Phenix gazette. [volume] (Alexandria [D.C.]) 1825-1833, 1827-05-30

Just proposed q QneStion ahu "N"u'"S iot
ward to receive an answer A lady being ask.
ed, in his presence, what his features indicated,
replied with equal truth and ?oliteness,-a most
inquiring mind. The cock-up OF the nose which I
seems, from the expansion and movement Of I
the ~nostrils, to be smelling up intelligence as
hound does the air Of a dewy morning, whsu
the scent lies well; the draw down OF the half
open mouth, gaping for news; the erect chin;
the wrinkled forehead; the little eager spark.
ling eyes, half shut, yet full of curious mean.
ings; the strong red eyebrows, Protruded like
a CATS whiskers or a snaiPs horns, teelers, which
actually seem s%enticnt, every line and %llniament
of that remarkable physiognomy betrays a
craving for information. He is exceedingly
short sighted; and that defect, also, although,
on the first blush of the business, II might seem
a disadvantage, conduces materially to the
GREAT purpose Of his existence-the knowledge
Of other peoples affairs, Sheltered by tha, in.
trinity, our Spurious impairment" can stare a,
things and persons through his glasses, in
manner which even he would hardly venture
with bare eyes. He can peep, and pry, and
feel. and handle with an effrontery never eqal.
led by an uuspectacled man. He can ask the
name and parenlage Of every body in company
toss over every book; examine every note and
card; pull the flowers from the vases; take the
%pictures from the wall; the embroidery from
YOUR work-3ox; and the shawl from your back;
and all with the most provoking oomposure,
and just as If he was doing The right thing.
The propensity seems TO have been born
with him. He pants after secrets, just as the
magpies thieve, and the monkeys steal china,
by instinct His nurse reports OF him, that he
came peeplng into the world; that his very cries
were in%terrogative; and his experiments in ply
Sos So many and SO dangerous that before he
wa, four wears old, she was fain to tie his hands
behind him, and lock him in a dark closet to
keen him out Of harms way, chiefly moved
thereto by his ripping open his own bed to zee
what it was made Of, and throwing her best
gown into the fire to try if silk would burn
Then he was sent to school, a preparatory school!
and very soon sent home again for incorrigible
mischief. Then a private tutor undertook 10
instruct him on the interrogative system, which,
in his case was obliged 10 be reversed, be ask
ing the questions and the tutor delivering the
responses-a new cast of the didactic drama.
Then he went to college; then sailed forth to
ask his way over Europe; then GENE back TO
fix on his ~palernal estate OF L.inx-hail, where,
except occasional short absences, he has so.
iourned ever since, signalizing himself at eve.
~ stage Of existence, from childhood to youth,
from youth 10 manhood, from manhood 10 age,
by the most lively and persevering curiosity,
and by no other quality under heaven.
Mere quiet guessing is not active enough tor
his stirring and searching faculty. He delights
in the difficult, the inaccessible, the hidden, the
obscure. A forbidden place is his paradise; a
board announcing "steel traps and spring guns
-:I-I--+- L;-.--~.~ vail Twelve rect high; he
would undoubtedly have entered Blue Boards
closet, although certain to share the fate of his
wives; and has had serious thoughts of visiting
Constantinople, justto indulge his taste in steal
ing a glimpse al the secluded beauties of the
seIaglio, an adventure which would probably
have had no very favorable termination. In
deed, our modern peeping Tom has encounter
ed several mishaps al HON in the course Of
his long search after knowledge; and has gene
rally had the very great aggravation Of being
altogether unpitied. Once, as he was taking a
morning ride, in trying TO look over a wall a lit
lie higher than his head, he raised himself in
The saddle, and the sagacious ouadruped, his
gray pouey, an animal Of a most accommodate.
ing and congenial spirit, having been, for that
day, disc arded in favor Of a younger, gayer,
less inquisitive, and less patient steed, the new
beast sprang of and left him sprawling
Once when in imitation Of Ranger he had
perched himself on the topmast rumble Of a lad
der, which he found placed beneath a window
in Upper Berkeley street, he lost his balance, *
was pitched suddenly in through the sash, TO
the unspeakable CONSERVATION of a house-maid,
who was rubbing the panes within size. Once
he was tossed into an open carriage, full Of la
dies, as he stood up to look at them from the
box Of a stage coach. And once he got a griev-
Gus knock from a chimney-swceper, as he pok.
ed his head into the chimney to watch bis OPP
e~rations He has been blown up by a rocket;
carried away in the strings Of balloon; all but
drowned in a diving bell; lost a finger in a
MASKING mill; and broken a great toe by draw
ing a lead pincushion off a work table.
These are only a few Of the bodily mischieis
thai have betaIIen poor Mr.. Link. The moral
scrapes into which his unlucky propensity has
brought him, are past all count. In his youth,
although so little amorous that l have reason
to think, the formidable inlerrogatory which
is emphaticalIy called popping the question:"
is actually the only question which he has new
er popped. In his youth he was very neaay
drawn into wedlock by the sedulous attention.
which he paid to a Young lady, whom he sus-
ptcted Of carrying on a clandestine correspen-
dence. The mother scolded; the father storm