Like flakes of snow that fall unperceived upon the earth, the seemingly unimportant events of life succeed one another. As the snow gathers together, so are our habits formed. No single flake that is added to the pile produces a sensible change; no single action creates, however it may exhibit, a man's cha racter; but as the tempest hurls the avalanche down the mountain, and overwhelms the inhabitant and his habitation, so passion, acting upon the elements of mischief, which pernicious habits have brought together by imperceptible accumulation, may overthrow the edifice of truth and virtue.-Jeremy Bentham.

BEAUTIFUL THINGS.

Beautiful things are suggestive of a purer and higher life, and fill us with a mingled love and fear. They have a graciousness that wins us, and an excellence to which we involuntarily do reverence. If you are poor, yet pure and modestly aspiring, keep a vase of flowers on your table, and they will help to maintain your dignity, and secure for you consideration and delicacy of behaviour.-T. T. Lynch.

DIAMOND DUST.

IN fictitious stories, children are far more interested in the gradual progression of happiness than in that of misfortune.

VERY few persons have sense enough to despise the praise of a fool.

LITERATURE has her quacks no less than medicine, and they are divided into two classes; those who have erudition without genius, and those who have volubility without depth: we shall get second-hand sense from the one, and original nonsense from the other.

TRULY fine natures dislike finery, but coarse ones may dislike both fineness and finery.

A MILLION of blades of grass makes a meadow, and millions and millions of grains of sand make a mountain; the ocean is made up of drops of water, and life of minutes.

THE poet's soul should be like the ocean, able to carry navies, yet yielding to the touch of a finger. THE wise teacher becomes as the child in part, that in part he may cause the child to become as himself. THE testimony of those who doubt the least, is not, unusually, that very testimony that ought most to be doubted.

HE is a good orator who can persuade himself to do that which he ought to do.

WHERE there is not great sympathy there will be little influence.

WE often speak of being settled in life,— -we might as well think of casting anchor in the midst of the Atlantic Ocean, or talk of the permanent situation of a stone that is rolling down hill.

A PRESENT fiction has more interest than a past reality.

THOSE are ever the most ready to do justice to others who feel that the world has done justice to 1

them.

THE long morning of life is spent in making the weapons and the armour, which manhood and age are to polish and to prove.

WORLDLY joy is a sunflower, which shuts when the gleam of prosperity is over; spiritual joy is an evergreen, -an unfading plant.

THERE is no grief like the grief which does not speak.

NEXT to being a great poet, is the power of understanding one.

SOME hearts, like evening primroses, open most beautifully in the shadows of life.

THE goodness of to-day will not blot out the sin of yesterday.

THE martyrs to vice far exceed the martyrs to virtue, both in endurance and in number.

FEEBLE natures respect exaggerated energies,-the contrast strikes them as a superiority.

IF we were only disliked for the real and voluntary offence we give, what a holiday world this would be. THE prose man knows nothing of poetry, but poetry knows much of him.

EXPECTATION takes up more joy on trust than fruition can discharge.

Printed by Cox (Brothers) & WYMAN, 74-75, Great Queen Street, London; and published by CHARLES COOK, at tho Office of the Journal, 3, Raquet Court, Fleet Street.

LIFE IN INDIA.

THE attitude of the British in India is that of conquerors. A few merchants from this country having first planted themselves there, grew rich and prospered; others followed, allured by the prospect of wealth; they obtained a territorial footing, and their factories became forts; armed volunteers from England joined them, and the East-India Company was defended by an army; the army became aggressive, and conquests were made; bold and ambitious men flocked to the Company's standards, where advancement was rapid, and booty immense; they fomented the divisions and jealousies of the native princes of India, helped them by turns to destroy each others' power, the invariable issue being the accession of new territory to the Company; then the British government joined in the speculation, and British regiments joined the Indian army; the great conquerors, Clive, Wellesley, Monroe, Baird, and others, overran new provinces and added them to the old; the British power in India became gigantic, and has never ceased to grow from the first day the British merchants planted their factories at Madras, in the seventeenth century, down to the present time. Their power has now extinguished nearly all others in the peninsula of Hindostan, and they are now masters of 400,000 square miles of territory there, and exert a direct dominion over above 100,000,000 of people, from whom they raise taxes amounting to upwards of £20,000,000 annually. This money is chiefly expended in hiring a portion of the natives to keep the others in subjection. For, as the country was obtained by physical force, so is it held; and the Sepoys, or native Hindoos, officered by British gentlemen, constitute the main tenure by which the empire of India is retained. The British began with conquest, and they end in conquest: but the end is not yet. Conquest is the one word which tells the history of British India,-and the conquest dared for the sake of wealth. Where the Romans went they colonized and civilized,-built aqueducts, viaducts, opened up the wealth of the country, and promoted the civilization of the native population; but they were heathens: we, who live in more enlightened times, have done otherwise, the Protestant armies of England have followed in the path of the Catholic armies of Spain, and the feats of the

[PRICE 1d.

British in India have been but the counterpart of those of Pizarro and Cortes in Mexico and Peru. Wherever we have gone, devastation and desolation have marked our track. Provinces once tilled and fertile have become desolate, and abandoned to beasts of prey. Villages have been deserted, towns depopulated, and cities turned into villages of the EastIndia Company. The middle classes of India have sunk into pauperism, landed proprietors are ruined, the natives are scourged by ever-recurring famines; and princes, once mighty and potent, have become suppliants and dependents on the "Merchant Princes of India," whose secret council sits in Leadenhall Street, and governs that enormous empire. One of the Company's servants, Dr. Spry, himself says that Burke's severe denunciation of the British rule in India still holds good:-"That if the English were driven from India, they would leave behind them no memorial worthy of a great and enlightened nation; no monument of art, science, or benificence; no vestige of their having occupied and ruled over the country, except such traces as the tiger and the vulture leave behind them."

Yet, to how many of our ambitious young men is India still the land of hope and promise. They turn their longing eyes eagerly to that distant source of wealth, which two centuries of draining has not been able to exhaust. With India is associated the idea of fortune, fame, pension, and title. To achieve these, our youth are ready to brave its deadly heats, its bloody wars, its jungle fevers, and its devastating pestilences. For these, parents send their sons to Addiscombe and Haileybury, and use all their influence to obtain a cadetship, or a surgeoncy, or an appointment in the civil service; widows, whose husbands perished of Indian cholera, or who fell in battle, send out their sons; merchants, clergymen, or retired Indians, send forth their progeny on the same career; and even noblemen turn their haughty eyes towards the East, and despatch younger sons to join its armies. Some are killed, many die, others return home with diseased livers, but rich, while a few acquire fame and high title. To some, India has been the road to the Peerage, if not to Westminster Abbey; to many more it has brought wealth and broken constitutions; and to tens of thousands it has been the way to swift and sudden death. But the prospect of wealth is dazzling, and not to be resisted;

so, now as ever, India is to thousands the far-off land of promise. Every ship that leaves our shores for Bombay, Madras, or Calcutta, is freighted with youths eager to enter upon the career of promotion and wealth. The youths land griffins, revel in tiffins, and return.

A book was published not long ago by Captain Harvey, of the Madras Infantry, in which he gives an account of the English officer's Life in India, from which some idea may be formed of the hopes which fill the breasts of British youths resorting thither, and of the life they lead in that land of conquest. Captain Harvey, in his preface, regrets that he has "not had the good luck" to be engaged in battles or sieges; it has been his "misfortune," he says, not to have been engaged in scenes of blood, but he rejoices in the anticipation that "the day may come, when we (the Madras army) may smell powder in real earnest, hear bullets whizzing about, and very likely have a taste of one of them." And he adds, “all I can say is, that I heartily envy my brethren in arms who have partaken of such pleasures, and hope, when my turn comes, I shall have enough to make up for lost time." Thus, the English officer in India is ever longing for battle, which usually brings with it promotion, increased pay, and booty. This gentleman left England as a cadet, when a mere boy; he made the usual voyage to India, was sick half the way, but landed safe and sound on the surf-beaten shore of Madras. Here he managed to elude the thousand land-sharks that are ever lying in wait to prey upon the newly-landed griffin. The boy had the good fortune to be taken in tow by a grenadier serjeant (up to whose hips he scarcely came), was led off by him to the fort, reported himself, and afterwards repaired to the Cadets' quarters. But the routine of army life in time of peace in India, is very dull. There is drilling, cantoning, reviewing, changing of quarters,-alternated with drinking, smoking, eating, gambling, snipe-shooting, and such like. The griffin has to run the gauntlet of thieves and impostors. He is gammoned on all hands; the old stagers delight in making him swallow the most improbable tales; until, as he grows more knowing, he delights in deceiving others in his turn. Of his first Cadet's quarters at Madras, he says, "The feeding was execrable, the drink worse, the charges were enormous, and accommodation anything but comfortable; the beds were swarming with vermin, the heat was insufferable, and, from its situation, the building anything but healthy." The youth was shortly after sent as ensign, to do duty at Palaveram, thirteen miles from Madras; where he got broken in to his routine work of parading and drilling, ball-practice and sword exercise, alternated with language learning, and guard-mounting. The amusements were drinking, card-playing, billiards, snipe shooting, and jackal - baiting; the last named 66 amusement consisting in setting five or six English bull terriers to attack, and, if possible, worry one of these poor animals.

The young griffins also indulge themselves with tiffin-parties, grog-parties, and other parties, in which they manage to rid themselves of their spare cash, and warm their livers after the manner of Strasburg geese. In short, the young aspirants after "glory" live very fast, and do not mind running into debt, a large majority of them being open to the severe censures lately fired at them by their shrewd old Commander-in-Chief, Sir Charles Napier. Many of them become drunkards, and die drunk; others bet and gamble, till they fly to suicide as a relief. And this is the kind of example which the conquerors of India set to the conquered races whom they rule. And yet, the Sepoys are pronounced to be fine

soldiers, patient under privations, enduring of fatigue, fiery in action, bold in enterprise, zealous in the performance of their duty. As these men become enlightened and educated, and the process is going forward, the rulers will find it necessary to exhibit more favourable traits of character, if we would retain a moral as well as a physical hold of the splendid provinces of India. The treatment of these Sepoys by their English officers is not what it should be. Our author says, "We find young officers, on first commencing their military career, talk about those horrible black nigger Sepoys; they look down upon them as brute beasts; they make use of opprobrious language towards them; and lower themselves so far, as even to curse and swear at them! I have known old officers, too, make use of most harsh and violent terms towards these poor unoffending creatures." Hence, misunderstandings, mutinies, courts-martial, &c. Such expressions as "Dress up, you black brute!" "Do you hear me, you nigger" are not calculated to attach men to their officers; and we are not surprised at the number of them occasionally killed during action by shots in the back! These have a pregnant meaning, and bespeak a dark history.

-th

Of

Remember, too, that the Indian army represents Christianity among Heathens; but what is its aspect in this light? The attempt is made to plant churches in India, but the British gentlemen give no encouragement, and very rarely look near them. Religious phrases are only used to swear by. There was only one religious officer in the regiment, who was regarded as a madman by the rest; he was jeored at as a "new light." The rest looked at religion as a farce, and "abused the ministers of the Gospel up hill and down dale; blaspheming, cursing, and swearing." Of course, with such illustrations of living Christianity, it makes no progress among the Hindoo idolators. They are at least sincere, and act as they believe; and the usual reply of the natives to the missionaries is, "We would rather be as we are, than change to a religion, the professors of which are drunkards, blasphemers, quarrellers, gamblers, and belly-worshippers." the converts who are made, Captain Harvey says,"If it should so happen that any natives are converted, they are so to answer their own purposes, and become worse than they were before. Can there be a greater set of rascals, drunkards, thieves, and reprobates, than the generality of native Christians ! And they profess to be Christians, too! They are looked upon by their fellow-countrymen as the most degraded of all castes. The worst characters in our regiments are Christians! And it is no uncommon thing to have some such remark as the following made, He is a great blackguard, he is a pariah Christian A servant presents himself for employment, and is asked what caste he is? The reply is, 'I master's caste, I Christian, sar.' He is not taken, because all Christians, with but few exceptions, are looked upon as great vagabonds." This is, surely, a melancholy statement, and the causes of the horrible degradation of the Christian character in India deserve to be looked into, and remedied by those in authority and power.

The regiment returned to Madras, and were stationed at Vepery, a receptacle teeming with everything that is disagreeable, filthy, and disgusting, and swarming with vermin. Here the regimental mess were one morning revelling in "shrimps" to breakfast, admiring their enormous size, and praising their flavour, when an old officer came in to see how the "griffs" were getting on, and the following scene occured :

"Look here," said I, "what beautiful shrimps

these are! We have but just bought them of a man who came with a basketful! Do sit down and eat some; they are very fine, I assure you."

Others repeated the invitation, but the oldster stared with apparent astonishment; and I observed that he eyed the dish with disgust. At last, he burst out into a laugh, and said,

"Do you know what those are?"

"No," said I, "except they are very large shrimps. Why, what are they but shrimps?"

"Ob, you griffin," exclaimed he. "You are a shrimp yourself! They are prawns! And where do you think they were caught?"

"Where?" inquired I, with astonishment.

"Why, in the Vepery tanks and river, to be sure, said he; "where all the dirt and filth of the whole town are thrown; where none but black fellows and pigs ever go; and where these prawns breed in abundance! Have you never heard of Vepery prawns before?"

No, how could I?" replied I, turning pale in the face very suddenly. I jumped up from my chair, and made a desperate rush into a side-room. The sequel may be guessed;-I was as sick as possible, as were also some of the rest; and I vouch for it, not many of us ever after partook of those dainty delicacies, prawns (shrimps as we thought them), caught in the vicinity of Vepery.

"Take my advice, young griffin, and never eat prawns; they are not only objectionable from the associations of their breeding, but unwholesome as food. Those caught and sold at Calcutta are generally fed and kept in the carcasses of dead natives floating in the river. The fishermen secure the bodies by stakes to the bank, and sink them by means of tying stones to them. The prawns congregate in myriads, and feed upon the flesh. Those supposed to be caught in the skulls of the dead, are looked upon as the richest and most delicate, from the circumstance of their having been nourished on the brains. The Koi Hais' consider these prawns as dainties, and eat them in large quantities; a 'jingee-curry' (prawn-curry) being always a rich treat amongst them."

A large number of griffs join the regiment, affording sport for the seniors, who practise upon their rawness. There is the same round of drill, drinking, and amusement, such as it is. There is not much society to be enjoyed, and what there is, is very exclusive and stuck-up. The same ambition of being select and genteel, prevails as at home; in India it is I even intensified. A little diversion of a Coong war took place, which began and ended without bloodshed, but not without booty,-every opportunity for making prize-money being at once seized hold of; and, with this in view, pretences for making an attack upon a weak, but rich Rajah, are not difficult to find. The youth next fell in love, and made a fool of himself. A shift of quarters to Mangalore brought some change of scene, but none of occupation; a Sepoy was, however, occasionally hanged for shooting an officer; this afforded some variety of excitement, but it was forgotten in other sports. The regiment moved to Bangalore, then to Vellore, where bison-hunting and antelope-shooting, were the chief enjoyments;-next to Arcot, and other places. Thugs, Moonshees, and thieves of all sorts, pass in review, with alligators, tigers, white ants, and boaconstrictors. Here, for instance, is an alligator sketch :

"The alligators are very dangerous creatures in the Vellore fort ditch. I have heard of several dreadful accidents happening at different times. I recollect one lamentable occurrence taking place shortly before our arrival. Many of the natives are

in the habit of feeding them with live fowls, ducks, sheep, &c. &c., and are very careless how they venture to the edge of the ditch.

saw

"It so happened that an unfortunate boy, while crossing the causeway already mentioned, a large alligator close to him, and having some bread in his hands, stopped and sat down, with his feet dangling over the side, and amused himself by throwing in pieces of the bread, which the alligator snapped up. Little did the poor wretch know of what was coming!

"Another large monster, from behind, crawled up the embankment (which was in a dilapidated state in those days, without any water), and seizing his victim by the hinder part, plunged back with him in his jaws. The poor little fellow shrieked and cried in vain. A sentry on one of the bastions heard the cry, and looking through the embrasure, beheld the dreadful sight of the wretched boy struggling in the jaws of his formidable destroyer, while the alligator writhed and twisted violently, mangling his victim most horridly, and rendering escape impossible.

"There was no help; the boy could not have been saved; the sentry called out to the guard, but before anybody came the monster had disappeared with his prey, and all was still; the only thing visible of the catastrophe being the blood-stains in the grass, and the discoloured state of the water.

"The authorities have oftentimes determined upon destroying these animals, but have been prevented doing so, on account of the natives, who hold them in veneration, in consequence of their having been placed there by so great a man as the tyrant Hyder.

"The presence of a vast Moslem population in the Pettah is also a sufficient reason for their not being injured. And Tippoo's old ladies have declared that, if any of them are destroyed, woe would betide those who did the deed."

Then the young officer obtains promotion, which is followed by scenes of cholera, sickness, and a return to England, to lay in a fresh stock of health, after a ten years' sojourn in India. After all, life in Hindostan is a dreary affair, judging by Captain Harvey's book; and though the ambitious may occasionally return with fortune and rank, it is not often that they return better men than they went. A very large number, indeed, find in India only a delusion and a snare,-if not an early grave.

THE BROKEN WHEEL.

ONE Tuesday, about five years ago, it happened that the express train from London to Bristol, which ought to have arrived at the latter place a few minutes after eleven o'clock at night, was, from some cause or other, considerably behind time. Do what we will, we cannot be always keeping pace with the old scythe-bearer: even our redoubtable and altogether marvellous steam-engines are not a match for him, and our miraculous telegraphs are but as electricspasm emulations of his steady speed. The train in question was a loser by about three-quarters of an hour. The platform of the Bristol terminus was crowded by an unusual number of people, and no little anxiety prevailed concerning the delay of the expected train. There were brothers waiting for sisters, husbands and wives for wives and husbands, parents for members of families and members of families for parents, servants for masters baggage, and even masters for baggage and servants, -people waiting to be conveyed this way and people impatient to be carried the other. A sturdy, bowlegged little jockey, who leant against one of the

and

massive posts supporting the roof, jerked his bullet head, and expressed a hope that there "wasn't nothink the matter with the biler-no busting, nor anythink of that sort," for if his master were to be hurt, the Great Western Company, "think what they may of theirselves," would rue the day. A soberliveried footman assented to the force of this observation, and remarked that his mistress was in the train also, and if she were injured, the Company would not soon hear the last of it.

"Your missus, John?" said the jockey, turning with a patronizing air towards the domestic functionary, a man twice as tall and thrice as big as himself. "What sort of a one is she, John?"

"She aint over young, Tiger," returned John, with a grin.

'Maybe she aint over slim, neither. What weight does she carry, John?" asked the jockey, giving a professional turn to the conversation.

66

"I don't know as she've ever been put in the scales, Tiger," answered John. Howsomever, I'll back her to send a score such as you up against the beam."

"Jeremy! what a buster! No wonder we're late, then, John. Who could expect the hengine to come in true to time with such a weight as that behind her!"

"Times! Punch Daily News! Bell's Life 1" shouted the weary newsboy.

"Holler away, young Papers!" cried the jockey. "People is just ready for to sit down and read, calm and quiet. Just ready, I should say !"

A moment more, however, and a rumbling noise was distinguished,-low and profound, booming along the surface of the earth. The station-guard rang his great bell, and ere the harsh clanging had subsided, the shriek and roar of the approaching engine were plainly heard, and presently the train swept up, crashing, storming, screaming, howling, like a weird fury delayed in its night race. Instantly all was commotion; shouting, chattering, running hither and thither, the whole platform a scene of hurry, bustle, and scramble. Over all the disorder, however, there appeared to reign a feeling of satisfaction: the train, after all auguries to the contrary, had arrived safely, and the tumultuous fears and anxieties of a few moments back were relieved and replaced by assurance and satisfaction. From one of the boxes nearest the engine, a couple of handsome pointers were brought forth under the superintendence of a young gentleman, whose exterior presented a mixture of the sportsman and the aristocrat, and were taken charge of by the above-mentioned jockey, who, laying hold of a chain attached to the collar of each, led them away amongst the people, addressing to the animals a series of extraordinary noises, and to the folks who impeded his progress sundry authoritative exclamations,-" By leave here!" " Easy here!" "Come, now!" "Give her her head!" and so on.

Meanwhile the sober-liveried footman had been standing at the door of a first-class carriage, from the interior of which some person had been handing him baskets, carpet-bags, shawls, &c. &c., for some minutes. As for the number of shawls which came forth, it was quite bewildering: small and large, one issuing after the other, threatening to overwhelm the anxious and already overladen lacquey, and bury him beneath a mountain of cloth and barège. eventually the shower of shawls, like every affair of time and space, came to an end; and then did the footman, holding over his left shoulder a camel-load of clothing, and doubtless invoking the assistance of the gods, address himself to the task of handing an elderly lady, apparently feeble and certainly very fat, from the carriage to the platform.

But

And not until after the admonition and the reply had been repeated half-a-dozen times, and Lukins had more than once been in utmost extremity, did the lady-traveller accomplish her descent. This, however, being at length happily achieved, Lukins turned again to the door, and held up his disengaged arm. A young lady,-a light, airy little figure, appeared at the door. She just touched the footman's extended arm with her little gloved hand, and tripped lightly on to the platform.

"Now, niece, take care!" said the old lady, in a portentous tone. "Dear me, what a crowd! Now, niece, be careful; keep with me and Lukins, my dear; don't lose sight of us for a moment."

"I will not, trust me," returned the niece, smiling at the extreme solicitude of her relative, as she met the glance of the aforesaid young gentleman of sportsmanlike exterior, who was standing by, and had himself slightly smiled at the aunt's loudly uttered caution.

Slowly and with difficulty the three made their way to the door leading down from the terminus to the outside thoroughfare. After sundry perils by the way, especially on the stairs, where the loaded Lukins, what betwixt his own burdens and the nervousness and timidity of his mistress, was for the time like a man in momentary expectation of the "crack of doom," the party found themselves in the roadway, amidst a chaos of buses, cabs, carriages, dog-carts, &c. &c. Lukins raised his voice and shouted, and thereupon a distant groom became active, and led up a horse and phaeton, as quickly as he could amongst the turmoil. The vehicle was a large old-fashioned countrified affair, mounted high up on C springs. The lamps were lit, indicating that a journey beyond the gas-illumined streets was contemplated. The luggage was bestowed under seats and elsewhere, the old lady and her niece were deposited inside; and Lukins mounting the box, drove off, apparently much easier in his mind than he had been for the last quarter of an hour. After passing the new road leading from the terminus, he turned to the left and proceeded along the broad and pleasant highway leading to Wells. Presently a rakish-looking dog-cart drove rapidly by, overtaking and distancing the phaeton.

"Hey-low, John, wake up!" cried a sharp voice. "All right, Tiger!" answered Lukins, recognizing in the driver of the dashing vehicle, the jockey he had lately spoken with, and by whose side was sitting, apparently asleep, the young gentleman who had superintended the release of the dogs from the railway van.

Panic

The party had proceeded some three miles in safety and comfort, when lo! an unlucky donkey which, sleepless as Tantalus, was cropping nettles under the hedge, stirred and clanked his log-chain. stricken, the horse, but now so sober and steady, started madly forward. The old lady screamed, and told the unhappy, and by no means to be blamed Lukins, that he was the greatest fool in the world. The footman exerted himself might and main to check the career of the frightened animal, but it tore wildly on, at a terrific pace. The phaeton was swayed from side to side, at one moment in perilous proximity to the wall on the left, the next crashing through the foliage of the hedge on the right. Before two minutes had elapsed from the start, the whole equipage was capsized with great violence. A sudden swerve had taxed too severely the strength of one of the hind wheels; old and rickety, the spokes burst from the