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diff --git a/old/51786-8.txt b/old/51786-8.txt deleted file mode 100644 index ee5dacb..0000000 --- a/old/51786-8.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,2211 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Chambers's Journal of Popular Literature, -Science, and Art, No. 729, December 15, 1877, 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. 729, December 15, 1877 - -Author: Various - -Editor: William Chambers - Robert Chambers - -Release Date: April 18, 2016 [EBook #51786] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHAMBERS'S JOURNAL, DEC 15, 1877 *** - - - - -Produced by Susan Skinner and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - - - - - - - - - - -[Illustration: CHAMBERS'S JOURNAL - -OF - -POPULAR - -LITERATURE, SCIENCE, AND ART. - -Fourth Series - -CONDUCTED BY WILLIAM AND ROBERT CHAMBERS. - -NO. 729. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 15, 1877. PRICE 1½_d._] - - - - -A BUNCH OF KEYS. - - -I am a professional man, and reside in the West End of London. One -morning some few months back, my assistant on coming to attend to his -duties produced a bunch of keys, which he informed me he had just -picked up at the corner of a street leading from Oxford Street. - -'Hadn't they best be handed over to the police?' suggested my -assistant. I wish to goodness I had at once closed with his suggestion; -but I didn't, much to my own cost, as will be presently seen. - -'Well, I don't know,' was my answer. 'I rather think it will be a wiser -plan to advertise them, if the owner is really to have a chance of -recovering them; for to my mind, articles found in that way and handed -over to the police are rarely heard of again.' - -An advertisement for the _Times_ was duly drawn up and sent off for -insertion. It merely stated where the keys had been picked up, and -where the owner of the bunch could have it returned to him on giving -a proper description. The next morning the advertisement appeared; -and though I half expected that some applications might be made later -on in the same day, it passed over quite quietly. But the following -morning I had a foretaste of the trouble that awaited me so soon as the -postman had deposited my letters in the box and given his accustomed -knock. A glance at my table shewed me that my correspondence was very -considerably beyond its average that morning. The very first letter I -opened was in reference to the advertisement; and before I had gone -through the collection I found there were over twenty applications -for the bunch of keys in my possession. Some of the writers took the -trouble to describe the keys they had lost; but none of them were in -the least like those that had been picked up by my assistant. Some did -not take the trouble to give any description at all, or to state if -they had been in the part of the town where the keys were found; and -a few boldly claimed them on the strength of having dropped a bunch -miles from the spot indicated in the advertisement! - -By the time I had got through my letters and my breakfast, my -servant came to tell me that my waiting-room was already full of -people--'mostly ladies,' he said--though it was nearly two hours -before the time I was accustomed to see any one professionally. With a -foreboding that a good deal of worry and a loss of much valuable time -was in store for me, I entered my consulting-room, and gave orders that -the ladies should be admitted in the order of their arrival. They were -all applicants for the keys; and out of the sixteen persons that were -waiting, fourteen were ladies. The two gentlemen were soon despatched. -They _had_ lost keys, near the spot for anything they could tell; but -on being satisfied that what had been found did in no way agree with -the description of what they had lost, they apologised for the trouble -and went at once. - -But it was no such easy matter to get rid of my fourteen -lady-applicants. Some of them were for inflicting upon me a narration -of family affairs that had not the most remote connection with the -business in hand. A few kept closely enough to the subject on which -they had come; but would not take a denial that the keys in my -possession were not the least like those they said they had lost; and -it was only at the sacrifice of some of my usual politeness that I was -able to get rid of them. Not one of the morning's arrival could make -out anything like a fair claim, and one or two owned that they had not -even been in the quarter where the keys were found on the day specified. - -More letters, more applicants, came as the day wore on; and I began -heartily to repent of my well-meant desire to benefit my fellow-mortals -by taking the trouble to find out the rightful owner of a lost article. -I was just on the point of giving orders to my servant to put off all -further applicants until the following morning, when he ushered in -a comfortable-looking lady of middle age, who proceeded straight to -business by at once describing with the greatest accuracy the bunch of -keys that had given me so much anxiety that day; and assuring me that -she had passed the spot indicated in the advertisement on the morning -they were found. - -'Nine keys on the bunch, all Chubb's patent; three very small ones, -five of various sizes, and one latch-key longer than any of the others.' - -The description was perfect. Some of the other applicants had curiously -enough been right as to the number, but wrong as to description. - -I at once told my lady visitor that I had no doubt the keys were hers; -and that I was ready to hand them over to her. But I ventured to add -that it would give me greater security were she to permit my assistant -to accompany her to her residence, and there, in his presence, to -open the different locks to which the keys belonged. To this proposal -not the smallest objection was raised. She begged I would call my -assistant, as she had a cab waiting at the door. The direction was -given to some place in Bloomsbury, and they drove off. In less than an -hour my assistant returned. He stated that the lady opened the street -door with the latch-key, and that the other eight keys opened desks, -writing-tables, cash-boxes, &c.--all quite correct and satisfactorily. -The expense of the advertisement was of course paid. - -Congratulating myself that this troublesome business was well over, and -mentally resolving that another time, under similar circumstances, I -should act on my assistant's suggestion, and hand such matters over to -the police, I gave orders that all applicants that might come were to -be told that the rightful owner had been found and that the keys were -disposed of. - -Two days passed, and I had almost dismissed the whole affair from my -mind. On the morning of the third day my attention was attracted by -an altercation going on between my servant and an irate lady--well -advanced in years--to whom he refused admittance. Anxious to -escape disturbance, I gave orders that she should be shewn into my -consulting-room, where I presently went to see what she wanted. - -'I want to know why you never answered my letter about the bunch of -keys you advertised as having found, and which I lost? I have come for -them now.' - -'But, madam, none of the letters described the keys accurately, and I -was therefore not bound to notice any of the written applications that -reached me.' - -'Not describe them properly! But I _can_ describe them; they were nine -in number on the bunch.' - -'So far, that is right, madam. Proceed with your description.' - -The description was entirely wrong; and I told her so. I told her, -moreover, that the rightful owner had been found, who had not only -described the keys properly, but who had taken my assistant to her -house and had used each individual key in his presence. I added that -if she were not satisfied, I could furnish her with the address of the -lady to whom the keys had been given up, and that she might call and -try to establish her claim if she fancied she had one. - -She was very far from being satisfied. She wanted to argue the matter -further and, as I feared, to an unreasonable length. I told her firmly -I could waste no further time on her; whereupon she left vowing -vengeance. - -The threats of the old lady did not much disturb me; but they were not -altogether so unmeaning as I supposed, for in two days thereafter a -summons was handed into me, demanding my presence at the police court -of the district, to answer for my refusal to deliver up to the rightful -owner property belonging to her, which I owned to having found, but -refused to account for. - -That I was very much annoyed may be easily supposed; but at the same -time I could not help being somewhat amused, bearing in recollection -how I had tried to satisfy the unreasonable dame, who had evidently -more money than wit, seeing she was ready to waste it on so hopeless a -case. - -I duly made my appearance before the worthy magistrate, whom I happened -to know slightly, and who could not restrain an amused grin when I was -called forward. My assistant accompanied me as a matter of course. - -The old lady had engaged a smart lawyer, who did his best in trying -to make out a case; but his client rather weakened his statement by -her inconsequential answers to both her counsel and the magistrate. -My answer was easy. I shewed how the prosecutrix had utterly failed -in describing the keys. I told that the rightful owner had rightly -described them; and I put my assistant into the box to prove his having -seen every key in the bunch fitted into its proper lock. - -'Were you passing along Oxford Street on the morning that this bunch of -keys was found?' asked the magistrate of the old lady. - -'I was that way in an omnibus in the afternoon,' was the answer. - -'But the keys in question were found in the morning, and were lying on -the pavement,' remarked His Worship. - -'Ah, I don't know how that might be,' said my persecutor; 'but I know I -lost a bunch of keys.' - -'Well, the case is dismissed; and you must pay expenses.' And so ended -the case. - -Now I have no doubt the old lady, though so wrong-headed in the claim -she set up against me, had really lost a bunch of keys on the day my -assistant made his--for me--unlucky find. Nor do I for a moment doubt -the fact of some of the other applicants having also lost keys on -the same day and perhaps near the same spot. But the applications by -letter and personally numbered altogether not far short of fifty; and -it may be set down as a moral certainty that they did not all lose, -each of them, a bunch of keys on that particular day, and in Oxford -Street--without being particular as to the spot. My theory is, that -some of them had probably got their pockets picked of their keys while -travelling by omnibus, and could not of course tell exactly where they -lost them. Others may have simply mislaid their keys, and jumped to -the conclusion that they were lost. Some others, I fear, had not lost -keys at all, but merely came to my place out of idle curiosity. All of -them, I know, gave me more trouble than I ever hope to have again in an -affair of the kind. - -[We can hardly say that the foregoing narrative, to call it so, is -overstrained. It points to a marvellous want of logical precision in -reasoning which is far from uncommon. Some years ago, in these pages, -we mentioned a droll case within our own experience. One day we chanced -to find a brooch, and advertised the fact in the newspapers. Next day -a lady called on us to say that she had lost a ring, and asked if we -knew anything about it. 'Madam,' was our reply, 'you must understand -that it was a brooch we found, and not a ring.' 'O yes, that maybe -so; but I thought as you were in the way of finding things, you might -perhaps have seen something of my ring.' A very pretty example this of -want of common-sense. Our advice to all who happen to find any article -of value on the street is, to take it at once to the police office, -where it may be reclaimed by the owner. Those who will not take this -trouble, should let the article alone. Finding does not constitute -ownership. We knew a gentleman, now deceased, who in the course of his -life punctiliously refrained from picking up any article of value on -the street, as the article was not his, and he might have been brought -into trouble. This was being too fastidious, for it was allowing the -article to be appropriated by possibly some dishonest person. True -kindness and true honesty consist in lodging the article found, at the -police office, whence, if no owner casts up within twelve months, it -will be sent to the finder, whose lawful property it becomes.--ED.] - - - - -THE LAND OF THE INCAS. - - -Peru recalls to every thoughtful student of history not only the -half-barbaric splendour of the empire of the Incas, but the vanished -prestige and glory of their Spanish conquerors. The gorgeous figure -of Pizarro, the stately hidalgo, the successful captain, the ruthless -soldier of fortune, meets us still at every step in the once rich -Indian empire he won for Spain. On that low swampy mangrove-fringed -stretch of coast, a tangled maze of vines and flowering creepers, the -half-famished Castilian adventurer landed in 1524. And here, where the -full tide of the Pacific rolls in upon the beach in columns of snowy -foam, he, in 1535, founded Lima, the 'city of the kings.' - -To examine the cities of the Incas, their ruined palaces, and other -objects of note in this interesting region, was a task undertaken and -carried out by Mr Squier, whose researches have been embodied in a -volume entitled the _Land of the Incas_, the perusal of which enables -us to offer the following items to our readers. - -The coast of Peru is arid and barren, lined with guano islands, which -although adding little to the charm of the scenery, are found as -lucrative to-day as the mines of Potosi and Pasco were in the heyday -of Spanish greatness. Thanks to this useful but unfragrant compost, -Pizarro's city of the kings is still rich and flourishing, though the -veins of silver are exhausted, and the golden sands no longer glitter -with the precious ore, which fired the Spanish breasts of old with such -fierce cupidity. It is very unhealthy, and although in the tropics, -the climate for six months in the year is extremely damp and almost -cold. Lima, which stands in an earthquake region, is built so as to -sustain the least possible damage from the ever recurring shocks of -those alarming phenomena. The private houses are never more than two -stories in height. They have flat roofs and projecting balconies, and -are constructed (one can hardly say built) of cane, plastered with mud, -and painted in imitation of stone. Most of them have courts with open -galleries in the Moorish style, extending along the four sides; and -many of them have towers, from which, in addition to the surrounding -scenery, an extended view of acres of flat roofs may be obtained--the -said flat roofs being piled with heaps of refuse, filth, and all manner -of abominations; very often they are used as poultry-yards, and here -the buzzards, which act as scavengers in all the South American cities, -roost at night. - -The furniture in the better class of these wicker and mud-built -dwellings is often very fine: antique plate, velvet hangings, costly -mirrors, and family portraits, that smile or frown upon you with -all the charm or vigour the brush of Vandyke or Velasquez was able -to impart. The _pasios_ or public walks are planted with trees, and -the arcades, which are lined with fine shops, are a very favourite -promenade. The inhabitants of Lima of all grades are remarkably fond of -flowers, particularly of roses, which they contrive to keep in bloom -all the year round. 'Roses,' Mr Squier says, 'bloom in every court and -blush on every balcony, and decorate alike the heavy tresses of the -belle and the curly shock of the zamba.' - -Bull-fights are a favourite amusement, and so is cock-fighting, -although it is no longer, as formerly, practised in the public streets. - -The markets are well supplied, especially with fruit and vegetables. -Fish is good and the butcher-meat of fair quality. The luckless -traveller in Central America who could get nothing but chickens -and turkeys to eat, and was afraid at last that his whiskers would -transform themselves into feathers, may go to Lima with all safety, as -a medium-sized turkey there costs twenty dollars in gold. The cookery -is Spanish in its character, and consists much of stews savoury with -oil and garlic and pungent with red pepper. - -Twenty miles from Lima is Pachacamac, a sacred city of the Incas, -where once stood a gigantic temple, dedicated to a deity of the same -name, the supreme creator and preserver of the universe. The ruins of -two large wings of this temple still remain, one of which contains a -perfect well-turned arch, which is so rare a feature in American ruins -that Mr Squier says 'it is the only proper arch I ever found in all my -explorations in Central and South America.' Pachacamac was the Mecca -of South America; and its barren hills and dry nitrous sand-heaps are -filled with the dead bodies of ancient pilgrims, who travelled from -all parts of the country to lay their bones, not their dust, in this -hallowed spot. 'Ashes to ashes, dust to dust,' has no meaning here; the -dead body does not decay, but is dried and shrivelled into a mummy. Mr -Squier had the curiosity to open the shroud of what may once have been -perchance an Aztec belle. The body, which was that of a young girl, -was in a sitting posture, supported on a workbox of braided reeds, in -which were rude specimens of knitting, spindles for weaving, spools of -thread, needles of bone and bronze, a small bronze knife, a fan, and -a set of curious cosmetic-boxes formed of the hollow bones of a bird. -These were filled with pigments of various colours, and were carefully -stopped with cotton. Beside them was a small powder-puff of cotton -for applying them to the face, and a rude mirror formed of a piece of -iron pyrites highly polished. There was also a netting instrument and -a little crushed ornament of gold intended to represent a butterfly. -The long black hair, still glossy as in life, was braided and plaited -round the forehead, which was bound with a fillet of white cloth -adorned with silver spangles. A silver bracelet hung on the shrunken -arm; and between the feet was the dried body of a dead parrot, a pet -no doubt in life, and sacrificed to bear its mistress company into the -dread unknown land of spirits. - -In the fertile valley of Canete, amid rich sugar-plantations, Mr Squier -found vast pyramidal buildings, rising stage upon stage, with broad -flights of steps winding round them to the summits. While sketching -amid a maze of these massive shattered adobe walls, our author was -startled by seeing three men suddenly leap over a low wall into the -vivid sunshine before him. 'God and peace be with you!' he said as -calmly as he could, instinctively divining that his best cue was to -appear as cool as possible. 'God and peace be with you!' responded the -bandits, for such they were; and after a little bullying, an amicable -parley ensued, which had for its object the acquisition of Mr Squier's -breech-loading rifle, a weapon which kindled in the bosom of Rossi -Arci, the robber chief, an ardent, but with all due deference to Mr -Longfellow, a wasted affection, for he did not obtain it. Four weeks -afterwards, Mr Squier saw the swollen disfigured corpse of this bandit -captain exposed to public view in one of the principal streets of Lima. - -At Truxillo our author came across a treasure-hunter, one Colonel La -Rosa. This man spent his whole life in burrowing like a mole among -the old ruins in search of buried gold, gems, silver goblets, or any -other relic of antiquity which he could turn into money. Under his -guidance, Mr Squier visited a great pyramid called the Temple of the -Sun, and the extensive, interesting, and well preserved ruins of Grand -Chimu. Here he found vast halls, the walls of which were covered with -arabesques, and wide corridors from which spacious rooms diverged. The -walls of these apartments were bright with vivid and delicate colours; -and Colonel La Rosa shewed him where in the midst of them he had found -a walled-up closet filled with vessels of gold and silver placed in -regular layers one above the other, as if they had been hidden there in -some dire emergency. Two vaults were also discovered filled with silver -cups and goblets. The silver of which these vessels were composed was -much alloyed with copper, and was so much oxidised that it had become -exceedingly brittle. Mr Squier obtained possession of two of the cups. -They have the appearance of being hammered out of a single piece of -metal, are as thick as ordinary tin-plate, and are both adorned by the -representation of a human face, with clearly cut features and a large -aquiline nose. - -About a hundred yards to the westward of the excavations which have -revealed the half-buried palace of the ancient princes of Chimu, is a -low broad mound, which has been found to be a necropolis, filled with -bodies richly clad and covered with gold and silver ornaments. Many of -the heads of the dead bodies found by Colonel La Rosa were gilt and -encircled by bands of gold; and one body, that of a woman, was covered -with thin sheets of gold, and wrapped in a robe spangled with silver -fishes. Warlike weapons and agricultural implements, knives, war-clubs, -lance-heads, and spear-points, with spades and mattocks of different -shapes, all of bronze, are found abundantly in the vicinity of these -ruins; as are also specimens of excellent pottery, on which are -modelled with spirit and fidelity representations of birds, animals, -fishes, shells, fruit, vegetables, and the human face and form. - -Leaving Chimu reluctantly, Mr Squier travelled down to the coast, along -which he sailed, examining the coast ruins at Calaveras and other -places, till he reached Arica, the port of Tacna. - -This is peculiarly an earthquake region; and some of these subterranean -convulsions are terrible to a degree which we dwellers in a temperate -clime can scarcely even imagine. A notably dreadful and destructive -earthquake was that of 1868, which shook to its base all the adjacent -country. It was first noted in Arica about five o'clock in the morning, -its premonitory symptoms being immense clouds of dust, which were seen -slowly advancing across the plain in dusky columns at a distance of -about ten miles. - -Nearer and nearer they came; and in the awful pause of dread expectancy -that ensued, the distant snowy peaks of the Cordilleras were observed -to nod and reel, as if executing some horribly suggestive cyclopean -dance. Gradually this impulse extended itself to the mountains nearer -to the town, till the huge _morro_ or headland, a little to the left of -it, began to rock violently to and fro, heaving with sickening lurches, -as if about to cast itself loose into space, and always bringing to -again, like a hard bestead ship in a driving tempest. As it worked -back and forward, huge fragments of stone detached themselves from its -cave-worn surface, and fell with deafening crash into the surf below; -while under and above all, like a subdued monotone of horror, was a -prolonged incessant rumble, now like the roll of distant thunder, but -ever and anon at irregular intervals swelling into a deafening crash, -like the discharge of a whole park of artillery. - -As far as could be seen, the usually solid earth was agitated by a slow -wave-like motion, which became first tremulous, and then unspeakably -violent, throwing half of the houses into heaps of ruins, and yawning -into wide chasm-like fissures, from which mephitic sulphurous vapours -issued. Shrieks and groans of anguish filled the air, a mournful -interlude shrilly resounding at intervals above the subterranean -thunder, as the terrified crowd rushed to the mole, to seek refuge -on board the vessels in the harbour. Scarcely had they reached this -hoped-for haven of safety, when the sea, treacherous as the heaving -land, glided softly back, and then rushing forward with a terrific -roar, submerged the mole with its panting terror-stricken occupants, -and poured on in a foaming flood over the prostrate town, where it -completed the havoc the earthquake had begun. It then rushed back -almost more suddenly than it had advanced, the whole fearful deluge -occupying only about five minutes. Again and again the earth quivered -and shook, as if about to rend asunder and drop into some unfathomable -abyss below, and again the sea dashed forward as if in frantic fury, -and then as suddenly recoiled, the last time shewing a perpendicular -wall of water forty-five feet high, capped by an angry crest of foam. -This tremendous wave swept miles inshore, where it stranded the largest -ships then lying in the harbour, one of them a United States frigate. - -In Arica Mr Squier equipped himself for a journey over the Cordilleras. -Nothing can exceed the savage wildness of these mountains, or the -difficulties and dangers of the long narrow passes that intersect -them. Mr Squier says: 'I have crossed the Alps by the routes of the -Simplon, the Grand St Bernard, and St Gothard; but at no point on -any of them have I witnessed a scene so wild and utterly desolate -as that which spreads out around La Portada.' It is the very acmé -of desolation--treeless, shrubless, bare of grass, with scarcely a -lichen clinging to the rugged sides of the huge cliffs. Pile upon pile -towering to the sullen skies, rise ridges of dark-brown hills bristling -with snowy peaks, from several of which long trails of smoke stream -lazily out upon the air, shewing where the pent volcano surges in -ominous life beneath the wintry wastes of snow. - -Descending from the Cordilleras, Mr Squier examined Tiaguanuco, the -Baalbec of the New World; and from thence proceeded to Cuzco, the -City of the Sun, the ancient capital of the Incas, which abounds with -memorials of their vanished greatness. Here stood a magnificent temple -of the sun, which was lined throughout with plates of gold, two of -which, preserved as curiosities, were shewn to Mr Squier. The huge -stones composing this and other massive buildings which yet remain are -cut and fitted together with a precision which has been equalled, but -never surpassed. So accurately do they fit, that it is impossible to -pass the finest-bladed knife between their edges. - -In close proximity to these splendid ruins, sometimes under their -very walls, our author found rude circles of stone, such as still -exist at Stonehenge and in other parts of Great Britain, and in -Brittany. Bidding adieu to Cuzco and its suggestive relics, Mr Squier -in his journey to the coast passed over a stupendously high swinging -bridge formed of cables of braided withes. This dreadful rope-edifice -swung freely in space between two gigantic cliffs, which guarded -like twin sentinels the rush of the deep and rapid Apurimac, one of -the head-waters of the Amazon. It was something worse than the most -breakneck defile among the Cordilleras. 'Never,' says our author, -'will I forget this experience. I can see still the frail structure -swaying at dizzy height over a dark abyss filled with the deep hoarse -roar of the river. My eyes grew dim, my heart faint, my feet unsteady -as I struggled across, not daring to cast a look on either hand.' It -was no wonder that the nerves of one of the party, an artist, were -so shaken that he declared that rather than set a foot upon it, he -would swim across the Apurimac. This he did, and found the water so -delightfully cool and pleasant, that he resolved to prolong his bath, -and placed the bundle containing his clothes and shoes on a convenient -cliff, whence a perverse gust of wind blew them into the water. Long -he pursued them, with no result except the conviction that he had lost -them irrecoverably and his way as well. In this condition, foodless, -garmentless, he wandered about for three days in pathless thickets. -His feet were cut and bleeding; and his body, scratched and torn, was -scorched all day by a blistering sun, and so chilled at night by the -cold breezes that he was glad to bury himself in the warm sand. On the -fourth day he staggered, faint with fatigue and hunger, to the door -of an Indian hut, and the inhabitants mistaking him in his ghastly -squalor for the incarnate genius of fever, which they dread above all -things, half killed with stones what little life was left in him before -they would listen to his story. - -Mr Squier's researches abundantly shew that, possessing no written -language, the Incas have impressed their history in characters which -yet remain upon the scenes of their former glory. Their greatness -may be traced in the splendid ruins of their temples and palaces. -Their civilisation is abundantly proved by their bridges, roads, -caravansaries, reservoirs, aqueducts, and perfect and extensive system -of irrigation, by means of which vegetation was carried in terraces -thousands of feet up the steep hill-sides, and the now desert coast -blushed like a garden with the profuse luxuriance of the tropics. One -may well ask, which were the barbarians, they or the Spaniards who soon -made a Sahara of that which they found a Goshen? Their great fortresses -bristling on every hill-side teach us alike the vastness of their -military power and their great resources. Of their internal polity we -catch a suggestive glimpse from their ample prisons; and we learn how -they lived as we turn over curiously their household and agricultural -implements, or mark with mute surprise the exquisitely fine texture of -some mummy shroud, or the delicate carving on some long-buried goblet, -or the graceful form and excellent workmanship of some fragile relic -of earthenware. We can even make a guess, as we look at their burial -towers and tombs, at the current of national thought on one important -subject. They who laid the dead so carefully, so tenderly to rest, -believed that in the far-off world of shadows the soul would live again. - - - - -A CAST OF THE NET. - -THE STORY OF A DETECTIVE OFFICER. - - -CHAPTER III. - -There was nothing for me to do, that I could see, for a day or two, -beyond improving my acquaintance with the factory hands, and keeping -my eyes open generally; and in pursuance of this latter branch of the -business, I got up very early on the following morning, and sat for -an hour or two after daylight in the arbours or boxes I have so often -mentioned. There was one great charm about the _Anchor_. It was low -and dirty, decaying and disreputable, and the landlord was a drinking -fellow, utterly bankrupt and hopeless, who troubled himself about -nothing. His potman was sottish also, and too accustomed to riff-raff -and queer doings of every kind to trouble himself about me; so I was -thoroughly at my ease. All I saw which appeared worthy of notice was -that the ill-tempered ferryman rowed out alone to the ship I have -spoken of, and disappeared round its bows. I watched for some time, but -did not see him come out into midstream; but just before I gave up my -watch, he came into sight again. Whether he had crossed after rowing up -a bit and had come back, or whether he had been lying all the time just -hidden by the ship, of course I could not say. - -I had told the potman that I was in hope of seeing a friend of mine -who was going to Australia and had half promised to take me with him. -I consequently shewed a great deal of interest in the craft, and asked -him lots of questions about them. This morning I guessed that the ship -(the ferryman's ship), was an Australian liner; and this was just the -joke for the potman, who laughed till his beery cheeks shook again -at my mistaking a slow old Dutch trader for an Australian liner. He -was quite severe in his way of poking fun at me; but he ought to have -pitied my ignorance, not ridiculed it--and so I told him. - -I thought I would pass away the morning by going over to T---- and -watching Mr Byrle's house. I had learnt that he was to be from home -all day; Miss Doyle had told me so herself; so I knew _she_ knew it -also; and if she had any suspicious visits to pay, or queer company to -receive, now was the time: that was evident. Accordingly, I went to -T---- by rail as before, starting in the rain; but luckily, just as I -got there it cleared up and the sun came out. To give me a chance of -learning something, I got asking my way to a lot of places I didn't -want to go to, just by way of starting a conversation, you know; and -the man I pitched upon was employed in the goods shed of the railway, -but did not seem to have much to do just then; and when I asked him if -he could spare time to run across to the public-house with me, he said -yes, he thought he could; and he did. - -We could see Mr Byrle's house from this place, so it answered as well -for me as any other; and while I was talking to the porter, I saw a -tall young fellow, good-looking, but rather flash-looking too, go past, -and in three or four minutes I saw him ring at the gate of Mr Byrle's -house. - -'Hollo!' I says to my railway friend, 'isn't that Sims Reeves? Does he -come down here to give lessons?' - -He was no more like Sims Reeves than I am, but his was the first name I -could think of. - -'Sims Reeves!' says the porter; 'why that's young Mr Byrle, as gives -his father no end of trouble. You wouldn't see him there, only the old -gent is off somewhere for a while. He went from our station last night.' - -'Indeed!' I said (and then I saw the young man go into the house); 'and -what's the quarrel about?' - -'Oh, his goings on,' said the railway man. 'Why, I have heard that his -father has paid thousands on his account; and if he hadn't paid one -time pretty heavily too, this young fellow would have been in Newgate -for forging his governor's name. He's agoing abroad, I believe; and a -good riddance too, I say.' - -'And what does he do at the house when his father is away?' I asked; -and I really felt that our conversation was getting quite interesting. - -'Well, it's the old story; a lady's in the case,' said the porter. -'There's a niece there that's over head and ears in love with Mr -Edmund--that's his name--and he pretends to be equally sweet on her. -But if she had seen only as much of him as we have seen at this here -station, she would never---- There's my foreman agoing into the shed! -Excuse me.' With that the railway-man finished his pint and was off. - -I considered a minute, and then decided I was as well off where I was -as anywhere; so I borrowed yesterday's _Morning Advertiser_ of the -barmaid, and sitting down where I could watch the house, pretended -to read. If any one had watched me, he must have thought I was most -remarkably interested in the Money Market, for I had that part of the -paper folded towards me without changing for a good half-hour. At -the end of that time the door of Mr Byrle's house was opened and the -son came out. I was ready for a start after him, let him go in which -direction he might; but he came towards the _Railway Tavern_, my post; -straight on, nearer, nearer he passed my door. I peeped out after him, -and saw him actually come into the tavern, entering by another door the -compartment of the bar next to mine! - -I was in the common place; he was in one of those divisions where -'Glasses only are served in this department;' and so on. There was some -one there already, for I had heard the occasional clink of a spoon and -glass, and a cough; but there wasn't more than one, for I had heard no -voices. I now heard some one speak; I judged it to be young Mr Byrle, -and I was right. - -'Hollo, skipper!' he said, 'what have you been doing to your face? Have -you been fighting?' - -'Fighting!--Well, never mind my face; I don't want to talk about that; -I shall settle that account some day,' said a voice. (_I_ knew what -voice; _I_ knew what was the matter with the man's face.) - -His surly tone seemed to shut young Mr Byrle up on the subject, for he -gave a sort of forced laugh and said no more about it. 'When do you -sail?--for certain now. I must know to an hour to-day, for I don't like -what I hear of things,' said Mr Byrle. - -'Don't speak so loud,' said the other; 'you can never tell who is -listening;' and there he was more thoroughly right than he suspected. -However, they dropped their voices so completely after this, that -though I sat right up against the partition, I could hear nothing more -than a stray word or so, out of which I could make no sense, until at -last Mr Byrle said: 'Time's about up, skipper.' - -'I suppose so,' said the other. 'Well, you feel quite confident about -her then; her courage won't fail, you think?' - -'_Her_ courage fail? Ha, ha! skipper,' said Mr Byrle; 'you don't -know her, or you wouldn't say that. She'll come with the material, -you'll see. From first to last she's never wavered; and look what a -penetrating mind she has got!' - -'Yes; she's clever, I think,' says the skipper. - -'Clever!' Mr Byrle repeated, with a deal of contempt in his -voice--'clever! Who but her would have found out the scheme'---- - -'Hush!' said the skipper, stopping the young man, just as his -conversation was getting, I may say, instructive and important. Then -Edmund Byrle said his train was due, and posted off to the station. - -A minute or so after I heard the skipper put down his glass as though -he had emptied it, and then he too left. I followed at a little -distance, and got into the same train with him, and got out with him, -and still following, saw him go to the ferry, pick out, as I knew he -would, the surly waterman; and I saw him rowed to his own ship, where -the waterman left him and then rowed over to the other side. Very good. -Then the skipper had gone to T---- specially to meet Edmund Byrle; -and Edmund Byrle had gone there specially because his father was away; -and---- Then I couldn't follow it up any further. - -I went boldly into the _Yarmouth Smack_, and not seeing Tilley anywhere -about, I asked for him under the agreed name, and was told he had gone -to work on Byrle's wharf; not for the firm, but for some lighterman -who frequented the public-house. This looked well; and if I got taken -on, as I expected, the next Monday, I thought it would be very odd -if between us we didn't find something out. Yet my interest in the -business seemed dying away, or drifting into altogether a new channel, -for I could not believe for a moment that Miss Doyle and Edmund Byrle, -and the skipper and the sulky ferryman, were all linked in with -stealing a few paltry brass fittings. - -I crossed over before the old ferryman came back, and had my dinner in -the tap-room of the _Anchor and Five Mermaids_. It wasn't a nice place -for a dinner, and I was always partial to having my things neat and -tidy, which was by no means the rule at the _Anchor_, and the company -was not to my standard. I was late to-day, so I missed the factory -hands; and there were only two men in the room with me; one was a -costermongerish-looking rough in a velveteen coat and fur cap, which -was about all I could see of him, for he was asleep all of a heap in a -corner. The other was a man who had his dinner in a newspaper, and took -it out, whatever it was, with his fingers, till he had finished it and -then went away. - -I was glad when he was gone, and I had the room as I may say to myself; -so I sent my plate away, called for a little drop of rum-and-water (the -only thing you could get fit to drink at the _Anchor_), and lighting -my pipe, sat with my feet on the fender, to have a good smoke and a -good hard think. I had sat there perhaps half-a-dozen minutes, and -had fairly settled down to my thinking, when a low voice said: 'Mr -Nickham!' My name! It was a very low voice which spoke, but the roar of -an elephant couldn't have startled me more. In an instant it flashed -upon me that my disguise was seen through and all my plans understood. -Robinson Crusoe was not so staggered when he saw the foot-print on the -sand as I was on hearing these two familiar words. I turned round, -and there was that miserable-looking rough that I thought had been -asleep, standing up and making signs to me. He was a regular rough and -no mistake, with short hair, an ugly handkerchief twisted round his -neck; his nose had been broken at some time or another, and he looked a -complete jail-bird. 'Mr Nickham!' - -It was he that spoke; no mistake about it this time; and he put his -hand up to the side of his mouth to keep the sound straight. - -'Who are you?' said I; for you know I didn't like to answer to the name -at once, in case he wasn't certain. - -'My name is Wilkins--Barney Wilkins,' said the man. 'But you won't -recollect me by that p'raps; though I've been through your hands, -sergeant; but I giv some other name then. You got me twelve penn'orth -for ringing in shofuls.' (He meant that he had been sent to prison for -twelve months for passing bad money. I wasn't surprised to hear it; -he looked fit for that or anything bad. But if he got it through me, -why he should speak to me now was beyond my comprehension.) 'I knowed -you directly I see you, sergeant,' he says, coming nearer, but still -speaking in the same hoarse whisper as at first; 'and though you're a -tight hand, you're fair and square, and acted as such by me when you -copped me. You are down here on business--you're after some rare downy -cards. Now ain't you, sergeant?' - -'If you know,' I said, 'what do you ask me for? And if you think I am -what you say, you don't suppose I shall tell you my business, do you?' - -'Sergeant,' he says, coming nearer still, 'you fought a man in the -street last night, and giv him a thorough good licking. You was the -only man there as would take the part of a poor gal as wasn't doing no -harm to nobody; and I respect you for it, sergeant; I do. That gal was -my sister--my young sister, as has been like a child to me, and was so -tidy and pretty that I was proud on her, and hoped---- Well, sergeant, -whatever we are, we all have our feelings; and Sergeant Nickham, I'll -do you a good turn. Look here!' With this he crept quite close and put -his mouth almost to my ear. I watched him carefully, being much puzzled -by his actions, yet I had seen such unexpected things occur in the -police that I was quite ready to hear something of consequence from -him. 'You are down here about that Bank paper, what is said to be all -got back, but which you know it isn't. You are on the right parties, -and it does you credit; but you'll never get them nor the paper without -_me_.' - -He stopped here, to see what I would say; but though I was ten times -more surprised than ever, I kept my countenance, and only said: 'Well?' -In point of fact I didn't know what _to_ say. - -'I've been used bad, Mr Nickham,' he went on. 'I've had a lot of -trouble and risk about that there paper. I got it from B----, and -took the money for it to him, honest; and have been as near took -with it in my possession as anythink. Twice the slops (he meant the -police; 'slops' is what we call 'back-slang,' a rough sort of spelling -the words backwards)--'twice they have come into my place when the -stuff was there. Once I was sitting upon it done up like bundles of -rabbit-skins. Now he gives me (the party wot I am down on)--he gives -me five pounds, and I can't get no more out of him. And you see there -ain't no reward out.' - -'No, not regularly, Barney,' I said; 'but there's no doubt at all that -any man coming forward would be very handsomely considered by the Bank -people.' - -'He might be, if he'd got anybody like you to speak for him,' says -Barney. 'But you know, Mr Nickham, that I am wanted for a lot of things -by the bobbies; and I have been through the mill so often, that without -I've got a friend I don't half like touching 'em again. But you're fair -and square, and you licked the fellow last night; and I'm told you can -box better than even Tom Sayers could; and if that's so, I'll trust -you. And this here man won't give me more than five pounds; and he has -settled with a regular fence, a sort of Dutch-Yankee skipper, what -pretends to command one of them traders out there.' - -'Yes, yes,' I said; 'the man I fought last night. I know him.' - -'_Him!_' almost screeched the man (although, mind you, he never once -forgot his hoarse whisper); 'was it him you licked? Sergeant Nickham, -I'd go through fire and water for you now, for I hate and despise that -wretch; and if I had got a chance to do it safely, I'd have'---- He -checked himself very sudden here, as if what he was going to say wasn't -exactly the sort of thing to say to a detective. 'I see you are on the -right lay,' he begins again; 'but I tell you he has settled with that -skipper to have the stuff put on board, if it ain't already there; and -then he'll go with it to whatever foreign port the craft comes from.' - -'And who is he,' I asked, 'who has arranged with the skipper?' - -'Ah, Mr Nickham,' says Wilkins, with a very cunning look, 'as if you -didn't know! Haven't you been on the lurk round his house for two days -past? Wasn't you there this morning?' - -Egad! I saw it all now! You might have knocked me down with a feather. -I could hardly help saying something which would have shewed my -astonishment; but I choked it down, and quite determined to keep -the upper hand with him, I said as cool as I could: 'Now, Wilkins, -no beating about the bush, or making me help you out. If you've got -anything to say, any name to mention, out with it like a man, and I'm -your friend. You understand me.' - -'Fair and square you are, Mr Nickham,' says Barney; 'and so you'll find -me. That young Mr Byrle has got the paper, and he means to go out with -the trader. There is people over in Holland awaiting anxious for it; -and if once they gets hold of it, it's all U. P. with our bank-notes. -Now, I don't know where the paper is; if I had known, bust me if I -wouldn't have blowed the gaff long ago!' - -He meant that he would have exposed the whole transaction, and I -noticed that this declaration did not quite agree with his anxiety -to have a friend on his side, a point on which he had dwelt so much -before; but that didn't signify. - -'Now, Mr Nickham,' he went on, 'you must board the craft when the paper -is shipped, if it ain't there yet.' - -'It ain't there yet, my man,' I said, remembering what had dropped from -Edmund Byrle, that 'she would come on board with the material.' - -'Then I think it will be to-night,' he continued; 'for a sail-maker as -has been at work aboard her says she drops down the river to-morrow; -and I think by what I can learn in other quarters, he is right.' - -I thought so too, and at once made up my mind that the meeting at the -_Railway Tavern_ was to settle about shipping the paper. - -'I can give a pretty good guess at the man they will engage for the -job,' says Wilkins. - -'I know him,' I said; 'a tall, sulky-looking, bony-headed old fellow, -with a game eye.' - -'Why, Mr Nickham,' says Wilkins, 'you're a wonder, a perfect wonder! -You're a credit to the force, and Sir Richard ought to hear of it! -Why, that's the man, the very man; and here have you only been down -two days, and know all about it! Keep your eye on him after dark, and -you're all right.' - -We had some more talk after this; and then he pretended to go to sleep -in his corner again, and I went out. - -I went straight into the City and saw some of our chief people, who -sent over to the Bank. They would not chance my going there, for fear -of somebody seeing me that had better know nothing about it. The gents -from the Bank could hardly believe their ears, and the compliments they -paid me, to be sure! It was decided that everything was to be left in -my hands, and I was provided with letters to the right parties at the -water-side. But I need not go into any further particulars of that kind. - -I was not going to trouble myself any more just now about the pilfering -at Byrle & Co.'s factory; as far as I was interested in it, the thieves -might take boilers, wheels, chimneys, and all. I took up my post in the -old arbours, and there, though the rain came steadily down, I sat. I -managed to get a pretty dry corner; and with a little of the _Anchor's_ -rum-and-water and my pipe, I made myself tolerably comfortable while I -sat and watched the Dutch trader. I was well screened from the sight of -any one below, or else my corner would not have suited; and although I -could hear the steps and the voices of the people going to the ferry, -and could have touched them by leaning over, yet they could not see me. - -The bony ferryman, in his tarpaulin coat and hat, was there this -afternoon; and very sloppy and miserable all the boats looked; and as -the tide fell lower and lower, the great broad bed of river-mud grew -broader, and the path to the ferryboat grew longer, and still I kept my -watch, and meant to keep it. I must own, however, that I did not expect -to see anything worth notice, for what could there be? But sometimes, -you know, in our business, it is as necessary to watch to make sure -there is nothing being done, as it is to make sure that some important -movement is going on. - -There was an oyster-smack not fifty yards from me as was left on the -shingle or mud when the tide went down; and there was a man smoking -his pipe on the deck of that oyster-smack, just as I was smoking mine -in the arbour; and when night came, and the river got dark, and you -couldn't make anything out of it but a great black space, with a hollow -sound of the wind moaning over it and of the water lapping on the shore -as the tide rose again--then there was a lantern burning on the deck -of that smack, and there was a similar lantern burning in my arbour; -but the light was shewn open on board of the smack, and mine was a -dark-lantern (so was the other) with the light hid. But I was perfectly -well aware that the man aboard that smack never took his eyes off me -while it was light, and that after dark he watched to see if I shewed -my lantern. I didn't shew it; but if I had, there would have been a -Thames police galley and five armed constables alongside of that hard -in a couple of minutes. - - - - -AN EXTRAORDINARY PROJECT. - - -In the city of San Francisco resides Mr Hubert Howe Bancroft, a -gentleman about forty-five years of age, formerly engaged in commerce, -but now retired from business, in order that he may devote his whole -life, as well as the wealth which he had amassed, to the furtherance -of a project which he formed some sixteen years ago. This was no less -comprehensive a task than the compilation of a full history, as well -as a scientific account, of all that vast district west of the Rocky -Mountains, which, stretching from Panama to Alaska, embraces Central -America, Mexico, and California. It was to be in a popular form, and -to embrace every point of interest that could be ascertained respecting -the Pacific States, their aboriginal inhabitants, their successive -civilised occupiers, their geology, botany, and other natural features. -First of all in this stupendous task comes the history of the native -tribes--to be completed in five volumes, the first instalments of -which are already published by Messrs Appleton and Co. in New York, -and by Messrs Longmans in our own country. These will be followed by a -history of the States from the Spanish Conquest down to contemporary -times, and for this portion of the work it is thought that some twenty -volumes will be required. A third series will treat of the geological -structure of the territory, its minerals especially, and of mining -operations. Physical geography forms the fourth section of the proposed -work; whilst the fifth will deal with agriculture; and the sixth with -bibliography. It must be apparent that a man must be of a highly -sanguine temperament to imagine such an enterprise; it will be well if -he live to complete only a portion of it; and should he really succeed -in doing what he wishes, he will have earned for himself an honourable -distinction, and conferred on the world an extraordinary boon. - -But how was such an undertaking to be begun? Where were the materials; -and even granting that they were to be procured, how was such a mass -of general reading as must be consulted, to be utilised? Mr Bancroft's -first step was to solve this difficulty. He decided to establish at -his own cost, in San Francisco, a library of reference, which should -contain all the books to be had for money which could throw any light -on the subject. With this end in view, he appointed agents in all the -principal cities of the world, whose business was to frequent sales, -examine book catalogues, and effect the purchase of any volumes which -seemed likely to contain useful information. Of course by such a system -many books were transmitted to headquarters which ultimately proved -to be of little or no value; but this was inevitable in the course of -purchases of such magnitude. And notwithstanding all drawbacks of the -kind, the collection has gradually increased, until it is said now to -consist of between eighteen and twenty thousand volumes, including -pamphlets; whether this number also includes manuscripts, we are unable -to say. The acquisition of these works has been occasionally furthered -by adventitious circumstances. The Mexican war, for instance, was the -means of throwing in Mr Bancroft's way some highly valuable documents, -which, under favourable circumstances, would have remained the property -of their lawful owners; these, contained in four volumes, are a set -of parchment records of the Church in Mexico between the years 1530 -and 1583, and apart from their historical value, have an interest to -the bibliopolist as containing autographs of many celebrated men, -amongst others of Philip II., Torquemada, Las Casas, and Zumarraga, -first Archbishop of Mexico. This last-named worthy is notorious for -his act of insensate bigotry in destroying the Aztec records, and -thereby depriving the world of the history of that race; he burned the -hieroglyphic paintings of Anahuac in the public square of Tlatelolco, -much as Ximenes did with eighty thousand Moorish manuscripts in -Granada. These priceless records were stolen from the government -archives! When the unfortunate Emperor Maximilian's library was sold, -many valuable works were also obtained from that collection, which had -been gathered together during a lifetime by a well-known amateur, Count -Andrade. - -The weakest part of the arrangement of Mr Bancroft's undertaking is -the manner in which the books are housed, but this is probably an -unavoidable evil; they occupy the fifth story of the owner's house in -Market Street, San Francisco, where they are exposed to all the risk of -fire, to say nothing of the inconvenience of such a plan. The apartment -in which they are kept occupies the whole length of the building, and -the books are arranged upon shelves reaching from the floor to the -ceiling, and running from one end of the room to the other. Let us now -see how it is proposed to utilise this mass of literature for reference. - -No one but a resolute enthusiast with an abundance of means could have -brought this extraordinary project into shape. The trouble spent in the -undertaking has been enormous. Of course, the projector has a staff -of assistants possessing the requisite accomplishments, headed by a -librarian, Mr Oak, who has been indefatigable in producing a catalogue -of the works collected, with copious subordinate references. So aided, -Mr Bancroft, as we understand, has begun his literary operations; but -whether he will live to complete his colossal production in proper -artistic style must necessarily be left to conjecture. Fortunately, -besides being still in middle life, he is said to have splendid bodily -health and great powers of endurance, both of which must stand him -in good stead. He always writes at a standing desk, and sometimes -prolongs his hours of labour to as many as eleven or twelve--which seem -to us excessive. Such application may do for work which is chiefly -compilation; but any brain-worker knows that it is simply impossible to -do really valuable work throughout such a time. As a matter of fact, -very few men can read or write hard for more than six hours a day with -profitable result. Let us hope, however, that the man who has had -courage to undertake such a task, will have self-restraint enough not -to endanger its success by an undue straining of the faculties, which -must be kept in full repair to insure its accomplishment. We should be -sorry to hear that any disaster from fire had put an abrupt termination -to so well-meaning, though we may be allowed to call it a somewhat -eccentric undertaking. - - - - -GORDON. - - -She came on towards me, her trailing draperies falling round her -with the soft grace she gave to all she touched. Sunshine was on her -beautiful hair--evening sunshine, which turned the wreath of plaits -she wore into a crown of burnished gold. She came floating on, through -the flower and fruit gemmed orange trees, through the crimson and pure -white camellia bloom; violets grew beneath her feet, and she seemed to -me part of the glory and the fragrance of the sunset and the blossoms. - -Below the terrace where I stood, lay the sea, where blue faded to -green, and green to opal, melting into one deep far-stretching mystery -of purple light and banks of golden cloud. Palaces and domes and -tapering spires shone white against the dark background of distant -mountains. Suddenly the music of many bells rung out on the still air, -their chiming softened by distance into low faint sweetness. They -were the bells of the stately marble city that shone so fair across -her gleaming bay. The first bell-notes were taken up and echoed by -the bells of chapels in villages along the shore; of convents hidden -away in country dells and valleys, till the air was full of lingering -prayerful sound. Through it, through the magical Italian twilight came -the woman I loved. She came and stood beside me, looking across the -water to where Genoa's palaces glimmered against the sky; but I do not -think she saw or thought of them. There was a dreamy look in her eyes, -a cold, set weariness about her mouth, which is only seen in those -whose thoughts have drifted far from where they stand. - -'Are you tired of this place?' I at length ventured to ask her. - -'Not particularly,' she answered; 'you know I never care much where I -am.' The words sound petulant; but said as she said them, they were -only weary. I should have been glad if she had ever shewn impatience; -anything rather than the cold quiet which ever lay upon her beauty like -a pall. At first, in my triumphant happiness at having won her promise -to be my wife, this coldness had not chilled me--as it sometimes did -now--to the heart. I so longed, so hungered for a word of love, for a -tender look. All her stately beauty would soon be mine, and it seemed -still as far from me as ever. - -We leaned on the low parapet of the terrace, while the music of the -bells died away, till only the slow beating of the waves broke the -stillness. It was an hour of wonderful peace and beauty, yet a strange -sense of unrest took possession of me, and jarred the music of the -waves and the restful quiet of the twilight. Standing there close to -her, with the certainty that soon she would be my own for ever, a vague -thrill of fear came over me, a fear lest all this feverish joy of -knowing she was mine, might vanish away, and leave me a lonely mortal. -This love for her had become to me an all-absorbing passion; and yet -she never for one moment allowed me to think that my love was returned. -Perhaps it was the might of her beauty that filled my senses; yet I -have seen beautiful women since, and had seen them before I first saw -her on the walls above the old Etruscan gateway at Perugia. - - * * * * * - -One morning the week before, I had strolled out from the dull hotel; -and leaving the street with its tall houses and quaint old fountain, -glowing in the day's first freshness, I sauntered on to the walls, and -there I first saw her. Below in the valley the silvery olive leaves -trembled in the sunshine; wreaths of broad-leaved vines clung to the -gray old trees, clothing them with a borrowed beauty of youth and -freshness. Hundreds of flowers blushed in the light, and varied odours -from herb and blossom filled the air with a subtle languor. Above, -on the lichen-covered wall, with a background of purple mountain, a -fitting frame to her stately loveliness, she sat, looking out across -the sunlit land, with the dreary far-away look in her great deep eyes, -and the haughty coldness upon her chiselled face. I lingered about, -drinking draughts of beauty; fancying it was my artistic sense that -kept me there watching her face, till she rose wearily, and slowly -walking down the street, entered the hotel where I was staying. - -I found on inquiry that a Mrs Vereker and her niece, Miss Mayne, had -arrived there the previous evening. I had sometimes met Mrs Vereker -in London; and later on in the day, while I was carelessly examining -the carving on the fountain in the square I saw her and my vision of -the morning standing on the cathedral steps. Mrs Vereker came forward -with that friendliness we feel for a slight home acquaintance whom we -may chance to meet when abroad. So I joined them, and we strolled on -chatting over home news. Miss Mayne seldom spoke, and yet that walk -seemed to me a strangely happy one. Mrs Vereker told me they had only -been a day in Perugia, and had intended going on at once to Rome; -but the mountain air and mountain views were so delightful, they had -changed their minds, and intended remaining for some time at Perugia. - -I had come to the old town to study art; to search the blazoned -manuscripts lying hidden in sacristy and convent, and learn from them -their secrets of colour and design; to wander through frescoed church -and palace, where walls and ceilings are brilliant still as when the -hands which wove their gorgeous stories first laid the pencil down and -thanked God for the great consoler--Art. I had come to watch the mists -rising from the valleys, and wrapping the mountains in soft mystery -of cloud--cloud which changes and shifts, and melts at last into the -golden and purple, the opaline green of the sunrise; so that I might -try to wrest from Nature a faint touch of her magic of shadow and -light, of colour and form, and lay it at the feet of the one mistress I -had ever known--Art. - -What I was now studying was a woman's heart--and what I learned -was--nothing. I do not think mine is an impressionable nature. I had -spent thirty years in the world, and had never loved any woman until I -saw Mary Mayne in the morning light sitting above that old gateway; yet -in one short week I had grown to love her--well, as few women are ever -loved. - -At the end of that week came a letter from Willie Vereker, saying his -yacht needed some repairs, and he would put in at Genoa for a few days -if his mother could meet him there. He had been to the East, and she -had not seen him for some time; so she decided on going back to Genoa; -hoping the _Gwendoline_ might need more repairing than Willie thought, -and keep him there longer than he expected. The evening of the day Mrs -Vereker received that letter, I told her of my love for her niece, and -asked permission to accompany them to Genoa. - -She regarded me with an odd look of compassion. 'Have you spoken to -Mary yet?' she asked. - -I told her I had not; I wished to wait until we had known each other -longer; I feared being too precipitate. - -'Then,' said Mrs Vereker, 'I have no right to tell you anything of her -story. It is a sad one, poor child! and I warn you, you have little -chance of success. If you choose, you can come with us to Genoa; but if -I were you, I should not do so. Save yourself while you can. You have -known her a very short time. If you leave us now, you will soon forget -her; later, you may find it a more difficult task.' - -I shook my head. The advice came too late. I went with them to Genoa. -The stately marble city had a charm for us all. Mrs Vereker had her -son, and the two found marvellous attractions in the quaint narrow -streets with their palace portals, their courts and halls, where -fountains sparkled and flung diamonds of spray round the brows of pure -fair statues; where in the coolness and the shadow, gold-laden orange -trees and thick masses of crimson blossom gleamed with sudden startling -glory. - -I had my idol. Day after day I was by her side. It was a fool's -Paradise perhaps; but I suppose there is such an Eden in every life; -and looking back, when we have left its short-lived peace, we vainly -long for a single throb of its rapture. So, during those quiet days at -Genoa, each of us, except Mary Mayne, had our heart's desire: Willie, -the life, the colour, the loveliness he and his _Gwendoline_ sought in -voyages to many lands; Mrs Vereker, her son; I, my new delirious joy. -There, on the terrace where we were standing, I first spoke to Mary, -and heard her tell me my love was hopeless. She told me her story. - -Her wedding-day had been fixed. In a year she was to have been married -to a man she loved with her whole heart; when the war with Russia broke -out, and Gordon Frazer's regiment was ordered to the Crimea. He and -Mary wished to be married before he left, but family reasons prevented -it, and so they parted. He had never returned to England. A soldier -brought Mary a little locket which she had given Gordon. The ribbon -it hung upon was thickened here and there with deep dark stains; and -the man said Gordon Frazer had given it to him to take to Mary, when -the young officer lay dying after the charge at Balaklava. It was -only the story of many an English and many a Russian girl during that -dreadful time. When a strong, self-contained nature breaks down, it is -almost utter collapse; so it was with Mary. For months she lay silent, -tearless, listlessly unable to make the slightest exertion, to take the -smallest interest in life. Her friends thought her brain had suffered -from the shock; and when she recovered sufficiently to travel, Mrs -Vereker had taken her abroad, where they had been moving from place to -place ever since. Her body regained health; she was now quite strong; -but the girl's heart and soul seemed dead; as she said, dead, and -buried in Gordon Frazer's grave. Yet as I listened I did not despair. -I had no living rival; he was dead, this man she loved; while my heart -was beating, living, and strong with its worship of her. If I could -only win her to be my wife, the dead love would pale and faint before -my real and passionate devotion. So I hoped, as day by day I watched -her every look, forestalled her every wish, until she grew accustomed -to my presence, and to rely upon my care. My hopes were answered; ere -long I won her reluctant consent to be my wife, but on the condition -that our marriage should not take place until their return to England -next year. - -The rosy clouds were fading into the deep purple of Italian night. -Silence fell around us as a mantle; only the throb of the sea below -the terrace broke the intense quiet. Out on the sea shone the white -sails of a little yacht. Nearer, within the harbour, rose the masts and -spars of many ships, mysterious, spectre-like, as ships always look at -night. As we were seated in calm enjoyment of the scene, a small boat -shot out from the rocks beneath our feet, where lay some hidden cave or -landing-place. It was rowed by two men; a third sat wrapped in a large -cloak in the stern. They rowed well, and the boat was nearly a mile -from us, leaving a bright line of light upon the shining water, when a -cry broke the calm of the night--a wild, weird cry, with agony in its -tone. 'Gordon!' I have never heard its like since, and I hope I never -shall again. In its agonised tone I could scarcely recognise the voice -of Mary, so changed was it, so shrill with long pent-up yearning, as it -wailed out that one word--'Gordon!' The cry seemed to be repeated again -and again, though softened by the echoes, while the little boat sped -on its way, and its passengers--mere dark specks they seemed--climbed -into the yacht. The white sails gleamed against the horizon, and then, -phantom-like, were lost in its dim purple. - -I turned and looked at Mary. She stood with her eyes fixed on the -darkness which hid the yacht from sight, her hands clasped upon her -heart, her face drawn and colourless. I feared the fate her friends -dreaded for her had stricken her as she stood beside me there in -the still luxurious twilight. 'Mary, my dearest, my own! what is -it?'--taking her hand and drawing her closer. - -She drew her hand from mine, and shuddering away from me, leaned -against the stone parapet, resting her head on the cold marble coping. - -'You are ill; let me take you home, darling,' I said. - -'No,' she murmured; 'not ill. But oh,' she exclaimed, 'Harry, Harry! my -good kind friend, help me! _Gordon was near us just now._ I felt it; I -am sure of it. You will help me to find him; will you not?' - -Help her to find him! help to break my own heart--to bruise this -new-found sweetness out of my life! The very thought struck me with -a sudden chill. What if this fancy of hers, coming so close upon my -sure forebodings, should be a reality? What if Gordon Frazer were -still in existence? I thrust the thought from me as I should thrust a -temptation. 'I will help you in any way I can, my darling,' I said; -'but come in now; the night-air is chilling; and you are giving way to -feverish fancies.' - -'No,' she said; 'it is no fancy.' Drawing herself up wearily, she -turned without looking at me; and I followed her down the terrace and -across the marble court of the old palace which was our home in Genoa. -I watched her glide, stately and pale and quiet, up the broad white -staircase. - -It was months before she recovered from the brain-fever in which she -awoke next morning--such awful months, during which we often feared -the worst. Yet when they were over, and she was among us again, paler, -more fragile, but still her own beautiful self, stately, self-possessed -as usual, I was almost thankful for the terrible illness, which proved -that her cry and wild words on the terrace were but warnings of coming -illness, the mere wandering of a brain diseased. - - * * * * * - -The Roman season was nearly over, yet Rome was full--full of English -sightseers, like ourselves; full of Americans, on rapid flight across -Europe; of eastern prelates, in flowing eastern robes, with olive-hued -eastern faces; of eager-faced French ladies, and solemn-eyed peasants -from lonely villages on the Campagna, and of Italians from city and -from plain; for it was Easter-time. We were only waiting until the -conclusion of the festivities to set out on our journey home. Home! I -never until now felt half the meaning of that word. When we got home, -Mary and I would be married. I should give up wandering, and settle -down into a country gentleman. I thought with a pang of self-reproach -of the grand old home which called me master, shut up in desolate state -since my dear father died. How a fair young mistress would brighten and -beautify the old rooms. I could see it all now--the oaken hall with -its quaint old pictures; spring sunshine pouring in at the open door, -red-coated sportsmen grouped under the beeches, horns ringing from the -copses, children playing under the shadow of the avenue of limes--the -loveliness of joyous life, where for so long had been the silence left -by death. It was a sunny dream of home--home in fair England, into -which I had fallen; standing there, upon the Pincian, under the deep -dark blue of Roman night. - -Below lay the city, its narrow streets dimly mysterious, no light -visible in their tall houses; the fountain murmured its sweet -monotonous music in the Piazza di Spagna; the wide white marble steps -gleamed along the hillside; tall palm-trees cast weird shadows across -the gravelled walks; nightingales answered each other in low rich -trills of song, echoing from tree to tree, through whispering palms and -odorous night-flowers. Beside me, cold and silent, was the woman whose -charmful spell woke within me this new sweet longing for home--home -musical with the soft rustling of women's garments; with the tender -voices of little children. I suppose such a dream and such a longing -come to all men at some time of their lives; it came to me that night -as I stood above the city of vanished glories, of dead and buried -dreams. - -It did not last long. Suddenly, above the city roofs, a cross of -silvery light shone out against the sky. The illumination of Saint -Peter's had begun. Above the winding narrow streets, above palace -roofs, above palm and cypress, above triumphal arch and mouldering -temple, over the palace of the Cæsars, over Capitol and Forum, the -silvery cross shone glad, triumphant; and from it, the light spread -from window to window, from pillar to pillar, till the vast pile was -one glory, changing rapidly from soft silvery radiance into a glow of -golden fire. - -'It was worth coming to see. Was it not, Mary?' - -'Mary!' A stranger's voice echoed her name; and instead of answering -my question, she sprang with a low cry from my side, and laid her head -upon a stranger's breast. 'Did you not get my letters? I have been -looking everywhere for you,' I heard him say. - -She did not answer, nor raised her head; as if at last she had found -her rest. - -'You are not alone here?' he went on. 'Who are you with?' - -Then with a quiver as of pain, she raised herself, and looked from me -to him with beseeching eyes and trembling clasped hands. - -Before she spoke--for even in all the agony of my crushed-out hopes, my -love for her bore down all other feelings, and I tried to save her from -the pain of telling me what I already knew--I said: 'You have found -an older friend than I am, Mary. Shall I leave him to take you to Mrs -Vereker?' - -'An older friend?' he repeated. 'By Jove! I should think so.' - -Then raising his hat, he shook hands with me as I turned away. - -I turned into the darkness, but not before I had seen that until now I -had never known her, my love, my promised wife. I had known a beautiful -statue, not the beautiful woman who, with eyes upraised to his, stood -in the subdued light looking up to Gordon Frazer. All the coldness, all -the stately calm had gone, fallen from her as a mantle falls--a mantle -which had hidden the fullness of her loveliness, and had concealed from -me a tender grace and beauty I had never till now beheld. I have never -seen her since. - - * * * * * - -Some time afterwards I met a friend who had seen a good deal of the -Frazers. He was loud in admiration of Mrs Frazer's beauty and of her -devotion to her husband. 'He was out in the Crimea, you know, and was -reported dead; but he was only wounded. Some Russian family, to whose -house he had managed to be sent, had tended him with kindly care after -even his own doctors had given up hope, and had pulled him through his -danger. Mrs Frazer told me,' continued my friend, 'how one evening -when standing on a terrace at Genoa, she heard his voice; and thinking -it was a reproach from the grave (for she was going to marry another -fellow), she got brain-fever, and was near dying. The fact was, the -yacht in which a friend had brought him from Constantinople touched at -Genoa, and he had actually spent the day doing the palaces! When she -heard his voice, he was returning to the _Peri_, which lay about two -miles from the shore. Romantic story, isn't it? But Gordon takes her -devotion coolly enough; the love seems more on her side than on his. I -cannot understand that.' - -Understand it? Yes, I could. Hers was one of those great-souled natures -who like to give rather than to take, to pour out all the wealth and -beauty of their being on the idol which they have clothed in all the -glory of their own imaginings. God grant she may live on to the end, -happy in her womanly idol-worship! - -As for me, the dream I dreamt upon the Pincian Hill, before the cross -of golden light shone over the city roofs, was never realised. No -rustle of woman's garments makes low music in the old oak-panelled -rooms; no children's voices wake the echoes under the avenues of -arching limes. The old Devon manor-house stands as yet without a -mistress. - - - - -NARCOTISM. - - -In these days of medical knowledge, when so many merciful means for the -alleviation of pain are known, it follows as a matter of course that -great abuse of sleep-producing agents exists. We would therefore say a -few words of caution as to the pernicious practice of people making use -of chloral, chlorodyne, chloroform, and other kindred agents _without -medical advice_. It is, we think, little known to how great an extent -this evil exists. To come across a lady who is constantly more or less -under the influence of chlorodyne, is by no means uncommon; every -trifling ailment or passing _malaise_ being an excuse for a few drops -of that narcotic. Chloral is also extensively and improperly used; the -more so because, unfortunately at the time of its first introduction as -a sleep-producing agent, it was most erroneously stated to be perfectly -harmless, and many are still under this impression. - -The real truth is, that _no_ narcotic of any kind whatever is harmless, -but on the contrary, invariably pernicious when taken otherwise -than by the advice and under the treatment of a medical man. True, -sleeplessness is one of the most trying things a person can suffer -from; but then there are other means of combating the enemy than by -dosing one's self with chloral or any such agent; and thus making an -infirmity chronic, which would in all probability have been only a -temporary evil. Rely upon opiates for sleep, and sleep will not come -without them. Thus a bad habit is formed; the bodily strength is -undermined, the digestive powers enfeebled, the mind and intellect -weakened and enervated, and the unfortunate sufferer becomes a slave, -bound hand and foot to a habit that it is almost impossible to shake -off. Sleeplessness often comes from want of sufficient fresh air and -exercise, from over-mental work, mental distress, from too great a -quantity of stimulants taken during the day, and from various other -causes, which a little care as to diet and regimen would quickly -overcome. Taking short naps during the day; too much tea and coffee -drinking, especially shortly before bedtime--all these are apt to cause -sleeplessness. In many cases a light and simple supper taken shortly -before retiring to rest, and attention to the feet being thoroughly -warm, will insure a good night's sleep when more energetic means have -failed. - -In those terrible abodes of suffering, our cancer hospitals, the -method of all others most resorted to, and most efficacious for the -alleviation of pain, is the sub-cutaneous (under-the-skin) injection of -morphia. In sciatica, neuralgia, and other painful nervous affections, -this remedy is often exceedingly beneficial, when used under competent -medical advice and supervision; but like every other good thing it -is open to great abuse, and often made use of merely as a soothing -narcotic by the irritable, excitable, and discontented. A long train -of evils follows; but with these we are not called upon to deal here. -What we want now to lay before the reader is a plain statement as to -the prompt treatment called for in a case of over-narcotism from -too strong a dose of injected morphia. Coldness of the extremities, -lividity of the countenance, profuse cold sweat, and loss of power -over the limbs, insensibility, very deep breathing, and contraction of -the pupils of the eyes to such an extent that they resemble a black -pin-head, result. - -What then is to be done? Time is precious, and perhaps half an hour -or more may elapse before medical aid can be obtained. Taking it for -granted that the patient is in a recumbent position, the first thing to -be done is to raise the head, to sponge the face and chest copiously -with fresh cold water, to rub the limbs steadily and strongly, to put -hot-water applications to the feet and to the sides of the body, if -it feel cold to the touch. Place strong smelling-salts to the nose; -lay the head on one side with the mouth open, so that the tongue may -not fall back and prevent respiration; give brandy-and-water, if the -patient can possibly swallow it; but if the narcotism be severe, this -will be impossible, and it is wisest to abstain from attempts which -may result in fluid going the wrong way. In fact do everything to keep -the body warm and the breathing unimpeded, and strive to rouse the -unconscious faculties into action. - -Supposing, however, that the narcotism be very excessive, and the -breathing be slow, irregular, and low, then if medical aid be not -forthcoming, it would be well to resort to artificial respiration; -by no means a difficult matter to manage, if only any one present -has a slight amount of knowledge on the subject. The following is Dr -Sylvester's method, and is advantageous from its simplicity: 'Place the -patient on the back, inclined a little upwards from the feet by raising -and supporting the head on a cushion, placing support also under the -shoulder-blades. Draw out the tongue and keep it forward, so as to -leave the air-passages free. Remove all clothing from the neck, chest, -and abdomen. Stand by the patient's head, take firm hold of the arms -just above the elbows, and draw them gently and steadily upwards above -the head, keeping them stretched upwards for two or three seconds. Then -turn down the arms, and press them firmly and steadily against the -sides of the chest for two or three seconds. Repeat these movements -alternately, deliberately, and _perseveringly_, until a spontaneous -effort at respiration is perceived; immediately upon which, proceed to -try by every possible means to induce circulation and warmth.' However, -should the case of narcotism be _not_ a severe one, such extreme -measures as artificial respiration will not be called for, and in all -probability, after the use of those simpler remedies at first named, -sickness will occur, and this may be taken as a sign that the worst of -the evil is over. - -And here let us once more emphatically state that in this and all -other cases we assume that a medical man is sent for, and that our -suggestions only refer to what is to be done _until_ he appears -upon the scene. Nothing is so annoying and so productive of harm as -for a non-professional person to be constantly making this and that -suggestion as to the treatment of a sufferer, when a medical man is -giving his best thought and skill to the case; but on the other hand -it is well for people--more especially women--to know what to do when -thrown upon their own resources. - -Cases of poisoning from over-doses of opiates are of course only one -class of such-like accidents; and the accidental swallowing of irritant -poisons, embrocations, &c. often occur, and call for the utmost -promptitude of action and presence of mind on the part of those present. - -In the less densely populated parts of the country, it is a positive -necessity that people should be able to rely upon themselves in cases -of emergency, for if a doctor is many miles distant, and it takes -several hours to fetch him, one might almost as well be without him, -where sharp practice is called for. To produce vomiting, one of the -best emetics we happen to know of is an American one. It consists of -a table-spoonful of common treacle (molasses it is called across the -water) and as much powdered alum stirred into it as the sticky compound -can be made to contain. Now alum is such a valuable drug in many ways -that it ought to be kept in every household medicine-chest; and treacle -is not usually hard to get. We have never seen this remedy tried in a -case of poisoning, but we _have_ seen its effect in croup; and anything -more decided and imperious in its action it would be difficult to -imagine. Such a dose might freely be given in _any_ case of poisoning; -and after the emetic has acted freely, we would give some soothing -mixture, such as thickened milk. There are various things which have -the power to a certain extent of protecting the coats of the stomach -from the action of irritant poisons; if the poison be an acid, the -scrapings off a white-washed wall or chalk and milk are good. Milk -almost stiffened with common brown sugar is one of them; sweet oil -taken to nauseation is another. - -In all cases of poisoning, _loss of time_ is the one great thing to be -avoided; and the nearest remedy at hand is the best one to make use of. -Mustard and water, strong and plenty of it, is a capital emetic. Of -croup, that enemy of juvenile humanity, we must now speak a few words; -and we know of no better remedy than the American one above described, -combined with a hot bath and a hot blanket to roll the child well up in -afterwards. - -The ignorance of the poor as to the treatment and still more the -prevention of the diseases of children is something appalling, and -there can be no doubt that thousands of little lives are annually -sacrificed to this Moloch. - -'I can't tell what ails my child, ma'am,' said a labourer's wife to -the writer of this, one bitter day last winter, 'he's carrying on so -strange: crowing like a cock, and turning his-self almost black in the -face every nows and again.' - -The infant in question was comfortably seated on a nice cold door-step, -and breathing as if he had swallowed a baby's rattle by mistake. -'Your child has the croup,' I said, picking up the unfortunate little -creature and carrying it to the fireside; 'and if you don't do -something for him at once, he'll very likely die.' - -However something _was_ done for him, and he didn't die; but he had a -kick for his life all the same, and very little more door-step would -have finished him. Yet this poor woman was not an unloving mother; she -was only ignorant, and in her ignorance, assisting her child into the -grave she would have shed such bitter tears over. - -From croup to diphtheria is a natural progression, and we would wish -to say a few, a very few words on this terrible disease; not as to its -treatment by the amateur nurse, for it is of the greatest importance -that such cases should have close medical care. It is then on the -subject of the operation called _tracheotomy_--that is, the making -an outward incision in the windpipe below the seat of the disease, -and inserting a tube for the purpose of respiration, that we would -speak--not to discuss it in its medical aspect, but simply to say a -word or two to nervous mothers who would shrink from the idea of the -surgeon's knife touching a sick child under any circumstances whatever. -Surely there can be no more pitiful sight to look upon than a child -dying of diphtheria--the eyes wild with fear, looking appealingly for -help from one troubled face to another; the little hand thrust into the -mouth in helpless, useless effort to dislodge the terrible leather-like -substance that is clogging up the throat, and making each breath a -sound so painful that for days and weeks to come it will not cease to -sound in our ears. What more agonising sight can the sick-room give us -to gaze upon? And yet doctors have told us of cases in which a mother -has had such an overpowering dread of the surgeon's knife, that even -when things come to such a state as this, she has positively refused to -allow of any attempt at alleviation of her child's agony by a simple -operation! - -Now it is on this head we wish to say a few words of encouragement and -counsel. Tracheotomy is in the first place a _chance_--a very slight -chance in most cases--but still a chance for life; but if it does not -save life, it spares the child a death of awful suffering. The pain of -the operation itself is so momentary as not to be worth considering, -and relief is _instantaneous_. We are not speaking of recovery, but -simply of the difference between such a death as that described above -and the quiet 'falling asleep' of the child upon whom tracheotomy -has been performed; and this is what the writer saw--the frightened -appealing eyes; the pitiful effort at self-help; and then the instant -relief given by firm and skilful hands; and four-and-twenty hours -later, the quiet painless death; the boy smiling up into our faces as -the pure spirit fled to that place of rest and peace where 'there shall -be no more pain.' It was not a thing to be seen and forgotten. - - - - -LIFE IN A MILITARY PRISON. - -BY A PRISON CHAPLAIN. - - -In an address lately delivered at Birmingham, Professor Tyndall says: -'I met some few years since in a railway carriage the governor of one -of our largest prisons. He was evidently an observant and reflective -man. He told me that the prisoners in his charge might be divided into -three classes. The first class consisted of persons who ought never to -have been in prison. External accident, and not internal taint, had -brought them within the grasp of the law, and what had happened to them -might happen to most of us. They were essentially men of sound moral -stamina, though wearing the prison garb. Then came the largest class, -formed of individuals possessing no strong bias moral or immoral, -plastic to the touch of circumstances, which would mould them into -either good or evil members of society. Thirdly came a class--happily -not a large one--whom no kindness could conciliate and no discipline -tame. They were sent into this world labelled "Incorrigible," -wickedness being stamped as it were upon their organisations.' - -As a matter of fact, there is a distinction made, and rightly made, -between the inmates of military prisons. They are divided into first, -second, and third classes; which you may call bad, worse, and worst, if -you are of the despairing type of philanthropist; or good, better, and -best, if you are a great believer in human nature, even in imprisoned -human nature. The first class wear a red stripe on the arm, and being -the best conducted, are given less work to do and more food. Class -number two are marked with a yellow stripe; while the third or lowest -class are distinguished by a white badge. A stranger might perhaps -shrink from all who wear white stripes as from 'incorrigibles;' but -some in the third class may be really very little more 'incorrigible' -than himself, for every prisoner, no matter what his character may -be, except in very special cases, is placed in the third class on his -reception. He then, by good conduct, becomes eligible for promotion -into the second class, and subsequently into the first. Rule one -hundred and sixty-six of the Regulations for Military Prisons, lays -down that 'the first class will be composed of those prisoners who, -from their quiet orderly habits and general good conduct under -punishment, may appear deserving of being promoted from the second -class after some experience has been gained of their characters. -Prisoners in either the first or the second class will also be liable -to be removed to a lower class for misconduct.' Though the first class -of prisoners are employed during the same hours as those prescribed -for the second class, the labour is of a less severe description: -picking oakum or drill being substituted for the deservedly hated crank -and shot exercise. Another privilege enjoyed by the first class is, -that they are never deprived of their bed, whereas, 'all prisoners -on reception are to sleep for the first week in the same manner as -a soldier on guard--that is, on a board without undressing--and -subsequently, the third-class prisoners are to sleep as on guard every -other night; and the second-class prisoners in the same manner every -third night: the prisoners of the first class being alone exempted -from this rule.' First and second class prisoners are employed in this -prison--which is no Castle of Indolence--at drill, shot exercise, the -crank, cleaning the passages and other parts of the premises from six -o'clock A.M. to six o'clock P.M.; and those of the third class from six -o'clock A.M. to eight o'clock P.M.; with the exception of regular times -for parades, chapel, and meals. - -'If any man will not work neither let him eat,' is a motto strictly -adhered to by the authorities; for no prisoner is allowed meat-dinner -who is not employed at hard labour. Those not so engaged are only -given porridge and bread-and-milk. When labouring at hard work, -prisoners have a meat-dinner every Tuesday and Thursday. Eight ounces -of beef without bone and one pint of soup is the allowance. The first -class have an additional meat-dinner on Sundays. There is, we see, -considerable advantage to be gained by the prisoner, to reward his -ambition, should it prompt him to move upward into a higher class. -Now this is no trifling matter, for the very essence of good prison -discipline is the subordination of mere punishment to reformation; -and this system of classification tends not only to preserve a man's -self-respect, but to fan the spark of hope that otherwise might be -extinguished in his breast. - -The justly celebrated novel _Never too late to Mend_ has made the -public in some degree familiar with the 'silent system' of prison -discipline. This system has been found not to work when sentences are -for a long period. Speech is discovered to be more than a luxury, being -essential to the mental health of prisoners. None now are condemned -to the silent system except those who are imprisoned for only a short -time. And how great is the punishment of not being allowed to speak, -is proved to the chaplain by this one fact. Nowhere are prayers so -diligently responded to and hymns sung with such _will_, if without -musical taste, as in the chapel of a military prison, for prisoners -recognise the service as an opportunity of convincing themselves that -they have not become dumb. Until this explanation was given by the -governor, I was full of admiration for religion, afterwards discovered -to be more loud-sounding than genuine. - -Prisoners condemned to solitary confinement are forced to turn to -the wall on the approach of visitors or the superior officers of -the prison. 'Has my face assumed any terrific aspect? Am I so much -worse-looking than usual?' This is the thought that naturally comes -into one's mind on walking through a military prison for the first -time. Each man takes a quick glance at your Gorgon head, and then, fast -as lightning, turns his back to you and his face to the wall, until -your apparently baneful or bewitching influence has passed. - -Another humiliation to which prisoners have to submit is that of having -their hair frequently cut short. A man must sink very low indeed -before he lose altogether personal vanity. It would seem as if there -were a peacock as well as an angel and a beast in each of us. For this -reason the regulation that requires the hair of all prisoners of the -third class to be cropped every fortnight is no slight punishment. It -is especially felt by those who leave the prison without having been -promoted to the second and first classes, in which a prisoner's hair is -permitted to grow during the last fortnight of imprisonment. How can a -man shew himself in respectable society, or take off his hat to a lady, -when that common act of courtesy would reveal the fact that his hair -was cut by--government? - -Some may desire to know whether flogging has or has not been entirely -abolished. To the question, we answer: 'Yes; except for aggravated -breaches of prison discipline.' Nor is it easy to see in what other way -such cases can be dealt with. A man, let us suppose in a fit of sulky -stubbornness, does not attempt to pick his oakum. He is brought before -the governor, and sentenced to lose his supper and bed; that is, to be -obliged to sleep on the floor. On going back to his cell he says to -himself: 'What can I do now to avenge myself on the authorities?' and -he acts on the impulse that seizes him, which is to break the window -and destroy everything in his cell. Probably this sort of stubborn -ill-conditioned character is a coward; and if this be the case, nothing -is found to bring him to his senses so well as twenty-five lashes -administered in the presence of the governor and medical officer. - -The punishments which we should like to see abolished, if others -without equal or greater disadvantages could be discovered, are the -crank and shot-drill. 'What is the crank?' may be asked by happy -people who have never had to do with prisons in any way. It is, we -answer, a Sisyphus' wheel that the prisoner is forced to turn twelve -or fourteen thousand times each day, for no other reason than because -the useless monotonous exercise is sufficiently hateful to him to be a -real punishment. 'To what purpose is this waste?' we may ask. Why is -this wheel not made to pump water or grind corn or do some other useful -work? Why should a man be degraded into a machine, and made to turn a -wheel merely for the sake of turning it? Will he not in this way lose -all self-respect? Yes; these are the unanswerable arguments against -the crank. But then its very uselessness is urged as an argument for -its retention. Suppose, for instance, that prisoners are employed in -gardens where vegetables are cultivated for barrack-use, what will -be the consequence? That soldiers will desire to abandon their own -profession for Adam's calling, and for this purpose will designedly get -into prison. If, again, the crank-wheel be utilised in any way, men -will feel that they are useful members of society, and will probably -prefer their new work to the dull routine and irksome duties of -barrack-life. Almost the same remarks are applicable to shot-drill, or -the very humiliating process of lifting six times each minute for three -hours per diem a thirty-six pound cannon-ball, for no other reason than -to put it down again three paces from where it originally lay. Nothing -can be more fatiguing and worrying than this process of putting the -shot there and back, there and back, there and back! But then we must -again remark, that to make prisons very comfortable is absolutely to -make them useless. - -Almost all the inmates of military prisons are sentenced for such -crimes as these: Desertion--the commonest crime of all--making -away with kit, breaking out of barracks, insubordination. How is -desertion to be stopped? This is now a very difficult problem with the -authorities, and almost all officers give it as their opinion that the -plague of desertion can only be stayed by again having recourse to the -system lately abolished of branding the letter D on the deserter's -side. In the absence of this _Nota bene_, there is nothing to prevent a -soldier from enlisting over and over again in different corps, in order -to get a bounty and new kit on each occasion. - -As regards insubordination, when you speak to a prisoner on the folly -of having resisted or disobeyed a non-commissioned officer, he will -generally give an answer somewhat as follows: 'Well, sir, when I came -back from foreign service I had a little money, and with this I drank -with some comrades more than was good for me. There is a corporal [or -sergeant] in the barrack-room who is always down on me; and upon that -day, having had a little too much, I could not stand his going on at -me; and so I--though indeed I tried to help myself doing so--just -struck him between his eyes.' There is no doubt that nine out of every -ten soldiers in military prisons have got into trouble through drink. A -soldier was once overheard describing the advantages of the Cape as a -station in these words: 'Drink is cheap, and you are always dry.' Men -of this stamp fill our military prisons. - -In some cases the crime of insubordination is provoked by the petty -bullying and offensive manner of non-commissioned officers, though -their superiors do their best to check them. Officers are now easily -accessible, and are ready to give the youngest private an impartial -hearing. In all respects the position of a British soldier is now -greatly improved. Indeed it is not too much to say that life in a -military prison now is quite as endurable as was existence out of it to -the well-conducted soldier of forty years ago. - - - - -DESOLATE. - - - Like a funereal pall, - Darkness lies over all; - Weirdly the owl doth call - From her lone steep. - Sadly the night-wind blows - Over December snows; - Vain 'tis my eyes to close-- - I cannot sleep. - - Thy voice is in my ear; - Once more thy words I hear, - Bringing now hope now fear, - But always love; - And thy sweet face doth rise - Radiant with starry eyes, - Cloudless as summer skies - In heaven above. - - Once more at night's soft noon, - Under the pensive moon - Of a long vanished June, - With thee I stray: - As when in days of old - All my heart's love I told, - And to my pleading bold - Thou saidst not nay. - - When thou wast by my side, - Calmly the days did glide; - Like an unruffled tide - My life did flow. - Then was each hour too brief; - Now I but seek relief - From my consuming grief, - Rest from my woe. - - Now falls the scalding tear, - Shed for the present drear; - Shed for the past so dear, - So quickly flown. - Over thy lonely grave, - Hard by the sounding wave, - Madly the wind-gusts rave; - I am alone. - - Yes; but my whole life through - Leal have I been and true; - True shall I be to you, - As true as then; - Till when that life is o'er, - Skyward my soul shall soar, - And on the heavenly shore - We meet again. - - H. D. - - * * * * * - -Printed and Published by W. & R. 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