At length Mr Hoppe, in obedience to a previous request from Isaac,
came to inform him that at the conclusion of the next dance--a
quadrille--there would be an adjournment for supper. Our hero took this
opportunity of asking about the gentleman by whom Angela's song was
accompanied.
'I can give you no account at all, sir,' said the Master of the
Ceremonies; 'though there are not many gents in this neighbourhood that
I have not some knowledge of.'
Isaac meanwhile looked about for Angela, and soon discovered her
sitting with her aunt and the unknown gentleman.
'You come to claim your engagement,' she said, as she rose and took his
arm.
'You look tired,' remarked Isaac, feeling he must say something, and
the fact of her looking tired and flushed having struck him first.
'Besides,' he thought, 'women like to be told they look tired.'
'Do you think so?' she replied with a slight blush, as they walked
round the room. 'I should scarcely have thought you would have noticed
it; but I _am_ rather tired,' she continued, 'as I have been dancing
a great deal; and besides that, I feel excited as well, for I have
had a very unexpected pleasure to-day. My dear brother, who has been
abroad for some years, returned to London to-day without giving us any
notice of his coming. He arrived at our house a very short time before
we started here, and as he would not hear of my giving up the ball, he
came too.'
'Was it your brother who played for you when you sang?' asked Isaac.
'Yes,' she replied. 'It is an old song we learned together many years
ago; and as he is a very ready player, it was no trouble to him to
accompany me.'
While they thus conversed, the quadrille had been formed, and now the
dance was just about to begin.
'Shall you mind very much if we do not dance this time?' inquired
Angela of her companion.
'Not at all,' answered Isaac, much relieved; 'not if I may talk to you
instead,' he added shyly.
He had committed himself now to a task far more difficult to him than
even dancing a quadrille; for of what topics to choose as conversation
with the fair creature by his side, he had not the slightest idea. So
they walked on in awkward silence.
'Would you mind making me known to your brother?' Isaac at length asked.
'I will with pleasure,' she returned; and seeing him approach in their
direction, she caught his arm, and introduced him to Mr Webb as her
brother Herbert, from abroad.
'Very pleased to make your acquaintance, Mr Webb,' said he. And then,
after a pause, and with an almost imperceptible glance at Isaac's
clothes and general appearance, he continued: 'If it is not a rude
question, are you a resident in London, or merely making a short stay
in it?'
Isaac hated to be questioned; but he _must_ answer; there was no help
for it. 'I am staying for a time here,' he said vaguely, 'but my
regular home is in the country.'
'Staying with friends, I suppose?' pursued Mr Faithful, not at all
abashed.
'No,' answered Isaac; 'I am staying at a coffee-house.'
'You must find it dull sometimes,' said his irrepressible questioner;
'but I presume you have friends in the neighbourhood, or some business
to occupy your time and attention?'
Isaac thought it might save further questioning if he gave a little
voluntary information.
'I am staying in London for a few weeks for a little change,' he
replied. 'I have no friends here, nor any particular business; but I am
used to being much alone, so that I do not find it dull.'
'That will not, I hope, prevent me improving my acquaintance with you.
I am at present staying with my aunt; in fact, I only arrived in London
this afternoon, so have had no time to seek other lodging, even if I do
so at all. But speaking in my aunt's name as well as in my own, I hope
you will favour us with a call. You will excuse my card, for I have
not one with me; but I daresay aunt has her case in her pocket, as she
seldom used to go anywhere without it.--Do you mind feeling for it,
Angela?'
She presently returned with a card, to which her brother added his
name. 'We shall be glad to see you at any time,' he said, handing it
to Isaac; 'but possibly the evening may suit you better than any other
time, and if so, you will be more likely to find me in.'
Really, notwithstanding his questions at the commencement of their
conversation, he was, Isaac considered, a very agreeable person;
for he had given him the very opportunity he sought, the difficulty
of obtaining which had exercised his mind during his sojourn by the
ballroom wall. He did not consider it singular in the least that
Herbert Faithful should have pressed such an invitation upon him, a
total stranger. No; he was evidently a man of quick discernment, and
had at once probed through, with his mind's eye, a portion of the crust
of Isaac's reserve, and had discovered some of the precious metal
beneath.
Any further conversation at the time was prevented by a general move
towards the supper-room; and Herbert, asking his two companions to
wait for him, presently brought up the aunt, and the four went into
the supper-room together. During the meal, Herbert made himself
particularly agreeable; so much so, that Isaac threw off a little
more of the crust of his reserve, even going so far as to mention
Dambourne End, and to give out a slight glimmer of his own importance
in that place as a landowner. The supper, after the manner of such
entertainments, was not a protracted one, and passed off, so far as our
party was concerned, with no further contre-temps than was occasioned
by Isaac, in the exuberance of his feelings, inadvertently tilting his
chair so that he came in contact with the back-comb of a middle-aged
lady who was sitting back to back with him, thereby forcing that useful
ornament into her scalp. A loud scream was the result; but the lady was
more startled than hurt, and after apologies more or less awkward from
Isaac, she regained her composure and her appetite, and harmony was
restored.
After supper, Angela danced but once, and after singing a duet with
her brother, came with him to Isaac to say good-night. He accompanied
them and their aunt to their cab; and after promising to call upon
them very soon, they drove off, and he returned to the ballroom. But
the place was now without any interest for him; so after wondering
within himself that his heart should have been so easily and speedily
reached, and with a new and indescribable feeling of loneliness upon
him, he bade Mr Hoppe good-night, after an ineffectual attempt on that
individual's part to get at Isaac's habitation and business; and having
made no other acquaintance whatever in the room, he obtained his hat
and departed to his coffee-house.
A MEDIUM'S CORRESPONDENTS.
The Americans usually plume themselves upon being the 'smartest' people
under the sun; but as an acute writer observes, the very admiration
they bestow upon shrewdness shews that the quality is really rare among
them. Your ideal American, spry as a fox, supple as an eel, 'cute as a
weasel, would have a bad time of it if his countrymen generally were
equally spry, supple, and cunning. Charlatans and impostors can only
thrive in a credulous community, and in no country in the world do
the pestilent creatures ply such a profitable trade as in the Great
Republic. In almost every newspaper and popular periodical published in
America, wizards, fortune-tellers, clairvoyants, and seeresses 'born
with a veil,' advertise their readiness to supply psychometrical,
phrenological, and planetary readings, or solve all difficulties
relating to business, love, trouble, and disease, for some fifty cents
or so; while mediums of every variety offer their services to any one
requiring spiritual help--and willing to pay for it.
One of these tricksters, practising in New York, lately came to grief
in a curious way. Prudently dispensing with the paraphernalia usually
affected by the craft, Medium Flint adopted a simpler and less risky
method of swindling, merely undertaking for a fee of two dollars to
act as a medium of communication between his patrons and their friends
in the spirit-world. Any one desirous of obtaining news or advice from
that mysterious debatable land had only to send him a letter addressed
to a spirit and securely fastened; unless that were done, it would not
be answered; Flint's agency being only efficient when his mind was
blank and passive to both questions and answers, and delivering in his
own handwriting simply and precisely what was dictated to him by the
spirit communicating. Of course the recipients of these proxy-written
spirit-replies never doubted their genuineness, especially as they came
accompanied with their own epistles with their covers _intact_.
Unfortunately for himself, Mr Flint gave his wife--'a spiritualist
herself, but not of the same kind as her husband'--good cause to
leave his house; and the abused lady carried away with her not only
the little apparatus by whose aid he unsealed the communications
of his dupes, but the book in which the rascal copied them and the
answers he manufactured; and to make matters worse for the unlucky
medium, Mrs Flint thought proper to publish a selection from his
correspondence, 'to warn people against quack spiritualists,' and serve
for the entertainment of all not concerned. It serves to shew too how
widespread the belief in spiritualism is in the States; for Flint's
customers are of all grades, from the humble individual whose highest
ambition is to occupy a clerk's stool, to an ambassador-elect, anxious
to settle a doubtful point respecting his pedigree, before leaving his
country to represent it at the Court of St James.
Flint warned his patrons of the necessity of putting their questions
briefly, clearly, and distinctly, 'the mixed kind defeating the object
of the investigation.' The hint was thrown away upon most of them.
A young lady signing herself 'Miss Fany Crosby,' with a confusing
contempt for the rules of spelling and punctuation, thus addressed
her dear mother: 'Can you tell me if I will be developed the time you
told me I Wold thrue Mr Foster if not tell me When if you can Will I
be a good Medium Will I wright impressnoley or Makonakley Will I be a
seeking Medium Will I ever see you the same as eny spiret While in the
body can all of our dear Spiret Friends controle me When I am developed
as Will I be controled by a Guid to home they will Dicktate will Ida
alwayse Treate me as she does now will she Mary and do well will Dear
Mattei Ever have Meny children. Will they be Gurls or Boys where can I
Find Some of Aunt Rachels Boys is she with you and is she hapy is Gand
Mother on your sid yet will Liddia out live Harry Can she Be developed
as a Medium Will I ever be welthy can Amandy be a Medium how long shall
we stay in this house will I go into the country this Summer to Liddias
is Ida going to Die soon.'
Miss 'Fany' is but one of many aspirants to the doubtful honours of
mediumship, who, anxious as they may be to receive an affirmative
answer to the question, 'Shall I become a medium?' are not prepared
to accept it as a full equivalent for their two dollars. A would-be
clairvoyant writes to his father: 'I would like to know how you are.
What have they done with your property in Bray? Will I ever get any
portion of it? Please give me advice on business matters. Give me
all the help you can.' Another affectionate son asks his father for
'points' in the patent business. Nathan Crane is desired to instruct
his nephew whether it were best to sell his business or hold on. Fred
Felton wants his brother to tell him if his partner may be trusted,
and if the firm would do wisely to decline giving credit to customers;
while a gentleman 'engaged in making Nature's Hair Restorer,' entreats
Brother William to give his personal attention to the matter, and
inform him what is the best plan to adopt to make the Restorer pay
a profit very soon; although he betrays a sad want of faith in the
virtues of that article, by pestering a number of denizens of the
spirit-world for recipes for the manufacture of hair restoratives,
in the expectation of obtaining valuable information at a trifling
cost; like a litigant who asks the shade of Daniel Webster for legal
assistance concerning certain lawsuits; as if it were likely that even
a disembodied lawyer would give professional advice gratis!
A lady sends a loving greeting to her departed cousin Phœbe, fully
believing the lost one watches over her, and asks: 'Can you see mamma
and I in our daily life here? Can you see my dear loved George? How
long before he will be free from the unlawful bond now entangling
and oppressing him? Will Georgie return to me this autumn? How soon
will we be wedded?' A widower propounds a few 'live questions' to
his dead 'wife in heaven,' and wants to know if she is happy; if she
can come back to earth, or desires to do so; if dear little baby is
with her; and if she can find any medium in Philadelphia through whom
he could communicate with her. Another widower, not without hope of
finding consolation for his loss, wishes his lamented wife to tell him
if he had better sell his business and go to Europe with his patent
rails, or remain where he is and marry Miss Boyd. Jealousy is not
supposed to exist in the spirit-world, or Camilla Stick would scarcely
invite her defunct husband to enlighten her as to the intentions of
a certain gentleman by informing her whether Mr W---- loves her and
will marry her, or whether he rather inclines to 'Cora,' and will
visit that damsel when he goes to Philadelphia. Less excuse for his
inquisitiveness respecting other folk's feelings has Mr Key, who writes
to his brother: 'Can you tell me if my niece Marie will recover and
be a well and strong girl; and who she is in love with? What are my
prospects in New York, and had I better remain here, or go home to my
father? Also if my tickets in the Louisville lottery will gain me a
prize, and what do you think of cotton declining? Will Mr Zoborowski do
anything for me, and does he really like me? Does my sister feel sorry
for what she has done? Will Anna Zoborowski marry a foreigner? Does
she love any other person? Does Alexander love Marie? and does Alores
love Anna? Good-bye, my dear brother. Can you give me the names of some
friends in the spirit-world?' The credulity demonstrated in these and
such other ridiculous questions almost exceeds belief. And this in a
country boasting of its education and its shrewdness!
AN IRISH MISTAKE.
For more than twenty years it has been my custom to recruit myself
every autumn with a walking tour of over a month's duration. By
this means I have seen more of these islands than any one of my
acquaintance, and have had peeps into the inner life of the people such
as few tourists obtain.
In doing this, I never overstrained myself, as is now too often the
fashion. I walked just so far as I pleased, and rested when nature or
my inclination gave me the hint. Sometimes my journeys were made in the
cool of the evening, sometimes in the early morning; often I slept in
the cabin of some labourer, and not once or twice, but a dozen times,
have been forced to make my lodging under the lee of some friendly
hay-rick.
One of these autumns, over ten, and less than twenty years ago, I made
the west of Ireland the field of my operations. Starting from Galway,
in a little less than three weeks' time I beheld the broad waters of
Corrib, Mask, and Conn--had lost myself in the wildernesses under the
shadow of Croagh Patrick--and looked with awe at the bold headlands of
Mayo, against which the restless Atlantic beats with a ceaseless roar.
By the evening of the twenty-first day, I found myself at Ballina, my
mind full of indecision as to how I should occupy the week or ten days
I had yet to spare. To go back over the same ground, I looked on as a
waste of time; to plunge inland was to doom myself to days of weary
trudging through rather uninteresting country. After deliberation, I
decided to head for Sligo, feeling sure that the beauties of Lough Gill
would well repay me my long walk thither.
Next morning I was up early, and, knapsack on back and stick in hand,
started off on my journey.
For the first mile or two, the road was level and easy; but presently
its character changed, and the country around grew poor and wild. It
seemed a land drenched with constant showers, and beat upon by constant
gales. There was nothing to charm me in anything I saw, so I hurried on.
After ten hours' almost constant walking, the country began to improve,
and presently I found myself in the little village of Ballysadare. Here
I halted, for, as may be expected, I was both tired and hungry.
A good dinner, however, soon made a wonderful change in me for the
better. There were still a couple of hours to pass before dark, and how
better could I employ them than by attempting to cover in an easy way
the five miles yet between me and Sligo? Once there, I could make up
by a day's idleness for this day of extra exertion. So, after a short
rest, I shouldered my knapsack, grasped my stick, and started off again.
Once clear of the village, the country began rapidly to improve, and
the scenery at one or two spots was so pleasant, that I was tempted to
loiter. I was not more than half the way, when I suddenly wakened to
the fact that night was beginning to fall about me fast.
'I cannot reach Sligo now before dark; that's certain,' I muttered, as
I hoisted my knapsack an inch or two higher, and began to cover the
ground at my best rate. 'However, the sooner I get there the better.'
Presently, I reached a spot where four roads met, and while I stood
doubtful which to take, a gig driven by some one singing in a loud key
overtook me. At sight of my lonely figure, the gig was halted suddenly,
and the driver ceased his song.
'Ah, thin, may I ask, is your honour goin' my way?' said a full round
voice. 'It's myself that's mighty fond of company o' nights about here.'
'I don't know what _your_ way may be,' I replied. 'I wish to go to
Sligo.'
'Ah, thin, an' it's that same Sligo, the weary be on it, that I'd be
afther goin' to myself,' answered the driver. 'But your honour looks
tired--manin' no offince--an' perhaps you'd take a lift in the gig?'
'Thank you; I will take a lift,' I replied, as I stepped forward and
sprang quickly to the seat. 'The truth is, I feel rather tired, as you
say.'
'An' has your honour walked far?' asked the driver, as the gig rolled
on towards the town.
'I've walked from Ballina since morning,' I replied quietly.
'From Ballina! There, now, the Lord save us!' cried the man, as he half
turned in his seat and gazed at me in astonishment. 'Why, that's a
day's work for the best horse in the masther's stables.'
'Your master must keep good horses, if I may judge by the one before
us,' I answered.
'The best in all the county, your honour, though I say it. There isn't
a gossoon in the three baronies but knows that.'
'Your master's a bit of a sportsman, then?'
'Yes, your honour; an' if he'd stick to that, it's himself'd be the
best liked man from Ballina to Ballyshannon. You wouldn't find a better
rider or a warmer heart in a day's march. But thim politics has been
his ruin with the people.'
'Oh, ah; I have heard that Sligo is rather a hot place during
elections,' I replied. 'But surely the people don't turn upon their
friends at such a time?'
'They'd turn upon their own father, if he wint agin them,' replied the
driver solemnly. 'See now, here I am, drivin' the masther's own gig
to town just be way of a blin', ye see, while he's got to slip down
the strame in Jimmy Sheridan's bit of a boat. Ah, thim politics, thim
politics!'
'Oh, then, there's an election about to take place, I presume?'
'Thrue for ye, your honour, thrue for ye,' replied the man dolefully.
'There nivir was such a ruction in Sligo before, in the mimiry of man.
Two lawyers a-fightin' like divils to see who's to be mimbir.'
'Then I'm just in time to see the fun.'
'Fun, your honour?' echoed the man. 'It's not meself that'id object to
a bit of a scrimmage now an' agin. But it's murther your honour'll see
before it's all over, or my name isn't Michael O'Connor. Whist now! Did
ye hear nothin' behin' that hedge there?'
At this moment we were about the middle of a rather lonesome stretch of
the road, one side of which was bounded by a high thin hedge. The dusk
of the evening was fast giving way to the gloom of night.
'I--ah--yes, surely there is something moving there,' I replied. 'It's
some animal, most likely.'
'Down in the sate! down, for your life!' cried the driver, as in his
terror he brought the horse to a halt. 'I'----
His speech was cut short by a couple of loud reports. A lance-like line
of fire gushed from the hedge, and one if not two bullets whizzed close
past my ear.
As I sprang to my feet in the gig, the driver slid down to the mat, and
lay there in a heap, moaning. 'Are you hurt?' I asked, as I strove to
get the reins out of his palsied hands.
'I'm kilt, kilt intirely!' he moaned.
'Aisy now, aisy there, your honour!' cried a voice from behind the
hedge just as I had gained the reins. 'It's all a mistake, your honour,
all a mistake!'
'Give the mare the whip! give the mare the whip!' cried the driver, as
he strove to crawl under the seat; 'we'll all be murthered!'
Instead of taking his advice, however, I held the mare steady, while a
man pressed through the thin hedge and stood before us, a yet smoking
gun on his shoulder.
'What's the meaning of this?' I asked coolly, for the new-comer's
coolness affected me. 'Did you want to murder a person you never saw
before?'
'I'm raale downright sorry, your honour,' replied the man in just such
a tone as he might have used had he trod upon my toe by accident; 'but
ye see you're in Wolff O'Neil's gig, an' I took ye for him.--Where's
that fellow Michael?'
As he said this, the man prodded the driver with the end of his gun,
while I--I actually laughed outright at the strangeness of the affair.
'Go away with ye, go away!' moaned the driver. 'Murther! thaves!
murther!'
'Get up with ye, an' take the reins, you gomeril you,' said the man, as
he gave Michael another prod that brought him half out. 'You're as big
a coward as my old granny's pet calf. Get up, an' take the reins, or
I'll'----
'Oh, don't; there, don't say nothin', for the love of heaven!' cried
the driver, as he scrambled into his seat again and took the reins in
his shaking hands. 'I'll do anythin' ye till me, on'y put that gun
away.'
'There,' replied the man, as he lowered the gun till its mouth pointed
to the ground; 'will that plase ye? Now, tell me where's Squire O'Neil?'
'He's in the town be this,' replied the driver. 'O thim politics, thim
politics!'
'Hum; so he's managed to get past us, after all. Well, tell him from
me, Captain Rock, that if he votes for the sarjint to-morrow, it's an
ounce of lead out of this he'll be after trying to digest. Now, mind.'
'I'll tell him, captain, dear! I'll tell him,' replied the driver, as
he fingered the reins and whip nervously. 'But mayn't we go on now?
mayn't we go on?'
'Yis, whiniver the gentleman plases,' replied the man. 'An' I'm raale
sorry, as I told your honour, I'm raale sorry at the mistake.'
'Well, I'm pleased, not sorry,' I replied, laughing, 'for if you'd hit
me, it wouldn't have been at all pleasant. But let me advise you to
make sure of your man next time before firing. Good-night.'
'Good-night, your honour, good-night,' cried the man, as Michael
gave the mare the whip, and sent her along at the top of her speed
to the now fast-nearing lights of the town. In less than a quarter
of an hour we had dashed through the streets, and halted opposite a
large hotel. Here Michael found his master, as he expected; and here
I put up for the night, very much to the astonishment of every one.
Soon after my arrival, I asked to be shewn to my room; but it was one
o'clock in the morning before the other guests ceased their noise and
allowed me to go to sleep. Next day I slept rather late, and might
have slept even later, but that I was rudely shaken out of a pleasant
dream by a wild howl, as of a thousand demons just let loose. Starting
up quickly, and looking out on the street, I saw that it was filled
with a fierce-looking crowd, out of whose many mouths had proceeded
the yell that wakened me. Dragging on my clothes, I rushed down to
the coffee-room. There I learned that the people outside had just
accompanied Squire O'Neil back from the polling-place, where he had
been the first to vote for 'the sarjint.' Now that this fact had become
generally known, they were clamorous that he should be sent out to
them, 'to tear him limb from limb.' Presently, while their cries rose
loud and long, the squire entered the room--a tall, military-looking
man, with a little of a horsey tone, nose like a hawk, eyes dark, yet
glowing like fire.
'They don't seem over-fond of me, I see,' he said with a smile, as he
bowed to those in the room, and advanced to one of the windows and
coolly opened it. Waving his hand, the crowd became instantly silent.
'Now, don't be in a hurry, gentlemen,' he said in a clear voice that
must have been distinctly heard by every one. 'You shall have the
honour of my company so soon as my horse can be harnessed, I assure
you.'
'Eh, what! what does he mean?' I asked of a person next me. 'Surely he
will not venture out among these howling fiends?'
'That is just what he is going to do,' replied my companion. 'There is
no use talking to him. He has given orders for the mare and gig to be
got ready, and it's as much as any one's life is worth to try to stop
him. Wolff by name, and wolf by nature; he's enraged at having to steal
down here last night like a thief. Ah, there the fun begins! Look out!'
As my companion spoke, he griped me by the arm, and dragged me close
against a space between two windows. Next moment, a shower of stones
crashed through the windows, leaving not a single inch of glass
unbroken. Then, at longer or shorter intervals, volley followed volley,
till the floor of the room was completely covered with road-metal
and broken glass. Presently, there was a lull in the storm, and the
crowd became all at once as silent as the grave. In the hush, I could
distinctly hear the grating sound of the opening of some big door
almost under us. I looked inquiringly at my companion.
'It's the entry doors being opened to let the wolf out,' he said in
reply. 'Ah, there he is.'
I glanced out of the window, and saw the squire alone in his gig, a
smile on his face, his whole bearing as cool and unconcerned as if
there was not a single enemy within a thousand miles. Then I heard the
great doors clang to, and as they did so, the crowd gave vent to a howl
of delighted rage.
At the first appearance of the squire in his gig, the people had swayed
back, and left an open space in front of the hotel. Now they seemed
about to close in on him, and one man in the front stooped to lift a
stone. Quick as lightning, the hand of the squire went to his breast,
and just as the man stood upright to throw, I heard the sharp crack
of a pistol. The man uttered a wild shriek of pain, clapped his hands
to his cheeks, and plunged into the crowd. The bullet had entered at
one cheek and gone out at the other, after tearing away a few teeth in
its passage. The man was the very person who had made the mistake in
shooting at me over-night.
'A near nick that for our friend,' said the squire in his clear voice,
while the crowd swayed back a pace or two. 'But the next will be nearer
still, and I've nearly half-a-dozen still left. Now, will any of you
oblige me by stooping to lift a stone?'
He paused and glanced round, while every man in the crowd held his
breath and stood still as a statue.
'No? you won't oblige me,' he said presently, with a sneer. Then
fierce as if charging in some world-famous battle: 'Out of my way, you
scoundrels! Faugh-a-ballagh!'
At the word, he jerked the reins slightly, and the mare moved forward
at a trot with head erect, and bearing as proud as if she knew a
conqueror sat behind her. Then, in utter silence, the crowd swayed
to right and left, leaving a wide alley, down which the squire drove
as gaily as if the whole thing were some pleasant show. When he had
disappeared, the crowd closed to again, utterly crestfallen. Then for
a short time the whole air was filled with their chattering one to
another like the humming of innumerable bees; and presently, without a
shout, and without a single stone being thrown, the great mass melted
away.
Next morning, at an early hour, I left Sligo as fast as a covered
conveyance could carry me. I did not care to wait for the slower means
of escape by foot, fearful that next time a mistake was made with me
the shooting might possibly be better than it was at first.
PROCESSIONARY CATERPILLARS.
'While out for a walk the other day we came across a curious incident
in natural history. At Cap Martin, about two miles from Mentone, our
attention was attracted by something by the roadside which looked at
a little distance like a long thin serpent. At first we thought it
best not to go very near, but curiosity prevailed, and upon closer
inspection we found it was a long line, consisting of ninety-nine
caterpillars, crawling in single file close after one another. Our
curiosity led us to remove one from the middle, a little distance from
the others, and we found his place was soon filled up; but he crawled
back to them and edged his way into the line again. Then we removed the
leader: this brought them for a time to a standstill. After a little
while they began to move on, and then we put the original leader in his
proper place, but this brought them again to a standstill; and from the
way they moved their heads from side to side, a great deal of talking
seemed to be going on, and they decided their original leader was not
fit to lead, and they chose another, while he had to make his way
into the line lower down. A little farther on we saw another line of
forty-four coming up in the opposite direction, and we were curious to
see what would happen when they met, imagining they might perhaps have
a fight; but such was not the case: they joined the others by degrees,
and so made a much longer line and marched on.
'We have since heard they climb some particular kind of trees, and make
their nests in them, which has a very injurious effect, and often kills
the trees, unless the branches are cut off which hold the nests.'
In an interesting little work on _Insect Architecture_, published in
1830, mention is made of these social caterpillars, the construction
of their nests, and their processionary habits. The writer says: 'It
is remarkable that, however far they may ramble from their nest, they
never fail to find their way back when a shower of rain or nightfall
renders shelter necessary. It requires no great shrewdness to discover
how they effect this; for by looking closely at their track it will
be found that it is carpeted with silk, no individual moving an inch
without constructing such a pathway both for the use of his companions
and to facilitate his own return. All these caterpillars, therefore,
move more or less in processional order, each following the road which
the first chance traveller has marked out with his strip of silk
carpeting.' Further remarks are made of two species 'more remarkable
than others in the regularity of their processional marchings.'
'These are found in the south of Europe, but are not indigenous in
Britain. The one named by Réaumur the Processionary (_Cnethocampa
processionea_) feeds upon the oak; a brood dividing, when newly
hatched, into one or more parties of several hundred individuals,
which afterwards unite in constructing a common nest, nearly two feet
long and from four to six inches in diameter. It is not divided into
chambers, but consists of one large hall, so that it is not necessary
that there should be more openings than one; and accordingly, when an
individual goes out and carpets a path, the whole colony instinctively
follow in the same track, though, from the immense population, they
are often compelled to march in parallel files from two to six deep.
The procession is always headed by a single caterpillar; sometimes
the leader is immediately followed by one or two in single file, and
sometimes by two abreast. A similar procedure is followed by a species
of social caterpillar which feeds on the pine in Savoy and Languedoc,
and their nests are not half the size of the preceding; they are more
worthy of notice from the strong and excellent quality of their silk,
which Réaumur was of opinion might be advantageously manufactured.
Their nests consist of more chambers than one, but are furnished with
a main entrance, through which the colonists conduct their foraging
processions.'
The lady whose remarks are recorded above has since written that the
species she observed feeds upon the pine-trees in the neighbourhood of
Mentone.--S. W. U. in _Hardwicke's Science-Gossip_.
THE TOMB AND THE ROSE.
(TRANSLATION, FROM VICTOR HUGO.)
The tomb asked of the rose:
'What dost thou with the tears, which dawn
Sheds on thee every summer morn,
Thou sweetest flower that blows?'
The rose asked of the tomb:
'What dost thou with the treasures rare,
Thou hidest deep from light and air,
Until the day of doom?'
The rose said: 'Home of night,
Deep in my bosom, I distil
Those pearly tears to scents, that fill
The senses with delight.'
The tomb said: 'Flower of love,
I make of every treasure rare,
Hidden so deep from light and air,
A soul for heaven above!'
A. J. M.
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