The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1848-01-25 00:00:00

TIE LIVEIPOOL STANDARD.

A DROLL ANECDOTE.—Etna, notwithstanding its pe-
riodical destructive eruptions, is a real blessing to Sicily ;
and I am almost inclined to think the people would gladly
reconcile themselves to the occasional annihilation of the
villages by its fires, rather than be deprived of its snows.
Ices and lemonades supersede entirely the Howqua and all
other infusions of the tea plant. The ices are occasionally
made to represent different species of fruits, and often bear
a very cicse resemblance to nature. Brydon has told a
ludicrous anecdote of a naval officer of the old school, who
was completely taken in by the deception. He was din-
ing with a large party, at the house of a gentleman no less
distinguished for the elegance of his table than for the
strict formality observed at it. After dinner, the ices were
produced in the shape of various fruits and sweetmeats.
One of the servants handed what appeared to be a fine
large peach to the captain, who, unacquainted with deceit
of any kind, never doubted it being real. Cutting it
through the centre, in a moment one-half of it was in his
mouth. At first he looked grave, and blew out his cheeks
to give it more room ; but the violence of the cold soon
brought the tears into his eyes, and he began to tumble it
from one side of his mouth to the other; at last, unable
to hold out any longer, he spat it upon the plate, exclaim-
ing, " A painted snowball, by jingo !"—Recollections of
Malta and Sicily.

ADVICE TO CLERKS.—Economy and prudence in his
pecuniary affairs are not however the only duties neces-
sary to enforce on the young clerk, nor is it the only
means in his power to promote his welfare in after life.
He must feel that his future position depends chiefly, if
not entirely, on his own exertions in early life. He must
not confine himself to the strict letter of his duty, but
readily avail himself of every opportunity of exertion for
the benefit of his employers, resting satisfied that the day
of his reward will arrive. If he has a leisure half-hour
he should employ it by investigating, as far as practicable,
all matters connected with the business of the establish-
ment, in whic'i he is engaged ; in making himself ac-
quainted with the duties of others, in order that, should
occasion require, he may be prepared to perform those
duties; and if at any time it should occur to him that an
improvement in the method of conducting any portion of
the business of the establishment may be effected, he
should not be backward in suggesting such improvement
to his principal, and, if needful, offer his services in car-
rying it out. His pride should be to court, rather than
shun, responsibility. In short, he must make it his busi-
ness to obtain a high character for integrity, zeal. indus-
'try, and perseverance ; to prove himself deserving of a
position superior to that which he at present holds. This
will either insure his promotion by his present employers,-
or enable him to apply for and obtain a higher appoint-
ment elsewhere when opportunity offers.—Advice to
Clerks and Hints to Employers.
SISTER AND BROTHER.—M dame Schopenhauer de-
scribes at great length a scene of almost unexampled
magnificence which she witnessed at Versailles. It is as
a large picture, which we are unable fully to describe or
lack time to copy ; but there is a portion of it that is a
picture in itself, as our readers will say who peruse the
' following :—" A smiling little boy was sitting in a child's
carriage on the great terrace close to the palace; and a
slim, pale, little girl, of about eight years of age, walked
by his side holding his hand, and looking with merry eyes
on the gay world around her. That boy was the mest
innocent sacrifice of the time—it was the dauphin ; the
delicate little nymph was his sister, alterwards Ducht ss of
Angouleme, one of the most unfortunate of her family."
That poor boy ! Torn from the comforts and refinements
of the condition in which he was born, he was given up
to the keeping—no, not the keeping, hut the cruelty—of
persons of the lowest class : he was maintained in dark-
ness, filth and hunger: he was tatvzht to utter the obsce-
nity which he happily did not comprehend : he was
savagely beaten if he bore his ills in silence, as one who
was sullen : and he was still savagely beaten if he ven-
tured to sigh audibly, as one who was rebellious. That
poor boy ! The heroic child endured a thousand horrid
deaths—his murdered parents hut one : disease daily
devoured him, and compelled dirt and squalor sharpened
the pangs of disease—hunger lacerated him—obscurity
terrified him, though from the breast of the little martyr
it could hardly ring a groan ; and obscure blasphemy
belched imprecations and taunts, inure cruel than daggers.
into the dungeon which was rendered as like unto hell as
heartless, human demons could make it. Such was his pas-
sage to the brink of the grave, into which the son of a race
of kings fell in such foul and hideous condition that loath-
someness itself would turn sick to contemplate; and all
this inflicted by men, by Frenchmen. on a defenceless and
a guiltless child ! Again, we say, that poor boy ! Heaven
and earth, things animate and inanimate, yet cry aloud
for vengeance on France for that most unnatural of all
unnatural murders; hut vengeance is the Lord's and in
His own good time it will exact national expiation for a
national infamy. And where is that bright little sister
who, in the era of earthly greatness, walked by his side,
and held his delicate hand, and " looked with merry eyes
on the gay world around her ? " Go some autumn eve to
the Prater at Vienna—go when the leaves are falling and
unkind winds are blowing ; or to the Hradschin at Prague,
when storms howl over that deserted throne of by-gone
kings—go searchingly about when Bloom is in the sky,
and on the earth, and in the soul, but never when sun-
shine and gladness are abroad, and you shall haply see
an aged woman moving purposelessly about as one on
whom something like insanity has gently descended ;
but, if you have time to mark her well without offending
respect, you will see that she feels the iron that is in her
own soul. Those aged eyes still weep for parents mur
dered and a brother slain; and as that venerable woman
passes on, you may perceive, directed as her thoughts are
to lirtorra nod forgiveoes, of her elicatiGn. amt. .7.lasn still 1-
has'tierce and bitter memories of the things on earth, and
that among them she remembers that tl e throne of her
dead husband is usurped by the son of one of the mur-
derers of her father ! Into' such a time-and-sorrow-
stricken
woman has developed that glad little girl who,
once in her life, and but once, "looked with merry eyes
on the gay world around her."—Church of England
Quarterly Review.