with her hand, taking a -far look at them as they passed out of her sight among the hills. -Then she would walk pensively back into her now dull-looking kitchen, -and perhaps ponder with some sadness about becoming old. The bride -and bridegroom would arrive at their abode in the gray hours of the -evening, where some relative would be waiting to receive them. It would -be such another cottage as the one we have been visiting; and there, in -the wide wilderness, untamed nature on every side of them, they would -settle down to await the domesticities that fate might send. - -Is there not something almost awe-striking in the thought of civilised -human beings settling down to face perhaps half a century of life in -solitudes like these, all unconscious of the mighty pulse-beats of the -world they dwell in? It is to be presumed that this red-haired Briton -who has just led home his bride across ten miles of moorland, possesses -a fair share of practical energy and some fragments of intellect; he -has the faculty of loving his fellow-men and of gaining happiness, -perhaps also wisdom, from hours of bright social intercourse. If he -were now planted amid stimulating circumstances, a fine moral nature -might possibly be developed by the time his years were through. But -immured in this mountain fastness, away from human din, his mind will -probably never be unfolded to the least self-conscious effort; and he -will leave life at seventy little advanced in intellectual attainment -on what he was at twenty-five. For although Nature is an open book, -teeming over with wise and great lessons, it is only after toiling -through initiatory stages of culture that we can intelligently read -her book, or even believe that it exists. The unlettered shepherd -nestling in her shaggy bosom, unless she has gifted him with genius, -rarely dreams of the truths that she is symbolically publishing around -him. And I think of the future life of him whose marriage we have -been celebrating as something far different from that of a home-bred -philosopher or poet. Performing his simple pastoral duties with honesty -of purpose, I can still imagine his life to be monotonous, irksome, -and stagnant; having in it many hours of idleness unillumined by -neighbourly greetings or the mystic gleams of intelligent research. -As he goes his rounds in summer-time, he will see the wide stillness -of morning upon the hills; in winter he will have to battle with the -fury of the storm. The gloaming will find him cultivating an unfruitful -garden, or gathering hay out of morasses for his cow, or sitting over -his peat-fire knitting homespun stockings or reading legends of the -Covenanters. Now and then a distant neighbour, leading a life as lonely -as himself, or some wandering angler, will drop in upon him, and be -treated to a hospitable meal. But he will hardly see another face the -whole year through, except perchance on Sunday—until the ‘clipping’ -season comes round, when he will be called away, now in one direction -now in another, to days of social labour. - -Some day, let us hope, a wee body will appear upon his hearth—his own -offspring, to be loved, nourished, and instructed; and then probably -there will come another and another till a considerable family is -grouped around him. The care and training of these children will be -a kind of education to himself. The nursing of them will not fail to -develop the womanliness of the wife. Let us hope that she may have -much of a mother’s happiness and little of a mother’s sorrow, and -that rosy health will be ever upon her hearth! May her boys grow up -broad-shouldered and manly; may her girls be handsome, modest, and -fair; and some day or other, a quarter of a century hence, may there -be another moorland wedding, when those of us who have assisted at the -present one, fiddler and dancers, writer and readers, shall be wearing -away or perhaps gathered to ‘the land o’ the leal.’ - - - - -EGG-CULTURE. - - -Why do we import seven or eight hundred million eggs every year, and -pay two millions and a half sterling for them? The answer is, that -the demand for eggs is steadily increasing, while the home produce is -either lessening or stationary in amount. - -Why the home supply does not advance with the increase of demand, is a -question that calls for a little attention to the commercial aspects of -farming. So many small holdings have been absorbed by large farms, that -many a cottage housewife has been withdrawn from rural life who would -otherwise have reared cottage poultry; neither the allotment-holder nor -the artisan has range and space enough for rearing eggs to advantage. - -In a trade journal called _The Grocer_, in which much information -concerning the provision trades is given, the following remarks occur: -‘If a due attention to details were given in this country, the stock of -fowls which roam about the farmyard and gather corn from the thrashing, -instead of being a mere adjunct and perquisite of the servants, would -return sufficient to discharge the rental of many a small holding. -Such, we have understood, has been the case where the experiment has -been fairly tried; and once this becomes an established notion, our -own supplies will increase in a greater ratio than they do at present. -According to a competent authority, at this time—what with improved -native and imported varieties—we possess the best stock of egg-layers -in the world. In no country is the management of our best poultry-yards -excelled. These should serve as a model for the rest; to bring up the -wholesale results to their true national importance, all we require is -an extension of the taste for poultry-farming amongst those who earn -their living on the land.’ - -The real new-laid eggs of home produce are comparatively few. Their -excellence is best appreciated by obtaining them at country farmhouses. -The small farmers who do not take nor send their eggs to open market -sell them to country shopkeepers, or barter them for other commodities. -Many cottagers contrive to keep a few fowls; and where there is no pig, -these fowls act as scavengers, consuming the scraps of the family, the -outside cabbage-leaves, peelings of boiled potatoes, &c.; if the fowls -are supplied with a little corn, they will lay a good many eggs. This -desultory mode of leaving poultry to find their food as best they may -is, however, quite a mistake, and can never be adequately remunerative. -Fowls, to pay, must be well looked after, and systematically fed and -housed. - -Ireland used to supply England with a considerable number of eggs, and -perhaps may continue so to do; but statistical details of the trade -between the two portions of the United Kingdom are not now published. -About thirty years ago, fifty million eggs were annually shipped -from Dublin alone to London and Liverpool, value about a hundred and -twenty thousand pounds; the supply obtained from all Ireland very much -exceeded this amount. Mr Weld, in his description of Roscommon about -that period, noticed some of the features of the egg-trade in the -rural districts of Ireland: ‘The eggs are collected from the cottages -for several miles round by runners, boys nine years old and upwards, -each of whom has a regular beat which he goes over daily, bearing back -the produce of his toil carefully stored in a small hand-basket. I -have frequently met with these boys on their rounds; and the caution -necessary for bringing their brittle ware with safety seemed to have -communicated an air of business and steadiness to their manner unusual -to the ordinary volatile habits of children in Ireland.’ - -But as we have said, a large supply from abroad has become a necessity; -and the characteristics of this supply are worth knowing; because they -shew that the trade can be conducted profitably without having recourse -to artificial incubation or hatching—a system which has at times had -many advocates in England. - -The importation of French eggs into this country has increased in an -almost incredible degree, owing in part to the facilities afforded by -the commercial treaty between England and France. It has risen from -about a hundred and fifty million to six or seven hundred million eggs -annually, since the year 1860; while the value per thousand has also -increased, until at length our importers pay at least two millions -and a half sterling for the yearly import. The eggs are brought over -chiefly in steamers, and landed at Southampton, Folkestone, Arundel, -Newhaven, and Shoreham. - -The egg-culture in France is almost exclusively confined to small -farmers, who carry it on in a vigorous and commercial spirit, chiefly -in Burgundy, Normandy, and Picardy. Every village has its weekly -market, to which farmers and their wives bring their produce, in -preference to selling at the farmyard to itinerant dealers. A merchant -will sometimes buy twenty thousand eggs at one market; he takes them -to his warehouse, where they are sorted and packed, and possibly sent -off the same day to Paris or to London. According to the conditions -required by the buyers, the eggs are sometimes counted, sometimes -‘sized’ by passing them through a ring, sometimes bought in bulk. In -many of the north-west districts of France, poultry villages send -almost their whole supply of eggs to England, from Calais, Cherbourg, -and Honfleur, packed in cases containing from six hundred to twelve -hundred each. Nearly all continental countries producing sufficient -eggs for their own supply, the export from France is almost entirely to -England. It is found that the buckwheat districts are those in which -most eggs are reared—possibly a useful hint to English rearers. - -The production of eggs for market is one thing, and the hatching -of them another. We do not here go into the question of hatching, -though much that is interesting could be written on the subject. It -is enough to say that all the ingenious plans that have been set on -foot for the artificial hatching and rearing of poultry have broken -down through the costliness of the arrangements and management. Those -who have tried any of these plans have arrived at the conclusion that -both eggs and poultry can only be produced on a cheap scale by farmers -or cottagers. And this opinion stands to reason. About farmyards and -cottages in rural districts, hens can pick up food that would otherwise -be wasted. Besides, let it be kept in mind, that hens like to roam -about scratching for seeds, worms, and particles of lime to furnish -material out of which the shells of their eggs are formed. If kept in -confinement, exceeding care is required to supply the creatures with -such requisites as their maternal instincts seem to require. What we -suggest is, that cottagers, farmers, and others possessing sufficient -scope for keeping poultry, should go far more largely into the business -of egg-culture than they do at present. Why should they allow the -great egg-supply for this country to be in the hands of others? The -answer, we fear, is, that our farming classes generally look down -contemptuously on the supplying of eggs for market. It is too small an -affair to invite consideration. Small! Two millions and a half of money -annually carried off by the French. Is that a trade to be treated with -indifference? - -We hear much of women’s work, and of how young ladies should employ -themselves. Here is something, at all events, for farmers’ wives and -daughters to set their face to without the slightest derogation of rank -or character. Let them take up in real earnest the culture of fowls, if -only for the sake of the eggs which on a great and remunerative scale -may be produced. Those farmers’ wives who already appropriate part of -their leisure to this occupation deserve all honour; and we honour them -accordingly. - - - - -LINES - -TO A YOUNG LADY ON HER BIRTHDAY. - -BY J. PITMAN (WHO DIED 1825). - - - Encircled thus by those you love, - May each successive Birthday prove - A source of new delight, nor cast - A single shade upon the past. - - Thus ever may thy placid brow - And playful smile bespeak, as now - The peace that cheers thy gentle breast, - And bids thee still in hope be blest. - - And thus may each revolving year - Still leave thy cheek without a tear; - Still Virtue strew thy flowery way - With sweets that never know decay. - - * * * * * - -Printed and Published by W. & R. 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You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll -have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using -this ebook. - - - -Title: Chambers's Journal of Popular Literature, Science, and Art, No. 743, March 23, 1878 - -Author: Various - -Editor: William Chambers - Robert Chambers - -Release Date: August 7, 2020 [EBook #62863] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHAMBER'S JOURNAL *** - - - - -Produced by Susan Skinner and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net - - - - - - -</pre> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_177"></a>{177}</span></p> - -<h1>CHAMBERS’S JOURNAL<br /> -OF<br /> -POPULAR<br /> -LITERATURE, SCIENCE, AND ART.</h1> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="nobreak" >CONTENTS</h2> -</div> - -<p class='center'> - -<!-- Autogenerated TOC. Modify or delete as required. --> - -<a href="#TOBY">TOBY.</a><br /> -<a href="#HELENA_LADY_HARROGATE">HELENA, LADY HARROGATE.</a><br /> -<a href="#CURIOUS_RESEARCHES_INTO_HUMAN">CURIOUS RESEARCHES INTO HUMAN CHARACTER.</a><br /> -<a href="#MONSIEUR_HOULOT">MONSIEUR HOULOT.</a><br /> -<a href="#A_MOORLAND_WEDDING">A MOORLAND WEDDING.</a><br /> -<a href="#EGG-CULTURE">EGG-CULTURE.</a><br /> -<a href="#LINES">LINES TO A YOUNG LADY ON HER BIRTHDAY.</a><br /> - -<!-- End Autogenerated TOC. --> - -</p> - -<hr class="full" /> - - -<div class="figcenter illowp100" id="header" style="max-width: 37.5em;"> - <img class="w100" src="images/header.png" alt="Chambers’s Journal of Popular Literature, Science, -and Art. Fourth Series. Conducted by William and Robert Chambers." /> -</div> - -<hr class="full" /> -<div class="center"> -<div class="header"> -<p class="floatl"><span class="smcap">No. 743.</span></p> -<p class="floatr"><span class="smcap">Price</span> 1½<em>d.</em></p> -<p class="floatc">SATURDAY, MARCH 23, 1878.</p> -</div></div> - -<hr class="full" /> - - - - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="TOBY">TOBY.</h2> -</div> - - -<p><span class="smcap">Toby</span> was a sheep of middling size, lightly built, -finely limbed, as agile as a deer, with dark -intelligent gazelle-like eyes, and a small pair of -neatly curled horns, with the points protruding -about an inch from his forehead. His colour -was white except on the face, which was slightly -darker.</p> - -<p>As an old sailor I wish to say something of -Toby’s history. I was on board the good brig -<i>Reliance</i> of Arbroath, bound from Cork to Galatz, -on the left bank of the Danube. All went well -with the little ship until she reached the Grecian -Archipelago, and here she was detained by adverse -winds and contrary currents, making the passage -through the islands both a dangerous and a difficult -one. When the mariners at length reached -Tenedos, it was found that the current from -the Dardanelles was running out like a mill-stream, -which made it impossible to proceed; and -accordingly the anchor was cast, the jolly-boat was -lowered, and the captain took the opportunity of -going on shore for fresh water, of which they -were scarce. Having filled his casks, it was only -natural for a sailor to long to treat himself to a -mess of fresh meat as well as water. He accordingly -strolled away through the little town; but -soon found that butchers were as yet unknown -in Tenedos. Presently, however, a man came up -with a sheep, which the captain at once purchased -for five shillings. This was Toby, with whom, his -casks of water, and a large basket of ripe fruit, the -skipper returned to his vessel. There happened -to be on board this ship a large and rather useless -half-bred Newfoundland. This dog was the very -first to receive the attentions of Master Toby, for -no sooner had he placed foot on the deck, than he -ran full tilt at the poor Newfoundland, hitting -him square on the ribs and banishing almost -every bit of breath from his body. ‘Only a sheep,’ -thought the dog, and flew at Toby at once. But -Toby was too nimble to be caught, and he planted -his blows with such force and precision, that at last -the poor dog was fain to take to his heels, howling -with pain, and closely pursued by Toby. The dog -only escaped by getting out on to the bowsprit, -where of course Toby could not follow, but quietly -lay down in a safe place to wait and watch for -him.</p> - -<p>This first adventure shewed that Toby was no -ordinary sheep. How he had been trained to -act an independent part no one could tell. His -education, certainly, had not been neglected. That -same evening the captain was strolling on the -quarter-deck eating a bunch of grapes, when Toby -came up to him, and standing on one end, -planted his fore-feet on his shoulders, and looked -into his face, as much as to say: ‘I’ll have some -of those, please.’</p> - -<p>And he was not disappointed, for the captain -amicably went shares with Toby. Toby appeared -so grateful for even little favours, and so attached -to his new master, that Captain Brown had not -the heart to kill him. He would rather, he -thought, go without fresh meat all his life. So -Toby was installed as ship’s pet. Ill-fared it then -with the poor Newfoundland; he was so battered -and cowed, that for dear life’s sake he dared not -leave his kennel even to take his food. It was -determined, therefore, to put an end to the poor -fellow’s misery, and he was accordingly shot. -This may seem cruel, but it was kind in the -main.</p> - -<p>Now there was on board the <i>Reliance</i> an old -Irish cook. One morning soon after the arrival of -Toby, Paddy, who had a round bald pate, be it -remembered, was bending down over a wooden -platter cleaning the vegetables for dinner, when -Toby took the liberty of insinuating his woolly -nose to help himself. The cook naturally enough -struck Toby on the snout with the flat of the -knife and went on with his work. Toby backed -astern at once; a blow he never could and never -did receive without taking vengeance. Besides, he -imagined, no doubt, that holding down his bald -head as he did, the cook was desirous of trying the -strength of their respective skulls. When he had -backed astern sufficiently for his purpose, Toby -gave a spring: the two heads came into violent<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_178"></a>{178}</span> -collision, and down rolled poor Paddy on the deck. -Then Toby coolly finished all the vegetables, and -walked off as if nothing had happened out of the -usual.</p> - -<p>Toby’s hatred of the whole canine race was -invincible. One day when the captain and his pet -were taking their usual walk on the promenade, -there came on shore the skipper of a Falmouth -ship, accompanied by a very large formidable-looking -dog. And the dog only resembled his master, -as you observe dogs usually do. As soon as he -saw Toby he commenced to set his dog upon him; -but Toby had seen him coming and was quite <i>en -garde</i>; so a long and fierce battle ensued, in which -Toby was slightly wounded and the dog’s head -was severely cut. Quite a multitude had assembled -to witness the fight, and the ships’ riggings -were alive with sailors. At one time the brutal -owner of the dog, seeing his pet getting worsted, -attempted to assist him; but the crowd would have -pitched him neck and crop into the river, had he -not desisted. At last both dog and sheep were -exhausted, and drew off, as if by mutual consent. -The dog seated himself close to the outer edge of -the platform, which was about three feet higher -than the river’s bank, and Toby went, as he was -wont to do, and stood between his master’s legs, -resting his head fondly on the captain’s clasped -hands, but never took his eyes off the foe. Just -then a dog on board one of the ships happened to -bark, and the Falmouth dog looked round. This -was Toby’s chance, and he did not miss it or his -enemy either. He was upon him like a bolt from -a catapult. One furious blow knocked the dog off -the platform, next moment Toby had leaped on top -of him, and was chasing the yelling animal towards -his own ship. There is no doubt Toby would -have crossed the plank and followed him on board, -had not his feet slipped and precipitated him into -the river. A few minutes afterwards, when Toby, -dripping with wet, returned to the platform to -look for his master, he was greeted with ringing -cheers; and many was the piastre spent in treating -our woolly friend to fruit. Toby was the hero of -Galatz from that hour; but the Falmouth dog -never ventured on shore again, and his master as -seldom as possible.</p> - -<p>On her downward voyage, when the vessel -reached Sulina, at the mouth of the river, it became -necessary to lighten her in order to get her -over the bar. This took some time, and Toby’s -master frequently had to go on shore; but Toby -himself was not permitted to accompany him, on -account of the filth and muddiness of the place. -When the captain wished to return he came down -to the river-side and hailed the ship to send a -boat. And poor Toby was always on the watch -for his master if no one else was. He used to -place his fore-feet on the bulwarks and bleat loudly -towards the shore, as much as to say: ‘I see you, -master, and you’ll have a boat in a brace of shakes.’ -Then if no one was on deck, Toby would at once -proceed to rouse all hands fore and aft. If the -mate Mr Gilbert pretended to be asleep on a -locker, he would fairly roll him off on to the deck.</p> - -<p>Toby was revengeful to a degree, and if any -one struck him, he would wait his chance, even if -for days, to pay him out with interest in his -own coin. He was at first very jealous of two -little pigs which were bought as companions to -him; but latterly he grew fond of them, and as -they soon got very fat, Toby used to roll them -along the deck like a couple of foot-balls. There -were two parties on board that Toby did not like, -or rather that he liked to annoy whenever he got -the chance, namely the cook and the cat. He -used to cheat the former and chase the latter on -every possible occasion. If his master took pussy -and sat down with him on his knee, Toby would -at once commence to strike it off with his head. -Finding that she was so soft and yielding that this -did not hurt her, he would then lift his fore-foot -and attempt to strike her down with that; failing -in that, he would bite viciously at her; and if the -captain laughed at him, then all Toby’s vengeance -would be wreaked on his master. But after a -little scene like this, the sheep would always -come and coax for forgiveness. Our hero was -taught a great many tricks, among others to -leap backward and forward through a life-buoy. -When his hay and fresh provisions went done, -Toby would eat pea-soup, invariably slobbering -all his face in so doing, and even pick a bone -like a dog. He was likewise very fond of boiled -rice, and his drink was water, although he preferred -porter and ale; but while allowing him a -reasonable quantity of beer, the captain never -encouraged him in the bad habit, the sailors -had taught him, of chewing tobacco.</p> - -<p>It is supposed that some animals have a prescience -of coming storms. Toby used to go -regularly to the bulwarks every night, and placing -his feet against them snuff all around him. If content, -he would go and lie down and fall fast asleep; -but it was a sure sign of bad weather coming -before morning when Toby kept wandering by -his master’s side and would not go to rest.</p> - -<p>One day Captain Brown was going up the steps -of the Custom-house, when he found that not only -Toby but Toby’s two pigs were following close at -his heels. He turned round to drive them all -back; but Toby never thought for a moment that -his master meant that <i>he</i> should return.</p> - -<p>‘It is these two awkward creatures of pigs,’ -thought Toby, ‘that master can’t bear the sight of.’</p> - -<p>So Toby went to work at once, and first rolled -one piggie down-stairs, then went up and rolled -the other piggie down-stairs; but the one piggie -always got to the top of the stair again by the -time his brother piggie was rolled down to the -bottom. Thinking that as far as appearances went, -Toby had his work cut out for the next half-hour, -his master entered the Custom-house. But Toby -and his friends soon found some more congenial -employment; and when Captain Brown returned, -he found them all together in an outer room, -dancing about with the remains of a new mat -about their necks, which they had just succeeded -in tearing to pieces.</p> - -<p>Their practical jokes cost the captain some -money one way or another.</p> - -<p>One day the three friends made a combined -attack on a woman, who was carrying a young pig -in a sack; this little pig happened to squeak, -when Toby and his pigs went to the rescue. They -tore the woman’s dress to atoms and delivered -the little pig. Toby was very much addicted to -describing the arc of a circle; that was all very -good when it was merely a fence he was flying -over, but when it happened that a window was -in the centre of the arc, then it came rather hard -on the captain’s pocket.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_179"></a>{179}</span></p> - -<p>In order to enable him to pick up a little after -his long voyage, Toby was sent to country lodgings -at a farmer’s. But barely a week had elapsed -when the farmer sent him back again with his -compliments, saying that he would not keep him -for his weight in gold. He led the farmer’s sheep -into all sorts of mischief that they had never -dreamed of before, and had defied the dogs, and -half-killed one or two of them.</p> - -<p>Toby returned like himself, for when he saw -his master in the distance he bleated aloud for -joy, and flew towards him like a wild thing, -dragging the poor boy in the mud behind him.</p> - -<p>Toby was taken on board a vessel which was -carrying out emigrants to New York, and was -constantly employed all day in driving the steerage -passengers off the quarter-deck. He never -hurt the children, however, but contented himself -by tumbling them along the deck and stealing -their bread and butter.</p> - -<p>From New York Toby went to St Stephens. -There a dog flew out and bit Captain Brown in the -leg. It was a dear bite, however, for the dog, for -Toby caught it in the act and hardly left life -enough in it to crawl away. At St Stephens Toby -was shorn, the weather being oppressively hot. -No greater insult could have been offered him. -His anger and chagrin were quite ludicrous to witness. -He examined himself a dozen times, and -every time he looked round and saw his naked -back he tried to run away from himself. But -when his master, highly amused at his antics, -attempted to add insult to injury, by pointing his -finger at him and laughing him to scorn, Toby’s -wrath knew no bounds, and he attacked the -captain on the spot. He managed, however, to -elude the blow, and Toby walked on shore in a -pet. Whether it was that he was ashamed of his -ridiculous appearance, or of attempting to strike -his kind master in anger, cannot be known, but -for three days and nights Toby never appeared, -and the captain was very wretched indeed. But -when he did return, he was so exceedingly penitent -and so loving and coaxing that he was forgiven -on the spot.</p> - -<p>When Toby arrived with his vessel in Queen’s -Dock, Liverpool, on a rainy morning, some nice -fresh hay was brought on board. This was a great -treat for our pet, and after he had eaten his fill, he -thought he could not do better than sleep among -it, which thought he immediately transmuted to -action, covering himself all up except the head. -By-and-by the owner of the ship came on board, -and taking a survey of things in general he spied -Toby’s head.</p> - -<p>‘Hollo!’ he said, ‘what’s that?’ striking Toby’s -nose with his umbrella. ‘Stuffed, isn’t it?’</p> - -<p>Stuffed or not stuffed, there was a body behind -it—as the owner soon knew to his cost—and -a spirit that never brooked a blow, for next -moment he found himself lying on his back with -his legs waggling in the air in the most expressive -manner, while Toby stood triumphantly over him -waiting to repeat the dose if required.</p> - -<p>The following anecdote shews Toby’s reasoning -powers. He was standing one day near the dockyard -foreman’s house, when the dinner bell rang, -and just at the same time a servant came out with -a piece of bread for Toby. Every day after this, -as soon as the same bell rang—‘That calls me,’ -said Toby to himself, and off he would trot to -the foreman’s door. If the door was not at once -opened he used to knock with his head; and he -would knock and knock again until the servant, -for peace-sake, presented him with a slice of bread.</p> - -<p>And now Toby’s tale draws near its close. -The owner never forgave that blow, and one day -coming by chance across the following entry in -the ship’s books, ‘Tenedos—to one sheep, 5s.,’ he -immediately claimed Toby as his rightful property. -It was all in vain that the captain begged hard for -his poor pet, and even offered ten times his -nominal value for him. The owner was deaf to all -entreaties and obdurate. So the two friends were -parted. Toby was sent a long way into the country -to Carnoustie, in Forfarshire, to amuse some of the -owner’s children, who were at school there. But -the sequel shews how very deeply and dearly -even a sheep can love a kind-hearted master. -After the captain left him, poor Toby refused all -food and <i>died of grief in one week’s time</i>.</p> - -<p>‘I have had many pets,’ says Captain Brown, -‘but only one Toby.’</p> - - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="HELENA_LADY_HARROGATE">HELENA, LADY HARROGATE.</h2> -</div> - - -<h3>CHAPTER XVI.—LIFTS A CORNER OF THE MASK.</h3> - -<p><span class="smcap">Ruth Willis</span> bending forward, her gloved fingers -clasped upon the open letter that she held, and -her pale face on fire, as it were, with eager -passion, seemed sadly out of tune with the still -beauty of that silvan spot, where first the crystal -Start, freed from its moorland cradle, gushed forth -as a real river, although of puny dimensions, bearing -its watery tribute to the sea. Above, arched -the feathery larch, the slender hazel, and the -tapering ash. Branches of the mountain-ash projected -like the stone frettings of some medieval -belfrey. The clear sweet warble of mavis and -merle came throbbing softly to the ear from the -dim green heart of the summer woodlands. The -letter which she had purloined—the theft may -have been prompted by the impulse of the -moment, and it is charitable to hope that such -deeds were new to her—was now hers, to peruse -at her leisure. She read it then, did Ruth Willis, -again and again, slowly and deliberately, scanning -and weighing every word, as though she had been -a student of the cuneiform character, puzzling out -Babylonian tablets by the aid of vague and tentative -keys to the long-dead language of which they -bore the impress.</p> - -<p>The letter ran thus:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> -<p class="right"> -<span class="smcap mr4">8 Bond’s Chambers,</span><br /> -<span class="smcap">St Nicholas Poultney, London.</span><br /> -</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">Dear Sir Sykes</span>—It might be as well perhaps -that we should come to an understanding at once -respecting the business on which I spoke to you -at the <i>De Vere Arms</i> some days since. I do -not know whether you are aware that I hold -evidence substantiating the entire circumstances -of the case, which I could at any time reveal. -I will mention no names of place or person, -since this is unwelcome to you; but in return -for my consideration for your interests, and for -those whose prosperity and good name are <i>now</i> -knit up in yours, I consider myself to possess -a claim upon your confidence. I therefore permit -myself to think that as your legal adviser I -could conduct your affairs so that you should be -under no apprehension for the future, provided<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_180"></a>{180}</span> -always that the entire management (professionally) -of your estate and property should be placed in -my hands. This, after due consideration, I think -would be the most expedient manner of settling -matters for the advantage of all parties concerned.</p> - -<p>Trusting that you may see this arrangement in -the same light as myself, and that it may meet -with your approval, as the only means of arriving -at a definitive understanding, I shall await your -reply. I beg to remain, my dear sir, very obediently -and faithfully yours,</p> - -<p class="right"> -<span class="smcap">Enoch Wilkins</span>, <i>Solicitor</i>. -</p></div> - -<p>Such was the letter which Sir Sykes Denzil had -unguardedly left upon his library table; and it -may be admitted that a more impudent epistle has -rarely been addressed to a gentleman of equal -station to that of the proprietor of Carbery. It -was difficult at first sight to believe that a demand -so audacious in itself, and so offensively urged, -could be intended as anything else than a sorry -jest. Yet that the writer was quite in earnest, -nay more, that he felt himself assured of not -craving in vain for the coveted boon, was palpable -to so attentive a critic as was Ruth Willis.</p> - -<p>‘If any man had dared to write thus to me,’ she -said, slowly hissing out the words between her -half-shut teeth, ‘and I had filled the position held -by yonder pompous dolt, I would have—ay, given -him cause to repent it.’</p> - -<p>And the lurid light that glimmered in her dark -eyes, and the hardening of her shrewd pale face -until it seemed as though of chiselled marble -rather than sentient flesh, and the swift and sudden -gesture with which she raised and shook her -clenched hand, as though it held a dagger—these -signs were the revelation of a fierce and unscrupulous -nature, kept down by the pressure of circumstances, -but ready at pinch of need to flame forth, -as the hot lava bubbles and seethes beneath the -crust of cold ashes in which the vines of the -Italian peasant have struck root.</p> - -<p>Again and with deliberate care did the baronet’s -ward read the letter through. Then she refolded -it and replaced it in her pocket, and then consulted -her watch. Only a few minutes had as -yet elapsed since her escape—for it was little else—from -the mansion.</p> - -<p>‘I must not go back as yet,’ she said thoughtfully. -‘By this time the whole household will -be astir like a hive of angry bees, if, as is all -but certain, Sir Sykes has not had self-control -enough to keep his own counsel as to the loss -he has sustained. He should have burned this -choice epistle the moment he had made himself -master of its purport; but he is of that order -of men who treasure up the very proofs that -sooner or later overwhelm them with a weight -of silent evidence. Was it not the learned forger, -silver-tongued, plausible Dr Dodd, who was left -alone with the fatal document that brought him -to the gallows, alone in a room where a brisk -fire was blazing? One flash of mother-wit, one -motion of the hand, and nothing but a heap of -tinder would have remained to bear witness of -the fraud. But no! The doomed wretch waited -passive for the hangman’s fingers to adjust the -hempen noose about his miserable neck. So would -not I!’</p> - -<p>Again the girl glanced impatiently at her watch.</p> - -<p>‘How Time lags!’ she exclaimed petulantly, -as she marked the slow crawling of the thin black -minute-hand around the dial; ‘heeding nothing, -influenced by nothing, inexorable in his measured -pace. It is a pain to such as I am to be forced -to loiter here inactive, when there is a foe to -cope with, a peril to avert.’</p> - -<p>She said no more, but paced restlessly to and -fro along the river-bank, beneath the arching -boughs, with somewhat of the air and tread of -a caged panther wearing away the sullen hours -of captivity behind the restraining bars. Her -very step had in it somewhat of the litheness -which we notice in the movements of the savage, -and the working of her keen features told how -deeply her busy brain was pondering on the -events of the day. Ruth’s face, when once it -was withdrawn from the observation of others, -was a singularly expressive one. When she had -left the room wherein Jasper had fallen asleep -among his pillows, the countenance of Sir Sykes’s -ward had been eloquent with weariness and contempt. -Now it told of resentment restrained, -but only in part restrained, by a caution that was -rather of habit than of instinct.</p> - -<p>‘An hour more! yet an hour,’ said the girl -at length, again looking at her watch, and then -she stood leaning against the tough stem of a -quivering mountain-ash that almost overhung the -brawling torrent. She still kept in her left hand -the book which she had had with her when -entering the library at Carbery; but even had not -the volume been one which she had lately perused, -she was in no mood for reading. Manifestly her -mind was shaping out some desperate resolution.</p> - -<p>‘I will do it!’ she said at last, lifting her head -with a defiant glitter in her lustrous eyes; ‘before -I sleep it shall be written. I know and gauge -beforehand the risk of such a course; know too -that I am loosening my own grasp on the helm if -I invite another to aid me. But that is better -than to be foiled at the outset, and after weeks -spent in this self-schooling, and in the sickening -task of cajoling a shallow, knavish egotist, such as -the future Sir Jasper will be until his dying day. -Let those look to it who for their own schemes -venture to cross my path!’</p> - -<p>The hour, however slowly it might appear to -pass in the estimation of one whose nerves were -on fire with excitement, nevertheless did wear -itself out, and there was an end of waiting. -With tranquil step and unruffled brow, Sir Sykes’s -ward returned to her guardian’s house, to find, as -she had anticipated, confusion and dismay prevalent -there; the servants sullen or clamorous, the -baronet’s daughters distressed, and Sir Sykes himself -in a state of feverish suspicion, which almost -made him forget the traditions of good-breeding.</p> - -<p>‘Do you, Miss Willis, know anything of this?’ -he asked half rudely, the instant that he caught -sight of his ward.</p> - -<p>‘I—know of what?’ returned Ruth innocently, -as she lifted her eyes, with a startled look, to his.</p> - -<p>‘You forget, papa,’ said Lucy Denzil, almost -indignantly, ‘that Ruth has heard of nothing. -She was away from the house all the time.’</p> - -<p>‘Yes, yes; I beg pardon of course,’ exclaimed -the baronet reddening, but still fixing his eyes -searchingly on the placid face of his ward.</p> - -<p>The Indian orphan bore his scrutiny with an -admirable composure. Her lower lip trembled a -little, as was natural, when she turned towards<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_181"></a>{181}</span> -Lucy. ‘Pray do tell me,’ she said, ‘what has -happened? for it really does seem as though I -had been unfortunate enough to make Sir Sykes -angry with me.’</p> - -<p>‘Papa has lost a letter—a letter of importance,’ -said Lucy, blushing as she spoke; ‘and as the -servants deny all knowledge of it, and its loss’——</p> - -<p>‘Say theft, not loss!’ interrupted the baronet -with unwonted harshness. ‘I make no doubt that -the letter was stolen from my desk in the library, -on which I had left it for but some two minutes, -while I went to speak with my son in the White -Room. The French window nearest to the fireplace -was open, giving an easy means of entry, as -of egress, for the purloiner of this letter, who -must have been on the watch for an opportunity -of surprising my secrets—that is to say,’ stammered -Sir Sykes, who felt the imprudence of -these last words—‘of basely prying into my -private correspondence.’</p> - -<p>‘Are you quite, quite sure, papa dear,’ pleaded -Blanche, ‘that you left the letter there, instead of -bestowing it in some safe place for safe keeping, -which may afterwards have escaped your memory, -and will presently be recollected? Such things -have happened often and often, even to the most -methodical, and’——</p> - -<p>‘There, there, my girl!’ broke in the baronet -peevishly. ‘Have I not heard that argument -repeated <i>ad nauseam</i> by every man and maid -that I have questioned; and is it not the stock -answer to all inquiries after missing trinkets or -valuables unaccounted for? I grant that I can -prove nothing. If I could’——</p> - -<p>He did not complete the sentence, but crushing -down the wrath that almost choked his voice, -turned away. Nothing, at this unpleasant conjuncture, -could be in better taste, or more simple, -than Ruth’s demeanour. She began to cry. It -was the first time since the day of her arrival -that any one at Carbery had seen her in tears, and -now both Blanche and Lucy came kindly to kiss -her and console her with whispered entreaties to -excuse Sir Sykes for an indiscriminate anger -which there was much to palliate. But Ruth soon -dried her eyes, and going up to her guardian laid -her hand upon his arm and looked up timidly in -his face.</p> - -<p>‘Let me be useful,’ she said. ‘Let me help in -hunting high and low for this letter; pray, pray -do, dear Sir Sykes, you who have been so very, -very kind to me since I have been here.’</p> - -<p>Nothing could be prettier. And Sir Sykes, -though in his present irritable condition he actually -shuddered at her light touch upon his arm, -as though he had been in contact with a snake, -was compelled to say a word or two of apology.</p> - -<p>‘I am greatly annoyed,’ he said awkwardly, -‘and have been unjust and inhospitable, I fear, -and must ask you to forget my rudeness. I am -best alone.’</p> - -<p>Sir Sykes therefore withdrew, and for some -time was seen no more; while Jasper, who had -been an amused spectator of the turmoil, sauntered -back to the White Room, muttering as he went: -‘Lucky, rather, that this child had so perfect an -alibi, or the governor would have tried, convicted, -and sentenced his only son and heir as the light-fingered -captor of his lost property. A new sensation, -it strikes me, that of injured innocence. -And talking of that—how nicely Miss Ruth, be -she who she may, played her part—not one bit -overdone—it was perfect! We breathe here an -atmosphere of mystery; but it will be strange if, -when I am all right again, I do not make a push -to get at the governor’s secret, whatever it may -be.’</p> - -<p>The letter, it need hardly be said, remained -undiscovered by the volunteer searchers who -undertook the quest of it; but gradually the -indignant household became more calm, and the -general voice confirmed the comfortable opinion, -that Sir Sykes had unwittingly locked up the -missing document in some desk or drawer, whence -it would one day be satisfactorily extracted.</p> - - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CURIOUS_RESEARCHES_INTO_HUMAN">CURIOUS RESEARCHES INTO HUMAN -CHARACTER.</h2> -</div> - - -<p><span class="smcap">There</span> can be little doubt that the domain of -mental science is being invaded on more than one -side by the sciences which deal more especially -with the material world and with the physical -universe around us. When physiologists discovered -that the force or impulse which travels along a -nerve, which originates in the brain, and which -represents the transformation of thought into -action, is nearly allied to the electrical force—now -one of man’s most useful and obedient ministers—one -avenue to the domain of mind was opened up. -And when physiologists, through the aid of delicate -apparatus, were actually enabled to measure -the rate at which this nerve-force travels along the -nerve-fibres, it may again be said that physical -science was encroaching on the domain of mind, -being in a certain sense thus enabled to measure -the rapidity of thought.</p> - -<p>A study, exemplifying in a more than ordinary -degree the application of the methods of physical -science to the explanation of states of mind, -was brought under the notice of the members -of the British Association at the last meeting of -that body. In the department of Anthropology, -or the science investigating the physical and -mental constitution of the races of man, Mr -Francis Galton, as president of this section, -devoted his address to an exposition of the -classification or arrangement of groups of men, -according to their habits of mind, and their -physiognomy.</p> - -<p>Of the curious and absorbing nature of such a -study nothing need be said. Lavater’s method -of pursuing the study of character through the -investigation of the features of the human face -has long been known. But Lavater’s system is on -the whole much too loose and elementary to be -regarded as satisfactory by modern scientists, -whose repudiation of phrenology as a system -capable of explaining the exact disposition of -the brain functions, has unquestionably affected -Lavater’s method also. Mr Galton refers at -the outset of his address to the fact we have -already alluded to—namely, that physiologists have -determined the rate at which nerve-force, representing -a sensation or impulse of thought and -action, travels along the nerves. The common -phrase ‘as quick as thought’ is found to be by -no means so applicable as is generally supposed, -especially when it is discovered that thought or -nervous impulse, as compared with light or -electricity, appears as a veritable laggard. For -whilst light travels at the rate of many thou<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_182"></a>{182}</span>sands -of miles—about one hundred and eighty-six -thousand miles according to the latest researches—in -a second of time, nerve-force in man passes -along his nerves at a rate varying from one hundred -and ten or one hundred and twenty to two -hundred feet per second. Or, to use Mr Galton’s -words, nerve-force is ‘far from instantaneous’ in -its action, and has ‘indeed no higher velocity than -that of a railway express train.’</p> - -<p>As we could naturally suppose from a consideration -of this fact, small animals presenting us with -a limited distance for nerve-force to travel, will -avoid rapid blows and shift for themselves in the -struggle for existence at a much quicker rate than -large animals. Take two extreme cases in illustration -of this fact. A mouse hears a suspicious or -threatening sound, and at once, so to speak, accommodates -its actions and movements to its protection. -The ear of the mouse, as one of its -‘gateways of knowledge,’ is situated so close to the -brain that the interval which elapses between the -reception of the sound by the ear, or between its -transmission as an impulse to the brain and the -issue of a command or second impulse from the -brain to the muscles of the body for the purpose of -movement, is too short to be perfectly appreciated -by the observer. In a whale, on the contrary, -which may attain a length of eighty feet, a much -longer interval will elapse before action of body -follows on nervous impulse, seeing that the -nerve-impulse has a longer distance to travel. -Assuming that in such animals as the whales the -nerve-action travels at the rate of seventy or -eighty feet per second, it follows that in a -large whale which has been struck near the tail by -a harpoon, a second or so will elapse before the -impulse is transmitted to the brain, whilst another -second will pass before the second impulse is -sent from the brain to put the muscles of the -tail in action for the purpose of retaliating upon -the harpooner. In such a case it is assumed that -the brain of the animal will be the nervous centre -or station at which information is received, and -from which instructions are in turn telegraphed to -the various organs and parts of the body. In the -actual details of the case, however, it is probable -that the spinal marrow of the animal or some part -of it would act as the ‘head-office’ for receiving and -issuing commands. We know that a headless frog -will wipe off with one foot a drop of vinegar that -has been placed on the other, and in the absence -of the brain we thus assume that the spinal -cord may act as a nerve-centre.</p> - -<p>Doubtless the spinal marrow discharges this -function naturally; and in view of this latter -supposition, the interval between the reception of -a blow and the muscular actions of an animal -would be of less duration than in the case we have -just supposed, where the brain is regarded as the -central station of the nervous system. As an eminent -authority in physical science has remarked, -‘the interval required for the kindling of consciousness -would probably more than suffice for -the destruction of the brain by lightning, or even -by a rifle-bullet. Before the organ (that is, the -brain) can arrange itself, it may therefore be -destroyed, and in such a case we may safely conclude -that death is painless.’</p> - -<p>But confining ourselves to the domain of human -thought, it seems perfectly clear that the differences -between persons of different temperament are -in reality referable in great part to the varying rates -at which nervous impulses are transmitted through -the nerves, and to or from the brain. The difference -between a person of phlegmatic disposition -and a person of sanguine temperament, may thus -be properly enough referred to the varying rates -with which sensations and feelings are appreciated -and acted upon. Disposition or temperament thus -becomes referred, secondarily, to the manner in -which and aptitude with which nerves receive and -transmit impressions. Primarily, of course, we -must refer the exact causes of the quicker or -slower transmission of impulses to the constitution -of the individual who exhibits them.</p> - -<p>Mr Galton gives a very interesting example -of the differences to be observed between various -individuals in the respects just noted, by a reference -to a practice common amongst astronomers. -He says: ‘It is a well-known fact that different -observers make different estimates of the exact -moment of the occurrence of any event. There -is,’ he continues, ‘a common astronomical observation -in which the moment has to be recorded -at which a star that is travelling athwart the field -of view of a fixed telescope, crosses the fine -vertical wire by which that field of view is intersected. -In making this observation it is found -that some observers are over-sanguine and anticipate -the event, whilst others are sluggish, and -allow the event to pass by before they succeed -in noting it.’ This tendency of each individual -is clearly not the result either of inexperience or -carelessness, since, as astronomers well know, ‘it -is a persistent characteristic of each individual, -however practised in the art of making observations -or however attentive he may be.’ And so -accustomed indeed are astronomers to these differences -in observers, that a definite and standing -phrase—that of the ‘personal equation’—is used -in that science to express the difference between -the time of a man’s noting the event and that -of its actual occurrence. Every assistant in an -observatory has his ‘personal equation’ duly -ascertained, and has this correction applied to -each of his observations. This most interesting -fact relates exact or mathematical science in the -most curious manner to the mental character of -an individual. Mr Galton, however, does not -rest merely with the announcement of this latter -result. He goes much further in his theoretical -inquiry, and suggests that peculiarities in the -respect just noted might be found to be related -to special points in the conformation of the body. -Thus could the ‘personal equations’ of astronomers -be related to the height of body, age, colour of -hair and eyes, weight, and temperament, some -valuable facts might be deduced regarding the -union of definite characters to form a special -constitution.</p> - -<p>Some other methods may be cited of estimating -the differences between various temperaments in -appreciating sensations and in acting upon them. -If a person is prepared to give an instantaneous -opinion as to the colour of a certain signal—black -or white—but is unaware of the particular colour -which is to be exhibited, and if he is further -instructed to press a stop with his right hand -for the one colour and a left-hand stop for the -other, the act of judgment necessary to determine -the particular stop in each instance, is found to -occupy an appreciable interval. This is particularly<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_183"></a>{183}</span> -the case if a single signal has been previously -shewn, and the observer’s quickness of -sight has been tested and calculated by his pressing -a single stop whenever he saw the object. -The comparison between the interval elapsing -between the mere sensation of sight and the act -of pressing the stop in the latter case, and the -interval which elapses when the observer has to -make up his mind as to the difference between -two signals, is seen to be very marked.</p> - -<p>Setting thus before his mind a certain number -of tests of individual temperament and character -such as have been illustrated, the observer may -next proceed to the task of discovering whether -persons who exhibit similar qualities of mind in -these experiments, can be proved to be related to -each other in other particulars of their physical -or mental disposition. Mr Galton has ingeniously -suggested that by an arrangement of mirrors, four -views of a person’s head might be taken at once, -and would thus afford an ordinary photographic -portrait, a portrait of a three-quarter face, a -profile view, and a figure of the top of the head -respectively. Such a series of views would present -all the aspects required for a comparison of the -general as well as special contour of the head of -the individual with the heads of others photographed -in like manner.</p> - -<p>Our author, whose researches on the heredity -of men of genius and the transmission from one -generation to another of qualities belonging to the -highest development of man’s estate, are well -known, turned his attention to the opposite phase -of human life and character, and investigated in -an avowedly casual, but still important manner, -the likenesses and differences between members -of the criminal classes of England. The social and -practical importance of a study such as the present -may be readily estimated. There are few persons -who have not considered the bearings and influence -of criminal antecedents upon the offenders of the -present day. Although to a very large extent our -temperaments and dispositions are of our own -making, and are susceptible of the favouring -influences of education and moral training, there -can be no doubt of the truth of the converse -remark, that to a very great extent the traits of -character we inherit from our parents exercise an -undeniable influence over us for weal or for woe. -If, therefore, through research in the direction we -have indicated, it can be shewn that criminality -runs in types, our notions of criminal responsibility, -and our ideas regarding the punishment, -deterrent and otherwise, of the criminal classes, -must be affected and ameliorated thereby.</p> - -<p>That criminality, like moral greatness, ‘runs in -the blood,’ there can be no doubt. It would in -fact be a most unwonted violation of the commonest -law of nature, were we to find the children -of criminals free from the moral taints of their -parents. As physical disease is transmissible, and -as the conditions regulating its descent are now -tolerably well ascertained, so moral infirmities -pass from one generation to another, and the ‘law -of likeness’ is thus seen to hold true of mind as -well as of body. Numerous instances might be -cited of the transmission of criminal traits of character, -often of very marked and special kind. Dr -Despine, a continental writer, gives one very -remarkable case illustrating the transmission from -one generation to another of an extraordinary -tendency to thieve and steal. The subjects of the -memoir in question were a family named Chrétien, -of which the common ancestor, so to speak, Jean -Chrétien by name, had three sons, Pierre, Thomas, -and Jean-Baptiste. Pierre in his turn had one -son, who was sentenced to penal servitude for life -for robbery and murder. Thomas had two sons, -one of whom was condemned to a like sentence -for murder; the other being sentenced to death -for a like crime. Of the children of Jean-Baptiste, -one son (Jean-François) married one Marie Tauré, -who came of a family noted for their tendency to -the crime of incendiarism. Seven children were -born to this couple with avowedly criminal antecedents -on both sides. Of these, one son, Jean-François, -named after his father, died in prison -after undergoing various sentences for robberies. -Another son, Benoist, was killed by falling off a -house-roof which he had scaled in the act of theft; -and a third son, ‘Clain’ by nickname, after being -convicted of several robberies, died at the age of -twenty-five. Victor, a fourth son, was also a -criminal; Marie-Reine, a daughter, died in prison—as -also did her sister Marie-Rose—whither both -had been sent for theft. The remaining daughter -Victorine, married a man named Lemarre, the son -of this couple being sentenced to death for robbery -and murder.</p> - -<p>This hideous and sad record of whole generations -being impelled, as it were, hereditarily to -crime, is paralleled by the case of the notorious -Jukes-family, whose doings are still matters of -comment amongst the legal and police authorities -of New York. A long and carefully compiled -pedigree of this family shews the sad but striking -fact, that in the course of seven generations no -fewer than five hundred and forty individuals of -Jukes blood were included amongst the criminal -and pauper classes. The account appears in the -Thirty-first Annual Report of the Prison Association -of New York (1876); and the results of an -investigation into the history of the fifth generation -alone, may be shortly referred to in the present -instance as presenting us with a companion -case to that of the somewhat inaptly named Chrétien -family. This fifth generation of the Jukes -tribe sprang from the eldest of the five daughters -of the common ancestor of the race. One -hundred and three individuals are included -in this generation; thirty-eight of these coming -through an illegitimate grand-daughter, and -eighty-five through legitimate grand-children. -The great majority of the females consorted with -criminals: sixteen of the thirty-eight have been -convicted—one nine times—some of heinous -crimes: eleven are paupers and led dissolute or -criminal lives: four were inveterate drunkards: -the history of three is unknown; and a small -minority of four are known to have lived respectable -and honest lives. Of the eighty-five legitimate -descendants, only five were incorrigible -criminals, and only some thirteen were paupers -or dissolute. Jukes himself, the founder of this -prolific criminal community, was born about 1730, -and is described as a curious unsteady man of -gipsy descent, but apparently without deliberately -bad or intently vicious instincts. Through unfavourable -marriages, the undecided character of -the father ripened into the criminal traits of his -descendants. The moral surroundings being of -the worst description, the beginnings of criminality<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_184"></a>{184}</span> -became intensified, and hence arose naturally, and -as time passed, the graver symptoms of diseased -morality and criminal disposition.</p> - -<p>The data upon which a true classification of -criminals may be founded are as yet few and -imperfect, but Mr Galton mentions it as a hopeful -fact, that physiognomy and the general contour -of the head can be shewn to afford valuable evidence -of the grouping of criminals into classes. -This method of investigation, however, it must be -noted, is by no means a return to the old standing -of phrenology, which, as all readers know, boasts -its ability to mark out the surface of the brain -itself into a large number of different faculties. -The most that anthropologists would contend for, -according to the data laid down, is, that certain -general types of head and face are peculiar to -certain types of criminals. Physical conformation -of a general kind becomes thus in a general -manner related to the mental type.</p> - -<p>The practical outcome of such a subject may -be readily found in the ultimate attention which -morality, education, and the state itself, may give -to the reclaiming of youthful criminals and to the -fostering, from an early period in their history, of -those tendencies of good which even the most -degraded may be shewn to possess. If it be true -that we are largely the products of past time, and -that our physical and mental constitutions are in -great measure woven for us and independently of -us, it is none the less a stable fact, that there -exists a margin of free-will, which, however -limited in extent, may be made in the criminal -and debased, and under proper training and -encouragement, the foundation of a new and -better life.</p> - - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="MONSIEUR_HOULOT">MONSIEUR HOULOT.</h2> -</div> - -<p class="ph3">IN THREE CHAPTERS.</p> - - -<h3>CHAPTER II.—TO-DAY—TROUBLE.</h3> - -<p><span class="smcap">Winter</span> came and passed away without anything -happening to break the even tenor of existence. -Spring came, and with spring the appearance of -a new novel of Mr Collingwood Dawson. Having -had a considerable share in its manufacture, I felt -naturally anxious to know the result of its appearance. -I had an encouraging note from Mrs Collingwood -Dawson: ‘Much liked—goes off very -well:’ and I saw from the advertisements in the -papers that the notices of the press were generally -favourable. At the head of them all was the -following extract from the <i>Hebdomadal Review</i>: -‘High capacity—very good—many readers—enticing -interest.’ Tributes of appreciation that were -valuable from a periodical rarely given to praise -overmuch any one unconnected with the house it -represents.</p> - -<p>Soon after I had another note from my employer: -‘I am coming over to confer with you on -literary and other matters; please make all necessary -arrangements. I shall be accompanied by a -female friend, but not, alas, by Mr Collingwood -Dawson!’</p> - -<p>The steamer that plies the Lower Seine in the -summer months, came puffing up the river one -fine breezy morning, and dropped into a little -boat that put off to meet her, two female passengers, -a quantity of boxes, and a little white dog. -I recognised my expected visitors, and hastened -down to the landing-place to meet them. I explained -that my house was not big enough to take -them in; but that I had secured rooms at the -hotel close by, and that my wife and I hoped to -have as much of their society as they could give -us.</p> - -<p>After they had settled down in their new abode, -Mrs Collingwood Dawson came over to see me, -and was shewn into the pavilion.</p> - -<p>‘I am in a good deal of doubt and difficulty,’ -she said; ‘and I have come to ask your opinion -and discuss matters with you. But as it is no use -putting half-confidence in you, and your opinion -will be of little good unless you know fully all -the circumstances of the case, I mean to tell you -everything; and will first begin, if you please, and -if it does not bore you too much, with a little -sketch of my life.’</p> - -<p>I assured her that I should have great pleasure -in listening to her, as anything connected with her -was of interest to me.</p> - -<p>‘I am,’ she began, ‘the daughter of an official -of the old India House; and my father, who had -held a good position there, and enjoyed a good -income, left at his death no other provision for his -widow and only child, myself, but the pensions -to which we were entitled—a very handsome one -indeed for my mother; and for myself some seventy -pounds a year, which ceased at my marriage. He -had been during his lifetime very fond of good -society, especially literary society; and thus from -early years I had been acquainted with many people -who followed that profession. Consequently it is -not surprising that I tried to add to an income -sufficiently narrow by literary work, although I -confess that I had no particular talent, and certainly -no enthusiasm for the task, and met with -little success. In this way I became acquainted -with several publishers and many authors; among -others was my first husband. He was a man of -great intellectual power and force of will, but -quite without any ballast of judgment or common-sense. -Still I was very much enthralled by his -influence, and he having formed a violent passion -for me, insisted on marrying me. Young and ill-advised, -I gave way to his impetuosity, and married -we were. I soon had cause to repent the hasty -step. He had been a man of most irregular habits; -and after a brief period of devotion to me, he -resumed them. Our household became a scene -of constant jars and quarrels; he wearied out my -life, and I must have wearied out his. The beautiful -soul that I thought I had recognised as -enshrined in his somewhat ill-formed and stunted -figure, had no existence for me. He was malignant -and detestable, utterly—most utterly.’</p> - -<p>Her voice trembled with anger at the retrospect, -whilst her eyes filled with indignant tears.</p> - -<p>‘It was an ill-assorted match evidently,’ I said. -‘But why did you not agree to separate?’</p> - -<p>‘I shrank from mentioning such a thing; with -all his faults, I believed that he was still at the -bottom devotedly attached to me. Besides, such -a step is always distressing and compromising. -No; I went on bearing my troubles, not silently -indeed, for I have too much spirit, I confess, to -make a meek and uncomplaining wife; but I bore -them anyhow, although I confess that any affection -I ever had for him had been lost in the embroilments -of our married life. You may think that -I was to blame, and that if there were a real<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_185"></a>{185}</span> -attachment on his part towards me, I ought to -have been able to manage him; but I tell you no! -There was a certain malignity in his nature that -made him spiteful and tormenting even to those -whom he loved. Anyhow, life was a sorrowful -burden to me whilst he was with me.’</p> - -<p>She rose, looking quite overcome by the recital -of her troubles. Her eyes were filled with tears; -her hands trembled nervously, as she raised them -to press the hair back from her forehead. I murmured -a few words expressive of sympathy and -good-will.</p> - -<p>‘Well!’ she said, sitting down and wiping her -eyes with a pretty embroidered handkerchief; ‘not -to dwell upon my troubles. I was at last relieved -from the hateful knot by his death—a death I -believe he contrived in a way that should leave -me in as cruel and doubtful a position as possible. -He left home one day without giving me any -intimation that he would stay away—that was his -general practice—or leaving me any money to carry -on the household expenses. And the next thing I -heard of him was from a little village on the coast, -that he had been drowned while bathing. I -believe that he committed suicide. I ascertained -that he had been informing himself most minutely -of the set of the tides and currents about the coast, -and with fiendish ingenuity had taken to the -water at a time when the tide was certain to carry -his body far out to sea.’</p> - -<p>‘But what object could he have had in that, -madam?’</p> - -<p>‘Don’t you see? The pension which I had lost -in marrying revived on my widowhood. But he -had contrived that his body should never be found. -In vain I applied to the authorities to renew my -pension. There had been several cases of attempted -personation and fraud about these pensions, and -they utterly refused to renew mine without absolute -proof of my husband’s death. This I was -unable to afford to their satisfaction, his body never -having been discovered. Still the circumstantial -evidence was most strong, and I was advised to -bring an action in the way of a petition of right. -A circumstance, however, occurred,’ said the widow -with a slight blush, ‘which rendered such a step -unnecessary.’</p> - -<p>‘Ah! I see,’ I cried; ‘you married again?’</p> - -<p>‘Yes; and this time my venture was more -fortunate. My second husband was an officer in -the army, frank and free and brave. No young -couple could have been happier. But alas! we -were neither of us prudent in the management of -our affairs. We had small means in the present, -but great expectations, and we were too sanguine -to think of the possibility of disappointment. Life -became a series of feasts and fêtes. My husband -sold out of the army, and we lived gaily enough on -the proceeds of his commission, till that was all -gone, and we saw ourselves brought to the verge of -ruin. I must tell you that my husband was also -of a literary turn, and wrote military sketches and -so on, that brought in a little money, but nothing -substantial.</p> - -<p>‘We had one resource still left—the house in -which we lived; it had been my mother’s, and at -her death she left it to me. It was a pretty little -house in the neighbourhood of St John’s Wood; -but it was leasehold only, and the lease had not -more than ten years to run. We had found it -under these circumstances impossible to mortgage -our interest. We might have sold the lease; and -that with the furniture, which had also been my -mother’s, would have realised five or six hundred -pounds. But when that was gone, where should -we look for shelter? Charles’s great expectations’——</p> - -<p>‘Pardon me for interrupting you. You have -mentioned your husband’s Christian name: it will -make your narrative clearer if you tell me also his -surname.’</p> - -<p>‘Collingwood was his name—Charles Collingwood.’</p> - -<p>‘And the name of the first one was Dawson?’</p> - -<p>‘You have guessed rightly. To continue. Charles’s -great expectations had all come to a bad end. A -rich relative, who had brought him up for his heir, -took a great dislike to me, and cut him out of his -will, for no reason in the world but that he had -married me, and that we were very poor. When -he died, and we found this out, it seemed that the -world had come to an end for us. What was to be -done? Live in the most niggardly way we might, -but we could not live on nothing. First we began to -sell the less essential parts of our belongings. We -lived on old china for three months; and then we -began on our paintings. We had some good ones -by English artists, which my father had left behind -him, and these kept us for a while. But this was -like burning the planks of the ship to keep the -engines going. Charles had tried hard for employment -in the meantime. For the governorship of a -colony; for a consulship; the post of adjutant of -militia; the same thing in a Volunteer regiment; -for the chief-constableship of a large town; for the -management of a brewery; and ever so many things -besides. All of no use.</p> - -<p>“We must take in washing,” said Charles; “and -I will become a second Mantilini, and turn the -mangle.”</p> - -<p>‘Lodgers were our next thought, and that seemed -more feasible. Then some one advised us to let our -house furnished. We put an advertisement in the -papers, and by great good luck we had an offer for -the whole of the house at once. Six guineas a -week for May, June, and July. We made up our -minds to take cheap lodgings somewhere on the -coast, and spend only half our weekly six guineas, -which would thus last us six months instead of -three. As we were packing up our belongings -and storing away the packages in the lumber-room, -Charles stumbled over a lot of old boxes, from -which arose a cloud of dust.</p> - -<p>“What are these old things?” he cried.</p> - -<p>“I don’t know anything about them. They -were my first husband’s books and papers.”</p> - -<p>“Books, eh?” said Charles. “Let’s have a look at -’em;” and broke open one of the boxes. This, however, -turned out to be full of packets of manuscripts. -Charles made a wry face over them, but -he took out a packet and began to read it. I went -on with the work. I had everything to do then, I -must tell you, for we had dismissed our servants, -and lived in the house by ourselves with only a -char-woman to help—quite in picnic style.</p> - -<p>‘Well dinner-time came, and Charles, who was -still up-stairs reading his manuscript, brought it -down with him and laid it beside his plate, and -went on again reading directly after dinner.</p> - -<p>“I tell you what it is, old woman,” he said, -as we went to bed, “I feel muddled with it all, -and rather as if I’d been supping off pork chops<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_186"></a>{186}</span> -and Welsh-rabbit; but there’s something in that -fellow’s writings, only they are coarse, decidedly -coarse.”</p> - -<p>‘But I am tiring you,’ said Mrs Collingwood, -looking up with a smile.</p> - -<p>‘Not at all. I am highly interested. Go on, -please.’</p> - -<p>‘We went away to the sea-side, and Charles took -several packets of manuscript with him to amuse -him, as he said, during the long days.</p> - -<p>“Do you know,” he said to me one evening, -“I think one could make something out of these -things. If we cut out the objectionable passages -which I expect were in the way of their publication”——</p> - -<p>“My dear Charles,” I said, “these were his -religion, and he would not have touched a word -for worlds to make them more acceptable.”</p> - -<p>“And died a martyr to the faith, eh?” said -Charles. “Well, I shan’t be so very particular. -There’s enough for a three-volume novel here, -and I shall expurgate it and try its luck.”</p> - -<p>‘Charles was never much of a penman, but I was -a neat quick writer, and thus the copying fell upon -me. Charlie did the botching and patching, and -dictated as I copied. But what a task it was! I am -sure the mere writing of it was worth all we were -destined to get for it, let alone the author’s work -and our amendments. Then we got a lot of the -most taking three-volume novels from the library, -and counted the words and lines, so as to get ours -about the right length. It was finished at last, -just as our house became vacant; and as soon as -we got back to town I took it to a publisher. It -was agreed that I was to do all this part of the -work, for my poor Charlie used to say that if -anything happened to him, I should find the use -of these habits of business.’ Here she paused.</p> - -<p>I coughed doubtfully. My knowledge of human -nature led me to attribute the arrangement to shyness -and laziness on his part. I did not, however, -venture to disturb Mrs Collingwood’s illusions.</p> - -<p>She resumed: ‘To our surprise and joy, after -a delay of not more than three or four months, -we heard from the publishers accepting our novel. -We did not get any large sum for it, it is true, -but it was highly thought of, and was to be well -advertised; and that was the chief point. Whenever -the author was inquired for, I gave out that -he was my husband, but that he was an invalid. -Charlie really was poorly at the time,’ she said -blushing. ‘Ah, you shake your head; but in -these days, my dear M——, it is necessary to be -<i>rusé</i> as well as clever.’</p> - -<p>‘But why not have given it out as the work of -a deceased author?’</p> - -<p>‘Ah, that would never have done! A publisher -takes a first novel because he hopes for another and -a better. Of what use is it to puff the one golden -egg of a dead goose? No; we were right there—events -have shewn it. Well, our novel was, as -you know, a success. It went off like wild-fire, and -our publishers fed the flame adroitly by issuing -one edition after another—all of the same impression. -All this time we were at work upon another, -which also went down, although not so much -relished as the first. I think we had purified it a -little too much. Avoiding this error in a third, we -again made a hit. Our fortune was now made and -publishers were at our feet. But we were in this -strait: we had come to an end of our finished -works; all that were left now were mere sketches -and outlines, many too vague, and others too -extravagant to be of much use to us. Charles had -good judgment and some critical power, but he had -no creative faculty, neither had I. Happily we did -not deceive ourselves on this point. The question -to be solved was how to supply the want. To -Charles the idea first suggested itself of trying to -secure assistance from outside. It was quite -evident that it would be useless to think of any -person well known in the world of letters. We -set ourselves to study the more obscure literature -of the day.’</p> - -<p>I bowed politely, but with some inward mortification.</p> - -<p>‘Oh, don’t think <i>you</i> are in question now,’ said -the lady with an arch smile; ‘wait to the end -of the story. My husband came home one day in a -state of great excitement. He had in his pocket a -copy of the <i>Weekly Dredger</i>, which contained an -instalment of a serial story just commenced.</p> - -<p>“Read that,” he cried. When I had finished: -“Now, what do you think?”</p> - -<p>‘But I was trembling all over with terror.</p> - -<p>“What’s the matter?” he cried.</p> - -<p>“O Charles!” I said, “if I did not know it was -impossible, I should say that no one but my late -husband could have written this.”</p> - -<p>‘So strongly was I penetrated with this idea, -that for a long time I forbade him to make -any inquiry after the author. At last we were -so pressed to supply another novel that I consented -that he should make inquiries. The story -in the <i>Weekly Dredger</i>, we found, had become -so grotesque and bizarre, that finally the editor -brought it to an abrupt close himself, refusing to -take any more of it; and he made no difficulty -whatever about telling our business agent in confidence -the name of the writer. I must tell you -we had found it necessary to employ an agent, -Mr Smith, who has served us faithfully enough, -but who was never permitted to see my husband. -Well, Charles wrote cautiously to the author of -this queer story, who, it seemed, lived in France; -asking him to send specimens of his stories, and -specifying the quantity required for possible publication, -with his terms. We had in reply a pile of -manuscript. Judge of the relief I felt when I found -that the handwriting was quite unfamiliar to me. -His terms were so low that we had no difficulty in -undertaking to accept all his work. For some -seventy pounds a year we secured everything he -wrote. A great deal of the stuff was utterly useless -to us, but every now and then he gave us the -framework of a powerful story. Well, all of a -sudden he turns sulky and refuses to send any -more. Charlie would have found some one to -supply his place, no doubt. But now I come to the -great misfortune of my life’—with faltering voice—‘the -death of my dear husband.’</p> - -<p>‘Your husband dead!’ I cried, quite unprepared -for the announcement.</p> - -<p>‘Yes, he is dead; and unhappy me, I have not -been able to mourn his loss except in secret and -with precautions. The funeral even was conducted -with as much caution as if he had been a felon, and -we had been ashamed of having to own that he -had belonged to us. And he was the kindest, -most affectionate——</p> - -<p>‘But it was his own wish,’ she went on after a -pause. ‘He planned out everything. You see<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_187"></a>{187}</span> -that although our writings—compilations should -I call them?’ she said with a faint attempt at a -smile—‘brought us in a nice income, yet we were -pleasure-loving people, and had always been accustomed -to plenty of society, and we had saved -nothing out of it. We have two children, a boy -at Rugby, and a daughter at an expensive school; -and there is poor Charlie’s sister, the lady who -accompanies me, and she has no one else to depend -upon but me. Besides, as Charlie urged before he -died: “<i>I</i> am not Collingwood Dawson,” he said; -“why should my death be the cause of his? Keep -him alive, old woman, to be a support to you and -the children and Lizzie.” Those were almost his -last words, dear brave fellow!’ She rose and left -the room, overcome by uncontrollable emotion.</p> - -<p>My thoughts, after Mrs Collingwood quitted me, -were rather of a serious turn. I reflected that my -own interests were bound up in the same cause, -and that my own livelihood hung very much upon -keeping up Mr Collingwood Dawson as a going -concern. It was too late to go back now. If I -had gained experience I had lost connection. My -own place had been filled up. Mr Collingwood -Dawson had become as necessary to me as to the -widow and her family. Still the idea of a person -who never died, who enjoyed a sort of corporate -existence, or like the living Buddha, transferred -his identity from one body to another, a being who -could go on writing novels and publishing them till -the crack of doom, struck one with a kind of awe.</p> - -<p>As a relief to the troubled current of my -thoughts I took up a newspaper which Mrs -Collingwood had brought with her. It was the -<i>Hebdomadal Review</i>, the number containing the -review of Collingwood Dawson’s last novel. I -turned to the page with a kind of pleased excitement, -for the short abstract that I had seen in -the advertisement, as you have seen, was calculated -to give me the impression that the critique -was an appreciative one. It was so short that I -have no scruple in giving it <i>in extenso</i>: ‘If -it be necessary, and we suppose it is, that silly -ill-educated people should be supplied with the -morbid trash suited to their high capacity, there is -no reason why Mr Collingwood Dawson should not -cater for their wants. We can say of his novel -that it is very good stuff of the kind. The pity is -that there should be so many readers for this kind -of stuff. We only hope that young ladies of the -class who find Mr Dawson’s compilations acceptable, -will not be unduly led away from the paramount -claims of seam and gusset and band by the -enticing interest of his story.’</p> - -<p>Satire like this does not hit very hard, however, -and my only feeling after the first disappointment -was of amusement at the ingenuity that had -been able to extract the sting from it and secure -the latent honey. One word, however, seemed -dangerous—‘compilations.’ Was it possible that -the critic had discovered the composite nature of -Mr Collingwood Dawson?</p> - - -<p class="p2">‘Can you lend me five pounds?’ said a gruff -voice behind me. I turned and saw the squat -figure of M. Houlot close to my chair.</p> - -<p>It was an embarrassing question. There was -nothing in M. Houlot’s appearance to invite confidence—at -all events to the extent of five pounds. -At the same time, M. Houlot had in my mind -loomed into considerable importance, for since I -had heard Mrs Collingwood’s story, I had identified -him with the third portion of Mr Collingwood -Dawson.</p> - -<p>‘Oh, if it requires consideration, don’t think -about it,’ said Houlot roughly. ‘I won’t trouble -you.’</p> - -<p>‘Stop a minute,’ I replied; ‘wait. I don’t know -whether I have the money. I must ask my wife.’</p> - -<p>‘Oh, you are one of the wretched slaves of a -petticoat, are you?’ said Houlot with a rasping -laugh. ‘I should have thought you had lived -through <i>that</i> stage of your development.’</p> - -<p>‘As she will be the principal sufferer if the -money should not be returned, she is entitled to -a voice in the matter.’</p> - -<p>‘Look here! If it comes to asking your wife, -I’ll withdraw my request. I know what that -means, well enough. But if you are afraid of not -getting your money back, I’ll give you security.—What -security? Why, manuscripts worth ten, -twenty pounds. I should say, if I were some -people—of priceless value.’</p> - -<p>‘Ah!’ I said to myself, ‘there is Houlot, who has -quarrelled with his bread-and-butter, and now he -comes to me to borrow money to go on with. -Would it not be better to send for Mrs Collingwood, -to see if this is really the man who supplies -her with her plots; and if so, to make the peace -between them, and get him to continue the -supply?’</p> - -<p>Mrs Collingwood saved me the trouble of sending -for her. I saw her coming across the garden -to the pavilion. She was composed now and -cheerful; she led one of my girls by the hand, -and was telling her a story, I fancy, in which the -child seemed uncommonly interested.</p> - -<p>Houlot was standing leaning against the mantelpiece -with his back to the doorway, and under his -arm his stick, which he was rubbing with the -point of his hook, as was his custom when vexed. -I saw Mrs Collingwood coming in at the doorway—door -and windows were wide open. All of a -sudden her face whitened all over, and she tottered -backwards. I ran to her assistance; but when I -reached the garden, she had already disappeared -within the house.</p> - -<p>‘Am I a hobgoblin, that I frighten people?’ -said Houlot savagely, coming to the door. -‘Where’s that woman who ran away?’</p> - -<p>I made no reply; and he went on rubbing his -stick with the iron hook, apparently in a very -evil temper.</p> - -<p>‘I want that money particularly. I want to -go to England and expose this Collingwood -Dawson, to strip him of his borrowed plumes, -and shew the British public what a daw this -fellow is whom they admire. Come; give me this -five pounds, and let me go.’</p> - -<p>‘I can’t say anything more to you just now,’ -I replied. ‘I will let you know to-morrow.’</p> - -<p>‘That will lose me two days; I want to start -to-morrow.’</p> - -<p>‘I can’t help it. I can’t let you have the -money now.’</p> - -<p>Houlot saw that I was in some flurry and confusion, -and thought probably that I was afraid -of him, and that by bullying me a little he should -get what he wanted.</p> - -<p>‘Come now!’ he cried; ‘go and get me that -money. I know what I know, and I am not to -be stopped for a paltry five-pound note.’</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_188"></a>{188}</span></p> - -<p>My reply was to shew him the door. He -scowled at me, fingered his stick as if he had -a mind to hit me, thought better of it seemingly, -and went out growling inarticulately.</p> - -<p>‘Where is he, that man?’ cried Mrs Collingwood -meeting me in the doorway of the house, -looking quite livid with fear. ‘What do you -know of him? Where does he come from?’</p> - -<p>‘He is your correspondent, the author of your -plots.’</p> - -<p>‘Ah, then is he my husband!’ she cried in a -voice that, though low and subdued, was full of -anguish. ‘What a wretched being am I, to have -seen him!’</p> - -<p>‘It would have been worse still had he seen -you,’ I muttered. ‘Come, Mrs Collingwood—come -into the garden, into the open air; you will be -better there. Take my arm; keep up your heart; -all will be well yet.’</p> - -<p>‘Where is he? where is he?’ was all she could -say.</p> - -<p>‘He is gone; you are quite safe.’</p> - -<p>We began to pace up and down the garden -together, she wringing her hands and writhing -with pain and emotion.</p> - -<p>‘Do consider,’ I said, ‘that he has kept out of -the way all these years, and that he is not likely -to trouble you now.’</p> - -<p>‘Oh! I can’t bear to think. The children—poor -Charlie, what will become of us all?’</p> - -<p>‘The children will take no harm,’ I said, ‘if you -act prudently. All will be well; and your late -husband is out of the reach of any trouble.’</p> - -<p>‘Ah yes, poor Charlie! I wish I had died with -him. Even now he may be reproaching me! -How dreadful, dreadful it all is!’</p> - -<p>I could not give her much consolation; for -besides these troubles of the heart, other and less -manageable difficulties I saw were impending.</p> - -<p>At the first blush it was impossible to say what -would become of us all in this imbroglio. Certainly -if any one were entitled to be considered Collingwood -Dawson, it was the man who had originated -the works by which he had obtained his fame. -On the other hand, he would never have had -any success himself. No publisher would have -looked twice at books which were so violent and -coarse. All the labour and pains that had been -taken in bringing his writings into an acceptable -form, were they to go for nothing? And was it to -be allowed that a man who had thrown off all ties -and abandoned his place in the world, should -resume them when other people had made them -worth possessing? It seemed not; and yet the -law would be on his side.</p> - -<p>There was only one consoling feature in the -position—the man had no money. He could not -move without that; and if he had been able to -obtain it from any other source, he would hardly -have come to borrow from a stranger; but this -was a very frail barrier after all. He might, if he -were determined to get back to England, find his -way to the nearest port, and get passed home by -the consul as a distressed British subject. Why he -had not gone over to England when he first discovered -the use that had been made of his talents, -was probably because he waited to complete some -work he had in hand, which might serve as an -introduction to the publishers, and a sort of voucher -for his claim.</p> - -<p>Was there, however, no possibility of mistake? -Was it perfectly certain that this was the missing -husband? Mrs Collingwood had no hope that -there was any error. She knew him perfectly. -It was impossible that there should be two such -people in the world together, identical in mind and -in person. That his handwriting had so completely -changed, seemed to her unaccountable; -but it did not move her faith in his identity. And -an explanation was soon found for this; for he -had lost his right hand since his flight, and consequently -wrote with his left.</p> - -<p>I said just now that I could give Mrs Collingwood -no comfort; but there was one thing that -bound us all together and insured sympathy -between us: we were so to speak all in the same -boat. Our livelihood depended upon keeping up -the integrity of Collingwood Dawson.</p> - - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="A_MOORLAND_WEDDING">A MOORLAND WEDDING.</h2> -</div> - - -<p><span class="smcap">It</span> was in the month of June last year, when the -days were about their longest, that the scattered -dwellers in the upland parish of L—— were -excited by the intimation of a marriage in one -of their glens. Among a sparse population an -event of this sort necessarily happens but rarely, -and as a consequence when it does happen it -comes attended by much more ‘pomp and circumstance’ -than would otherwise accompany it. -As an angel sent by some gracious fate, it stirs -the stagnant pool of existence, and revives hearts -that may have drooped through dreary days of -solitude. The people who have participated -in it are livelier in their talk and wear a blither -aspect for days and weeks afterwards.</p> - -<p>A breeze was blowing through the bright June -sunlight, and the shadows of a few clouds were -moving quietly across the hills, when about -three o’clock in the afternoon I set out on foot for -the scene of the marriage that has been referred -to. The point from which I started lay upon -the highest tract of cultivated land at the head -of a prettily wooded valley, and I had to -walk seven miles by mountain-side and glen -before reaching the cottage that was my destination. -For the first portion of the way there is an -excellent cart-road—excellent for a hill-country -whose pastoral-bred pedestrians do not greatly -need roads; but after some three miles have been -got over the traveller finds himself almost literally -at large among the mountains, with but a -feeble indication of a foot-track along the brow -of a deep ravine, and a mountain stream below.</p> - -<p>Continuing my course, the glen began to expand -again, and its slopes to lose their covering of -brushwood. A strip of level verdure, broadening -as I ascended, stretched on each side of the -water; and after following several windings of the -stream without any change in the character of its -banks, the moorland cottage that I was in search -of lay before me.</p> - -<p>The first thing I observed was an animated -crowd of people streaming out of the door two and -two, and setting off for an elevation that stood -some distance to the right. On arriving at the -cottage I learned that these were the bride’s people -gone to meet the party of the bridegroom, and to -take part in ‘running the broose,’ which is a -foot-race among the young lads for the bride’s-maid’s -handkerchief. Herself the goal, the bride’s-maid, -fluttering in white and scarlet, had ascended<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_189"></a>{189}</span> -to a knoll before the cottage, and some time afterwards -held up a silk handkerchief to the eyes of -the expectant runners.</p> - -<p>I fancy there are few spectacles that produce -in one’s mind a stronger sense of savage freedom -than that of civilised human beings let loose, -coatless, vestless, bonnetless, to race among the -hills. In less than two minutes from their starting -on the homeward race they had sunk out of -view at the foot of the highest hill, and when -they hailed in sight again, they were much more -widely scattered than at the beginning. Two or -three in the rear had already dropped out of the -race; but those in the front seemed to be still -running with energy and determination. Once or -twice again we lost them in the hollows, and each -time they reappeared we could notice that their -number was gradually getting smaller; so that by -the time the leader swept across the stream in -front of us, all other competitors had given up -the contest as hopeless. A cheer broke forth as -he struggled up the knoll panting and bemired to -clutch the coveted prize, which, with similar ones -thus gained, I find it is a great ambition among -the young men in some districts to accumulate. -The winner of the ‘broose’ was a tall and finely -formed youth of fair complexion; with clear blue -eyes and well-cut features.</p> - -<p>As soon as the stragglers had come forward, -followed by the bridegroom and his man, amid -tremendous cheering, the marriage ceremony was -proceeded with in the kitchen. It was a long low-roofed -apartment, with innumerable shoulders of -mutton in all the stages towards ham, depending -from the rafters. The bride was led out of an -anteroom, resting on her father’s arm. He was a -rather oldish man, with the history of a good many -troubles plainly written upon his face. The bride -was a broad-shouldered, brown-visaged, and gray-eyed -maiden of about four-and-twenty; and her -future husband, a loose-limbed, amiable-looking -youth in a lavender necktie and fiery red hair, -looked possibly a year or two younger. The -service was performed by a Presbyterian clergyman, -and was accordingly a short one. Immediately -it was over there was a multitudinous -shaking of hands with the happy couple. It was -interesting to note the various phraseologies in -which the numerous guests severally expressed -their good wishes; all the degrees of feelings from -that of ordinary regard to the most ebullient -affection, being apparently represented.</p> - -<p>While this process was going forward, the mother -of the bride, a sallow-faced person with kindly -black eyes, and gray hair smoothed neatly across -her brow, took up a position by the fire to advance -arrangements for the tea. You could see that the -good woman was greatly excited and confused. -Probably she had never had so many people under -her humble roof before; and there were ‘grand -folk’ among them too, the surrounding farmers -and their families, for whose (comparatively) -delicate palates she was quite unaccustomed to -prepare food. Every now and then while proceeding -with her duties, she would catch up the corner -of her ample white apron, and wiping the perspiration -from her forehead, would draw a long sigh, -as of sadness or fatigue. The movements of the -company around her seemed to attract her but -little; all the evening she wore a preoccupied -expression, and it was evident that she had within -her mind a picture of her own, on which her -thoughts were dwelling. But what the scene was -that was calling her away from the merriment of -the hour I possessed no means of ascertaining; -and the reader is at liberty to fill up this blank -in the narrative as best delights his fancy.</p> - - - -<p class="p2">A portion of the company now seated itself at -a heavily laden tea-table that was laid out in -an adjoining chamber; and here let me remark -that as Scottish weddings are celebrated in the -afternoon or evening, the entertainment known by -the English as the déjeûner, is unknown to their -northern neighbours. But there are few such teas -served in cities or even in Lowland dwellings as -had been that night prepared for us. The result -of a good week’s labour of several women in carrying, -boiling, and baking, seemed to be placed upon -the board. Let the reader remember that it was -in Scotland that this wedding took place, and he -will appreciate the bill of fare the better. It was -by no means a much varied one, but the several -articles had been provided in unlimited supply. -Fresh baked scones lined each side of the table in -castellated rows; platefuls of dark-coloured ‘braxy’ -ham, cut from the mutton that hung on the rafters, -stood in between them, with here and there a -pile of thick cut, deeply buttered bread. There -were also buns, ‘cookies,’ biscuits, and gimcracks, -that must have been carried painfully over miles of -moorland; and raised majestically at the head of -the table was a little white bride-cake surmounted -by a solitary flag.</p> - -<p>When the company had crushed themselves -into seats around the table, and were just going -to operate upon the braxy, a big-boned, bleached-looking -old man was furtively led on to the end -of a bench that had been placed near the door. -I soon discovered that, after the minister, this was -for the time being the most important of the -invited assembly. He was in fact no less a personage -than the fiddler, and was, as he ought to -have been, in keeping with the character of the -traditionary musician, almost stone-blind. This -Demodocus had been led hither from his dwelling -five miles over the hills by a little boy, his grandson, -who had fair hair, and wore faded velvet and -corduroys. The heartiness with which the veteran -musician laid in a store of victual against the -labour of a long night’s fiddling, was a most refreshing -sight. He was a long-faced, heavy-jawed -man, and had rusty gray hair that fell unkempt -upon a much worn velvet collar. A large scarlet -cotton handkerchief was twisted carelessly about -his neck, and came down in a loose fold upon his -breast. He wore an aspect of silent passive misfortune; -and as you looked at him it was difficult -to imagine music dwelling in his soul, how much -soever it might dwell in his fiddle.</p> - -<p>As soon as the tea was ended, or rather this first -instalment of it, he was guided to an elevated seat -that had been prepared for him in a corner of the -kitchen, where he began scraping and preluding -with his fiddle. To many of the lads and lasses -this was the first intimation of the musician’s -presence; and it was the signal for a little preliminary -coquetry with the eyes, while it lit up -their honest faces with blushes and expectant -smiles.</p> - -<p>A Scottish wedding without a dance is next door -to no wedding at all, so little time was lost in<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_190"></a>{190}</span> -stepping to the floor. There were Scotch reels, -country-dances, and polkas, and now and then a -quadrille was decorously walked through by the -two or three young farmers and their sweethearts. -But unquestionably the Scotch reel was the -favourite, and maintained the precedence throughout -the whole of the entertainment. As most -readers doubtless know, this is a lively and -stirring dance, that permits a good deal of jumping -and stamping, and is admirably adapted to the -social requirements of a warm-hearted and excitable -people. Whether its popularity in Scotland has -anything to do with the Celtic origin of the inhabitants, -I do not take upon me to suggest; but -certain it is, that after seeing it performed, as on -the present occasion, with all the vivacity that -belongs to it, you would not think of associating -it with a grave and solemn-minded race. To the -uninitiated onlooker it is nothing but an indistinguishable -confusion; in which he may observe -that there is a great deal of bobbing with the -head and shuffling with the feet, and that it is -in nowise adapted to a staid person of fashion. -Nevertheless it stood in high favour on the present -occasion, and seemed to please abundantly -the agile young persons who performed in it. -What matter to them though it should be unfashionable! -They had come to this wedding to -enjoy themselves; and much as the horrid crew in -‘Alloway’s auld haunted kirk’ despised foreign -cotillons, so did these children of hills and valleys -stick to their native reels and country-dances.</p> - -<p>After a time, when the music had begun to -work in his soul, and he had been set athinking -upon ‘the brave days of old,’ you would notice -a reverend senior bravely leading out some gay -and handsome maiden, and challenging another -gray-headed veteran to face him in the dance. -These exhibitions of pluck and spirit in the -fathers uniformly evoked hearty plaudits from -the company; and some one would call out to -‘Archie’ the fiddler, ‘to put his best foot foremost -this time.’ Archie had by this time got -worked into a state of considerable energy and -enthusiasm, and was in some respects quite a different -character from that of two hours ago at the -tea-table. The colour had travelled back to his -old withered cheek, and his features looked a deal -more soft and flexible; his face and form seemed -much more indicative of life; youth seemed to -be coming back to him at the call of his own -fiddle. It was interesting to observe as he became -enthusiastic in his fiddling, how sympathetic was -his every motion. How his rickety old legs -crossed and bobbed up and down; the body in a -tremble, and constant movement in the shoulders; -while the head was perpetual motion, now hanging -down upon his breast, now erect and turning -on its socket, now thrown backwards, and such -eyes as were in it—poor ‘ruined orbs’—directed -restlessly towards the ceiling. Archie’s <i>tout ensemble</i> -was a visible embodiment of the doctrine -that music incites to motion.</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Music has charms to <i>stir</i> the savage breast</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>no less than to ‘soothe’ it. Now and then the -dancers would cease a while, and seated in benches -round the room, would listen in silence to a song. -A broad-faced, dull-eyed, young shepherd, with -more energy than finish, sang <i>My Hielan’ Hills</i>, -and a dark pawky little man recited out of a -corner very slyly, <i>Rabbin Tamson’s Smiddy</i>. <i>The -Laird o’ Cockpen</i>, <i>Why Left I my Hame?</i> and <i>Willie -brewed a Peck o’ Maut</i>, were also given; the last -named being received with great enthusiasm. -There was little culpable indulgence in whisky that -I observed. This may have been owing to the -judicious arrangements of the host for refreshing -his guests during the evening with the national -‘toddy’ instead of the more potent undiluted spirit. -Several times a tray was handed round, bearing -piles of bread-and-cheese, and a large jug full -of the resuscitating beverage; and though the -latter in some cases was a little freely partaken -of, there was no unseemly manifestation of its -effects.</p> - -<p>And thus, through the warm hours of that -summer’s night, with lonely hills listening in their -dreams, the wedding festival of the shepherd’s -daughter glided merrily along. The sun had been -already near two hours climbing up the east, and -the pale morning light had once more shot its rays -into many a glen and hollow, when these mountain -merry-makers ceased their saturnalia. The evening -before, they had assembled for the feast trim, -fresh, rosy, and buoyant; and when the ‘garish -day’ sent his mocking light through the narrow -window-panes and shone upon the forms of the -dancers, they looked rosy and buoyant still. The -smoothness had departed from their hair and the -aspect of freshness from their garments; frills and -ribbons had been dragged awry; but the colour -was as fresh in their cheeks, and their eyes were -quite as lustrous as when eight hours before they -had stamped and bobbed and ‘<i>hooch’d</i>’ through -their first Scotch reel. The most of them would -tramp their half-dozen miles and more back over -the hills, and go through the usual labours of -the day with hardly a symptom of fatigue.</p> - -<p>When all had come out of the cottage, and -immediately before the separation, about three-fourths -of the party congregating on the little knoll -before the door where the bride’s-maid had stood -with the handkerchief on the previous evening, -sent forth a long-drawn, far-reverberating cheer. -Then followed a tumultuous shaking of hands, -with many a kindly spoken farewell; and then -finally they departed, each group on its own path, -for their wide-scattered farms and cottages. Some -days would pass during which the memory of the -wedding would be continually in their thoughts, -forming a mental picture that gave them solace in -the midst of outward dreariness. But gradually -the lines of the picture would lose their vividness, -and it would be less frequently recurred to by -the fancy, less fervently yearned after by the -heart. Emotions that had been stirred by that -night’s entertainment would after a while subside -again; the old duties would present themselves -anew, calling for the old labour and attention; -and harmony would be again established between -the inward life and the outward circumstances.</p> - -<p>The newly married couple had arranged to stay -at the cottage till the afternoon, and then to set -out for their future home, which lay in the adjoining -parish, and about ten miles away. That -parish in its whole extent was high-lying and pastoral; -and therefore the dwelling to which they -were going would be in every way as lonely as -the one from which they were departing. From -what I had noticed of the bride’s mother, she -would undoubtedly feel melancholy over the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_191"></a>{191}</span> -losing of her daughter, the last that had remained -with her out of five; and I can think of her that -afternoon, when the two young people had left -her, slipping out to the door, and having shaded -her eyes with her hand, taking a far look at them -as they passed out of her sight among the hills. -Then she would walk pensively back into her now -dull-looking kitchen, and perhaps ponder with -some sadness about becoming old. The bride and -bridegroom would arrive at their abode in the -gray hours of the evening, where some relative -would be waiting to receive them. It would be -such another cottage as the one we have been -visiting; and there, in the wide wilderness, untamed -nature on every side of them, they would -settle down to await the domesticities that fate -might send.</p> - -<p>Is there not something almost awe-striking in -the thought of civilised human beings settling -down to face perhaps half a century of life in -solitudes like these, all unconscious of the mighty -pulse-beats of the world they dwell in? It is to be -presumed that this red-haired Briton who has just -led home his bride across ten miles of moorland, -possesses a fair share of practical energy and some -fragments of intellect; he has the faculty of loving -his fellow-men and of gaining happiness, perhaps -also wisdom, from hours of bright social intercourse. -If he were now planted amid stimulating circumstances, -a fine moral nature might possibly be developed -by the time his years were through. But -immured in this mountain fastness, away from -human din, his mind will probably never be -unfolded to the least self-conscious effort; and he -will leave life at seventy little advanced in intellectual -attainment on what he was at twenty-five. -For although Nature is an open book, teeming -over with wise and great lessons, it is only after -toiling through initiatory stages of culture that -we can intelligently read her book, or even believe -that it exists. The unlettered shepherd nestling -in her shaggy bosom, unless she has gifted him -with genius, rarely dreams of the truths that she -is symbolically publishing around him. And I -think of the future life of him whose marriage -we have been celebrating as something far different -from that of a home-bred philosopher or poet. -Performing his simple pastoral duties with honesty -of purpose, I can still imagine his life to be -monotonous, irksome, and stagnant; having in -it many hours of idleness unillumined by neighbourly -greetings or the mystic gleams of intelligent -research. As he goes his rounds in summer-time, -he will see the wide stillness of morning -upon the hills; in winter he will have to -battle with the fury of the storm. The gloaming -will find him cultivating an unfruitful garden, -or gathering hay out of morasses for his cow, -or sitting over his peat-fire knitting homespun -stockings or reading legends of the Covenanters. -Now and then a distant neighbour, leading a life as -lonely as himself, or some wandering angler, will -drop in upon him, and be treated to a hospitable -meal. But he will hardly see another face the -whole year through, except perchance on Sunday—until -the ‘clipping’ season comes round, when -he will be called away, now in one direction now -in another, to days of social labour.</p> - -<p>Some day, let us hope, a wee body will appear -upon his hearth—his own offspring, to be loved, -nourished, and instructed; and then probably there -will come another and another till a considerable -family is grouped around him. The care and training -of these children will be a kind of education -to himself. The nursing of them will not fail -to develop the womanliness of the wife. Let us -hope that she may have much of a mother’s happiness -and little of a mother’s sorrow, and that rosy -health will be ever upon her hearth! May her -boys grow up broad-shouldered and manly; may -her girls be handsome, modest, and fair; and some -day or other, a quarter of a century hence, may -there be another moorland wedding, when those -of us who have assisted at the present one, fiddler -and dancers, writer and readers, shall be wearing -away or perhaps gathered to ‘the land o’ the leal.’</p> - - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="EGG-CULTURE">EGG-CULTURE.</h2> -</div> - - -<p><span class="smcap">Why</span> do we import seven or eight hundred million -eggs every year, and pay two millions and a half -sterling for them? The answer is, that the -demand for eggs is steadily increasing, while the -home produce is either lessening or stationary in -amount.</p> - -<p>Why the home supply does not advance with -the increase of demand, is a question that calls for -a little attention to the commercial aspects of -farming. So many small holdings have been -absorbed by large farms, that many a cottage -housewife has been withdrawn from rural life who -would otherwise have reared cottage poultry; -neither the allotment-holder nor the artisan has -range and space enough for rearing eggs to -advantage.</p> - -<p>In a trade journal called <i>The Grocer</i>, in which -much information concerning the provision trades -is given, the following remarks occur: ‘If a due -attention to details were given in this country, the -stock of fowls which roam about the farmyard and -gather corn from the thrashing, instead of being a -mere adjunct and perquisite of the servants, would -return sufficient to discharge the rental of many a -small holding. Such, we have understood, has -been the case where the experiment has been fairly -tried; and once this becomes an established -notion, our own supplies will increase in a greater -ratio than they do at present. According to a -competent authority, at this time—what with -improved native and imported varieties—we -possess the best stock of egg-layers in the world. -In no country is the management of our best -poultry-yards excelled. These should serve as a -model for the rest; to bring up the wholesale -results to their true national importance, all we -require is an extension of the taste for poultry-farming -amongst those who earn their living on -the land.’</p> - -<p>The real new-laid eggs of home produce are -comparatively few. Their excellence is best -appreciated by obtaining them at country farmhouses. -The small farmers who do not take nor -send their eggs to open market sell them to -country shopkeepers, or barter them for other -commodities. Many cottagers contrive to keep a -few fowls; and where there is no pig, these fowls -act as scavengers, consuming the scraps of the -family, the outside cabbage-leaves, peelings of -boiled potatoes, &c.; if the fowls are supplied<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_192"></a>{192}</span> -with a little corn, they will lay a good many eggs. -This desultory mode of leaving poultry to find -their food as best they may is, however, quite a -mistake, and can never be adequately remunerative. -Fowls, to pay, must be well looked after, -and systematically fed and housed.</p> - -<p>Ireland used to supply England with a considerable -number of eggs, and perhaps may continue so -to do; but statistical details of the trade between -the two portions of the United Kingdom are not -now published. About thirty years ago, fifty -million eggs were annually shipped from Dublin -alone to London and Liverpool, value about a -hundred and twenty thousand pounds; the supply -obtained from all Ireland very much exceeded this -amount. Mr Weld, in his description of Roscommon -about that period, noticed some of the -features of the egg-trade in the rural districts of -Ireland: ‘The eggs are collected from the cottages -for several miles round by runners, boys nine -years old and upwards, each of whom has a regular -beat which he goes over daily, bearing back the -produce of his toil carefully stored in a small -hand-basket. I have frequently met with these -boys on their rounds; and the caution necessary -for bringing their brittle ware with safety seemed -to have communicated an air of business and -steadiness to their manner unusual to the ordinary -volatile habits of children in Ireland.’</p> - -<p>But as we have said, a large supply from abroad -has become a necessity; and the characteristics of -this supply are worth knowing; because they -shew that the trade can be conducted profitably -without having recourse to artificial incubation or -hatching—a system which has at times had many -advocates in England.</p> - -<p>The importation of French eggs into this country -has increased in an almost incredible degree, -owing in part to the facilities afforded by the -commercial treaty between England and France. -It has risen from about a hundred and fifty -million to six or seven hundred million eggs -annually, since the year 1860; while the value -per thousand has also increased, until at length -our importers pay at least two millions and a half -sterling for the yearly import. The eggs are -brought over chiefly in steamers, and landed at -Southampton, Folkestone, Arundel, Newhaven, -and Shoreham.</p> - -<p>The egg-culture in France is almost exclusively -confined to small farmers, who carry it on in a -vigorous and commercial spirit, chiefly in Burgundy, -Normandy, and Picardy. Every village -has its weekly market, to which farmers and their -wives bring their produce, in preference to selling -at the farmyard to itinerant dealers. A merchant -will sometimes buy twenty thousand eggs at one -market; he takes them to his warehouse, where -they are sorted and packed, and possibly sent off -the same day to Paris or to London. According -to the conditions required by the buyers, the eggs -are sometimes counted, sometimes ‘sized’ by passing -them through a ring, sometimes bought in -bulk. In many of the north-west districts of -France, poultry villages send almost their whole -supply of eggs to England, from Calais, Cherbourg, -and Honfleur, packed in cases containing from six -hundred to twelve hundred each. Nearly all -continental countries producing sufficient eggs for -their own supply, the export from France is almost -entirely to England. It is found that the buckwheat -districts are those in which most eggs are -reared—possibly a useful hint to English rearers.</p> - -<p>The production of eggs for market is one thing, -and the hatching of them another. We do not -here go into the question of hatching, though -much that is interesting could be written on the -subject. It is enough to say that all the ingenious -plans that have been set on foot for the artificial -hatching and rearing of poultry have broken down -through the costliness of the arrangements and -management. Those who have tried any of these -plans have arrived at the conclusion that both eggs -and poultry can only be produced on a cheap scale -by farmers or cottagers. And this opinion stands -to reason. About farmyards and cottages in rural -districts, hens can pick up food that would otherwise -be wasted. Besides, let it be kept in mind, -that hens like to roam about scratching for seeds, -worms, and particles of lime to furnish material -out of which the shells of their eggs are formed. -If kept in confinement, exceeding care is required -to supply the creatures with such requisites -as their maternal instincts seem to require. -What we suggest is, that cottagers, farmers, and -others possessing sufficient scope for keeping -poultry, should go far more largely into the -business of egg-culture than they do at present. -Why should they allow the great egg-supply for -this country to be in the hands of others? -The answer, we fear, is, that our farming classes -generally look down contemptuously on the supplying -of eggs for market. It is too small an affair -to invite consideration. Small! Two millions and -a half of money annually carried off by the -French. Is that a trade to be treated with indifference?</p> - -<p>We hear much of women’s work, and of how -young ladies should employ themselves. Here -is something, at all events, for farmers’ wives -and daughters to set their face to without the -slightest derogation of rank or character. Let -them take up in real earnest the culture of fowls, -if only for the sake of the eggs which on a -great and remunerative scale may be produced. -Those farmers’ wives who already appropriate -part of their leisure to this occupation deserve all -honour; and we honour them accordingly.</p> - - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="LINES">LINES -<br /> -TO A YOUNG LADY ON HER BIRTHDAY.</h2> -</div> - -<p class="ph3">BY J. PITMAN (WHO DIED 1825).</p> - - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Encircled</span> thus by those you love,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">May each successive Birthday prove</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A source of new delight, nor cast</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A single shade upon the past.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Thus ever may thy placid brow</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And playful smile bespeak, as now</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The peace that cheers thy gentle breast,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And bids thee still in hope be blest.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">And thus may each revolving year</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Still leave thy cheek without a tear;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Still Virtue strew thy flowery way</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With sweets that never know decay.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p class="center">Printed and Published by <span class="smcap">W. & R. Chambers</span>, 47 Paternoster -Row, <span class="smcap">London</span>, and 339 High Street, <span class="smcap">Edinburgh</span>.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p class="center"><i>All Rights Reserved.</i></p> - - - - - - - - -<pre> - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Chambers's Journal of Popular -Literature, Science, and Art,, by Various - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHAMBER'S JOURNAL *** - -***** This file should be named 62863-h.htm or 62863-h.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/6/2/8/6/62863/ - -Produced by Susan Skinner and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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