網頁圖片
PDF
ePub 版

THE ARD VARK.

A monstrous, queer, uncouth creature is the Ard Vark of Africa; only uncouth and monstrous, however, because of our unfamiliarity with him. If we had him with us as common, he would, in a little while, become as comely as a horse or cow, or at least as handsome as a mule. Familiarity is a wonderful toner both of beauty and ugliness in humanity, as well as animals. But all the familiarity in the world could never make of the ard vark aught else than a queer creature. Let us make an ink picture of him, and scanning it closely, tell me if you are not of my way of thinking. There he is a full grown animal, five feet long, hips, hind legs and tail like a fox; middle like an otter, shoulders and fore-legs like a bear; neck like a mink, ears like a mule, eyes like a pair of oval, jet black, gutta percha buttons, two inches in diameter-head most like a hog's, with a great truculant snout, biggest at the little end, with a hard, saucer-shaped, grisly muzzle like a pigs; the body, head and limbs clad all over with close growing, coarse, grayish black hair-almost bristles. That is the Ard Vark in appearance. Now for his habits.

By profession he is an ant-eater, and right royally he feasts on the great white termites, who rear their hill houses so plentifully in the interior of South Africa, making them in appearance like miniature Indian mounds, as impregnable almost as an adobe wall, and inhabiting them in families of millions.

To come at his termite victims, the Ark Vark falls to upon some weak or defective point of the fortress, rooting, boring, drilling, and digging, carrying on his siege assaults as assiduously as Grant assailed beleaguered Vicksburg, never relaxing his energies for a moment, till he has mined the fortress and uncovered the poor termite's last line of protection. Then begins the destruction, the queer beast continuing his ant-eating revels until the last termite terminates the feast, and despoiled ant-hill is a tenantless shell.

The Ard Vark is a civil, quiet fellow enough, if let alone; but molest him, and he is a furious and formidable enemy, butting such severe whacks with his great snout, and tearing so furiously with his stout claws, that it is only upon very rare occasions that even the lion or leopard venture to provoke him to battle, and still more rare that one of them comes out of a contest with him the victor. COSMO.

DEAR LITTLE THINGS.

Dear reader, did it ever occur to you, that of all the almost a hundred thousand words in our English language, there is no other so dear to thought, and ear, and heart, as Little? I have had it in mind ever since I was a little girl, and a thousand times wondered if there were many more people in all this wide world, who had learned to look upon and love little-every thing, as I did and do still. In the command of our Saviour, "Suffer little children to come unto me," &c., mark you, he did not say youth or infants, or young people or small children, or merely children; but used the beautiful qualifying adjective little-Little Childrenmaking the injunction infinitely sweeter and dearer than it could have been in any other form

So it is all through the Bible. Who, or whatever is there qualified by

the title-little, appears peculiarly dear and holy. So it is in all modern times and languages. The English word, little, has its equivalent in signification in every language and dialect of modern Europe. Dear little thing, sweet little birdie, charming little woman, precious little darling, and so on, running through a thousand variations and applications of the pet word. Whoever heard of such monstrosities in speech, as dear great thing, sweet big bird, charming huge women, or precious great big baby? Why, even a giant would feel more flattered,by the compliment of dear little fellow, falling from the lips of a pretty woman, than he would by all the admiring exclamations in the world, of " Dear, whopping great chap," and the like, though they were a trifle nearer the truth.

A FEW WORDS ABOUT PIES.

As popularly made, either domestic or by professional pie-makers, pies are almost invariably unwholesome food. This pernicious quality is oftener attributable to clammy, lardy, greasy crusts, than to the material that makes the filling of the pie; though, in most instances, that, too, might be infinitely improved. The proportion of shortening should never exceed a single tablespoonful to a quart of sifted flour. Use milk to "wet up" with, instead of water, and in place of salaratus, use Azumea. Three teaspoonfuls to a quart of flour, will make a crust light as a sponge, and when baked tender, palatable and wholesome. The same results will follow the use of Azumea in the making of bread, biscuits, puddings, cakes, and all kinds of pastry. The material is cheap, easily obtained by inquiring for it at any respectable grocery, and full instructions for using always accompanies every package. Buy Azumea, and use it as I do, and be blessed with better bread and cakes, pies, puddings, and better health. MADELINE.

AN ANTIQUE BIBLE.

Probably the oldest book in the United States is a manuscript Bible, in the Witherspoon family, in Alabama. Written a thousand and fortythree years ago, on parchment of finest texture, with a surface smooth and glossy as satin, scarcely tinged by the corroding touch of more than ten centuries, the initial capital letters of every chapter elaborately and most beautifully wrought in black, blue, red, and green inks, retain, seemingly, all their original brilliancy of colors. The pages are ruled as exact and uniformly as the best modern paper, and the entire matter correctly divided, as in our printed Bibles, into books, chapters and verses, is written with great uniformity in the old German text. The whole is handsomely and substantially bound as a book, the covers being of carved oak, clasped and ornamented with brass. In all the initial letters throughout the work, no two are of the same pattern.

ANCIENT SHIPS.

We think, and talk, and write of our marvels of modern ship building, as if in beauty, magnificence and extravagance displayed in river palaces and ocean wonders, were total eclipses of every thing the genius of man has ever placed before the eyes of the wondering world in the way of naval architecture. Old Pliny, the elder, was always thought reliable as a his

[ocr errors]

torian. Let us listen to a description he gives of a galley built for Hiero, by Archimedes, and presented by the proprietor afterwards to Ptolema, of Egypt: "It was furnished with twenty benches of oars, fifty rowers to each bench, and had three spacious apartments, with all the conveniences of a sumptuous palace. The floor of the middle apartment was curiously wrought in many colors, representing the stories of Homer's Iliad. The other parts of this room were finished in exquisite style, and embellished with many gorgeous ornaments. The upper room was arranged as a gymnasium and garden, and was adorned with numerous statutes, rare plants, flowers and singing birds. The third, and most magnificent apartment, was dedicated to Venus. The floor of this room was inlaid with agate and precious stones, while the windows were ornamented with small statutes in alabaster and splendid paintings on ivory. This room was supplied with a number of baths, and had, also, a library. There were three great coppers for heating water, and the principal bath, wrought from a beautiful, many-colored stone, held two thousand quarts of water.

The ship, throughout its entire length, both inside and out, was adorned with paintings, carved work, and statutes in ivory, Parian marble and lapiz lazuli. There were eight towers, two at the bow, two at the stern, and four in the centre of the ship. All these towers were surmounted by strong parapets of brass, from which stones of immense weight could be hurled upon an enemy by powerful engines, constructed by Archimedes. Each tower was guarded by archers, who shot fiery cross-bolts, setting on fire all hostile ships that ventured to approach. Although the vast ship was so deep that its keel was thirty feet below the surface, one man could easily expel all the water that leaked into it, by a machine invented and built for that purpose by Archimedes."

Such a ship, so fitted and furnished, and propelled by steam, plying on the Hudson in the year 1867, would pay fifty per cent. dividends per month.

SMALL NOTES.

WHEN a favor is asked of a woman, her first thought is, how she can do you the most service with the least possible display. Ask a man the same service, and his first thought is to impress you with the obligation that he is going to place you under.

-WHAT perverse fools mankind are, to be sure. If, by an omnipotent edict, Folly and Wickedness could be transformed into leaders of everyday duties, their votaries would fall off so fast, that within a week neither of the old ladies would have a single follower.

-GREAT principles are the world's necessities in all things; but as only one in ten thousand of us are capable of managing great principles, Infinite Wisdom has adapted to our capacity, and placed within our easy reach, many small principles of the same stock, inviting us to use them to the same end.

-ON the way to wealth, economy is the best guide, and ought always to be the disbursing clerk of enterprise.

-It is easier to smother to death a wicked expression before it leaves our lips, than to recall it after it has once escaped.

COSMO.

The Guardian.

VOL. XVIII.-MAY, 1867.-No. 5.

MAY DAYS AND MAYING.

BY THE EDITOR.

"The merry May hath pleasant hours, and dreamily they glide,
As if they floated, like the leaves, upon a silver tide;

The trees are full of crimson buds, the woods are full of birds,
And the waters flow to music, like a tune with pleasant words."

GOD is always working miracles. He is working them now. May is a month of signs and wonders. Even the old Pagans referred its marvellous resurrections and revivals to divine powers. By the Romans almost every day of it was observed as a festival. From April 28th to May 2d, they kept the Floralia, or festival in honor of Flora, the goddess of flowers. From this comes the beautiful modern custom of Maying on May 1st. Chaucer sings of the May-day festivities in England. Kings and Queens left their palaces and rollicked through the fields to gather flowers and enjoy the sweet music of the Spring birds :

"Fourth goeth al the court, both moste and leste,

To feche the flowers freshe, and brannch and blome."

An old English chronicler tells us that Henry VIII., with Queen Katharine, and many lords and ladies rode a-Maying to the high ground of Shooter's Hill. He says: "It was customary for the citizens of London to join together and have their several Mayings, with May-poles, warlike shows, arches, morris-dancers, and other devices."

The poor Pagans walked according to the light and law in them. Without the guide of Revelation, their light was uncertain and wavering. They felt the need of a God, and groped about in midnight darkness in search of Him-seeking the Lord "if haply they might feel after Him.' All life to them was a mystery, and all the laws of Nature. They watched their manifestations and growth with reverence. We call them fools for worshipping an ibis, a calf, or a crocodile. But these animals had life. And what was that? They had a goddess of grain fields and a goddess of

VOL. XVIII.-9.

t

flowers, and we say what god-forsaken blasphemers! But something turned their little mustard seeds into large plants with myriads of yellow flowers, and their grains of wheat into the blade and the ear, and the full corn in the ear. They could not make a living plant. Some unseen power could. That power they could not understand or explain. Can you? It must be divine, thought they. And they called it Seres or Flora, and built temples and altars to the supposed divinity, and committed their fields and flowers to her keeping.

Herein lies a lesson. I am no Pagan, no apologist of Pagan rites, yet have I a kindly feeling for these earnest seekers of the ancient world. Their services are blind unconscious prophecies of something better. They tried to solve the mysterious problem of life. In their fruitless efforts they prepared the way for the coming of the Life of the world. They drew wisdom from the seasons, and viewed them as symbolical of the powers of human life. Ovid beautifully tells us:

"Perceivest thou not the process of the year,
How the four seasons in four forms appear;
Like human life in every shape they wear:
Spring first, like infancy, shoots out her head,
With milky juice, requiring to be fed;
Proceeding onwards, whence the year began,
The Summer grows adult, and ripens into man.
Autumn succeeds, a sober, tepid age,

Nor froze with fear, nor boiling into rage;
Last, Winter creeps along with tardy pace,
Sour is his front, and furrow'd is his face.'

The Jews held two of their leading festivals in Spring. These were retained in the Christian Church as Christian Festivals. And now the Passover and the Feast of Tabernacles have become our Easter and Pentecost--the festival of Christ's resurrection and the birth-day of the Christian Church by the outpowering of the Holy Ghost. These give us what the Pagans sought but never found. Their prophecies have been fulfilled. The May-day of the Christian Church has passed into history. Christ hath arisen "and become the first fruits of them that slept." "The winter is past, the rain is over and gone; the flowers appear on the earth, the time of the singing of birds is come." And the children go a-Maying, plucking the dandelion, daffodil, and violet. Skipping over green meadows, and along mountain sides. Listening to the birds. Laughing and rollicking with merry glee. Seeing their innocent being reflected in murmuring brooks and on flower-petals. Loving and praising God for these cheery May-days of life.

Aubin says in Euthanasy: "When I was seven years old I heard a hymn read from the pulpit, and there was one verse of it that thrilled me so that I could fancy myself hearing it being read now. I remember it to this day, though I have never heard the hymn, nor seen it since.

Youth, when devoted to the Lord,

Is pleasing in his eyes;

A flower when offered in the bud,
Is no vain sacrifice."

With the invitation of that hymn, it was as though I was caught up into a heaven of resolution and hope."

« 上一頁繼續 »