Every Saturday,
April 21, 1968.)

A TASTE FOR GLASS HOUSES.

441

the old year out, and the new year in," his heart | offered to the unwholesome appetite of the public
began to thaw under the genial influences of friend-
ship and gin-punch, and he told his late adventure
to Tom Whaffles, not without some enjoyment of
his own mischance.

"I could really almost forgive the jade," said he, "for having taken me in so cleverly. I dare say, however, she makes quite a profession of it; and that half a score of old gentlemen have been coerced before now into ransoming their good name as I did. And yet she was as modest and lady-like looking a girl as ever you saw."

"Was she anything like this?" inquired Mr. Whaffles, producing a photograph.

46

Why, that's the very girl!" exclaimed the guest. "Ha, ha! Tom; so you, too, have been one of her victims, have you? Well, now, this is most extraordinary.”

"Not at all, my dear fellow. I know her very well; and her sister, and her mother, and her brother too. I can introduce you to her if you like. There's not the least harm in her; bless you, she only kissed you for a bit of fun."

แ

Why, "A bit of fun!" cried Mr. Beardmore. she got a five-pound note out of me!" "But she does not mean to keep it, I am very Would you like to see her again? Come, 'Yes' or 'No'?"

sure.

แ

"If she will give me back my money, 'Yes.'" Very well," returned the host; "mind, you asked for her yourself"; and he rang the bell pretty sharply twice.

"Here she is: it's your niece, Miss Julia. Her mother and sister are now staying under this very roof."

"Yes, uncle," said the young lady demurely. "Here is your five-pound note: please to give me that five thousand which you promised mamma if ever she or hers got five pounds out of you; for you are a man of your word, I know. But what would be better still would be, to let me kiss you once more, in the character of your dutiful niece; and let us all love you as we want to do. It was an audacious stratagem, I admit, but I think you will 99 come.' forgive me,

There go the church-bells!" cried Tom Whaffles, "It is the new year, and a fitting time to forget old enmities. Give your uncle a kiss, child."

Uncle Ingot made no resistance this time, but avowed himself fairly conquered; and between ourselves, although he made no "favorites" among his newly-reconciled relatives, but treated them with equal kindness, I think he always liked Niece Julia best, who had been the cause of healing a quarrel which no one perhaps had regretted more at heart than Uncle Ingot himself.

A TASTE FOR GLASS HOUSES. THE leaders of French society-the stars, literary and artistic, they who set the fashions, or own millions- have a decided taste for dwelling in glass houses. I have more than once sent you some samples of the intrusive quality of the Paris chroniqueur. They were samples, it would seem, however, of an art that was in its infancy. They were glimpses at the interior of people's houses. We had just a peep at the great man in his slippers, or the notorious lady in her robe de chambre; the veil was just lifted, and then quickly dropped. It occurred naturally to English readers, that even these peeps into the privacy of notable people must be

mere

at the cost of great annoyance to the people who
were exposed. But the French journalism of the
one; people have a taste for glass houses. They
present day proves that such an impression is a false
expect to have their salon and dining-rooms, the
dinner they give to their friends, their getting-up
and their going to bed, duly set forth in a news-
paper. A year or two ago, it was only at intervals
that the private life of a known man or woman was
Villemessant appears to have given orders to his
served up for public amusement; but now M. de
every notability in the French capital. A few days
staff of writers to set a glass front in the house of
since he led one of his writers to the house of Baron
James de Rothschild, and having persuaded the
his scribe with a note-book to follow the Baron's
Baron to admit his chroniqueur into his kitchen, left
cordon bleu and his butler through the departments
of the baronial kitchen and wine-cellar. The chro-
niqueur, with his note-book, seems to have amused
the game, the pastry, and the wines; but he did his
the kitchen-maids and scullions as he took notes amid
duty for his master, and came forth with a note even
on the Baron's partiality for truffles and pheasants.
He was about to pass through the gates into the
on's bureau for a moment; the Baron had reflected,
street, when he was requested to step into the Bar-
and begged the chroniqueur, whom he had thought-
lessly admitted into his kitchen, not to make copy
writer says that he bowed profoundly, but made the
out of his sauces, his larder, and his cellar. The
Baron no answer; and he printed his notes, justify-
on the eve of the issue of the Austrian Loan not to
ing himself by saying, that, had he asked the Baron
put it on the market, the Baron would not have sub-
mitted to the request of a "plumitif." Then why
should not the "plumitif" make copy out of the Bar-
M. Jules Vallès serves up M. Paul Féval as a
on's kitchen? The Baron is timid and too modest.
public dish, and provokes no rebuke from this gen-
tleman; his table covered with papers, his children
playing on the grass in the garden, his bath-room
told that he is threatened with an "innumerable
and billiard-room are the writer's property. We are
paternity"; for he has already six children, the
From Paul Féval M. Vallès turns to Émile de
eldest of which is not more than seven years of age.
Girardin's last weekly reception; this gives him an
excellent opportunity of painting the late editor of
La Presse at home, surrounded by journalists. An
"There was a great deal of lively conversation,
editor in the lap of luxury is a refreshing picture :-
not broken up into little private discussions, but
that subject was I have no right to mention. I have
general. One subject only was discussed, but what
never seen the editor of the Presse surrounded by
more sympathy or listened to with more attention.
Never, also, did his conversation take a more famil-
iarly eloquent, decided tone. There were present
MM. de Fonvielle and Bekmann, of the Temps; M.
Hector Pessard, of the Epoque; MM. Cohen and
Escudier, of the France; M. Ducuing, of the Opin-
ion Nationale; M. Ganesco represented L'Europe
pected, but his Achates only was forthcoming.
and the Nain Jaune; M. Émile Ollivier was ex-

pen.

--

Besides

"There was but one deputy, M. Eugène Pelletan, who still talked of Proudhon; the puritan maltreated speech as he had already done his the above-named, there were MM. Lebey, Turgan, Yriarte, and many others that I do not know, or that I forget. The whole body of the Presse was

there; the contributors eager and animated, sur- | M. Albéric Second is the writer. He introduces rounding their chief, who was full of fire and verve. Alexandre Dumas in his kitchen with great inge

66

Very few assembled till ten o'clock, so I profited by my earlier arrival to wander about the library, where the lamps above the books lit up the pictures, marbles, and bronzes. Antiquities are not abundant; some of the bronzes are of ancient date, but the greater part appear by their signature to belong to the present day. At the foot of a charming statuette was the following inscription: Rapporté | d'Athènes par le Prince Napoléon, 1854. Close at hand is the portrait of the Prince en robe de chambre, by Gavarni. There is a characteristic sketch, by Delacroix, of Dante and Virgil, and one by Chasériau, of a woman entering the bath, a perfect episode of the Tepidarium. A painting, by Gigoux, if I remember rightly, represents M. de Girardin as a Roman, décolleté; he looks like a thin Vitellius. Another canvas portrays him in a black coat; elegant and clever. I saw the name of the Princess Mathilde very clearly written in the corner of a water-color painting hanging in the small room which is between the large salon and the library. "This library differs from most others; it is very long and narrow, like a passage, and, as it were, skirts the house; the books are on the shelves, the highest of which is only up to one's breast, so that there is no need to climb steps, or put one's arm out of joint in order to get a particular volume: all are within reach; and in this plan I recognize the simple and practical mind of the master of the house. Another sign is a drawing of a plan for the opening of the Rue de Rivoli, according to the design of M. de Girardin, and bearing date 1832: thirty-four years ago! The proposed plan has not been quite carried out. According to that, the pavement was to be raised, and to be reached by steps and a railing. Amongst the marbles, two superb busts of Madame Émile de Girardin, a statue and a statuette, signed Pradier,' are conspicuous. "The souvenir of Rachel is everywhere; a chair has her name engraved on it. In one place is a reduction of the celebrated portrait by Gérôme, also vigorously painted by the same hand. In another is a fine drawing of the great actress; farther on a large painting, in the corner of which I read, À mon véritable ami, M. Emile de Girardin.' Then there are the two following letters:

:

666

"PARIS, April 21, 1858. MONSIEUR, According to a letter dictated by Malle. Rachel on the day of her death, she leaves you, as a souvenir, a gold pen ornamented with forget-me-nots.' "Poor great artiste!

"The foregoing notes were not taken yesterday: I was unable to do more than glance round at what I had before taken two hours to examine. It was on the occasion of my first visit to M. de Girardin; I had been begged to wait, and I had been forgotten! But I am not at all angry at the forgetfulness; if I am ever anything, it is to M. Girardin I owe it." It is evident that M. de Girardin is not displeased that his debtor should pay him in this coin.

But I have reserved my best illustration of the comfort it is, hereabouts, to live in glass houses till the last. In this instance no less an authority than

nuity. It seems that the culinary knowledge and skill of the author of "Monte Christo" had been called in question. Unhandsome detractors had said that M. Dumas could not serve up a dinner that should be worthy the knife and fork of a gourmet, -a Monselet. M. Second had been reported as among the great Alexander's detractors; whereupon he writes: "I had often heard that Alexandre Dumas père was as good a cook as author; but in spite of the affirmation of persons who brought forward the proposition, a vague scepticism with regard to it floated in my mind. Criticise the romancist, the chronicler, the dramatic author, and Alexandre Dumas will allow you to say what you please, without taking the trouble to answer; but attempt to criticise the cook, and you will run the risk of being pierced through by his spit. How the author of Monte Christo' knew that I had not a blind faith in his culinary talents I am at a loss to imagine; but he evidently wished to prove to me how far I was unjust in the matter of his ragoûts and his sauces. 'I expect you to dine with me on Tuesday next at seven,' ran the note I received from him, and I warn you that I shall have a hand in all the dishes. You shall judge from experience.' Needless to say, I accepted; but, instead of arriving at seven, I made my appearance at 107 Boulevard Malesherbes as the clock struck six, and I had my reasons for this. If Dumas has told me the truth, said I to myself, I shall take him by surprise in his kitchen; if, on the other hand, I find him in his room, his study, or his salon, I shall know what to think of it. I entered one of the sumptuous houses on the Boulevard Malesherbes, mounted a fine staircase, and rang at the door of an appartement on the third story. M. Alexandre Dumas?' I inquired. Yes, Monsieur, replied a little groom. Can I see him?' again inquired. No, Monsieur, he is busy,' was the answer. Ah! he is in his study, no doubt,' observed I. No, Monsieur,' replied the groom, he is in the kitchen.' Guided by a most savory and appetizing odor, I made my way into the antechamber, crossed a passage, and penetrated into the temple; here I found Dumas, without coat, collar, or cravat, his shirt-sleeves tucked up to his elbows, agitating a large spoon in a dazzlingly bright stewpan, while giving his orders at the same time to the greatest promptitude and intelligence. So it his cook and kitchen-maid, who executed them with is you!' cried Dumas, on seeing me. you know you are an hour too soon? You are not come to excuse yourself for to-night, I hope.' When one is in the wrong, the best thing is to without any beating about the bush, my motive for acknowledge it. I therefore frankly told him, being beforehand in our rendezvous. Dumas, who is good-nature itself, pardoned me on condition of my going and awaiting his appearance in the salon, where the other guests presently dropped in one by one. Our host quickly joined us, and at seven o'clock the groom threw open the door and announced, Monsieur is served. O, dear, great man! whatever has been said,-whatever you may have said yourself touching your culinary science, — you cannot have said enough; and I call the guests of Tuesday to witness. What a success! what a triumph!-a dîner bourgeois, such as princes do not taste every day! We set out with a cabbage soup, at which Dumas had labored for two days; then followed fried smelts. To these

6

I

'I suppose

-

succeeded a jugged hare, followed by a ragoût | his existence. Thus (according to Dr. Kitto), we of mutton à la Hongroise. Then came roast have gur, a lion's whelp, as in Jeremiah li. 38 and pheasants, écrevisses à la Bordelaise, and a salad Ezekiel xix. ; chephir, a young lion just leaving his of mâches, celery and beet-root. I pass over in parents, the most destructive period of his existence, silence the vegetables, entremets, and rocher de see Psalm xci. and Ezekiel xix. 3 and 6; ari, a glace prepared by hireling hands. It may be in- young lion having just paired, as in 2 Samuel xvii. teresting to observe that the hares and pheasants 10 and Numbers xxiii. 24; sachel, a mature lion, as had been killed a few days before by our host him- in Job iv. 10, Hosea v. 14, and Proverbs xxvi. 13; self, at a hunting party at M. Joubert's. It was diffi- and laish, a fierce or black lion, as in Job iv. 10 and cult, as will be at once seen, to select simpler dishes, Proverbs xxx. 30. Regarding the last expression but impossible to eat anything better. I watched we may remark, that black lions that is, those Alexandre Dumas when the solemn moment of mix- | with a blackish muzzle, and black tips to the hairs ing the salad arrived, as I am myself not without of the mane—are to this day accounted the most pretensions to a certain strength in this department, formidable both in North and South Africa. so essential to every well-organized repast. In Lions appear to have been the object of special presence of the chefs-d'œuvre, which I saw seasoned worship at Leontopolis in ancient Eygpt; and in before me, and which I tasted with a sensuality full one of the Egyptian bass-reliefs, to which Sir G. of emotion and respect, it only remained to me to Wilkinson assigns an antiquity of three thousand acknowledge my inferiority. I now confess it pub-years, some Egyptians are represented hunting with licly. If, according to my advice, Alexandre Dumas tame lions, much in the style chetahs are used to this would open a restaurant near the Champs de Mars day in the Deccan.* If not one of the animals during the Exposition of 1867,- a restaurant, be it universally regarded as sacred in ancient Egypt, the understood, in which he would be the cook, I will lion still seems to have been a universal favorite, for undertake to say that he would realize a million of in every possible form of ornament we find the head francs in six months! Our host does not smoke, and claws reproduced in water-spouts, chair-legs, and in addition detests the odor of tobacco; so that and sword-handles. there were no cigars. In spite of this privation, a greater one than he thinks, it was necessary to turn us out at one o'clock in the morning. Dumas gossiped on, and we were all but too happy to lis

ten.'

Dumas's reputation as a cook is now established, and people do not wonder about it here as they would in London. A few days since a friend of mine, a physician, suddenly invited two relatives, one of them a physician also, home to dinner. The lady of the house was horrified; not a scrap of dinner was prepared. "Never mind," said the Doctor, "we'll cook the dinner"; and he and his non-professional friend repaired to the kitchen, sent for a pheasant, and in due time produced an exquisite dinner, including a risotto that was pronounced superb.

CONCERNING LIONS.

LIONS appear to be monogamous. The lioness carries her young five months, and has two or three at a birth. According to Jules Gerard, the cubs begin to attack animals, as sheep and goats, that stray into their neighborhood, as early as from eight to twelve months old. About two years old they are able to strangle a horse or camel, and from this time until maturity (about eight years), he adds, they are truly ruinous neighbors. They kill not only to obtain food, but apparently to learn to kill. The age to which lions attain appears doubtful: Pompey, the lion in the Old Tower Menagerie, reached his seventieth year; and fifty years has been sometimes given as the ordinary limit reached by them; but this, most likely, is over the mark. Dr. Livingstone has observed that they appear to suffer from loss of teeth as they advance in years. A great number of these animals would appear to have existed in the earlier ages of man's history, and must have presented an important obstacle to the spread of the human race.

Taking Holy Writ as the earliest record to which we now have access, it is remarkable how often the lion is referred to in a figurative manner by the writers. In the original text, we find various names used to distinguish the lion at different periods of

M. Gerard has remarked that, in North Africa. (besides a considerable destruction of human life) the damage done by carrying off and killing cattle cannot be estimated at a lower figure than three hundred pounds per annum for each lion.

Lions appear to attack game by seizing the flank near the hind leg, or the throat below the jaw,points which instinct seems quickly to teach dogs of all kinds to assail, when in pursuit of the larger animals. Dr Livingstone, while bearing witness to the enormous strength of the lion, truly wonderful when compared with his size, remarks, however, that all the feats of strength, such as carrying off cattle, that have come under his observation, had been performed by dragging or trailing the carcass along the ground. The tales of lions never devouring game save when killed by themselves, are unfounded. We have ourselves seen a family of lions (they often hunt in families) in the Transvaal territory quarrelling, like a pack of hungry hounds, over the putrid carcass of a horse, which had died of Paardsikté (pleuroneumonia) a few days previously, while the plains around were teeming with those countless herds of migrating game (antelopes and quaggas) of the numbers of which it is so difficult to convey an idea to the fireside traveller.

"To

A point where imagination has wrought wonders is in the matter of the lion's voice. This fancy has been also demolished by Dr. Livingstone. talk of the majestic voice of the lion," he writes, " is merely so much majestic twaddle. I have never found any one who could fairly distinguish between the roar of the lion and that of the ostrich, although the former appears to proceed more from the chest. To this day," he adds, "I am unable to distinguish one from the other, except by knowing that the former roars by night, and the latter by day only.".

Jules Gerard is, however, more enthusiastic in his appreciation of the vocal powers of his favorites. He remarks, that the sound of a lion's voice a league

* The ancient Egyptians seem to have been very successful in utilizing the Feline generally. In several bass-reliefs, fowlers are

represented accompanied by eats in place of dogs, and in one, an animal, apparently of that kind, is depicted in the act of retriev ing. A tame lion may often be still met with in Cairo, though Abyssinia in the present day.

lions in a state of nature are not found nearer, we believe, than

Naturalists have generally considered the Asiatic lion as a distinct species from the African, but this appears by no means well decided. There are several varieties of the African lion. The Arabs in North Africa distinguish three, the yellow, the gray, and the black; and M. Gerard states, that while individuals of the two former varieties have been known to roam over immense tracts of country, specimens of the black-maned lion have been found to inhabit one spot for over thirty years. Mr. Gordon Cumming, on the other hand, whose opportunities of observing these animals were only second to those of Jules Gerard, states that he is satisfied that the two varieties of South African_lion (the Vaal, or yellow, and the Blaauw or Zwaart, or black) are one and the same species at different ages; that their manes invariably become darker as they increase in years; and that the thickness of the coat, and the luxuriance of the mane, appear to depend on the nature of the cover frequented by the animals, being always greater where there is

off appears to an inexperienced observer as if close | French very fairly, and could even write the latter at hand; and that he has frequently tracked lions language well. Of general history, mathematics, at a distance of three leagues (nine miles) by the arithmetic in the higher branches, he had a knowlsound of their voices; he also testifies to a certain edge above the average of lads of his age. musical grandeur in the sound. What he required-in my humble opinion at least to qualify him for the army, was a year or two's training in some military college or establishment, where he would be taught the discipline of the service, and gradually learn his future duties, in much the same way as his brother was taught his professional work on board the Britannia at Dartmouth. But when I mentioned to the "awfully good crammer" these my views on the subject of military education, he almost laughed in my face. It was very well, he said, for the officers of foreign armies to be so brought up, but it would never answer in the English service. "We want gentlemen, my dear sir, in the English army," he would repeat every five minutes: "and not mere military prigs like those in the French, Prussian, Austrian, and other Continental services. If all your young officers were obliged to go to military colleges, as you propose, what would become of the principle of free competition in education? What of the numerous private schools which covered the land?" I thought that if our government undertook the education of the candidates for military commissions, as she does those who want to enter her navy, it would be a somewhat difficult problem to solve, what would become of the many "awfully good crammers" who make their living by preparing young men for the "direct commissions" examination, in much the same way as turkeys are prepared for the Christmas market? However, I said nothing; but feeling that my son's pros pects were in a great measure depending upon this gentleman, I agreed to engage him, and did so upon terms which could hardly be termed exorbitant.

least shelter.

POOR SOLDIERING.

BESIDES my son George, who joined the navy, I have a son who has entered the army. Nothing would serve him but that I should purchase a commission for him in a line regiment. At first he wanted me to get him into a cavalry regiment; but this I objected to, on the score of expense. So he had to put up with an infantry corps, very much to his disgust.

I did not find it as difficult to obtain a commission" in the army as a nomination for the navy, but the expense of the former is at least fifty times that of the latter. No sooner had I obtained from the Horse Guards the official intimation that, provided he could pass the requisite examination before the commissioners, my son would be appointed to an ensigncy in the 110th Foot, than I was inundated with letters from gentlemen offering their services as what are vulgarly called "Crammers." How they got hold of my address, or how they knew that I had a son who was about to enter the army, is to this day a marvel to me. But they did so somehow, and they regularly hunted me down at last.

From the time I received the conditional nomination for my son to the day he would have to appear before the examiners at Chelsea a period of about three months would elapse, and in this interval my boy would have to prepare himself for an examination on special subjects to which he had hitherto hardly turned his attention. But there was another condition with respect to his nomination. It was, that if he succeeded in passing the commissioners, I should be prepared to pay the sum of four hundred and fifty pounds for his ensigney.

By the advice of a military friend, I selected from among the many candidates for my patronage a gentleman who was briefly described to me as "an awfully good crammer," who had "pulled through" more dunderhead candidates for commissions than any other man in the same line of business. Not that my son was either a fool, or wanting in what I considered to be a good grounding for a military education. He could speak both German and

The lad had to attend at the residence of the awfully good crammer" three days a week, for three hours each day, and on the intervening days he had to study at home the lessons set him. Although it seemed quite certain that the tutor would be able to coach him through, yet the system of preparation astonished me. All that the boy had previously learned appeared of no use whatever to him. The great object of the training seemed to be to prepare him, so to speak, for certain educational feats, by which he would be able to answer questions which, although not exactly known beforehand, were certain to run in well-worn grooves. Every two or three days I examined the lad as to what he had learned and how he was getting on, and I became more and more convinced that, without the special cramming which he was undergoing, he never could have passed the examination ordeal.

Under the "awfully good crammer," several other young men were being "coached" for the same examination as my son. Some of these had profited more than he had, others less, by their previous education. But one and all felt the same difficulty in making any use of former teaching for present purposes. Some few of these youths, it is true, had up-hill work before them, their notions about spelling being original. To teach these would-be soldiers the rudiments of writing from dictation, or to make them commit to paper anything better than a mass of blunders, seemed impossible. But it must be allowed that these gentlemen were an exception to the rule, and that the great majority of the tutor's pupils got on pretty well.

At last the day arrived, and with at least a couple of hundred candidates my son went up before the