Chapter II: Introduction: About the different colors of the human race

The globe upon which we dwell is a small body compared with the sun, or with Jupiter, or Saturn; yet it contains many millions of inhabitants. The exact number can never be ascertained. The best estimates make the number between eight and nine hundred millions. This number is too great for a young mind to grasp. A better idea may be formed of it, by supposing the whole population of the globe to pass by you, one by one. How long would it take you to count them, at the rate of twenty thousand a day? More than one hundred and twenty years.

These inhabitants are scattered over every part of the earth, and are to be found in almost every island of the sea. They have penetrated into the frozen regions, where scarcely anything grows but moss; where fish, bears and reindeer are their only food; and where they are obliged to live in cabins under ground.

Vast as the number of the earth’s inhabitants is, and widely scattered as they are, yet they all sprung from one pair. This the scriptures tell us. About six thousand years ago, God created Adam and Eve in Asia, and from them all mankind have descended.

Do you ask how this can be? Do you say, that the inhabitants of different countries and climates differ much? They do indeed differ. They differ in respect to laws, and government, and manners, and dress, and language, and color. In this last respect, color, they differ almost more than in anything else.

Well, because they differ thus much, you think they could not all have descended from Adam and Eve? If they did not, then the Bible, so far, cannot be true. This would be a sad conclusion.

But, is such a conclusion necessary? Cannot we account for the differences which exist among different nations, upon the supposition that they all did descend from Adam and Eve?

Take the difference in color, which exists among different nations. This, perhaps, is the most difficult to be accounted for. A great variety of color may be noticed; but the various colors may, perhaps, be reduced to three――white, black and red. All the others may be supposed to be different shades of these.

Now, were Adam and Eve white, black or red? This we cannot ascertain. The late Dr. Dwight, I believe, supposed that they were red; but allow that they were white; by what process could their descendants have become some brown, some yellow, others red, and others still quite black?

Suppose that a white person in the United States should constantly go abroad without any covering upon his head. What would be the consequence of his exposure to the wind and sun? He would “tan,” as we say, or grow dark colored; and the longer he was exposed the darker he would become.

Exposure, then, to the heat of the sun, and to changes in the weather, causes a change of complexion. Suppose this same person visits the torrid zone. Here, as the heat of the sun is much greater, and the winds are more scorching, we should naturally expect that his complexion would darken faster, and, in time, become of a deeper cast.

This is precisely as we find the fact. All the inhabitants of the torrid zone incline more or less to a black color. Under the equator, where the heat is greater than in any other part of the world, they are quite black. In other parts of the world, where the heat is less intense, as in the temperate climates, they are generally white, or only brown. Still farther north, in the frigid zones, where the air is very dry, and the cold very severe, the inhabitants are tawny.

Thus it appears that difference of climate produces a great difference in the complexion of people. But do not nations living in the same climate, differ in color? They do. This is remarkably exemplified in the Tartars and Chinese. The latter are fairer than the former, though they resemble the Tartars in features; but, then, they are more polished, and adopt every means to protect themselves from the weather. On the other hand, the Tartars, are a roving people, without any fixed dwellings; and hence, are continually exposed to the sun and air.

We might mention many other causes of a variety of color. Perhaps few things injure the complexion more than want of cleanliness. This recalls to my recollection a set of people, who were called Yonkers, and who lived a few miles from the city of Schenectady, in the state of New York. When I saw them, some years since, they consisted of about one hundred souls. Their ancestor’s name was Johnson. He and his wife were white persons.

Being poor and shiftless, they removed into the woods a few miles from Schenectady, where they erected a miserable hut, without a floor, and without a chimney. Some loose straw served them for a bed; and in dirt and in filth they lived. They had several children, who followed their examples. Other huts were erected――they intermarried, and in smoke, and in grease, and in filth, they and their descendants have lived. In the hottest season of the year the children are accustomed to roll in the dirt with the pigs around the door; and in the winter season they play with the ashes and live in the smoke. They seldom, if ever, wash; and it is doubtful whether a child’s hair is combed half a dozen times, till it is grown up. When I visited them, which was for the purpose of distributing bibles among them, it was stated that only five of the whole clan were able to read.

The consequence of this filthy mode of living may be easily guessed. They appeared like a different race of beings. Their features were greatly changed; but much more their complexion. In this latter respect they were nearly as dark as the North American Indians. From this story my readers may learn something of the influence which manner of living exerts, not only on complexion, but even upon features.

From the foregoing facts it is easy to perceive how white people may, in process of time, become dark-colored, and even black. Hence, admitting that Adam and Eve were created white, their descendants might, through the influence of climate and other causes, become red and even black.

But, you say, perhaps they were not white――perhaps they were red, perhaps black. Yes, they might have been red, or they might have been black. Well, if they were either of these, you ask how any of their descendants became white.

This is a nice question. But, perhaps, something may in truth be said by way of a satisfactory answer. We have seen how a white man might become very dark-colored, and how his descendants might become, in process of time, even black, by removing to the torrid zone, and there continuing to dwell for several hundred years.

Now, might not the very reverse of this prove true? Do not the blacks from Africa grow lighter colored, when brought to the northern parts of the United States? Listen to what President Dwight says on this subject:

“The change of the blacks,” says he, “whose ancestors were introduced into New England, is already very great, as to their shape, features, hair and complexion. Within the last thirty years, I have not seen a single person, of African descent, who was not many shades whiter than the blacks formerly imported directly from Guinea.”

Now, it is possible that the black people in the United States might become white, in process of time. I do not say that they ever will, because their manner of living is far different from that of the whites. They are not as cleanly; most of them are much exposed to the weather. And this is true of the Indians, or “red men.”

But, you ask, can any instances be produced of either “red men” or black men becoming white? I answer, yes, instances of both. I will give an account of an instance of each kind; and I can assure my readers that the account is true, and they may find it in an enlarged form, in Dr. Dwight’s travels. And first, I shall tell them the story of the Indian, or “red man.”

Or, rather I might say, that my story relates to four Indians. They belonged to the tribe called Brothertown Indians, who lived at a place called Brothertown, in the state of New York. It was in the year 1791, that Mr. Hart, formerly minister at Stonington, in Connecticut, saw four Indians, whose skin, in different parts of their body, was turning white.

One, whose name was Samuel Adams, had become almost entirely white. This Indian told Mr. Hart, that his skin had been gradually changing its color for fourteen years. He was a very healthy man; nor was he sensible of any pain or disease which occasioned the change. “His skin appeared perfectly smooth and fresh, and delicately white.” His hair, also, had become in part gray, like that of aged white people.

The instance of a black man, who became white, is also related by Dr. Dwight, who himself saw the man, and examined him. His name was Henry Moss. He was a native of Virginia. He came to New Haven in the year 1796, where Dr. Dwight saw him. He was originally black, and woolly headed, like other negroes; but, at this time, he was almost entirely white, and of a “clear, fresh, and delicate complexion.” His hair, also, was in part changed, and was exactly that of fair white people; of a flaxen hue, and perfectly free from curling.

From these examples my readers may learn that no one color is essential to the nature of the body; and that, as white men have become black, and red and black men white, all mankind, how different soever they may now appear, may have descended from Adam and Eve, whatever their complexion might have been.

I might say much more in relation to the differences which exist among different nations; and might, perhaps, explain how they came to differ so greatly in respect to language, and dress, and laws, and government, and other things; but I must not be tedious.

It would be pleasant, no doubt, to my readers, could they travel in safety round the world, and visit the different nations and tribes of men, and mark the differences which exist, for themselves. This pleasure some have enjoyed to a certain extent; and many are the vessels which yearly sail from the United States to various parts of the globe.

A few men have visited almost every country on the globe; but it would take a long life to become even superficially acquainted with the different tribes of men, had one the means which would be necessary. But it is not essential to travel much, to become tolerably acquainted with the people of different countries. Different men have travelled the world over, and have given faithful accounts of the people whom they saw. It is desirable to know what has been thus related. Many of my readers, I suppose, cannot obtain the books which have been written on this subject. I shall, therefore, proceed to tell them something about it.

[To be continued.]

FRESH WATER.――The basin of the St. Lawrence, including the great lakes, contains, in mass, more than half the fresh water on the globe.

Light.

Before the creation of light, the world must have been involved in darkness. A state of darkness is the natural condition of the universe without light. We are very apt to think of everything as a matter of course, and we are not apt to reflect that everything has been made, created――by God. Now, let us bear in mind the fact, that darkness was the original state of the universe; then let us reflect upon the stupendous, beautiful and benignant creation of light. How wonderful must have been the first rising of the sun upon this world of ours, before involved in the shades of midnight! How wonderful must have been the first appearance of the thousand stars in the sky――and how wonderful that of the pale, but lovely moon, hung like a bow in the heavens, or bursting in its full splendor upon our world below.

And let us consider a moment what a wonderful element light is. We do not understand all its properties, but we know that it proceeds in a straight direction from its source. Now the sun produces light, and it comes to us with an inconceivable velocity. The distance of the sun is ninety-five millions of miles from us――yet the rays of light reach us in seven minutes and a half; thus showing that the rays fly at the rate of two hundred thousand miles in a second!

Let us consider, for one instant, what a stupendous work it was to make and sustain the sun, which is every instant pouring off a flood of light on all sides, reaching ninety-five millions of miles, and flowing constantly at the rate of two hundred thousand miles a second; and consider, also, that this process has been in operation for at least six thousand years! This is indeed enough to overwhelm us with wonder and admiration; and yet we are only considering one source of light――the sun――while every fixed star in the firmament is another, and presents the same topic of admiration.

We might now pass from this view of the subject, to the uses of light――and remark upon the fact, that by means of it we see things. Color and form――all that constitutes the beauty of the world of vision――is revealed to us by light. The production of light――its manufacture and supply――is a stupendous thing――but yet its conception, its invention, was still more wonderful. There was a time when all was darkness. It was then that God said, “Let there be light, and there was light!” But he had an object in producing light. He intended that his creatures should see by it. How great, then, were his wisdom and goodness in designing it――how wonderful his power in producing it!

I intend, hereafter, to say something more about the philosophy of light; but my intention, at present, is to speak only of some curious particulars in relation to it. In the first place, let me tell you that there are some plants which throw out light. A gentleman observed, in the shady recesses of some of the rocks of Derbyshire, England, a brilliant gold and green light, which appeared to proceed from a fine net-work of moss, growing upon the rocks. In the coal mines near Dresden, in Germany, there are certain mosses, which are said to be abundant and luminous. They are described by a visitor as appearing in “wonderful beauty,” and he says, “The impression produced by the spectacle, I can never forget. The abundance of these plants was so great, that the roof, and the walls, and the pillars, were entirely covered with them. The beautiful light they cast around, was almost dazzling; it resembled faint moonshine, so that two persons, near each other, could readily distinguish their bodies.”

The phosphorescence of the sea presents a most remarkable spectacle. Sometimes the vessel, while ploughing her way through the billows, appears to mark out a furrow of fire. Each stroke of an oar gives rise to sparks of light, sometimes tranquil and pearly, at others brilliant and dazzling. These movable lights, too, are grouped in endless varieties; their thousand luminous points, like little stars, appearing to float on the surface; and their matter forming one vast sheet of light. At such times, the bright waves heave, roll, and break in shining foam; or large sparkling bodies, resembling the forms of fishes, pursue each other, disappearing and bursting forth anew.

Beautiful illuminations of the same kind are frequently seen at a great depth in the clear water, which in the night time becomes jet black. Often, through this dark, yet limpid medium, have voyagers amused themselves, by tracking the routes of large fishes, such as porpoises or sharks, gleaming along in lines of light beneath the abyss, itself invisible with gloom.

As Captain Tuckey passed in his voyage towards Prince’s Island, the ship seemed to be sailing on a sea of milk. In order to discover the cause of such an appearance, a bag, having its mouth distended by a hoop, was kept overboard, and, by means of it, vast numbers of small animals were collected. Among them, were a great many small sea animals, with innumerable little creatures attached to them, to which Captain Tuckey principally attributed the whitish color of the water.

Thirteen species of cancer were observed, not above one fourth of an inch long; eight having the shape of crabs, and five that of shrimps. Among these, some luminous creatures were discernible. When one species was examined by the microscope, in candle-light, the luminous property was observed to reside in the brain, which, when the animal was at rest, resembled a most brilliant amethyst, about the size of a large pin’s head; and from this there darted, when the animal moved, flashes of a brilliant and silvery light.

Of the number of these little creatures, of some of which a magnified representation is here annexed, some interesting statements are furnished by Captain Scoresby. “During a run of fifty leagues,” he says, “the sea was constantly of an olive-green color, remarkably tinted; but, on the afternoon of the 17th of April, it changed to transparent blue. This green appearance of the sea in these latitudes, was occasioned by myriads of small marine animals. A calculation of the number of these animals, in the space of two miles square, and two hundred and fifty fathoms deep, gave an amount of 23,888,000,000,000!

“On September 1st, the sea was colored in veins or patches, of a brown color, or sometimes with a yellowish green; and this water, on being examined by the microscope, appeared swarming with minute marine animals. A drop of this water contained twenty-six thousand five hundred animalculæ. Hence, reckoning sixty drops to a drachm, there would be a number in a gallon of water exceeding by one half the amount of the whole population of the globe. It affords an interesting conception of the minuteness of some tribes of animals, when we think of more than twenty-six thousand individuals, living, obtaining subsistence, and moving perfectly at their ease, in a single drop of water!”

A sea is required for a whale to spout in; but a common tumbler affords abundant space for a hundred and fifty millions of these little creatures! The phosphorescent appearances presented by them are not, however, without an important design. It is probable that God, whose knowledge is unbounded, foreseeing that man would learn to traverse the mighty deep, and explore the most distant regions of the globe, has given this brightness to the ocean to lessen his dangers, and to render his nights less gloomy.

Especially will this seem likely, when it is remembered that it is seen only in the night season, and is vivid in proportion to the darkness. It disappears even before the feeble light of the moon, and increases with the agitation of the sea; so that, during the prevalence of a storm, it generally diminishes the dense gloom, which at such times even the moon and stars cannot penetrate. It casts such a light on the ship and rigging, that the sailors may execute their allotted tasks with certainty, and at all times it points out to the cautious mariner the lurking danger of sunken rocks, shoals and unknown coasts.

It is well known that sea animals, larger than those minute creatures of which we have been speaking, have also the power of emitting light. Pliny tells us, that some of the old Romans, in his time, used to sup in darkened apartments upon the _pholas_, a kind of shellfish, which gave out sparks of light, and amused the people, while they gratified their appetites. A traveller in a remote land, speaks of fishes that played around the boats, each being encircled by a halo of light.

But the land has its luminous animals, as well as the sea. The glow-worm is common in Europe: this is a female beetle, without wings. It emits a light of a sulphur color, so strong that if placed at night on a page of small print, it may be easily read. In Africa there is an insect that emits light from two globes, like lamps, upon its horns.

The fire-fly of South America is very common, and its light is so brilliant as that several put together will enable a person to see to write. The fire-fly of our country, which seems to make the landscape at night sparkle as with a thousand gems, is smaller than that of South America.

In the East Indies, thousands of lantern-flies, sending forth a beautiful illumination, are seen dancing at night amid the banyan trees; and candle-flies, of which we give a cut at the head of this article, have a similar power.

These are a few of the facts connected with the luminous qualities of plants and animals. We do not fully understand the uses of these powers, but we can see that the subject of light is very extensive, and that the study of it leads to a great many curious and wonderful realities.

Herons and Rooks.

At Dallam Tower, in Westmoreland, England, there were, some years ago, two groves adjoining the park, one of which, for many years, had been resorted to by a number of herons; the other was one of the largest rookeries in the country. The two tribes lived together for a long time without any disputes. At length, the trees occupied by the herons, consisting of some very fine old oaks, were cut down in the spring of 1775, and the young birds had perished by the fall of the timber. The parent birds immediately set about preparing new habitations to breed again; but as the trees in the neighborhood of their old nests were only of a late growth, and not high enough to secure them from the depredations of the boys, they determined to effect a settlement in the rookery. The rooks made an obstinate resistance, but, after a very violent contest, in the course of which some on both sides lost their lives, the herons at last succeeded in their attempt――built their nests, and brought up their young.

The next season, the same contests took place, which terminated, like the former, by the victory of the herons. From that time, peace seemed to have been agreed upon between them; the rooks relinquished possession of that part of the grove which the herons occupied; the herons confined themselves to those trees they first seized upon, and the two species lived together in as much harmony as they did before their quarrel.

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When Mr. West, grandson of Sir Benjamin, was in this country, exhibiting the great picture of “Christ rejected,” he employed a man to hang it up in the exhibition-room. Accordingly, the latter brought in a bill “for hanging Christ rejected by your grandfather.”

Spectral Illusions.

The atmosphere has the power of bending the rays of light, so that we see the sun before it actually rises above the horizon, and after it has actually sunk below it.

This bending of the rays, produces some curious appearances, and which were formerly viewed with superstition. Dr. Vince, an English philosopher, was once looking through a telescope at a ship, which was so far off, that he could only see the upper parts of the masts. The hulk was entirely hidden by the bending of the water, but between himself and the ship, he saw two perfect images of it in the air. These were of the same form and color as the real ship; but one of them was turned upside down.

When Captain Scoresby was in the Polar Sea with his ship, he was separated by the ice from that of his father for some time, and looked out for her every day with great anxiety. At length, one evening, to his utter astonishment, he saw her suspended in the air, in an inverted position, traced on the horizon in the clearest colors, and with the most distinct and perfect representation. He sailed in the direction in which he saw this visionary phenomenon, and actually found his father’s vessel by its indication. He was separated from the ship by immense masses of icebergs, and at such a distance that it was impossible to have seen her in her actual situation, or to have seen her at all, if her spectrum had not been thus raised several degrees above the horizon in the air by this most extraordinary refraction.

It is by this bending of the rays of light that the images of people are often seen at a distance, and sometimes magnified to a gigantic size. We have given an account of such an appearance in the Hartz mountains, in Germany, in the Museum, Vol. i. p. 79.

Bats.

Bats are of various sizes and many kinds. In this country there are various species, but none of them very large. They are generally innocent creatures, living in dark caverns and hidden places during the day, and sallying forth to feast upon insects by night. The little bats that we see flying about of a summer evening, are very amusing creatures in one respect; if you throw anything up near them, they will dive at it immediately,――no doubt supposing it to be something to eat. A boy may throw up his cap, and the bat flies at it instantly, as if he would make a supper of it.

But in other parts of the world, especially in hot countries, some of the bats are very large. The rousette bat is found in the great island of Madagascar, near the southeast shore of Africa. Its wings are sometimes two feet from tip to tip. But the most frightful kind of bat is the vampire, which is found in Guiana, on the northeast coast of South America. The length of its body is about six inches, and the extent of its outstretched wings two feet.

This creature sucks the blood from men and cattle, while they are fast asleep, even sometimes till they die; and as the manner in which they proceed is truly wonderful, I shall endeavor to give a distinct account of it. Knowing by instinct that the person they intend to attack is in a sound slumber, they generally alight near the feet, and, while the creature continues fanning with his enormous wings, which keeps one cool, he bites a piece out of the tip of the great toe, so very small indeed, that the head of a pin could scarcely be received into the wound, which is consequently not painful, yet, through this orifice, he sucks a great quantity of blood. Cattle they generally bite in the ear, but always in places where the blood flows spontaneously.

“Some years ago,” says Mr. Waterton, in his Wanderings in South America, “I went to the river Panmaron with a Scotch gentleman, by the name of Turbet. We hung our hammocks in the thatched loft of a planter’s house. Next morning, I heard this gentleman muttering in his hammock, and now and then letting fall an exclamation or two. ‘What is the matter, sir?’ said I; ‘is there anything amiss?’ ‘What’s the matter?’ said he, surlily, ‘why, the vampires have been sucking me to death.’ As soon as there was light enough, I went to his hammock, and saw it much stained with blood. ‘There,’ said he, thrusting his foot out of the hammock, ‘see how these imps have been drawing my life’s blood.’

“On examining his foot, I found that the vampire had tapped his great toe. There was a wound somewhat less than that made by a leech. The blood was still oozing from it. I conjectured that he might have lost from ten to twelve ounces of blood. While examining it, I think I put him into a worse humor, by remarking that an European surgeon would not have been so generous as to have bled him without making a charge. He looked up in my face, but did not say a word. I saw he was of the opinion that I had better have spared this ill-timed piece of levity.”

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YANKEE WIT.――A “notion seller” was offering Yankee clocks, finely varnished and colored, with a looking-glass in front, to a lady not remarkable for personal beauty. “Why, it’s beautiful!” said the vender. “Beautiful, indeed! why, a look at it almost frightens me!” said the lady. “Then, marm,” replied Jonathan, “I guess you’d better buy one that ha’n’t got no looking-glass.”

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A MUSICIAN, in giving notice of an intended concert at Cleveland, Ohio, says: “A variety of other songs may be expected, too tedious to mention.”

Kin Shan; or, the Golden Isle.

There is no country more full of wonders than China, yet we know comparatively little of it. We know, indeed, something about Canton, near which foreign merchants are permitted to reside; about Nankin, which is famous for its beautiful pagoda; and about Pekin, which is a city almost as populous as London, and where the emperor resides. We know, also, that there are many other large cities in China; we know that the empire is the most populous in the world, containing three hundred and forty millions of people.

We know, too, that the Chinese produce tea, and silks, and porcelain, and many other curious manufactures; that they worship idols, and sometimes eat worms, birds’ nests, rats and puppies; but still, it has been the system of the government to exclude foreigners from the country, and accordingly few travellers have penetrated into its interior, and given us an account of what is there to be seen. It is probable that we shall soon know more about China, for the British have sent soldiers and ships out there, who have made the emperor agree to be more sociable, and let foreigners come into his domains a little more. Our government has sent out Mr. Caleb Cushing, of Newburyport, in Massachusetts, to see the emperor, and make arrangements for a free trade between the people of China and the Americans. Mr. Cushing is a very learned man, and it is pretty likely he and the emperor will come to a good understanding. You must know that the emperor is fond of fine dress, and expects everybody who comes to see him, to make a dashing appearance. Accordingly, Mr. Cushing has carried out a gay military dress, in which he is to present himself to the emperor. The old man is named Taou-Kwang, and is over seventy years of age. I should like to see the meeting between him and Mr. Cushing――shouldn’t you?

When Mr. Cushing comes back, he will write a book, and tell us all about China. In the mean time, we shall say something about a very beautiful place, called the Kin Shan, or the Golden Island. This is not far from the city of Nankin, and near the flourishing city of Quatchou. It is situated in the river Yangtse-Kiang, and is famous all over China, for its beauty. It is about three hundred feet high, and fifteen hundred in circuit. It is rocky and precipitous, but it is shaded with the loveliest trees. It is also decorated with temples, devoted to Confucius, Lockien and Fo――the divinities of Chinese superstition. Here, also, is a palace, erected by the emperor Kienlong――the grandfather of Taou-Kwang. In this he used to spend a great deal of time, to get away from the cares of governing such an empire, and to consider how happy he should be, if he was only a private individual, and not an emperor!

The river, from the top of the Golden Island, is exceedingly beautiful; and when Mr. Cushing comes back, we must get him to tell us all about it. Mr. Fletcher Webster has gone with Mr. Cushing, and, as he is a very pleasant, sociable gentleman, I think he will bring us some pretty good stories, too. Perhaps he and Mr. Cushing will dine with the emperor, who doesn’t use knives and forks, but takes up his food with two sticks, put between the thumb and fingers of the right hand. These are called chop-sticks. I hope Mr. Cushing and Mr. Webster will practise the chop-sticks before they dine with the emperor; for if they do not, I am afraid they will get a poor dinner, and make the emperor think that the Yankees are rather awkward! If, indeed, the dinner should consist of salted angle-worms, bird-nest soup, Japan leather, balls made of sharks’ fins, and figured pigeons’ eggs――all of which are esteemed great delicacies in China――perhaps the less they can take up with the chop-sticks, the better they will like it.

Our Correspondence.

A subscriber sends us the following pretty solution of the enigma in the November number of the Museum:――

When walking by the water’s edge,
We often find the modest _sedge_;
The lamp that guides our weary feet,
Without a _wick_, is incomplete:
But these, united, form the name
Of _Sedgwick_, worthy of her fame.

Several of our little friends have also sent us a correct solution of the same.

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The following will speak for itself:――

MR. ROBERT MERRY,

I like your riddles and charades very much. My mother says
it sharpens the mind to guess them. So, I guess that the
answer to the first riddle, in the November number of the
Museum, is the letter _R_, and that the answer to the second
is the letter _A_. He says that he “is also with a party of
five.” Does this mean that he is one of the five vowels?

I think your Twenty Geographical Questions were very
interesting, but I did not know enough of geography to
answer them.

I am your true friend,
JOHN L――――N.

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The following letter is interesting in itself, and it derives additional value from the fact that it has travelled about a thousand miles to find us. It was accompanied by correct answers to our Twenty Geographical Questions; thus showing that our little friends in Illinois know as much as our Yankee girls and boys. We shall be happy to be made acquainted with more of them.

MR. MERRY:

In this month’s Museum, we find an invitation to answer
twenty questions which you have proposed, and our indulgent
father has consented to pay the postage if we will find
correct answers and send to you. But how can you expect
children, who live on Rock River, Illinois, to know a great
deal? So, Mr. Merry, if the answers are not all correct, you
must not laugh at us, but please to tell us, in the next
Museum, what the right answers are; and, when it is
convenient, will you tell us a little something about the
two New Holland animals?

We have been threatening you with a letter for a month past;
for you must know that, the 23d of October, the numbers for
September and October arrived, and we verily thought you had
forgotten us, and we should never see the Museum again. Now,
Mr. Merry, you know we cannot get as many books to read as
the children who live east, so we depend upon the Museum,
for both pleasure and profit, more than many of your
black-eyed and blue-eyed readers; so, if you please, we
would like the Museum every month, certainly by the tenth of
the month.

We like the story of Inquisitive Jack very much, and hope he
will not forget, very soon, how to ask questions; we also
are very much interested in Jumping Rabbit’s story.

Blue-eyed EDWARD E. P――――.
Black-eyed S. ADALINE P――――.

Nov. 1st, 1843.

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HOLLISTON, Nov. 23.

MR. MERRY:

I take this opportunity to write a few lines. I have taken
your Museum for the year, and I like it very much. I think
if you put in a piece of music it would be much more
interesting. I have always taken an interest in your
Puzzles; and, as you have had none in your last numbers, I
thought I would make one, and if you think it deserves
insertion, you can insert it.

I am composed of fourteen letters.
My 1, 6, 10, 5, 2, 7, is a town in Massachusetts.
My 11, 5, 9, 4, is a place in Boston.
My 5, 9, 7, is a metal.
My 3, 6, 12, 13, 14, 4, is a city in Europe.
My 6, 10, 5, is an insect.
My 4, 6, 1, 11, is a river in New England.
My 12, 9, 7, 14, is a kind of wood.
My 2, 7, 9, 11, 10, is a vegetable.
My 10, 6, 9, 13, is a very useful article.
My 6, 1, 8, 11, 3, is a town in Massachusetts.
My 14, 5, 10, 6, is a burning mountain.
My 13, 14, 6, 4, 8, is an adjective.
My 14, 6, 4, 8, is a point of the compass.
My 9, 13, 13, 9, 3, 11, 9, 4, is one of the States.
My whole is a city on the eastern continent.

From a black-eyed friend,
H. P――――.

――――

The following letter from Washington is very acceptable, and we hope our little friend will continue his interesting correspondence:――

MR. MERRY:

I have come on to Washington with my father, to spend the
winter here, and I thought I would write, and tell you
something about Washington. It is a pretty large place, but
it is scattered about, and looks like a great city broken
into a great many pieces. The capitol is situated on the
brow of a hill, and is a very fine building, of white
freestone. It is the handsomest building I ever saw. The
grounds around it are so neat, and have such fine walks! And
then there are so many pretty trees scattered about in
groups! And then there are beautiful fountains, out of which
the water is spouting as bright as flowing silver!

The capitol is twice as large as the Boston state-house, and
has a vast number of rooms, and passages, and staircases. I
got quite lost and bewildered in it several times, but I can
find my way pretty well now. There is a large circular room
in the middle of the building, called the Rotunda. It is
lighted at the top, by the dome or cupola.

Around the sides of the rotunda are several carvings and
pictures. One of the latter represents the marriage of
Pocahontas to Rolfe, the Englishman. It is a very large
picture indeed, the figures being as large as life. It is
very interesting.

The House of Representatives and the Senate, being called
Congress, meet in two different rooms in the capitol. The
United States Court also meet every winter in a room in the
capitol.

I have only been to the House of Representatives yet. The
room is a half circle, very lofty, and supported by
beautiful pillars of many-colored marble. There are about
two hundred and thirty members; and what strikes me as very
odd is, that they sit with their hats on. If they were boys,
they would have to take their hats off; for boys are
expected to observe good manners, but men and members of
Congress, I suppose, may do as they please.

The Speaker is Mr. Jones, of Virginia; a man of dark
complexion, and plain appearance. He is also a little lame.
Yet he seems to be a mild and good man. But there is one
thing that he ought to pay attention to. He being chairman,
the members must address their speeches to him. When they
begin, they say _Mr. Chairman_; and sometimes they speak of
addressing the _chair_. Now, what I notice as wrong is this,
that many of the members say _cheer_ and _cheerman_! Would
you believe, Mr. Merry, that such things would be tolerated
in the Congress of the United States? Why, any school-boy
would get a striped jacket for talking through his nose, and
murdering the English tongue in this fashion; but I suppose
members of Congress may do as they please.

I had the pleasure of hearing Mr. Adams, of Massachusetts,
make a speech. He is very old, and his hand trembles, and
his voice breaks. I was sorry to see that he got very
angry――very angry indeed. It seems to me that such an old
man should not get angry; but perhaps I am wrong, for I am
only a boy. I should have loved him, if he had been mild,
and calm, and dignified.

I must now close my letter: perhaps I shall write you again.
Good bye.

Yours, truly,
JAMES NORTON.

[Music:] The Two Leaves.

MUSIC COMPOSED BY GEO. J. WEBB.

Upon a bough a yellow leaf,
Seemed sad and sighing, full of grief;
While bright beside it gaily sung
Another leaf, still green and young;
And then the old leaf whisper’d light,
Unto its neighbor fair and bright――
“Why giddy leaf art thou so gay,
While I, thy sister, fade away?
While I, thy sister, fade away?

“Look down, and mark the valley deep,
Where we must soon in shadow sleep;
And is it meet so frail a thing,――
A trembling leaf,――should dance and sing?”

The green leaf, answering, softly sung,
“Sweet sister, once thyself was young,
And thy fond bosom danced with bliss,
E’en though the zephyr stole a kiss!

“I sing a soft and cheerful lay,
Perchance, because my heart is gay;
Perchance to please a floweret, born
Beside me on my own birth-morn.

“So pray forgive, my sister sere,
If more I court the smile than tear;
And when I’m yellow, withered, pale,
I’ll sigh, and sink in yonder vale.”

MERRY’S MUSEUM.

Vol. VII. FEBRUARY, 1844. No. 2.

ebruary is upon us; a severe, unrelenting month, in which winter seems to reign, in these northern regions, with resistless sway. Far to the south, as in Georgia and Louisiana, the birds have chosen their mates and are building their nests; the peas in the gardens are in blossom; the strawberries are beginning to form, and the lilacs and roses are in bloom. But here, alas, the rivers are in icy fetters――the earth is wrapt in snow――and not a symptom of starting vegetation is seen over the whole face of nature.

It may seem strange that February should be the coldest month in the year――yet so it is. In December we have the shortest days; then the nights are longest, and the sun bestows upon us the least warmth; why, then, should not December be the coldest month? The reason is this. In February, the heat has gone from the earth; the frost, ice and snow have accumulated; and these exercise an influence which the heat of the sun cannot yet overcome. If the sun remained as it is during the winter months, all vegetation would finally cease in our climate, and the whole country would remain buried in snow and ice.

In England, February has nearly the same character as our March, and it is regarded as the opening of spring. There the birds pair in February, and the blackbird, thrush and chaffinch fill the woods with their songs. The ravens begin to build their nests, the moles in the ground throw up their little hillocks, and some intrepid plants put forth their blossoms. The snow-drops, “fair maids of February,” as they are there called, often peep out, even though it be amidst the snow――the alder-tree discloses the flower-buds――and the catkins of the hazel become conspicuous in the hedges. This is the picture of things in _old_ England. What a different picture is before us in New England!

The Three Sovereigns.

The following anecdote was often told by the late emperor Alexander, and is amongst the traditions of the Russian court:

In 1814, during the period that the allies were masters of Paris, the Czar, who resided in the hotel of M. de Talleyrand, was in the daily habit of taking a walk, (in strict _incognito_,) every morning, in the garden of the Tuilleries, and thence to the Palais Royale. He one day met two other sovereigns, and the three were returning arm-in-arm to breakfast in the Rue St. Florentin, when, on their way thither, they encountered a provincial, evidently freshly imported to Paris, and who had lost his way.

“Gentlemen,” said he, “can you tell me which is the Tuilleries?”

“Yes,” replied Alexander; “follow us; we are going that way, and will show you.”

Thanks on the part of the countryman led them soon into conversation. A few minutes sufficed to arrive at the palace; and as here their routes lay in opposite directions, they bade each other reciprocally adieu.

“_Parbleu!_” cried the provincial, “I should be glad to know the names of persons so amiable and complaisant as you are.”

“My name?” said the first――“Oh, certainly; you have, perhaps, heard of me; I am the emperor Alexander.”

“A capital joke,” exclaimed the Gascon――“An emperor! And you?” addressing the second individual,――“Who may you be?”

“I?” replied he; “why, probably, I am not wholly unknown to you, at least by name; I am the king of Prussia!”

“Better and better,” said the man. “And you, what are you, then?” looking at the third person.

“I am the emperor of Austria!”

“Perfect, perfect!” exclaimed the provincial, laughing with all his might.

“But you, monsieur,” said the emperor Alexander, “surely you will also let us know whom we have the honor to speak to?”

“To be sure,” replied the man, quitting them with an important strut, “I am the Great Mogul.”

WRITTEN ON A BOY’S MARBLE.

The world’s something bigger,
But just of this figure,
And speckled with mountains and seas,
Your heroes are overgrown schoolboys,
Who scuffle for empires and toys,
And kick the poor ball as they please.
Now Cæsar, now Pompey, gives law;
And Pharsalia’s plain,
Though heaped with the slain,
Was only a game at _taw_.

_Mrs. Barbauld_

Inquisitive Jack.