It is not a very long time ago, that "bustles" formed a very essential part of a fashionable lady's dress; nor has this singular branch of the fine arts altogether fallen into decadence at the present day. And, as apropos of this, we find in the "Drawer" a description of the uses of this article in Africa, which we think will awaken a smile upon the fair lips of our lady-readers. "The most remarkable article of dress," says the African traveler, from whom our extract is quoted, "that I have seen, is one which I have vaguely understood to constitute a part of the equipment of my fair countrywomen; in a word, the veritable '_Bustle!_' Among the belles here, there is a reason for the excrescence which does not exist elsewhere; for the little children ride astride the maternal bustle, which thus becomes as useful as it is an ornamental protuberance. Fashion, however, has evidently more to do with the matter than convenience; for old wrinkled grandmothers wear these beautiful anomalies, and little girls of eight years old display protuberances that might excite the envy of a Broadway belle. Indeed, Fashion may be said to have its perfect triumph and utmost refinement in this article; it being a positive fact that some of the girls hereabout wear _merely_ the bustle, without so much as the shadow of a garment! Its native name is "_Tarb-Koshe_."" * * * * * Here is a formula for all who can couple "love" and "dove," by which they may rush into print as "poets" of the common "water." The skeleton may be called any thing--"Nature," "Poesy," "Woman," or what not: Stream.....mountain.....straying, Breeze.....gentle.....playing; Bowers.....beauty.....bloom, Rose.....jessamine.....perfume. Twilight.....moon.....mellow ray, Tint.....glories.....parting day. Poet.....stars.....truth.....delight, Joy.....sunshine.....silence.....night; Voice.....frown.....affection.....love, Lion.....anger.....taméd dove. Lovely.....innocent.....beguile, Terror.....frown.....conquer.....smile; Loved one.....horror.....haste.....delay, Past.....thorns.....meet.....gay. Sweetness.....life.....weary.....prose, Love.....hate.....bramble.....rose; Absence.....presence.....glory.....bright, Life.....halo.....beauty.....light. * * * * * Not long since a young English merchant took his youthful wife with him to Hong-Kong, China, where the couple were visited by a wealthy Mandarin. The latter regarded the lady very attentively, and seemed to dwell with delight upon her movements. When she at length left the apartment, he said to the husband, in broken English (worse than broken China): "What you give for that wifey-wife yours?" "Oh," replied the husband, laughing at the singular error of his visitor, "two thousand dollars."