Robert Merry's museum, Volumes III-IV (1842)Various
General
Robert Merry's museum, Volumes III-IV (1842)
Various
Children's literature -- Periodicals
And now for the dandy of our cities. The great thing is to have
abundance of hair; and the more it hangs over the eyes, and obtrudes
itself around the nose and mouth and neck, and in every other place
that may suggest the idea of discomfort or filthiness, so much the
better, thinks the dandy. For my own part, I lay it down as an
invariable rule, that if a youth displays an unusual quantity of hair
or beard, he is deficient, to the same extent, in brains. I believe
this is a safe ground of judgment. But still, it is the fashion, just
now, to run to hair, and thus it seems our young men have an ambition
to excel in that, in which, after all their efforts, the bear, the
buffalo, and indeed most beasts, will always surpass them. When I see
one of these whiskered, soap-locked fellows, I always think of the
description that an Irish girl gave of a skunk that was rude to her,
upon a certain occasion. As she went home, she carried evidence of the
fact, and when the people asked what it meant--“Faith!” said she, “and
it was a little hairy beast that did it!”
SPANISH NAMES.--The love of long Christian names by the Spaniards
has frequently been a subject of ridicule. A Spaniard on his travel,
arrived in the night at a little village in France, in which there was
but one hotel. As it was almost midnight, he knocked at the door a long
time without hearing any one stir. At length the host, putting his head
out of the chamber window, asked who was there. The Spaniard replied,
“Don Juan Pedro, Hernandez, Rodriguez, Alvarez de Villanova, Count de
Malafra, Cavellero de Santiago d’Alcantara.” “Mercy on me,” said the
host, as he shut the window, “I have but two spare beds, and you ask me
lodging for a score.”
Eagles, and some other Matters.
The eagle is considered the king of birds, as the lion is called
the king of beasts. Now both the lion and eagle are strong, and
they readily sacrifice all other creatures to their own gluttonous
appetites. At the same time, they are both cowardly creatures. The lion
is a skulking beast, and steals upon his prey like a thieving cat; and
he readily flies from danger, except when hunger impels him to bold
deeds. The eagle too, when his crop is well filled, is a lazy creature,
and at any time a much smaller bird may drive him away.
Now, the title of king was given to the lion and the eagle, in ancient
days, and it shows what the people then thought of kings. It is obvious
that they supposed a king to be a powerful, but selfish creature,
sacrificing everybody to himself, as do the lion and the eagle. They
did not suppose it necessary for the king to be noble, generous, and
courageous, for they would not, in that case, have given the title of
king, to sly, thieving, cowardly animals.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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