The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1851-09-16 00:00:00

'bleb Inovr move

id unprofit

can anything be more " wea
ble," than their whole course of life ? R_
as well be in the tread-mill as toiling in the stupid, mono-
tonous round of what they call pleasure, but which is, in

fact, very cheer

-s and heavy work
all hilarity, all indulgence of our na-
y be of a joyous nature, are declared

ure, indeed !

when all merriment,
turol emotions, if thi

siveness and primness : no ; all is coldness,
reserve, and universal ennui, even where this starchness
of manner is unaccompanied by any very strict rigour in
matters of conduct. Look now at those quadrille-dancers
in the other room ; they have been supping, they have
been drinking a:, much champagne as they liked; the band
is capital ; the men are young and the girls are pretty ;
and yet, did you ever see such crawling movements—such
solemn looks, as if they were all

so much exc

ragging then

through the most irksome task in the world ?

Iseives
what a

different thing was a country dance in my younger days !
—Memoirs of the Duchess of St. Albans.
A CALIFORNIAN LODGING HOUSE.—The lodging-
houses in Francisco are usually long barn-like tenements,
but, owing to a deficiency of sleeping places, sheds, sta-
bling, and skittle-grounds were called into requisition.
The one I sometimes resorted to was about GO feet long
by 20 in width; it had no windows, and the walls, roof,
and floor were formed of planks, through the seams of
which the rain dripped. Along ;he sides were two rows
of " bunks," or wooden shelving, and at the end was
some boarding, serving as a bar for liquors; here the
proprietor slept. From about ten till twelve at night,
men flocked in with their blankets round them—for no
mattress or bedding was furnished by this establishment ;
and a dollar being paid, your sleeping place was pointed
out to you. If early, you had a chance of securing six
feet of the top shelf ; otherwise, you stretched yourself
on the floor. The bunks were decidedly preferable, for
sometimes of a wet night upwards of eighty people would
be packed together—Yankees, Africans, Chinamen, and
Chilians all huddled together on the ground. As it was
customary to sleep in one's clothes and boots, abominable
odours arose, and creeping things abounded. When
coiled up in your blanket, the smoking, chewing, and (as
a necessary consequence) random expectoration, often
prevented repose. Towards morning the heat and effluvia
became intolerable ; on some occasions, of a wet night, I
have been oppressed with a vomiting sensation, and crept
out in a profuse perspiration to inhale fresh air ; some-
times I found a greasy cap close under my nose, or awoke
sucking a boot. Restless sleepers or unpleasant dreamers
were not desirable neighbours; for a kick in the ribs, or
on the head, in such a case, was an unavoidable occur-
rence. Loaded pistols awl other deadly weapons being
numerous also, an accidental discharge would have lodged
an ounce of lead in the body of those next. On fine
nights, therefore, I always preferred the open air to such
an indiscriminate companionship.—Shaw's Adventures
of a Goldseeker.

CHEAPNESS OF LIVING IN SYRlA.—Antioch is, beyond
dispute, the cheapest pace in the world, as well as one of
the healthiest; and if it were not for the ragged little
boys, who hoot at every stranger and throw stones at his

doOr, annoying you in every possible w

I should pre-

fer it as a place of residence to any spot I have vidted in
Europe, Asia, Africa, or America. My house was of per-
fectly new construction, well planted, and well situated,
and proof against water as well as wind. I had four
rooms,—a sitting room, a dining room, a bedroom, and
a dressing room. I had a walled enclosure of about
eighty feet square, where roses and geraniums vied in
beauty with jessamines and lilies. There .were also a
poultry-yard, a pigeon-house, stables for three horses, a

store-house, a kitchen, and a servant's room. I had in
the garden a grape-vine (muscatel), a pomegranate tree,
a peach tree, a plum tree, an spriest, and a China
quince ; and, in addition to all these, a fountain perpe-
tually jetting up water, and a well, and a bathing room.
For all this accommodation 1 paid three hundred and
fifty piastres—about three pounds sterling ; and t his was
a higher rent than would be paid by any native. Of course
the house was unfurnished ; but furniture in the east is
seldom on a grand scale : a divan, half a dozen chairs, a
bedstead, a mattress, a looking glass, a table or two,
and half a dozen pipes and narghilies, are all that
one requires. Servants cost about three pounds ahead