The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser. — Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1855-12-25 00:00:00

VARIETIES. THE Vi7LGAR.—To endeavour to work upon the vulgar with fine sense is like attempting to hew blocks with a razor.—Pope. WHERE TO FIND A WIFE.—Dr. Franklin recom mends a man, in the choice of a wife, to select her from a bunch ; giving as his reason that where there are many daughters they improve each other, and from emulation acquire more accomplishments and know more, and do more, than a single child spoiled by parental fondness. BODY AND MIND.-By too much sitting still the body becomes unhealthy, and soon the mind. This is nature's law. She will never see her children wronged. If the mind, which rules the body, ever forgets itself so far as to trample upon its slave, the slave is never generous enough to forgive the injury, but will rise and smite its oppressor. Thus has many a monarch mind been dethroned.—Longfellow. RARE TIME FOR THE GIRLS.-By an ancient act of the good old Scottish parliament, passed in the reign of Margaret, about 1288, it was " ordonit that during ye reign of her maist blessit Majestic, ilka maiden ladee of baith high and low estait shall hae liberty to speak ye man she likes ; gif he refuses to take her to be his wif, he shall be mulct in the sum of an hundrity pundis or less, as his estait may be, ex cept and always gif he can make it appear that he is bethrothit to anither woman, then he shall be free." A RAILWAY COMPANION.—I was seated in a first class carriage of an express train about to start from Paddington, when, to me, as the play says, entered a tall gentleman, with his coat buttoned tightly over his chest in the military style, and apparently padded in front. Directly we began to move he asked in a quick, decisive, and _rather impertinent style—" Whe r e are you going to, sir,—where are you going ?" "To Bris tol," I replied, quitely.—" Bristol," said he, " was burnt to the ground last night,—the whole of it burnt to ashes !" " What, sir,—nonsense--it is impossible ; I have a considerable property there 1" "I am glad of it," answered the stranger, hissing between his clenched teeth ;—" its all burnt." Then, of course, I knew that he was a madman. He kept watching me eagerly, like an animal in act to spring, but I tried not to look afraid, and make conversation as carelessly as I could, but I dare say it was not very brilliant. In passing Hanwell, for instance, I remarked (forgetting altogether the purpose to which it is devoted), " How well Hanwell looks from the railroad, sir !" At this he- placed his hands upon his knees, stared at me straight in the face, and replied very deliberately : " Ah, you shonld see how the railway looks from Han well."—Dickens's Household Words. ELT NO SUGAR.-It being an understood thing, that the high price of sugar was caused by, three or four avaricious speculators, who went into the sugar market and bought all they could find, we hope these greedy mercenaries who were so anxious to sack the saccharine will be allowed to keep full possession of their bargain. Let everybody abstain from sugar as much as they can, so that those who rapaciously forestalled the sweets, may now have some of the bitters. Let the holders of sugar find that the article, which was sup posed to be " a very nice thing," has become a drug in the market. Let infancy be taught to abstain from the tempting lollipop ; let old maids practise patriot ism over their cups-,we mean, of course, their tea cups---by drinking their favourite beverage without sugar. Already the sugar abstinence movement is taking effect, and the sordid speculators are obliged to submit to a reduction of their unhallowed profits. Let those who can't afford white, refuse to adopt brown, and thus set the principle of " snowing brown when you can't snow white" at defiance. Bread is a neces sary, but sugar is not ; so let all who wish to give a lesson to avarice, renounce sweet stuff of every kind, eschew pastry of all sorts, and allow all the sugar to remain in the docks, without being transferred to the domestic basin.—. Punch. [DECEMBER~ 25 185'')' bout 11 are many small towns and villages entirely t in which works might be erec ted at little cv: 11, ; any ,0 prove a most lucrative investment. I woul d ' O . ,fe the formation of a national company, or of 0 0 9 5 each county, to supply such places with r o - 11 01 . moderate price. By obtaining a General A ( ' co * hament, much preliminary expense would b eat, p and afterwards a great saving in ma nage cog would be effected. Each place to be 00°,0 have a certain n um b er o f s h ar e s allotted , "'ore option of taking its own works when complet e ;ole price. The Limited Liability Act might b e is service for this purpose. A very great increa se , consumption of gas could also be effected io where it is at present supplied, if the compaln e ' provide all fittings complete, charging 3 rent for the use of them, holding a deposit party supplied, allowing interest thereon, an' ing the same when the fittings are reti arrangements made with the succeeding Correspondent of Tile Builder. FASHIONS. SOME ball dresses recently completed by on e principal dressmakers of Paris, have been ornamented with trimming, the style of sents some novelty. One of these dresses a double skirt of pink tulle illusion over Pic as The upper skirt is in the tunic form and flounces, each surmounted by bouillonnes an y dered by three rows of pink satin ribbon, marrow white blonde. The under skirt is tulle illusion double. The trimming of t, composed of pink satin ribbon in perpendi; The corsage is in folds and pointed in sleeves in double puffs are trimmed with pia: k and narrow white blonde. A bouquet of P white roses in the centre of the corsage, W i lt° of the same flowers in the hair, anr costu me. A slight novelty in opera-cloaks may be Several have been made of one colo , Am instance, the material compo s i ng th e c l o ak, "iti and the trimming, all correspond in hue. seen some of scarlet, blue, and white cashmere' this way. Many of these cloaks have no the edge. The bonnets which have appeared witki% week or two are not less elegant than tn e ' to preceded them. Among the most novel es, are several of green, blue, and brown velv e t are formed of bias rows of the velvet in differ' of the same colour. Usually the bonnet is each side with a small tuft of ostrich fea l variegated tints, like those of the velvet. trimming consists of bouquets of pink or blue and blonde. One of the prettiest bonnets et just mentioned, is composed of rows of green graduating from a deep to a pale sh,a ue ' alternately with rows of black lace. Th e covered with black lace. The trimming et ?", bouquets composed of velvet flowers and f oll° The union of black and white, which been adopted with success in various articles is as much in favour as ever. Caps fr . eq` sist of a combination of black and white black and white blonde, with trimmings of ribbon and flowers intermingled with ngi velvet.—The Lady's Newspaper. ---- to NZ lner y tO h beted 111 fO ll/ )111 P allieS oder nil , 3g a 1 0 , 1 0 i "rt: posit froret, )n, an d e d, 3 return 't ~ li n g 0 1 '' Ito 'rtli ttot l n ftb I th by on 140 e ' el 14 . bee,.n_r ic h p . 0 of "' s ,,P o ists ' !sses "u, Oa 1 1 over Po w t. and a bo, nnes oat , 1 v ii ' . on ra , edg a T e fi .' ''. l v i b s j a rt . 1 of this . en dieular iv tio i n front ;. b boi '', 'th pink rl 0' 1 L ~I;. , t of P IP e 0 a nd a . ll ' let° i comp le ill. ed enti ' cin to oalY ; \ II [our I , te livs; l ' o ' )at, ' w e baf i e Inc. mad e ' Dr : ,', hraere'..„4 °''' n trilD' Ist • withill the which 1 to tho se d . A i v iv e ff l e : ent t :V ea g o 41 1 1 iV e t 10 5 ' 0 13 , t i s tri , erF ., th featP_,,,aer t 5 The n u o ' w er9 k ' t or blue P OP' t o, k.... I 1 e eta of 1,11 het' been " 1 r g re , : ,e ~ . shade - . . r t s o : r.',; The cu i,ou A' , ' ~,. Com - t 4 c1:1i T e t :11 ; 11 , s l ie; i c eg o te; :o .(l)cu l l;ir t ° ' :7'i' -' eh lia s f o efe ss 11 :1 0. y .4 S°'o bl t , rsi SUPPLEMENT TO THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD SCIENCE AND ART. THE BURMESE RUBY:—A correspondent of the Calcutta Citizen, speaking of the reception of the English embassy by the Burmese king, says :—The only thing remarkable at the interview was an inani mate object, and that was a ruby in the centre of the pagoda crown of his Majesty. It was as large, if not larger, than a hen's egg, and far more valuable than the great Koh-i-noor ; it was beautifully cut, and almost as round as a marble. It was torn off the ear of the Karen Queen, by Alompra. It was a pendant, being suspended by a wire casing through her right ear. It is of the purest water, and more than two thousand years old, if the traditions concerning it are believed. It came originally from Assam, and be longed to the great Garrow King Moung-Sa, who ruled the whole of Chin-India. This ruby will, I prophesy, in ten years, be worn by our Queen. OXFORD.-It is now several years since we paid a first visit to Oxford, and yet the circumstances of it ring like pleasant music in the memory. The clean and picturesque streets, the long and varied rows of colle giate and other buildings, the spires, the tower and quadrangle of Christ Church, the dinner in its noble hall, the interior of the cathedral in the gloom of twilight, which, casting a shade over injudicious modern alterations, added to the grandeur of the general proportions ; the walk through sculptured archways ; gardens with old trees ; structures, ren dered doubly interesting and picturesque by th e h an d of time, and covering s o ivy and other foliage; peeps into libraries and halls, in which were ranged portraits of kings, queens, and men of learning —some grim and dark with age, others of brighter hues, the work of Reynolds, Lawrence, and the painters of modern date ; rare manuscripts ; original sketches by Raffaell e , and other magnates i n at ; and many a relic of former times : here and there, mixing most fittingly with the buildings, sauntered the professors, students, and other grades of the university, in their varied cos tumes : the clear and beautiful Isis, overshadowed by trees (a pleasant contrast to the stream with another name at London), gay with smart boats and cheerful boatmen ; the chiming of bells ; the occasional sounds of organs and choristers in the chapels, and other incidents, cause a summer's day to be much too short to get even a slight glimpse of the beauties of far famed Oxford.—The Builder. GAS FOR THE MILLION, versus RUSSIAN TALLOW. —ln a recent number, "An Englishman " called at tention to a substitute for the Russian tallow used in the manufacture of soap. The consumption of it may also be much diminished by the extended use of gas, to the great and permanent benefit of this country, and of vital interest at the present time. The use of gas may be increased to an enormous extent, as there F I N I S. LIVERPOOL : PRINTED BY R. P. THACKER, STANDARD-OFFICE, 4, ST. GEORGE'S-CRESCENT. 220