No. 6. SNAILS.-If black snails are seized by the horns, and tossed over the left shoulder, the process will ensure good luck to the person who performs it. In Scotland this is a very common superstition! No. 7. THE ROOK.-These useful but most persecuted birds, are said by country folk to leave the house until after the funeral, if the rookery be near the house. They are also said to follow the fortunes of owners who have left their dwelling places, and abandon the rookeries if the house is left untenanted, or about to be pulled down! No. 8. PIGEONS.-Many good wives, out of ignorance, destroy the feathers of these birds instead of saving them to stuff beds, &c. They say if they were to do so, it would prolong the sufferings of the death bed! and when they are more than usually severe, it is attributed to this cause" because the bird has no gall!" No. 9. REDBREAST, SWALLOW, AND WREN.It is a belief amongst boys, and even some grown-up people in country places, that to disturb the nests of these birds is unlucky; and the housewife considers the eggs of these birds in her house as affecting the safety of her crockeryware! (To be continued.) PUBLIC ANNOYANCES. STREET MUSIC. WE ARE GLAD TO OBSERVE that we are not alone in our strictures on the organ-ic and other nuisances which infest our public streets. Our contemporary, the Examiner, takes up what we have so often dwelt upon; and whilst pointing out the evil, shows the injustice of allowing the evil to remain. Is there no independent Member, asks our contemporary, that will join forces with Colonel Sibthorpe for the suppression of one of the most intolerable nuisances to which the inhabitants of the metropolis are subjected without mercy, without hope of deliverance, or chance of redress? Where is the liberty of the subject, where the boasted inviolability of the Englishman's castle, if a man cannot reckon for an hour together upon the quiet and undisturbed possession of his own premises, -aye, of his own ears and brains and nerves? every dissonance, who encourages the performance by a periodical contribution-but to the annoyance and torment of a whole street. Here, a studious individual is driven half frantic in the vain effort to collect and compose his thoughts, while his cars are assailed by the incessant din of some discordant apparatus for the production of noise; there, the nerves of an unhappy sufferer on a sick-bed are kept in a state of distressing irritation by the intolerable grating of unmusical sounds, yclept street-music. In vain is the tormentor remonstrated with. He coolly maintains his position, probably answering the request for his removal with a grin at the windows of the house from which the message proceeded. If he apprehends that active steps are likely to be taken to procure the interference of the police, he moves, perhaps, a few yards further down the street, and there begins his infernal concert afresh. In nine cases out of ten, however, no such interference is possible. No policeman is to be found far or near; or when, at length, the attendance of that official is secured by dint of great trouble, the organ-grinder has had the satisfaction, in the mean time, of finishing his round of tunes, and has taken his departure. Even if, through some rare instance of perseverance, the delinquent is actually taken into custody, and brought before a Magistrate, the chances are that he escapes through some loophole or other, as was the case recently at one of the metropolitan police-offices, when a fellow who had for weeks, in spite of reiterated remonstrances, been the torment of an invalid, escaped scotfree, on the ground that the formality of warning him off had not been repeated on the occasion on which he was finally committed to the hands of the police! There is something ludicrously absurd as well as monstrously unjust in the present state of the law on this subject, which enables a number of idle vagabonds, most of them foreigners imported for the purpose, to invade the comfort of quiet, respectable people in their own houses, without their having a chance of protecting themselves from so insufferable a nuisance. Surely an Administration composed of "all the talents" should be able to devise a remedy for an evil which, laughable as it sounds, is to many of the inhabitants of London a source of serious interruption and of grievous discomfort. believe that the removal of the organ-grinders These remarks are very just. We verily would save many hundreds of persons from A greater pest to society can hardly be imagined than the London organ-grinders,—an army of lawless fellows, who are let loose day by day upon the streets of this metropolis, and whose persecu-going mad. Cab-drivers, who with all their tion has assumed the form of a regular-we intend no pun-organisation. By some understanding between their unseen employers, the great streetorgan proprietors, whose slaves the grinders are, the town appears to be divided into street-organ beats, as distinct as are those assigned to different sections of the Metropolitan Police by the Com missioners. The public have not even the relief of variety, the chance of a change for the better. Week after week, on certain stated days, and at certain stated hours, the same instrument repeats its detestable noises-to the gratification, it may be, of some idle individual, gifted with ears callous to faults are comparatively harmless nuisances, have been subjected to the most rigid discipline,-almost to the depriving them of the opportunity for eating and drinking; whilst these foreign monkeys are allowed to do just as they like, and to fill our asylums with idiots and raving madmen. THE BEAUTY OF VIRTUE. A diamond, Though set in horn, is still a diamond, And sparkles as in purest gold. THE PLEASURES OF MADNESS. THE SPIRIT RAPPERS. There is a pleasure in being mad, Which none but madmen know. DRYDEN. We are not going to defile our pages by a too close examination of the blasphemous pretensions put forth by the Spirit Rappers. These impostors are pretending to raise from the dead the spirits of the departed! We merely wish to put forth a friendly caution to the weak-minded, not to be led away by their artful and seductive advertisements. Whilst they "rap," the public are "let in!" We have, at page 199, expressed our belief that the whole world is mad. This belief is strengthened from what we daily see. Every absurd advertisement that appears is credited; and however monstrous the thing proposed to be shown is, the more numerous the visitors to see it! The Spirit Rappers are a body of artful infidels, who prey upon the credulity of an English public by pretending to raise the dead spirits of departed friends; afterwards coaxing them to hold converse with the living. * This introduction to the 66 dead," costs the "living" one guinea. THIS is the grand secret of raising the dead! There is a lecturer, and a "Medium," or go-between a woman, of course! These and their confederates act in concert; and by silly taps or raps under the table, actually cajole many of their victims into the belief that the sounds proceed from disembodied spirits! The whole affair has been so well exposed in the Zoist, that nothing is left for us to add. We should never have alluded to the subject, but for the impious advertisement, which we subjoin, copied from the Times of April 12: "Spiritual manifestations and communica tions from DEPARTED FRIENDS, which so much gratify serious and enlightened minds, are exemplified daily by the American Medium, Mrs. R.," &c.,-(here follows her address, which we are not going to give.) It will be seen that the words "serious" and "enlight ened" are here used to entrap the superstitious; and no doubt the result has answered Mrs. R.'s purpose. At a late rapping Seance, says the Zoist (No. XLI. p. 95), Mr. G. H. Lewes wrote upon a piece of paper the following question-" Is the Medium an impostor?" An unequivocal "YES was the answer. The question was again put, and again the Spirits assured the company that the Medium was AN IMPOSTOR. In this particular case, we admit "the Spirits" to have been clairvoyant. Perhaps the Medium had mesmerised them first, and all were en rapport!-ED. K. J. The above advertisement is only one of many similar. It is vain to tell people they are being hoaxed. We wish it rested here. We have been told of many, however, who have visited the Rappers, and whose intellects have been seriously affected thereby. We honestly confess WE have not paid them a visit, nor shall we "pay for any such honor. We have heard enough from those who have paid, to convince us of the abomination of this most impious, barefaced swindle. Surely such people should be made amenable to the ecclesiastical law! and we have read some most laughable accounts The imposture is imported from America; of its rise and progress. No miracle could be worked without money there; no miracle can be worked without money here. It may be askedhave any sensible men been led away by the impostors? We have heard of one very clever man falling a victim. Yet are we unwilling to credit the evidence of our senses.-E. K. J. IF YOU LOVE ME,-SAY SO. BY CHARLES SWAIN. The little lane-the greenwood lane- No longer she her heart could smother, For she had learnt-at last-'twas wrong "To say one thing, and mean another!" 'Tis right—'tis due, when hearts are true, To show that heart without deceiving, And not to speak, in idle freak, To try if one's the power of grieving! In Mary's heart, and Mary's mind, She loved one youth, and loved no other; But Mary's tongue was oft inclined To say one thing, and mean another! Would all might see how sweet 'twould be If truth alone their words directed; How many a day might then be gay That passeth now, in tears, dejected. Would all might learn, and all discern, That truth keeps longest, friend or brother! Then, maids, be kind, and speak your mind; DON'T say one thing, and mean another! [There is such exquisite feeling in the above, and, the practice condemned is so general, that we gladly join our voice with that of Charles Swain in trying kindly to put it down.] THE POETRY OF SIMPLICITY. GIVE me a look, give me a face THE MOON'S RAYS. Plac'd in the spangled sky, with visage bright, The full-orb'd moon her radiant beams displays; But 'neath the vivid sun's more splendid rays, Sinks all her charms and fades her lovely light. EVER WAS THERE A TIME when people felt so anxious as they now do, to learn the why and because of what is passing daily before them. Curiosity has been awakened; sensible books have been published at a cheap cost; and the mind, once aroused, seeks pleasure in what is profitable. Let us hope that this laudable thirst for knowledge will spread. The more we know, the better members of society are we likely to become. Our old folk blush at their ignorance, and regret the follies of their youth. Let them be made wise thereby, and teach their children what will benefit them through life. This is a suitable atonement for neglected opportunities. The Sun's rays, as is well known, consist of three distinct species-viz, rays of heat, rays of light, and deoxidising rays, the latter being so named from their influence in separating oxygen from its combinations. The rays of light are again separable by the prism into several rays, all varying in color from each other; the red ray on the one hand, and the violet on the other, forming the opposite extreme edges of the rainbow fan into which the sun's light is refracted by the prism-the red ray being the least refrangible, and the violet ray the most so. In the focus of the red ray, the heating rays are most intense; while, on the contrary, the oxidising rays are most intense in the focus of the violet ray-both the heating and deoxidising rays diminishing in intensity on approximating to the centre of the rainbow fan, beyond which the presence of either is but in a slight degree indicated by the usual tests. The sun's heating rays are not reflected back to the earth by the moon; while on the contrary, the deoxidising rays seem evidently to be so, in at least an equal degree with the rays of light; and to this is attributable the greater proportion of the hitherto inexplicable phenomena produced by the moon on the surface of our planet. To the influence of the sun's deoxidising rays is wholly or mainly referable the extrication of oxygen from living vegetables, the ripening of fruits and grain, the tarnishing of colors, the decomposition of animal and vegetable matter, and the extinguishing of combustion; for combustion being simply a chemical union of oxygen with a combustible body, whatever counteracts that union must counteract or altogether extinguish comThe fact of the deoxidising bustion. VOL. III.-15. rays of the sun counteracting combustion, is so duly appreciated by the clearing parties in New South Wales (though ignorant, of course, of the cause), that they invariably prefer the night time for burning off the timber, finding the combustion proceeds then with infinitely greater intensity than during the day. Now, most of, if not all, these effects are produced in nearly as great, and often in a greater degree, by the moon's rays than by those of the sun; showing that the sun's deoxidising rays are reflected back to the earth by the moon equally with the rays of light. The finer colors of silk are tarnished by the moon's rays, the same as by the sun's; fires are extinguished by the former the same as by the latter; the bleaching of linen proceeds even more rapidly in moon than in sun-light; and the ripening of fruits and grain almost equally so; while meat and fish become more quickly putrescent in the moon's rays than in the sun's, a fact well known to all ships' stewards. The latter curious circumstance is explainable by our knowledge of oxygen being a constituent of almost all vegetable and animal bodies; therefore, whatever tends to separate this, must either materially alter or entirely destroy their substances. On new-killed meat being exposed to the sun's rays, its exterior is dried and hardened by the sun's heating rays; and a species of crust is thus formed around it, guarding from the decomposing influence of the deoxidising rays, like the tin cases enveloping preserved meats; the preservative effects of the pyroligneous and other acids being also referable to the hardened exterior crust produced. The moon's rays, however, being destitute of heat, no such protecting crust can be consequently formed; the meat and the fish exposed to them remaining in a soft moist state, and therefore being more readily acted upon by the above rays-moisture being almost essential to animal and vegetable decomposition. The moister state of linen during the night than the day, accounts in some measure also for bleaching being more rapid by moon than by sun-light. It is a curious fact, as connected with this, that linens bleach quicker when spread upon the green grassy sward, than when spread upon stones, or hung upon rails. This is doubtless owing to the grass, like other vegetables, absorbing oxygen when screened from the influence of the deoxidising rays, and thereby assisting the bleaching, by absorbing the oxygen of the coloring matter of the linen as fast as extricated by the above rays. Many metallic oxides and vegetable dyes, which, like living vegetables, have their oxygen separated from them by exposure to CRUELTY TO ANIMALS, WE RECEIVE FROM TIME TO TIME some verydistressing communications from parents, relative to the seemingly innate cruelty to animals existing in their children; and entreating us never to lose sight of an opportunity to crush the feeling. We are sorry to say that there does exist much cruelty in the world,--not only among children, but among grown-up people. Many who keep cats and dogs, positively more than half starve them. Hence the depredations committed on their neighbors' larders and poultry-houses by the former, and the pitiful howlings of the latter, Making night hideous." Talking of children, we ourself know a boy who, though he has an excellent mother, so abominably cruel that if walking in a garden he would kill every living thing he saw; and if near the poultry-house, he would maim nearly every one of its inmates. Horses, dogs, cats, birds,-all are alike to him. He glories in the sight of a broken limb, and loves to witness the tortures he has inflicted upon his poor innocent victims. Education has done nothing for him. A brute he is; a brute he ever will be. A boy is enough to contaminate a whole school. So like this-he is some fourteen years of age, fearful are the dangers arising from contact ! these rays, re-absorb the oxygen again when to her attractive powers. A "REAL" CHRISTIAN. He that can apprehend and consider vice, with all her baits and seeming pleasures, and yet abstain, and yet distinguish, and yet prefer that which is truly better he is the true wayfaring Christian. I cannot praise a fugitive and cloistered virtue, unexercised and unbreathed; that never sallies' out and sees her adversary, and slinks out of the race where that immortal garland is to be run for, not without dust and heat.-MILTON. The punishment of such boys, if neglected by their parents in early years, will be visited doubtless on the latter in full measure, at some period of their lives, and very properly so too. A cruel child can never make an amiable member of society. Apropos to the subject of cruelty, is the subjoined chapter, written by Peter Parley. Although addressed nominally to little people, it hits hard at large and small. Let us all read it, and examine ourselves faithfully as to whether it has a voice to Us: GOD loves all things. He kisses them in his sun-shine, fondles them in the summer breezes, and joy is in their eyes and in their hearts. Plants and flowers, beasts and birds, fishes and insects, all feel the law of love from their Creator. and play in rapture, the birds sing in sweetest The plants bloom in beauty, the beasts skip melodies, the fish leap joyfully in the limpid stream, and insects dance in delight in the sunny air. Love is everywhere. The love of Him, who is all love, dwells in every creature, the constant spring of all that is. Little girls and boys, who have not love in their hearts for all that lives, are very far from deserving the love of their good Creator. And yet there are many little girls and boys, and, alas! many grown-up men and women, who, although they may feel quite certain that it is right to "love one another," have very little love to the things God has made for their use-much less to those which seem to be of no use to them. Some cruel men will, for their sport only, sadly, ill-use that noblest of animals-the horse. It was but recently that Peter Parley read an account of a steeple-chase, as it is called, in which horses are made to leap over high rails, deep ditches, stakes, and hedges. In this steeple-chase no fewer than five horses were obliged to be killed after the race; three had their backs broken, and two their legs snapped. Now, little boys do not ride steeple-chases; but they will train themselves to this kind of sport, by wanting love and kindness to the things that are around them. But of this they may be sure, that every cruel act will so harden the heart, and render the mind so dead to the voice of humanity, that as they grow up to be men, the love of cruelty will prevail in them, and disgrace their name and nature. Many children are unkind to animals from sheer want of thought. But the same law that teaches men and women not to do to others what they would not like done to themselves, ought to keep boys and girls from hurting such things as they may chance to have power over; for the abuse of power is a great crime. After God had made all things and pronounced them good, he made man in his own image, full of sense and goodness. He gave him dominion over the fowls of the air, and the fish of the sea, and every living thing that moveth upon the earth. But man was not to be their tyrant. "What is a tyrant?" you inquire. A tyrant is one who uses his might against the law of right; who acts according to his own will; who enslaves, imprisons, kills, and destroys whoever and whatever he pleases, and will suffer no one to call him to account; you read of such men in every history of the world. There are many ways of being tyrants-there are many ways of being cruel. It is monstrously cruel to rob a bird of its young. It is cruel to set a trap for a bird, to put it in a cage-for a cage is a prison; and a boy is nothing better than a jailor-nay, much worse, for he is jailor and tyrant too. Do not think that nice food and seeds, and even care and attention, can be any compensation to the bird deprived of its liberty. Liberty is the greatest gift of God to man, the greatest gift he has given to the beast, the bird, and the insect; and when we deprive any of God's creatures of that gift, all the love and the kindness we can show them is but poor recompense. Man has enslaved the horse, the dog, the camel, the reindeer, and many other animals. They do his bidding, bear his burdens, and lose a life of freedom and happiness for one of pain and labor. They groan and wince under the lash, the curb, or the chain. They wear their lives away in sorrow, in the close stall, the confined crib, or the fenced yard. Their youth is spent in effort and labor; their old age in pain and misery, with bruised bones, seared skins, and blind eyes. What can make amends for this?-nothing but kindness; and even then we are still the animals' debtors for more than we can ever pay. Mary little boys and girls who would think it wrong to be wilfully cruel, are very unfeeling and forgetful. How many there are who doat upon pets. Yet, the fate of pets is usually unfortunate, and, very frequently, through the neglectful conduct of those who love them. It is very common for boys to keep rabbits, and for girls to keep canaries. At first we find those who pet them very attentive; they feed them, often over-feed them, watch them, and fondle over them. After a little while, some other favorite object engrosses their attention, and the pet is left, not unfrequently, to perish by some accident that care would have prevented; or to die of starvation. A young friend of mine, Edwin, was a kindhearted boy enough, but he was very inconstant; he would take a violent affection to a thing; but this affection soon went off, and he became in a few days as cold and heartless as he seemed to be warm and full of love. On one occasion, he had seen a squirrel, at the shop of a dealer in birds and fancy animals. He was delighted to see it turn round and round in its little cage, and he would stand and watch it for a long time, as he went to and from his school every day. At last he prevailed upon his mamma to give him the sum required for the purchase of the animal; and having obtained it, he brought it home in great glee. It had a place allotted to it in Edwin's own play-room; and the boy had several projects in his head to make his squirrel more and more happy. So Squirrey was pampered and fed. Every week Edwin laid out the greater part of his pocket-money in the purchase of nuts for his pet, and he carefully cleaned its cage every morning before breakfast, and hung it up in his place every hight. Squirrey grew tame, and would suffer Edwin to take him in and out of the cage, and to play with him. And Edwin was very fond of, and very proud of his pet. And he might have remained so for some time longer; but one of his young friends had purchased a magpie, which he had taught to talk. A very talkative bird it was, and a very merry one, too! It hopped and jumped about, and seemed to care for nobody; it chattered, and fluttered, and turned its head on one side to look up at you with such provoking assurance, that everybody laughed at and admired the magpie. Edwin was entranced from that moment-the fate of poor squirrey was sealed. A magpie Edwin was determined to have. Now it so happened, that master magpie was not only a very talkative bird-he was also a very meddlesome one. He did not exactly respect the property of others; so Edwin found no difficulty in purchasing magpie: but while the negotiation was going on, and the money was being hoarded, poor Squirrey severely suffered. His supply of nuts was at first reduced, and now and then his bread-and-milk was forgotten. Squirrey felt every day the pangs of hunger, and he longed for the green trees, where he could find a profusion of food for winter stores; but the bars of his prison were strong. At last, one day-it was the day the magpie came home, his supply of food quite failed. Squirrey determined to break prison, and forced his head between the bars of his cage. He could not get his body through, however; and alas, owing to the projections of his ears, could not get his head back again! Thus was he strangled. I will leave my young readers to imagine the feelings of this inconstant boy, upon beholding |