'I feltthe leaves were shed,I felt the birds were dead:And on the earth I snowed the winter of my soul!'
'I feltthe leaves were shed,I felt the birds were dead:And on the earth I snowed the winter of my soul!'
Expressive words, and only too true! * * *Notless than a 'good many'readers of theKnickerbockercan 'place' the parties who figure in this little anecdote, which we are assured is entirely authentic: 'A young lady namedTaylor, meeting a former acquaintance namedMason, at a party, where the latter was assuming any quantity of importance in consequence of her wealth, and who did not deign to notice her, revenged herself by stepping into the group surrounding the haughty belle, and thus addressing her, with the most winning smile: 'I have been thinking, my dearMiss Mason, that we ought to exchange names.' 'Why, indeed?' 'Because my name isTaylor, and my father was a mason; and your name isMason, and your father was a tailor.' There was a scene then; but there was no help for it. * * * 'I wasexceedingly amused,' writes a Boston friend, 'by your double-brace of 'The Practical Jokes of the late Colonel E. L. Snow.' I knew that original 'Joker' well. There was never anymischiefin his fun: it was always harmless and always good-natured. I spent a winter four years ago in your 'Great Metropolis,' and saw much of 'The Colonel' in the very barber's shop which you designate. One cold blustering morning he came in, and as he took his seat in the 'operator's chair,' he said, with a 'wondering' expression of countenance: 'That is a strange thing about the Fountain: it's frozen over sixty feet high!' 'Is thatso?' asked three or four gentlemen, seated on a sofa, waiting their 'turn.' 'Yes: it's a fact: I saw it myself before I came in.' Out they rushed, to the Park Fountain, which atthattime used to throw up its white column of water into the clear, cold air. Pretty soon they came back 'disgusted,' and looking daggers atSnow, 'It's all a lie!' they said: 'the Fountain is playing eighty feet high:Humbug!' 'No humbug at all,' responded the 'Colonel:' 'I meant the Fountain in Union-Square! It's a good dealmorethan sixty feet high from here; and I saw it frozen solid not more than half-an-hour ago!' 'The laugh' was on the other side now: but the victims were good-natured fellows, and laughed as heartily as the rest. On another occasion, upon entering the shop, I foundSnow'in the chair,' with a very lugubrious countenance 'on him,' as the Irish have it. 'That was a terrible thing,' said he, 'which happened on the Harlem Railroad this morning!' 'What wasthat?' asked several 'voices.' 'Why,' explainedSnow, 'the entire New-Haven train, of eight cars, ran over four men and a young lady.' 'They were instantly killed, of course?' 'No: miraculous as it may seem, not a single life was lost!' 'Why, how wasthat?' 'Well, they wereunder the Harlem Bridge, when the train passed over them, and not a car touched them! Cur'ous, wasn't it?' * * *Thanksto our oldBoyhood's Friend, 'J. B. B.,' for his notelet, written in our absence at the desk of our town-sanctum. One 'plum' in it we are going to transfer to our own 'pudding:' 'I met an old school-mate in the cars last evening, who gave me an amusing anecdote of a character who lived in Pittsfield, (Mass.;) a man full of hearty humor—his name S—— P——, Jr. He was at Cleveland; and recognizing a nephew across the street, hailed him, as he was walking along in solemn mood: and as he took his hand he said: 'Well,Tom, I understand you have sold out entirely and gone into a new business: taken up theMilleritebusiness, eh!' 'Well, UncleLem.,' was the reply, 'what wouldyoudo if you certainly expected the Last Day would come at twelve o'clockto-day?' 'Why,Tom,' saidLem., laughing, 'I'lltellyou what I would do: I would just work till five minutes before twelve, and then I'd wash up!'' Not a bad reply to a 'hard question!' * * *Canany of our readers or correspondents inform us who is the author of the ensuing stanzas? They are certainly very beautiful: and their melody and fervor lead us to think that they may be from the pen of Rev. Mr.Bonar, from whom we have heretofore quoted two or three exquisite effusions. These lines bear this motto, fromIsaiah: 'I will lead thee in the paths they have not known:'
'Howfew who, from their youthful day,Look on to what their life may be;Painting the visions of the wayIn colors soft and bright and free;How few who to such paths have broughtThe hopes and dreams of early thought!ForGod, through ways they have not known,Will leadHisown.'The eager hearts, the soul of fire,Who pant to toil forGodand man;And view with eyes of keen desireThe upland way of toil and pain;Almost with scorn they think of rest,Of holy calm, of tranquil breast,ButGod, through ways they have not known,Will lead them home.'A lowlier task on them is laid—With love to make the labor light;And there their beauty they must shedOn quiet homes and lost to sight.Changed are their visions high and fair,Yet calm and still they labor there;ForGod, through ways they have not known,Will leadHisown.'The gentle heart that thinks with pain,It scarce can lowliest tasks fulfil;And if it dared its life to scan,Would ask but pathway low and still;Often such lowly heart is broughtTo act with power beyond its thought:ForGod, through ways they have not known,Will leadHisown.'And they, the bright, who long to prove,In joyous path, in cloudless lot,How fresh from earth their grateful loveCan spring without a stain or spot—Often such youthful heart is givenThe path of grief, to walk in Heaven:ForGod, through ways they have not known.Will leadHisown.'What matter what the path shall be?The end is clear and bright to view;We know that we a strength shall see,Whate'er the day may bring to do.We see the end, the house ofGod,But not the path to that abode;ForGod, through ways they have not known,Will leadHisown.'
'Howfew who, from their youthful day,Look on to what their life may be;Painting the visions of the wayIn colors soft and bright and free;How few who to such paths have broughtThe hopes and dreams of early thought!ForGod, through ways they have not known,Will leadHisown.
'The eager hearts, the soul of fire,Who pant to toil forGodand man;And view with eyes of keen desireThe upland way of toil and pain;Almost with scorn they think of rest,Of holy calm, of tranquil breast,ButGod, through ways they have not known,Will lead them home.
'A lowlier task on them is laid—With love to make the labor light;And there their beauty they must shedOn quiet homes and lost to sight.Changed are their visions high and fair,Yet calm and still they labor there;ForGod, through ways they have not known,Will leadHisown.
'The gentle heart that thinks with pain,It scarce can lowliest tasks fulfil;And if it dared its life to scan,Would ask but pathway low and still;Often such lowly heart is broughtTo act with power beyond its thought:ForGod, through ways they have not known,Will leadHisown.
'And they, the bright, who long to prove,In joyous path, in cloudless lot,How fresh from earth their grateful loveCan spring without a stain or spot—Often such youthful heart is givenThe path of grief, to walk in Heaven:ForGod, through ways they have not known.Will leadHisown.
'What matter what the path shall be?The end is clear and bright to view;We know that we a strength shall see,Whate'er the day may bring to do.We see the end, the house ofGod,But not the path to that abode;ForGod, through ways they have not known,Will leadHisown.'
These fervent lines are 'poetry.' * * * Mr.Charles L. Elliott, the eminent portrait-painter, was safely delivered of the subjoined remark, at a quarter to four of the clock, on the afternoon of February the twenty-second,while crossing the Hudson River. He commenced as follows: said he: The epitaphs which you quote in a late number of theKnickerbocker, remind me of averbalone which my father once heard. An old fellow, a coarse, ill-grained Dutchman, died one day. He was a disagreeable man, and a bad neighbor: even the children feared and disliked him. One of his neighbors asked him just before his death, if he was ready to go, to which he answered: 'Yes.' 'Well,' was the rejoinder, 'if you are willing to die yourself, all your neighbors are willing you should.' At the grave, even, there was no one to say a good word for him, except one good-hearted old German, who remarked, as he turned away to go home: 'Well, he vas a goot shmoker!'' This was the 'shmoker's only epitaph. * * *A friendmentioned to us the other evening an amusing example of 'A Dutchman's Reliance on Providence.' There had been a great drought in the county of Columbia: no rain had fallen for the space of two or three months; and all the upland fields were parched and dry: insomuch that great fears were entertained that there would be an utter failure of the usual crops. In this extremity, a meeting was called of all devout citizens of that particular 'rural district,' to offer upPrayers for Rainto the 'Lordof the Harvest.' One honest old Dutchman who had a large farm, statedhis'views' to the meeting in this way: 'Dere ish some vields along der hills dere, dat ish pooty dry: I wis you bray for some rain ondem: but you needn't bray for any mores vater on der moisht black ground under der hills dere; 'cause cornmooshtgrow ondemvields any how!' The 'argument' was effective! * * *AmongthePublic Lecturers of the Seasonwe may mention the name of our correspondent, and country neighbor, Mr.William Wirt Sikes. His lectures are upon attractive themes, are well written, and he delivers them with entire effect. The subjects of four, which we have seen mentioned, are: 'The Beautiful,' 'William Wirt,' 'The Noble Life,' 'Insanity.' Mr.Sikes'address is, Nyack on the Hudson. * * * 'A Conundrum by Induction,' must have cost a good deal of hard work to make:
Whyis a bee-hive like a bad potato?Because a bee-hive is a bee-holder:And a beholder is a spectator,And a speck-tater is a bad potato!
Whyis a bee-hive like a bad potato?Because a bee-hive is a bee-holder:And a beholder is a spectator,And a speck-tater is a bad potato!
'Apt,' for a metaphysician. * * *Wecall attention to the advertisement elsewhere of 'The Cosmopolitan Art-Journal. It has succeeded in securing the liberal favor of the public, having reached a circulation of nearly forty thousand copies. 'The Falstaff,' which it furnishes as a premium picture, is an excellent work of art, and cannot fail of a very wide diffusion. * * *The Editorial Correspondence of The Knickerbocker,' extending through a period of over twenty years, will be commenced in our next. Having to gain nearly a month's time in the advance preparation of the present number, we have not found the requisite leisure to do justice to the opening paper.
KNICKERBOCKER PREMIUMS.
Weoffer, as will be seen by our Prospectus, to each subscriber to theKnickerbockerfor 1861, as a premium, the choice of the two very fine Steel-plate Engravings, 'Robert Burns in his Cottage composing the Cotter's Saturday Night,' and the 'Merry-Making in the Olden Time.' The first of these pictures—Burns—has been engraved by the distinguished American artist,John C. McRae, after the celebrated painting by SirWilliam Allan: and representsBurnsin his humble home, clad in the homely garb in which he was wont to tread the fields, his dog at his feet and his pen in his hand, musing seriously over those immortal utterances that found vent in the exquisite lyric above named. The portrait is perfect, and the picture executed in the highest style of art. Its size is sixteen by twenty-one inches; and its publication price is two dollars.
The other engraving we offer as a premium, the 'Merry-Making,' is a perfect copy ofFrith'scelebrated picture, and was engraved at an expense of two thousand dollars. It measures twenty-five by nineteen and a half inches in size, contains thirty-nine figures, and is, beyond comparison, the finest work of the kind ever offered as a premium in this country. The following description of it is furnished us byWilliam Cullen Bryant, Esq.:
'Almostin the centre of the picture and a little in the back-ground, is a country-dance on the green, with a hard-featured fiddler perched on a high seat, and another musician in a tie-wig standing by him, playing with all their might. On the right, two bouncing girls are gaily pulling toward the dance a gray-haired man, who seems vainly to remonstrate that his 'dancing days are over,' while a waggish little chit pushes him forward from behind, greatly to the amusement of his spouse, who is still sitting at the tea-table, from which he has been dragged. On the left, under a magnificent spreading oak, sit the 'Squire and his wife, whom a countryman with his hat off is respectfully inviting to take part in the dance. To the left of the 'Squire is a young couple on the grass, to whom a gipsy, with an infant on her shoulder, is telling their fortune. Over the shoulders of this couple is seen a group engaged in quoit-playing, and back of the whole is a landscape of gentle slopes and copses.'
'Almostin the centre of the picture and a little in the back-ground, is a country-dance on the green, with a hard-featured fiddler perched on a high seat, and another musician in a tie-wig standing by him, playing with all their might. On the right, two bouncing girls are gaily pulling toward the dance a gray-haired man, who seems vainly to remonstrate that his 'dancing days are over,' while a waggish little chit pushes him forward from behind, greatly to the amusement of his spouse, who is still sitting at the tea-table, from which he has been dragged. On the left, under a magnificent spreading oak, sit the 'Squire and his wife, whom a countryman with his hat off is respectfully inviting to take part in the dance. To the left of the 'Squire is a young couple on the grass, to whom a gipsy, with an infant on her shoulder, is telling their fortune. Over the shoulders of this couple is seen a group engaged in quoit-playing, and back of the whole is a landscape of gentle slopes and copses.'
No similar opportunity will be presented the public for obtaining these very fine engravings.
Publisher's Notice.
ThePublisher invites contributions on subjects of immediate National interest, Historical, Biographical, Descriptive, Scientific, etc. Such articles, if written in a lively and attractive manner, and embodyingnew and useful information of a practical character, will always receive early and respectful attention; and if used, will be suitably paid for.
Manuscripts, excepting short poems, if not accepted, will be returned if accompanied by a sufficient number of stamps to pay the postage.
Transcriber's note:Minor typographical and punctuation errors have been corrected without note. Irregularities and inconsistencies in the text have been retained as printed.Mismatched quotes are not fixed if it's not sufficiently clear where the missing quote should be placed.The cover for the eBook version of this book was created by the transcriber and is placed in the public domain.
Minor typographical and punctuation errors have been corrected without note. Irregularities and inconsistencies in the text have been retained as printed.
Mismatched quotes are not fixed if it's not sufficiently clear where the missing quote should be placed.
The cover for the eBook version of this book was created by the transcriber and is placed in the public domain.