Modern Travelling [pp. 733-735]

L?7
SOUTHERN LITERARY MESSENGER.
VOL. 11. RICHMOND, NOVEMBER, 1836. No. XlI.
T. W. WHITE, PROPRIETOR. FIVE DOLLARS PER ANNUM.
STANZAS.
BY MRS. E. F. ELLET.
Wouldst thou know, stranger, wherefore the vain cares,
And envious strifes, and ills of this sad world
Vex not my thoughts serene,
Nor fright my peace of soul?
Wherefore its wild commotions fret me not,
And the vain pageants of its summer smile,
(More fleeting than the light)
Nor dazzle, nor distract?
It is not that a swelling pride doth lift
My spirit'bove the reach of changeful Fate,
Or shield me from the ills
To mortal lot assigned;
Or teach me with a scorn unwise to turn
From good on all bestowed, the boon of Heaven:'Tis not that spells I bear
By stern cold Reason wrought:
But in my spirit's inmost treasure-house
There is a blessed world, from evil free,
Nor wearying cares come nigh
The chambers of the soul!
In this fair home hath Thought her palace reared,
And planted living flowers; there flow the springs
Of Fancy, pure and bright,
In sweet rejoicing streams.
There bends the golden heaven of Poesy,
With gladdening sunlight firaught; there blandest airs
Breathe o'er the fragrant soil,
And palmy groves ascend.
Thus is it that Life's clamors and complaints,
And idle vaunts, unheeded pass me by,
Like the dull streamnlet's voice,
Or inarticulate wind.
Amid the jarring storm's discordant strife,
0, searcher after rest! may'st thou too hear
That auightier nielody
From chords attuned of Heaven!
MODERN TRAVELLING.
Forty years ago, I used to be a great traveller, and
was pretty well acquainted with the means of tianisportation then in use; but about that time, I retired to
the country and settled upon a small farm, where I
hlave, until lately, pursued the even tenor of my way.
During the last summer, some business compelled me to
set out for a distant point, and I left my little home with
extreme reluctance. As I was to travel in a world
about which I knew but little, except through Lthei news
papers, I thought it right to rig myself out in somewhat better style than usual, so I put on my best bib
and tucker and repaired to town and sought a barber's
shop to get my hair cut and my beard shaved, humming,
as I went along, the old song,
" I called to the barber, come shave me boy, do you hear,
And I'll give you sixpence for to spend in ale or beer;
Shave nme, shave me, barber comie shave me,
Make me look neat and spruce that Molly may have me."
Sixpence quotha!-it cost me four and sixpence, at
the least. When 1 opened the door, I was so much as tonished at the elegance of the apartment, that I drew
back, and would have retired, thinking I had made some
mistake, when two or three fellows flew out upon me,
and began brushing my coat with such impetuous vio lence, that I could not escape from them; indeed, it
was with much ado that I could prevent my ears from
being brushed off, by their whizzing brooms. I was as
restive, you may depend upon it, as my horse is under
a cedar broom; twice they struck me severe blows on
the cheek, but always begged pardon, so I could not be
offended; and, indeed, I had made up my mind when
I left home, not to betray my ignorance of present cus toms. All this time two small shavers were dusting my
boots, and I protest it was with much difficulty I could
keep my legs. After considerable suffering on my part,
and repeated declarations of my being satisfied with
their services, and paying each of them something, (for
I saw they expected it,) they desisted. I now expressed
a wish to be shaved and trimmed, and was immediately
disrobed, and ushered to a high-backed chair, where
my head was roughly thrown back, my chin tucked,
and the operation of shaving performed in the twinkling
of an ejaculation. It did not take long to cut my hair
and strangle me with cologne water; but what was my
surprise, when they were done with me, to find the
whole of my occiput as bare as the palm of my hand,
and nothing left upon my head but a few straggling
locks at the side, time having already stripped naked my
forehead. I was sadly vexed, but what could I say?
I had voluntarily put myself in their power, and was
devoutly glad when I got into the street, that I had escaped alive from their hands. Well, I had now paid
four-and-sixpence; I had lost all my hair; my face had
been scratched by brooms and lacerated by a razor, and
1 had learned in exchange, that barbers were different
folks now-a-days fromn what they used to be, and that
men were brushed down like horses-rather a bad speculation! I had nriot been in this world, it is true, "ever
since king Pepin was a little boy," but I was pretty
old, and had never been treated so unceremoniously in
my life. I had imagined when I entered the house, that
I was going into just such a shop as my old friend Kippin used to keep, who received me with the profoundest
of bows, and slhaved Ime with a solemnity of manner
that suited my temper exactly. No tawdry ortlnients
hung upon his wvalls; no mirrors flashed whe:esoever
you turnied; no newspapers laiy scattered around; no
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