Изображения страниц
PDF
EPUB

Interesting Items.

PARCELS POST.-Arrangements are being made for conveying parcels by post at the rate of one shilling for seven pounds. This will prove a boon to the public, no doubt, and a source of revenue to the State.

THE EXACT EASTER.-It is said that Good Friday and Easter-day of 1882 fell on the exact anniversaries of our Saviour's death and resurrection, and that the coincidence has only happened once (1871) during the last seventy years.

A NEW COMET.-An extraordinary future is predicted for the comet which has been discovered in America. At present it is 160,000,000 miles from the earth, towards which it is travelling at the rate of 2,000,000 miles per day.

Albert

ROYALTY IN PALESTINE.-Princes Victor and George of Wales have been visiting Jerusalem this Easter, and were present at the house of a Rabbi during the Passover service. They are said to have evinced great pleasure in the ceremony. At the close the Rabbi pronounced the benediction on the Queen and other members of the royal family.

A NOVEL EXPERIMENT.-A project is on foot for starting a floating exhibition of British manufactures. For this purpose the Viceroy steamer has been chartered, and as soon as the exhibits are carefully stowed on board, she will start on a cruise round the world, in order that manufacturers may bring their specialities under notice at the chief foreign and colonial markets.

JUMBO IN AMERICA.-Jumbo, of whom we gave some account last month, set upon his cage most furiously when he found himself a captive, but he was quieted by his keeper, and was got on board ship without doing any great mischief. He has safely arrived at his destination, and we are told that during his voyage he behaved with strict propriety. The first two days he displayed symptoms of sea-sickness, but on the third day he found his sea-legs. His daily diet consisted of two hundred pounds of hay, two bushels of oats, a bushel of biscuits, about fifteen loaves of bread, and twenty buckets of water. He made a triumphant entry into New York, drawn by sixteen horses and two elephants, while hundreds of men pulled at the ropes attached to the car. According to the latest accounts he seems quite at home in his new home, and the Americans are bestowing as much attention upon him as did the English this side of the Atlantic.

A REMARKABLE Loss.-The other day, as a lad was taking a sum of £70,000, in gold, notes, and cheques, to the bank, he lost it in one of the streets of Liverpool. Fortunately, the money fell into the hands of an honest person, who restored it to its owner.

THE MINT.-A new die for the next issue of golden coinage from the Mint is now completed. This is only the second die taken during the reign of Queen Victoria. Her Majesty is represented with an imperial crown, and the likeness is that of the Queen of the present

year.

A SAD HISTORY.-A barcnet, Sir Horatio Wraxall, having dissipated his fortune, has just died an inmate of the Pauper Lunatic Asylum at Wandsworth. His nephew, who is heir to the baronetcy, was educated at the Workhouse school, Brighton, and was afterwards apprenticed to a pawnbroker in that town.

THE REMINGTON TYPE WRITER.-Writing with this machine is done simply by touching keys which are compactly arranged in four rows of ten each, and may he operated by any finger of either hand. On each key is plainly printed the letter or character it represents. By depressing any key the corresponding letter | is printed on the paper.

PALESTINE EXPLORATION.-Captain Conder, of the Palestine Exploration Society, has identified the principal spots so celebrated for the interview between Balak and Balaam. He has stood upon Pisgah, from whence the false prophet could only see a part of the Israelitish encampment. He has stood also upon

Bamouth Baal, where only part could be seen, and upon Baal Peor, and seen how Balaam might behold the whole of the tribes spreading before him on the plains.

OVER THE FERRY.-One can now go on board a steamboat at Liverpool, and in eight days find yourself at New York, 3,000 miles from your starting-place. From New York you can take a railway ticket to San Franciseo, a journey of 3,500 miles, which is accomplished in seven days. On board the vessel you can imagine yourself in a nobleman's palace, everything being fitted up regardless of expense. On the train you can walk through a suite of beautifully-furnished rooms; and, among everything that is commodious and useful, a printing press is carried, by which a morning paper is printed on the journey.

[merged small][graphic][merged small]

EVENTS IN THE LIFE OF A NATURALIST.*

HOMAS EDWARD, the celebrated naturalist, was born at Gosport, near Portsmouth, on Christmas Day, 1814.

His father, John Edward, belonged to the Fifeshire militia, which was garrisoned along the coast, taking the place of the regular soldiers, who had left the country to fight in the continental war that was going on at that time. This accounts for John living at Gosport.

After the battle of Waterloo, the militia was disbanded, and John returned with his wife and child to Kettle, a small village about six miles from Fife, where he recommenced his trade as a cotton weaver.

But Kettle was a poor, sleepy village. Work was scarce, and Mrs. Edward did not like the people there; therefore it is not surprising to find that they removed to Aberdeen, where there was plenty of work, and Mrs. Edward was among her relations.

After this introduction, we must leave the father and mother, and confine our attention henceforth to the son. It is very difficult to say how "Tammy" (as he was called) contracted that love of nature that so characterized his after life.

When only four months old, while living at Kettle, he was near killing himself by springing out of his mother's arms at some flies that were buzzing on the window pane. His mother, however, caught him by his long clothes, just in time to save him from being hurt.

Tammy began to walk at the early age of ten months, and soon began to make friends with all the hens, ducks, and geese that quacked and waddled about the premises at Kettle. He would also have liked to have made friends with the birds, and could not understand why

* Our readers must not think that naturalists torture their captures. There are many humane modes of killing insects, chiefly by chemical preparations, which produce instantaneous death. Any modern book on entomology would instruct amateur collectors on the subject.-ED.

they flew away from him, before he could get near enough to caress and stroke their pretty wings.

Among other things that interested him was an old sow, named "Bet," and some little pigs, that lived in a sty close to the house. Now Bet had rather a bad character for ferocity, especially when she had little ones. As Master Tam was particularly fond of talking to her through the bars of the sty, he was warned that she might perhaps bite him, and therefore he must keep away. But it was not of much use telling him. He did love animals so, and, if he was missing, and the question was put, "Where's Tam?" the answer would invariably be, "Oh, he's awa' with the pigs."

One day, Tam was missing, and every barn, hen-coop, outhouse, and, in fact, every available place was searched, but he was not to be found. The cry was raised that he had been stolen by gipsies, and, after a long and weary night of watching, a party, consisting of Tam's father,uncle, and some kind friends, started for the gipsy camp, but the boy was not there, and they returned empty-handed to the house. Another party was just starting off in an opposite direction, when in rushed the wife of the owner of the pig, with the child in her arms, and, without the least ceremony, tossed him into the arms of his astonished mother, saying, as she did so, There, woman, there's ye bairn; but for goodness' sake keep him awa' frae yon place, for he may fare waur anither time." "" But where was he?" they exclaimed. "Whar wud he be," said the woman, "but below Bet and her pigs a' nicht."

When the family removed to Aberdeen, Tam was in his glory. Not only were there vast numbers of butterflies to attract him, but the house was close to the Inches, a space of ground over which the tide flowed every day, and in the holes

EVENTS IN THE LIFE OF A NATURALIST.

123

made by the water were abundance of living things that absorbed the attention of the young naturalist. Then the Denburn, a stream that flowed at the bottom of the green, yielded no end of“ venomous beasts," as his captives were termed by the neighbours. At first, Tam brought home tadpoles, beetles, frogs, sticklebacks, &c.; then, as he grew older, horseleeches, mice, young rats, moles, birds, and birds'-nests. The birds could be provided with cages, and kept within bounds, but the frogs and newts hopped and crawled about, and got under people's feet, while the rats and mice made holes wherever they could-in fact, they often made excursions into the houses of the neighbours, so that Tam's "beasts" were voted a nuisance. For this reason he was expostulated with by his parents, and forbidden to bring them home with him, but, as he did not obey, he was severely flogged, without, however, eradicating his love of nature.

In this way he jogged on for some time, his love of animals every day getting him into some fresh scrape, until he was between four and five years old, and then he was judged old enough to go to school. Accordingly, he was sent to a dame's school. But he did not stop there long, for he could not resist the temptation to take the animals that he had found on his way there to school with him; and at last he became such a nuisance that he was summarily turned out. The next school that he went to was one by the side of the Denburn, one of Tam's favourite haunts. The master was very strict, and Thomas seemed to be getting on very fairly, when his love of nature again proved a source of trouble to him.

He reached school very early one morning, and, finding the gates shut, he went down to the Denburn to while away the time, and was soon busy hunting for horse-leeches. He had collected a good many, and had transferred them to safe captivity in a broken bottle, when one of his schoolmates ran down, shouting, "Tam, Tam, the school is in." With

the bottle of pond life in his hand, Tam ran in, and managed to deposit it unobserved in a corner. All went on smoothly until a scream from one of the pupils called the master's attention to a horse-leech that had crawled up the boy's leg, much to his horror. The leeches were traced to the bottle, and the bottle to the owner, and poor Tam was unkindly told to take it up and go, never to enter the school again.

Thus Tam was expelled from school number two, and, as he could not be allowed to wander about and get into mischief, he was sent to his third and last. This was called the Lancaster School, and, as the master knew of the failing of his new pupil, he ordered him not to bring any of his "beasts "into the school, under pain of expulsion; and, to do him justice, he did try his best to keep from it. But one day he took some young sparrows into school with him, which he had unfortunately come across on his way there. They were found out, and the misdeed called forth a long lecture; but, as he frankly told the truth, he was forgiven, on his promising never to offend in like manner again. This promise, we are glad to say, he kept, and during the eighteen months that he stopped at the Lancaster School, he never again brought any of his muchloved "animals" there.

But he had gotten to himself a bad name, and his bad name was a cause of further trouble to him. A centipede one day crawled on to the master's arm. Tam was called up, and accused of having brought it into the school, which he denied, but he was thrashed by his infuriated teacher until the blood came (although he was only five years old), after which he was cruelly expelled from his third and last school.

He then commenced working for his living, at the early age of six years, his amount of book-learning, as may be supposed, not being very great. He could read the Bible fairly, but knew little of arithmetic and nothing of grammar.

He got work at a factory some miles

from Aberdeen, and though his employment at spinning called for him to be up at four o'clock, in order to be at the factory by six in the morning, and he had to work until eight in the evening, yet he liked being there very much. He earned from three to six shillings a week.

In after years, he looked back to the time that he spent there with pleasure, for his master was a kind one, and he was enabled to Scour the beautiful country in search of the objects of his admiration in the little time that he had to himself.

But, when he was eleven years old, his father thought that he ought to be apprenticed to some settled trade. Accordingly, very much against his will, he was bound to Charles Begg, a shoemaker at Aberdeen, for six years. But he soon found that the place was very uncomfortable, his master's time being chiefly taken up in drinking, fighting, and beating his wife and apprentice. He hated all animals, and, as Tam loved them, he hated him the more. Many blows did Tam get from his drunken master, who threatened to stamp the love of nature out of him. But we need scarcely say that drunken Begg could not manage to do what the schoolmasters had failed to accomplish. At last, after being nearly killed because he had brought three moles into the shop, he went home, determined not to work any more for such a cruel man. Begg made a great fuss, and threatened his parents with legal proceedings, which, however, he never carried out.

Tam then wanted to be a sailor, that he might have an opportunity of seeing fresh countries and animals, and leave Begg and the hated shoemaking behind. He, therefore, offered himself as a cabin boy; but no one would take him without the leave of his father, which he could not obtain, so he had to give up the idea. Then, as his father insisted on his returning to his trade, he started off on a tour. He had heard of his uncle who lived at Kettle-the uncle who had gone with his

[ocr errors]

father to the gipsy camp in search of Tam when he was an infant-so he determined to go and see him. His reasons for going do not appear to have been very clear. Perhaps he thought, if he went to him, he might help him out of the shoemaking into some other employment more congenial to his tastes. At any rate, he would go and see him, though Kettle was over one hundred miles from Aberdeen. The story of his journey we must, however, leave until another month. (To be continued.)

[blocks in formation]
« ПредыдущаяПродолжить »