Chapter V: Part 5

"You see--if I'd greedily taken a bite,
The pain and the shock would have finished me quite;
So, the next time you send,
My juvenile friend,
Just mark if the worm has a natural bend
Ere you dangle him temptingly down here to be
The death of some innocent young thing like me."
And he grinned as he used some dry sand for a blotter
(Ink dries rather slowly, you know, under water),
Then signed it in haste
And sealed it with paste.

It was growing quite dark and he's no time to waste,
So he posted it slyly, without wasting more,
On the crest of a ripple that ran toward shore;
Then, shaking his scales in a satisfied glow,
All shining and shimmering, sank down below,
Where he soon fell asleep
In an oyster bed deep,
With the green sheets of water his slumber to keep.

_St. Nicholas._

THREE FISHERS.

Three fishers went strolling away to the stream,
To the babbling brook where the fishes swim.
Of speckled beauties they all did dream,
And each felt certain they'd bite for him.
For men will tramp from morning till night,
And suffer the fierce mosquito's bite,
And drink to stop their groaning.

Three fishers strolled into the market-place,
'Twas some two hours after the sun went down,
And a look of gloom was on each man's face,
For at empty baskets they each did frown,
For men may fish, but may get no bite,
And tired and hungry go home at night,
And vent their wrath in groaning.

Three fishers strolled into the beer saloon,
Where the crowd sat round and the gas was bright,
And each gaily whistled a merry tune,
And showed his fish with assumed delight,
For men will fish, yea, and men will lie,
And boast of catching the fish they buy,
While inwardly they're groaning.

BULLS IN PARLIAMENT.

Some of the Mixed Metaphors Perpetrated in the English House of Commons
Have Afforded Amusement for the Entire World.

For many years there has been an impression that the linguistic bull is a distinctively Irish animal. The fame of Paddy Bull is world-wide, but the fact is he often is compelled to answer for the sins of his neighbor, Johnnie Bull, who, as a perpetrator of mixed metaphors, is without a peer.

In no deliberative body in the world is the mixed metaphor so much in its element as in the British House of Commons. As examples of its activity in that institution, London _Tit-Bits_ submits the following list:

"Sir, we are told that by this legislation the heart of the
country has been shaken to its very foundations."

"Among the many jarring notes heard in this House on
military affairs, this subject at least must be regarded as
an oasis."

"The interests of the employers and employed are the same
nine times out of ten--I will even say ninety-nine times out
of ten."

"Our tongues are tied, our hands are fettered, and we are
really beating the air to no purpose."

"I will now repeat what I was about to say when the
honorable member interrupted me."

"The West Indies will now have a future which they never had
in the past."

"A thorny subject which has long been a bone of contention
among us."

"A slumbering volcano which at any moment a spark might set
aflame."

"The honorable member would denude us of every rag of the
principles which we have proclaimed from the housetops."

"Ah! The honorable member opposite shakes his head at that.
But he can't shake mine!"

A well-known member of Parliament informed the House that an
"oral agreement is not worth the paper it is written on."

Barristers are usually credited with possessing accuracy of
speech, but some expressions recently reported indicate that
they are capable of a blundering use of words. A member of
the bar, in his opening speech for the defense, said:

"Gentlemen of the jury, the case for the crown is a mere
skeleton, for, as I shall presently show you, it has neither
flesh, blood, nor bones in it."

But a Leeds barrister outdid his competitors when he said
fervidly:

"Gentlemen of the jury, it will be for you to say whether
this defendant shall be allowed to come into court with
unblushing footsteps, with the cloak of hypocrisy in his
mouth, and take three bullocks out of my client's pocket
with impunity."

In his "One Thousand and One Anecdotes" Alfred H. Miles records some exceptionally amusing bulls. Among these are the following:

Sir Boyle Roche described himself on one occasion as
"standing prostrate at the feet of royalty"; and, in the
days of threatened rebellion, wrote to a friend: "You may
judge of our state when I tell you that I write this with a
sword in one hand and a pistol in the other."

Even worse than the foregoing was the climax of an honorable
member's speech in the House of Commons: "I smell a rat; I
see it floating in the air; and, by heaven, I'll nip it in
the bud!"

A Scotchwoman said that the butcher of her town only killed
half a beast at a time.

A British magistrate, on being told by a vagabond that he
was not married, responded: "That's a good thing for your
wife."

A Portuguese mayor enumerated, among the marks by which the
body of a drowned man might be identified when found, "a
marked impediment in his speech."

A Frenchman, contentedly laying his head upon a large stone
jar for a pillow, said it was not hard because he had
previously stuffed it with hay.

An American lecturer solemnly said one evening: "Parents,
you may have children; or, if not, your daughters may have."

Two Scotchmen were discussing the relative merits of
churchyards and cemeteries when one of them boldly expressed
his aversion to the latter in the remark, "I'd raither no
dee ava than be buried in sic a place"; to which his
companion retorted, "Weel, if I'm spared in life an' health,
I'll gang naewhere else."

The Part of Chance in Progress.

Fortunate Accidents Frequently Have Opened the Way to the Discovery of
Important Truths Before the Searchlights of Science and
Invention Were Brought Into Play.

Nature has her own ways of telling her secrets to man, and the commonest of those ways is what man chooses to call chance or accident. The words are convenient names and that is about all we know of the phenomena which they are used to describe.

Below are given the stories of a number of important discoveries made by accident. Perhaps it will occur to the reader that none of the discoveries was really accidental, since in each case it was the witnessing of the accident by an intelligent human being which aroused in the mind of that human being the train of thought leading to the discovery. An Australian black might watch a swaying chandelier for ten years, and he would never discover the pendulum. As a rule, special knowledge is required to make "discoveries by accident."

But the apparent working of chance in the incidents told here is obvious:

The power of lenses, as applied to the telescope, was
discovered by a watchmaker's apprentice. While holding
spectacle-glasses between his thumb and finger, he was
startled at the suddenly enlarged appearance of a
neighboring church spire.

The art of etching upon glass was discovered by a Nuremberg
glass-cutter. By accident a few drops of aqua fortis fell
upon his spectacles. He noticed that the glass became
corroded and softened where the acid had touched it. That
was hint enough. He drew figures upon glass, with varnish,
applied the corroding fluid, then cut away the glass around
the drawing. When the varnish was removed, the figures
appeared raised upon a dark ground.

The swaying to and fro of a chandelier in the cathedral at
Pisa suggested to Galileo the application of the pendulum.

The art of lithography was perfected through suggestions
made by accident. A poor musician was curious to know
whether music could not be etched upon stone as well as
copper.

After he had prepared his slab, his mother asked him to make
a memorandum of such clothes as she proposed to send away to
be washed. Not having pen, ink, and paper convenient, he
wrote the list on the stone with the etching preparation,
intending to make a copy of it at leisure.

A few days later, when about to clean the stone, he wondered
what effect nitric acid would have upon it. He applied the
acid, and in a few minutes saw the writing standing out in
relief. The next step necessary was simply to ink the stone
and take off an impression.

The composition of which printing-rollers are made was
discovered by a country printer in England. It was the
established custom to ink the type on a printing-press with
a pelt-ball--an ink-soaked roll of sheepskin. Having mislaid
his pelt-ball, the ingenious Englishman inked the type with
a piece of soft glue which had fallen out of the glue-pot.
It was such an excellent substitute that, after mixing
molasses with the glue to give the mass proper consistency,
the old pelt-ball was entirely discarded.

The shop of a London tobacconist, by the name of Lundyfoot,
was destroyed by fire. While he was gazing dolefully into
the smoldering ruins, he noticed that his poorer neighbors
were gathering the snuff from the canisters. He tested the
snuff for himself, and discovered that the fire had largely
improved its pungency and aroma.

It was a hint worth profiting by. He secured another shop,
built a lot of ovens, subjecting the snuff to a heating
process, gave the brand a peculiar name, and in a few years
became rich.

The Origin of Tinted Paper.

The origin of blue tinted paper came about by a mere slip of
the hand.

The wife of William East, an English paper-maker,
accidentally let a blue-bag fall into one of the vats of
pulp. The workmen were astonished when they saw the
peculiar color of the paper, while Mr. East was highly
incensed over what he considered a grave pecuniary loss. His
wife was so much frightened that she did not confess her
agency in the matter.

After storing the damaged paper for four years, Mr. East
sent it to his agent in London, with the instruction to sell
it for what it would bring. The paper was accepted as an
attractive novelty, and was disposed of at quite an advance
over the market price.

Mr. East was astonished at receiving an order for another
large invoice of the paper. He was without the secret, and
found himself in a dilemma. Upon mentioning it to his wife,
she told him about the accident. He kept the secret, and the
demand for the novel tint far exceeded his ability to supply
the article.

A Brighton stationer took a fancy for dressing his show
window with piles of writing-paper, rising gradually from
the largest to the smallest size in use; and to finish his
pyramids off nicely he cut cards to bring them to a point.

Taking these cards for diminutive note-paper, lady customers
were continually wanting some of "that lovely little paper,"
and the stationer found it advantageous to cut paper to the
desired pattern.

As there was no space for addressing the notelets after they
were folded, he, after much thought, invented the envelope,
which he cut by the aid of metal plates made for the
purpose.

The sale increased so rapidly that he was unable to produce
the envelopes fast enough, so he commissioned a dozen houses
to make them for him, and thus set going an important branch
of the manufacturing stationery trade.

Asphalt as a Street Pavement.

All forms of bituminous pavements, whether manufactured from
natural or artificial asphalt, are, in fact, artificial
stone pavements. The industry started with the use of the
natural rock asphalt from the mines in the Val de Travers,
Canton Neuchatel, Switzerland.

The mines were discovered in 1721, but it was in 1849 that
the utility of their product as a road covering was first
noticed. The rock was then being mined for the purpose of
extracting the bitumen contained in it for its use in
medicine and the arts. It is a limestone, impregnated with
bitumen, of which it yields, on analysis, from eight to
fourteen per cent.

It was observed that pieces of rock which fell from a wagon
were crushed by the wheels, and under the combined influence
of the traffic and heat of the sun, a good road surface was
produced.

A macadam road of asphalt rock was then made, which gave
very good results, and finally, in 1854, a portion of the
Rue Bergere was laid in Paris of compressed asphalt on a
concrete foundation. From Paris it extended to London, being
laid on Threadneedle Street in 1869, and Cheapside in 1870.

HATE FOR NAPOLEON TURNED TO LOVE.

Curious Effect Produced on French Newspapers By the Series of Successes
That Attended the Emperor's Progress from Elba to Paris.

There are instances on record of cases in which distance did not "lend enchantment to the view." Of these instances Napoleon's advance to Paris after his escape from Elba affords a striking example.

In 1815 the French newspapers announced the departure of Bonaparte from Elba, his progress through France, and entry into Paris, in the following manner:

March 9. The Anthropophagus has quitted his den.--March 10.
The Corsican Ogre has landed at Cape Juan.--March 11. The
Tiger has arrived at Gap.--March 12. The Monster slept at
Grenoble.--March 13. The Tyrant has passed through
Lyons.--March 14. The Usurper is directing his steps toward
Dijon, but the brave and loyal Burgundians have risen _en
masse_, and surrounded him on all sides.--March 18.
Bonaparte is only sixty leagues from the capital; he has
been fortunate enough to escape the hands of his
pursuers.--March 19. Bonaparte is advancing with rapid
steps, but he will never enter Paris.--March 20. Napoleon
will, to-morrow, be under our ramparts.--March 21. The
Emperor is at Fontainebleau.--March 22. His Imperial and
Royal Majesty yesterday evening arrived at the Tuileries,
amid the joyful acclamations of his devoted and faithful
subjects.

The Story of the Snow Elinora.

A True Tale of the South Seas That Tells of the Remarkable Experience
of an American Trading-Vessel and Its Skipper's Terrible
Revenge, More Than a Century Ago.

At the time that Commodore Dewey's squadron hurled its showers of lead and steel upon the doomed ships of the Spanish admiral in Manila Bay, scores of mushroom bards uncovered their lyres and described the sensations of the echoes that had the honor of bearing, "for the first time in the history of the world," the sounds of Yankee guns among the startled islands of the Pacific. But the bards were wrong. The echoes performed that office during the first administration of George Washington as President of the United States.

The incident is one which apparently has escaped the notice of historians, else it would have been recalled shortly before the close of last year when political circles in France were somewhat fluttered by a rumor that as a result of a series of secret negotiations the French government had expressed its willingness to sell to the United States the island of Tahiti.

The rumor was soon denied officially, but in the meantime thousands of Americans had taken down their atlases, looked up the situation of the island, and asked themselves what the United States wanted with it anyway.

But there was a little story concerning the island of Tahiti, formerly known as Otaheite, that the atlases and gazetteers did not give them--the story of a Yankee skipper's revenge. It tells how American guns commanded respect for the flag in the South Seas in the year 1790.

The Yankee skipper was Captain Metcalfe, who then was in command of an armed trading vessel named the Elinora. The Elinora was a snow--which, it may be worth while to explain, was an old-fashioned variety of brig. Her crew consisted of Americans, Portuguese, and some natives picked up at Manila. The account of the remarkable adventure is printed in _The Gentleman's Magazine_, published in London, April, 1791. The writer, who was one of the officers of the Elinora at the time, relates his story with brutal frankness, and his narration resulted in a vast deal of comment abroad that was somewhat galling to the citizens of the new-born republic of the United States.

The account, as published in _The Gentleman's Magazine_, is as follows:

Story Told by an Officer.

Mobee, Lat. 19 N., Long. 168 E.

On or about the 30th of January, 1790, we anchored under
Ladrone Mount, and commenced a trade with the natives for
hogs, fruit, limes, fish, etc.; but not liking the
situation, we weighed anchor and went two miles farther up
into a bay, and came to anchor about 4 P.M.

At eleven or twelve o'clock, midnight, some of the natives
swam off and cut away the cutter from astern. At 1 P.M. we
discovered that she was missing, and immediately called all
hands aft on the quarter-deck and found none missing except
the man who was in her as boat-keeper. We then hoisted the
small boat out to go in search of her, but found, on
lowering her into the water, she leaked in such a manner as
obliged us to hoist her in again, which rendered it
impossible to search that night.

On the preceding evening an old man requested permission to
sleep on board, which was granted; but after missing the
boat we put him in irons. When daylight approached, no
canoes came off as usual, which confirmed our suspicions
that they had cut the boat adrift.

The women on board wished to go on shore. Captain Metcalfe
told them they might go when they thought proper. They all
immediately leaped into the water and swam to the shore, at
least three miles' distance. The old man also requested
leave to go, but leave was not granted him.

In the afternoon two or three canoes came alongside, with
presents from the chief, consisting of hogs and fruit; but
they were not accepted. The last that came we ordered
immediately away; but they paid little attention to it,
until we fired musket-shots at them, which killed and
wounded three or four.

Tried to Sink Ship with Knife.

Toward night a man swam from the shore to the cable, with a
knife in his hand, and afterward swam under the ship's
counter, where we saw him with the knife; he had once or
twice dived under water and started a piece of copper off
the ship's bottom, imagining, could he get the copper off,
the ship would sink. Captain Metcalfe fired a pistol at him
from the cabin window, but missed him. Three or four of the
people jumped into the boat and caught him. After bringing
him on board, Captain Metcalfe fully determined to hang him,
ordering a rope to be rove at the fore-yardarm and the rope
greased. But, by the persuasion of Mr. Chambers and myself,
he concluded to save his life and keep him prisoner.

The next day we observed four or five thousand people to
come down opposite the ship, all armed with slings, spears,
and arrows. At ten o'clock we hauled the ship within a
quarter of a mile of the shore, and fired round and grape
shot at them, and dislodged them from the village.

At twelve o'clock I went on shore with the boat and six men,
set fire to the village and _morai_ (a place of worship).
Some of them were seen very near, but, by constant firing
from the ship, they did not attempt to attack us.

I came on board and took some small water-casks to fill with
water. But after landing (that attention not being paid to
firing as before) the natives came down--great numbers,
throwing their spears and stones, which obliged us to go on
board again, our object unaccomplished.

They then all went to the summit of a hill, thinking the
shot from the ship could not reach them there. But we fired
two guns with such good aim that they were soon convinced of
their error, and immediately fled to the mountains and low
ditches, where it was impossible for our shot to touch them.
We then desisted from firing, hove up the anchors, and went
farther up the bay in hope of completing our water.

The Chief Accepted Ransom.

Toward evening we again came to an anchor, and on the next
morning two or three canoes came off, who were well treated,
so that more came off and engaged to bring us water, and the
captain purchased a small boy and girl for two axes and a
few beads.

After continuing here three or four days we weighed anchor
and stood from the island.

We had been under way about an hour and a half, with a light
breeze, when the natives came in a canoe alongside and
informed us that the chief of the people who had stolen the
boat lived behind a point to the northward. We then hauled
our wind, went around the point, and came to anchor.

The next day a canoe came alongside with one of their
chiefs. When he came on board we began to expostulate with
him in order to recover our boat and the man. He told us
that for a reward he would bring both of them. Captain
Metcalfe offered him a musket, eight cartridges, one bar of
iron, and a piece of Bengal cloth for the man, and the same
for the boat, which he agreed to.

The next morning he again came on board and said if we would
send a boat on shore, or near the shore, he would bring the
man. Immediately, by order of Captain Metcalfe, I armed the
boat and went near the shore; but after waiting an hour,
paying attention to their proceedings, and their not
bringing the man, I returned on board.

The chief then came off a second time and said if the boat
went again we might depend upon getting the man. I armed the
boat, and again went toward shore, where, after waiting half
an hour, they sent a man, who swam to the boat, with the
thigh bones of the man who was boat-keeper when they stole
the boat.

I received them and came on board, showed them to Captain
Metcalfe, and threw them into the sea. A few minutes
afterward the same chief came on board for the reward. It
was given, and he was also told that if he brought the boat
the reward should be given for that also, for he insisted
that it was not hurt.

Sacrificed Seaman to Gods.

He then told us the manner in which they had killed the
boat-keeper, as follows: That after cutting away the post,
and she had drifted a distance from the ship, they got into
her and found the man asleep; but he immediately awoke,
and, seeing them, drew his knife upon them. They, however,
overpowered him and took the knife from him, cut his head
off, and took him on shore, and the next night burned him
for a sacrifice to their gods.

We judged the night they stole the boat they killed the man,
and the next day burnt him (as the mountains seemed to be
one continuous blaze), which is their custom on such
occasions, but were not then positive of the above.

After relating the story, he desired of the captain that the
natives might come and trade as usual. Leave being granted,
he went on shore, and just at sunset he came off again in a
large double canoe with twenty-five women. But the captain,
suspecting they had some design in the night to take the
vessel, would not permit them to come on board.

The day following, the canoes, as usual at the other
islands, came alongside with hogs, fruit, limes, etc. The
chief had told them they might come and trade without
molestation.

At 10 A.M. the chief came alongside, with two others, and
had in their canoe the keel of the boat which they had
stolen. After he came, he called and wanted the reward which
was promised. Captain Metcalfe was informed of his being
alongside, and of his having the boat's keel. He then came
on deck and saw it, and, being then perfectly convinced of
the man's being killed and the boat broken, made this
expression--that, "I will now give the reward they little
expect."

The Captain Was Merciless.

Mr. Chambers and myself endeavored to persuade the captain
to entice the three chiefs on board, and afterward to hang
them on the foreyard in view of the whole island; which
might, perhaps, be sufficient warning for them in future
never to attempt distressing any ships which might touch at
their islands.

But our persuasions were of no effect. He was fully
determined to take the following means of punishing them:
First, to decoy those canoes which were on the larboard to
come to the starboard side, then to station one man to each
post lanyard, and others down to the guns, between decks,
while others on the quarter-deck were stationed at the
swivels and four brass guns, and, when everything was in
readiness, to fire immediately into the canoes all at one
command.

The guns that were below had on each of them a hundred
musket-balls and fifty langrage nails. There were seven of
the above guns, each containing the like quantity. The four
guns on the quarter-deck had in them fifty balls each; some
of the swivels had ten balls.

Mr. Chambers and myself strongly insisted that this
punishment was too severe, and only butchering a number of
innocent women and children. But he replied, we were going
to attempt taking the command of the ship from him, and that
the orders should be obeyed, and immediately ordered every
man to his station.

The men wished to fire into the canoes, as the man whom they
had killed was a Manila man and the crew were all Portuguese
or Manila men.

After the people were all stationed he gave orders to
fire--and the whole broadside was aimed direct at the
canoes. To attempt to describe the horrible scene that
ensued is too much for my pen. The water alongside continued
of a crimson color for at least ten minutes; some were
sinking, others lying half out of their canoes, without arms
or legs; while others lay in their canoes weltering in their
blood.

Although the appearance was so horrid, our people wished to
get into the boats and use boarding-pikes to kill those in
the water; but by severely punishing two or three they
desisted from their dreadful purpose.

The Harvest of Death.

Some persons on board said they had counted the canoes
before we fired, the number of which was two hundred and
twelve; but I did not think they were above one hundred and
seventy or eighty. The number killed, we then imagined,
exceeded one hundred, and as many more wounded; but, some
weeks after, they told us the number missing on the island
was eighty and one hundred and fifteen were wounded, the
greater part dead and dying fast.

This information they gave us at the island of Owyhee, about
fifteen leagues to windward; and we judged it to be true, as
canoes are daily passing from island to island. After our
firing ceased we weighed anchor and stood for the island of
Owyhee.

I have sent this account, as those who are acquainted with
the circumstance think Captain Metcalfe much to blame; and
that should any vessels go to these islands from America
they might be particularly cautious, and not pay too much
attention to the friendship professed for them by these
islanders.

P.S.--They cut off a schooner about six weeks after, which
belonged to Captain Metcalfe, and murdered all the people.

1868--DECORATION DAY--1906.

Among the holidays which are generally observed in the United States, none excites more reverence in the breast of an American, or more respect in the mind of a foreigner, than Decoration (or Memorial) Day.

Decoration Day was first celebrated in 1866, by Union soldiers and sailors in Washington. In the spring of 1868 General John A. Logan, commander-in-chief of the Grand Army of the Republic, issued an order in which he named May 30 as a day on which all members of the G.A.R. should repair to the cemeteries in the towns in which they lived and there spread flowers on the graves of their dead comrades.

Among the many tributes paid to our dead soldiers none has made a more profound impression on two generations of American people than the speech delivered by Abraham Lincoln at Gettysburg, on November 19, 1863, on the occasion of the dedication of a part of the famous battle-field as a soldiers' cemetery. It is here given in full, from a manuscript in Lincoln's own handwriting.

LINCOLN'S SPEECH AT GETTYSBURG.

Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting-place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But in a larger sense we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow, this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us, the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us--that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion; that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

Blue Laws in Old New England.

How the Puritans, Seeking and Finding Toleration for Themselves, Become
Themselves Intolerant--Sunday Observance With a Vengeance--Death
Penalty for Disobedient Children.

_Compiled and edited for_ THE SCRAP BOOK.

People who object to modern laws for the regulation of conduct may, after all, consider themselves fortunate. Sometimes anti-cigarette laws are resented as infringements on personal liberty. But what shall we say of a law under which, in a certain colony, the mere possession of dice or playing-cards was punishable by a fine?

The old "Blue Laws" of Connecticut, or, strictly, of New Haven Colony, are not, in their frequently quoted form, true Blue Laws. Attention was first attracted to the collection by the publication of a "General History of Connecticut" in England in 1781. The author was a Tory minister, the Rev. S.A. Peters, who had been forced to flee from the colony. In the circumstances, it is not remarkable that his volume should bear many signs of spiteful exaggeration.

The Rev. Mr. Peters, however, did not invent the Blue Laws, though he has often been charged with so doing. All but two or three of the forty-five are to be found in the works of earlier writers, or, slightly modified, in the statute books of the various New England colonies. Many of them are not in the New Haven statute books. Those which we quote have been carefully selected from the best obtainable authorities.

The Puritans came to America to find a place where they could practise their religion without interference. Here are some of the Blue Laws which indicate the Puritan intolerance of the religion of others:

If any man, after due conviction, shall have, or worship any
other God but the Lord God, he shall be put to death.--Lev.
xxiv:15-16.

If any person turns Quaker, he shall be banished and not
suffered to return upon the pain of death.

No priest shall abide in this Dominion; he shall be
banished, and suffer death on his return. Priests may be
seized by any one without a warrant. (In force before 1656.)

No man shall hold any office who is not sound in the faith,
and faithful to his Dominion; and whoever gives a vote to
such person shall pay a fine of one pound; for a second
offense he shall be disfranchised.

No Quaker or dissenter from the established worship of this
Dominion shall be allowed to give a vote for the election of
magistrates or any officer.

No food or lodging shall be afforded to a Quaker, Adamite,
or other heretic.

How strictly the conduct of the individual was made to conform with religious rules may be gathered from the following laws as to Sunday observance, the name of authorities being given in parentheses, in some instances:

Every person in this jurisdiction, according to the mind of
God, shall duly resort and attend worship upon the Lord's
days at least, and upon public fasting, or thanksgiving
days, and if any person, without just cause, absent, or
withdraw from the same, he shall for every such sinful
miscarriage forfeit five shillings. (1656.)

No one shall run on the Sabbath day, or walk in his garden,
or elsewhere, except reverently to and from meeting.
(Barber.)

No one shall travel, cook victuals, make beds, sweep house,
cut hair or shave, on the Sabbath or fasting day. (Barber.)

No woman shall kiss her child on the Sabbath or fasting day.
(Barber.)

Whosoever shall profane the Lord's day, or any part of it,
by work or sport, shall be punished by fine, or corporally.
But if the court, by clear evidence, find that the sin was
proudly, presumptuously, and with a high hand committed
against the command and authority of the blessed God, such
person therein despising and reproaching the Lord shall he
put to death. (1656.)

If any man shall kiss his wife or wife kiss her husband on
the Lord's day, the party in fault shall be punished at the
discretion of the Court of Magistrates.

Tradition says that a man of New Haven reached home on Sunday, after an absence of several months, and, meeting his wife at the door, kissed her. For thus violating the law he was arraigned before the court and fined.

Children were given excellent reason to mind their parents, as witness the following laws:

If any child above sixteen years old shall curse, or smite
his, her or their parents, such child or children shall be
put to death (Exod. xxi:17; Lev. xx:9; Exod. xxi:15), unless
it be proved that the parents have been very unchristianly
negligent in the education of such child, etc. (Eaton.)

If any man have a stubborn, rebellious son of sixteen years
old, who will not obey the voice of his father or mother,
and being chastened will not hearken unto them, then shall
his father and his mother lay hold on him and bring him to
the magistrates assembled in court, and testify unto them
that their son is stubborn and rebellious, and will not obey
their voice, but lives in sundry crimes: such a son shall be
put to death. (Enacted 1656.)

Puritan notions of propriety, as enforced by the laws, seem odd to modern minds. Thus we learn on authority of Barber, as well as from Peters, that "every male shall have his hair cut round according to a cap." Sometimes half a pumpkin was used instead of a cap, to guide the hair-cutting of these "Round-heads." Other unique laws follow:

No minister shall keep a school. (Barber.)

A debtor in prison, swearing he has no estate, shall be led
out and sold to make satisfaction. (Altered in 1656.)

Whoever brings cards or dice into this Dominion shall pay a
fine of five pounds. (Barber.)

No one shall read common prayer, keep Christmas or Saints'
days, make minced pies, dance, play cards, or play on any
instrument of music except the drum, trumpet, and
jew's-harp. (Barber.)

Whoever wears clothes trimmed with gold, silver, or bone
lace, above two shillings by the yard, shall be presented
by the grand jurors, and the selectmen shall tax the
offender at three hundred pounds estate. (Several acts
governing the attire of the subjects.)

There was an ancient law in Massachusetts that ladies' dresses should be made long enough to hide their shoe-buckles. In 1660 an act of the General Court prohibited short sleeves, and required garments to be lengthened so as to cover the arms to the wrists and gowns to the shoe-buckles; "immoderate great breeches, knots of ribbon, broad shoulder bands, and they be, silk roses, double ruffs and cuffs" were forbidden. In the same colony, in 1653, I. Fairbanks was tried for wearing great boots, but was acquitted.

Laws governing marriage and the marriage relation were rigorous.

When parents refuse their children convenient marriages, the
magistrate shall determine the point. (Reenacted with
alterations.)

The selectmen finding children ignorant may take them from
their parents and place them in better hands at the expense
of their parents. (Record.)

A wife shall be deemed good evidence against her husband.

Married persons must live together, or be imprisoned.

No man shall court a maid in person or by letter without
first obtaining consent of her parents; five pounds penalty
for the first offense; ten pounds for the second; and for
the third, imprisonment during the pleasure of the court.

A man that strikes his wife shall be fined ten pounds. A
woman that strikes her husband shall be punished at the
court's discretion.

Puritan New England was not alone among the colonies in adopting harsh laws. Virginia went to extremes, as appears in the following extract from "Laws of Virginia, at a Grand Assembly held at James City, 23d March, 1662":

In every county the court shall cause to be set up a
pillory, a pair of stocks, and a whipping-post near the
courthouse, and a ducking stool; and the court not causing
the said pillory, whipping-post, stocks, and ducking-stool
to be erected, shall be fined five thousand pounds of
tobacco to the use of the public.

Among commercial restrictions we find an enactment prohibiting the planting of tobacco after July 10, which was done for "the improvement of our only commodity, tobacco, which can no ways be effected but by lessening the quantity and amending the quality."

Another object that the government had in view was to compel the people to become silk-growers against their will. "Be it therefore enacted," says the Legislature, "that every proprietor of land within the colony of Virginia shall, for every hundred acres of land holden in fee, plant upon the said land ten mulberry-trees at twelve feet distance from each other, and secure them by weeding and a sufficient fence from cattle and horses."

Tobacco fines, as usual, were enacted in case the planting and weeding were not duly performed according to the statute; and further:

There shall be allowed in the public levy to any one for
every pound of wound silk he shall make, fifty pounds of
tobacco, to be raised in the public levy, and paid in the
county or counties where they dwell that make it.

This act was passed in 1662, and probably continued in force for a long time; but Virginia did not therefore become a silk-growing country, nor has it yet, though many parts are well adapted to raise this commodity. People, we presume, have hitherto found other things more profitable.

The following enactment is a mixture of the barbarous and the ludicrous:

Whereas many babbling women slander and scandalize their
neighbors, for which their poor husbands are often involved
in chargeable and vexatious suits, and cast in great
damages; be it therefore enacted, That in actions of
slander, occasioned by the wife, after judgment passed for
the damages, the woman shall be punished by ducking; and if
the slander be so enormous as to be adjudged at greater
damages than five hundred pounds of tobacco, then the woman
to suffer ducking for each five hundred pounds of tobacco
adjudged against the husband, if he refuses to pay the
tobacco.

THE PHILOSOPHY OF TROUBLE-SEEKING.

Adversity Has So Many Pleasant Uses That Most of the World's Inhabitants
Appear to be Unable to Wait Until It Comes to Them.

A very large proportion of the inhabitants of earth appear to take no stock in that cheerful assurance, given in the Book of Job, that "Man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward." They believe that man cannot have trouble unless he looks for it.

"Seek and ye shall find" is their motto, and they seek trouble because they are philosophers. Apparently Shakespeare was of their ilk, for he said:

Sweet are the uses of adversity,
Which like the toad, ugly and venomous,
Wears yet a precious jewel in his head;
And this our life, exempt from public haunt,
Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks,
Sermons in stones, and good in everything.

Here are some advantages of adversity as pointed out by _Punch_:

You wear out your clothes.

You are not troubled with visitors.

You are exonerated from making calls.

Bores do not bore you.

Tax-gatherers hurry past your door.

Itinerant bands do not play opposite your windows.

You avoid the nuisance of serving on juries.

No one thinks of presenting you with a testimonial.

No tradesman irritates by asking, "Is there any other
article you wish to-day, sir?"

Impostors know it is no use to bleed you.

You practise temperance.

You swallow infinitely less poison than others.

Flatterers do not shoot their rubbish into your ears.

You are saved many a debt, many a deception, many a
headache.

And lastly, if you have a true friend in the world, you are
sure, in a very short space of time, to know it.

THE BIVOUAC OF THE DEAD.

BY THEODORE O'HARA.

Theodore O'Hara (1820-1867) has been said to have produced the one perfect and universal martial elegy that the world has known. "The Bivouac of the Dead" has been translated into almost every European language, and since it was written, more than half a century ago, it has been almost as popular in England as in the United States.

On the field on which was fought one of the most stubbornly contested battles of the Crimean War is a large monument which bears the last four lines of the first verse of O'Hara's poem, and over the gateway of the National Cemetery at Arlington the whole first stanza is inscribed, while there, as at Antietam and other national cemeteries, the entire poem is produced, stanza by stanza, on slabs along the driveways.

O'Hara was a native of Kentucky, and served in the army during the war with Mexico. He wrote "The Bivouac of the Dead" on the occasion of the removal of the bodies of Kentucky soldiers from the field of the battle of Buena Vista to their native State.

At the outbreak of the Civil War O'Hara entered the Confederate army as a colonel. He died in Alabama in 1867, and his body was removed to Kentucky and laid beside those of the soldiers he had commemorated.

The muffled drum's sad roll has beat
The soldier's last tattoo!
No more on life's parade shall meet
That brave and fallen few.
On fame's eternal camping ground
Their silent tents are spread,
And glory guards, with solemn round,
The bivouac of the dead.

No rumor of the foe's advance
Now swells upon the wind;
No troubled thought at midnight haunts
Of loved ones left behind;
No vision of the morrow's strife
The warrior's dream alarms;
No braying horn nor screaming fife
At dawn shall call to arms.

Their shivered swords are red with rust,
Their plumed heads are bowed,
Their haughty banner, trailed in dust,
Is now their martial shroud,
And plenteous funeral tears have washed
The red stains from each brow,
And the proud forms, by battle gashed,
Are free from anguish now.

The neighing troop, the flashing blade,
The bugle's stirring blast,
The charge, the dreadful cannonade,
The din and shout are passed;
Nor war's wild note nor glory's peal
Shall thrill with fierce delight
Those breasts that never more may feel
The rapture of the fight.

Like the fierce northern hurricane
That sweeps this great plateau,
Flushed with the triumph yet to gain,
Came down the serried foe,
Who heard the thunder of the fray
Break o'er the field beneath,
Knew well the watchword of that day
Was "Victory or death!"

Full many a norther's breath has swept
O'er Angostura's plain,
And long the pitying sky has wept
Above the moldering slain.
The raven's scream or eagle's flight
Or shepherd's pensive lay
Alone now wakes each sullen height
That frowned o'er that dread fray.

Sons of the Dark and Bloody Ground,
Ye must not slumber there,
Where stranger steps and tongues resound
Along the heedless air;
Your own proud land's heroic soil
Shall be your fitter grave;
She claims from war its richest spoil,
The ashes of her brave.

So 'neath their parent turf they rest,
Far from the gory field,
Borne to a Spartan mother's breast
On many a bloody shield;
The sunshine of their native sky
Smiles sadly on them here,
And kindred eyes and hearts watch by
The hero's sepulcher.

Rest on, embalmed and sainted dead!
Dear as the blood ye gave,
No impious footsteps here shall tread
The herbage of your grave.
Nor shall your glory be forgot
While fame her record keeps
Or honor points the hallowed spot
Where valor proudly sleeps.

Yon marble minstrel's voiceless stone
In deathless songs shall tell,
When many a vanished age hath flown,
The story how ye fell;
Nor wreck nor change nor winter's flight
Nor Time's remorseless doom
Can dim one ray of holy light
That gilds your glorious tomb.

Little Glimpses of the 19th Century.

The Great Events in the History of the Last One Hundred Years, Assembled
so as to Present a Nutshell Record.

[_Continued from page 163._]

THIRD DECADE.

1821

A congress of the European powers, held at Laibach, in Austria, determined to suppress the liberal movement in Italy and to restore absolute rule in Naples. King Ferdinand of Naples agreed, though he had recently sworn to uphold the constitution. Austrian armies invaded Piedmont and Naples, speedily crushed the revolutionary movement, and the leaders of the popular party were shot or imprisoned.

Both in the Old World and in the New the year was one of political unrest. Brazil rebelled against Portuguese rule, and Mexico, Peru, and Ecuador against Spanish domination. Greece and the Christian tribesmen of the Balkans rose against Turkey. In retaliation, Greeks in Constantinople were strangled; Greek settlements on the Bosporus were wiped out; and the Patriarch of Constantinople, head of the Greek Church, was hanged by the Turks. Russia, on the point of declaring war against Turkey, was restrained by England and Metternich. Both Greeks and Turks carried on a war of indiscriminate slaughter.

Napoleon died at St. Helena, May 5, after nearly six years of captivity. A curious feature of his will was his bequest of ten thousand francs to Cantillon, who had attempted to assassinate Wellington. Queen Caroline of England, wife of George IV, died; serious riots at her funeral. John Keats, English poet, died.

In the United States, James Monroe began his second term as President. Missouri was admitted to the Union. Arrangements were made to open the territory of Liberia, on the west coast of Africa, as a colony for freedmen. Amherst College and the Massachusetts General Hospital were founded.

=POPULATION--Washington, D.C., 13,247; New York (including the boroughs now forming Greater New York), 152,056; New York (Manhattan), 123,706; London (Metropolitan District), 1,225,694; London (old city), 125,434; United States (1820), 9,633,822; Great Britain and Ireland (1821), 20,893,584.=

=RULERS--United States, James Monroe; Great Britain, George IV; France, Louis XVIII; Spain, Ferdinand VII; Prussia, Frederick William III; Russia, Alexander I; Austria, Francis I; Pope Pius VII.=

1822

The Turks slaughtered some twenty-five thousand Greeks on the island of Scio (Chios), and sold the surviving women and children into slavery. Constantine Kanaris, unaided, burned the flag-ship of the Turkish fleet. A Turkish army under Dramalis invaded the Grecian mainland, and reached Corinth, but gained no decisive success. Other nations, in response to popular sympathy for the Greeks, intervened to put an end to the war. Spain disturbed by civil war; King Ferdinand VII imprisoned in his own palace. Spanish efforts to reconquer the revolted colonies in South America ended disastrously in the battle of Ayacucho, in which General Sucre, a lieutenant of the great liberator Bolivar, decisively defeated the Spaniards. Brazil became independent of Portugal by a peaceful revolution, which set Dom Pedro, son of the Portuguese king, upon the Brazilian throne with the title of emperor. General Iturbide proclaimed himself Emperor of Mexico.

Percussion-caps invented. Cabs introduced in London, and their use immediately spread. Aleppo, Syria, destroyed by an earthquake; twenty thousand people killed. Percy Bysshe Shelley, English poet; Sir William Herschel, astronomer; and Antonio Canova, Italian sculptor, died. Viscount Castlereagh, British statesman, committed suicide.

=RULERS--The same as in the previous year.=

1823

Louis XVIII of France decided to invade Spain in order to maintain Bourbon rule, which was threatened by the Spanish liberal movement; the Cortes withdrew to Cadiz, which was besieged and captured by the French. Ferdinand VII, being restored to absolute power, dissolved the Cortes, despite all persuasion annulled the constitution, and implacably punished by death, exile, or imprisonment all who had sided against him. The struggle between the Greeks and the Turks continued with much desperate fighting, but no decisive result. A notable episode of the war was the gallant defense of Missolonghi by Markos Bozzaris. Central America declared itself free from Spanish rule.

In the United States, 1823 is historically memorable as the year in which President Monroe, in his annual message to Congress, enunciated the so-called Monroe Doctrine, which has since been the keynote of American foreign policy. First steam printing-press operated in New York; an earlier attempt made by the London _Times_ was only partially successful. Gaslight introduced in New York. The first boat passed through the Erie Canal from Rochester to New York.

Richard Jenner, discoverer of vaccination, and David Ricardo, political economist, died.

=RULERS--The same as in the previous year, except that Pope Pius VII died, August 20, and was succeeded by Cardinai della Genga, who assumed the name of Leo XII.=

1824

An Egyptian army, aiding the Sultan of Turkey--to whom Egypt was, and nominally still is, a vassal state--landed in Crete, and nearly exterminated the Greek population. It also captured the island of Kossos, slaughtering most of the inhabitants, but on proceeding to attack Samos it was repulsed and driven back to Crete. The Turks also captured Psara and butchered or enslaved the whole population. The new independent states of South America--Venezuela, New Granada (Colombia), Chile, Peru, and Buenos Ayres (Argentina)--were formally recognized by the United States government. In Mexico, the self-styled Emperor Iturbide was shot, and Santa Anna established a republican government. The first Burmese War was precipitated by Bundula, who invaded Bengal. He was repelled, and the British captured Rangoon.

Lafayette revisited the United States and received a memorable welcome. Robert Owen, the English Fourierist, founded a colony at New Harmony, Indiana. First society for the prevention of cruelty to animals founded in England. Portland cement invented by Joseph Aspden, of Leeds, England. Lord Byron, English poet, died at Missolonghi, Greece, where he was serving as a volunteer in the cause of Grecian liberty.

=RULERS--The same as in the previous year, except that Louis XVIII of France died, and was succeeded by his brother, Charles X.=

1825

The Turks reduced much of the Grecian territory to a desert, and slaughtered thousands of its inhabitants, the patriot forces having been defeated and scattered. General European resentment was aroused by the inhuman savagery of the Turks. The British forces decisively defeated the Burmese, and added greatly to British territory on the eastern frontier of India.

The first public steam railroad was opened in England, between Stockton and Darlington, George Stephenson himself driving the engine. It was the first thorough and practical test of the locomotive, though in 1813 William Hedley had partially succeeded at the Wyland colliery, and in 1814 Stephenson built an engine that made six miles an hour, but it proved defective. After the success of the new road was undeniable, it was difficult to persuade Parliament to sanction it.

In the United States, Congress decided the disputed Presidential election in favor of John Quincy Adams, John Calhoun becoming Vice-President. John Randolph and Henry Clay fought a resultless duel. Reorganization of United States political parties, the Whigs lining up as supporters of President Adams, with the Democrats, whose main strength lay in the South, as their opponents.

The first boat came through the entire length of the Erie Canal, from Buffalo to New York. Bunker Hill monument begun; Lafayette present; Webster the orator of the day. Congress granted Lafayette two hundred thousand dollars and a township site.