The Morning Bell Brings The Broken Hearted

Jennifer Manuel download

https://ebookbell.com/product/the-morning-bell-brings-the-broken-
hearted-jennifer-manuel-53595134

Explore and download more ebooks at ebookbell.com

Here are some recommended products that we believe you will be
interested in. You can click the link to download.

8 Minutes In The Morning To A Flat Belly Lose Up To 6 Inches In Less

Than 4 Weeksguaranteed 1st Edition Jorge Cruise

https://ebookbell.com/product/8-minutes-in-the-morning-to-a-flat-
belly-lose-up-to-6-inches-in-less-than-4-weeksguaranteed-1st-edition-
jorge-cruise-5314906

8 Minutes In The Morning To A Flat Belly Lose Up To 6 Inches In Less

Than 4 Weeksguaranteed Cruise

https://ebookbell.com/product/8-minutes-in-the-morning-to-a-flat-
belly-lose-up-to-6-inches-in-less-than-4-weeksguaranteed-
cruise-11778090

The Fosters Market Cookbook Favorite Recipes For Morning Noon And Nigh
Sara Foster

https://ebookbell.com/product/the-fosters-market-cookbook-favorite-
recipes-for-morning-noon-and-nigh-sara-foster-5513382

The Mourning Bells Christine Trent

https://ebookbell.com/product/the-mourning-bells-christine-
trent-8415506
The Morning Star Karl Ove Knausgaard Martin Aitken

https://ebookbell.com/product/the-morning-star-karl-ove-knausgaard-
martin-aitken-47397176

The Morning After A History Of Emergency Contraception In The United

States Heather Munro Prescott

https://ebookbell.com/product/the-morning-after-a-history-of-
emergency-contraception-in-the-united-states-heather-munro-
prescott-51901268

The Morning Breaks The Trial Of Angela Davis Second Edition Bettina
Aptheker

https://ebookbell.com/product/the-morning-breaks-the-trial-of-angela-
davis-second-edition-bettina-aptheker-51940156

The Morning After Jackson Lisa Jackson Lisa

https://ebookbell.com/product/the-morning-after-jackson-lisa-jackson-
lisa-32868536

The Morning Watch James Agee

https://ebookbell.com/product/the-morning-watch-james-agee-7141126
 Another Random Document on
Scribd Without Any Related Topics
they must have been more numerous, and far more active and extensive in
their operations. Remains of extinct volcanoes of great size are scattered in
almost every country, and geologists are every day discovering large tracts
of rocks and earths, which there is every reason to ascribe to volcanic
agency.
“Several have been found in Europe, which for many centuries must
have been at rest. Great part of Italy and Sicily are clearly volcanic. Near
Coblentz, in Germany, are the remains of several craters, and large masses
of lava are seen strewed over the surrounding country. Along the Rhine
entire chains of volcanic hills are found; and near Spa there are traces of
some very large volcanoes, with deep craters half full of water. Great part of
Languedoc and Provence in France are volcanic; and Auvergne presents an
astonishing example of the activity of its ancient volcanoes, for the whole
country consists of lava. In the East Indian islands there are great numbers;
Sumatra, Java, and the Molucca islands, possess some of the finest
volcanoes now existing. You know, from Humboldt, how numerous they are
on the western side of South America and Mexico; and Nootka Sound, in
the 50th degree of north latitude, was observed by Captain Cook to be
entirely volcanic. In the Pacific Ocean, Easter Island is a mere mass of lava
and basalt; and I need scarcely mention the Sandwich Islands, as you have
been lately so much interested by Mr. Ellis’s account of the great volcano in
Owhyhee, with its sublime gulf of boiling lava, seven or eight miles in
circumference.”

23rd, Sunday.—My uncle continued the subject of the prophecies of

Moses, this morning.
“There are different kinds of prophecies in the books of Moses, some of
which were fulfilled soon after the prediction, such as the conquest of the
land of Canaan; and others the accomplishment of which was not to follow
till after a long interval of time, such as those that relate to the coming of
the Messiah, and the dispersion of the Jewish nation; but in all there is the
same clearness and consistency, the same tone of inspiration and authority,
and the same internal proofs of their truth. The Jews have always looked on
him as by far the greatest of all their prophets. They assert, that the others
received the divine communications by dreams and visions; whereas they
were given to Moses by an immediate revelation from God.
 “In the most important of all his prophecies—‘The Lord thy God will
raise up unto thee a prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like
unto me; unto him ye shall hearken’—Moses does not say a priest or a king,
though the Messiah was to be both; but ‘a prophet,’ in order to put the
people on their guard not to look for him among any of their priests or
kings. They were not to expect a person clothed with the external honours
of the throne, nor ranking high in the priestly form of their government; but
were to consider divine inspiration as the true test of that great prophet to
whom they were to hearken, and who was to be the future head of their
religion.
“In consequence of this prediction, an expectation of some extraordinary
prophet had always prevailed among the Jews, and particularly about the
time of our Saviour. They understood and applied it, as well as other similar
prophecies, to the Messiah, who they admitted would be as great as Moses:
but, forgetting the distinct explanation with which it was accompanied, they
looked for pomp and splendour, instead of the quiet manifestation of divine
power on suitable occasions; they looked for the worldly attributes of
dominion, instead of the meekness and humility which had characterized
Moses, and which entitled him to use the expression, ‘like unto me.’
“When our Saviour had fed five thousand men by a miracle like that of
Moses, who fed the Israelites in the wilderness, then all those that were
present exclaimed,—‘This is of a truth that prophet that should come into
the world.’ St. Peter and St. Stephen[1] declared to the people that the
prophecy directly applied to Jesus, for he fully answered the definition of a
prophet like unto Moses. He was by birth a Jew of the middle class like
Moses. He had immediate communication with the Deity, and to him God
spake ‘face to face’ as he had done to Moses. He was a lawgiver as well as
Moses, and he performed ‘signs and wonders’ greater than those of Moses.
—‘I will put words in thy mouth,’ God said to Moses; and our Saviour says,
‘I have not spoken of myself; but the Father which sent me, he gave me a
commandment what I should say, and what I should speak.’
“There is another circumstance to which I would call your attention.
There are instances of kings, both Pagan and Jewish, who were described,
long before their birth, by those holy men, whom the Lord inspired; but we
do not find that any prophet was ever foretold by an antecedent prophet;
this pre-eminence was peculiar to the promised Deliverer.
 “Several prophecies in the Old Testament plainly ascribe the destruction
of the Jewish church and nation to their rejection of the Messiah. The words
in Deuteronomy xviii. 19 are remarkably strong. ‘Whosoever will not
hearken unto my words, which he shall speak in my name, I will require it
of him.’ Daniel expressly assigns this as the cause of the destruction of their
city and temple; and Zechariah describes the future repentance and
mourning of the whole nation for their sin of ‘piercing’ or crucifying Christ,
as preparatory to their general restoration.
“And,” added my uncle as he finished, “Let us hope that the time is fast
approaching, when instead of a wandering and despised people, we may see
the whole Jewish nation repenting of their former obduracy, and yielding up
their unbelief to a full though tardy conviction.”

24th.—We claimed my uncle’s promise this evening of describing the

mode of polishing the glass. “When the grinding operation,” said he, “has
been completed on both sides of the glass, it is again secured in plaster on a
flat table, and the surface is rubbed with a block of wood covered with
several folds of woollen cloth. The workmen supply the cloth with
polishing powders, such as crocus, tripoli, and putty, beginning with the
coarsest, and changing gradually to the finest.”
Wentworth observed that he had never seen putty in a powdered state.
“The putty of which you are thinking,” my uncle replied, “is a mixture of
chalk, or whiting with linseed oil, for the use of glaziers; but the putty to
which I alluded is the oxide of tin. Crocus is a preparation of the brown
oxide of iron; and tripoli is a natural earth, which was formerly imported
from Tripoli in Africa, but is now found in other countries. Both the
grinding and polishing of plate glass is performed in the large
manufactories by the steam-engine.”
We begged of my uncle to describe to us the process of silvering, so as to
make looking-glasses. “The coating a plate of polished glass with a thin
pellicle of quicksilver, in order to give it the power of reflecting, is a very
pretty and easy operation. I think Wentworth might readily perform it on a
small piece of glass. Blotting paper is first spread on the table and sprinkled
with powdered chalk; and over the paper is laid a sheet of tin foil; that is, tin
beaten out in the same manner as gold leaf. On the tin foil quicksilver is
poured and equally distributed, and cleaned from every speck by means of a
hare’s foot. Over that a sheet of thin smooth paper is to be spread: fan paper
is the best; and on this paper the glass is placed. With the left hand you are
to press down the glass, while with the right the paper is drawn out, and
with it most of the superfluous quicksilver. The plate is then to be loaded
with a great weight, to squeeze out more of the mercury; and lastly the glass
is set nearly upright that every particle that is not amalgamated with the tin
may ooze out; for the thinner the coating of mercury, the more perfectly the
metal adheres to the glass.”
If ever I should be in the neighbourhood of a plate-glass manufactory I
will endeavour to see the whole process; in the mean time even the little
knowledge one can pick up from a general description is better than entire
ignorance. Wentworth lost no time in making an experiment of the silvering
operation. My uncle furnished him with tin foil and quicksilver; my aunt
supplied paper, and a small rubber of cloth instead of the hare’s foot; and
we all assisted. There was a little bungling at first, but after a few trials we
succeeded in making a scrap of looking-glass, which Wentworth intends to
frame for Grace’s doll.
“As glass was comparatively a late invention, uncle, what were the
looking-glasses which are mentioned in Scripture?”
“The word,” said my uncle, “should have been translated mirrors; they
were formerly made of brass, or of a mixture of brass and silver, which
takes a very high polish; and this inadvertence of the English translators is
the more singular, because the context removes every difficulty. In the
passage of Exodus[2], to which you refer, the laver is described to be made
‘of brass of the looking-glasses.’ Glass could not possibly have been
converted into brass; but if the word be rendered by mirrors, the sense
would be complete; that is, the laver and the foot of it were made of brazen
mirrors.
“In Turkey, the common domestic mirrors at this day are made of brass;
but I have heard that in Persia they are sometimes made of steel, and
slightly convex. The metallic mirror, or speculum, which is now used in a
reflecting telescope, is composed of about two parts of copper and one of
tin; but what metals were employed by the ancients in their burning mirrors
is not known.”
“You allude, I suppose, papa,” said Frederick, “to the famous concave
mirrors with which Archimedes destroyed the Roman fleet.”
 “Long before his time,” my uncle replied, “concave mirrors had been
constructed, by which the sun’s rays were so concentrated as to burn
substances placed in the focus: but those used by Archimedes were not
concave, they had plane or flat surfaces, and it was by the combination of a
great number that the effect was produced. For you can readily conceive
that whatever portion of the solar heat can be conveyed by reflection from a
single plane surface, the effect will be doubled if the rays from another
plane surface be directed to the same spot. Five or six times the direct heat
of the sun would set dry wood on fire; but as more than half the heat is
dissipated by reflection and by other causes, we may say that eighteen or
twenty small plane mirrors would be quite sufficient for that purpose. The
Count de Buffon tried a great many valuable experiments on this subject;
with 154 mirrors he succeeded in burning wood at the distance of seventy
yards, and in fusing several metals at eight, ten, and even twelve yards,
“There was another circumstance in your question, Bertha, on which I must
set you right. It is true that glass has been brought to great perfection by
modern skill, but glass was known in the earliest ages of which any remains
of art are now extant. The mummies, for instance, which have been brought
home from Egypt, are ornamented with beads and bits of coloured glass.
Pliny describes the manner of making it; and there are various authorities
for believing that glass was even used in windows before the third century.”

25th.—The nightingale, the next bird that appears after the swallow, has
arrived, and I have twice had the pleasure of hearing the sweetness, fulness,
and power of its melody.
It is supposed to visit Asia during its absence from England, as it does
not winter in the south of Europe or in Africa, but is found at all times in the
East, from Persia to Japan. I must acknowledge that its song is more
agreeable than that of the bird we call nightingale in Brazil.
The wry-neck, and the cuckoo, which I have; just heard, arrive here very
soon after the nightingale. The wry-neck is a very pretty little bird; the neck
and breast are of a reddish brown, and crossed with waving bars of fine
black. It sits so very erect on a branch, that its body appears to bend almost
backward, while it is constantly turning its neck quite round from side to
side; and it also has the power of erecting the feathers of the head like a jay.
I have seen it feeding on ants, which it dexterously transfixes with the sharp
bony end of its tongue; and the country people say, that the young ones,
while in the nest, make a hissing sound like that of little snakes, which
deters boys from plundering their nests.
There is something very cheerful in the notes of the cuckoo and the rail.
They serve to mark one of the steps by which this changeful and busy
season of spring steals on us with all its gradations of pleasure and interest;
and which, dear mamma, I cannot help thinking preferable to the unvarying
brilliancy of Brazil.

“Now Nature, soothed, assumes her wonted charms,

And like an infant, stilled, laughs through her tears,
That glittering hang on every bloomy spray.
The birds their woodland minstrelsy renew,
In chorus universal; while the sun
Gilds with effulgence sweet the azure vault,
And paints the landscape with a thousand flowers.”

I have seen the mole cricket to-day; it is a most remarkable insect,

endowed with wonderful strength, particularly in its fore legs which are
fitted for burrowing. The shanks are broad, and terminate obliquely in four
large sharp claws, like fingers; and the foot, which consists of three joints,
and is armed at the extremity with two short claws, is placed inside the
shank so as to resemble a thumb, and to perform its offices. The direction
and motion of these hands enable the animal effectually to remove the earth
when it burrows under ground; and in wet and swampy situations, which it
loves, it excavates very curious apartments.
There is the prettiest variety of wild flowers now in bloom all over our
part of the forest; not gaudy and dazzling, like the natives of the Brazil
forests, but small and delicate, and beautifully marked and tinted. I am sorry
to say the primroses are fading; but wild violets, the wood anemone, and
millions of cowslips with their pretty golden bells, make up for their loss.
I had almost forgotten to tell you that the buds and leaves of the branches
I had in water, have all withered away; ashamed, I suppose, to appear now
that there are abundance of real leaves.

27th.—My aunt has been extremely interested by an account she read of

the progress of Christianity in the Sandwich islands.
It is almost a singular instance of a nation by general consent destroying
their idols, and being sensible of the insufficiency of their own religion. The
small opposition made to the change, and the manner in which many of the
chiefs publicly professed Christianity, give one every reason to hope that it
will take root in the minds of the people, and that the progress of
Christianity and civilization will advance together. It appears to have been a
spontaneous act of those intelligent and amiable islanders; and when the
Blonde frigate arrived there in 1825, the new faith they had adopted had
already materially purified their morals and improved their manners.
Besides wooden idols, the uninstructed natives had long worshipped the
deities of their island at the foot of the stupendous mountain of Mouna Roa,
imagining their favourite abode to be in the volcanoes it contained.
Offerings were frequently made to court their favour; and at every fresh
eruption of lava hogs were thrown alive into those fiery gulfs, to appease
the anger of Peli, the principal deity. To put an end to these superstitions,
Kapiolani, the wife of a chief of high rank who had recently embraced
Christianity, determined to descend into the great crater, and, by thus
braving the volcanic deities in their very home, she hoped to convince the
people that they existed only in their imagination. A crowd of her friends
and vassals accompanied her up the mountain, to the first precipice that
bounds the sunken plain: there most of them stopped or turned back; and at
the second, her remaining companions earnestly implored her to desist from
her dangerous enterprise, which could only serve to tempt the vengeance of
the deities whose sanctuary she was about to violate. She proceeded,
however, to the verge of the crater, and being again assailed with their
entreaties, she calmly replied, “I am resolved to descend; and if I do not
return safe, then continue to worship Peli;—but, if I come back unhurt, you
must learn to adore the God who created Peli.”
Few of her attendants had sufficient courage to follow this heroic
woman; but she steadily persevered, and at length reaching the bottom of
the dreadful chasm, she triumphantly thrust a stick into the burning lava,
and for ever dissolved the spell of superstition which till that moment had
bound the minds of the astonished spectators. Those who had expected to
see the incensed goddess burst forth and destroy the daring intruder, were
awe-struck; they instantly acknowledged the superiority of the God of
Kapiolani; and from that time no reverence has been paid to the fires of
Peli.
 28th.—When I came down to the library early this morning, my uncle
asked me several historical questions: taken thus by surprise, I should some
months ago have been unable to answer, though, perhaps, I might have been
acquainted with the facts; but now I conquered my difficulties in a tolerably
satisfactory manner; and my uncle congratulated me on the improvement of
my memory, or rather of my recollection.
“I believe, uncle, it is more from my not being quite so much frightened
as I used to be at being examined; and besides, since I have been in this
house, I have gained more knowledge.”
“Yes, my dear, you have gained more knowledge, but of what avail
would it be if your memory could not supply you with a key to it? You have
materially improved your recollection; and I will tell you how: first, by
increased attention, the foundation of all memory; and next by exercise, for
every power of body and mind may be strengthened by constantly, though
moderately, applying them to their proper purposes. You have also, I think,
wisely aided your memory by some of the expedients that I formerly hinted
to you.”
“Do you mean, uncle, the classification of one’s knowledge; and the
endeavour to connect detached ideas?”
“Yes,” said he; “I have carefully observed you, Bertha—and I perceive
that you have in some degree acquired the faculty of catching the points by
which ideas are related to each other, and thus of associating them in your
mind with some one common principle. This is the true way of
strengthening the memory, and, indeed, at the same time, of improving the
understanding. Every one who steadily pursues it will find, that the facility
of this kind of arrangement increases every day, till at length it becomes so
habitual as to be performed almost mechanically; that is, without the
intervention of the will. The advantage is obvious; every new fact, every
new idea becomes a catch-word to some other; and when referred to the
common principle by which they are all combined, the mind rapidly and
almost unconsciously runs through every link in the chain, and literally
recollects those which may be wanted for the subject under consideration.”
“Do you not think, too,” said I, “that as we increase our knowledge,
those links become more numerous; and therefore, that the more new facts
we learn the more easily we can recollect the old ones?”
 “In some measure,” he replied; “but it is not merely by the new facts or
ideas that we acquire that our real increase of knowledge must be estimated;
it is by the number of relations which they bear to those already in the
mind. New knowledge does not merely consist in our having access to a
new object, but in forming new combinations of the ideas which it excites
with our former ideas of similar objects; it is not by loading the memory
with insulated facts, but by putting those facts in their right places, that we
augment our stock of knowledge.”
“Indeed, my dear uncle, I feel the truth of that every day; for the more I
know, the more my curiosity is excited, and I ramble on from one thing to
another, till my head contains nothing but a confused heap of unconnected
facts. Then, when I go back and try to put them in some sort of order, I find
that the most useful circumstances are forgotten, and only those well
remembered which happened to connect themselves with things long
known.”
“That leads me,” said he, “to another point, which I would earnestly
press on your attention;—discrimination—or the selecting from the
necessarily confused mass of new ideas which are constantly presenting
themselves those of the greatest importance. By grasping at all, you lose the
real acquisitions within your reach; and though the sacrifice may at first
appear great, you will be a gainer in the end. Every day your selection will
be more judicious, and in time more abundant; and your knowledge of
useful and connected truths will advance gradually and securely, because
you will have learnt to hinge them properly together, without encumbering
your mind with those that are insignificant.”
I then asked him if he approved of my writing this journal, and whether
he advised me to continue it.
“Certainly I do, Bertha, because I am sure it is highly satisfactory to your
mother, not only to know what you are doing, but to trace the progress of
your mind. Besides, though I suspect that no young lady can write a great
deal without introducing a little desultory matter, yet, from the pages you
have occasionally shewn me, I am sure there is much in your journal that
may be advantageous to Marianne. Indeed I am glad you mentioned it, for I
think it forms no bad illustration of the unconnected manner in which
knowledge presents itself in every-day life; and if our present conversation
finds a place in it, tell your sister, from me, to attend to what I have said
about discrimination, and to try her skill in selecting, and classifying in her
memory, the many useful topics on which you have touched.
“The benefit to yourself of committing to paper the detailed knowledge
that you acquire, is quite another question. As a help to which the memory
may refer I am inclined to think that it is injurious; except in so far as the
time occupied in writing forces one to dwell sufficiently on the ideas, to
perceive their analogy with others. But you may, I think, make a common-
place book really useful, by stating your general impressions of the books
you read, and of the discussions you hear; and by sometimes recording
those passing thoughts which suggest themselves to every reflecting person.
By thus frequently marking the state of your mind, you can hereafter judge
of its progress; and you will be able to correct the prejudices which may
have impeded its steady improvement.”

29th.—I begged of my uncle to describe some more of the remarkable

animals that have been found in a fossil state. He readily complied; and as it
is possible that I may one day have an opportunity of seeing some of these
curious petrifactions in the museums, I carefully noted what he told us.
“One of those huge oviparous quadrupeds to which the name Monitor
has been given, was found at Maestricht, in soft limestone rock mixed with
flints. The skeleton was about twenty-four feet long; the head four feet; and
from the great breadth and strength of the tail, the animal is supposed to
have inhabited the sea.
“There are but two living species of sloths known; and two fossil
animals have been found which seem nearly allied to them. One of these
animals, the megalonix, is of the size of an ox; and was first discovered in a
limestone cave in Virginia. The other, the megatherium, is as large as a
rhinoceros; its remains have been found only in South America; and it is a
curious fact, that greatly as these animals exceed the sloth and the ant-eater
in size, they not only appear to belong to the same family, but their bones
are found only in America, the very country inhabited by sloths and ant-
eaters.
“The gigantic fossil elks of Ireland are also an extinct species: they are
found under bogs, or in deep marl pits; and generally in an erect position, as
if the herd had been suddenly overwhelmed by the mass in which they are
imbedded, while it was in a fluid state. The distance between the tips of the
horns of a skull, now in the museum of the Royal Society of Dublin, is
eleven feet and ten inches; and I have heard that a still larger specimen has
been discovered in that country.
“The skull of the fossil ox, or buffalo of Siberia, cannot be identified
with any of the known species of this animal; and it is conjectured to have
lived at the same time with the fossil elephant and rhinoceros, as it is found
in the same alluvial tracts.
“Two distinct species of elephant are at present known; the African and
the Asiatic; but only one fossil species has hitherto been discovered, which
has been called the mammoth, a name borrowed from the Russians. Though
differing from both the existing species, principally in the structure of the
teeth, it more nearly resembles the Asiatic than the other. The remains of
this animal have been found also in the alluvial soil round London, and in a
great many parts of England, and even in this county. In Ireland also, in
Sweden and Norway, and in almost every country of Europe, they have
been discovered. Humboldt found their teeth in South America; the North
American naturalists have also found them; and lately, Lieutenant
Kotzebue, the Russian navigator, perceived them in an iceberg near
Behring’s Straits. But it is in Asiatic Russia that they occur in the greatest
abundance: there is scarcely a river there with alluvial banks that does not
afford remains of the mammoth, and generally accompanied by marine
shells.”
My uncle then was so good as to go to the library for an account of a
fossil elephant that was found in a state of perfect preservation, though its
great antiquity is evident, from the whole race to which it had belonged
being now extinct. The account was drawn up by the celebrated M. Cuvier,
from observations made on the spot by Mr. Adams.
“In the year 1799, a portion of an ice-bank, near the mouth of the river
Lena in the north of Siberia, having fallen down, a Tungusian fisherman
perceived a strange shapeless mass projecting from the remaining cliff of
ice, but at a height far beyond his reach. The next year it was a little more
exposed, by the dissolving of the ice; and in the end of the summer of 1801
he could distinctly see that it was the frozen carcase of some enormous
animal. He continued to watch it till the year 1804, when the ice having
melted earlier and to a greater degree than usual, the carcase became
entirely disengaged, and fell down from the ice-cliff on an accessible part of
the shore. The fisherman carried away both the tusks, and so well had the
ice preserved the ivory, that he sold them for fifty rubles. This circumstance
having come to the knowledge of Mr. Adams in 1806, he travelled to the
spot to examine the animal, but he found the body greatly mutilated; much
of the flesh had been taken away by the natives to feed their dogs, and one
of the fore legs had been carried off, probably by the white bears. The rest
of the skeleton was entire; the head was uninjured, even the pupil of the eye
was still distinguishable; and the ears were well covered with bristly hair. A
large quantity of the skin remained, which was extremely thick and heavy;
and there was a long black mane on the neck, the stiff bristles of which
were more than a foot in length.
“About thirty pounds weight of reddish brown bristly hair was collected
in the mud, into which it had been trampled by the bears while devouring
the carcase, as well as a quantity of coarse wool of the same colour. The
wool was evidently the same kind of covering that lies next the skin of all
the inhabitants of cold climates; and this very interesting fact proves that
the fossil elephants of Siberia were residents of that country, and that they
belonged to a race which no longer exists, which was fitted by nature for a
rigorous climate, and which could not have endured the sultry regions
where those animals are at present found, and where their skin is nearly
bare.”
My uncle added that it was impossible to conjecture at what period this
elephant had been buried in the ice, but that it was evident he had been
frozen at the moment of his death, which sufficiently accounts for the
preservation of the flesh. In cold countries it is common to preserve meat
through the longest winter by freezing it; and all kinds of provisions are
sent at that season from the most remote of the northern provinces, to St.
Petersburgh.
Gmelin, a German traveller, tried how deep the ground had been thawed
by the heat of a whole summer at Jakutsk, in 62° north latitude: he found it
soft to the depth of two feet and a half; there it became harder; and at half a
foot lower, it scarcely yielded to the spade. The inhabitants of that place
keep their provisions continually frozen in caves which are only six feet
below the surface.

30th, Sunday.—I asked my uncle to-day to explain to me the nature of

those three feasts at which all the Israelites were enjoined to attend in the
course of the year; the feast of Unleavened Bread; the feast of Weeks; and
the feast of Tabernacles[3].
“Feasts,” he replied, “were appointed to commemorate those great
events with which the existence of the Israelites, as a separate people, was
identified; they also afforded opportunities of giving general instruction, of
expounding the law, and of keeping up a useful connexion between the
distant tribes, by meeting each other at stated times in the holy city. The
first and most ancient of feasts, you know, was the Sabbath, a day of
general rest, in memory of the creation; and there was also a Sabbatical year
of rest every seven years; and a jubilee year every seven times seven years.
The feast of Atonement took place in the seventh month; the feast of
Trumpets celebrated the first day of the year; and in after times feasts were
instituted on the restoration of the Temple, and on the deliverance of the
Jews from Haman’s plot.
“But of all the annual festivals, the three about which you inquire were
the most sacred and important. The feast of Unleavened Bread was only
another name for the feast of the Passover. It lasted seven days after the
Paschal lamb had been killed; sacrifices were offered on each of the days;
no bread but such as was unleavened was permitted to be eaten during its
continuance; and the first and the last days were observed with peculiar and
impressive ceremonies. The departure of the Israelites from Egypt, and the
wonderful acts of Divine power by which their liberation had been
accomplished, were the objects commemorated at this great assemblage of
the people;—but we have so often conversed on the Passover, that I need
not renew that subject now.
“The feast of Weeks,” my uncle continued, “was so called because it was
kept at the end of seven weeks, or a week of weeks, after the Passover, that
is, on the fiftieth day; and therefore it has been also called the feast of
Pentecost, from a Greek word signifying fiftieth. It lasted seven days, and
was held in remembrance of the law which was given to the people at
Mount Sinai on the fiftieth day after their leaving Egypt. At this feast two
loaves of bread and a certain quantity of meal, to represent the first-fruits of
the ground, were offered as a solemn and grateful acknowledgment for the
harvest which in that fine climate and fertile country had already
commenced. The modern Jews keep this festival with great strictness; but
they mix various traditional rites with the ceremonies. In this country, I
understand that they decorate their houses with garlands of flowers, and
strew roses in the synagogues; and in Germany each Jewish family has a
high rough cake, to represent Mount Sinai, composed of seven layers of
paste, to designate the seven heavens through which they pretend that
Jehovah descended to declare the law to Moses. As the Passover was the
type of the sacrament of the Lord’s supper, so the feast of Weeks was the
type of our Christian Pentecost, which took place fifty days after the
resurrection, and on which the astonishing miracle was performed, of the
gift of tongues to the Apostles.
“The feast of Tabernacles was established in the middle of the seventh
month of the ecclesiastical year, or in the first month of the civil year, which
began in September. All Israel were obliged to assemble in order to
celebrate this feast, and to live in tents or booths made of green boughs,
during its continuance. The same word in Hebrew signifies both tabernacles
and tents, and this great religious festival was held in memory of the
journey through the wilderness, and of the mode in which their forefathers
had dwelt there in tents, during forty years. On the first day, the people,
with branches of palm trees, willows, and myrtles in their right hands, and a
citron bough bearing its fruit in the left, joined in procession round the altar,
waving the branches and singing Hosannas. The six following days burnt
offerings were made, and the latest fruits of the year were presented at the
temple; on the eighth and last day the procession with branches was
repeated with still greater solemnity, and the whole feast concluded with
what was called the Hosanna Rabbah, or the great Hosanna. This word
literally means ‘Save, I beseech thee;’ it was a common form of religious
blessing or salutation; and thus to that ancient mode of solemnizing the
feast of tabernacles you may trace the branches that were cut down, and the
acclamations of ‘Hosanna to the son of David,’ with which our Saviour was
received on his public entry into Jerusalem.”

May 1st.—This has been a day of amusement; and the Miss Maudes and
their brother, who came here yesterday, have greatly added to our gaiety.
Very early this morning we all went out, not exactly to gather May-dew, but
to see the numbers of people that went out Maying. Several May-poles and
garlands had been erected; but we were most interested by that which the
little school children had dressed up opposite to their house. They had also
placed an arch of flowers and hawthorn branches over the door; with a
magnificent C in the middle of it, made of daisy flowers strung on thread.
This was in compliment to Caroline, and when she passed under it, they
all joined in chorus, singing these lines of their own composition:—

We’ll welcome Miss Caroline with flowers so gay,

To the school where she teaches us goodness and truth;
Oh! may she be happy on ev’ry May-day,
And most graciously pardon the follies of youth.

My uncle says it has been always the custom to celebrate May-day in this
county,—and that to have a pretty May-bush is still considered quite
important.
In Huntingdonshire, Miss Maude told us that the children hang every
place with garlands, and sometimes they make very pretty triumphal arches.
To a horizontal hoop, two semi-hoops are fixed, so as to form a sort of
crown, which is ornamented with flowers, ribbons, necklaces, spoons, and
all kinds of finery. This is suspended across the road by a flowery rope,
extending from house to house, while the children sing, dance, toss their
balls over it, and ask money from the passengers: Miss Maude repeated to
us their usual song.

The May-day Garland.

“To the lilac, laburnum, and iris, which cheer,

The hawthorn, the cowslip, and king-cob so gay,
Each beauty which gladdens the spring of the year,
And the kerchiefs and ribbons our friends have supplied
In bows and in streamers are tastefully tied,
And form our sweet garland, our garland of May.

“Beneath it we’ll dance, and we’ll throw up the ball,

And all shall be gladness, good humour, and play,
We’ll sing, and in chorus we’ll join one and all,
And glad as the season, we’ll lift up our voice,
And all, within measure and reason, rejoice
Beneath the gay garland, the garland of May.”
 My uncle observed, that in Cornwall, where customs have been less
changed than in most parts of England, the May-day ceremonies are kept up
with great care. He learned from a friend, who lived in a remote town in
that county, that all the houses were thrown open; lively music was
everywhere heard, and the young maidens, decked with wreaths and
festoons of flowers, danced along the streets, or formed dancing parties in
every house they chose to select.
“The annual celebration of this day,” he continued, “may be traced up to
a very high antiquity. The Romans had their Floralia, or games in honour of
Flora, during the calends of May; and in Asia, when the sun entered the
constellation of Taurus, which corresponded to that period, the same kind of
festivities took place, accompanied by a similar display of flowers. Some
antiquaries have shown that May-day was celebrated in this country long
before the Roman invasion, and they ascribe the introduction of the custom
to an Asiatic colony that settled here, and who of course brought with them
their national habits. In the East, customs have undergone but little change;
and many of the sports which are prevalent on May-day in some parts of
England and Ireland, and which, at first sight, appear to proceed from
unmeaning caprice, may be proved to be fragments of ancient Eastern
ceremonies, by their similarity to those still practised there on that day.”
My aunt said, that she had seen a May-bush very prettily hung with
flowers at Chamouni, in Switzerland; and she added, “in the old-fashioned
custom too of making fools on the first of April, there is probably a vestige
of the Eastern celebration of the season when the sun enters Aries; that is,
when the year commences. In Persia, medals of gold were struck with the
head of the Ram, on the festival of the Nauruz or new year’s-day; and the
frolic of making fools still distinguishes the Nauruz festival, and is
practised, I believe, from one end of India to the other.”
I asked my uncle when that Eastern colony to which he had alluded
came to England, as I did not recollect seeing it mentioned in the History of
England.
“The ancient Britons,” said my uncle, “had a tradition of their being
descended from an Eastern tribe called Sacca; and undoubtedly there are
many points of resemblance between their modes of worship, and those
practised in some of the Indian provinces. It would probably be tiresome to
a young person like you, Bertha, to read all the arguments on this disputed
point; but hereafter you may find it a subject of curious inquiry to examine
the coincidences said to exist in the manners of such remote nations of the
East and the West.”

3rd.—I have such a severe cold, that, fine as the weather is, I am not
allowed to go out; so I can write without interruption to my dear mamma. I
must confess my own foolish imprudence was the cause of this cold: on the
evening of May-day, my aunt allowed the school children to have a dance
on the green, and we all joined in it round their pretty May-bush. I exerted
myself so much, that I was soon over-heated; and, then stood in the wind to
cool myself. My aunt warned me of the consequence, but I was too much
diverted to attend immediately to her advice, and the next morning I had a
violent head-ache, and all the symptoms of a heavy cold. However, as my
uncle had arranged every thing for showing a cloth manufactory, several
miles from this, to the Maudes and Miss Perceval, I could not bear to give
up what I might not have another opportunity of seeing. Besides, we were
to cross the river at the ferry, where horses had been ordered to meet us; and
I hoped to see a great deal of new country. My friends, indeed, advised me
to remain in bed, but I would not acknowledge how ill I was; and persisted
in accompanying them. Of course my head grew very painful, and my cold
oppressed and stupified me so much, as to prevent my remembering
distinctly the half of what I saw.
I recollect, however, being shewn how the wool was washed and beaten
in order to clean it. When well dried and picked, it was carded on large
cylindrical brushes, made of wire instead of hair, which laid all the fibres in
one direction; the wool was then oiled, and again combed or brushed with
finer cards on the knee, and at last spun into yarn—that intended for the
warp being always smaller and more twisted than that of the woof. The yarn
for the woof was then wound on little bobbins or tubes; and in weaving, one
of these is placed in the middle of the shuttle, on a pin, round which it
easily turns, so as to let the thread run off through a hole called the eye of
the shuttle, as it travels from side to side of the loom.
I will not tease you with the manner of warping the yarn from one beam
to the other; nor with a description of the heddles, or looped strings, which
raise and depress the alternate threads of the warp for the shuttle to pass
between them, and which the weaver works by his feet; nor of the batten
and reed for driving the woof home every time the shuttle carries it across;
all these appeared very simple, while looking at the operation, but I am
afraid that I should give but a very lame account of them. Still less can I
attempt to describe a power-loom which has been just set up; it seems to do
every thing without the interference of the weaver—the heddles rise and
fall, the batten strikes in regular time and with equal force, and the shuttle
flies to and fro from selvage to selvage as if it was alive.
At another loom they were taking off the cloth from the beam on which
it had been rolled in the process of weaving, and many hands were
immediately employed with iron nippers in trimming and cutting off the
knots and threads. The obliging proprietor of the manufactory partly
described and partly shewed us the subsequent operations of scouring the
cloth with potter’s clay, steeping and fulling it, and then stretching it
lengthwise to take out the wrinkles. This is repeated several times, then it is
washed in clear water, and given wet to other workmen to raise the nap, by
means of a flower called teasel, which somewhat resembles a thistle. When
the nap is well raised on the right side, it is given to the shearers, and then
to the dyer; and when dyed it is again washed in plain water, and spread on
a table, where the nap is laid properly with a brush. It is then hung up to
dry, and stretched in every direction; after which it is folded and laid under
a press.
It seemed very curious to see a homely wild plant like the teasel, fresh
from the field, used along with so much complex machinery: many
imitations of it have been tried, but nothing answers so well as the beautiful
little hooks contrived by nature. In the west of England, therefore, wherever
the soil is dry and gravelly, teasels are cultivated on a large scale for the
cloth manufactories.
I remember little more of what I saw or heard yesterday, except that my
uncle remarked as we passed a sheep-walk in our drive home, what an
astonishing number of people combine their labours to produce any one
manufacture, and how necessary the different trades are to each other. From
the grazier, for instance, who rears the sheep and sells the wool, and the
various artificers employed in preparing, spinning, weaving, dyeing, and
pressing it, up to the retail shopkeeper who keeps the cloth ready for our
use. “But in fact,” said he, “these are only a few links of the chain; we must
recollect the numerous hands employed in making the machinery, the miner
who raises the iron ore, the smelter who converts it into metal, the smith
who works it, and the collier who supplies them with coals; the carpenter
who constructs the frame-work, and the engineer who contrives the whole.
Then come the merchants, and shipwrights, and sailors who bring home
from distant countries the articles requisite to colour the cloth, and the dyer,
who, by the aid of chemistry, compounds them; and lastly, the farmer who
cultivates the humble teasels. See, Bertha, what a prodigious number of
heads and hands are thus toiling for the accomplishment of a single object,
and, though all impelled by individual interest, yet all co-operating for the
general good.”

4th.—As I am still paying for my imprudence, and confined to my room,

kind Mary has been entertaining me with the conversation she had heard
below stairs, and particularly with Mr. Maude’s account of Venice. Nothing
in Italy so much struck his imagination, as the view of that city, with all her
towers and pinnacles rising from the sea, where, the poet said,

“Venice sits in state, throned on her hundred isles!”

But now it has a most melancholy appearance: the port, which in times
of prosperity was crowded with shipping, is now almost empty; and the
muddy canals which intersect the town in every direction, are no longer
enlivened by multitudes of gondolas gliding swiftly through the water. The
showy palaces which rise from the sides of these watery streets, were once
adorned with all that painting and sculpture could perform; but they are
now neglected, moss-grown, the habitations of owls and bats, and fast
sinking to decay: and many of the great families who had inherited their
wealth and honours in direct succession for a thousand years, are now
obliged to part with their splendid mansions, or to see them gradually
crumbling into ruins, from the want of means to repair them.
Notwithstanding all this, Mr. Maude says that Venice is still a
magnificent looking place; and amongst its many beautiful buildings, he
describes the cathedral as being most venerable and interesting. It was built
so long ago as the ninth century, and enriched with the spoils of Greece and
of Constantinople. He once went through the city at night, to see the effect
of moonlight on its superb buildings; but the few of them which were still
dazzling with lamps, as if enjoying their former glory, made such a contrast
with the pale light and dark shade of the moon, and with the general
stillness, that the whole scene had even a more deserted appearance than in
the day-time. Now and then the gloomy silence was interrupted by the
sounds of the harp or guitar, or by the wild and plaintive airs of a few
gondoliers, as they kept time to the gentle splashing of their oars.
Mr. Maude, she says, added a great deal about the present government,
the state of society, and the remaining commerce of Venice; and my uncle,
who was much pleased with his observations, remarked that few of the
changes recorded in history, offered a subject of deeper interest, than the
long-continued grandeur and present fall of Venice. “It rose,” he said, “as it
were, from the waves, when, on the invasion of Italy by the Huns, numbers
of people took refuge in that cluster of islands where the city now stands.
So early as the year 421, they formed a little state, strong enough to oppose
the invaders, or at least to secure themselves from molestation. Commerce
soon followed security; and from this small beginning arose that wealth and
power which continued for many centuries, and which extended the
influence of Venice over all the states with which she was connected. Her
foundations were laid in the darkest ages of Italian misery; but she soon
became the spectator of the dissolution of the Roman Empire. She
witnessed the ravages of many continental wars, and the rise and fall of
many nations; till at length she fell in her turn also. Somebody has well
remarked, that she was the last surviving witness of antiquity, the common
link between the two periods of civilization.
“Her whole history,” continued my uncle, “has a paradoxical and
peculiar character. Her romantic achievements in the East; the noble lead
she took in the struggles of Christendom with the empire of the Turks; and
the heroic defence she made against the attacks of numerous enemies, place
her resources and power in singular contrast with the smallness of her
territory. On the other hand, her selfish policy; her imperious conduct
wherever her influence extended; and her deadly jealousy of the
neighbouring republic of Genoa, rendered her the object of universal envy
and hatred. While at home the rigorous despotism of her government, which
was ill concealed under the mask of republican freedom, and the
inquisitorial tyranny of the senate, which silently pervaded every house, and
controlled almost the thoughts of every individual, could tend only to
alienate her subjects. These are points of deep moral and historical interest;
but it may be safely said that her government outlived the age to which it
was suited; no timely reform adapted it to the growing changes in the public
mind—no concessions to the people united them in common cause with
their haughty masters—and the fall of Venice may be ascribed more to her
internal vices, than to the overpowering armies of France.”

5th.—I have been so much better all day that I was allowed to go down
to tea; and had the pleasure of hearing Mr. Maude describe the fruitiéres in
Switzerland. I quite misunderstood that word at first; for I find that it means
a kind of dairy, something like that described to us by our Savoyard friends
last winter. The person by whom the fruitiére is managed receives their milk
daily from all the neighbouring peasants; he sells the cream, and butter, and
makes the cheese; and at the end of the season pays the contributors either
in cheeses or money. He keeps an exact account, not only of the quantity of
milk brought in, but to prevent fraud, such as mixing it with water, he
ascertains its quality by a kind of hydrometer, or floating gauge. Persons
detected in cheating are struck out of the book, and lose what they had
already contributed. The fruitiére man who manages the business and keeps
the accounts, is paid by a small per centage on each cheese.
This plan is chiefly adopted in those parts of the country where the cattle
are taken in summer to pasture in the mountains; the farmers confide their
cows to a man who lives in a chalet, such as Madeleine mentioned, and
spends night and day in milking the cows, and in making and turning the
cheeses.
The same practice has been introduced into Piedmont and Lombardy. All
the dairies in which the Parmesan cheeses are made, are supplied in this
manner. The meadows of Lombardy, in the vicinity of the Po, are the most
fertile in the world: being constantly watered, they produce three or four
crops of hay in the season; but as they are occupied by a great number of
individuals, there are few who can support a dairy, because the making
cheeses requires a large quantity of milk, the produce of at least fifty cows.
To effect this the Lombards have formed societies in order to make their
cheese in common; and twice a-day the milk is sent to the principal house,
where the dairy-man keeps an account of each person’s share.
This subject reminds me that my aunt has had a satisfactory letter from
Bertram and Madeleine. He is much improved in strength. She appears to
be very happy, and the little girl is going on well.

7th, Sunday.—Wentworth has been so much interested by the character

of Moses, and by the explanations my uncle has occasionally given of his
Welcome to our website – the perfect destination for book lovers and
knowledge seekers. We believe that every book holds a new world,
offering opportunities for learning, discovery, and personal growth.
That’s why we are dedicated to bringing you a diverse collection of
books, ranging from classic literature and specialized publications to
self-development guides and children's books.

More than just a book-buying platform, we strive to be a bridge

connecting you with timeless cultural and intellectual values. With an
elegant, user-friendly interface and a smart search system, you can
quickly find the books that best suit your interests. Additionally,
our special promotions and home delivery services help you save time
and fully enjoy the joy of reading.

Join us on a journey of knowledge exploration, passion nurturing, and

personal growth every day!

ebookbell.com