The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1843-07-25 00:00:00

L STANDARD.

BARGAINING.—The habit of making what are called
" cheap bargains," does not appear to me worthy of being
classed under this head; because the principle of economy
would inspire a wish to pay an equitable and fair price for
a good article, rather than a low price for a poor one ; and
in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred, articles offered for
sale as being remarkably cheap, are of very inferior qual-
ity. But, above all things to be guarded against in ma-
king bargains, is that of taking advantage of the poor.
It is a cruel system carried on by the world, and one
against which woman with her boasted kindness of heart,
ought especially to set her face—that of first ascertaining
the position, or degree, of necessity of the party we deal
with, and then offering a price accordingly. Yet, how
often do we hear the expression—" I get it done so well,
and so cheaply ; for, poor things, they are in such distress,
they are glad to do it any price !" And a pitiful sight it
is to see the plain work, and fine work too, that is done
upon such terms. A pitiful thing it is to think of the
number of hours which must have been spent, perhaps in
the endurance of hunger and cold, before the scanty pit-
tance was earned ; and to compare this with the golden
sums so willingly expended at some fashionable miliner's,
where, because the lady of the house is not in want, the
kind purchaser would he sorry to insult her feelings by
offering less.—Mrs. Ellis's Wives of England.

EMPLOYMENT OF ELEPHANTS IN WARFARE.—To
render the elephants more terrible in battle, they were
not only partially covered with red cloth—a colour which
was supposed to excite their rage ; but the forehead, and
more particularly the ears, which the animal raised and
flapped in his passion, were also painted either white, blue,
or red,—the latter colour more particularly, as being more
terrific, as well as for the reason just given. Plumes of
feathers, small flags, and bells were attached, both to
raise the fury of the animal and to inspire the enemy with
greater fear. Sometimes they were covered with plates
of steel to protect them from missiles and from sword
cuts. Those on the medals which were struck by Caesar
in consequence of his victory at Thapsus, are thus de-
picted, as are those also on the medals of the Julian
family. The tusks, too, were commonly tipped with
steel ; while the breast plates with which the elephants
were protected, were furnished with long sharp projections,
to render the charge upon the opposing troops more
effectual and deadly. To the trunks of some, swords and
scimitars were ad pted, which the animal had been taught
to use with considerable address : the Sultan Acbar is
said to have had many of these sword-bearing elephants
in his army. To increase its violence to the greatest
possible degree, or rather perhaps to overcome its natural
timidity,—for notwithstanding its use in warfare, the
elephant, as we have before observed, is a timid animal,
—intoxicating drinks or stimulating drugs were given to
excite its fury in the day of battle. In India a fermented
liquor extracted from rice was employed for this purpose;
in Ceylon, opium was used ; and in Europe, wine in which
spices and aromatic herbs had been infused. "And to
the end that they might provoke the elephants to fight,
they shewed them the blood of grapes and mulberries."
—1 Maccabees, ch. 6, ver. 34.—Foreign and Colonial
Quarterly Review.
A SCENE OF HORROR.—I went with two soldiers of
the 18th down a street to the right, to a large house, which
I concluded belonged to a Tartar of consequence : we
burst the door open and entered. Never shall I forget
the sight of misery that there met our view. After we
had forced our way over piles of furniture, placed to bar-
ricade the door, we entered an open court strewed with
rich stuffs and covered with clotted blood ; and upon the
steps leading to the " hall of ancestors" there were two
bodies of youthful Tartars, cold and stiff, much alike, ap-
parently brothers. Having gained the threshold of their
abode, they had died where they had fallen, from the loss
of blood. Stepping over these bodies, we entered the
hall, and met, face to face, three women seated, a mother
and two daughters ; and at their feet lay two bodies of
elderly men, with their throats cut from ear to ear, their
senseless heads resting upon the feet of their relations.
To the right were two young girls, beautiful and delicate,
crouching over, and endeavouring to conceal, a living sol-
dier. I stopped, horror-struck at what I saw. I must
have betrayed my feelings by my countenance, as I stood
spell-bound to the spot. The expression of cold unutter-
able despair depicted on the mother's face changed to the
violent workings of scorn and hate, which at last burst
forth in a paroxysm of invective, afterwards in floods of
tears, which apparently, if anything could, relieved her.
She came close to me, and seized me by the arm, and with
clenched teeth and deadly frown pointed to the bodies—
to her daughters—to her yet splendid house, and to her-
self; then stepped back a pace, and with firmly-closed
hands, and in a hoarse and husky voice, I could see by
her gestures spoke of her misery—of her hate, and, I
doubt not, of revenge. It was a scene that none could
bear long; consolation was useless; expostulation from
me vain. I attempted by signs to explain, offered her
my services. but was spurned. I endeavoured to make
her comprehend that, however great her present misery,
it might be in her unprotected state a hundred fold in-
creased ; that if she would place herself under my guidance,
I would pass her through the city gates in safety into the
open country, where, doubtless, she would meet many
of the fugitives ; but the poor woman would not listen
to me ; the whole family were by this time in loud
lamentation ; so all that remained for me to do was
to prevent the soldiers bayoneting the man, who, since
our entrance, had attempted to escape.—Closing events in
China.

Loss OF MAJOR BOYD'S AND CAPTAIN ANDERSON'S
CHILDREN IN THE RETREAT FROM CABOOL.-It was
about this period of our melancholy adventures that Major
Boyd and Captain Anderson heard of the loss of their
children ; the major's youngest, a boy, and the captain's
eldest, a girl. These poor babes (for so they may be
called—the eldest was not five years old) had been placed
in camel-panniers; the boy with his mother, Mrs. Boyd,
on one side; and the girl, under charge of Mrs. Main-
Waring, on the other. Mrs. Mainwaring, notwithstanding
she had an infant of her own in her arms, generously vo-
lunteered the charitable office, seeing that Mrs. Anderson
had two other children to take care of, the youngest
scarcely a week old. The above little party were all on
the same camel in the middle of the pass ; the beast was
shot, and lay down, leaving its helpless freight a stationary
mark for the bullets of the Affghans. Shortly a Hin-
doostanee sowar took Mrs. Boyd on his horse, and car-
ried her safe through the pass. The other lady, the kind
hearted Mrs. Mainwaring, was nearly sharing a more
wretched fate; she had just contrived to dismount with
her own infant from the fallen camel, when an Affghan
horseman rode up to her, and threatening her with his
sword, desired her to give him the shawl with which she
was clothed ; while she was urging some vain remon-
strance, a grenadier sepoy of the 54th contrived to force
his way to her rescue ; which he effected by discharging
the contents of his musket into the body of the Affghan.
Leaving little Boyd and Anderson to their fate, he then
gave his arm to his fair protege, and with the gallantry of
a cavalier of olden time, supported her failing steps to
near the exit from the pass ; here, poor fellow ! he was
fated to end his career, and he fell by a bullet from one of
the stone breastworks. It now became the chance of a
spirited young fellow, a private in the 44th, to afford aid,
which be did by giving one arm to the lady's assistance,
and bearing in the other the infant she had herself until
now carried. Thus, as evening was closing in, did this
little party reach the halting-ground. A weak and deli-
cate woman, used to all the comforts and luxuries of ci-
vilised life, having walked a distance of five or six miles,
the whole way through snow more than ankle-deep ; in
many places sinking to the knees through the thin coating
of ice that covered the stream flowing through the pass ;
forcing her way through the shoals of camp followers, all
equally eager to get clear of the mouth of the pass, (to so
many, in truth, the jaws of death,) and for more than
half the distance carrying in her arms a child of ten weeks
old. Still, hers was a happy case compared to that of
others ; she had surmounted her difficulties, and could
press her infant to her bosom. But how was it with Mrs.
Boyd and Mrs. Anderson ? They had now to learn, that
in the confusion and hurry of saving the ladies, their
children had been left to the tender mercies of the ruth-
less Affghans. Who could guess what would be the fate
of these poor babes ! Happy, surely, would their parents
have been, could they have been assured that the sword
had ended their miseries : but to fancy them living to be-
come the slaves of Affghans! Who shall venture to de-
pict their anguish ?-7 he English Captives at Cabool, in
Bentley's Miscellany for July.