The National Magazine.

OCTOBER, 1857.

EDITORIAL NOTES AND GLEANINGS.

TO PLEASE EVERYBODY is a task difficult in all cases; in the editorial management of a Indeed, if an editor periodical, impossible. succeeds in pleasing himself, it is quite as much as he has a right to expect, and in a great many instances it is more than he is able to accomplish. Let not correspondents wonder, then, if their wishes are not always complied with, nor readers think it a strange thing if occasionally they meet with an article or a paragraph that is not exactly in accordance with their own taste. The editor shares the affliction with them, but relieves himself by reflecting that it takes all sorts of people to make up a world, and that in the circle of his readers there is almost every variety of taste and prejudice. We have frequent illustrations of this fact. By the same mail we have had letters applauding and censuring the same article. Occasionally a subscriber is so sensitive as to threaten

discontinuance because of a few lines which do not exactly square with his own notions; and now and then a correspondent pours upon us a phial of wrath because of the rejection or abbreviation of his article. In the general, however, we are on the best of terms with all our patrons, in which category we include those who write for us, and those who read what is written. The great mass have too much good sense to take offense where none is intended, or to expect from an editor the impossibility of always pleasing everybody.

WANTON DESTRUCTION OF LIFE.

SUICIDE IN FRANCE.-M. Lisle, a member of the Imperial Academy of Medicine of France, has written a very able work on suicide, in which he conclusively proves that, so far as his investigations are concerned, they are far from corroboratory of the opinion of Montesquieu and the national Gallic belief touching the mortal ennui and the suicidal monomania of England. It appears from his statement that there were in France, from 1836 to 1852 inclusive, 52,126 suicides, or a mean of 3,066 a year; the num bers rising steadily from 2,340 in 1836, to 3,674

in 1852. From 1827 to 1830 the mean number

had been only 1,800 a year. Before 1836 the proportion was one suicide for every 17,693 inhabitants; in 1836 it was one for 1,420.

In

In 1852 it had risen to one for 9,340. 1838 and 1839 England had one suicide for every 15,900 inhabitants; France, one for every 12,489. Between London and Paris, for the same years, the difference is yet more remarkable, the figures being, for London, one in 8,250; and for Paris, one in 2,221. This is surely a sufficiently distinct contradiction to the generally received opinion.

The north of France is the most prolific in suicides; nearly half of the whole number belongs to the north, which has increased its own ratio by one third. The north has one in 6,483; the east, one in 13,855; the south, one in 20,457. The department of the Seine, which includes Paris, has risen with frightful rapidity; but Paris and Marseilles, and all large centers, are the foci of suicides to a very striking extent. Russia stands the lowest of European states in the scale, her suicides being only one in 49,182; while Prussia has one in 14,404; Austria, one in 20,900; New York, one in 7,797; Boston, one in 12,500; Baltimore, one in 13,650; and Philadelphia, one in 11,873.

Climate has not much to do with the matter. In latitude from 42 deg. to 54 deg. the proportion is one in 38,882; from 54 deg. to 64 deg., one in 56,577. Yet the last figures include Moscow and St. Petersburg, and represent a much more rigorous, damp, uncertain, and joyless climate than the first. Certainly the low condition of civilization between these latitudes influence the statistics to the full as much as any other assigned or assignable cause: but that mere temperature and climate have little to do with the question is proved by the average number of suicides occurring in the different months of the year of France, which are highest in the sunniest, brightest, and most We cannot refrain from enjoyable seasons. giving the table entire; it opens a view so very different from the one popularly received. The list is the average of seventeen years' computation.

wife and mother. Thou hast had thy trials, and so has thy good partner. I wish thy grandchild well

In age, the rate increases gradually from under sixteen up to forty, when it slowly decreases to eighty and upward. The mass oc

curs in middle age; but there has been recently a noticeable increase of suicides by children, which are now sevenfold what they were thirty years ago for children under sixteen years of age, twelve times as many for youths from sixteen to twenty. Esquirol says:

"One youth leaves a writing before killing himself, in which he bitterly blames his parents for the education they have given him; another blasphemes God and society; a third kills himself because he has not enough air to breathe with ease: two young men of letters, at the age of twenty-one cach, suffocate themselves with charcoal, because a theatrical piece which they have composed together has not succeeded; a child of thirteen hangs himself, and leaves a document beginning: 'I bequeath my soul to Rousseau, and my body to the earth;' one of twelve hangs himself for rage at being only the twelfth in a school exercise where he expected a better place; and another, of thirteen, hangs himself in a cell where he was unjustly

confined."

What a painful mass of ill-regulated passion

and misdirected life lies in those few lines!

THE QUEEN AND THE QUAKERESS.-We take the following amusing account of a visit paid by her late Majesty, Queen Charlotte, while

staying at Bath, a celebrated watering place, from an English periodical. The time spoken

of was the summer of 1815:

"The waters soon effected such a respite from pain in the royal patient that she proposed an excursion to a park of some celebrity in the neighborhood, then the estate of a rich widow lady belonging to the Society of Friends. Notice was given of the queen's intention, and a message returned that she would be welcome. Our illustrious traveler had, perhaps, never before any personal intercourse with a member of the persuasion whose votaries never voluntarily paid taxes to the man George, called king by the vain ones. The lady and gentleman who were to attend the royal visitants had but feeble ideas of the reception to be expected. It was supposed that the Quaker would, at least, say Thy Majesty,' Thy Highness,' or 'Madame.'

"The royal carriage arrived at the lodge of the park punctually at the appointed hour. No preparations appeared to have been made; no hostess or domestics stood ready to greet the guest. The porter's bell was rung; he stepped forth deliberately with his broad brimmed beaver on, and unbendingly accosted the lord in waiting with, 'What's thy will, friend?

"This was almost unreasonable. 'Surely,' said the nobleman, 'your mistress is aware that her majestygo to your mistress and say that the queen is here.' "No, truly,' answered the man, 'it needeth notI have no mistress or lady; but my friend Rachel Mills expects thine. Walk in.'

"The queen and the princess were handed out, and walked up the avenue. At the door of the house stood the plainly attired Rachel, who, without even a courtesy, but with a cheerful nod, said, How's thee do, friend? I am glad to see thee and thy daughter. I wish thee well. Rest and refresh thee and thy people, before I show thee my grounds.'

What could be said to such a person? Some condescension was attempted, implying that her majesty came not only to view the park, but to testify her esteem for the society to which Mistress Mills belonged. Cool and unawed, she said, 'Yes, thou art right there. The Friends are well thought of by most folks; but they need not the praise of the world; for the rest, inany strangers gratify their curiosity by going over this place, and it is my custom to conduct them myself; therefore I will do the like by thee, friend Charlotte. Moreover, I think well of thee, as a dutiful

"It was so evident that the Friends meant kindly, nay, respectfully, that no offense could be taken. She escorted her guests through the estate. The Princess Elizabeth noticed in the hen house a breed of poultry hitherto unknown to her, and expressed a wish to possess some of these rare fowls, imagining that Mrs. Mills would regard her wish as law; but the Quakeress merely remarked, with her characteristic evasion, purchased in this land or other countries, I know of They are rare, as thou say est; but if they are to be few women likelier than thyself to procure them with

ease.'

"Her royal highness more plainly expressed her desire to purchase some of those which she now beheld. "I do not buy and sell,' answered Rachel.

"Perhaps you will give me a pair?' observed the princess.

"Nay, verily,' replied Rachel Mills, I have refused many friends; and that which I denied to my own kinswoman, Martha Ash, it becometh me not to grant to any. We have long had it to say that these birds belonged only to our house; and I can make no exception in thy favor."

EDUCATION OF CHILDREN.-Lord Brougham gives it as his opinion that the child learns more the first eighteen months of its life than at any other period; in fact, settling its mental capacity and future well-being. Dr. Babbington states the period of the first nine years as the seed-time for life. The Roman Catholic

priest wants the child for the first seven years of training, when its character is molded for time and eternity. If the early training of the child is of such paramount importance, should not those who naturally have the care of infants and young children, mothers and nurses, be thoring this great work of educators? Who will oughly instructed themselves before undertak

establish a school for children's nurses? It is more needed in our country than institutions for idiots.

Robert Browning is the fortunate possessor of one of the two locks of Milton's hair now in existence. They have fallen into the right hands. Both originally belonged to Leigh Hunt, who divided his treasure with Browning, asking in exchange a lock of Mrs. Browning's and his hair. It would be difficult to decide on which side the compliment was most delicate and fitting. Milton's hair came to Hunt from Dr. Johnson's family, with a lock, also, of the astute critic's, who received it directly from the descendants of the republican poet himself. Its genuineness is beyond impeachment, and it has been always in the keeping of great and kindred souls; so that, both from its origin and subsequent associations, I look upon this relic as one of the most precious and suggestive that exists of the material existence of one of earth's noblest souls.

A SHREWD DECISION of ALI, CALIPH OF BAGDAD. In the Preliminary Dissertation to Richardson's "Arabic Dictionary," 2 vols. 4to, 1806, the following curious anecdote is recorded:

"Two Arabians sat down to dinner: one had five loaves, the other three. A stranger passing by desired permission to eat with them, which they agreed to. The stranger dined, laid down eight pieces of money, and departed. The proprietor of the five loaves took up five pieces, and left three for the other, who objected. and insisted on having one half. The cause came before Ali, who gave the following judgment: 'Let the owner of the five loaves have seven pieces of

money, and the owner of the three loaves one; for, if we divide the eight loaves by three, they make twentyfour parts; of which he who laid down the five loaves had fifteen, while he who laid down three had only nine; as all fared alike, and eight shares was each man's proportion, the stranger ate seven parts of the first man's property, and only one belonging to the other; the money, in justice, must be divided accordingly.""

STAR GAZING MADE EASY.-The Scientific American gives a very simple mode of examining the satellites of the planet Jupiter. On a clear night take a looking-glass, and, either at the window or out of doors, so place it as to receive the impression of the planet. By a close examination of the planet as reflected in the glass, all its satellites will also be observed, provided none of them are eclipsed. It is rather remarkable, however, that although these satellites can thus be seen, while they cannot be seen with the naked eye, that neither Venus nor the Moon can be seen as distinctly by re

"The Rev. M. Baillargeon, Curé of St. Nicholas, before a single soul perished, gave absolution to all' the unfortunate passengers. He was in his own parish on the opposite shore of the St. Lawrence, observed the danger in which the lives of those on board were, and pronounced the absolution."

SUITING THE ACTION TO THE WORD.-The latest pulpit anecdote we have seen is the following, illustrative of the manner in which the celebrated preacher, Spurgeon, in London, attracts attention:

"Upon one occasion, he told the assembled multitude that the way to hell was smooth and easy, like this,' said he; and he straightway opened the pulpit door, put his foot over the banister, and slid down, as you have often seen little boys do. He then stopped for a moment, and said, 'But the way to heaven is hard, like this; and pulled himself up again, which was rather difficult; but the congregation received this practical illustration with great applause."

DEATH IN LIFE.-The following is from an article by Oliver W. Holmes, in the last number of the North American review:

"If the reader of this paper live another complete year, his self-conscious principle will have migrated from its present tenement to another, the raw material even of which are not as yet put together. A portion of that body of his which is to be, will ripen in the corn of the next harvest. Another portion of his future person he will purchase, or others will purchase for him, headed up in the form of certain barrels of potatoes. A third fraction is yet to be gathered in a Southern rice field. The limbs with which he is then to walk will be clad with flesh borrowed from the tenants of many stalls and pastures, now unconscious of their doom. The very organs of speech with which he is to talk so wisely, plead so eloquently, or preach so effectively, must first serve his humbler brethren to bleat, to bellow, and for all the varied utterances of bristled or feathered barn-yard life. His bones themselves are, to a great extent, in posse, and not in esse. "A bag of phosphate of lime which he has ordered from Professor Mapes, for his grounds, contains a large part of what it is to be his next year's skeleton. And more than all this, and by far the greater part of his body is nothing, after all, but water, the main substance of his scattered members is to be looked for in the reservoir, in the running streams, at the bottom of the well, in the clouds that float over his head, or diffused among them all."

INGENIOUS EXAMPLE.-The difficulty of applying rules to the pronunciation of our language may be illustrated in two lines, where combination of the letters ough is pronounced in no less than seven different ways, viz., as o, uf, of, up, ow, 00, and ock.

"Though the tough cough and hiccough plough me through,

O'er life's dark lough my course I still pursue.

naked eye.

BOSSUET AND MASSILLON. -The following passage from the journal of Le Dieu, illustrates the contrast between the mode of delivery adopted by Bossuet and by Massillon. The latter used to say that his best sermon was that which he knew the best. He committed accurately, and the less the memory had to exert itself, the more freedom was gained for feeling and for action. But no two of Bossuet's sermons were exactly alike in phraseology. Even when they were most carefully written, he could not feel at ease unless, by means of marginal variations, he had the choice between two or three modes of expression, from which he might select according to the state in which he saw his audience. Thus it will be seen that Bossuet conformed much more nearly than his great cotemporary to the method recommended by Fénélon, in his masterly Dialogues on Eloquence:

HOW BOSSUET PREPARED HIS SERMONS.

"He was determined in his choice of a subject by the consideration of persons, place, and time. Like the holy fathers, he adapted his instructions or his rebukes to the present wants of his hearers. Hence it was that throughout an Advent or a Lent he could only prepare during the interval between one sermon and another. Accordingly, he never understood these great Lenten courses in which it is customary to preach every day. He could not have supported the labor; so intense was his application, and so animated his delivery. When at work, he would put on paper his plan, his text, his proofs, either in French or Latin, indifferently, without troubling himself about the language, turns of expression, or figures of speech. I have heard him say a hundred times than any other method would have rendered his delivery feeble, and taken the life and force out of his sermon.

"On this unformed material he used to meditate profoundly during the morning of the day on which he had to preach, and most frequently, without writing anything additional, in order not to interrupt his thoughts; for his imagination was far more rapid than his pen.

"When master of the thoughts which had presented themselves, he fixed in his memory the very expressions he intended to use. Then, in a meditation during the afternoon, he went over his sermon in his head, reading it with the eye of his mind, as though it had been set down on paper, altering, adding, and retrenching, as though pen in hand. Finally, when in the pulpit, and during the delivery, he followed the impression of his words on the congregation, and in an instant, mentally canceling what he had prepared, and giving himself to the thought of the moment, would press home that part by which (as the faces told him) their hearts were softened or alarmed."

THE GOLDEN TOOTH.-In 1593 it was reported that a Silesian child, seven years old, had lost all its teeth, and that a golden tooth had grown in the place of a natural double one. One learned man after another wrote volumes on

this marvel, and nothing was wanting to recommend these erudite writings to posterity, but proof that the tooth was gold. A goldsmith examined it, and found it a natural tooth, artificially gilt.

PLAIN ENGLISH.-B. F. Taylor has some sensible hints on a very common propensity of writers and public speakers, and the practice of imitating their grandiloquence in conversation. He says:

"It is worthy of remark, that none but common people ever go to bed' or bid you 'good-night;' they invariably retire' or give you good evening. Nobody is a woman' that doesn't work out for a living. Invalids do not 'get well; they only convalesce;' ladies dispose their head-dresses, though they never comb their hair; when gentlemen eat cold beans, they dignify it into partaking of a slight repast.'

"The dray horses hear the better Saxon-but worse morality, it may be-than some of the audiences, not horses, that wait on public speakers; good, strong Saxon, as direct as a sunbeam: a little coarse, you say, but not coarser than is woven into songs that everybody, from Fletcher of Saltoun down to to-day, has wanted the making of, let alone the laws."

What can be more home-spun Saxon than,
"The curfew tolls the knell of parting day,
The lowing herd winds slowly o'er the lea,
The plowman homeward plods his weary way,.

And leaves the world to darkness and to me."

"When a man grows eloquent, it is the Saxon element that lends wings to his thought; so whole paragraphs from Webster and Everett are all English, and whole columns from sophomores are as full with Latin roots, and Greek particularly, as Cicero's country-seat, or an Athenian garden."

SMALL CHANGE.

ABOUT KANSAS.-The Tribune of this city, as all who have been in the habit of reading it are aware, was, day after day, for a long time, engaged in the discussion of matters and things in Kansas. Some time ago a Quaker gentleman presented himself to one of the editors, and requested to see a copy of the Tribune. On being asked what particular number of the paper he wished to see, Ambrose innocently replied that he had forgotten the date, but he wanted to see the one which "contained that article about Kansas!"

"did

A Yankee made a bet with a Dutchman that he could swallow him. The Dutchman lay down upon the table, and the Yankee, taking his big toe in his mouth, nipped it severely. "O, you are biting me," roared the Dutchman. "Why, you old fool," said the Yankee, you think I was going to swallow you whole?" This was the same ingenious gentleman who laid a wager with Smith that he could throw him clear across a twenty foot canal. He made one trial, and Smith brought up, or rather down, in the middle of the raging element. Paddling his way out as best he could, Smith claimed the bet. "Pooh! pooh !" cried the other, "I don't give it up so. I shall keep on trying till I succeed!"

under which some rival dealer has painted,

IF YOU WANT TO BE SKINNED. This beats the quack medicine man who painted up

TAKE DR. HOBENSACK'S PILLS, and along came a tract vender, and stuck up under it, so as to continue the sense,

PREPARE TO MEET THY GOD.

A friend at our elbow suggested that he saw in Brooklyn the other day a poster reading,

LECTURE TO-NIGHT BY MR. CHAPIN, under which protruded in bright letters, THE MOST SUCCESSFUL VERMIFUGE IN THE WORLD.

Gratis advertisers may as well beware of cross readings.

THE DUEL.-Burton, in his "Cyclopedia of Wit and Humor," quotes the following reply to a challenge from a work published in 1796, and entitled" Modern Chivalry :"

"SIR,-I have two objections to this duel matter. The one is, lest I should hurt you; and the other is, lest you should hurt me. I do not see any good it would do me to put a bullet through any part of your body. I could make no use of you when dead for any culinary purpose, as I would a rabbit or a turkey. I

am no cannibal to feed on the flesh of men. Why, then, shoot down a human creature of which I could make no use? A buffalo would be better meat. For though your flesh may be delicate and tender, yet it wants that firmness and consistency which takes and retains salt. At any rate, it would not be fit for long sea voyages. You might make a good barbecue, it is true, being of the nature of a raccoon or an opossum; but people are not in the habit of barbecuing anything human now. As to your hide, it is not worth taking off, being little better than that of a year old colt.

"It would seem to me a strange thing to shoot at a man that would stand still to be shot at, inasmuch as I have been heretofore used to shoot at things flying. or running, or jumping. Were you on a tree now, like a squirrel, endeavoring to hide yourself in the branches, or like a raccoon, that, after much eyeing and spying, I observe at length in the crotch of a tall oak, with boughs and leaves intervening, so that I could just get a sight of his hinder parts, I should think it pleasurable enough to take a shot at you. But as it is, there is no skill or judgment requisite either to discover or take you down.

"As to myself, I do not much like to stand in the

way of anything harmful. I am under apprehensions you might hit me. That being the case, I think it most advisable to stay at a distance. If you want to try your pistols, take some object, a tree or a barn-door, about my dimensions. If you hit that send me word, and I shall acknowledge that if I had been in the same place you might also have hit me.

"JOHN FARRAGO, late Captain Penn. Militia. MAJOR VALENTINE JACKO, U. S. Army."

A Georgia paper publishes the following spicy correspondence:

COVINGTON, March 24. CASHIER BANK OF WEST TENNESSEE-SIR, - In

closed you have a bill on your bank, which is rejected by my exchange broker; if it is worth anything, send me its value in current money; if dead broke, please send me a lock of your hair. Respectfully, L. B.

COVINGTON, April 2. DEAR SIR,-Yours of the 31st ultimo is at hand, covering the needful, for which accept thanks. I suppose you used the razor freely on others, as is usual with gentlemen in your line, but I had no idea you kept up the custom of shaving your own cranium, like the ancient Shylocks of Jewish descent. Save the molar to grind the poor, and you will doubtless find your "front teeth" capable of much to sustain your circulation. Yours truly, L. B.

URI OSGOOD and Jonathan Aiken were on opposite sides of politics last fall in Grundy county, and the fight between them-they were running for Congress-grew warm and desperate. One day when they met on the stump, Uri,

whose head was bald, and should therefore have been cooler, in the midst of his indignation turned upon Jonathan and said:

"I think, sir, you have but one idea in your head, and that is a very small one; if it should swell, it would burst it."

Whereat Jonathan grew red in the face, and looking for a moment at the bare and venerable head of his opponent, asked if he should say what he thought of him.

"Say on," said Uri.

MORMON WIVES.-A Deseret muse thus en

larges on the duties of a good wife, and shows what is expected of such. The "poetry" from which we copy is contained in a late number of the Deseret News:

"Now, sisters, list to what I say:
With trials this world is rife,
You can't expect to miss them all,
Help husband get a wife!
Now this advice I freely give,
If exalted you would be,
Remember that your husband must
Be blessed with more than thee.
Then, O let us say,

God bless the wife that strives,
And aids her husband all she can
To obtain a dozen wives."

A clergyman, not thirty miles from Boston, who was noted for his nicety of pronunciation, went to a shoemaker and engaged a pair of boots to be made. A few days after he called and inquired if they were ready, and was answered in the negative.

"Will they be ready by next Chewsday?" asked the clergyman.

have them by next Chaterday." "No," said the shoemaker; "but you shall

General Sir Charles J. Napier tells the following story of his childhood:

"There was in Limerick a great coarse woman, wife of Dr. Murphy. When she heard of my misfortune, she said, 'Poor boy! I suppose a fly kicked his spindleshanks." Being a little fellow then, though now, be it known, five feet seven inches and a half high, this offended me greatly; and, as the Lord would have it, she broke her own leg just as I was getting well. Going to her house with an appearance of concern, I told the servant how sorry I was to hear that a bullock had kicked Mrs. Murphy and hurt its leg very much, and that I had called to know if her leg was also hurt. She never forgave me."

AMERICA, AS SEEN THROUGH FRENCH SPECTACLES.-A Frenchman recently wrote a book on the United States of America. Among the facts he gives the following:

"The thirteen stripes on our flag are the thirteen present States of the confederation, and the thirty-one stars the States it is expected will be added! The Governor of the United States is chosen every two years! Pennsylvania is a large town in Philadelphia, and the Chief Admiral' and the Commander-inChief' are one and the same person!"

After this, the Dickenses, the Trollopes, and the Marryatts may hide their diminished heads.

A young friend of ours was engaged in teaching mutes. He was explaining by signs the use and meaning of the participle "dis," and requested one of them to write on the blackboard a sentence showing her knowledge of the sense of the prefix. A bright little one stepped forward and wrote the following: "Boys love to play, but girls to dis-play."