Papurau Newydd Cymru

Chwiliwch 15 miliwn o erthyglau papurau newydd Cymru

Cuddio Rhestr Erthyglau

8 erthygl ar y dudalen hon

POLITICAL GOSSIP. 1.

Tr-IB ARTS, LITERATURE, &C.…

TOPICS OF THE WEEK. ♦

OUR MISCELLANY. I

Newyddion
Dyfynnu
Rhannu

OUR MISCELLANY. I A certain Irishman making love to a lady of great fortune, told her he could- not sleep for dreaming of her." A Cure for Stupiclity. 11 You are very stupid, Thomas," said a country teacher to a little boy eight years old. You are like a donkey, and what do they do to cure them of stupidity P" They feed them better, and kick them leas," said the arch little urchin. A Quaker's Excuse for Firing.—A good story is told of a Quaker volunteer, who was in a Virginia skirmish. Coming to pretty close quarters with a secessionist, he remarked, Fnend, tIS very unfor- tunate, but thee standest just where I am going to shoot;" and, blazing away, down came his man.-The American Joe Miller. Expensive ]DackEl. gentleman, being asked What was the Pri°e ot ducks," confessed that he could not tell, for he had been out that very day with his wife, and she had purchased no less than three ducks. First, there was "a duck of a dress secondly, a duck of a parasol;" and thirdly, a duck of a bonnet. ■" Short Pettieoats -It is reported, and on good authority, too, that short dresses are decidedly coming into fashion again-not dresses looped up in the shepherdess style, which Watteau delighted to paint, but simple short skirts, which, if not so graceful as the long trains as at present worn, are infinitely more suitable and rational for outdoor drapery. Even at the present moment some few Parisians are wearing, during their sojourn in the country, short skirts: only over them there is a long coat, which slopes well away from the front, and falls very long at the back, simulating a sort of second skirt. The short skirt is trimmed round the edge with a puffing of the same material, separated at intervals of equal distance by straps of ribbon. Other short skirts are scolloped out round the edge, and either bound with ribbon or puffed with silk. This is by no means universally adopted, and for the present is looked upon as an attempt made by the leaders of fashion to reintroduce skirts of a more reasonable length; but let us hope that this attempt will succeed.Paris Letter in the Queen." Epitaphs.—The following are copied from grave- stones in Scalby churchyard, near Scarborough A careful couple we have been, And many trubles we have seen; We when alive did do our best, But now our bones they lie at rest." The following lines are on the tomb of-an-old captain in the navy: loss d to and fro this troublesome Ocean of Time, I have Served my king and my Country For Years Nine I have born the hot climate ofiboth East and West, And now here are laid my Bones at Rest." Here we have an inscription on an unfortunate girl, wno loved not wisely, but too well." Pause here my sex, and think awhile; Let not man's tongue, ear you beguile. 1 By base persuasions I was overcome. My life it Cost. Behold my Tomb. I was my Father's pride, my Mother's care. My once Gay Body now lies mould'ring here. I died in peace with God and all, Waiting my Saviour's joyful call." Josiah Wedgwood's Childhood.—The chil- dren's daily walk to school and back led across pleasant fields and through green pastures, rich in wild flowers, which were not lost upon the clever and observant child who, all unconscious of his future destiny, was educating his eye in the true principles of art and taste-which to be true must be based on Nature and in harmony with her works-by carefully marking the flowers, the leaves, and the berries which decked the hedgerows and the short tractB of moor- land waste along which he trudged daily to and fro. It is almost needless to add that he was a great favourite at home with his brothers and sisters, in conjunction with whom he turned one of his father's work-sheds into a sort of museum of natural history, and decorated it with fossil shells and other curiosities. So early in his case did the child prove the father of the man.- Once a Week. The Wise Tree.—I was talking to-day (April 29) with a Huntingdonshire cottager, and was saying how cold the day had been after our previous hot weather. Yes," said my friend, You mustn't expect the sum- mer to come all at once. The wise tree would have told you better than that. I was up agen the hall this marning, and saw those two wise trees that grow nigh to the fish-stewe, and they hadn't put out a mossel o' show." And what tree may the wise tree be ? I asked. It's what some folks call the mulberry," was the reply; but the wise tree is the name as I've always known it by ever since I was a child." "And why do you call it the wise tree?" "Why, because it isn't silly like some trees as puts out their leaves early, and then gets nipped; but the wise tree, on the contrary, always waits till the frosses has gone right away, and ain't to be deceived by a stroke o fine weather coming early in the season. But when it's sartin sure that it be fine weather and well settled, then it puts out its leaves. 0 yes, Sir, you may rest content on the wise tree telling you when you may be safe against frosses.Notes and Queries. The White Widow.—The Strand Exchange, in the time of William and Mary was the scene of the pretty story of the White Widow." For several days a sempstress appeared ae one of the stalls, clothed in white and wearing a white mask. She excited great curiosity, and all the fashion- able world thronged to her stalls. This mysteriouer milliner was at last discovered to be no less a person than the Duchess of Tyrconnel, widow of Tal- bot, the detested Lord Deputy of Ireland under James II. Unable to obtain a secret access to her feadly, and almost starving, she had been compelled to turn shopwoman. Her relatives provided for her directly the story became known. This duchess was the Frances Jennings mentioned by Grammont, and sister to the Duchess of -Marlborongb.-Thornburu's Haunted London. A Convenient Fish.-I have never seen any fish half as fat and as good for Arctic winter food as these little lamp fish. It is next to impossible to broil or fry them, for they melt completely into oil. Some idea of their marvellous fatness may be gleaned from the fact that the natives use them as lamps for the lighting of their lodges. The fish, when dried, has a piece of rush pith, or a atrip from the inner hark of the cypress-tree (Thugia gigantea), drawn through it, a long round needle made of hard wood being used for the purpose; it is then lighted, and burns steadily until consumed. I have often read comfort- ably by its light. The candlestick (literally a stick for the candle) consists of a bit of wood split at one end, with the lamp fish inserted in the cleft. These ready- made sea-candles-little dips wanting only a wick that can be added in a minute—are easily trans- formed by heat and pressure into liquid. If the Indian drinks instead of bnrning them, he gets a fuel in the shape of oil that keeps up the combustion within. himself, burnt and consumed in the lungs, just as if it was by the wick, but giving only heat. It is by no mere chance that myriads small fith, in obedience to a wondrous instinct, annually visit the northern seas, containing within themselves all the elements necessary for supplying light and heat, and life to the poor savages, who but for this supply must perish in the bitter oold of the long dreary winter.-All the Yea/r Round. Dried Flowers.-Dried flowers, in their natural colours, have for some time past appeared for sale in the shops. The mode in which the operation is effected is this:—A vessel with a movable cover is provided, and having removed the cover from it, a piece of metallic gauze of moderate fineness is fixed over it and the cover replaced. A quantity of sand is then taken, sufficient to fill the vessel, and passed through a sieve into aa iron pet, where it is heated with the addition cf a small quantity of stearine carefully stirred, so to thoroughly mix the ingredients. The quantity of stearine to be added is at the rate of half a pound to 1001b of sand. Care must be taken not to add too much, as it would sink to the bottom and injure the flowers. The vessel with its cover on, and the gatisa beneath it, is then turned upside down, and the bottom being removed, the flowers to be operated upon are carefully placed on the gauze and the sand gently poured in, so as to cover the flowers entirely the leaves being thus prevented from touching each other The vessel is then put into a hot place-rmcb for instance, as the top of a bakers' oven, where it is left for forty-eight hours. The flowers thus become dried, and they retain their natural colours. The vessel still remaining bottom upwards, the lid is taken off, and the sand runs away through the gauze, leaving the flowers uninj ured. Journal of the Society of Arts.

[No title]

¡---: THE COURT. ---+-

HINTS UPON GARDENING. -+-

SPORTS AND PASTIMES. ---+--