The Sun.
London, England, 1841-01-06 00:00:00

RETIRING FROM BUSINESS•

(From the Charivari.)
It is the nature of man to be doing ; whatever may be
his age and position, he must have an occupat,ion of some
Fort, whether physical or intellectual ; I do not believe
in
thepussibility of absolute idleness, not even, in i!.be de-
pendents on the charity of the lisle-civile.
I have not chosen this theme in order to discuss if at
length ; heaven preserve me from it, and you also, reae..iene
That which you have mistaken for the grave introductiaaa
to a learned dissertation was nothing more than a rake,
tion into which I was led while contemplating from my
window an excellent and worthy neighbour of mine, TIL
Frornegeot.
This respectable paterfamilias, lcf whom I will not say
that age hitene,2 his vcncrabc locks, seeing that for
the last ten years his head had cast oil that ornament as;
a superflJity which hairdressers and bear's grease had
rendered too expensive, and not long since exercised the
profession of haberdasher, in the rue St. Denis, the
favoured eparter of tl.is useful class. His ledgers were
well filled, and kept with scrupulous exactitude; but ha
had a clerk to whom these delicate functions were
exclusively consigned. From morn to dewy eve his
shop was crowded with purchasers; but here again he kept
apprentices, whose they it was to unfold, exhibit, and re-
fold his wares. M. Fromageot had reserved for himself
no special task but that, as he expressed himself, of keep-
ing an eye on everything, meaning that he spent the whole
day in circulating, whh his hands in Ins breeches-pockets,
from the shop to the counter, from the counter to the shop.
stimulating with a word or a look the activity of his men,
who, notwithstanding, performed their duties neither bet-
ter nor worse. Nevertheless Madame Fromageot, a lady
who, from time to time, does me the honour to exchange
remarks on the state of the temperature or the demand for
night-caps, does not remember a single instance, during
the last twenty years, of her husband going to bed without;
exclaiming " What a weary life ! When shall Ibe able
to retire from business and repose myself?" But this is
the accusti med exclamation of all who labour to gain a
living or save a competency ; and I have further übseived
I that the moment this retirement has arrived, they all look
I on the repose to long the object of their wielles in about
the same light as M. Fromageot.
Would yen know bow my neighbour enjoys his repose
now that be is shut up in a charming little country house
where all the crux torts of existence arc to be found ? This
is what I have isitne.eted from the first day of the year .0
the last.
At four in the morning in summer, at seven in winter,
M. Fromageot throws himself from a bed of thrice-driven
down ; he puts on a blouse, steps ieto an enormous pair of
sabots, dt fends his head with a nightcap striped blue and
white, heaps upon his shoulder a spade, a pickaxe, a rake,
a pitchfork, and a dibber, takes up a large basket, whereto
are methodically arranged his cabbage, salad, sand straw-
berry plants, and away he trudges to his garde's. There
he sticks for twelve or fifteen hours, his spine continually
bunt, making holes in the ground, tracing furrows, planting
endive and lettuce, weeding beans, digging potatoes, with
all the ardour of the most inveterate market-gardener,
Think not that he allows himself the least cessation to his
labours. Yesterday he was picking caterpillars from his
plum-trees ; to-day he is renewing a border of thyme which
is not more than GOO feet in length ; to-morrow he will have
to drive 2,000 nails to trail his vines and peach trees,
Though the wind blow with all its fury, though the ran;
pour down in torrents, though the sun dirt his vertical
rays on him, though the hairs of his bear.? stiffen with the
sleet of January, he is stanch to Lis post, stanch as a bravo
soldier on the field ef glory ; a visit from his dearest 1r :end
could not induce him to forego one stroke of his spade;
and if, peradveeture, the temptation of satisfying his vanity
shsubl lead him for a few moments from his :rusk in arder
to divl.iy with pti•-lc gii.;nntic rurrirkin to an admiring
emeteu-, or to recount the history of some marvellous graft,
he would tike care, on going to bed, to advance his alaruin
one hour that he night, ins he would say, recover lost
time. lie often forgets his breakfast hour, and the same
thing would happen with his dinner, were it not :list his
wife, after having in vain called bins two or three times,
tears him almost by force from his well beloved plantations.
When a violent storm, or a bard frost, renders all gar-
dening operations impracticable, and condemns M. Fro-
mageot to keep within doors, the poor man really looks
like a perturbed spirit.; he wanders fretfully from one room
to another, descends into the cellar, goes up into the gar-
ret, geartels with Lis wife, scolds his servant, until he is
struck, as with lightning, with the brilliant idea or split-
. the.; wooel, or making a new railing for his rabbit hutch.
For such repose as M Fromageot amassed !Irene on ;sane
for the last 20 years, tuitl he has realised a cipital of
200,0001., and he reckons on et joijing this sweet repose
tor the next 30 years, unless it procuie him some ieflam-
mation of t ho chest to carry him off premeturely.
Thus M. Fromageot, alter reposing all the while he
fancied he was working, works all the while he fancies be
is reposing. It is the history of many of his tellow.mcn.

APPARATUS FOR PREVENTING THE EXPLO-
SION OF SrEAtit Bomsas —The frequent explosion of
steam-boilers, caused in many instances by the steam being
col.fined until it acquires a density gi eater than the boiler
can icsist, has led to the invention ef a self-actin; aiepara-
tus, intended to warn the engineer whenever the pressura
exceeds the proper degree of s.,,fey. The apparatus is
con-tructed on th© principle that steam, in proportion to its
density, will support a column of water, or mercury, of a
given height, and that any fluid will find the same level in
two or more vessels, provided there he a free communica-
tion between them. It may be called a mercurial safety-
valve, and consists of a cylinder, within which ;ire two cups,
with two pipes dipping into them of a loneth proportioned
to the pressure of :he steam ; these pipes art connected
at the top with two valves on one spindle, so arranged, as
that when one is ern the other must be closed. 01
the top is a waste steam-pipe open to the atrnosilere.
One pipe being filled with mercury, and the valve con-
nected with it being open, the mercury remains sta-
tionary until the pressure of the steam exceeds its proper
point. It will then be blown out and fall intl the empty
cup, allowing- the steam to escape by the waste pipe, end
giving warning to the engineer by its noise. When the
pressure is again reduced to its proper point the valve is
reversed, and the mercury will, on the next occasion of
an increase of pressure, be blown back again, still giving
warning on the other side.—Herald.
LIVERPOOL, DEC. 31.—We had a terrible
journey last night, or rather this morning. About two
o'clock I was alarmed by feeling the carriage in which I
was sitting jump in a most extraordinary manner ; it throv
me with considerable violence against the roof of the ear:
riage. A series of the most hideous jerks followed,
throwing the unfortunate passengers in our carriage from
fi itch,
side to side like tennis-halls. The alarm was ":_on
me-
worse than the jolting. Knowing that there,
Ifisdown,
me-
dium in railway accidents, I at once set
in
Blisworth sta
common with the rest of the newspapers.
of a "frightful accident" paragraph
passengers, for subject
At last they stopped for a moment in
tt
stop the train, which was
the state of our carriage till it was just
happened,
ha and
tion. I out to a porter, who a
time delayed
ot to lookat
hto:
then saw too late the accident that
were doomed to
used all manner of expedients to
once more in motion,
be dragged fifteen miles by the remorseless engine in the
but in vain, and we
riage would be dashed to pieces. I
utmost tear that the ear
never rode fifteen nilles so nervously in nay life—the
minutes seemed hours. At last we stopped at Weedon,
and on examination we foued the " break" (a
heavy
in-
strument for stopping the carriage) Was
lying across the
rail and ;till attached to the c.irriago, so that we rode over
it on the rail several times ; how it happened that we were
not thrown (,ff the line is to me a mystery ; the carriage
was 2o shattered that we were obliged to leave it on the
road, and get a fresh one at Birmingham. It delayed us
at an unfrequented station two hours. lam not much the
worse, but am as sore as if I had been well heaten.—Cor-
respondent ofa Jllorrt
irrq Paper.
TH E DISTRESS IN SPITALFIELDS.—A few
weeks ago some of the journeymen Spitalficlds silkweavers,
being deiirous that the silk trade should obtain the pa-
tronage of her Majesty and the nobility, resolved to exe-
cute a piece of workmanship from the Jacquard loom, in
order to show that British skill was equal, if not superior,
to that of French weavers, and a design was invented, and
a pattern of a portion of it produced, which attracted great
admiration. Since then, in consequence of a communi-
cation to the Queen through Lord Normanb3, ht,st• Majesty
has condescended to state that she will patronise a fancy
dress ball, the dresses of which arc to be the produce of
British manufacture. Several patterns of silks have been
laid before her Majesty for her approval. A meeting of
some of the manufacturers, at which several journeymen
1 weavers were present, was held on Saturday, at the house
of the Rev. 11. Taylor, Incumbent of All Saints, Mile-end,
to make arrangements to receive the patterns made choice
1 of by her Majesty.
1111. O'COIsoiELL AND DR COOK.—It is con
fidcntiy stated that Dv. Cook intends to challenge Mr.
O'Connell to meet him in a
public discussion of the Re-
' peal question,, when the Learned Gentleman arrives in
Belfast.—Bqfast Whig.