State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1831-1836, 1836-05-10
SUNDRY ODDITIES.

curious story be actual, or colored, or in
vented:
"Our minds are like certain drugs and
perfumes, which must be crushed before
they evince their vigor and put forth their
virtues. Lundy Foot, the celebrated snuff
manufacturer, kept small tobacconlst's
shop ut Limerick. One night his house
which was uninsured, was burnt TO the
ground. AS he contemplated the smoking
ruins on the following morning in state
bordering on despair, some of the poor
neighbors, cropping among the embers for
what they could find, stumbled upon sew
eral cannisters of unconsumed but half
baked snuff, which they tried, and found so
grateful to their noses, that they loaded
their waistcoat pockets with the spoil.
Lundy Foot, reused from his stupor, and
at length initiated their example, and took
II pinch of his own property, when he was
instantly struck by tie superior flavor and
pungency it had acquired from the great
heat 10 which it had been exposed. Trea-
surfing this valuable hint, he took another
house in place called Black Yard, and,
preparing large oven for the purpose, set
diligently about the manufacture of that
high dried commodity which soon become
widely Known as Black Yard snuff; n term
subsequently, corrupted into the more ia
mIiar word, BIackguard. Lundy Foot,
making his customers pay literally through
the nose, raised the price of his production,
took Il larger house i'll Dublin, and ultimate.
| " made handsome fortune by having
been ruined"
"Ps and Qs. The origin of the phrase,
Mind your Ps and Qs.' is not generally
known. In ale-houses, where chalk scores
were formerly marked upon the wall, or
behind the door of the tap-room, it was
customary to put those initial letters at the
head of every mans account TO show the
number of pints and quarts for which he
was in arrears and we may presume ma
ny II friendly rustic to have tapped his
ncighbor on the shoulder when he was
INDUCING to freely in his potatons, and to
have exclaimed as he pointed to the score,
Giles, Giles, mind your Ps and Qs.'"
"PosthumouS Glory. A revenue payable
TO our ghosts an nus tutuuS-an eXhala-
ton arising from the ashes and corruption
OF The body-the glow worm of the grave ;
a Jack -o'lantern, of which the skeleton is
the Jack, and the lantern dark one--pro-
tracted oblivion the short twilight 1hat
survives the setting of the vital sun, and is
presently quenched in the darkness of
night. Ashes to ashes, and dust to dust
may be said of our fame, as well as our
frame; one is buried soon after the other
When the rafting earth is cast upon our
coffin, it sends mp halow sound, which.
after few faint echoes, dies, and is buried
in oblivious silence. That fleeing noise is
our posthunus renown. Living glory is
the advantage of being known to those
whom you don't know. Posthumous glory
is the enjoying celebrity from which you
can derive no enjoyment, and enabling
every puppy in existence TO feel his superb
GRITTY over you, by repeating the old dicium
that living dog is better than a dead lion,
or by quoting Shakespeare, | like not such
grinning honor as Sir Walter hath p"
"Scandal What one half the world
takes pleasure in inveniing, and The other
half in believing.
Snuff. Dit thrust up the noslrls with
pig-llke snort, as sternutatory, which is
not to be sneezed ut. The moment he has
thus defeated his own object, the snuff.
taker becomes The slave of habit, which
literally brings his nose TO the grindstone.
"Tomb. A house built for a skeleton !;
dwelling of scuIptured marble, provided
for dust and corruption; monument set
up to perpetuate the memory ot-the
forgotten.
"Tongue. The mysterious membrane
that turns thoughts into sound. Dark is its
oil-eatng its drag-chain.
"WorId-he-. A great Inn, kept in
continual hustle by arrivals and depart
ures; by the going away ofthose who have
paid their bills (thc debt of nature) and the
coming of those who will soon have a sim
liar account TO settle: DeceSsiO pereuntilm,
ct SuSceSSiO peretworum.
Youth. A magic lantern that surrounds
us with illusions which excite pleasure,
surprise and admiration, whatever he their
nature. The old age of the sensual and the
vicious is the same lantern without its
magic the glasses broken, and the illusions
gone, while the exhausted lamp, threaten
ing every moment TO expire, sheds ghastly
glare, not upon II fair table cloth, fun Of
jocund associations, but upon what appears
to be a dismal STROUD, prepared to receive
our remains"