of ways and means. The leisure and calm of mind needful in such a pursuit were not granted him; and it seems as though we need seek no further than this severe nervous strain to find a reason for the asperities of temper which have made him a byword. Undoubtedly it is not a pleasant thing to learn in suffering what is

to be taught in song; but in the case of poets and fabulists, their troubles may be called their stock in trade. While we grieve over their misfortunes we must not forget that. had they experienced only smooth things, they could not have given us works instinct with feeling.

THE marriage ceremony of the Australian savages consists often in the simple process of stunning a stray female of a neighboring tribe by means of a club, and then dragging her away an unresisting captive, just as the males of the larger species of seal are said to attack and temporarily disable their intended mates. Another still uglier analogy with the brute creation

is their indifference to the welfare of their own children after they have once outgrown the age of absolute helplessness. An Australian mother will coddle her baby with ape like fondness, and hardly ever let it stray out of sight for the first four years; but as soon as the toddling little imp seems able to take care of itself, its debt of gratitude to its progenitors has to be paid by the worst kind of slavery. At the first sign of insubordination, a half-grown boy is apt to be kicked out, if not killed, by his own father, while the older squaws maltreat every pretty girl as a possible rival, so much so, indeed, that the appearance even of a club-armed suitor must often be welcomed as an agreeable surprise an agreeable surprise party.

The marriage of near relatives is discouraged with a strictness not often

found among barbarians; and polygamy, though sanctioned by public opinion, is restricted by the difficulty of providing for the wants of a large family. At a distance from the crabswarming sea-coast famines are rather frequent; but the natives have developed a faculty for starving, or halfstarving, for weeks without permanent injury, and rely on the experience that sooner or latter nature will renew the supply of spontaneous food. Within a hundred miles of the east coast, perhaps, no native in an uncrippled condition has ever died from lack of digestible food—a rather comprehensive term in a country where fern-roots are boiled like potatoes, and snails and grasshoppers are considered tidbits. Strange to say, the martyrs of that horrid diet get old, as a proof that freedom from care is, after all, the main condition of longevity. A similar phenomenon may be observed in the villages of central Russia, where mental stagnation prevails in its ugliest forms, but where charity and parish poor laws protect every native from the risk of actual starvation.

Of all the modes of burial ever practiced by creatures in the shape of human beings, the method of the

Queensland nomads is certainly the most uncouth. After drying the corpse in the sun and knocking out its teeth for keepsakes, they deposit it on a frame work of rough poles, and bury it under a few armfuls of rushes and old kangaroo skins, leaving the bushwolves to sing its requiem. No member of the dead man's tribe will settle within a mile of his grave, for fear of being haunted by the spooks making the burial place their midnight rendezvous The metaphysical opinions of the Australian aborigines prove, indeed, that savages can be afflicted with an abundance of supernaturalism without betraying a trace of anything

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deserving the name of religious sentiment. They believe in evil spirits whistling in the blasts of the storm wind, and try to exercise them by spitting in the direction of the sky; but for the cenceptions of the Deity, of future existence, of repentance, atonement, and conscience, their language has not even a definite word. From somewhere in the land of their forefathers-eastern Asia, perhaps they have imported a nation faintly resembling the Buddhist doctrine of metempsychosis, and believe that animals may be reborn as men, and men, as human beings of a superior rank. DR. FELIX L. OSWALD.

THE German expression, "would he were where the pepper grows, is indicative of the fact that the home of this much-used spice is in a region that is much hotter than ours. In fact, pepper is transported miles and miles, o'er land and sea, ere it reaches the American table.

Black pepper (Piper nigrum) is native along the coast of the East Indies; also in Ceylon, Sumatra, Borneo, and Java. In these localities, and also in the West Indies, it is cultivated in enormous quantities. Being one of the best and most indispensable of spices, its use was already known and employed by the ancient. Its original Sanskrit term, "pippali," altered by the Persians into "pippari," has, with but slight transitions, gone into all languages. During the time of the Romans, duty on pepper was exorbitantly high; consequently, its use was rendered an expensive luxury. Even

centuries later, after the great Italian cities of commerce, Venice and Genoa, assumed almost exclusive monopoly of this trade, its prices remained exceedingly high. By its traffic enormous wealth was amassed by the merchants of these and other cities. Duty on this almost an article of necessity, remained unreasonable high all through the Middle Ages. Indeed, its valuation was so great, that in the time of the money famine (year 1400) it was given and accepted in lieu of cash. Fortunately, with the discovery of navi gation to the East Indies, the price was lowered. Gradually its propagation was on the increase. It was transplanted to the West Indies, and produced in almost incredible quantity. Nevertheless, the demand was in excess of the supply. In quantity of export it far outranks that of any other of the spices. Fully half the amount of exportation is supplied by the island

of Sumatra. Excluding Europe, China is reputed to import the greatest quantity of pepper. As it is needless to repeat, rice is a daily article of sustenance in that country. This general article of diet they season-and that liberally-with pepper. The same may be said of other inland countries where rice forms the staple article of

existence.

Pepper, in its natural state,—that is, the kernel,—is the fruit of a plant of creeping or climbing habit and of branching growth. It attains a height of some thirty feet. Its leaves are short-stemmed, uniform, and pointed. On the immense East Indian pepper plantations, the young cuttings are set out in long rows and trained on poles.

In this particular it bears a striking resemblance to a hop-field. The plant bears fruit in its first year, but not to any great extent. It is most prolific from its fourth to its twentieth year, during which period the annual yield of a single plant is from nine to eleven

pounds, on the average. The harvest season commences as soon as the uniform little green berries begin to turn red.

They are then plucked and spread out on great platters, to dry in the sun's warm rays, or by means of a slow fire This treatment causes the outer shell to shrivel and turn black. White pepper is gathered from the same plant as the black, the distinction being that the former is ground from the ripe berries, from which the outer black shell has first been removed. Because of this thorough maturity of the berry and the absence of the outer shell, it is much milder than the black. The strongest species of black pepper is known as the Piper officinarum. fruit, the berry, is long, having a reddish gray exterior and a very dark interior. Another, not belonging to the pepper family proper, but coming under the nightshades (Solaneen), is the Spanish pepper (Capsicum longum), whose gleaming red fruit is too familiar to require detailed mention.

ANNA HINRICHS.

Its

ON MY recent return from Europe I examined very carefully the early manuscripts of George Washington in the State Archives at Washington City, to see if I could gather any additional light on the sources of the "Rules of Civility," so far as their appearance in Virginia is concerned. I have found nothing more than what appears in my monograph on that subject just published. But from an earlier part of the curious folio therein described I have copied two poetical effusions which I have never seen in print, and

which may interest your readers. The volume is dated in various places 1745 -Washington having been born Feb. 11, 1731 (O. S.) Both pieces are written in Washington's handwriting, which reveals an early ambition to excel in penmanship.

ON CHRISTMAS DAY.

Assist me, Muse divine! to Sing the Morn,
On which the Saviour of Mankind was born;
But oh! what Numbers to the Theme can rise?
Unless kind Angels aid me from the Skies!
Methinks I see the tunefull Host descend,
And with officious Joy the Scene attend!
Hark, by their Hymns directed on the Road,

The Gladsome Shepherds find the nascent

God!

And view the Infant conscious of his Birth,
Smiling bespeak Salvation to the Earth!

For when th' important Æra first drew near In which the great Messiah should appear; And to accomplish his redeeming Love; Beneath our Form should every Woe sustain, And by triumphant Suffering fix his Reign, Should for lost Man in Tortures yield his Breath

Dying to save us from eternal Death!
Oh mystick union!-salutary Grace!
Incarnate God of Nature should embrace!
That Deity should stoop to our Disguise!
That man recover'd should regain the Skies!
Dejected Adam! from thy grave ascend,
And view the Serpent's Deadly Malice end,
Adorning [sic] bless th' Almighty's boundless
Grace

That gave his son a Ransome for thy Race!
Oh never let my Soul this Day forget,
But pay in gratefull praise the annual Debt
To him, whom 'tis my Trust I shall . . .
When Time and Sin and Death.

TRUE HAPPINESS.

These are the things which once possessed
Will make a life that's truly bless'd:
A Good Estate on healthy Soil,
Not got by Vice, nor yet by toil:

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Round a warm Fire a Pleasant Joke,
With chimney ever free from smoke:
A Strength entire, a Sparkling Bowl,
A quiet Wife, a quiet Soul,
A Mind as well as body whole,
Prudent simplicity, constant Friends,
A Diet which no heart Commends;
A Merry Night without much Drinking,
A Happy Thought without much Thinking,
Each Night by quiet sleep made short
A Will to be but what thou art:
Possessed of these, all else defy
And neither wish nor fear to Die.

These are things which once Possess'd Will make a life that's truly bless'd. The correct spelling in these poems, apart from other characteristics, proves that they are selections. In all the early manuscripts of Washington I have never found any sign that he ever had what could be called boyhood. The above poem, "On Christmas Day," is the only existing thing in his handwriting, so far as I can discover, relating to Christ or any Christian doctrine.

MONCURE D. CONWAY.

GEORGE BANCROFT said that the historian Prescott's personality was the source of the charm of his style. He had such a winning expression, was so companionable, and exerted such a personal charm in society, that he was spoken of as the one man whose coming was always hailed as a pleasant

event.

The lesson of his life is that all things are possible to him who is willing to put forth the labor necessary to attain them. When young Prescott entered college, his ambition was to secure a rank which would not seem discreditable.

He was not distinguished by mental power nor for a marked relish for literature. He had read many books in a desultory sort of way, but so disliked mathematics that he said he had not the capacity to comprehend a proposition in geometry.

He was destitute of motive force, until an accident supplied it. The sight of one eye was lost and the vision of the other dimmed. He became a student, after an illness which afforded him the opportunity to muse over his want of purpose in life.

When he determined to make his

lite one of literary labor, he was an invalid, subject to painful attacks of rheumatism. His one serviceable eye could only be used for one hour a day.

A life of ease, which his fortune and ailments justified him in living, would have improved his eyesight and general health But he would not pay the price of recovery, and went to work to fit himself for his chosen occupation. For six years he studied English grammar, the masters of English style, the Latin classics, the poets of mediæval Italy, and Spanish.

While studying that language the happy thought flashed upon him to open his literary career by writing the history of Ferdinand and Isabella. He worked at it for ten years. His eye, during a large portion of that time, was useless.

He depended upon the services of a reader and an amanuensis, and made rough notes through the use of an instrument invented to aid the blind in writing.

His method of working compelled him to train his memory, which was not a retentive one. So well did it respond to his will, that it would retain sixty pages of printed matter for days while he was arranging in his mind its final form.

He was indisposed to rise early, but he forced himself to get out of bed at a certain hour every morning. Sharp rheumatic pains tempted him to remain indoors, but he persisted in taking outdoor exercises, because he could thereby do better work. He was fond of society, but always withdrew from it at an early hour, so that he might not be unfitted for the next day's

work.

This man, who possessed wealth, an invalid and almost blind, worked thirtytwo years, with an industry and selfdenial which would have been creditable to a man earning daily bread, to produce his great histories. It was this which led his pastor to say, "The man was more than his books."

IT IS a singular fact that within the Antartic Circle no flowering plant is found, but in the Arctic regions there are 762 kinds of flowers. In some interesting statistics compiled by Frederick Schwatka, he says, "Probably fifty of these are residents of that zone. "The polar flowers seldom have any perfume, and the few that exhibit this delightful quality, are from that class that have crept over the cold border of the Arctic Circle.

"The colors of these boreal blossoms are generally of the cold tints, as if in harmony with the chilly surroundings,

instead of the warm hues, that would break in upon the desolation with double effect by sheer contrast where so few cheering sights are to be seen.

"White and light yellow predominate, and these colors seem associated with frost and cold weather, for it appears that those flowers we call everlasting and which are longest to defy he nippings of the coming winter weather, are mostly tinted like the northern snows and yellow northern lights.

"Nearly all of the plants of these cold countries are of the biennial or