and may have been gathered from the Hawkweed which covers the banks where their nests are made. "Since we came home, I have found some more leaves in my own garden similarly cut. The leaves I find to be cut in this way are the rose, French bean, and young laburnum. "Yours truly, "W. LATTIMER.' " 22. (V.) Part of a letter from the lady who sent me Helix virgata :1—— "We live in a poor neighbourhood, and I have come to know the history of many poor working people lately; and I want to understand so much about it, even more than I used to long to understand the mysterious life of shells and flowers. Why aren't there public baths, etc., for children as much as public schools? They want washing more than teaching. 'Hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and bodies washed in pure water,' is continually sounding in my ears." (Well-why don't you go and wash some, then?) "A poor woman, whose father was a West Country carrier" (very good, but what is she?-the gist of the story depends on that: at present it's like one of those French twisty Bulimi, with no beginning to it), was so delighted the other day to find we knew the West Country'; and when I was saying something about our intending to take the children down in May to pick cowslips, her face gleamed with delight as she said, 'Oh, the years since I've seen a cowslip!' We used to make tisties'" (twisties?) "of them, and it sent a thrill of remembrance through me of my own birthday treats, and cowslip-ball days. "But I'm so glad you like the shells. No, there is nothing about vegetables in the word Bulimus; but 'empty-bellied' generally is hungry, and hungry generally eats a great deal when opportunity offers. Now these Bulimi' eat a great deal (of vegetables, it happens), so I suppose some one who named them thought they must be very hungry or 'empty-bellied.' That's the way I read the story." " Well, it's very accommodating and ingenious of you to read it that way; but many snails, thrushes, blackbirds, or old gentlemen of my acquaintance who "eat a great deal," appear to me more suggestive of the epithet "full-" than "empty-"-waistcoated, shall we say? 23. (VI.) Week's Diary of a Companion of St. George: 5 "First day.-Received from Sheffield a dainty 'well-poised little hammer' and three sharp-pointed little chisels: felt quite cheerful about porphyry-cutting. 6 "Second day.-Sent to the village in the morning for a slab of freestone; employed man in the afternoon to chisel a hole in it, and to fix the porphyry therein with plaster-of-Paris; drew a straight line, thinking it wiser not to begin with an asterisk; turned the point of two chisels without making the least impression on my line-the process turned out to be skating, not engraving. Tried the third chisel, and, after diligent efforts, made a cut equal in depth to about two 1 [See Letter 63, § 17 (p. 551).] 2 Hebrews x. 22.] 3 See Letter 63, § 19 (p. 553).] [The old English word Bulimy (morbid hunger) comes from Bovuía or Boíλiuos, and hence the scientific term, bulimus, "a genus of terrestrial gasteropods."] 5 [This " diary" was written by Mrs. Julia Firth (the translator of Ulric).] [See Letter 64, § 15 (p. 573).] grains of sand. This is the Hamite bondage of art. Felt an increasing desire that the Master should try it, and a respect for the ancient Egyptians. Bore patiently the scoffs of the Amorites. "Third day.-Sent chisel to the village to be hardened. Was recommended a lead hammer. Finally, a friend went to the village and brought back with him an iron hammer and two shorter chisels. Was asked by an Amorite gardener how I was getting on'-unconcealed pleasure on his part to hear that I was not getting on at all. Later, accomplished a beautiful irregular star-fish, which looks mashed out rather than cut, not the least like 'sharp, cliff-edged harbours,"1 as the Master kindly supposes. I begin to feel for the ancient Egyptians: they must have got a great deal of porphyry-dust into their eyes. I shall rise in the morning to dulled points and splintered chisels; but when you have cut your asterisk, you will know,' etc., and this is not the voice of a syren (see Eagle's Nest 3), but of my honoured Master. . . . A terrible suspicion occurs to me that he thought no one would or could cut it! Obedience is a fine thing! How it works in the midst of difficulties, dust, and worst of all-doubt! 2 "Fourth day.-I think porphyry-cutting is delightful work: it is true that I have not done any to-day, but I have had my chisels sharpened, and two new ones have arrived from the blacksmith this evening, made out of old files. Also, I have covered my chisels with pretty blue paper, and my hammer with blue-and-white ribbon. I feel the importance of the step gained. Surely I may rest righteously after such labour. If they sing 'From Egypt lately come,' in church, I shall think it very personal. "Fifth day. My piece of porphyry is now enriched by a second star-fish, with a little more backbone in it, and two dividing lines. I worked on the lawn this morning, under the chestnut trees;-the derision of the Amorite gardener (who was mowing the grass with a scythe) was manifested by the remark Is that-t all!' I told him about the Egyptian tombs, but he probably thinks me mildly insane; he however suggested a flat edge instead of a point to a chisel, and I will try it. "Sixth day.-Had lead hammer cast, and waited for chisel. "Seventh day.-With third hammer and seventh chisel will surely charm the porphyry. But, no! my latest asterisk is jagged in outline instead of sharp. I wonder what attempts others have made. Any one living in or near a blacksmith's shop would have an advantage, for the chisels are always wanting hardening, or rectifying in some way; and my blue papers soon disappeared. If obedience for the sake of obedience is angelic, I must be an exalted creature. One Amorite's suggestion was, 'You would do a deal better with a softer material.' This was the voice of the tempter. "What is gained? (besides a lifelong affection for porphyry)—a knowledge of one more thing that I cannot do; an admiration (to a certain extent) of those who could do it; and a wonder as to what the Master will require next of (amongst others) his faithful and obedient disciple." 24. (VII.) Portion of valuable letter from Mr. Sillar:— "MY DEAR MR. RUSKIN,-It may interest your correspondent, A Reader of Fors, and possibly yourself also, to know that interested persons have altered old John Wesley's rules to suit modern ideas. "Rules of the Methodist Societies (Tyerman's Life and Times of Wesley, p. 431). "Rule.-Leader to receive once a week what members are willing to give towards relief of the poor. "Altered to support of the Gospel.' "Going to law forbidden, is altered to 'brother going to law with brother.' "Original Rule.-The giving or taking things on usury, the words have been added, that is, unlawful interest.' "Mr. Tyerman remarks, 'the curious reader will forgive these trifles.' "I for one do not at all feel disposed to do so." 1 (Nor does St. George; nor has he either leave, or hope, to say, "God forgive them.") [For an answer to this letter, see Letter 71, § 18 (p. 750).] LETTER 70 PROPERTY TO WHOM PROPER1 1. I HAVE been not a little pestered this month by the quantities of letters, which I can't wholly cure myself of the weakness of reading, from people who fancy that, like other political writers of the day, I print, on the most important subjects, the first thing that comes into my head; and may be made immediately to repent of what I have said, and generally to see the error of my ways, by the suggestions of their better judgment. Letters of this sort do not surprise me if they have a Scottish postmark, the air of Edinburgh having always had a curiously exciting quality, and amazing power over weak heads; but one or two communications from modest and thoughtful English friends have seriously troubled me by the extreme simplicity of their objections to statements which, if not acceptable, I had at least hoped would have been intelligible to them. 2. I had, indeed, expected difficulty in proving to my readers the mischievousness of Usury; but I never thought to find confusion in their minds between Property itself, and its Interest. Yet I find this singular confusion at the root of the objections made by most of my cavilling correspondents: "How are we to live" (they say) "if, when we have saved a hundred pounds, we can't make a hundred and five of them, without any more trouble?" Gentlemen and ladies all,-you are to live on your hundred pounds, saved; and if you want five pounds more, ["Property" and "The A B C of Property" were rejected titles for this For passages originally intended for the beginning of the Letter, see Appendix 17, Vol. XXIX. p. 570.] Letter. you must go and work for five pounds more; just as a man who hasn't a hundred pounds must work for the first five he gets. The following sentence, written by a man of real economical knowledge, expresses, with more than usual precision, the common mistake: "I much fear if your definition of Usury be correct, which is to the effect that it is a sin to derive money from the possession of capital, or otherwise than by our own personal work. Should we follow this proposition to its final logical conclusion, we must preach communism pure and simple, and contend that property is theft,-which God forbid." To this correspondent I answered briefly, "Is my house not my property unless I let it for lodgings, or my wife not my property unless I prostitute her?" 3. But I believe it will be well, though I intended to enter on other matters this month, to repeat instead once more, in the shortest and strongest terms I can find, what I have now stated at least a hundred times' respecting the eternal nature and sanctity of "Property." A man's "Property," the possession "proper" to him— his own, rightly so called, and no one else's on any pretence of their's-consists of, A, The good things, B, Which he has honestly got, That is the A B C of Property. A. It must consist of good things-not bad ones. It is rightly called therefore a man's "Goods," not a man's "Bads." If you have got a quantity of dung lodged in your drains, a quantity of fleas lodged in your bed, or a quantity of nonsense lodged in your brains,-that is not "Property," but the reverse thereof; the value to you of your drains, bed, and brains being thereby diminished, not increased. [See, for instance, Letters 5, 25, 28 (Vol. XXVII. pp. 90-95, 470, 521).] |