The Blue Jay.“Abluejay,” says Wilson, “which I have kept for some time, and with whom I am on terms of familiarity, is a very notable example of mildness of disposition and sociability of manners. An accident in the woods first put me in possession of this bird, when in full plumage, and in high health and spirits. I carried him home with me, and put him into a cage already occupied by a gold-winged woodpecker, where he was saluted with such rudeness, and received such a drubbing from the lord of the manor, for entering his premises, that, to save his life, I was obliged to take him out again.“I then put him into another cage, where the only tenant was a female orchard oriole. She also put on airs of alarm, as if she considered herself endangered and insulted by the intrusion. The jay, meanwhile, sat mute and motionless on the bottom of the cage, either dubious of his own situation, or willing to allow time for the fears of his neighbor to subside. Accordingly, in a few minutes, after displaying various threatening gestures, she began to make her approach, but with great circumspection and readiness for retreat.Seeing the jay, however, begin to pick up some crumbs of broken chestnuts, in a humble and peaceable way, she also descended, and began to do the same; but, at the slightest motion of her new guest, wheeled round and put herself on the defensive. All this ceremonious jealousy vanished before evening, and they now roost together, and feed and play together in perfect harmony and good humor. When the jay goes to drink, his messmate very impudently jumps into the water to wash herself, throwing the water in showers over her companion, who bears it all patiently, and venturing to take a sip now and then between the splashes, without betraying the smallest token of irritation. On the contrary, he seems to take pleasure in his little fellow-prisoner, allowing her to clean his claws from the minute fragments of chestnuts which happen to adhere to them.”LINES PLACED OVER A CHIMNEY-PIECE.Surly Winter, come not here;Bluster in thy proper sphere:Howl along the naked plain,There exert thy joyless reign;Triumph o’er the withered flower,The leafless shrub, the ruined bower;But our cottage come not near;—Other springs inhabit here,Other sunshine decks our boardThan the niggard skies afford.Gloomy winter, hence! away!Love and fancy scorn thy sway;Love and joy, and friendly mirthShall bless this roof, these walls, this hearth,The rigor of the year control,And thaw the winter in the soul.Mrs. Barbauld.A Germangentleman, in the course of a strict cross-examination on a trial was asked to state the exact age of the defendant.“Dirty,” (thirty,) was the reply.“And pray, sir, are you his senior and by how many years?”“Why, sir, I am dirty-two.”The Shoe-black and his Dog.—An English officer of the 44th regiment, who had occasion, when in Paris, to pass one of the bridges across the Seine, had his boots, which had been previously well polished, dirtied by a poodle dog rubbing against them. He, in consequence, went to a man, who was stationed on the bridge, and had them cleaned. The same circumstance having occurred more than once, his curiosity was excited, and he watched the dog. He saw him roll himself in the mud of the river, and then watch for a person with well-polished boots, against which he continued to rub himself.Finding that the shoe-black was the owner of the dog, he taxed him with the artifice; and, after a little hesitation, he confessed that he had taught the dog the trick, in order to procure customers for himself. The officer being much struck with the dog’s sagacity, purchased him at a high price, and took him to England. He kept him tied up in London some time, and then released him. He remained with him a day or two, and then made his escape. A fortnight afterwards, he was found with his former master, pursuing his old trade on the bridge in Paris.Advertisement extra.—The followingmorceauwas copied from the original notice on board the steamboat William Caldwell, which plies on Lake George. The placard hung directly over the “bocks” containing the “snaick.”A Rattel Snaick too bee Shode.—Thee history off this snaick is as follors, hee was ketcht on tunn mounting buy a poore man with a large fammely being sicks yer ould and very wenumous he is now in a bocks and cant hirt no boddy which is much better than too bee runnin wilde cause hee don’t want to eat nothun.Admittance is sickpents for them what pleese to pay it, and thrippents for them what dont, a libberall reduckshon for fammeliees for more particklelars pleese to cawl onOld Dick.T. N. Take notiss it was the poor man and not the snaick that had a large fammeley.Pat-riotism.—W. E. Robinson,Esq., in a speech recently delivered in Baltimore, said that even the ridicule cast upon Irishmen was sometimes the highest praise. Thus, the nickname ofPatwas a word of the very best signification. No word beginning withPat, in the English language, had a bad meaning.Patent is applied to something valuable;Paternal means fatherly or kind;Patriarch, the father or head of the family;Patrician, a nobleman;Patriot, a lover of his country;Patrol, one who guards the garrison;Patron, a protector and guardian;Pattern, a thing to be copied.To our Readers.Weregret that we are obliged to omit, this week, the continuation of Bill Keeler’s story of the Lottery Ticket, as well as some other articles intended for this number.We must also defer till another number several interesting letters from our correspondents.
“Abluejay,” says Wilson, “which I have kept for some time, and with whom I am on terms of familiarity, is a very notable example of mildness of disposition and sociability of manners. An accident in the woods first put me in possession of this bird, when in full plumage, and in high health and spirits. I carried him home with me, and put him into a cage already occupied by a gold-winged woodpecker, where he was saluted with such rudeness, and received such a drubbing from the lord of the manor, for entering his premises, that, to save his life, I was obliged to take him out again.
“I then put him into another cage, where the only tenant was a female orchard oriole. She also put on airs of alarm, as if she considered herself endangered and insulted by the intrusion. The jay, meanwhile, sat mute and motionless on the bottom of the cage, either dubious of his own situation, or willing to allow time for the fears of his neighbor to subside. Accordingly, in a few minutes, after displaying various threatening gestures, she began to make her approach, but with great circumspection and readiness for retreat.
Seeing the jay, however, begin to pick up some crumbs of broken chestnuts, in a humble and peaceable way, she also descended, and began to do the same; but, at the slightest motion of her new guest, wheeled round and put herself on the defensive. All this ceremonious jealousy vanished before evening, and they now roost together, and feed and play together in perfect harmony and good humor. When the jay goes to drink, his messmate very impudently jumps into the water to wash herself, throwing the water in showers over her companion, who bears it all patiently, and venturing to take a sip now and then between the splashes, without betraying the smallest token of irritation. On the contrary, he seems to take pleasure in his little fellow-prisoner, allowing her to clean his claws from the minute fragments of chestnuts which happen to adhere to them.”
LINES PLACED OVER A CHIMNEY-PIECE.
Surly Winter, come not here;Bluster in thy proper sphere:Howl along the naked plain,There exert thy joyless reign;Triumph o’er the withered flower,The leafless shrub, the ruined bower;But our cottage come not near;—Other springs inhabit here,Other sunshine decks our boardThan the niggard skies afford.Gloomy winter, hence! away!Love and fancy scorn thy sway;Love and joy, and friendly mirthShall bless this roof, these walls, this hearth,The rigor of the year control,And thaw the winter in the soul.Mrs. Barbauld.
Surly Winter, come not here;Bluster in thy proper sphere:Howl along the naked plain,There exert thy joyless reign;Triumph o’er the withered flower,The leafless shrub, the ruined bower;But our cottage come not near;—Other springs inhabit here,Other sunshine decks our boardThan the niggard skies afford.Gloomy winter, hence! away!Love and fancy scorn thy sway;Love and joy, and friendly mirthShall bless this roof, these walls, this hearth,The rigor of the year control,And thaw the winter in the soul.Mrs. Barbauld.
Surly Winter, come not here;
Bluster in thy proper sphere:
Howl along the naked plain,
There exert thy joyless reign;
Triumph o’er the withered flower,
The leafless shrub, the ruined bower;
But our cottage come not near;—
Other springs inhabit here,
Other sunshine decks our board
Than the niggard skies afford.
Gloomy winter, hence! away!
Love and fancy scorn thy sway;
Love and joy, and friendly mirth
Shall bless this roof, these walls, this hearth,
The rigor of the year control,
And thaw the winter in the soul.
Mrs. Barbauld.
A Germangentleman, in the course of a strict cross-examination on a trial was asked to state the exact age of the defendant.
“Dirty,” (thirty,) was the reply.
“And pray, sir, are you his senior and by how many years?”
“Why, sir, I am dirty-two.”
The Shoe-black and his Dog.—An English officer of the 44th regiment, who had occasion, when in Paris, to pass one of the bridges across the Seine, had his boots, which had been previously well polished, dirtied by a poodle dog rubbing against them. He, in consequence, went to a man, who was stationed on the bridge, and had them cleaned. The same circumstance having occurred more than once, his curiosity was excited, and he watched the dog. He saw him roll himself in the mud of the river, and then watch for a person with well-polished boots, against which he continued to rub himself.
Finding that the shoe-black was the owner of the dog, he taxed him with the artifice; and, after a little hesitation, he confessed that he had taught the dog the trick, in order to procure customers for himself. The officer being much struck with the dog’s sagacity, purchased him at a high price, and took him to England. He kept him tied up in London some time, and then released him. He remained with him a day or two, and then made his escape. A fortnight afterwards, he was found with his former master, pursuing his old trade on the bridge in Paris.
Advertisement extra.—The followingmorceauwas copied from the original notice on board the steamboat William Caldwell, which plies on Lake George. The placard hung directly over the “bocks” containing the “snaick.”
A Rattel Snaick too bee Shode.—Thee history off this snaick is as follors, hee was ketcht on tunn mounting buy a poore man with a large fammely being sicks yer ould and very wenumous he is now in a bocks and cant hirt no boddy which is much better than too bee runnin wilde cause hee don’t want to eat nothun.
Admittance is sickpents for them what pleese to pay it, and thrippents for them what dont, a libberall reduckshon for fammeliees for more particklelars pleese to cawl onOld Dick.
T. N. Take notiss it was the poor man and not the snaick that had a large fammeley.
Pat-riotism.—W. E. Robinson,Esq., in a speech recently delivered in Baltimore, said that even the ridicule cast upon Irishmen was sometimes the highest praise. Thus, the nickname ofPatwas a word of the very best signification. No word beginning withPat, in the English language, had a bad meaning.Patent is applied to something valuable;Paternal means fatherly or kind;Patriarch, the father or head of the family;Patrician, a nobleman;Patriot, a lover of his country;Patrol, one who guards the garrison;Patron, a protector and guardian;Pattern, a thing to be copied.
Weregret that we are obliged to omit, this week, the continuation of Bill Keeler’s story of the Lottery Ticket, as well as some other articles intended for this number.
We must also defer till another number several interesting letters from our correspondents.