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38 very small and lodged in the leaf-scar, which is oval, with the bud in the centre, and displays three crescentic small cicatrices left by the vascular bundles of the petiole. The leaf-scar is set obliquely on a projecting leaf-cushion. The branchlets in winter are the same as in summer, but they show more clearly their zig-zag nature, and at their apex will generally be seen a little stub which indicates the point where the end of the branchlet fell off in summer, no true terminal bud being developed. Occasionally a true terminal bud may be seen at the apex of the shoot, which is open and not concealed in the leaf-scar, minute, bearing two scales outwardly, and very pubescent.

In addition to the pubescent form of Central China, not yet introduced, a few varieties occur, concerning the origin of which little is known.

Var. variegata.—Leaves dull yellowish white in patches. This form is neither robust in growth nor attractive in appearance.

Var. pendula (Weeping Sophora).—One of the most formal of weeping trees. It is usually grafted by budding on seedlings of the common Sophora about 6 to 8 feet high; and from this elevation the branches hang down until on reaching the ground their tips spread out or turn up. It can be used as an arbour; and even in winter the light, smooth, green branches make it ornamental. The only trouble is in procuring smooth, straight stems of the ordinary Sophora of a sufficient height. F.L. Temple says: "In spring plant dormant Sophoras about ¾ inch in diameter in the fairly rich earth bottom of a greenhouse. Cut them back to the ground, and set them 1 foot apart each way; and by December first they will be out of the top of the house and as smooth as willows. Then lift and keep them protected in a cellar or frame, or heel them deep in a well-drained place till spring, when they can be planted in nursery rows, and grafted at the same time with the most gratifying results." With regard to the origin of the weeping Sophora nothing is known definitely; but Fortune states that at Shanghai in 1853 he saw "pretty specimens of Sophora japonica pendula, grafted high as we see the weeping ash in England." It is probable that this variety was imported early from China.

Var. crispa.—Leaves curled, the points of the shoots resembling as it were clusters of ringlets. We have never seen a specimen of this curious variety, which is not mentioned in the Kew Hand-list.

Var. Korolkowii (Sophora Korolkowii, Cornu). —This has longer and narrower leaflets than the type, and the young shoots, leaf-stalk petiole, and under surface of the leaflets, are whitish pubescent. The flowers are said to be of a dirty white in colour. Köhne states that one of Dieck's introductions from Mongolia is identical with the plant cultivated at Segrez under this name, the origin of which is unknown. In the summer of 1904 I visited the Arboretum at Segrez, and saw this


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RV 418 (CANTO III.])

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40 It has been known to the Chinese from the earliest times, and has been always named by them the Huai tree. In the Chou Li, a Chinese classical book, dating from several centuries before the Christian era, it is mentioned as having a place in official audiences. In front of the high officials were placed three Sophora trees, beside which stood the counsellors. It was also used as firewood, and was planted in cemeteries, being the tree prescribed by law to be planted beside the tumulus, 4 feet high, in which officials of low degree were buried. The tumulus of the emperor was 30 feet high, and around it pine trees were planted. Feudal princes were honoured with cypresses; and common people were only permitted to have willows around their tombs. The Sophora was also used medicinally from the earliest times in China, the flowers, fruit, bark, and root being all employed. In the Erh-ya, the oldest Chinese dictionary (twelfth century ), the Huai tree is called the guardian of the palace; and it is said to open its leaves by night and close them by day. The text is probably corrupt, and the periods of expanding and folding of the leaves are reversed. This is perhaps the first reference in any literature to the phenomenon of the sleep of plants. The term guardian of the palace no doubt refers to its use in official audiences.

With regard to the uses of Sophora in China at the present day, in addition to its ornamental character as a tree planted frequently in the courtyards of temples, it is also of considerable economic importance. In commerce the flower-buds (Huai-mi, huai-hua, huai-tze), and pods (huai-chio, huai-shih) are met with everywhere; but considerable confusion has arisen in books as to the exact uses of these products. Shirasawa (l.c.) is inaccurate in stating that the Chinese use the bark to dye paper and cloth of a yellow colour. Mouillefert says the leaves are used for dyeing; but this is also an error. The facts are simple: the flower-buds are used as a dye, and the pods as a medicine.

The flower-buds, as seen for sale, are mixed with stalks, etc., and are evidently collected when quite young as they are only about ⅛ to ¼ inch long. They are oval and pointed at the stalked end, dark greyish in colour, and tasteless. When immersed in water they impart to it a fine yellow colour. These flower-buds, packed in large sacks, are exported in considerable quantity from Shanghai and Tientsin. Consul Meadows in a letter to Kew gives an account of the process of dyeing, which is one for dyeing blue cloth a green colour rather than for obtaining a yellow colour. Debeaux asserts that the buds are moistened with water, and a quantity of common salt is added; the mixture is then put in a press, which squeezes out a liquor with which cotton or silk may be dyed yellow. He adds that the leaves do not contain any yellow colouring matter.

Every part of the tree abounds in a purgative principle; and it has been asserted that it is dangerous to work with the wood when it is fresh, owing to the


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Veronica.] Of this I have only seen two very indifierent specimens in Mr. Buchanan's herbarium, both long past flower. It is clearly a very distinct species, and, if Mr. Buchanan's plate is correct, differs widely from all the New Zealand species belonging to the section with didymous capsules in the elongated tube of the corolla.

83. V. Cheesemanii, ''Benth. in Hook. Ic. Plant.'' t. 1366.—Small, greyish-green, densely tufted, forming rounded cushions 2–5 in. diam., pubescent in all its parts; branches slender, closely compacted. Leaves spreading, ⅛–½ in. long, narrow-obovate, obtuse, coarsely and obtusely toothed or lobed, puberulous on both surfaces, narrowed into a long or short broad petiole. Flowers solitary and axillary, subsessile, small, white, ⅛ in. diam. Calyx deeply 4-partite, segments linear-spathulate, spreading, coarsely toothed towards the tip. Corolla slightly longer than the calyx; tube very short; limb with 4 obovate emarginate lobes. Stamens shorter than the corolla-lobes. Ovary broadly ovoid, hispid. Capsule shorter than the calyx, broadly didymous, slightly compressed, hispid, 4-valved to the base.—''Cheesem. in Trans. N.Z. Inst.'' xv. (1883) 299.

84. V. canescens, T. Kirk in Trans. N.Z. Inst. ix. (1877) 503, t. 19.—A small creeping and rooting herb with intricately branched stems 1–4 in. long, often forming broad matted patches, everywhere hispid with greyish-white hairs. Leaves minute, spreading, shortly petioled or subsessile, $1⁄12$–$1⁄10$ in. long, obtuse, entire, more or less densely clothed on both surfaces with curved hispid hairs. Flowers solitary and axillary, large for the size of the plant, ¼–⅓ in. diam., pale-blue; peduncles short, slender, ¼ in. long, with two hispid bracts below the middle. Calyx 4–5-partite; segments linear-oblong, hispid. Corolla-tube very short; limb spreading, 4-lobed; lobes unequal, oblong, often emarginate. Capsule small, broadly oblong, slightly compressed, retuse, altogether included in the calyx.—Trans. N.Z. Inst. xxviii. (1896) 516.

Perennial herbs, erect or decumbent or more or less prostrate. Leaves opposite, mostly radical, entire or more usually crenate.


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42 the tree fresh and green long after most trees have lost their foliage. The time of flowering is also very late, and this is a point of interest, although the flowers are not conspicuous or remarkable for size or colour. It is a very hardy tree in England, and seems to be free from all attacks of fungi and insects. Its roots do not sucker, which is a point in its favour when planted in towns or in gardens or parks. It has been freely used as a street tree in Italy, where its dense foliage is an advantage in the hot summers. It is remarkable how little the foliage is affected by the hottest and driest seasons, and on this account it might be tried in dry and hot situations. It thrives fairly well in all soils that are deep and not too compact, but it will only grow vigorously in deep rich soils, where seedlings will sometimes attain a height of 12 feet in four or five years. It is propagated by seeds, which should be sown in spring.

The trees in the Kew Gardens have been alluded to as regards their history. The one which occurs near the Pagoda, in 1903, was 68 feet high and 8 feet 3 inches in circumference. The old tree, with the branches held together by chains, now measures (1905) 50 feet high and 13 feet in girth at a foot from the ground, the narrowest part of the short bole, which branches immediately into three main limbs. A fourth limb, very large, was blown off some years ago. Not far off is a smaller tree about 6 feet in girth near the ground; it branches from the base, forming a wide-spreading low tree.

At Syon, two trees of considerable size are now living, each about 70 feet high; one measured in 1903 12½ feet in girth, the other 12 feet.

The tree in the Oxford Botanic Garden was 65 feet high by 12 feet 3 inches in girth in 1903 when measured by Elwes.

That in the old Botanic Garden at Cambridge is one of the finest trees in England, as it has a very symmetrical bole. It measured in 1904, 73 feet high by 11 feet in girth. It is figured in Plate 16.

We are not acquainted with any large specimens of the Sophora now growing in Scotland, Ireland, or Wales, though Loudon mentions one at Tyninghame, Haddingtonshire, 42 feet high, one at Castletown near Dublin 35 feet high, and one at Oriel Temple, Co. Louth, of the same height.

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44

Araucaria imbricata is a tree usually 50 to 100 feet high, with a cylindrical stem, only slightly tapering in adult trees, and attaining 3 to 5 feet in diameter. The bark is very rough and divided into large thick irregularly pentagonal or hexagonal scales. The branches, in whorls of 6 or 7, are at first very spreading, and in young or isolated individuals persist for a long time, but in the forest generally fall off until a broad umbrella-shaped crown of very crowded branches remains. In certain cases, secondary shoots appear on the trunk among the older branches as they die off.

Leaves: all of one kind, spirally crowded on the branches, sessile, coriaceous, rigid, ovate-lanceolate, with a sharp point at the apex, slightly concave on the upper surface, glabrous, bright shining green, marked with longitudinal lines, bearing stomata on both surfaces, margins cartilaginous; persistent for 10 or 15 years, withering during the later period of their life; their remains may be seen for a long time on the trunk and branches as narrow transverse ridges.

Male flowers: catkins almost cylindrical in shape, solitary or 2 to 6 in a cluster, terminal, sessile, erect, 3 to 5 inches long, yellow in colour, composed of densely packed anther scales, the tips of which are sharply pointed and recurved; pollen sacs 6 to 9. The male flowers frequently remain intact on the tree for several years; they generally in Europe appear early in spring, the pollen escaping in June or July.

Female flowers: ovoid, solitary, terminal, erect, about 3 inches long, composed of numerous wedge-shaped scales, terminating in long, narrow, brittle points.

Cones: globular, brown in colour, 4 to 6 inches in diameter, falling to pieces when the seeds are ripe (in England in late summer, in Chile in January or February). The cones take two years to ripen, fertilisation occurring in the second year in June or July, when the scales open and expose the ovule to the pollen blown from neighbouring staminate trees. Three months after fertilisation the seeds are fully matured.

Seeds: adnate to the scale and falling with it, 1 to 1½ inch long, wingless, covered by a thick brown coat. There are about 300 seeds in a cone.


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46 inner 5 or 6 inches thick, fungous, tenacious, porous, and light, from which as from almost all other parts flows resin in abundance; the outer is of nearly equal thickness, resembling cork cleft in various directions, and equally resinous with the inner,"

I may say that the district spoken of is not really part of the Andes at all, but a coast range separated from the Andes by a wide tract of low country, mostly covered with forest. And as regards the bark, though I did not see any old trees felled in Chile, the bark of trees of 40–50 years old felled in England does not show bark at all approaching the thickness described. Neither have I seen in the districts I visited myself any trees as tall as he describes, or more than about 120 feet He states that it is also found "juxta oppidum Conceptionis." There are no mountains near Concepcion high enough for the Araucaria, and I think this must be based on false information.

Don Dendariarena goes on to say that "the wood of this tree is of a yellowish white, fibrous, and full of very beautiful veins, capable of being polished and worked with facility. It is probably the best adapted for shipbuilding, as has been shown by the experiments made in the year 1780, in consequence of which orders were given to supply the squadron commanded by Don Antonio Bacaro, then at anchor in the port of Talcahuano."

"The resin abounding in all parts of the tree is white, its smell like that of frankincense, its taste not unpleasant. It is applied in plaster as a powerful remedy for contusions and putrid ulcers, it cicatrises recent wounds, mitigates headaches, and is used as a diuretic, in pills, to facilitate and cleanse venereal ulcers. The Indians make use of the fruit of this tree as a very nourishing food; they eat it raw as well as boiled and roasted, with it they form pastry, and distil from it a spirituous liquor."

Lambert says: "In a letter which I have lately received M. Pavon mentions an important particular, not noticed in the above description, namely, that the male tree is not above half the size of the female, and seldom exceeding 40 feet in height."

I am not able to confirm this from personal observation either in Chile or England, and Dr. Masters says that there is no reliable distinction between the male and female tree, whilst it is said in an account of the Araucarias in the Piltdown Nurseries that the habit of the tree is no guide to the sex.

It was first described by the Abbé Molina, who called it Pinus araucana. Ruiz and Pavon who explored parts of Chile soon afterwards sent specimens to Europe to a Frenchman named Dombey, which were described by Lamarck under the name of Dombeya chilensis, but the generic name he gave cannot stand because it was previously used for a genus of Sterculiaceae.

In 1795 Captain Vancouver visited the coast of Chile, accompanied by Archibald Menzies, who procured some seeds which he sowed on board ship, and succeeded in bringing home living plants, which he gave to Sir Joseph Banks, who planted one of them in his own garden at Spring Grove, and sent the remaining five plants to Kew. One of these, after being kept in the greenhouse till about 1806 or 1808,


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RV 419 (CANTO III.])


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48 which is a perfect child's puzzle of slabs of different sizes, with 5 or 6 distinct sides to each, all fitted together with the neatness of a honeycomb. I tried in vain to find some system on which it was arranged. We had the good fortune to see a group of guanacos feeding quietly under the old trees. They looked strange enough to be in character with them, having the body of a sheep and the head of a camel; and they let us come quite near. On the other side of the mountains they are used as a beast of burden, though so weak that ten of them could not carry the load of an average donkey. After wandering about the lower lands, we climbed through the bogs and granite boulders to the top of one of the hills, and came suddenly to a most wonderful view, with seven snowy cones of the Cordillera piercing their way through the long line of mist which hid the nearer connecting mountains from sight, and glittering against the greenish blue sky. Each one looked perfectly separate and gigantic, though the highest was only 10,000 feet above the sea. Under the mist were hills of beech forest, and nearer still the Araucaria domes, while the foreground consisted of noble old specimens of the same trees grouped round a huge grey boulder covered with moss and enriched with sprays of embothrium of the brightest scarlet. No subject could have been finer, if I could only have painted it, but that 'if' has been plaguing me for years, and every year seems to take me farther from a satisfactory result."

Inspired by this charming description, and by a desire to see the magnificent forests of Southern Chile, whence I hoped to introduce new trees and plants to our gardens, I visited Chile in the winter of 1901-1902, and after various difficulties caused by the dispute about the frontier, which nearly led to a war between Chile and Argentina, I started from the hospitable home of my friends, Mr. George and Senora Bussey at San Ignacio, to see the Araucarias in the Sierra de Pemehue, a region where they attain their greatest perfection, and which, having only been recently conquered from the Indians, had been described by no scientific traveller; though Senor Moreno has written an excellent account of the Argentine side of the frontier, which I visited later.

The Sierra de Pemehue is a range of mountains lying on the west side of the upper course of the great Bíobio river, and is not, strictly speaking, a part of the Cordillera of the Andes, from which it is separated by that river. The greater part of it is covered with splendid forests, principally composed of beeches, Fagus obliqua and Fagus Dombeyi, and it was near the head-waters of the Renaico river that I first saw what is to me the most striking of all trees hardy in England, and the only Chilean tree which as yet seems to have acclimatised itself thoroughly in this country.

They were growing in scattered groups on the cliffs far above us at an elevation of 3000-4000 feet, and we did not enter the Araucaria forest till we got near the top of the pass, which crossed over a mountain called Chilpa, between the Renaico and the Villacura valleys. Here the trees were growing scattered among Coigue trees (Fagus Dombeyi), and higher up in a forest mainly composed of Niere (Fagus antarctica), many of which were killed by forest fires, which had not, however, destroyed the thick-barked Araucarias, though I saw here but few young trees and no seedlings.


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235Rh a position of vantage from which they can only be ousted with great difficulty. Nevertheless, it is absolutely imperative that the Chinese should develop an iron and steel industry of their own on a large scale. If they do not, they cannot preserve their national independence, their own civilization, or any of the things that make them potentially of value to the world. It should be observed that the chief reason for which the Japanese desire Chinese iron is in order to be able to exploit and tyrannize over China. Confucius, I understand, says nothing about iron mines; therefore the old-fashioned Chinese did not realize the importance of preserving them. Now that they are awake to the situation, it is almost too late. I shall come back later to the question of what can be done. For the present, let us continue our survey of facts.

It may be presumed that the population of China will always be mainly agricultural. Tea, silk, raw cotton, grain, the soya bean, etc., are crops in which China excels. In production of raw cotton, China is the third country in the world, India being the first and the United States the second. There is, of course, room for great progress in agriculture, but industry is vital if China is to preserve her national independence, and it is industry that is our present topic.

To quote Mr. Tyau: "At the end of 1916 the number of factory hands was officially estimated at 560,000 and that of mine workers 406,000. Since


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50 hearsay, and the sudden change of the climate, which here becomes an extremely wet one, is probably the reason why the tree does not exist on the west coast in a much higher latitude, as do the majority of the trees and plants which are associated with it.

Another point in which I must differ from Poeppig is the bareness of the Araucaria forests of other vegetation. Though, of course, where the trees are closely crowded not many plants grow in their shade, yet the number of beautiful terrestrial orchids and other plants which I found in the more open parts of the Araucaria forest was very striking, and Miss North's observations in the Nahuelbuta range quite confirm my opinion that the moderate shade of the Araucaria is not prejudicial to herbaceous plants.

The soil on which it grows is mostly of volcanic origin, sometimes covered with deep vegetable mould, but more usually dry and rocky; and the climate, though warm and dry in the months of December, January, and February, is cold and wet in winter.

The only exact particulars I can give of the climatic variations were taken during the winter of 1901 at Rahue in the upper Biobio Valley, near Longuimay, at an elevation of 700 metres, which is lower and thus probably warmer than that of the Araucaria region. These observations I have condensed as follows:—

Reduced to Fahrenheit this register shows a very similar climate to that of some parts of England, very variable all the year round, but probably hotter and more sunny in winter.

As regards the summer climate I may say that in the months of January and February, which are the height of summer, it was never cold by day, and the sun and wind often unpleasantly warm, but at night the thermometer often fell to near freezing-point, and on one occasion, on 1st February, my sponge was frozen in camp just south of Lake Aluminé at about 5000 feet. We know that the Araucaria has borne in Great Britain temperatures below zero Fahr. without injury on dry and suitable soil, but it evidently will not endure the continuous wet of the southern coast region of Chile.

In the Forstliche Naturwissenschaftliche Zeitschrift, 1897, iv. 416–426, Dr. Neger, who was naturalist on the Chilean Boundary Survey in 1896–97, gives an


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RV 420 (CANTO III.])


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The United Kingdom offers a hospitality to exotic vegetation which finds no parallel in the Northern Temperate region of the globe. Never parched by the heat of a continental summer, the rigour of winter is no less tempered by its insular position. The possession of land still ensures the residence on their properties of a large number of persons of at least moderate affluence. The most modest country house possesses a garden, and not rarely some sort of pleasure ground; and this usually reaches the dimensions of a park in the case of the larger mansions. While forests for the commercial production of timber such as are found in foreign countries hardly exist, and the methods of their scientific management are little recognised, arboriculture of some sort may be almost said to be a national passion. In all but purely agricultural districts the free and unrestrained growth of trees enhances, if it does not create, the natural beauty of the landscape. The Roman occupation brought to our shores our fruit-trees and others whose names of Latin derivation bear witness to their foreign origin. One of these, the so-called "English Elm," dominates the landscape of Southern England. Yet, while it perfects its seed on the Continent, it rarely does so in this country, and it holds its own by root suckers, the tenacity of which is all but ineradicable.

Down to the reign of Henry the Eighth the native forests supplied the timber necessary for construction. It was not till their area became restricted that planting was commenced to maintain the supply. And if this has never developed into a scientific system as it has done abroad, the reason may be found in the abandonment of wood as fuel for coal, and the facilities for external supply of over-sea water-carriage which attach to a maritime country.

From an early time with the growth of continental intercourse, the contents of foreign gardens had gradually been transferred to those of the wealthy at home. The taste, however, for cultivating foreign trees and shrubs simply for their interest, and apart from any useful purpose they might serve, is not more recent than the seventeenth century. The pioneer in this branch of English arboriculture was Henry Compton, Bishop of London, who planted in the garden of Fulham Palace "a greater variety of curious exotic plants and trees than had at that time been collected in any garden in England." Hitherto the European continent had


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viii been the only hunting ground. To this was now added in striking contrast the resources of the North American forests.

In the eighteenth century the practice of planting foreign trees became in some degree a fashion amongst wealthy landowners, though still mainly for ornament. This was due in large measure to the example of Archibald, third Duke of Argyll, who formed a large collection at Whitton. After his death in 1762 all that were removable were transferred to Kew, where an Arboretum had been commenced by the Princess Dowager of Wales.

An intelligent taste for arboriculture was at any rate for a time firmly established. Those who care to trace its further history more in detail will find abundant information in Loudon's Arboretum et Fruticetum Britannicum, a work which, though published more than half a century ago, must always remain indispensable to any student of the subject. Parks and pleasure grounds throughout the country were stocked with specimens of new and interesting trees. And though often neglected and even forgotten, we now possess a wealth of examples which have attained adult development. Loudon catalogued with indefatigable industry every tree or shrub known to be tolerant of the climate of the British Isles. It might have been thought that this laborious undertaking would have excited a new interest in planting. But it began to languish with the beginning of the last century, and Loudon's labours from their very completeness, perhaps, deterred many from engaging in an occupation where more than moderate success would seem costly and laborious, and anything beyond almost unattainable. In 1845 a National Arboretum was projected at Kew, and commenced the following year on a plan prepared by W.A. Nesfield.

The latter half of the last century saw a remarkable development of open-air horticulture. In so far as this included woody plants, it was limited to shrubs. Broad-leaved trees were little cared for. The rarer kinds were little in request, and those that were planted were too often drawn from the ill-named stock of some convenient nursery. The neglect was increased when conifers became a fashion. This led, no doubt, to many fine Pinetums being planted, the interest and importance of which will increase with age. But it led also to much unconsidered and scattered planting of trees which, attractive enough in a juvenile state, are often less sightly as they grow older, and can never blend with their broad-leaved neighbours into stately umbrageous masses.

If the planting of broad-leaved trees as distinguished from conifers has for the moment fallen into neglect, we still inherit the results of the labours of our predecessors. The British Isles for the last two centuries have, in fact, been the seat of an experiment in arboriculture without parallel elsewhere. And the very neglect into which tree-planting has fallen, paradoxical as it may seem, adds to the interest and value of the experiment. For the trees that have come down to us from the


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Rh past have been subjected to the least favourable conditions, and have had in effect to survive a somewhat rigorous process of natural selection.

In taking stock of the results, the task which my friend Mr. Elwes has set himself differs, if I understand his intention rightly, somewhat widely from that which Loudon accomplished. That amounted to little more than a descriptive catalogue of every woody plant the cultivation of which had been attempted in this country. The present work aims at ascertaining the practical results. What are the most favourable conditions for the growth of each species? What in turn are the most suited for different circumstances? And what, if any, profit can be derived from their cultivation on a large scale?

And to accomplish or even attempt such a task appears to me no small public service. The depreciation of the value of agricultural land has turned the thoughts of many landowners to the possibility of growing timber as a crop for profit. So far little attempt has been made to depart from tradition. Yet it cannot be doubted that there must be many trees suited to our climate whose commercial possibilities are still unascertained. Apart from the larger uses of timber its employment for minor industries is still little regarded among us. If but a single tree can be added to the list of those which can be profitably cultivated the labour spent on the quest will not be unrequited.

W.T. THISELTON-DYER.


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greatest results in life are usually attained by simple means, and the exercise of ordinary qualities. The common life of every day, with its cares, necessities, and duties, affords ample opportunity for acquiring experience of the best kind; and its most beaten paths provide the true worker with abundant scope for effort and room for self-improvement. The road of human welfare lies along the old highway of steadfast well-doing; and they who are the most persistent, and work in the truest spirit, will usually be the most successful.

Fortune has often been blamed for her blindness; but fortune is not so blind as men are. Those who look into practical life will find that fortune is usually on the side of the industrious, as the winds and waves are on the side of the best navigators. In the pursuit of even the highest branches of human inquiry, the commoner qualities


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 it is a wery bad 'un,' says my father—'I thought so,' says the gen'l'm'n. So then they pours him out a glass of wine, and gammons him about his driving, and gets him into a reg'lar good humour, and at last shoves a twenty pound note in his hand. It's a werry bad road between this and London,' says the gen'l'm'n.—'Here and there it is a heavy road,' says my father—'Specially near the canal, I think," says the gen'l'm'n—'Nasty bit that 'ere,' says my father—'Well, Mr. Weller,' says the gen'l'm'n, 'you're a wery good whip, and can do what you like with your horses, we know. We're all wery fond o' you, Mr. Weller, so in case you should have an accident when you're a bringing these here woters down, and should tip 'em over into the canal vithout hurtin' of 'em, this is for yourself,' says he—'Gen'l'm'n, you're wery kind,' says my father, and I'll drink your health in another glass of wine,' says he; which he did, and then buttons up the money, and bows himself out. You wouldn't believe, sir," continued Sam, with a look of inexpressible impudence at his master, "that on the wery day as he came down with them woters, his coach was upset on that 'ere wery spot, and ev'ry man on 'em was turned into the canal."

"And got out again?" inquired Mr. Pickwick, hastily.

"Why," replied Sam, very slowly, "I rather think one old gen'l'm'n was missin'; I know his hat was found, but I a'n't quite certain whether his head was in it or not. But what I look at, is the hex-traordinary, and wonderful coincidence, that arter what that gen'l'm'n said, my father's coach should be upset in that wery place, and on that wery day!"

"It is, no doubt, a very extraordinary circumstance indeed," said Mr. Pickwick. "But brush my hat, Sam, for I hear Mr. Winkle calling me to breakfast."

With these words Mr. Pickwick descended to the parlour, where he found breakfast laid, and the family already assembled. The meal was hastily despatched; each of the gentleman's hats was decorated with an enormous blue favour, made up by the fair hands of Mrs. Pott herself; and as Mr.


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 afore the last day o' the last election here, the opposite party bribed the bar-maid at the Town Arms, to hocus the brandy and water of fourteen unpolled electors as was a stoppin' in the house.

"What do you mean by 'hocussing' brandy and water?" inquired Mr. Pickwick.

"Puttin' laud'num in it," replied Sam. "Blessed if she didn't send 'em all to sleep till twelve hours arter the election was over. They took one man up to the booth, in a truck, fast asleep, by way of experiment, but it was no go—they wouldn't poll him; so they brought him back, and put him to bed again."

"Strange practices, these," said Mr. Pickwick; half speaking to himself and half addressing Sam.

"Not half so strange as a miraculous circumstance as happened to my own father, at an election time, in this werry place, sir," replied Sam.

"What was that?" inquired Mr. Pickwick.

"Why he drove a coach down here once," said Sam; lection time came on, and he was engaged by vun party to bring down woters from London. Night afore he was a going to drive up, committee on't'other side sends for him quietly, and away he goes vith the messenger, who shows him in;—large room—lots of gen'l'm'n—heaps of papers, pens and ink, and all that 'ere. 'Ah, Mr. Weller,' says the gen'l'm'n in the chair, 'glad to see vou, sir; how are you?'—'Werry well, thank'ee, sir,' says my father; 'I hope you're pretty middlin,' says he—'Pretty well, thank'ee, sir,' says the gen'l'm'n; 'sit down, Mr. Weller—pray sit down, sir.' So my father sits down, and he and the gen'l'm'n looks werry hard at each other. You don't remember me?' says the gen'l'm'n.—'Can't say I do,' says my father—Oh, I know you,' says the gen'l'm'n; 'know'd you when you was a boy,' says he.—'Well, I don't remember you,' says my father—'That's very odd,' says the gen'l'm'n—'Werry,' says my father—'You must have a bad mem'ry, Mr. Weller,' says the gen'l'm'n—'Well,


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 Rh said he hated to go home. We had to drag him out with a rope. But here we are at your hotel.”

We entered.

But how changed the place seemed.

Our feet echoed on the flagstones of the deserted rotunda.

At the office desk sat a clerk, silent and melancholy, reading the Bible. He put a marker in the book and closed it, murmuring “Leviticus Two.”

Then he turned to us.

“Can I have a room,” I asked, “on the first floor?”

A tear welled up into the clerk’s eye.

“You can have the whole first floor,” he said, and he added, with a half sob, “and the second, too, if you like.”

I could not help contrasting his manner with what it was in the old days, when the mere mention of a room used to throw him into a fit of passion, and when he used to tell me that I could have a cot on the roof till Tuesday, and after that, perhaps, a bed in the stable.

Things had changed indeed.

“Can I get breakfast in the grill room?” I inquired of the melancholy clerk.

He shook his head sadly.

“There is no grill room,” he answered. “What would you like?”

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 re-echoed through the streets from the earliest dawn of day; and an occasional fight between the light skirmishers of either party at once enlivened the preparations and agreeably diversified their character.

"Well, Sam," said Mr. Pickwick, as his valet appeared at his bed-room door, just as he was concluding his toilet; "all alive to-day, I suppose?"

"Reg'lar game, sir," replied Mr. Weller; "our people's a col-lecting down at the Town Arms, and they're a hollering themselves hoarse already."

"Ah," said Mr. Pickwick, "do they seem devoted to their party, Sam?"

"Never see such dewotion in my life, sir."

"Energetic, eh?" said Mr. Pickwick.

"Uncommon," replied Sam; "I never see men eat and drink so much afore. I wonder they a'nt afeer'd o' bustin."

"That's the mistaken kindness of the gentry here," said Mr. Pickwick.

"Wery likely," replied Sam, briefly.

"Fine, fresh, hearty fellows they seem," said Mr. Pickwick, glancing from the window.

"Wery fresh," replied Sam; "me, and the two waiters at the Peacock, has been a pumpin' over the independent woters as supped there last night."

"Pumping over independent voters!" exclaimed Mr. Pickwick.

"Yes," said his attendant, "every man slept vere he fell down; we dragged 'em out, one by one, this mornin', and put 'em under the pump, and they're in reg'lar fine order, now. Shillin' a head the committee paid for that 'ere job."

"Can such things be!" exclaimed the astonished Mr. Pickwick.

"Lord bless your heart, sir," said Sam, "why where was you half baptized?—that's nothin', that a'nt."

"Nothing?" said Mr. Pickwick.

"Nothin' at all, sir," replied his attendant. "The night


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 was in those days a desolate place enough, surrounded by little else than fields and ditches.

"Having drawn the travelling 'cap he had on half over his face, and muffled himself in his cloak, Heyling stopped before the meanest-looking house in the street, and knocked gently at the door. It was at once opened by a woman, who dropped a curtesy of recognition, and Heyling, whispering the officer to remain below, crept gently upstairs, and, opening the door of the front room, entered at once.

"The object of his search and his unrelenting animosity, now a decrepid old man, was seated at a bare deal table, on which stood a miserable candle. He started on the entrance of the stranger, and rose feebly to his feet.

What now, what now?' said the old man. 'What fresh misery is this? What do you want here?'

A word with you,' replied Heyling. As he spoke, he seated himself at the other end of the table, and, throwing off his cloak and cap, disclosed his features.

"The old man seemed instantly deprived of the power of speech. He fell backward in his chair, and, clasping his hands together, gazed on the apparition with a mingled look of abhorrence and fear.

This day six years,' said Heyling, 'I claimed the life you owed me for my child's. Beside the lifeless form of your daughter, old man, I swore to live a life of revenge. I have never swerved from my purpose for a moment's space; but if I had, one thought of her uncomplaining, suffering look, as she drooped away, or of the starving face of our innocent child, would have nerved me to my task. My first act of requital you well remember: this is my last.'

"The old man shivered, and his hands dropped powerless by his side.

I leave England to-morrow,' said Heyling, after a moment's pause. 'To-night I consign you to the living death to which you devoted her—a hopeless prison—'

"He raised his eyes to the old man's countenance, and


text: Self-Help/Chapter 5

title: Self-Help/Chapter 5


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 stratagem that could be invented was resorted to, for the purpose of discovering his place of retreat; but it was all in vain. Half a year had passed over, and he was still undiscovered.

"At length, late one night, Heyling, of whom nothing had been seen for many weeks before, appeared at his attorney's private residence, and sent up word that a gentleman wished to see him instantly. Before the attorney, who had recognised his voice from above stairs, could order the servant to admit him, he had rushed up the staircase, and entered the drawing-room pale and breathless. Having closed the door, to prevent being overheard, he sunk into a chair, and said, in a low voice:

"Hush! I have found him at last.'

No!' said the attorney. 'Well done, my dear sir; well done.'

He lies concealed in a wretched lodging in Camden Town,' said Heyling. 'Perhaps it is as well, we did lose sight of him, for he has been living alone there, in the most abject misery, all the time, and he is poor—very poor.'

Very good,' said the attorney. 'You will have the caption made to-morrow, of course?'

Yes,' replied Heyling. 'Stay! No! The next day. You are surprised at my wishing to postpone it,' he added, with a ghastly smile; 'but I had forgotten. The next day is an anniversary in his life: let it be done then.'

Very good,' said the attorney. 'Will you write down instructions for the officer?'

No; let him meet me here, at eight in the evening, and I will accompany him, myself.'

"They met on the appointed night, and, hiring a hackney coach, directed the driver to stop at that corner of the old Pancras Road, at which stands the parish workhouse. By the time they alighted there, it was quite dark; and, proceeding by the dead wall in front of the Veterinary Hospital, they entered a small by-street, which is, or was at that time, called Little College Street, and which, whatever it may be now,


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 succeeded by his own native vigour and sagacity, untiring industry and zeal, in making for himself a scientific reputation that is as wide as it is likely to be lasting. He took first of all an unexplored and difficult district at home, and, by the labour of many years, examined its rock-formations, classed them in natural groups, assigned to each its characteristic assemblage of fossils, and was the first to decipher two great chapters in the world's geological history, which must always henceforth carry his name on their title-page. Not only so, but he applied the knowledge thus acquired to the dissection of large districts, both at home and abroad, so as to become the geological discoverer of great countries which had formerly been 'terræ incognitæ.'" But Sir Roderick Murchison is not merely a geologist. His indefatigable labours in many branches of knowledge have contributed to render him among the most accomplished and complete of scientific men.


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 I will,' replied Tom Smart; and, with these words, he placed the letter in the widow's hand.

"Gentlemen, I have heard my uncle say, that Tom Smart said the widow's lamentations when she heard the disclosure would have pierced a heart of stone. Tom was certainly very tender-hearted, but they pierced his, to the very core. The widow rocked herself to and fro, and wrung her hands.

Oh, the deception and villainy of man!' said the widow.

Frightful, my dear ma'am; but compose yourself,' said Tom Smart.

Oh, I can't compose myself,' shrieked the widow. 'I shall never find any one else I can love so much!'

Oh yes you will, my dear soul,' said Tom Smart, letting fall a shower of the largest sized tears, in pity for the widow's misfortunes. Tom Smart, in the energy of his compassion, had put his arm round the widow's waist; and the widow, in a passion of grief, had clasped Tom's hand. She looked up in Tom's face, and smiled through her tears. Tom looked down in hers, and smiled through his.

"I never could find out, gentlemen, whether Tom did or did not kiss the widow at that particular moment. He used to tell my uncle he didn't, but I have my doubts about it. Between ourselves, gentlemen, I rather think he did.

"At all events, Tom kicked the very tall man out at the front door half an hour after, and married the widow a month after. And he used to drive about the country, with the clay-coloured gig with red wheels, and the vixenish mare with the fast pace, till he gave up business many years afterwards, went to France with his wife; and then the old house was pulled down."

"Will you allow me to ask you," said the inquisitive old gentleman, "what became of the chair?"

"Why," replied the one-eyed bagman, "it was observed to creak very much on the day of the wedding; but Tom Smart couldn't say for certain whether it was with pleasure or bodily


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 Rh “Oh, some sort of eggs,” I said, “and”

The clerk reached down below his desk and handed me a hard-boiled egg with the shell off.

“Here’s your egg,” he said. “And there’s ice water there at the end of the desk.”

He sat back in his chair and went on reading.

“You don’t understand,” said Mr. Narrowpath, who still stood at my elbow. “ All that elaborate grill room breakfast business was just a mere relic of the drinking days—sheer waste of time and loss of efficiency. Go on and eat your egg. Eaten it? Now, don’t you feel efficient? What more do you want? Comfort, you say? My dear sir! more men have been ruined by comfort—Great heavens, comfort! The most dangerous, deadly drug that ever undermined the human race. But, here, drink your water. Now you’re ready to go and do your business, if you have any.”

“But,” I protested, “it’s still only half-past seven in the morning—no offices will be open”

“Open!” exclaimed Mr. Narrowpath. “Why! they all open at daybreak now.”

I had, it is true, a certain amount of business before me, though of no very intricate or elaborate kind—a few simple arrangements with the head of a publishing house such as it falls to my lot to make every now and then.

title: Page:Frenzied Fiction.djvu/228


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 Jinkins to wit,' said Tom.

Lor, sir!' exclaimed the widow.

Oh, don't tell me,' said Tom, 'I know him.'

I am sure nobody who knows him, knows anything bad of him,' said the widow, bridling up at the mysterious air with which Tom had spoken.

Hem!" said Tom Smart.

"The widow began to think it was high time to cry, so she took out her handkerchief, and inquired whether Tom wished to insult her: whether he thought it like a gentleman to take away the character of another gentleman behind his back: why, if he had got anything to say, he didn't say it to the man, like a man, instead of terrifying a poor weak woman in that way; and so forth.

I'll say it to him fast enough,' said Tom, 'only I want you to hear it first."

What is it?' inquired the widow, looking intently in Tom's countenance.

I'll astonish you,' said Tom, putting his hand in his pocket.

If it is, that he wants money,' said the widow, 'I know that already, and you needn't trouble yourself.'

Pooh, nonsense, that's nothing,' said Tom Smart. 'I want money. 'Tan't that.'

Oh, dear, what can it be?' exclaimed the poor widow.

Don't be frightened,' said Tom Smart. He slowly drew forth the letter, and unfolded it. You won't scream?' said Tom, doubtfully.

No, no,' replied the widow; 'let me see it."

You won't go fainting away, or any of that nonsense?" said Tom.

No, no,' returned the widow, hastily.

And don't run out, and blow him up,' said Tom, 'because I'll do all that for you; you had better not exert yourself.'

Well, well,' said the widow, 'let me see it.'


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 Ah!' said Tom.

Is there anything more you want, sir?' inquired the widow, rather puzzled by Tom's manner.

Why, yes,' said Tom. 'My dear ma'am, will you have the kindness to sit down for one moment?' bun "The widow looked much amazed, but she sat down, and Tom sat down too, close beside her. I don't know how it happened, gentlemen—indeed my uncle used to tell me that Tom Smart said he didn't know how it happened either—but somehow or other the palm of Tom's hand fell upon the back of the widow's hand, and remained there while he spoke.

My dear ma'am,' said Tom Smart—he had always a great notion of committing the amiable—'My dear ma'am, you deserve a very excellent husband;—you do indeed.'

Lor, sir!' said the widow—as well she might: Tom's mode of commencing the conversation being rather unusual, not to say startling; the fact of his never having set eyes upon her before the previous night, being taken into consideration. 'Lor, sir!'

I scorn to flatter, my dear ma'am,' said Tom Smart. 'You deserve a very admirable husband, and whoever he is, he'll be a very lucky man.' As Tom said this his eye involuntarily wandered from the widow's face, to the comforts around him.

"The widow looked more puzzled than ever, and made an effort to rise. Tom gently pressed her hand, as if to detain her, and she kept her seat. Widows, gentlemen, are not usually timorous, as my uncle used to say.

I am sure I am very much obliged to you, sir, for your good opinion,' said the buxom landlady, half laughing; and if ever I marry again'—

If,' said Tom Smart, looking very shrewdly out of the right-hand corner of his left eye. ' If '—

Well,' said the widow, laughing outright this time. ',When I do, I hope I shall have as good a husband as you describe."


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 opened the door. There was a pair of trousers there. He put his hand into the pocket, and drew forth the identical letter the old gentleman had described!

Queer sort of thing, this,' said Tom Smart; looking first at the chair and then at the press, and then at the letter, and then at the chair again. 'Very queer,' said Tom. But, as there was nothing in either, to lessen the queerness, he thought he might as well dress himself, and settle the tall man's business at once—just to put him out of his misery.

"Tom surveyed the rooms he passed through, on his way down stairs, with the scrutinising eye of a landlord; thinking it not impossible, that before long, they and their contents would be his property. The tall man was standing in the snug little bar, with his hands behind him, quite at home. He grinned vacantly at Tom. A casual observer might have supposed he did it, only to show his white teeth; but Tom Smart thought that a consciousness of triumph was passing through the place where the tall man's mind would have been, if he had had any. Tom laughed in his face; and summoned the landlady.

Good morning, ma'am, said Tom Smart, closing the door of the little parlour as the widow entered.

Good morning, sir,' said the widow. 'What will you take for breakfast, sir?'

"Tom was thinking how he should open the case, so he made no answer.

There's a very nice ham,' said the widow, and a beautiful cold larded fowl. Shall I send 'em in, sir?"

"These words roused Tom from his reflections. His admiration of the widow increased as she spoke. Thoughtful creature! Comfortable provider!

Who is that gentleman in the bar, ma'am?' inquired Tom.

His name is Jinkins, sir,' said the widow, slightly blushing.

He's a tall man,' said Tom.

He is a very fine man, sir,' replied the widow, and a very nice gentleman.'


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 Rh Yet in the old and unregenerate days it used to take all day to do it: the wicked thing that we used to call a comfortable breakfast in the hotel grill room somehow carried one on to about ten o’clock in the morning. Breakfast brought with it the need of a cigar for digestion’s sake and with that, for very restfulness, a certain perusal of the Toronto Globe, properly corrected and rectified by a look through the Toronto Mail. After that it had been my practice to stroll along to my publishers’ office at about eleven-thirty, transact my business, over a cigar, with the genial gentleman at the head of it, and then accept his invitation to lunch, with the feeling that a man who has put in a hard and strenuous morning’s work is entitled to a few hours of relaxation.

I am inclined to think that in those reprehensible bygone times, many other people did their business in this same way.

“I don’t think,” I said to Mr. Narrowpath musingly, “that my publisher will be up as early as this. He’s a comfortable sort of man.”

“Nonsense!” said Mr. Narrowpath. “Not at work at half-past seven! In Toronto! The thing’s absurd. Where is the office? Richmond Street? Come along, I’ll go with you. I’ve always a great liking for attending to other people’s business.”

title: Page:Frenzied Fiction.djvu/229


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 They walked off together; and for a long time Piglet said nothing, so as not to interrupt the pots; and then suddenly he made a squeaky noise and an oo-noise  because now he began to know where he was; but he still didn’t dare to say so out loud, in case he wasn’t. And just when he was getting so sure of himself that it didn’t matter whether the pots went on calling or not, there was a shout from in front of them, and out of the mist came Christopher Robin.

“Oh, there you are,” said Christopher Robin carelessly, trying to pretend that he hadn’t been Anxious.

“Here we are,” said Pooh.

“Where’s Rabbit?”

“I don’t know,” said Pooh.


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236Rh then no official returns for the whole country have been published…but perhaps a million each would be an approximate figure for the present number of factory operatives and mine workers." Of course, the hours are very long and the wages very low; Mr. Tyau mentions as specially modern and praiseworthy certain textile factories where the wages range from 15 to 45 cents a day. (The cent varies in value, but is always somewhere between a farthing and a halfpenny.) No doubt as industry develops Socialism and labour unrest will also develop. If Mr. Tyau is to be taken as a sample of the modern Chinese governing classes, the policy of the Government towards Labour will be very illiberal. Mr. Tyau's outlook is that of an American capitalist, and shows the extent to which he has come under American influence, as well as that of conservative England (he is an LL.D. of London). Most of the Young Chinese I came across, however, were Socialists, and it may be hoped that the traditional Chinese dislike of uncompromising fierceness will make the Government less savage against Labour than the Governments of America and Japan.

There is room for the development of a great textile industry in China. There are a certain number of modern mills, and nothing but enterprise is needed to make the industry as great as that of Lancashire.

Shipbuilding has made a good beginning in Shanghai, and would probably develop rapidly if China had a flourishing iron and steel industry in native hands.

The total exports of native produce in 1919 were just under £200,000,000 (630,000,000 taels), and the


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 Rh “I see you have,” I said.

“It’s our way here,” said Mr. Narrowpath with a wave of his hand. “Every man’s business, as we see it, is everybody else’s business. Come along, you’ll be surprised how quickly your business will be done.”

Mr. Narrowpath was right.

My publishers’ office, as we entered it, seemed a changed place. Activity and efficiency were stamped all over it. My good friend the publisher was not only there, but there with his coat off, inordinately busy, bawling orders—evidently meant for a printing room—through a speaking tube. “Yes,” he was shouting, “put WHISKY in black letter capitals, old English, double size, set it up to look attractive, with the legend in long clear type underneath”

“Excuse me,” he said, as he broke off for a moment. “We’ve a lot of stuff going through the press this morning—a big distillery catalogue that we are rushing through. We’re doing all we can, Mr. Narrowpath,” he continued, speaking with the deference due to a member of the City Council, “to boom Toronto as a Whisky Centre.”

“Quite right, quite right!” said my companion, rubbing his hands.

“And now, professor,” added the publisher, speaking with rapidity, “your contract is all

title: Page:Frenzied Fiction.djvu/230


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 Rh here—only needs signing. I won’t keep you more than a moment—write your name here. Miss Sniggins will you please witness this so help you God how’s everything in Montreal good morning.”

“Pretty quick, wasn’t it?” said Mr. Narrowpath, as we stood in the street again.

“Wonderful!” I said, feeling almost dazed. “Why, I shall be able to catch the morning train back again to Montreal”

“Precisely. Just what everybody finds. Business done in no time. Men who used to spend whole days here clear out now in fifteen minutes. I knew a man whose business efficiency has so increased under our new regime that he says he wouldn’t spend more than five minutes in Toronto if he were paid to.”

“But what is this?” I asked as we were brought to a pause in our walk at a street crossing by a great block of vehicles. “What are all these drays? Surely, those look like barrels of whisky!”

“So they are,” said Mr. Narrowpath proudly. “Export whisky. Fine sight, isn’t it? Must be what?—twenty—twenty-five—loads of it. This place, sir, mark my words, is going to prove, with its new energy and enterprise, one of the greatest seats of the

title: Page:Frenzied Fiction.djvu/231


text: Page:The Music of the Spheres.djvu/168

title: Page:The Music of the Spheres.djvu/168


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 Rh distillery business, in fact, the whisky capital of the North”

“But I thought,” I interrupted, much puzzled, “that whisky was prohibited here since last September?”

“Export whisky—export, my dear sir,” corrected Mr. Narrowpath. “We don’t interfere, we have never, so far as I know, proposed to interfere with any man’s right to make and export whisky. That, sir, is a plain matter of business; morality doesn’t enter into it.”

“I see,” I answered. “But will you please tell me what is the meaning of this other crowd of drays coming in the opposite direction? Surely, those are beer barrels, are they not?”

“In a sense they are,” admitted Mr. Narrowpath. “That is, they are import beer. It comes in from some other province. It was, I imagine, made in this city (our breweries, sir, are second to none), but the sin of selling it”—here Mr. Narrowpath raised his hat from his head and stood for a moment in a reverential attitude—“rests on the heads of others.”

The press of vehicles had now thinned out and we moved on, my guide still explaining in some detail the distinction between business principles and moral principles, between whisky as a curse and whisky as a source of

title: Page:Frenzied Fiction.djvu/232


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 inhabitant of a planet with a dark blue sun that a ray of white light contains the whole seven primary colors and that these colors are separately and in combination absorbed by the different objects on such a planet as our earth, permitting us to observe a wonderful exhibition of tints and colors, gayety, shade and brightness. If he, in his semi-dark blueness, could possibly visualize such a marvel as this, he surely would be well-nigh overwhelmed with the wonder of it. Perhaps our sun was the only star of the millions of stars in our Universe—(or in the innumerable Universes which drift in space beyond the island of our Universe)—that was able to produce planets that could bear life; and yet again, since the spectroscope has proved that our sun is constituted like many another star in the heavens, perhaps these other stars, like our sun, also have planets. At least it is reasonable and rather exhilarating to think about it.

All the brilliant red stars are young and in the giant stage of their career but the faint red stars are dwarfs and on their decline. The dwarf red stars are believed to be cooling for they possess chemical combinations only possible in a decreasing temperature relatively low for stars. This must mean that such stars are growing old, for metallic vapors are never found in stars that are young. In a still later stage, these metallic vapors condense and form a solid crust. About 500 red stars have already been observed but they are all at a distance vastly remote from the territory of our sun. Antares, however, is among the most youthful of the giant red stars and will gradually rise in temperature and become brilliantly blue during the next few thousands of millions of years.

title: Page:The Music of the Spheres.djvu/170


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 Rh profit, which I found myself unable to comprehend.

At length I ventured to interrupt.

“Yet it seems almost a pity,” I said, “that with all this beer and whisky around an unregenerate sinner like myself should be prohibited from getting a drink.”

“A drink!” exclaimed Mr. Narrowpath. “Well, I should say so. Come right in here. You can have anything you want.”

We stepped through a street door into a large, long room.

“Why,” I exclaimed in surprise, “this is a bar!”

“Nonsense!” said my friend. “The bar in this province is forbidden. We’ve done with the foul thing for ever. This is an Import Shipping Company’s Delivery Office.”

“But this long counter”

“It’s not a counter, it’s a desk.”

“And that bar-tender in his white jacket”

“Tut! Tut! He’s not a bar-tender. He’s an Import Goods Delivery Clerk.”

“What’ll you have, gentlemen,” said the Import Clerk, polishing a glass as he spoke.

“Two whisky and sodas,” said my friend, “long ones.”

The Import Clerk mixed the drinks and set them on the desk.

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 “Oh—well, I expect Tigger will find him. He’s sort of looking for you all.”

“Well,” said Pooh, “I’ve got to go home for something, and so has Piglet, because we haven’t had it yet, and”

“I’ll come and watch you,” said Christopher Robin.

So he went home with Pooh, and watched him for quite a long time and all the time he was watching, Tigger was tearing round the Forest making loud yapping noises for Rabbit. And at last a very Small and Sorry Rabbit heard him. And the Small and Sorry Rabbit rushed through the mist at the noise, and it suddenly turned into Tigger; a Friendly Tigger, a Grand Tigger, a Large and Helpful Tigger, a Tigger who bounced, if he bounced


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 A Field Book of the Stars


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 Rh I was about to take one, but he interrupted.

“One minute, sir,” he said.

Then he took up a desk telephone that stood beside him and I heard him calling up Montreal. “Hullo, Montreal! Is that Montreal? Well, say, I’ve just received an offer here for two whisky and sodas at sixty cents, shall I close with it? All right, gentlemen, Montreal has effected the sale. There you are.”

“Dreadful, isn’t it?” said Mr. Narrowpath. “The sunken, depraved condition of your City of Montreal; actually selling whisky. Deplorable!” and with that he buried his face in the bubbles of the whisky and soda.

“Mr. Narrowpath,” I said, “would you mind telling me something? I fear I am a little confused, after what I have seen here, as to what your new legislation has been. You have not then, I understand, prohibited the making of whisky?”

“Oh, no, we see no harm in that.”

“Nor the sale of it?”

“Certainly not,” said Mr. Narrowpath, “not if sold properly.”

“Nor the drinking of it?”

“Oh, no, that least of all. We attach no harm whatever, under our law, to the mere drinking of whisky.”

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title: In Starland with a Three-inch Telescope


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 Rh “Would you tell me then,” I asked, “since you have not forbidden the making, nor the selling, nor the buying, nor the drinking of whisky, just what it is that you have prohibited? What is the difference between Montreal and Toronto?”

Mr. Narrowpath put down his glass on the “desk” in front of him. He gazed at me with open-mouthed astonishment.

“Toronto?” he gasped. “Montreal and Toronto! The difference between Montreal and Toronto! My dear sir—Toronto—Toronto”

I stood waiting for him to explain. But as I did so I seemed to become aware that a voice, not Mr. Narrowpath’s but a voice close at my ear, was repeating “Toronto—Toronto—Toronto”

I sat up with a start—still in my berth in the Pullman car—with the voice of the porter calling through the curtains “Toronto! Toronto!”

So! It had only been a dream. I pulled up the blind and looked out of the window and there was the good old city, with the bright sun sparkling on its church spires and on the bay spread out at its feet. It looked quite unchanged: just the same pleasant old place, as cheerful, as self-conceited, as kindly, as hospitable, as quarrelsome, as wholesome,

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 How can I prove it?' said Tom, starting half out of bed.

"The old gentleman untucked his arm from his side, and having pointed to one of the oaken presses, immediately replaced it in its old position.

He little thinks,' said the old gentleman, 'that in the right hand pocket of a pair of trousers in that press, he has left a letter, entreating him to return to his disconsolate wife, with six—mark me, Tom—six babes, and all of them small ones.'

"As the old gentleman solemnly uttered these words, his features grew less and less distinct, and his figure more shadowy. A film came over Tom Smart's eyes. The old man seemed gradually blending into the chair, the damask waistcoat to resolve into a cushion, the red slippers to shrink into little red cloth bags. The light faded gently away, and Tom Smart fell back on his pillow, and dropped asleep.

"Morning aroused Tom from the lethargic slumber, into which he had fallen on the disappearance of the old man. He sat up in bed, and for some minutes vainly endeavoured to recall the events of the preceding night. Suddenly they rushed upon him. He looked at the chair; it was a fantastic and grim-looking piece of furniture, certainly, but it must have been a remarkably ingenious and lively imagination, that could have discovered any resemblance between it and an old man.

How are you, old boy?" said Tom. He was bolder in the daylight—most men are.

"The chair remained motionless, and spoke not a word.

Miserable morning,' said Tom. No. The chair would not be drawn into conversation.

Which press did you point to?—you can tell me that," said Tom. Devil a word, gentlemen, the chair would say.

It's not much trouble to open it, anyhow,' said Tom, getting out of bed very deliberately. He walked up to one of the presses. The key was in the lock; he turned it, and


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 Was it a large one?' inquired Tom Smart.

There were twelve of us, Tom,' said the old gentleman; 'fine straight-backed, handsome fellows as you'd wish to see. None of your modern abortions—all with arms, and with a degree of polish, though I say it that should not, which would have done your heart good to behold.'

And what's become of the others, sir?' asked Tom Smart.

"The old gentleman applied his elbow to his eye as he replied, 'Gone, Tom, gone. We had hard service, To Tom, and they hadn't all my constitution. They got rheumatic about the legs and arms, and went into kitchens and other hospitals; and one of 'em, with long service and hard usage, positively lost his senses:—he got so crazy that he was obliged to be burnt. Shocking thing that, Tom.'

Dreadful!" said Tom Smart.

"The old fellow paused for a few minutes, apparently struggling with his feelings of emotion, and then said:

However, Tom, I am wandering from the point. This tall man, Tom, is a rascally adventurer. The moment he married the widow, he would sell off all the furniture, and run away. What would be the consequence? She would be deserted and reduced to ruin, and I should catch my death of cold in some broker's shop.'

Yes, but—'

Don't interrupt me,' said the old gentleman. 'Of you, Tom, I entertain a very different opinion; for I well know that if you once settled yourself in a public house, you would never leave it, as long as there was anything to drink within its walls.'

I am very much obliged to you for your good opinion, sir,' said Tom Smart.

Therefore,' resumed the old gentleman, in a dictatorial tone; 'you shall have her, and he shall not."

What is to prevent it?' said Tom Smart, eagerly.

This disclosure,' replied the old gentleman; 'he is already married."


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 Halfway between Antares and Akrab (β on the end of the upper claw), lies a very rich and condensed cluster of stars. This cluster, which is one of the finest known, may be easily seen in a small telescope. On the eastern side of the cluster is a dark nebula. Akrab is a triple star of the 2nd, 4th and 10th magnitudes. The little star 2 degrees east of Akrab is of the 4th, 5th, 7th and 8th magnitudes and is claimed by some to be the most beautiful quadruple in the heavens. Many other interesting stars may be seen around this conspicuous figure with a 2½- or 3-inch telescope, and a handy little reference book for the amateur fortunate enough to possess such a telescope is William Tyler Alcott's "In Starland with a Three-Inch Telescope."

Formalhaut is called the "Fish's Mouth" star because it is supposed to shine on the mouth of Piscis Australis, the Southern Fish. This Fish is represented in the star-maps as holding open its mouth in utter contentment while a long line of small, glittering stars wash down in a stream of water. This water flows from the Urn of Aquarius, the Water-bearer, who stands just below the head of Pegasus, the Winged Horse. The Urn is formed by a little Y of 3rd and 4th magnitude stars, and, to the Egyptians, was an emblem of the rainy season.

The Southern Fish must not be confused with the two tied fishes of the constellation of Pisces, known as the "Northern Fish,"

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 all my rails. I have had an operation performed, too—a small piece let into my back—and I found it a severe trial, Tom.'

I dare say you did, sir,' said Tom Smart.

However,' said the old gentleman, 'that's not the point. Tom! I want you to marry the widow.'

Me, sir!" said Tom.

You;' said the old gentleman.

Bless your reverend locks,' said Tom—(he had a few scattered horse-hairs left), 'bless your reverend locks, she wouldn't have me.' And Tom sighed involuntarily, as he thought of the bar.

Wouldn't she?' said the old gentleman, firmly.

No, no,' said Tom; 'there's somebody else in the wind. A tall man—a confoundedly tall man—with black whiskers.'

Tom,' said the old gentleman; 'she will never have him.'

Won't she?" said Tom. If you stood in the bar, old gentleman, you'd tell another story."

Pooh, pooh,' said the old gentleman. 'I know all about that."

About what?' said Tom.

The kissing behind the door, and all that sort of thing, Tom,' said the old gentleman. And here he gave another impudent look, which made Tom very wroth, because as you all know, gentlemen, to hear an old fellow, who ought to know better, talking about these things, is very unpleasant—nothing more so.

I know all about that, Tom,' said the old gentleman. 'I have seen it done very often in my time, Tom, between more people than I should like to mention to you; but it never came to anything after all.'

You must have seen some queer things,' said Tam, with an inquisitive look.

You may say that, now,' replied the old fellow, with a very complicated wink. 'I am the last of my family, Tom," said the old gentleman, with a melancholy sigh.


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 Never mind that,' said the old gentleman; 'you're much too fond of punch, Tom.'

"Tom Smart was just on the point of protesting that he hadn't tasted a drop since his last birth-day, but when his eye encountered that of the old gentleman, he looked so knowing that Tom blushed, and was silent.

Tom,' said the old gentleman, 'the widow's a fine woman—remarkably fine woman—eh, Tom?" Here the old fellow screwed up his eyes, cocked up one of his wasted little legs, and looked altogether so unpleasantly amorous, that Tom was quite disgusted with the levity of his behaviour;—at his time of life, too!

I am her guardian, Tom,' said the old gentleman.

Are you?' inquired Tom Smart.

I knew her mother, Tom,' said the old fellow; and her grandmother. She was very fond of me—made me this waistcoat, Tom.'

Did she?" said Tom Smart.

And these shoes,' said the old fellow, lifting up one of the red-cloth mufflers; but don't mention it, Tom. I shouldn't like to have it known that she was so much attached to me. It might occasion some unpleasantness in the family.' When the old rascal said this, he looked so extremely impertinent, that, as Tom Smart afterwards declared, he could have sat upon him without remorse.

I have been a great favourite among the women in my time, Tom,' said the profligate old debauchee; 'hundreds of fine women have sat in my lap for hours together. What do you think of that you dog, eh! The old gentleman was proceeding to recount some other exploits of his youth, when he was seized with such a violent fit of creaking that he was unable to proceed.

Just serves you right, old boy,' thought Tom Smart; but he didn't say anything.

Ah!' said the old fellow, 'I am a good deal troubled with this now. I am getting old Tom, and have lost nearly


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 knobs grew into a couple of feet, encased in red cloth slippers; and the old chair looked like a very ugly old man, of the previous century, with his arms a-kimbo. Tom sat up in bed, and rubbed his eyes to dispel the illusion. No. The chair was an ugly old gentleman; and what was more, he was winking at Tom Smart.

"Tom was naturally a headlong, careless sort of dog, and he had had five tumblers of hot punch into the bargain; so, although he was a little startled at first, he began to grow rather indignant when he saw the old gentleman winking and leering at him with such an impudent air. At length he resolved that he wouldn't stand it; and as the old face still kept winking away as fast as ever, Tom said, in a very angry tone:

What the devil are you winking at me for?

Because I like it, Tom Smart,' said the chair; or the old gentleman, whichever you like to call him. He stopped winking though, when Tom spoke, and began grinning like a superannuated monkey.

How do you know my name, old nut-cracker face!" inquired Tom Smart, rather staggered;—though he pretended to carry it off so well.

Come, come, Tom,' said the old gentleman, 'that's not the way to address solid Spanish Mahogany. Dam'me, you couldn't treat me with less respect if I was veneered.' When the old gentleman said this, he looked so fierce that Tom began to be frightened.

I didn't mean to treat you with any disrespect, sir,' said Tom; in a much humbler tone than he had spoken in at first.

Well, well,' said the old fellow, perhaps not—perhaps not. Tom—."

Sir—"

I know everything about you, Tom; everything. You're very poor, Tom.'

I certainly am,' said Tom Smart. But how came you to know that?"


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 and the round knobs at the bottom of the legs carefully tied up in red cloth, as if it had got the gout in its toes. Of any other queer chair, Tom would only have thought it was a queer chair, and there would have been an end of the matter; but there was something about this particular chair, and yet he couldn't tell what it was, so odd and so unlike any other piece of furniture he had ever seen, that it seemed to fascinate him. He sat down before the fire, and stared at the old chair for half an hour;—Deuce take the chair, it was such a strange old thing, he couldn't take his eyes off it.

Well,' said Tom, slowly undressing himself, and staring at the old chair all the while, which stood with a mysterious aspect by the bedside, I never saw such a rum concern as that in my days. Very odd,' said Tom, who had got rather sage with the hot punch, 'Very odd.' Tom shook his head with an air of profound wisdom, and looked at the chair again. He couldn't make anything of it though, so he got into bed, covered himself up warm, and fell asleep.

"In about half an hour, Tom woke up, with a start, from a confused dream of tall men and tumblers of punch: and the first object that presented itself to his waking imagination was the queer chair.

I won't look at it any more,' said Tom to himself, and he squeezed his eyelids together, and tried to persuade himself he was going to sleep again. No use; nothing but queer chairs danced before his eyes, kicking up their legs, jumping over each other's backs, and playing all kinds of antics.

I may as well see one real chair, as two or three complete sets of false ones,' said Tom, bringing out his head from under the bed-clothes. There it was, plainly discernible by the light of the fire, looking as provoking as ever.

"Tom gazed at the chair; and, suddenly as he looked at it, a most extraordinary change seemed to come over it. The carving of the back gradually assumed the lineaments and expression of an old shrivelled human face; the damask cushion became an antique, flapped waistcoat: the round


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 which lie to the east of the Waterbearer's Urn. This region of the sky has been called the "Sky Sea," for not only does it contain three fishes but also Cetus, the Whale, Delphinus, the Dolphin, and Capricornus, the Sea-goat. The three fish and the Seagoat were placed in the sky to commemorate the adventures of the Goddess Venus, the little God Cupid and the God Pan with the terrible fire-breathing monster Typhon. When Typhon appeared with a deafening roar, shaking his head and belching fire, the immortals fled in a panic before him, and when Venus and Cupid and Pan jumped into a river, they were transformed into two fish and a Sea-goat. The Southern Fish is connected in some way in the story but just how is not quite clear. Northwest of Aquarius lies the region of birds, while beyond the "Sea" to the southeast

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 is the hunting scene of the giant Orion. The River Eridanus may also be seen flowing from a star near Rigel, on the foot of Orion, to a point on the shore of the "Sea."

Formalhaut rises in the south at twilight about the 10th of October and wanders westward in a small arc above the horizon. It is visible such a short time that it is said that it comes "when the leaves begin to fall and goes while they are still falling." This star rises in the south at the same time that Capella rises in the northeast, but an easier way of locating it may be found by estimating two-thirds of the distance across the sky from the outside stars in the bowl of the Big Dipper. It also lies almost exactly in a straight line with the two stars on the west side of the great Square of Pegasus at a distance equal to 3⅓ times the distance between them and the southernmost of the two.

If all the diamonds in the world were melted into one huge, magical jewel, its sparkling brilliance would pale beside Sirius, the diamond of the heavens.

This wonderful, iridescent beauty, fresh as a prismatic ice-flame, if such a thing might be, is best appreciated on a clear, cold winter night when the little stars swarm out like fire-flies and the large stars burn like Aladdin gems of frost and fringing fire.

The ancient Greeks, strange to say, dreaded the sight of this beautiful star, for they not only imagined that its "burning breath" caused the unhealthy and oppressive heats of summer but that it was directly responsible for their parched grass and blighted corn, their mad dogs and raging fevers!

The unpopularity of this star was due to the fact that during

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 the hottest days of July it rose just before the sun and preceded that luminary all day long in his pathway through the heavens. Not knowing that Sirius lay many millions of millions of miles beyond our solar system, they quite naturally supposed that his bright rays blended with those of the sun, greatly intensifying the heat. Thus Sirius caused the hottest season of the year and all the dried fields, mad dogs, plagues and fevers were attributed to its malignant influence. Since the huge star belonged to the constellation of Canis Major, the Great Dog, it was called the "Dog Star" and these hot, sultry days, the "dog-days." The dog-days lasted for about 40 days, extending from 20 days before the heliacal rising of the Dog-star Sirius to 20 days after. Owing to the precession of the equinoxes, the heliacal rising of Sirius is different from what it was to the ancients and the dog-days are now counted from the 3rd of July to the 11th of August.

Unlike the Greeks, the ancient Egyptians held Sirius in the highest esteem and built splendid temples in its honor in the valley of the Nile. J. Norman Lockyer has made an extensive study of Egyptian temples and has described them most interestingly in his book "The Dawn of Astronomy." During his explorations he found seven temples which were constructed solely to guide the light of Sirius through an opening in the side of the temple, down a long hallway to a point on the central altar. Olcott in "Star Lore of All Ages" visualizes the following beautiful scene in the most notable of these, the temple of Isis at Denerah:

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 Rh measured ticking of a clock somewhere in the silent house.

Then I remembered what he had said.

“How do you know that I am wrong?” I asked. “And how can you tell what I was thinking?”

“You said it out loud,” answered Father Time. “But it wouldn’t have mattered, anyway. You said that Christmas was all played out and done with.”

“Yes,” I admitted, “that’s what I said.”

“And what makes you think that?” he questioned, stooping, so it seemed to me, still further over my shoulder.

“Why,” I answered, “the trouble is this. I’ve been sitting here for hours, sitting till goodness only knows how far into the night, trying to think out something to write for a Christmas story. And it won’t go. It can’t be done—not in these awful days.”

“A Christmas Story?”

“Yes. You see, Father Time,” I explained, glad with a foolish little vanity of my trade to be able to tell him something that I thought enlightening, “all the Christmas stuff—stories and jokes and pictures—is all done, you know, in October.”

I thought it would have surprised him, but I was mistaken.

“Dear me,” he said, “not till October!

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 retir'd from the place; so putting my hand into my coat pocket for my remarks—(which by the bye, may be a caution to travellers to take a little more care of their remarks for the future) "my remarks were stolen"—Never did sorry traveller make such a pother and racket about his remarks as I did about mine, upon the occasion.

Heaven! earth! sea! fire! cried I, calling in every thing to my aid but what I should—My remarks are stolen!—what shall I do?—Mr. commissary! pray did I drop any remarks as I stood besides you?

You dropp'd a good many very singular ones; replied he—Pugh! said I, those were but a few, not worth above six livres two sous—but these are a large


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 Rh What a rush! How well I remember in Ancient Egypt—as I think you call it—seeing them getting out their Christmas things, all cut in hieroglyphics, always two or three years ahead.”

“Two or three years!” I exclaimed.

“Pooh,” said Time, “that was nothing. Why in Babylon they used to get their Christmas jokes ready—all baked in clay—a whole Solar eclipse ahead of Christmas. They said, I think, that the public preferred them so.”

“Egypt? ” I said. “Babylon? But surely, Father Time, there was no Christmas in those days. I thought”

“My dear boy,” he interrupted gravely, “don’t you know that there has always been Christmas?”

I was silent. Father Time had moved across the room and stood beside the fire-place, leaning on the mantelpiece. The little wreaths of smoke from the fading fire seemed to mingle with his shadowy outline.

“Well,” he said presently, “what is it that is wrong with Christmas?”

“Why,” I answered, “all the romance, the joy, the beauty of it has gone, crushed and killed by the greed of commerce and the horrors of war. I am not, as you thought I was, a hundred years old, but I can conjure

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 I dropped into a gentlemen's sparring exhibition only last evening. It did my heart good to see that there were a few young and youngish youths left who could take care of their own heads in case of emergency. It is a fine sight, that of a gentleman resolving himself into the primitive constituents of his humanity. Here is a delicate young man now, with an intellectual countenance, a slight figure, a sub-pallid complexion, a most unassuming deportment, a mild adolescent in fact, that any Hiram or Jonathan from between the ploughtails would of course expect to handle with perfect ease. Oh, he is taking off his gold-bowed spectacles! Ah, he is divesting himself of his cravat! Why, he is stripping off his coat! Well, here he is, sure enough, in a tight silk shirt, and with two things that look like batter puddings in the place of his fists. Now see that other fellow with another pair of batter puddings,—the big one with the broad shoulders; he will certainly knock the little man's head off, if he strikes him. Feinting, dodging, stopping, hitting, countering,—little man's head not off yet. You might as well try to jump upon your own shadow as to hit the little man's intellectual features. He needn't have taken off the gold-bowed spectacles at all. Quick, cautious, shifty, nimble, cool, he catches all the fierce lunges or gets out of their reach, till his turn comes, and then, whack goes one of the batter puddings against the big one's ribs, and bang goes the other into the


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 big one's face, and, staggering, shuffling, slipping, tripping, collapsing, sprawling, down goes the big one in a miscellaneous bundle.—If my young friend, whose excellent article I have referred to, could only introduce the manly art of self-defence among the clergy, I am satisfied that we should have better sermons and an infinitely less quarrelsome church-militant. A bout with the gloves would let off the ill-nature, and cure the indigestion, which, united, have embroiled their subject in a bitter controversy. We should then often hear that a point of difference between an infallible and a heretic, instead of being vehemently discussed in a series of newspaper articles, had been settled by a friendly contest in several rounds, at the close of which the parties shook hands and appeared cordially reconciled.

But boxing you and I are too old for, I am afraid. I was for a moment tempted, by the contagion of muscular electricity last evening, to try the gloves. with the Benicia Boy, who looked in as a friend to the noble art; but remembering that he had twice my weight and half my age, besides the advantage of his training, I sat still and said nothing.

There is one other delicate point I wish to speak of with reference to old age. I refer to the use of dioptric media which correct the diminished refracting power of the humors of the eye,—in other words, spectacles. I don't use them. All I ask is a large, fair type, a strong daylight or gas-light, and one yard


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237Rh total imports slightly larger. It is better, however, to consider such statistics in taels, because currency fluctuations make the results deceptive when reckoned in sterling. The tael is not a coin, but a certain weight of silver, and therefore its value fluctuates with the value of silver. The China Year Book gives imports and exports of Chinese produce for 1902 as 325 million taels and 214 million taels respectively; for 1911, as 482 and 377; for 1917, as 577 and 462; for 1920, as 762 and 541. (The corresponding figures in pounds sterling for 1911 are 64 millions and 50 millions; for 1917, 124 millions and 99,900,000.) It will thus be seen that, although the foreign trade of China is still small in proportion to population, it is increasing very fast. To a European it is always surprising to find how little the economic life of China is affected by such incidents as revolutions and civil wars.

Certain principles seem to emerge from a study of the Chinese railways and mines as needing to be adopted by the Chinese Government if national independence is to be preserved. As regards railways, nationalization is obviously desirable, even if it somewhat retards the building of new lines. Railways not in the hands of the Government will be controlled, in the end if not in the beginning, by foreigners, who will thus acquire a power over China which will be fatal to freedom. I think we may hope that the Chinese authorities now realize this, and will henceforth act upon it.

In regard to mines, development by the Chinese themselves is urgent, since undeveloped resources tempt the greed of the Great Powers, and development by foreigners makes it possible to keep China enslaved. It should therefore be enacted that, in


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 of focal distance, and my eyes are as good as ever. But if your eyes fail, I can tell you something encouraging. There is now living in New York State an old gentleman who, perceiving his sight to fail, immediately took to exercising it on the finest print, and in this way fairly bullied Nature out of her foolish habit of taking liberties at five-and-forty, or thereabout. And now this old gentleman performs the most extraordinary feats with his pen, showing that his eyes must be a pair of microscopes. I should be afraid to say to you how much he writes in the compass of a half-dime,—whether the Psalms or the Gospels, or the Psalms and the Gospels, I won't be positive.

But now let me tell you this. If the time comes when you must lay down the fiddle and the bow, because your fingers are too stiff, and drop the ten-foot sculls, because your arms are too weak, and, after dallying awhile with eye-glasses, come at last to the undisguised reality of spectacles,—if the time comes when that fire of life we spoke of has burned so low that where its flames reverberated there is only the sombre stain of regret, and where its coals glowed, only the white ashes that cover the embers of memory,―don't let your heart grow cold, and you may carry cheerfulness and love with you into the teens of your second century, if you can last so long. As our friend, the Poet, once said, in some of those old-fashioned heroics of his which he keeps for his private reading,—


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 Rh up, as anybody can, a picture of Christmas in the good old days of a hundred years ago: the quaint old-fashioned houses, standing deep among the evergreens, with the light twinkling from the windows on the snow; the warmth and comfort within; the great fire roaring on the hearth; the merry guests grouped about its blaze and the little children with their eyes dancing in the Christmas fire-light, waiting for Father Christmas in his fine mummery of red and white and cotton wool to hand the presents from the yule-tide tree. I can see it,” I added, “as if it were yesterday.”

“It was but yesterday,” said Father Time, and his voice seemed to soften with the memory of bygone years. “I remember it well.”

“Ah,” I continued, “that was Christmas indeed. Give me back such days as those, with the old good cheer, the old stage coaches and the gabled inns and the warm red wine, the snapdragon and the Christmas-tree, and I’ll believe again in Christmas, yes, in Father Christmas himself.”

“Believe in him?” said Time quietly. “You may well do that. He happens to be standing outside in the street at this moment.”

“Outside? ” I exclaimed. “Why don’t he come in?”

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238Rh future, no sale of mines or of any interest in mines to foreigners, and no loan from foreigners on the security of mines, will be recognized as legally valid. In view of extra-territoriality, it will be difficult to induce foreigners to accept such legislation, and Consular Courts will not readily admit its validity. But, as the example of extra-territoriality in Japan shows, such matters depend upon the national strength; if the Powers fear China, they will recognize the validity of Chinese legislation, but if not, not. In view of the need of rapid development of mining by Chinese, it would probably be unwise to nationalize all mines here and now. It would be better to provide every possible encouragement to genuinely Chinese private enterprise, and to offer the assistance of geological and mining experts, etc. The Government should, however, retain the right (a) to buy out any mining concern at a fair valuation; (b) to work minerals itself in cases where the private owners fail to do so, in spite of expert opinion in favour of their being worked. These powers should be widely exercised, and as soon as mining has reached the point compatible with national security, the mines should be all nationalized, except where, as at Tayeh, diplomatic agreements stand in the way. It is clear that the Tayeh mines must be recovered by China as soon as opportunity offers, but when or how that will be it is as yet impossible to say. Of course I have been assuming an orderly government established in China, but without that nothing vigorous can be done to repel foreign aggression. This is a point to which, along with other general questions connected with the industrializing of China, I shall return in my last chapter.

It is said by Europeans who have business