Page images
PDF
EPUB

66

one more satisfactory. There is a Saxon verb But we must hasten to close these illustra"thean," meaning "to get," "to take." An tions. Passing by the words "bones,"-Saxobject is defined by being taken out of its class. on, though probably related to the Greek, If a man is taken from among men in general" baino," "I go," or if not to that, to the he is rendered definite. Translate "take Saxon "beon," to exist, "if" from the Saxman" into Anglo Saxon, and you have on imperative "gif," implying a concession "thean man," i. e. the man. So "the evil " of probability, "grievous" from the Latin, determines what evil is meant. gravis," heavy, a fitting description of sorrow, “fault," through the French, “faute," from the Latin, "fallo," "I deceive,” we come to the picturesque word, "ambitious." We say "picturesque" advisedly, for in this word which comes to us through the French "ambitieux" from the Latin "ambitus," a going round," we have a representation of the habits of the ancient and the modern office seekers. The solicitation of votes, the win

The word "evil" is as universal in the Gothic tongues, as the thing it denotes was common to those who spoke them. The German, "Ubel,” the Anglo Saxon, " Efel," are evidently the immediate connexions of our English "evil." But have they a common source? We can hardly be mistaken in suspecting that in the Hebrew "evel," kindred in sound and in form, we have a name for this mysterious principle which carries us back toning of popularity, the friendly greeting dic

"Man's first disobedience, and the fruit
Of that forbidden tree, whose mortal taste
Brought death into the world, and all our woe."

[ocr errors]

tated by self interest alone, the secret offer bribes, the "stumping the state"—all of which require a good deal of going round-and sometimes not a little of turning round-had their "Men," "do," "lives" and "after" are counterparts in the old republics. They cerall words of Saxon origin, and almost of Sax-tainly entitled a man to be called ambitious; on form. "Lives" contrasted with "hath" and if they won him the rewards, they no less exhibits to us a form of the third person sin-exposed him to the reverses of an anxious and gular, once peculiar to the northern counties busy politician.

of England, but now common to all English verbs except when the antiquated and solemn style adheres to the form ending in "th."

From "good," a Saxon word, formerly written gód is derived the name of that being in whom it dwells unmingled and supreme. "Is" and "oft" are Saxon, but "interred,' comes to us through the French "enterrer," from the Latin "in terra," "in earth,”—and shows the place of burial.

Many of our particles were originally parts of verbs. It is not altogether a fanciful derivation which refers the uniting, binding preposition "with" to the imperative of the Anglo Saxon verb "withan," "to join"; and Walter Scott was not far out of the way in his etymology, when he sustained his schoolmate in his reply to the master's question, "What part of speech is 'with' ?" "A noun," said the boy. "You young blockhead," cried the indignant dominie, "what example can you give of such a thing?" "I can tell you," cried little Walter, there's a verse in the Bible which says, they bound Samson with green withes.'

[ocr errors]

For the Schoolmaster.
Going Out and Coming In.

BY MANFRED.

I heard a slow and solemn tread-
'Twas like one marching to the dead;

I heard a bell peal forth the time
Replete with death-the midnight chime;
And from my heart a sigh was given
At the going out of Fifty-Seven.

I heard a quick and hurried tread-
'Twas not like one who mourns the dead;

I heard a voice speak thus to me,
"Replete with joy my reign shall be."

Yet my strange heart was not elate
At the coming in of Fifty-Eight.

Laziness begins in cobwebs and ends in iron chains. It creeps over a man so slowly and imperceptibly that he is bound tight before he knows it.

MR. EDITOR:

For the Schoolmaster.

I notice in the October number of the R. I. Schoolmaster, a little poem, entitled "Lines by Milton in his Old Age," accompanied with a note, in which it is said, that "this production has been but lately discovered among the remains of the great epic poet-and was recently published in the Oxford edition of his works." As for the accuracy of this latter statement, I cannot vouch "from my own knowledge," as I know of no Oxford edition of Milton containing this poem though there may be such; indeed, four years ago, at the time these lines were first circulated in this country, with the above heading and note, I was at some pains to inquire into the facts in the case, and was informed, on pretty good authority, that this poem really did close the volume of a late English edition of Milton.

As to the former statement, that the poem was found among the remains of the "great epic poet," I am quite certain of its incorrectness. The lines are known to be the effusion of an American muse, having been written by Elizabeth Lloyd, of Philadelphia, and, by some strange hocus pocus, honestly or otherwise, seem to have travelled to England and come home again with great honors. There is real merit in this poem, but aside from the positive proof we have of its authorship, it is still a matter of wonder, how any one, sufficiently familiar with the writings of Milton to undertake the editorship of his works, should have imagined for an instant that the author of Paradise Lost" could have written these

lines. Taken as a whole and in many of its parts, the poem, beautiful as it is, has yet nothing Miltonic about it. Certain phrases, being quoted from Milton's prose, are the on

lines before us. The setting, so to speak,the halo-the spirit about these lines, is strongly marked with the sentimentalism of our time. Milton could never have set a poem in such a frame. He never did and never could have said, as in the third stanza here

"When friends pass by, my weakness shun,”— for he has left this tender record of his friends, that "to this" (the sacredness resulting from his affliction) "I ascribe the more tender assiduities of my friends, their soothing attentions, their kind visits, their reverential obser vances. This extraordinary kindness, which I experience cannot be any fortuitous combination; and friends such as mine, do not suppose that all the virtues of a man are contained in his eyes." (2d Defence of the People of England, pp. 239, 240.

Bolin's edition of

[blocks in formation]

"Give me my lyre,"

he would never have ended thus.

I have written thus much upon the internal evidence that this poem is not a production of

the great epic poet, because so many in the absence of its real authorship, have been ready to attribute it to Milton, and seem also to re

ly exception in this statement. Although gard its great merit an additional honor to Milton in several eloquent passages in his his memory. Our genius seekers are quite prose, writes very fully of himself, his per- too fond of bestowing such posthumous resonal appearance, his blindness and its ef-nown upon canonized poets and sages. This fects; and in his poems there is at least one is a species of impudence of which our age passage, inspired in part, by his great afflic- needs a serious purging. Alexander Smith tion-the opening of the Third Rook of Par- would be just as dear to those who admire him, adise Lost, if so many shallow reviews had not informed us that he is "Shakespearian in his imagery,"

"Hail holy Light! offspring of heaven, first which is of course a nonsensical falsehood;

born!"

yet, it is always in a very different strain from that adopted by his fair counterfeit in the

and how many Byrons and Wordsworths we have seen in full bloom, during the last twenty or thirty years!

We should be a great deal more modest light of reason and of conscience; mine keeps as well as a little nearer the truth, if our from my view only the colored surface of grandiloquent critiques of the new poets did things, while it leaves me at liberty to contemnot liken them-with a few grains of advan-plate the beauty and stability of virtue and tage in favor of their songs-to the classic truth. How many things are there besides, singers whose works we have never read! which I would not willingly see; how many And is it too much to add, that our poetical which I must see against my will; and how education would be advanced quite as rapid- few which I feel any anxiety to see! ly by the perusal and study of the time approved masters of song as by vapid admirations which we are apt to get in the ing literature of the present day?

There is, as the apostle has remarked, a way to strength through weakness. Let me, then, flash-be the most feeble creature alive, as long as that feebleness serves to invigorate the energies of my rational and immortal spirit; as in that obscurity in which I am enveloped, the light of the divine presence more clearly shines; then in proportion as I am weak I shall be invincibly strong, and in proportion as I am blind I shall more clearly see. Oh! that I may thus be perfected by feebleness, and irradiated by obscurity! And indeed, in my blindness I enjoy in no inconsiderable degree, the favor of the Deity, who regards me with more tenderness and compassion in proportion as I am able to behold nothing but himself. Alas! for him who insults me, who maligns and merits public execration! For the divine law not only shields me from injury, but almost renders me too sacred to attack; not, indeed, so much from the privation of my sight, as from the overshadowing of those heavenly wings which seem to have occasioned this obscurity, and which, when occasioned, he is wont to illuminate with an interior light more precious and more pure."

Notwithstanding the restrictions I have made of the lines before us, considered as a production of Milton, I would by no means detract from their merits. They are really a very clever paraphrase of an eloquent passage from Milton's Second Defence of the People of England-the close of which is quoted above. I cannot better serve the readers of the Schoolmaster than by giving the passage entire. Milton's enemies, not his friends, had "pointed at him as stricken by God's frown," on account of his blindness; and all sorts of wordy insults were heaped upon him by the vile writer in defence of the royal cause. To which he replied in his " 2d Defence," by relating what motives had governed him in undertaking again a defence of the people, and how in defence of the Truth he had lost his sight. He then says "Let then the calumniators of divine goodness cease to revile, or to make me the object of their superstitious imaginings. Let them consider that my situation, such as it is, is neither an object of my shame or of my regret, that my resolutions are too firm to be shaken, that I am not depressed by any sense of divine displeasure; that on the other hand in the most momentous periods, I have had full experience of the divine favor and protection; and that, in the solace and the strength which have been infused into me from above, I have been enabled to do the will of God; that I may oftener think on what He has bestowed than on what He has withheld; that, in short, I am unwilling to exchange my con

[merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small]

Good nature is the basis of courtesy, as

sciousness of rectitude with that of any oth-courtesy must be the basis of all true polite

er person; and that I feel the recollection a treasured store of tranquility and delight. But if the choice were necessary, I would, sir, prefer my blindness to yours; yours is a cloud spread over the mind, which darkens both the

ness and refinement. The rule may be a good one to "assume a virtue, if we have it not," but courtesy as we have said before, cannot be assumed with any success. We all have the germ of it, but in many it slumbers through

the greater part of the day, and much of whose character will enter into and form a part of the character of the child.

We well remember the surprise we felt some years since, upon hearing the language quoted above, from a teacher with whom we had been on terms of friendship-it lessened our estimate of his character, and we could no longer esteem one who was addicted to such a habit.

a life time, and in others it is overwhelmed in teacher-the one under whose influence he is early life, by untoward circumstances. Still it may be cultivated and in time be made a principle of action. Unless this can be done, the individual must content himself with less refined society than that to which he or she aspires, for refined society will not tolerate uncourteousness of disposition, nor accept mere external politeness in lieu of it. Society is correct in their distinctions, and those who are aggrieved at their social position had better ask themselves whether we have not furnished the key to the difficulty under which they labor.-Boston Herald.

For the Schoolmaster.

Don't be Cross.

For the Schoolmaster.

Splendid.

Ir words were permitted to speak for themselves, what a complaint would be heard from them, of banishment from their proper place

"I WISH I could go to Willie's school, and misuse by well-disposed persons. No mother."

64

Why so, my son-you have a good school now, and you are not advanced enough to enter Willie's school."

[ocr errors]

one has more cause for complaining than the word Splendid.

In ancient times, this word was derived from the Latin, an ancient and honorable "I know it, mother, but my teacher is so source. From the same family came glorious, cross to me; he calls me a blockhead,' a 'young sublime, excellent, delectable, superfine, delirascal' and a good many other names, and to- cious; all, once, honored and respected words, day, when I was laughing at something funny, but now, like modern Spanish grandees, dehe told me if I did not stop he would fling prived of everything except their empty titles. me out of the window.'" Splendid is applied to dress, to men, to a No wonder little Charley was tired of go-house, a tree, a story, to roads, to the weathing to school to be called by such names, but it is a wonder to us that any teacher who is in the habit of making use of such language to his scholars, should be allowed the charge of a school.

Charley was not a bad boy; he was full of life and fun, and at his age-nine years-it was no easy matter for him to sit through two long sessions a day, and remain perfectly quiet, especially when his quick eye detected some roguery going on in the room.

Hard names from a school-mate, though unpleasant, are entirely different from hard names from a teacher, or any one to whom the child is accustomed to look up with respect. Such words to him are like the electric shock, causing the whole frame to quiver. But words of kindness and sympathy will make him a captive at will.

er, to horses, to all sorts of animals possessing beauty or grace, to household furniture of all kinds, particularly to pianos and pictures, carpets and marble tables, to anything beautiful, pretty, good, rich, nice, excellent, graceful, useful, superior, appropriate, bright, sparkling, witty, ingenious, superb, pleasing, pleasant, charming. It is, briefly, a universal adjective, which may be used as freely as the common-place remarks on the state of the weather, and generally with no more effect than they, while it is not at all necessary, as they may be, to help in filling up a bare page of note paper or to enrich the conversation of a dull company.

We forbear giving examples, as better than we can adduce may be obtained by any who listen to the small talk in the parlor or in the dining-room. Perhaps some one may be as There is nothing more pleasing to a child than much shocked as we were once, to hear a to be noticed with kindness by his superiors." finished" young lady speak, at the dinner This the child has a right to expect from his table, of "a splendid- -POTATO."

From the United States Magazine.

The Arab, in writing, places the paper upon his knee, or upon the palm of his left hand, or upon a dozen or more pieces of paper at

How Steel Pens are Made.

A VISIT TO THE MANUFACTORY OF THE MEDAL-tached together at the four corners, and re

LION PEN COMPANY.

[ocr errors]

THE Pen and the Press have together recorded the events and experiences of many centuries, and to their joint agency we are mainly indebted for the blessings of civilization. However, it is not our present intention to discuss the effects produced by these great moral engines, but briefly to trace the history of one of them-the Pen-and, by comparison, show the superiority of the materials used, as well as the rapidity and perfection of their construction, at the present time, in contrast with previous ages.

As long as people wrote upon tables covered with wax, they were obliged to use a style

or bodkin made of bone, metal or some other hard substance; but when they began to write with colored liquids, they employed a reed; after which quills and feathers came in fashion, these finally giving way to metals-steel, not only from its adaptability, but from its cheapness, being the great speciality for this

purpose.

The earliest pens, such as were used for writing on papyrus with a fluid ink, appear

to have been made of reeds. In our translations of the Old and New Testaments, the word pen refers either to an iron style, used with wax tablets, or to a reed-quills not having been introduced earlier than the fifth century. It is uncertain what particular kind of reed was used for making pens, but it is described as a small, hard, round cane, about the size of a large swan's quill. The supply of these reeds was obtained from Egypt, Cairo, in Asia Minor, and Armenia. Chardin and Tournefort describe a kind of reeds used for pens in Persia. These reeds are collected near the shores of the Persia Gulf, whence they are sent to various parts of the East.After being cut, they are deposited for some months under a dunghill, when they assume a mixed black and yellow color, acquire a fine polish and a considerable degree of hardness, and the internal pith dries up into a membrane which is easily detached. Reed pens are still in use, and they suit the Arabic character better than quill or metal pens.

sembling a thin book, which he rests on his knee. The ink used is very thick and gummy. Although the quills used for pens are chiefly from the goose, those from the swan and

crow are much esteemed; and, besides these, the ostrich, turkey and other birds occasion

ally contribute to the supply. Most of the

goose-quills manufactured are from the Netherlands, Germany, Russia and Poland. Before the general introduction of metallic pens, been received in Great Britain, from St. Peas many as twenty-seven million quills had tersburg, in a single year. Some idea of the number of gecse required to keep up such a each wing preduces about five good quills, supply may be judged of from the fact that and that by careful management a goose may afford twenty quills during a year. As they come from the bird, quills are covered with a membrane, and are tough and soft, so that they will not make a clean slit; they are also opaque, and the vascular membrane adheres strongly to the interior surface of the barrel. These defects are got rid of and the quills prepared for market by the operations of the quill-dressing, or quill-dutching. They are

[graphic][merged small][merged small]
« PreviousContinue »