The Museum [pp. 27-28]

LITERA TUJRE, SCIENCE, AND ART
threshold had shot himself in the head. M. Dumas's secretary heard
on arriving that he had not killed himself on the spot, but was lying
dangerously wounded. A few days later, however, when he went to
pay a second visit, he found that the marquis had torn off his bandages
in a paroxysm, and was dead.' Thus,' says M. Dumas in conclusion,
' you will see that it is not from ignorance, but from discretion, that I call
my drama Maison Rouge.'"
Professor Pumpelly, who travelled five thousand miles through the
interior of China, on official business, gives the following account of
a Chinese dinner: "The next day we received invitations to dine
with the magistrate of the city. As we traversed the court of the Yamun, at the appointed time, our ears were greeted with a sound of
suppressed chattering, and we could see that all the chinks of the
surrounding windows were occupied by the ladies of the household.
Our host led us into a room where the table was spread. In accordance
with Chinese etiquette, he spent some time in persuading each of the
guests to take the head of the table, a distinction which each one was
bound by the laws of politeness to decline. The host, then standing in
that place himself; insisted upon each and all sitting down before him,
which of course was persistently declined, as it would have been a
breach of politeness for a guest to take his seat first. The dinner began
with a cup of hot rice-wine. The table was loaded with dishes, which
were placed one upon another in tiers, forming a pyramid of Chinese
delicacies. There were soups made of birds'-nests, of the haliotis, and
of sharks'-fins; there was beche-de-mer; there were stews and pates;
there were roots of the water-lily; but it would take too long to enumerate all the dishes spread before us, of each of which one was expected to
taste. Great as is the variety of articles of food in the Chinese cuisine,
some things which in other countries are considered most essential are
missed by the traveller, and of these none more than butter, bread, and
milk. There is a kind of I-:ead which is cooked by steam, and there
are flour-cakes fried in c'.hey are poor substitutes. A little milk is
sold, and women's milkl peddled round the cities mostly for the use
of invalids. Foreigners are shy of patronizing the Chinese milkmen.
There is an old story on the coast, that, at a dinner given by a foreigner,
the host took a servant to task for serving no milk for the coffee.
'Boy go catchee milk,' said the gentleman. The servant, disappearing, soon returned with the answer,' No have got.'
"' What for no have got?'
'That sow have got too -uchee piecee chilo; that woman have
die,' replied the boy. By this ile servant informed the gentleman and
his guests that they had been saved from drinking the milk of either a
sow or a woman only by the death of the latter, and by the birth of a
litter to the former."
From one of the most agreeable of recent books, " The Life of Mary
Russell Mitford (authoress of' Our Village,' etc.), related in a Selection of her Letters to her Friends," we glean the following amusing account of a wedding sixty years ago:
"Very grand wedding! Plenty of barouches and bridesmaids, cake
and favors, kissing and crying! the bride, indeed, had amused herself
with the last-mentioned recreation for a whole week, and having, moreover, accumulated on her person so much finery in the shape of laceflounces, spencers, bonnets, veils, and scarfs, that she looked as if by
mistake she had put on two wedding-dresses instead of one, was by many
degrees the greatest fright I ever saw inl my life. Indeed, between crying
and blushing, brides, and bridesmaids too, do generally look strang e
figures: I am. sure we did-though, to confess the truth, I really could
not cry, much as I wished to keep all mv neighbors in countenance, and
was forced to hold my handkerchief to my eyes and sigh in vain for' ce
don de damoes q?ge Dieu ne in'a pas donni.' I don't really think if I were
married myself, I should have the grace to shed a tear. For the rest all
went off extremely well, except two small accidents, one of which. discomposed me very much. One of my fellow-bridesmaids put on her
skirt wrong-side outward, and though half a dozen abigails offered to
transplant the lace and bows from one side to the other, and though I
all but went down on my knees to beg her not to turn it, turn it she
would and turn it she did-the obstinate! The other mischance was our
entirely forgetting to draw any cake through the ring, so that our fate
still rests in abeyance. The bride and her second sister set off to
Brighton, and I and the youngest remained to do the honors of the wedding-dinner. Of course we all got tipsy-those who were used to it
comfortably enough, and those who were not, rather awkwardly-some
were top-heavy and wanted tying up like overblown carnations, some
reeled, some staggered-and orc fell, and, catching at a harp for a prop,
came down with his supporter; td a salver of coffee which he knocked
out of the sercant's hands; s. ch a crash, vocal and instrumental, 1
never heard in my life."
A scientific traveller in Florida, who writes candidly, and is not interested in land speculation, says, in The American Naturalst, that the
winter climate of that State is healthful as well as delightful: "In the
summer, there is danger of contracting fever-and-ague, and the yellow
fever is an occasional visitor. The climatic advantages to the invalid
are, at the present time, counterbalanced by the miserable food and discomforts of the hotels and boarding-houses; there are, undoubtedly,
exceptions to the last objection, but they are rare. The expenses of a
three-months' trip are quite heavy, and we could make a journey to Europe or California, of the same duration, for the same cost, and live infinitely better in bed and board. In an agricultural point of view,
Florida offers no inducements to the immigrant or settler that are not
surpassed by many other sections of the country, whether quality of
soil, facilities of transportation, accessibility to markets, or variety or
capabilities of production are considered. An immigration of enterprising and industrious people, in sufficient numbers to exercise a controlling influence, would, in a few years, effect a great change for the
better, and place the State in the line of progress. Immigration should
be by colonies, and should include some mechanics, and be well provided with all necessary agricultural and mechanical implements and
material, and great care should be exercised in the selection of a
location."
"Mongol houses, or yurts," says Professor Pumpelly, "are circular,
generally about fourteen feet in diameter, with a portable trellis-frame
wall about four feet high. From the top of this frame springs the roof, in
the form of a dome; the whole is covered with thick felt, leaving a circular opening at the top, through which the smoke escapes. The entrance
is a small square opening, protected by a heavy curtain; and the only
furniture is generally a chest, with a small Buddhist shrine, and a ritual
in Thibetan if one of the sons be a Lama. The ground is covered with
felt mats, and the bedding, generally of sheepskins, is stowed away
around the circumference. In the centre of the dwelling a small tripod
supports the caldron, which is the only cooking-utensil."
Longfellow, in his "Hyperion," tell us that, "on the belfry of the
Kaufhaus, in Coblentz, is a huge head, with a brazen helmet and a
beard; and, whenever the clock strikes, at each stroke of the hammer,
this giant's head opens its great jaws and smites its teeth together, as if,
like the brazen head of Friar Bacon, it would say,' Time was; Time is;
Time is past!' This figure is known through all the country round
about as The Man in the Custom-house,' and, when a friend in the
country meets a friend from. Coblentz, instead of saying,' How are all
the good people in Coblentz?' he says,' How is the Man in the Customhouse?' Thus the giant has a great part to play in the town."
Richardson, in his "' Arctic Expedition," says: " The song of the
Fringilla leucophrys (one of the finches) has been heard day and night,
and so loudly in the stillness of the latter, as to deprive us at first of rest.
It whistles the first bar of' Oh, dear, what can the matter be?' in a clear
tone as if played on a piccolo-pipe; and though the distinctness of the
notes rendered them at first very pleasing, yet, as they haunted us up to
the Arctic Circle, and were loudest at midnight, we came to wish occasionally that the cheerful little songster would time his serenade
better."
The polygamy question takes a very odd form at Natal. " The old
Kaffres, having many cows, buy up all the wives, leaving the young men
without wives, and thereby causing much discontent. The Natal legislature has therefore limited the price for a wife to twenty cows, established a registry, and fixed a marriage-fee. The question is, whether
the old and rich men will not buy up more wives than ever."
A recent traveller in Hungary, stopping at Fitred, asked his landlord
if any English ever visited the place. "Oh, yes," he replied, " we had
three Englishmen this year." "Indeed! Whence did they come?'
"One was from Dublin, one from Edinburgh, and one from New
York!"
- be W1nseunm.
7pHE height of clouds is very variable, and their mean elevation is not
the same in different countries. The stratus cloud often descends
to the earth's surface. In pleasant weather the lower limit of cumulus
clouds varies from three thousand to five thousand feet elevation, and
the upper limit from five thousand to twelve thousand feet. Cirrus
clouds are never seen below the summit of Mount Blanc, which has an
elevation of fifteen thousand seven hundred and forty-four feet. —
LooMIs.
A Brahmin, being oppressed with thirst as he journeyed along, met;
a woman of low condition carrying a vessel of water on her head. Ha
asked her for some to drink; but, that le might not receive water from
an impure hand, he formed a little channel on the grounl; the woman
poured the water in at one end while the Brahmin drank at the other.
One of his own caste, who happened to be passing at the time, accused
him before the council of the Brahmins; the affair was investigated,
and he narrowly escaped the sentence of exclusien from his caste.
Hypotheses for the explanation of light by motion were framed as
early as the middle of the seventeenth century.
r870.]
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