The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1858-11-11
NO.s619.
MISCELLANEOUS.

We say haDltually OF the writer of pOem of
the author OF play, of the exhibitor of fire.
works, OF the superintendent of any public ex-
hibition whatsoever, that he has shown great
poverty OF invention, that there was no variety
IN his entertainment The same of a General
when he bungles campaign he has no yarie
ty OF resources; he acts upon a stereotyped
plan; he has no conception how to meet an I'M
expected combination. In all things a mans
variety is the measure of his wealth and varie-
ty well used will be the measure of his power.
There is nothing that the world in general so
well understands as this. From a good dinner
to good sermon from the last old English
fashion revived to the last new French fashion
imported, the effective power of almost every
thing that delights and entertains the world de-
ponds ON variety.-T. s. Blackie.
In some persons, We may observe profuson
of feeling, which, if left to its own operation,
will expend itself on multiplicity Of trivial or
vexatious objects. The remedy is to have some
| elevated pursuit or passion, which shall absorb
the feelings. Excess of sensibility will not then
waste itself on Tifes, and concentration of feel
ing on specific object may tend to facilitate
its attainment CquiOap.
From Bartols pictures, Raphael took many
notions of national costume, and perhaps some
minds to derive advantages even from examples
not above mediocrity.
L have seen such sin in the church, that
have been often brought by it to a sicklv state
of mind. But when I have turned to the world.
l have seen sin working there in such measures
and forms that have turned back again to the
| church with more wisdom of mind and more ai
lection to It, | see sin, however, nowhere put
on such an odious appearance as in the church.
! I'm such states of mind, turn to two portrait,;
III my study-John Bradford aud Archbishop
Leighton. These never fail to speak forcibly
to my heart, that in the midst OF all, there is
pure religion, and to tell me where that religion
is.-CecH. 81
A Greek poet implies that the height of bliss
is the sudden relief of pain; there is nobler
bliss still-the rapture of the conscience at the
sudden release from guilty thought.-Buirer
Lyttsn. m
| Childhood was originally, and IS STILL de-
| signed to be the era and the instrument of spir-
itual nurture.-.Merceia.
Try for a day, | beseech you, to preserve
yourself in an easy and cheerful frame of mind
be but forone day, instead of a iire-worshipper
OF passion, the sun-worshpper of clear selfpos-
| session, and compare the day in which you have
rooted out the weed of dissatisfaction with that
on which you have allowed it to grow up, and
you will find your heart open to every good mo-
tive, your life strengthened, and your breast
armed with panopy against every trick of
fate; truly, you will wonder at your own i'm
provement.-Jcdn Paul Richter.
A BURMAN SToRY.-Mr. Winter, in his re
cent work on Burmah, gives the following as an
Illustration Of the native literature:
The Potter and the Washern,an"-In the
Olden time, during the era of Thoomoyd-ha. a
potter conceived an evil design against wash
erman, who lived with considerable ostentation,
and, being unable to bear the sight of the wealth
which the latter had acquired by washing
clothes, he determined to come to an open rup-
ture with him. With this view, he went to the
hing and said, Your Majesty's royal elephant
Is black, but, If you were to order the washer
man to wash it white, would you not become
lord of the white elephant?"
This speech was not made from any zeal for
| the Kings advantage but because he thought
that II the order was given to the washerman
| according to his suggestion, and the elephant
should not turn white after all, the fortune of
the washerman would come to an end The
King, on hearing the representation Of the pot
| ter, took 1t for granted it was sincere and be-
/ ing deficient in wisdom, he, without considera-
ton, sent for the washerman, and ordered him
TO wash the royal elephant white. The wash
erman, seeing through the potters design, re-
piled, Our art requires that, in order to
bleach cloth, we should first put it in a boiler
with soap and water, and then rub it well. In
this manner only can your Majesty's elephant
be made white"
The King, considering that it was the potter's
business, and not a washcrman's ), to make pots,
| called for the potter, and said to him, Heb,
you potter, a pot is required to lather my ele-
plant in; go and make one large enough for
the purpose The potter, on receiving this
order, collected together all his friends and re-
latiOns; and after they had accumulated vast
quantity of clay he made pot big enough to
hold the elephant, which on completion he laid
before the King, who delivered it over to the
washerman. The washerman put in soap and
water, but as soon as the elephant placed his
foot upon it, it broke in pieces. After this, the
potter made many others, but they were either
too thick, so that the water could not be made
to boil in them, or too thin so that the first
pressure of the elephants foot smashed them to
pieces In this manner, being constantly en-
plOyed, ho was unable To attend to his business,
and SO he was utterly ruined. Therefore such
as aim at the destruction of others will find that
their weapons will fail to reach those whom
own heads. Although a person be ever 50 poor,
he ought not to design evil against others.
"Men who are guilty Of treacherous actions
should be avoided"
The CAPACITIES OF ANNALS AND MAN.
Al the late meeting of the British Association.
held at Leeds, September 25th the Secretary
(Mr. G. q. Wheelhouse) read highly interest
ing paper by Richard Fowler, M. d., of Sails
bury, " On the Sensational, Emotional, Intellect
ual, and Instructive Capacities of the Lower
Animals, compared with those of Man" The
author submitted that the Deity had formed all
animals, both mentally and corporeally on one
type. All had like sensation. All vertebrated
animals had like conceptions of persons and OF
places; the constituents of memory, like the re
transmissions from conceptions to ad justing mus
cles of the functions of actions, might be oh
served by the barking of dogs and their efforts
to run in their sleep. They had like memory
of persons and things, like powers Of comparing
those with their conceptions after long absence
and like voIition for the qualification Of their APP
petites But they had not, as man had, such
PERCEPTION of objects and their relations as en-
abled them to form new combinations and thus
to be the source, by sort of creative power
Of new ideas. There was no instance of a phvs-
ical force having been used instrumentally by
any of the lower animals. No monkeys, however
often they might have seen a fire lighted and
been comforted by its warmth, had ever been
known to light fire. They appeared to have
like conceptions of objects, but not of their quail
tiles or relations to each other. The instructive
functions seemed to be actuated by the forces
of mind and vitality, by appropriate and limit
ed structures, with adjustable muscles analogous
to the different organs of sense; and this in
stinctive apparatus, with like analogy to the or