And horrid progeny of villanies, Stock-jobbing, with its well-formed plans to cheat, Till scarce a dish was brought to grace the board The tricks and falsehoods, frauds and perjuries-- In business and at posts of sacred trust, Thus Mammon gulled his dupes, till swarmed the land But lo, a change-a sudden change has come! Ye may speculate, Ye Wall street sages! and ye worldly wise, The causes-talk of banks, and Western loans, Your sounding jargon loud, from day to day, Of "wide expansions and contractions quick," 66 For remedy, your tariffs, treasuries, And various nostrums ye are wont to use When out of joint; but fools, and slow of heart To learn, are all who do not see in these NEW BERLIN, April 26, 1858. 173 A. S. FEMALE BEAUTY. THE ladies of Arabia stain their fingers and toes red, their eye-brows black, and their lips blue. In Persia they paint a black streak around their eyes, and ornament their eyes and their faces with various figures. The Japanese women gild their teeth, and those of the Indians paint them red. The pearl of the tattoo must be died black to be beautiful in Guzurat.. The Hottentot woman paints the entire body in compartments of red and black. In Greenland the women color their faces with blue and yellow, and they frequently tattoo their bodies by saturating threads in soot, and inserting them through. Hindoo females, when they wish to appear particularly lovely, smear themselves with a mixture of saffron, tumeric and grease. In nearly all the islands of the Pacific and Indian oceans, the women, as well as the men, tattoo a great variety of figures on the face, the lips, tongue, and the whole body. In New Holland they cut themselves with shells, and, keeping the wounds open a long time, form deep scars in the flesh, which they deem highly ornamental. And another singular mutilation is made among them by taking off, in infancy, the little finger of the left hand, at the second joint. The modern Persians have a strong aversion to red hair; the Turks, on the contrary, are warm admirers of it. In China small round eyes are liked, and the girls are continually plucking their eyebrows that they may be thin and long. But the great beauty of a Chinese lady is in her feet, which, in childhood are so compressed by bandages as effectually to prevent any further increase in size. The four small toes are beut under the foot, to the sole of which they firmly adhere; and the poor girl not only endures much pain but becomes a cripple for life. Another mark of beauty consists in having finger nails so long that cases of bamboo are necessary to preserve them from injury. An African beauty must have small eyes, thick lips, a large flat nose, and a skin beautifully black. In New Guinea the nose is perforated and large pieces of wood or bone inserted. In the north-west coast of America an incision more than two inches in length is made in the lower lip, and then filled with a wooden plug. In Guinea the lips are pierced with thorns, the heads being inside the mouth and the points resting on the chin. WASHINGTON. THERE is an awful stillness in the sky, When after wondrous deeds and light supreme, A star goes out in golden prophecy. There is an awful stillness in the world, When after wondrous deeds and light supreme, 1858.] Effect of a Wrong Word. 175 EFFECT OF A WRONG WORD. A whisper woke the air, A soft, light tone, and low, Yet barbed with shame and woe; But no! a quick and eager ear And so it wandered round It was the only heart it found, The only heart 'twas meant to find, It reached that gentle heart at last, Low as it seemed to other's ears, Her light and happy heart, that beat CHANT TO THE EAST. STILL! Oh still! Despite of passion, sin and ill, Despite of all this weary world hath brought, An angel band from Zion's holy hill Walks gently through the open gate of Thought. Oh, still! Oh, still! Despite of passion, sin, and ill, ONE in red vesture comes in sorrow's time ONE crowned with thorns from that far Orient clime, Who pitying looks on me And gently asks, "Poor man, what aileth thee?" A LEAF FROM OUR TABLE-TALK. НОМОЕОРАТНУ. You remember the French definition of the practice of medicine: The art of amusing the patient while nature performs the cure. Agreeably to this idea, why may not Homœopathy answer as well as calomel and jalap, ipecacuanha, or even better than the heroic remedies of the regular school, which have little amusement in them? Homœopathy! Nonsense! Who ever heard of an instance, a real instance of the efficacy of homœopathy? Well, I have heard of a case. You shall judge of its efficacy. A friend of mine had been troubled with dyspepsia, neuralgia, or some nameless ailment, which he had tried all his simple means, without success, to remove. Tired at length of being his own physician, he quietly dropped into the office of a homœopathist, and submitting his case received twenty doses of white globules, regularly numbered, with directions. These he swallowed in due succession, and lived accordingly. After disposing of the last dose, he ventured to mention the facts to his wife, and was laughed at for his pains. Mark the result. The following morning, as madame took her seat at the breakfast table, she inquired of her husband if he had not been much disturbed in the past night; for said she, I was greatly alarmed and excited. I heard a voice as distinctly as I now hear my own. It was apparently under the bed, and repeated several times, One, two, three-one, two, three. I called out, Who's there? and in a sort of wild terror sprang up, and looking beneath the bed saw a man wrapped in a white sheet. I hoarsely ordered him to come forth, and as he rose to his feet, frightened out of my wits, I began to push him out of the room. I pushed him to the head of the stairs, down stairs, and along the entry towards the front door, exclaiming all the way, "Begone, you wretch-get out of the house." I was in the act of giving the last shove at the door, when, strange to say, you first appeared on the scene, and gently laying your hand upon my arm, said: "My dear, why are you so excited? This is my homeopathic doctor." Such was the effect of the twenty doses of white globules: they produced a dream. L. NOT UNDERSTOOD.-A few years ago, an eloquent and learned Doctor of Divinity, now deceased, was preaching in a down-town church, in the city of New York, where the poor were kindly allowed to occupy some of the back seats; his sermon was well studied, carefully written, and delivered in good style. The doctor had occasion many times, in the delivery of his excellent discourse, to speak of the protomartyr. After the sermon, an old lady entered the vestry-room, and thus addressed the preacher: "Doctor, that was a good sermon, but one part I did not understand. You spoke many times of the pro to martyr; now, what was the pro to martyr?" The doctor, who was noted for his condescension, graciously enlightened the darkened understanding of the poor old lady, telling her that the protomartyr was the first martyr in the Christian church. "Then," said the old lady, "why did you not say so, Doctor?" 1858.] My Spelling Book. 177 MY SPELLING BOOK. BY THB EDITOR. GOOD Noah Webster did not forget to intersperse the pages of our book with excellent maxims and proverbs. Though these are always of little account to such as have not piety and earnestness to put them in practice, yet, as monitors, they often prevent much evil. It is important that the young should have their minds well stored with approved maxims. Hence, the author of our Spelling Book acted wisely in forming his reading lessons of wholesome maxims. We heartily thank him for early planting many of them in our memory, and we would pay some of this debt of gratitude by here gathering them up for the readers of the Guardian. MAXIMS. "Prefer solid sense to vain wit; study to be useful rather than diverting; commend and respect nothing so much as true piety and virtue; let no jest intrude to violate good manners; never utter what may offend the chastest ear." "Never speak of a man's virtues to his face, nor of his faults behind his back; thus you will equally avoid flattery, which is disgusting, and slander, which is criminal." "If you are poor, labor will procure you food and clothing; if you are rich, it will strengthen the body, invigorate the mind, and keep you from vice. Every man therefore should be busy in some employment." "We may as well expect that God will make us rich without industry, as that he will make us good and happy without our own endeavors." "Zeno, hearing a young man very loquacious, told him that men have two ears and but one tongue; therefore they should hear much and speak little." "A man who, in company, engrosses the whole conversation, always gives offence; for the company consider him as assuming a degree of superiority, and treating them all as his pupils." "The basis of all excellence in writing and conversation, is truth; truth is intellectual gold, which is as durable as it is splendid and valuable." "Faction seldom leaves a man honest, however it may find him." "The cheerful man hears the lark in the morning; the pensive man hears the nightingale in the evening." "He who desires no virtue in a companion, has no virtue himself; and that state is hastening to ruin, in which no difference is made between good and bad men.” "Some men read for the purpose of learning to write-others for the purpose of learning to talk; the former study for the sake of science, the latter for the sake of amusement." "He seldom lives frugally, who lives by chance." |