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 "Gentlemen, my uncle used to say that he thought all this at the time, but I rather suspect he learnt it out of some book afterwards, for he distinctly stated that he fell into a kind of doze, as he sat on the old axletree looking at the decayed mail coaches, and that he was suddenly awakened by some deep church-bell striking two. Now, my uncle was never a fast thinker, and if he had thought all these things, I am quite certain it would have taken him till full half-past two o'clock, at the very least. I am, therefore, decidedly of opinion, gentlemen, that my uncle fell into the kind of doze, without having thought about any thing at all.

"Be this, as it may, a church bell struck two. My uncle woke, rubbed his eyes, and jumped up in astonishment.

"In one instant after the clock struck two, the whole of this deserted and quiet spot had become a scene of most extraordinary life and animation. The mail coach doors were on their hinges, the lining was replaced, the iron-work was as good as new, the paint was restored, the lamps were alight, cushions and great coats were on every coach box, porters were thrusting parcels into every boot, guards were stowing away letter-bags, hostlers were dashing pails of water against the renovated wheels; numbers of men were rushing about, fixing poles into every coach; passengers arrived, portmanteaus were handed up, horses were put to; in short, it was perfectly clear that every mail there, was to be off directly. Gentlemen, my uncle opened his eyes so wide at all this, that, to the very last moment of his life, he used to wonder how it fell out that he had ever been able to shut 'em again.

Now then!' said a voice, as my uncle felt a hand on his shoulder, 'You're booked for one inside. You'd better get in.'

I booked!' said my uncle, turning round.

Yes, certainly.'

My uncle, gentlemen, could say nothing; he was so very much astonished. The queerest thing of all, was, that although there was such a crowd of persons, and although fresh faces


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 purpose than to peep between the palings at these mails—about a dozen of which, he remembered to have seen, crowded together in a very forlorn and dismantled state, inside. My uncle was a very enthusiastic, emphatic sort of person, gentlemen; so, finding that he could not obtain a good peep between the palings, he got over them, and sitting himself quietly down on an old axletree, began to contemplate the mail coaches with a deal of gravity.

"There might be a dozen of them, or there might be more—my uncle was never quite certain on this point, and being a man of very scrupulous veracity about numbers, didn't like to say—but there they stood, all huddled together in the most desolate condition imaginable. The doors had been torn from their hinges and removed; the linings had been stripped off: only a shred hanging here and there by a rusty nail; the lamps were gone, the poles had long since vanished, the iron-work was rusty, the paint was worn away; the wind whistled through the chinks in the bare wood work; and the rain, which had collected on the roofs, fell, drop by drop, into the insides with a hollow and melancholy sound. They were the decaying skeletons of departed mails, and in that lonely place, at that time of night, they looked chill and dismal.

"My uncle rested his head upon his hands, and thought of the busy bustling people who had rattled about, years before, in the old coaches, and were now as silent and changed; he thought of the numbers of people to whom one of those crazy mouldering vehicles had borne, night after night, for many years, and through all weathers, the anxiously expected intelligence, the eagerly looked-for remittance, the promised assurance of health and safety, the sudden announcement of sickness and death. The merchant, the lover, the wife, the widow, the mother, the schoolboy, the very child who tottered to the door at the postman's knock—how had they all looked forward to the arrival of the old coach. And where were they all now!

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/


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 story, unless you distinctly understand at the beginning that he was not by any means of a marvellous or romantic turn.

"Gentlemen, my uncle walked on with his thumbs in his waistcoat pockets, taking the middle of the street to himself, and singing, now a verse of a love song, and then a verse of a drinking one, and when he was tired of both, whistling melodiously, until he reached the North Bridge, which, at this point, connects the old and new towns of Edinburgh. Here stopped for a minute, to look at the strange irregular clusters of lights piled one above the other, and twinkling afar off so high, that they looked like stars, gleaming from the castle walls on the one side and the Calton Hill on the other, as if they illuminated veritable castles in the air; while the old picturesque town slept heavily on, in gloom and darkness below: its palace and chapel of Holyrood, guarded day and night, as a friend of my uncle's used to say, by old Arthur's Seat, towering, surly and dark, like some gruff genius, over the ancient city he has watched so long. I say, gentlemen, my uncle stopped here, for a minute, to look about him; and then, paying a compliment to the weather which had a little cleared up, though the moon was sinking, walked on again, as royally as before; keeping the middle of the road with great dignity, and looking as if he would very much like to meet with somebody who would dispute possession of it with him. There was nobody at all disposed to contest the point, as it happened; and so, on he went, with his thumbs in his waistcoat pockets, like a lamb.

"When my uncle reached the end of Leith Walk, he had to cross a pretty large piece of waste ground which separated him from a short street which he had to turn down, to go direct to his lodging. Now, in this piece of waste ground, there was, at that time, an enclosure belonging to some wheelwright who contracted with the Post-office for the purchase of old worn-out mail coaches; and my uncle, being very fond of coaches, old, young, or middle-aged, all at once took it into his head to step out of his road for no other


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 her again, with increased velocity, and shrouding everything in darkness. Really, this won't do,' said my uncle, addressing himself to the weather, as if he felt himself personally offended.

"This is not at all the kind of thing for my voyage. It will not do, at any price,' said my uncle very impressively. Having repeated this, several times, he recovered his balance with some difficulty—for he was rather giddy with looking up into the sky so long—and walked merrily on.

"The baillie's house was in the Canongate, and my uncle was going to the other end of Leith Walk, rather better than a mile's journey. On either side of him, there shot up against the dark sky, tall gaunt straggling houses, with time-stained fronts, and windows that seemed to have shared the lot of eyes in mortals, and to have grown dim and sunken with age. Six, seven, eight stories high, were the houses; story piled above story, as children build with cards—throwing their dark shadows over the roughly paved road, and making the dark night darker. A few oil lamps were scattered at long distances, but they only served to mark the dirty entrance to some narrow close, or to show where a common stair communicated, by steep and intricate windings, with the various flats above. Glancing at all these things with the air of a man who had seen them too often before, to think them worthy of much notice now, my uncle walked up the middle of the street, with a thumb in each waistcoat pocket, indulging from time to time in various snatches of song, chaunted forth with such good will and spirit, that the quiet honest folk started from their first sleep and lay trembling in bed till the sound died away in the distance; when, satisfying themselves that it was only some drunken ne'er-do-weel finding his way home, they covered themselves up warm and fell asleep again.

"I am particular in describing how my uncle walked up the middle of the street, with his thumbs in his waistcoat pockets, gentlemen, because, as he often used to say (and with great reason too) there is nothing at all extraordinary in this


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 “Up we go!” said Pooh cheerfully.

“The ascent is proceeding as expected,” said Owl

helpfully. Soon it was over. Piglet opened the letter-box and climbed in. Then, having untied himself,

he began to squeeze into the slit, through which in the old days when front doors were front doors, many an unexpected letter that WOL had written to himself, had come slipping.

He squeezed and he squoze, and then with one


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 kippered salmon, and Finnan haddocks, and a lamb's head, and a haggis—a celebrated Scotch dish, gentlemen, which my uncle used to say always looked to him, when it came to table, very much like a cupid's stomach—and a great many other things besides, that I forget the names of, but very good things notwithstanding. The lassies were pretty and agreeable; the baillie's wife was one of the best creatures that ever lived; and my uncle was in thoroughly good cue. The consequence of which was, that the young ladies tittered and giggled, and the old lady laughed out loud, and the baillie and the other old fellows roared till they were red in the face, the whole mortal time. I don't quite recollect how many tumblers of whiskey toddy each man drank after supper; but this I know, that about one o'clock in the morning, the baillie's grown-up son became insensible while attempting the first verse of Willie brewed a peck o' maut;' and he having been, for half an hour before, the only other man visible above the mahogany, it occurred to my uncle that it was almost time to think about going: especially as drinking had set in at seven o'clock, in order that he might get home at a decent hour. But, thinking it might not be quite polite to go just then, my uncle voted himself into the chair, mixed another glass, rose to propose his own health, addressed himself in a neat and complimentary speech, and drank the toast with great enthusiasm. Still nobody woke; so my uncle took a little drop more—neat this time, to prevent the toddy from disagreeing with him—and, laying violent hands on his hat, sallied forth into the street.

"It was a wild gusty night when my uncle closed the baillie's door, and settling his hat firmly on his head, to prevent the wind from taking it, thrust his hands into his pockets, and looking upward, took a short survey of the state of the weather. The clouds were drifting over the moon at their giddiest speed: at one time wholly obscuring her: at another, suffering her to burst forth in full splendour and shed her light on all the objects around: anon, driving over


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 clock in it's decay, than I could have done in its flourishing condition

—And so away I posted to the college of the Jesuits.

Now it is with the project of getting a peep at the history of China in Chinese characters—as with many others I could mention, which strike the fancy only at a distance; for as I came nearer and nearer to the point—my blood cool'd—the freak gradually went off, till, at length I would not have given a cherry-stone to have it gratified—The truth was, my time was short, and my heart was at the Tomb of the LoversI wish to God, said I, as I got the rapper in my hand, that the key of the library may be but lost; it fell out as well


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 which time he collected debts, and took orders, in the north: going from London to Edinburgh, from Edinburgh to Glasgow, from Glasgow back to Edinburgh, and thence to London by the smack. You are to understand that his second visit to Edinburgh was for his own pleasure. He used to go back for a week, just to look up his old friends; and what with breakfasting with this one, lunching with that, dining with a third, and supping with another, a pretty tight week he used to make of it. I don't know whether any of you, gentlemen, ever partook of a real substantial hospitable Scotch breakfast, and then went out to a slight lunch of a bushel of oysters, a dozen or so of bottled ale, and a noggin or two of whiskey to close up with. If you ever did, you will agree with me that it requires a pretty strong head to go out to dinner and supper afterwards.

"But, bless your hearts and eye-brows, all this sort of thing was nothing to my uncle! He was so well seasoned, that it was mere child's play. I have heard him say that he could see the Dundee people out, any day, and walk home afterwards without staggering; and yet the Dundee people have as strong heads and as strong punch, gentlemen, as you are likely to meet with, between the poles. I have heard of a Glasgow man and a Dundee man drinking against each other for fifteen hours at a sitting. They were both suffocated, as nearly could be ascertained, at the same moment, but with this trifling exception, gentlemem, they were not a bit the worse for it.

"One night, within four-and-twenty hours of the time when he had settled to take shipping for London, my uncle supped at the house of a very old friend of his, a Baillie Mac something and four syllables after it, who lived it the old town of Edinburgh. There were the baillie's wife, and the baillie's three daughters, and the baillie's grown-up son, and three or four stout, bushy eye-browed, canny old Scotch fellows, that the baillie had got together to do honour to my uncle, and help to make merry. It was a glorious supper. There were


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 other half an hour, who should brew the best quart of punch and drink it the quickest. My uncle was judged to have won the making, but Tom Smart beat him in the drinking by about half a salt-spoon-full. They took another quart a-piece to drink each other's health in, and were staunch friends ever afterwards. There's a destiny in these things, gentlemen; we can't help it.

"In personal appearance, my uncle was a trifle shorter than the middle size; he was a thought stouter too, than the ordinary run of people, and perhaps his face might be a shade redder. He had the jolliest face you ever saw, gentlemen: something like Punch, with a handsomer nose and chin; his eyes were always twinkling and sparkling with good humour; and a smile—not one of your unmeaning wooden grins, but a real, merry, hearty, good-tempered smile—was perpetually on his countenance. He was pitched out of his gig once, and knocked, head first, against a mile-stone. There he lay, stunned, and so cut about the face with some gravel which had been heaped up alongside it, that, to use my uncle's own strong expression, if his mother could have revisited the earth, she wouldn't have known him. Indeed, when I come to think of the matter, gentlemen, I feel pretty sure she wouldn't, for she died when my uncle was two years and seven months old, and I think it's very likely that, even without the gravel, his top-boots would have puzzled the good lady not a little to say nothing of his jolly red face. However, there he lay, and I have heard my uncle say, many a time, that the man said who picked him up that he was smiling as merrily as if he had tumbled out for a treat, and that after they had bled him, the first faint glimmerings of returning animation, were, his jumping up in bed, bursting out into a loud laugh, kissing the young woman who held the basin, and demanding a mutton chop and a pickled walnut. He was very fond of pickled walnuts, gentlemen. He said he always found that, taken without vinegar, they relished the beer.

"My uncle's great journey was in the fall of the leaf, at


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 "Often," rejoined Mr. Pickwick, smiling. "He was your uncle, I think?"

"No, no; only a friend of my uncle's," replied the oneeyed man.

"He was a wonderful man, that uncle of yours, though," remarked the landlord, shaking his head.

"Well, I think he was, I think I may say he was," answered the one-eyed man. "I could tell you a story about that same uncle, gentlemen, that would rather surprise you."

"Could you?" said Mr. Pickwick. "Let us hear it, by all means.

The one-eyed Bagman ladled out a glass of negus from the bowl, and drank it; smoked a long whiff out of the Dutch pipe; and then, calling to Sam Weller who was lingering near the door, that he needn't go away unless he wanted to, because the story was no secret, fixed his eye upon the landlord's and proceeded, in the words of the next chapter.


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 last sqooze he was out. Happy and excited he turned round to squeak a last message to the prisoners.

“It’s all right,” he called through the letter-box. “Your tree is blown right over, Owl, and there’s a branch across the door, but Christopher Robin and I can move it, and we’ll bring a rope for Pooh, and I’ll go and tell him now, and I can climb down quite easily, I mean it’s dangerous but I can do it all right, and Christopher Robin and I will be back in about half-an-hour. Good-bye, Pooh!” And without waiting to hear Pooh’s answering “Good-bye, and thank you, Piglet,” he was off.

“Half-an-hour,” said Owl, settling himself comfortably. “That will just give me time to finish that story I was telling you about my Uncle Robert—a portrait of whom you see underneath you. Now let me see, where was I? Oh, yes. It was on just such a blusterous day as this that my Uncle Robert”

Pooh closed his eyes.


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 For all the  had got the cholic—and to that degree, as never was known in the memory of the oldest practitioner.

I knew the geography of the Tomb of the Lovers, as well as if I had lived twenty years in Lyons, namely, that it was upon the turning of my right hand, just without the gate, leading to the Fauxbourg de VaiseI dispatch'd François to the boat, that I might pay the homage I so long ow'd it, without a witness of my weakness.—I walk'd with all imaginable joy towards the place—when I saw the gate which intercepted the tomb, my heart glowed within me


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 with one last look back in his mind at all the happy hours he had spent in the Forest not being pulled up to the ceiling by a piece of string, Piglet nodded bravely at Pooh and said that it was a Very Clever pup-pup-pup Clever pup-pup Plan.

“It won’t break,” whispered Pooh comfortingly, “because you’re a Small Animal, and I’ll stand underneath, and if you save us all, it will be a Very Grand Thing to talk about afterwards, and perhaps I’ll make up a Song, and people will say ‘It was so grand what Piglet did that a Respectful Pooh Song was made about it.

Piglet felt much better after this, and when everything was ready, and he found himself slowly going up to the ceiling, he was so proud that he would have called out “Look at me!” if he hadn’t been afraid that Pooh and Owl would let go of their end of the string and look at him.


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 —Tender and faithful spirits! cried I, addressing myself to Amandus and Amanda—long—long have I tarried to drop this tear upon your tombI comeI come

When I came—there was no tomb to drop it upon.

What would I have given for my uncle Toby to have whistled, Lillo bullero!

matter how, or in what mood—but I flew from the tomb of the lovers—or rather I did not fly from it—(for there was no such thing existing) and just got time enough to the boat to save my passage;—and e'er I had sailed a hundred yards, the Rhône and the Saôn met together, and carried me down merrily betwixt them.


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 But I have described this voyage down the Rhône, before I made it

—So now I am at Avignion—and as there is nothing to see but the old house, in which the duke of Ormond resided, and nothing to stop me but a short remark upon the place, in three minutes you will see me crossing the bridge upon a mule, with François upon a horse with my portmanteau behind him, and the owner of both, striding the way before us with a long gun upon his shoulder, and a sword under his arm, least peradventure we should run away with his cattle. Had you seen my breeches in entering Avignon,—Though you'd have seen them better, I think, as I mounted—you would not have thought the precaution amiss, or found in your heart to have taken it, in dudgeon: for my own


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The brilliant white light of Rigel on Orion's foot shines in charming contrast to the pink-tinged Betelgeuse which lies upon his shoulder.

Rigel is a young star but not as young as Betelgeuse, for Betelgeuse, like ruddy Antares, is among the youngest of the stars. It has been many hundred million years since Rigel was as big and red as Betelgeuse now is. Rigel belongs to a group which includes the hottest of all the stars and even at a distance of at least 450 light years, it still appears so brilliant that it is one of our brightest stars. It has been estimated that in actual luminosity it exceeds our sun about 13,000 times.

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Rh pant. He feels convinced every minute that the whole concern is going over, a conviction which becomes especially lively whenever a ditch or a stretch of newly macadamised road comes in sight. Every vehicle that passes he expects is going to run into him; and he never finds himself ascending or descending a hill, without immediately beginning to speculate upon his chances, supposing—as seems extremely probable—that the weak knee'd controller of his destiny should let go.

But even this diversion failed to enliven after a while, and the ennui became perfectly unbearable. I felt my mind giving way under it. It is not a strong mind, and I thought it would be unwise to tax it too far. So somewhere about the twentieth morning, I got up early, had a good breakfast, and walked straight off to Hayfield at the foot of the Kinder Scout—a pleasant, busy, little town, reached through a lovely valley, and with two sweetly pretty women in it. At least they were sweetly pretty then; one passed me on the bridge, and, I think, smiled; and the other was standing at an open door, making an unremunerative investment of kisses upon a red-faced baby. But it is years ago, and I daresay they have both grown stout and snappish since that time. Coming back, I saw an old man breaking stones, and it roused such strong longing in me to use my arms, that I offered him a drink to let me take his place. He was a


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 A blue star of the 9th magnitude lies close beside Rigel. This little star may be seen with even a small telescope.

Just a little west of Rigel wanders a crooked line of stars, first toward Cetus, then southward toward the horizon. This is the "poor remains" of the river Eridanus. Aratus speaks of it as those "poor remains" because it represents what is left of the "amazed Eridanus" after Phæthon had, like a streaming comet, plunged into it and partly burned it up. Aratus also calls it "The River of Many Tears" because the Heliades, Phæthon's sisters, who were metamorphosed into poplar trees, "all the day stand round the tomb and weep" great amber tears.

This constellation, which is best seen directly in the south during September, is a tribute of respect to the grief of the Sungod who had gazed with horror at the wild flight of the sun-horses and the thunderbolt of Jupiter that had hurled his boy through the air. Touched by Apollo's remorse for allowing the youth to drive his horses, Jupiter drew the river to the heavens, thinking that it might be a consolation to Apollo, as he performed his daily task, to view the kindly river, now flecked with stars, which had once caught the "charred fragment" of Phæthon and "cooled it in his waters."

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72 high by 12 feet 7 inches in girth, with an estimated cubic contents of timber of 223 feet. When I measured it in 1905 it was 95 by 13 feet, but the top and trunk were decaying.

At Erlestoke Park, Wiltshire, a tree, growing near the bank of a lake, was 80 feet high by 14 feet in girth at 4 feet from the ground in 1902.

The following records from Hampshire were reported in Woods and Forests: —North Stoneham Churchyard, near Southampton, a tree 12 feet 10 inches in girth; Cranbury House, near Winchester, a tree 11 feet 9 inches in girth; at Gramwell's Meadow, east of East Tytherley Manorhouse, near Romsey, a tree 85 feet high by 10 feet 5 inches in girth, with a stem free from burrs, planted in 1780. These measurements were taken in 1884. At Hale Park, in 1879, there was a tree 75 feet high with a short bole of 4 feet, girthing 18 feet 3 inches.

The finest tree at Kew, 70 feet high in 1844, is gone, but there still exists a well-proportioned specimen which stands at the end of the rhododendron dell. It is now (1905) 79 feet high by 9 feet 9 inches in girth. It produces fruit freely every year, but the seeds are always poorly developed and infertile.

In Scotland a tree was mentioned by Loudon as growing at The Hirsel, Coldstream, the seat of the Earl of Home, which was at that time 100 years old and 20 feet in girth 3 feet from the ground. I was informed by Mr. Cairns, head gardener at the Hirsel, that in 1903 it was slowly decaying, some of the larger branches being gone, but that what remained carry a large amount of healthy foliage, and flowers more or less every year.

At Drummonie Castle, Perthshire, formerly a seat of the Lords Oliphant, Hunter mentions a tree 8 feet in girth at 5 feet, and another at Gorthy Castle, girthing 9 feet 7 inches at 3 feet, which had been a good deal injured by cattle grazing in the park. He also (p. 400) speaks of a large tree at Castle Menzies, 10 feet in girth, but I did not see it on either of my visits to this interesting old place.

The tulip tree is not mentioned in the Old and Remarkable Trees of Scotland, but it grows at Gordon Castle, and even as far north as Dunrobin Castle in Sutherlandshire.

In the south-west of Scotland there do not appear to be any large trees, the biggest mentioned by Messrs. Renwick and M'Kay being one at Auchendrane House, Ayrshire, which was, in September 1902, 53 feet by 5 feet 8 inches, and one at Doonside, Ayrshire, which was 46 feet 9 inches by 8 feet 1 inch.

At Jardine Hall, Lockerbie, a tree measured in 1900 60 feet in height by 9 feet in girth.

At St. Mary's Isle, Kirkcudbright, a tulip tree was, in 1892, 10 feet 9 inches in girth.


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46 kindly old man, and he humoured me. I went for those stones with the accumulated energy of three weeks, and did more work in half-an-hour than he had done all day. But it did not make him jealous.

Having taken the plunge, I went further and further into dissipation, going out for a long walk every morning, and listening to the band in the Pavilion every evening. But the days still passed slowly notwithstanding, and I was heartily glad when the last one came, and I was being whirled away from gouty, consumptive Buxton to London with its stern work and life. I looked out of the carriage as we rushed through Hendon in the evening. The lurid glare overhanging the mighty city seemed to warm my heart, and, when later on, my cab rattled out of St Pancras' station, the old familiar roar that came swelling up around me sounded the sweetest music I had heard for many a long day.

I certainly did not enjoy that month's idling. I like idling when I ought not to be idling; not when it is the only thing I have to do. That is my pig-headed nature. The time when I like best to stand with my back to the fire, calculating how much I owe, is when my desk is heaped highest with letters that must be answered by the next post. When I like to dawdle longest over my dinner, is when I have a heavy evening's work before me. And if, for some urgent reason, I ought to be up particularly early in


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74 interior finish of houses, and in boat-building, as well as for shingles, pumps, and wooden ware.

The only timber I know which it resembles closely in colour, texture, and grain, is that of Magnolia acuminata.

Neither Stevenson, Hough, nor Stone, however, speak of a form of this timber known as "blistered poplar," which is occasionally found, as I believe, only in old trees, and which is sometimes imported in small quantities to Europe. This seems akin to the figured maple wood known as bird's eye maple, but has the figure in oblong patches from 2 inches long downwards, of a dark olive colour on a paler olive-green ground, and is one of the most ornamental woods I know, fit to be used in the finest cabinet work. I saw large planks of this variety in the Exhibition at St. Louis, and have had some of it worked into the panels of a screen.

The wood of the tulip tree grown in England seems to be nearly as good in quality as the imported timber, though not quite so pure in colour. From a tree which was cut at Highclere a plank was sent me by the kindness of the Earl of Carnarvon, which has been used in the same screen, and I have a large book-case of which the back is made of the imported wood, selected by an experienced cabinetmaker as best for the purpose.

Mouillefert says that in Paris its use is increasing for all purposes for which the wood of the lime and poplar is suitable, and that it has when fresh cut a pleasant smell of orange, which, however, is soon lost as it dries.


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76 1. Eu-picea.—True spruces. Needles 4-sided and 4-angIed, with stomata on all their surfaces. The ripe cones are always pendulous.

2. Omorica.—Flat-leaved spruces. Leaves 2-sided, flattened from above downwards, stomata being only borne on their dorsal surface. Ripe cones pendent, horizontal, or erect.

Other divisions have been made, such as that of Link into two sections, Genuinæ and Dehiscentes; and that of Mayr into three sections, Omorica (not identical with Willkomm's section of the same name), Morinda, and Casicta; but it is most convenient to adopt Willkomm's divisions.

The arrangement of the leaves on lateral branchlets is different in the two sections. All spruces agree in the disposition of the leaves arising from the upper side of such branchlets, as these always point forwards and cover the shoot. But, in ordinary species, the leaves underneath, while they part into two lateral groups, alter little their direction, which is more or less forwards; and the under part of the stem is laid only partially bare. In almost all the flat-leaved spruces, the leaves below part into two sets, which are directed outwards at right angles to the shoot, which is laid quite bare. This arrangement differs from that of the yew and most silver firs, where the leaves are divided into two sets both above and below; and this distinction depends on the fact that in these spruces the stomata are on the dorsal surface of the leaf, whereas in the yew, etc., they are on the ventral surface; and in the effort to direct the stomata away from the light, a different arrangement results in the two cases.

The arrangement of the leaves on leader or upright branchlets is the same in all species of spruce, being radial, the leaves pointing outwards and slightly forwards. In certain species, as P. Breweriana, P. Morinda, the lateral branchlets are pendulous and not horizontal; and the leaves then are similarly arranged in both the lateral and the leader shoots.

The section Eu-picea will be dealt with in a later part.

—The flat-leaved spruces are distinguished from the silver firs by the peg-like projections on the shoots, and from ordinary spruces by the flattened leaves with stomata only on their dorsal surface.

I. Young shoots glabrous, yellow.

 * 1. Picea hondoensis. Central Japan.
 * Buds broadly conical, with scales rounded in the margin, opening red. Shoots of second year red. Leaves thin, slightly keeled on both surfaces, blunt or ending in a short point.

 * 2. Picea ajanensis. Manchuria, Amurland, Saghalien, Yezo,
 * As in 1, but the buds open green, and shoots of the second year are yellow.

 * 3. Picea sitchensis. Western North America.
 * Buds ovoid with ovate obtuse scales. Leaves deeply keeled on ventral green surface, almost convex on dorsal white surface, ending in very sharp, cartilaginous points.


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78

A tree with a tall, slender stem, said to attain 130 feet in height, with a girth of stem of only 4 feet, with short branches, forming a narrow pyramidal crown. The topmost branches are directed upwards, the middle ones are horizontally spreading, and the lower ones are pendulous, with their tips arching upwards. Bark brownish red, and scaling off in plates, the fragments often being heaped in quantity round the base of the tree. The leaves on vertical shoots stand out on all sides, but on horizontal shoots they point forwards on the upper side, being pseudo-distichous in three or four ranks on the lower side. They are flattened, 4-angled, straight, or curved to one side, ¾–1 inch long, linear, acute or obtuse with an apiculus, convex, and shining green on the ventral surface, marked with stomatic lines on each side of the prominent midrib of the dorsal surface. They persist for 4 or 5 years.

The buds, ovoid-conic with brown, membranous scales, the outermost of which end in long subulate points, are produced chiefly near the end of the shoot; and in unfolding, the uppermost scales are pushed off as a cap. The dark brown hairs, which are conspicuous on the young shoots, persist on the older branchlets of even 3 or 4 years' growth in wild specimens.

The male flowers, which are partly solitary and partly whorled, are stalked, ovoid-cylindric, bright red, ½–¾ inch long, and are surrounded at the base by numerous membranous bracts.

Cones, shortly-stalked 2–2½ inches long, bluish black when young, darkbrown when ripe, clustered, the upper ones being directed upwards, while the middle ones are horizontal, and the lower ones pendulous. Scales almost orbicular in outline, broad and convex, streaked on the outer surface, with the margin slightly bent inwards, undulate and denticulate. Bract obovate-cuneate, minute. Seeds small, – inch long, obovate, blackish brown, with a wing ⅓ inch long, obovate in outline.


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80 reported to occur also at Bellova in the Rhodope mountains in Bulgaria; but, so far as we can discover, these statements have not been confirmed, A fossil species which has been identified with the existing tree by Webber has been found in the interglacial deposits at Hottingen near Innsbruck in the Tyrol. An allied species, Picea omorikoides, Webber, has been found at Aue in Saxony in a preglacial deposit which is of the same age as the Cromer forest bed on the coast of Norfolk. Lokowitz has also found near Mulhouse in Alsace some remains of a spruce in the middle Oligocene beds which resembles Picea Omorika.

In the herbarium at Kew there are specimens collected by V. Crucic on the Drina, and others with good cones gathered by Elwes at 2000 to 3000 feet altitude.

I visited the valley of the Drina in Bosnia in 1900 on purpose to see this tree, and after driving a long day east from Sarajevo, reached Rogatica, from where Herr Gschwind, the obliging forest officer of the district, was good enough to accompany me to Han Semec, a Gendarmerie station on the road to Visegrad, about 15 miles from Rogatica. Han Semec is at an elevation of 3800 feet, and is surrounded by beautiful forests of Austrian and Scots pines, spruce, silver fir, and beech.

The climate of the district is very cold in winter and warm in summer. The minimum temperature being —33° Reaumur on 23rd December, + 30°, the maximum on 7th July 1897, the snow lying as long as 4–5 months. The rainfall in summer is heavy, amounting to 116.2 centimetres, which fell on 124 days, and the weather was wet most of the time I was there.

After passing through some beautiful mountain meadows and primæval forest of large spruce and silver fir mixed in places with beech and aspen, as well as small oaks and large birch, we came to the edge of a deep rocky ravine running down to the Drina valley. On the steep limestone cliffs overhanging this ravine, which are a favourite haunt of chamois, Picea Omorika was growing in clumps, and isolated trees occurred among common spruce, Scots and Austrian pine.

The branches are short and drooping as compared with those of common spruce, and the cones being found only near the top of the tree, we had to cut one down in order to procure fruiting specimens; on this I found young cones of the year, cones of last year which had not yet opened, and which, according to the forester, contained good seed only when there was turpentine exuding from them, and old cones which hang two or three years on the tree after shedding their seed. In habit and appearance the tree resembles the American Picea alba more than any tree I know, though its nearest botanical affinities are with P. sitchensis and P. ajanensis. Plate 28, which is from two of several photographs kindly sent me by Herr Othmar Reiser of the Landesmuseum, Serajevo, Bosnia, gives an excellent idea of the forest and of individual trees.

The average size of the full-grown trees on these steep cliffs was not above 50-60 feet, with about 1 foot of diameter, but I found some measuring 80-90 feet high and 18 inches diameter. Young seedlings were scarce and difficult to find on the mossy rocks; but we collected 20 or 30 plants, of


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Rh to come about. All the Great Powers, without exception, have interests which are incompatible, in the long run, with China's welfare and with the best development of Chinese civilization. Therefore the Chinese must seek salvation in their own energy, not in the benevolence of any outside Power.

The problem is not merely one of political independence; a certain cultural independence is at least as important. I have tried to show in this book that the Chinese are, in certain ways, superior to us, and it would not be good either for them or for us if, in these ways, they had to descend to our level in order to preserve their existence as a nation. In this matter, however, a compromise is necessary. Unless they adopt some of our vices to some extent, we shall not respect them, and they will be increasingly oppressed by foreign nations. The object must be to keep this process within the narrowest limits compatible with safety.

First of all, a patriotic spirit is necessary—not, of course, the bigoted anti-foreign spirit of the Boxers, but the enlightened attitude which is willing to learn from other nations while not willing to allow them to dominate. This attitude has been generated among educated Chinese, and to a great extent in the merchant class, by the brutal tuition of Japan. The danger of patriotism is that, as soon as it has proved strong enough for successful defence, it is apt to turn to foreign aggression. China, by her resources and her population, is capable of being the greatest Power in the world after the United States. It is much to be feared that, in the process of becoming strong enough to preserve their independence, the Chinese may become strong enough to embark upon a career of imperialism.


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242Rh It cannot be too strongly urged that patriotism should be only defensive, not aggressive. But with this proviso, I think a spirit of patriotism is absolutely necessary to the regeneration of China. Independence is to be sought, not as an end in itself, but as a means towards a new blend of Western skill with the traditional Chinese virtues. If this end is not achieved, political independence will have little value.

The three chief requisites, I should say, are: (1) The establishment of an orderly Government; (2) industrial development under Chinese control; (3) The spread of education. All these aims will have to be pursued concurrently, but on the whole their urgency seems to me to come in the above order. We have already seen how large a part the State will have to take in building up industry, and how impossible this is while the political anarchy continues. Funds for education on a large scale are also unobtainable until there is good government. Therefore good government is the prerequisite of all other reforms. Industrialism and education are closely connected, and it would be difficult to decide the priority between them; but I have put industrialism first, because, unless it is developed very soon by the Chinese, foreigners will have acquired such a strong hold that it will be very difficult indeed to oust them. These reasons have decided me that our three problems ought to be taken in the above order.

1. The establishment of an orderly government.—At the moment of writing, the condition of China is as anarchic as it has ever been. A battle between Chang-tso-lin and Wu-Pei-Fu is imminent; the former is usually considered, though falsely accord-


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243Rh ing to some good authorities, the most reactionary force in China; Wu-Pei-Fu, though The Times calls him "the Liberal leader," may well prove no more satisfactory than "Liberal" leaders nearer home. It is of course possible that, if he wins, he may be true to his promises and convoke a Parliament for all China; but it is at least equally possible that he may not. In any case, to depend upon the favour of a successful general is as precarious as to depend upon the benevolence of a foreign Power. If the progressive elements are to win, they must become a strong organized force.

So far as I can discover, Chinese Constitutionalists are doing the best thing that is possible at the moment, namely, concerting a joint programme, involving the convoking of a Parliament and the cessation of military usurpation. Union is essential, even if it involves sacrifice of cherished beliefs on the part of some. Given a programme upon which all the Constitutionalists are united, they will acquire great weight in public opinion, which is very powerful in China. They may then be able, sooner or later, to offer a high constitutional position to some powerful general, on condition of his ceasing to depend upon mere military force. By this means they may be able to turn the scales in favour of the man they select, as the student agitation turned the scales in July 1920 in favour of Wu-Pei-Fu against the An Fu party. Such a policy can only be successful if it is combined with vigorous propaganda, both among the civilian population and among the soldiers, and if, as soon as peace is restored, work is found for disbanded soldiers and pay for those who are not disbanded. This raises the financial


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244 problem, which is very difficult, because foreign Powers will not lend except in return for some further sacrifice of the remnants of Chinese independence. (For reasons explained in Chap. X., I do not accept the statement by the American consortium bankers that a loan from them would not involve control over China's internal affairs. They may not mean control to be involved, but I am convinced that in fact it would be.) The only way out of this difficulty that I can see is to raise an internal loan by appealing to the patriotism of Chinese merchants. There is plenty of money in China, but, very naturally, rich Chinese will not lend to any of the brigands who now control the Government.

When the time comes to draft a permanent Constitution, I have no doubt that it will have to be federal, allowing a very large measure of autonomy to the provinces, and reserving for the Central Government few things except customs, army and navy, foreign relations and railways. Provincial feeling is strong, and it is now, I think, generally recognized that a mistake was made in 1912 in not allowing it more scope.

While a Constitution is being drafted, and even after it has been agreed upon, it will not be possible to rely upon the inherent prestige of Constitutionalism, or to leave public opinion without guidance. It will be necessary for the genuinely progressive people throughout the country to unite in a strongly disciplined society, arriving at collective decisions and enforcing support of those decisions upon all its members. This society will have to win the confidence of public opinion by a very rigid avoidance of corruption and political profiteering; the


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245Rh slightest failure of a member in this respect must be visited by expulsion. The society must make itself obviously the champion of the national interests as against all self-seekers, speculators and toadies to foreign Powers. It will thus become able authoritatively to commend or condemn politicians and to wield great influence over opinion, even in the army. There exists in Young China enough energy, patriotism and honesty to create such a society and to make it strong through the respect which it will command. But unless enlightened patriotism is organized in some such way, its power will not be equal to the political problems with which China is faced.

Sooner or later, the encroachments of foreign Powers upon the sovereign rights of China must be swept away. The Chinese must recover the Treaty Ports, control of the tariff, and so on; they must also free themselves from extra-territoriality. But all this can probably be done, as it was in Japan, without offending foreign Powers (except perhaps the Japanese). It would be a mistake to complicate the early stages of Chinese recovery by measures which would antagonize foreign Powers in general. Russia was in a stronger position for defence than China, yet Russia has suffered terribly from the universal hostility provoked by the Bolsheviks. Given good government and a development of China's resources, it will be possible to obtain most of the needed concessions by purely diplomatic means; the rest can wait for a suitable opportunity.

2. Industrial development.—On this subject I have already written in Chap. XIV.; it is certain general aspects of the subject that I wish to consider now. For reasons already given, I hold that all


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246Rh railways ought to be in the hands of the State, and that all successful mines ought to be purchased by the State at a fair valuation, even if they are not State-owned from the first. Contracts with foreigners for loans ought to be carefully drawn so as to leave the control to China. There would not be much difficulty about this if China had a stable and orderly government; in that case, many foreign capitalists would be willing to lend on good security, without exacting any part in the management. Every possible diplomatic method should be employed to break down such a monopoly as the consortium seeks to acquire in the matter of loans.

Given good government, a large amount of State enterprise would be desirable in Chinese industry. There are many arguments for State Socialism, or rather what Lenin calls State Capitalism, in any country which is economically but not culturally backward. In the first place, it is easier for the State to borrow than for a private person; in the second place, it is easier for the State to engage and employ the foreign experts who are likely to be needed for some time to come; in the third place, it is easier for the State to make sure that vital industries do not come under the control of foreign Powers. What is perhaps more important than any of these considerations is that, by undertaking industrial enterprise from the first, the State can prevent the growth of many of the evils of private capitalism. If China can acquire a vigorous and honest State, it will be possible to develop Chinese industry without, at the same time, developing the overweening power of private capitalists by which the Western nations are now both oppressed and misled.


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 He turned to Dr. Barrack. "You think," he said, "that there is a will in this Process of yours which will take things somewhere, somewhere definitely greater or better or onward. I hold that there is no will at all except in and through ourselves. If there be any will at all I hold that even your maxim 'be ourselves' is a paradox, for we cannot be ourselves until we have lost ourselves in God. I have talked to Sir Eliphaz and to you since you came in, of the boundless disorder and evil of nature. Let me talk to you now of the boundless miseries that arise from the disorderliness of men and that must continue age after age until either men are united in spirit and in truth or destroyed through their own incoherence. Whether men will be lost or saved I do not know. There have been times when I was sure that God would triumph in us But dark shadows have fallen upon my spirit

"Consider the posture of men's affairs now, consider where they stand to-day, because they have not yet begun to look deeply and frankly into realities; because, as they put it, they take life as they find it, because they are themselves, heedless of history, and do not realise that in truth they are but parts in one great adventure in space and time. For four years now the world has been marching deeper and deeper into tragedy Our life that seemed so safe grows insecure and more and more insecure Six million soldiers, six million young men, have been killed on the battlefields alone; three times as many have been crippled and mutilated; as many again who were not soldiers have been destroyed.


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247Rh But if this is to be done successfully, it will require a great change in Chinese morals, a development of public spirit in place of the family ethic, a transference to the public service of that honesty which already exists in private business, and a degree of energy which is at present rare. I believe that Young China is capable of fulfilling these requisites, spurred on by patriotism; but it is important to realize that they are requisites, and that, without them, any system of State Socialism must fail.

For industrial development, it is important that the Chinese should learn to become technical experts and also to become skilled workers. I think more has been done towards the former of these needs than towards the latter. For the latter purpose, it would probably be wise to import skilled workmen—say from Germany—and cause them to give instruction to Chinese workmen in any new branch of industrial work that it might be desired to develop.

3. Education.—If China is to become a democracy, as most progressive Chinese hope, universal education is imperative. Where the bulk of the population cannot read, true democracy is impossible. Education is a good in itself, but is also essential for developing political consciousness, of which at present there is almost none in rural China. The Chinese themselves are well aware of this, but in the present state of the finances it is impossible to establish universal elementary education. Until it has been established for some time, China must be, in fact, if not in form, an oligarchy, because the uneducated masses cannot have any effective political opinion. Even given good government, it is doubtful whether the immense expense of educating


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 want to tell him when he came back from wherever he was going to, and how muddling it would be for a Bear of Very Little Brain to try and get them right in his mind. “So, perhaps,” he said sadly to himself, “Christopher Robin won’t tell me any more,” and he wondered if being a Faithful Knight meant that you just went on being faithful without being told things.

Then, suddenly again, Christopher Robin, who was still looking at the world, with his chin in his hands, called out “Pooh!”

“Yes?” said Pooh.

“When I’m—when Pooh!”

“Yes, Christopher Robin?”

“I’m not going to do Nothing any more.”

“Never again?”

“Well, not so much. They don’t let you.”

Pooh waited for him to go on, but he was silent again.

“Yes, Christopher Robin?” said Pooh helpfully.

“Pooh, when I’m—you know—when I’m not doing Nothing, will you come up here sometimes?”


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Runo XX]

For the feasting of the people,

For the multitude of feasters?

In Carelia grew a bullock,

Fat the ox they reared in Suomi,

Not a large one, not a small one,

But a calf of middle stature.

While he switched his tail in Hame

Stooped his head to Kemi’s river,

Long his horns one hundred fathoms,

Muzzle broad as half a hundred,

For a week there ran an ermine

All along the yoke he carried,

All day long there flew a swallow

’Twixt the mighty ox’s horn-tips,

Striving through the space to hasten,

Nor found resting-place between them;

Month-long ran a summer-squirrel

From his neck unto his tail-end,

Nor did he attain the tail-tip,

Till a month had quite passed over.

’Twas this calf of size stupendous,

’Twas this mighty bull of Suomi,

Whom they led forth from Carelia

Till they reached the fields of Pohja.

By his horns, a hundred led him,

And a thousand dragged his muzzle,

And they led the ox still further,

Till to Pohjola they brought him.

On his road the ox proceeded

By the Sound of Sariola strayed;

Browsed the grass in marshy places,

While his back the clouds were touching;

But they could not find a butcher,

Who could fell the country’s marvel

On the list of Suomi’s children,

’Mid the mighty host of people,

Not among the youthful people,

Nor among the very aged.

From afar an old man journeyed

Virokannas from Carelia;

vol. i.

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226

And he spoke the words which follow:

“Wait thou, wait, thou ox unhappy,

While I go and fetch my mallet.

If I strike you with my mallet

On the skull, unhappy creature,

Never in another summer,

Would you turn about your muzzle,

Or your tail would jerk around you,

Here among the fields of Pohja,

By the Sound of Sariola stray.”

Then the old man went to strike him,

Virokannas moved against him,

Went to slay the ox unhappy;

But his head the ox was turning,

And his black eyes he was blinking.

To a pine-tree sprang the old man,

Virokannas in the bushes,

In the scrubby willow-thicket.

After this they sought a butcher,

Who the mighty ox could slaughter,

From Carelia’s lovely country,

From the vast expanse of Suomi,

From the peaceful land of Russia,

From the hardy land of Sweden,

From the regions wide of Lapland,

From the mighty land of Turja,

And they sought through Tuoni’s regions,

In the depths of Mana’s kingdom,

And they sought, but no one found they,

Long they searched, but vainly searched they.

Yet again they sought a butcher,

Sought again to find a slaughterer,

On the ocean’s shining surface,

On the wide-extending billows.

From the dark sea rose a hero,

Rose a hero from the sea-swell,

From the shining surface rising,

From the wide expanse of water.

He was not among the greatest,

But in nowise of the smallest.

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Runo XX]

In a bowl would he lie sleeping,

And beneath a sieve stand upright.

’Twas an old man, iron-fisted,

Iron-coloured, too, to gaze on;

On his head a stony helmet;

Shoes of stone his feet protected;

In his hand a knife, gold-bladed,

And the haft o’erlaid with copper.

Thus the people found a butcher,

And at length they found a slaughterer,

Who should fell the bull of Suomi,

And should fell the country’s marvel.

Scarce had he beheld the quarry,

Than at once his neck he shattered,

On his knees he forced the bullock,

And upon his side he threw him.

Did he yield them much provisions?

Not so very much he yielded.

Of his flesh a hundred barrels,

And a hundred fathoms sausage;

Seven boat-loads of blood they gathered,

Six large casks with fat were loaded,

All for Pohjola’s great banquet,

Feast of Sariola the misty.

Then they built a house in Pohja,

Built a house with hall enormous,

Fathoms nine its sides extended,

And the breadth thereof was seven.

If a cock crowed at the smoke-hole,

Underneath they could not hear it,

If a dog at end was barking,

At the door they did not hear it.

Then did Pohjola’s old Mistress

Walk across the flooring’s planking,

To the middle of the chamber,

And she pondered and reflected:

“How shall I get ale sufficient,

And shall brew the beer most wisely,

To prepare it for the wedding,

When the beer will much be needed?

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 got tired of having nobody to say, “I say, come on” to, he thought he would go home. So he trotted back; and the first thing Kanga said when she saw him was “There’s a good Tigger. You’re just in time for your Strengthening Medicine,” and she poured it out for him. Roo said proudly, “I’ve had mine,” and Tigger swallowed his and said, “So have I,” and then he and Roo pushed each other about in a friendly way, and Tigger accidentally knocked over one or two chairs by accident, and Roo accidentally knocked over one on purpose, and Kanga said, “Now then, run along.”

“Where shall we run along to?” asked Roo.

“You can go and collect some fir-cones for me,” said Kanga, giving them a basket.

So they went to the Six Pine Trees, and threw fir-cones at each other until they had forgotten what they came for, and they left the basket under the trees and went back to dinner. And it was just


text:
Old Timer

 * "Old Timer" (1928), a song composed by Louis Silvers and written by Billy Rose
 * "Old Timers" (1926, "I am an ancient reluctant conscript"), a poem by Carl Sandburg

title: Old Timer


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228

How to brew the beer I know not,

Nor how ale was first concocted.”

By the stove there sat an old man,

From the stove spoke up the old man:

“Ale of barley is concocted,

And the drink with hops is flavoured,

Yet they brew not save with water,

And the aid of furious fire.

“Hop is called the son of Revel;

Planted in the ground when little,

With a plough they ploughed the region,

Like an ant, away they cast him

Close to Kaleva’s great well-spring,

There where Osmo’s field is sloping;

There the tender plant sprang upward,

And the green shoot mounted quickly.

Up a little tree it mounted,

Rising to the leafy summit.

“Sowed, by chance, an old man barley,

In the fresh-ploughed field of Osmo,

And the barley sprouted bravely,

And it grew and flourished greatly,

On the new-ploughed field of Osmo,

Kaleva’s descendant’s cornland.

“But a little time passed over,

When the hops exclaimed from tree-top,

And upon the field the barley,

And in Kaleva’s well-water,

‘When shall we be yoked together,

Each with other be united?

Life in solitude is weary;

Better two or three together.’

“Osmotar, the ale-constructer

She, the maid who beer concocted,

Took, on this, the grains of barley,

Gathered six of grains of barley,

Seven hop-tassels next she gathered,

And eight ladles took of water,

Then upon the fire she placed it,

And allowed it there to simmer,

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text:
Old Timer (song)

 * "Old Timer" (1928), the original, as performed in Noah's Ark
 * "Old Timer" (1929), promotional sheet music for the film
 * , a record with music performed by Paul Oliver

title: Old Timer (song)


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 luckily Pooh was at home just as they got there, so he asked them in, and they had some, and then they went on to Kanga’s house, holding on to each other, and shouting “Isn’t it?” and “What?” and “I can’t hear.” By the time they got to Kanga’s house they were so buffeted that they stayed to lunch. Just at first it seemed rather cold outside afterwards, so they pushed on to Rabbit’s as quickly as they could.

“We’ve come to wish you a Very Happy Thursday,” said Pooh, when he had gone in and out once or twice just to make sure that he could get out again.

“Why, what’s going to happen on Thursday?” asked Rabbit, and when Pooh had explained, and Rabbit, whose life was made up of Important Things, said, “Oh, I thought you’d really come about something,” they sat down for a little and by-and-by Pooh and Piglet went on again. The wind was behind them now, so they didn’t have to shout.


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Runo XX]

And she boiled the ale of barley

Through the fleeting days of summer,

Out upon the cloudy headland,

Cape upon the shady island;

Poured it then in wooden barrels,

And in tubs of birchwood stored it.

“Thus she brewed the ale and stored it,

But the ale was not fermented,

And she pondered and reflected,

And she spoke the words which follow:

‘What must now be added to it,

What is needful to provide for,

That the ale may be fermented,

And the beer be brought to foaming? ’

“Kalevatar, beauteous maiden,

She the maid with slender fingers,

Which she ever moves so deftly,

She whose feet are shod so lightly,

Felt about the seams of staving,

Groping all about the bottom,

Trying one and then the other,

In the midst of both the kettles;

Found a splinter at the bottom,

From the bottom took a splinter.

“Then she turned it and reflected:

‘What might perhaps be fashioned from it,

In the hands of lovely maiden,

In the noble damsel’s fingers,

Brought into the hands of maiden,

To the noble damsel’s fingers?’

“In her hands the maiden took it,

In the noble damsel’s fingers,

And she clapped her hands together,

Both her hands she rubbed together,

Rubbed them on her thighs together,

And a squirrel white created.

“Then she gave her son directions,

And instructed thus the squirrel:

‘O thou squirrel, gold of woodlands,

Flower of woodlands, charm of country,

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230

Speed thou forth where I shall bid thee,

Where I bid thee and direct thee,

Forth to Metsola’s bright regions,

And to Tapiola’s great wisdom.

There a little tree upclimbing,

Heedful to the leafy summit,

That the eagle may not seize thee,

Nor the bird of air may grasp thee.

From the pine-tree bring me pine-cones,

From the fir bring shoots of fir-tree,

Bring them to the hands of maiden,

For the beer of Osmo’s daughter.’

“Knew the squirrel now his pathway,

Trailed his bushy tail behind him,

And his journey soon accomplished.

Quickly through the open spaces,

Past one wood, and then a second,

And a third he crossed obliquely,

Into Metsola’s bright regions,

And to Tapiola’s great wisdom.

“There he saw three lofty pine-trees,

There he saw four slender fir-trees,

Climbed a pine-tree in the valley,

On the heath he climbed a fir-tree,

And the eagle did not seize him,

Nor the bird of air did grasp him.

“From the pine he broke the pine-cones,

From the fir the leafy tassels,

In his claws he hid the pine-cones,

And within his paws he rolled them,

To the maiden’s hands he brought them,

To the noble damsel’s fingers.

“In the beer the maiden laid them,

In the ale she placed them likewise,

But the ale was not fermented,

Nor the fresh drink yet was working.

“Osmotar, the ale-preparer,

She, the maid who beer concocted,

Pondered yet again the matter.

‘What must now be added to it,

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text:
Page:The House at Pooh Corner (1961).pdf/151

 ears, and wishing that he was safely back in his own house.

“I thought so,” said Owl. “It was on just such a blusterous day as this that my Uncle Robert, a portrait of whom you see upon the wall on your right, Piglet, while returning in the late forenoon from a What’s that?”

There was a loud cracking noise.

“Look out!” cried Pooh. “Mind the clock! Out of the way, Piglet! Piglet, I’m falling on you!”

“Help!” cried Piglet.

Pooh’s side of the room was slowly tilting upwards and his chair began sliding down on Piglet’s. The


text:
Page:Kalevala (Kirby 1907) v1.djvu/251

Runo XX]

That the ale shall be fermented,

And the beer be brought to foaming?’

“Kalevatar, beauteous maiden,

She, the maid with slender fingers,

Which she ever moves so deftly,

She whose feet are shod so lightly,

Felt about the seams of staving,

Groping all about the bottom,

Trying one, and then the other,

In the midst of both the kettles,

Found a chip upon the bottom,

Took the chip from off the bottom.

“Then she turned it and reflected,

‘What might perhaps be fashioned from it,

In the hands of lovely maiden,

In the noble damsel’s fingers,

Brought into the hands of maiden,

To the noble damsel’s fingers?’

“In her hands the maiden took it

In the noble damsel’s fingers,

And she clapped her hands together,

Both her hands she rubbed together,

Rubbed them on her thighs together,

And she made a gold-breast marten.

“Thus the marten she instructed,

Thus the orphan child directed:

‘O my marten, O my birdling,

O my fair one, beauteous-hided!

Thither go, where I shall bid thee,

Where I bid thee, and direct thee,

To the Bear’s own rocky cavern,

Where the forest bears are prowling,

Where the bears are always fighting,

Where they lurk in all their fierceness.

With thy hands scrape foam together,

In thy paws the foam then carry,

To the maiden’s hands convey it,

And to Osmo’s daughter’s shoulders.’

“Understood the way the marten,

Forth the golden-breasted hastened,

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text:
Page:Kalevala (Kirby 1907) v1.djvu/252

232

And his journey soon accomplished,

Quickly through the open spaces,

Past one wood, and then a second,

And a third he crossed obliquely,

To the Bear’s own rocky cavern,

To the caverns bear-frequented,

Where the bears are always fighting,

Where they lurk in all their fierceness,

In the rocks as hard as iron,

And among the steel-hard mountains.

“From the bears’ mouths foam was dropping,

From their furious jaws exuding;

In his hands the foam he gathered,

With his paws the foam collected,

To the maiden’s hands he brought it,

To the noble damsel’s fingers.

“In the ale the maiden poured it,

In the beer she poured it likewise,

But the ale was not fermented,

Nor the drink of men foamed over.

“Osmotar, the ale-preparer.

She the maid who beer concocted,

Pondered yet again the matter,

‘What must now be added to it,

That the ale shall be fermented,

And the beer be brought to foaming?’

“Kalevatar, beauteous maiden,

She the maid with slender fingers,

Which she ever moves so deftly,

She whose feet are shod so lightly,

Felt about the seams of staving,

Groping all about the bottom,

Trying one and then the other,

Then the space between the kettles,

And a mustard-pod she saw there;

From the ground the pod she lifted.

“Then she turned it, and surveyed it,

‘What might perhaps be fashioned from it,

In the hands of lovely maiden,

In the noble damsel’s fingers,

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text:
Page:Kalevala (Kirby 1907) v1.djvu/253

Runo XX]

Brought into the hands of maiden,

To the noble damsel’s fingers?’

“In her hands the maiden took it,

In the noble damsel’s fingers,

And she clapped her hands together,

Both her hands she rubbed together,

Rubbed them on her thighs together,

And a bee she thus created.

“And the bee she thus instructed,

And the bee she thus directed:

‘O thou bee, thou bird so nimble,

King of all the flowery meadows,

Thither fly, where I shall bid thee,

Where I bid thee and direct thee,

To an isle on ocean’s surface,

Where the reefs arise from ocean.

There a maiden lies in slumber,

With her belt of copper loosened;

By her side springs sweetest herbage,

On her lap rest honey grasses.

On thy wings bring sweetest honey,

Bring thou honey on thy clothing,

From the fairest of the herbage,

From the bloom of golden flowerets,

To the maiden’s hands convey it,

And to Osmo’s daughter’s shoulders.’

“Then the bee, that bird so nimble,

Flew away, and hastened onward,

And his journey soon accomplished,

Speeding o’er the open spaces,

First across the sea, along it,

Then in an oblique direction,

To an isle on ocean’s surface,

Where the reefs arise from ocean.

There he saw the maiden sleeping.

With a tin brooch on her bosom,

Resting in an unmowed meadow,

All among the fields of honey;

By her side grew golden grasses,

At her belt sprang silver grasses.

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text:
Page:The Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow, a Book for an Idle Holiday - Jerome (1886).djvu/61

Rh the morning, it is then, more than at any other time, that I love to lie an extra half-hour in bed.

Ah! how delicious it is to turn over and go to sleep again: "just for five minutes." Is there any human being, I wonder, besides the hero of a Sunday-school "tale for boys," who ever gets up willingly? There are some men to whom getting up at the proper time is an utter impossibility. If eight o'clock happens to be the time that they should turn out, then they lie till half-past. If circumstances change, and half-past eight becomes early enough for them, then it is nine before they can rise; they are like the statesman of whom it was said that he was always punctually half an hour late. They try all manner of schemes. They buy alarum clocks (artful contrivances that go off at the wrong time, and alarm the wrong people). They tell Sarah Jane to knock at the door and call them, and Sarah Jane does knock at the door, and does call them, and they grunt back "awri," and then go comfortably to sleep again. I knew one man who would actually get out, and have a cold bath; and even that was of no use, for, afterwards, he would jump into bed again to warm himself.

I think myself that I could keep out of bed all right, if I once got out. It is the wrenching away of the head from the pillow that I find so hard, and no amount of over-night determination makes it easier. I say to myself, after having wasted the whole evening,


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234

“Then he soaked his wings with honey,

Plunged his plumes in liquid honey,

From the brightest of the herbage,

From the tips of golden flowerets;

To the maiden’s hands he brought it,

To the noble damsel’s fingers.

“In the ale the maiden cast it,

In the beer she poured it likewise,

And the beer at length fermented,

And the fresh drink now foamed upward,

From within the new-made barrels,

From within the tubs of birchwood,

Foaming upward to the handles,

Rushing over all the edges;

To the ground it wished to trickle,

And upon the floor ran downward.

“But a little time passed over,

Very little time passed over,

When the heroes flocked to drink it,

Chief among them Lemminkainen.

Drunk was Ahti, drunk was Kauko,

Drunken was the ruddy rascal,

With the ale of Osmo’s daughter,

And the beer of Kalevatar.

“Osmotar, the ale-preparer,

She, the maid who beer concocted,

Uttered then the words which follow:

‘Woe is me, my day is wretched,

For I brewed the ale so badly

And the beer so ill concocted,

That from out the tubs ’tis flowing,

And upon the floor is gushing.’

“From a tree there sang a bullfinch.

From the roof-tree sang a throstle,

‘No, the ale is not so worthless;

’Tis the best of ale for drinking;

If into the casks you pour it,

And should store it in the cellar,

Store it in the casks of oakwood,

And within the hoops of copper.

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text:
Page:Kalevala (Kirby 1907) v1.djvu/255

Runo XX]

“Thus was ale at first created,

Beer of Kaleva concocted,

Therefore is it praised so highly,

Therefore held in greatest honour,

For the ale is of the finest,

Best of drinks for prudent people;

Women soon it brings to laughter,

Men it warms into good humour,

And it makes the prudent merry,

But it brings the fools to raving.”

Then did Pohjola’s old Mistress,

When she heard how ale was fashioned,

Water pour in tubs the largest,

Half she filled the new-made barrels,

Adding barley as ’twas needed,

Shoots of hop enough she added,

And the ale began she brewing,

And the beer began its working,

In the new tubs that contained it,

And within the tubs of birchwood.

’Twas for months the stones were glowing,

And for summers water boiling,

Trees were burning on the islands,

Water from the wells was carried.

Bare of trees they left the islands,

And the lakes were greatly shrunken,

For the ale was in the barrels,

And the beer was stored securely

For the mighty feast of Pohja,

For carousing at the mansion.

From the island smoke was rising,

On the headland fire was glowing;

Thick the clouds of smoke were rising,

In the air there rose the vapour.

For the fire was burning fiercely,

And the fire was brightly glowing,

Half it filled the land of Pohja,

Over all Carelia spreading.

All the people gazed upon it,

Gazed, and then they asked each other,

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text:
Page:The problem of China - Russell 1922.pdf/250

248Rh such a vast population could be borne by the nation without a considerable industrial development. Such industrial development as already exists is mainly in the hands of foreigners, and its profits provide warships for the Japanese, or mansions and dinners for British and American millionaires. If its profits are to provide the funds for Chinese education, industry must be in Chinese hands. This is another reason why industrial development must probably precede any complete scheme of education.

For the present, even if the funds existed, there would not be sufficient teachers to provide a schoolmaster in every village. There is, however, such an enthusiasm for education in China that teachers are being trained as fast as is possible with such limited resources; indeed a great deal of devotion and public spirit is being shown by Chinese educators, whose salaries are usually many months in arrears.

Chinese control is, to my mind, as important in the matter of education as in the matter of industry. For the present, it is still necessary to have foreign instructors in some subjects, though this necessity will soon cease. Foreign instructors, however, provided they are not too numerous, do no harm, any more than foreign experts in railways and mines. What does harm is foreign management. Chinese educated in mission schools, or in lay establishments controlled by foreigners, tend to become de-nationalized, and to have a slavish attitude towards Western civilization. This unfits them for taking a useful part in the national life, and tends to undermine their morals. Also, oddly enough, it makes them more conservative in purely Chinese


text:
Page:Kalevala (Kirby 1907) v1.djvu/256

236

“Wherefore is the smoke arising,

In the air the vapour rising?

’Tis too small for smoke of battle,

’Tis too large for herdsman’s bonfire.”

Then rose Lemminkainen’s mother,

At the earliest dawn of morning,

And she went to fetch some water.

Clouds of smoke she saw arising,

Up from Pohjola’s dominions,

And she spoke the words which follow:

“Perhaps it is the smoke of combat,

Perhaps it is the fire of battle.”

Ahti, dweller on the island,

He the handsome Kaukomieli,

Wandered round and gazed about him,

And he pondered and reflected,

“I must go and look upon it,

From a nearer spot examine,

Whence the smoke is thus ascending

Filling all the air with vapour,

If it be the smoke of combat,

If it be the fire of battle.”

Kauko went to gaze about him,

And to learn whence smoke was rising,

But it was not fire of battle,

Neither was it fire of combat,

But ’twas fire where ale was brewing,

Likewise where the beer was brewing,

Near where Sound of Sariola spreads,

Out upon the jutting headland.

Then did Kauko gaze around him,

And one eye he rolled obliquely,

And he squinted with the other.

And his mouth he pursed up slowly,

And at last he spoke, while gazing,

And across the sound he shouted,

“O my dearest foster-mother,

Pohjola’s most gracious Mistress!

Brew thou ale of extra goodness,

Brew thou beer the best of any,

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text:
Page:Kalevala (Kirby 1907) v1.djvu/257

Runo XX]

For carousing at the mansion,

Specially for Lemminkainen,

At my wedding, now preparing,

With thy young and lovely daughter.”

Now the ale was quite fermented,

And the drink of men was ripened,

And the red ale stored they safely,

And the good beer stored securely.

Underneath the ground they stored it,

Stored it in the rocky cellars,

In the casks of oak constructed,

And behind the taps of copper.

Then did Pohjola’s old Mistress

All the food provide for feasting,

And the kettles all were singing,

And the stewpans all were hissing,

And large loaves of bread were baking,

And she stirred great pots of porridge,

Thus to feed the crowds of people,

At the banquet at the mansion,

At the mighty feast of Pohja,

The carouse at Sariola dim.

Now the bread they baked was ready,

And were stirred the pots of porridge,

And a little time passed over,

Very little time passed over,

When the ale worked in the barrels,

And the beer foamed in the cellars,

“Now must some one come to drink me,

Now must some one come to taste me,

That my fame may be reported,

And that they may sing my praises.”

Then they went to seek a minstrel,

Went to seek a famous singer,

One whose voice was of the strongest,

One who knew the finest legends.

First to sing they tried a salmon,

If the voice of trout was strongest;

Singing is not work for salmon,

And the pike recites no legends.

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text:
Page:Kalevala (Kirby 1907) v1.djvu/258

238

Crooked are the jaws of salmon,

And the teeth of pike spread widely.

Yet again they sought a singer,

Went to seek a famous singer,

One whose voice was of the strongest,

One who knew the finest legends,

And they took a child for singer,

Thought a boy might sing the strongest.

Singing is not work for children,

Nor are splutterers fit for shouting.

Crooked are the tongues of children,

And the roots thereof are crooked.

Then the red ale grew indignant,

And the fresh drink fell to cursing,

Pent within the oaken barrels,

And behind the taps of copper.

“If you do not find a minstrel,

Do not firid a famous singer,

One whose voice is of the strongest,

One who knows the finest legends,

Then the hoops I’ll burst asunder,

And among the dust will trickle.”

Then did Pohjola’s old Mistress

Send the guests their invitations,

Sent her messengers to journey,

And she spoke the words which follow:

“O my maid, of all the smallest,

O my waiting-maid obedient,

Call the people all together,

To the great carouse invite them,

Call the poor, and call the needy,

Call the blind, and call the wretched,

Call the lame, and call the cripples;

In the boat row thou the blind men;

Bring the lame ones here on horseback,

And in sledges bring the cripples.

“Ask thou all the folk of Pohja,

And of Kaleva the people:

Ask the aged Väinämöinen,

Greatest he of all the minstrels,

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text:
Page:Kalevala (Kirby 1907) v1.djvu/259

Runo XX]

Only ask not Lemminkainen,

Ask not Ahti Saarelainen.”

Then the maid, of all the smallest,

Answered in the words which follow:

“Wherefore ask not Lemminkainen,

Only Ahti Saarelainen?”

Then did Pohjola’s old Mistress,

In these very words make answer:

“Therefore ask not Kaukomieli,

Not the reckless Lemminkainen.

He is always quick to quarrel,

And to fight is always ready.

And at weddings works he mischief,

And at banquets grievous scandal,

Brings to shame the modest maidens,

Clad in all their festive garments.”

Then the maid, of all the smallest,

Answered in the words which follow:

“How shall I know Kaukomieli

That I leave him uninvited?

For I know not Ahti’s dwelling,

Nor the house of Kaukomieli.”

Then did Pohjola’s old Mistress,

Answer in the words which follow:

“Easy may you hear of Kauko,

Learn of Ahti Saarelainen.

Ahti dwells upon an island,

Dwells the rascal near the water,

Where the bay outspreads the broadest,

At the curve of Kauko’s headland.”

Then the maid, of all the smallest,

She the handmaid hired for money,

Bid the guests from six directions,

And in eight the news she carried;

All she asked of Pohja’s people,

And of Kaleva the people,

Of the householders the poorest,

And the poorest clad amongst them.

Only not the youth named Ahti,

For she left him uninvited.

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text: Kalevala (Kirby 1907)/Runo 20

title: Kalevala (Kirby 1907)/Runo 20


text:
Page:The House at Pooh Corner (1961).pdf/167

 bit,” he said at last. “I must move about more. I must come and go.”

“That’s right, Eeyore. Drop in on any of us at any time, when you feel like it.”

“Thank-you, Rabbit. And if anybody says in a Loud Voice ‘Bother, it’s Eeyore,’ I can drop out again.”

Rabbit stood on one leg for a moment.

“Well,” he said, “I must be going.”

“Good-bye,” said Eeyore.

“What? Oh, good-bye. And if you do come across a house for Owl, you must let us know.”

“I will give my mind to it,” said Eeyore.

Rabbit went.

Pooh had found Piglet, and they were walking back to the Hundred Acre Wood together.

“Piglet,” said Pooh a little shyly, after they had walked for some time without saying anything.

“Yes, Pooh?”

“Do you remember when I said that a Respectful Pooh Song might be written about You Know What?”

“Did you, Pooh?” said Piglet, getting a little pink round the nose. “Oh, yes, I believe you did.”

“It’s been written, Piglet.”

The pink went slowly up Piglet’s nose to his ears, and settled there.


text:
Page:Martin Faber - the story of a criminal (IA martinfaber00simmrich).pdf/27

Rh for any other existing being, I both lover and pitied him.

One day, to the surprize of all, William Harding appeared in his class, perfectly ignorant of his lesson. the master did not punish him with stripes, but, as the school was about to be dismissed, commanding the trembling boy before him, he hung about his neck a badge made of card, on which was conspicuously printed, the world 'idler,'—With this badge he was required to return home, re-appearing at school with it the ensuing afternoon.

A more bitter disgrace could not, by any ingenuity, have been put upon the proud and delicate spirit of the ambitious boy. I never saw dismay more perfectly depicted upon any countenance. His spirit did not permit him to implore. But his eye—it spoke volumes


text:
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text:
Page:Plays by Jacinto Benavente - Third series (IA playstranslatedf03benauoft).pdf/181

. Not all physicians are like you.

. No, Doña Carmen, there are doctors who receive more for a successful operation—successful except for the patient, who usually dies—than a matador does whose name is at the head of the bill. There are money-changers in all temples. To us, who respect our profession as a holy priesthood, it is sorrowful indeed.

. You see so much suffering that you are powerless to relieve.

. Yes, we do. I have seen much during my professional career. I began as a country district doctor, if you know what that implies. For ten years I wandered through those Spanish villages, as abandoned of God as of man, the country places of Castile, whose soil is the color of Franciscan sackcloth, and verily one might believe that they were consecrated to the asceticism of the Seraphic Saint. We say in Madrid: "How healthy it is to live and to be brought up in the country!" Marvellously healthy, indeed! As for the children, no more need be said. Every one of those towns is Herod's own kingdom. As ceaselessly as the reapers cut the grain in the summer, death harvests its infants throughout the course of the year. It could not be otherwise. The children are dirty, undernourished; the exhausted mothers are obliged to wean them prematurely, for one is scarcely born before another succeeds to its place, to sap her vitality. Yes, death may move quickly, but life, too, does not rest. In consequence, a child who grows up, a stroke of lightning could not harm. As these are the ones visitors see as they pass through the villages, they exclaim: "How healthy, how strong these children are!" But those of us who have lived in these towns, who have seen what they are, who have been victims, as I have been, of their desolation, entertain a different opinion. I lost


text:
Page:Martin Faber - the story of a criminal (IA martinfaber00simmrich).pdf/28

18 of appeal—it was full of entreaty. The old man saw it not. The school was dismissed, and, in a paroxysm of grief which seemed to prostrate every faculty, my companion threw himself upon the long grass in the neighbourhood of the school-house, and refused to be comforted. I sought him out, and curious to know the cause of an omission which in him was remarkable, and should therefore have been overlooked by our tutor. I enquired of him the reason. The cruelty of his punishment was now more than ever, apparent to my eyes. His mother had been ill during the whole previous night, and he had been keeping watch and attending upon her. I was indignant, and urged him to throw aside the card beneath the trees, and resume it upon his return to the school. But he would not descend


text:
Page:Plays by Jacinto Benavente - Third series (IA playstranslatedf03benauoft).pdf/182

 three children, my three children on my wanderings through those abodes of ignorance and neglect. In each case, an epidemic carried one off. Then I determined to move to Madrid, at whatever cost. I felt that in Madrid my profession would prove more agreeable, that the poverty would not be so devastating nor so dour; but it is worse, a thousand times worse, because the sensibility of those who suffer is more refined, because the contrasts are greater, and the almost animal resignation of the man who has seen nothing else, of the man who is not able to compare, of the man who, without rebellion, accepts, is no longer possible. While I remained there, I myself was more humble, more resigned in the presence of another's grief, or before my own. I was able to say: "It is God's will. God has decreed it." But here I am not; here, I feel differently. Many a time, indignantly, I have burst out: "No, no, it is not God; it cannot be! Man, man is responsible." It is his cruelty, his injustice, because we call ourselves Christians, and we live, as you must admit, like wild beasts. The pretense has endured a long time. But are we Christians? Then we should live as brothers, and, as Christians, love one another. Are we wild beasts? An end then to this hypocrisy! Let us fall to and devour each other, and may that one prevail who has most force. Anything rather than this injustice as a social state, propped up by devious arts and worse laws, the rule of the few based upon the weakness of the many, who are not able even to rebel like wild beasts, because they have been cowed and debilitated by starvation, and have learned at last to call their cowardice resignation. These things cannot, they must not be. God has not ordered them, they are the bungling work of man, and man can fight with man. Forgive this peroration. "What has happened to Don Hilario?" you ask, "that he has turned orator, and addresses us like a town


text:
Page:Plays by Jacinto Benavente - Third series (IA playstranslatedf03benauoft).pdf/183

 meeting?" To-day has been one of those days with me when a man must cry out to himself, if he can find no one into whose ears to pour his wrath. This morning I lost a patient, a working man, honorable, the father of a family, which he left, as the saying is, only day and night to remember him by. On the other hand, I cured another, a monstrous rogue, rotten with money, who is so solicitous to avoid even the appearance of virtue that he has not so much as one vice that might induce him to part with a penny. Yet to-day, when I dismissed myself, he said to me, highly satisfied: "By the way, I forgot to tell you. In spite of not being able to attend to business, I have had a rare stroke of luck. I have cleared a hundred thousand pesetas. Have a cigar?" It is the one I am smoking now, or rather biting in bitterness. We all know that death shoots in the dark, but, man alive, now and then he ought to display at least blind instinct! Then I come to this house, I see you, who are so deserving of happiness, from every point of view, and I find you sad, preoccupied; and I know the reason. Your son is about to marry. You, his mother, foresee fresh privations, direr hardships than before. You see your daughter suffer, and it wrings your heart. It is only natural. But your son suffers, too—yes, he does; I know, because he has talked with me, not more than a few days ago. But is this right? Is it human? Should an honorable love become a reproach, almost a source of remorse to a young man, who acts simply in obedience to the law of nature? Can it be a mother's duty to oppose the love of her child? Why, it is like a betrayal of motherhood itself! Is there not something iniquitous, something monstrous in all this?

. But, Don Hilario, am I not right—not to oppose it, I should not attempt that, and it would be useless—but to prevent if I can the shipwreck of my son's happiness,


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Page:Plays by Jacinto Benavente - Third series (IA playstranslatedf03benauoft).pdf/184

 the ruin of my poor family which I have preserved until now?—and at what sacrifice!

. The iniquitousness, Doña Carmen, lies precisely in this: that you should be right. The realities of life are all on your side. With the marketing book in your hand, you are more potent than two hearts who are embarking upon life's adventure, the pursuit of happiness, prepared to give their all, owning allegiance only to youth and to love. How can you expect them to listen to you? "Be careful," you say, "bread is so much, potatoes so much; beans are at this figure. They are all going up, everything is in the clouds." But love, too, is in the clouds, as they think because it is divine. How can we make them understand that it is also because it is dear, and that there is a more intimate relationship between love and vegetables, between the heart and the marketing book, than there is between the illusions of youth and the realities of life?

. [Outside] Yes, he is coming directly. Are the ladies in here?

. [Outside] This way, Señorita Adelaida.

. Adelaida.

. How do you do? How are you, Don Hilario?

. How do you do?

. You are all dressed up.

. I have spent the afternoon making calls. Cristóbal had nothing to do, so he was able to come along. We were under obligations to so many friends, whom we have known all our lives—the Benítez, the González Flores, and dear General Borrego's widow. Such friendships simply cannot be sacrificed. How are you feeling to-day? Ramona tells me you are not well. Goodness gracious! What 13 the matter with her, Don Hilario?


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the use of certain books, frequent reorganization of university curricula, shortages of teaching and learning aids, rigidity of study regulations and examination procedures, and absence of self-government in student establishments. In addition to demands pertaining to student life, the Czechoslovak students' movement issued a broad document entitled "Ten Points for Freedom" which summarized the liberal political philosophy of the Dubcek regime. With the suppression of the Dubcek regime all student periodicals were banned and reformist student federations and committees were disbanded and replaced under a party-controlled mass organization, the Socialist Youth Union (SSM). In 1970 regime-sponsored Czech and Slovak Center of University Students and a federated body, the Czechoslovak Center of University Students, were created and attached to the regime's mass youth organization, renamed the Socialist Youth Union of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic.

3. Levels of attainment

The high standards of education set in Czechoslovakia at the time it became a republic have resulted in the achievement of near universal basic literacy in the Czech Lands and of a dramatic rise in that rate in traditionally backward Slovakia. At the time of the Communist takeover illiteracy was not a significant problem, except among the Gypsies, although significant portions of the adult population had passed the terminal year of compulsory education—the 15th year of age—without completion of the full 9-year course of elementary school education.

Implementation of education reforms was pressed with full vigor beginning in the 1950's and during the subsequent two decades enrollments in the lower elementary grades reflected accommodation of virtually all children in the compulsory school age class and progressive increases in kindergarten, secondary, vocational, and higher education enrollments (Figure 13). By the mid-1960's—as indicated in the tabulation below—a school enrollment of nearly 100% had been achieved with respect to the elementary school age population and significant gains had been made in the secondary and higher education age cohorts:

Data are lacking on the point but the possibility is strong that the decline in the ratios at the secondary and higher levels at the end of the 1960's were due at least partially to the stiffened application of political criteria in the selection of students. The effect of these criteria apparently persisted into early 1973, when the Czechoslovak press acknowledged that authorities were alarmed about the decline in the 1972/73 enrollment at the secondary level, particularly in the vocational schools.

Two decades after the Communist takeover only a negligible proportion of the population over 15 years of age lacked some elementary school education, and as suggested in the following tabulation, marked increases at higher levels had been achieved.

The success of policy measures designed to bring Slovak levels up to those prevailing in the Czech Lands have met with considerable success during the two decades, as suggested by the rise in the Slovak share of the adult population (over 15 years) with a secondary education background from 18% to 28% and with a university background from 20% to 26%.

As in all Communist countries, women's opportunities for education have increased dramatically over that prevailing before World War II and, as

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 Rh ʾIlm-i-Usúl, or the Exegesis of the Qurán, is a science, some knowledge of which is absolutely necessary to enable the Christian controversialist to meet a Muhammadan opponent. It is used by the Muslim divine to explain away many apparent or real contradictions which exist in the Qurán, and it is also available for a similar purpose when rightly used by the Christian in explanation of the exegesis of his own sacred books.

The words (alfáz) of the Qurán are of four classes:—Kháss, ʾAmm, Mushtarak, and Muawwal.

(1) Kháss, Words used in a special sense. These are of three kinds:—Khusús-ul-jins, Special genus; Khusús-un-nauʾ, Special species; Khusús-ul-ʾain, Special individuality.

(2) ʾAmm, Collective or common, which embrace many individuals or things.

(3) Mushtarak, Complex words which have several significations; e.g. ʾain, a word which


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 32 signifies an Eye, a Fountain, the Knee, or the Sun.

(4) Muawwal, Words which require to be explained: e.g. Sulát may mean either the Liturgical daily prayer (Namáz), or simple prayer (Duáʾ).

II. The Sentences (ʾIbárat) of the Qurán are either Záhir or Khafí, i. e. either Obvious or Hidden.

Obvious sentences are of four classes:—Záhir, Nass, Mufassar, Muhkam.

(1) Záhir.—Those sentences, the meaning of which is Obvious or clear, without any assistance from the context (karína).

(2) Nass.—Those sentences the meaning of which is Manifest from the text: e. g. "Take in marriage of such other women as please you, two, three, or four." Here it is manifest that the expression "such other women as please you" is restricted.

(3) Mufassar.—Sentences which are explained by some expression in the verse: e. g. "And the angels prostrated themselves all of them with one accord save Iblís." Here