Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1874-10-31
EhucAten OHSfRrS.

"
Before the TsiToad DAYS our oyster growers
used early in the fail to canvass the villages on
the Hudson River for oysters, to De flied Just
before the river should be closed with ice. The
meaning of this is that these men committed
themselves 20 supply oysters in the she'll, with
the guarantee that the bivalves TINS supplied
should not die before their time cane. Tae
oysters were actually kept alive during the
greater part or the long winter. The tat BIZ
valves were handled with some care, and we're
spread on the cellar floor, the round or lower
eide down, so as not 10 allow the LIQUOR to es.
cape. That such a life requireda great change
of capacity or habit in the biyalve is evident;
and 1t needed training, yes, an education, ere
the oyster attained to such ability. And this
Was the way it was done: Beginning early in
the fall, the cultiyat0T OF the oyster took 40 the
tat bivalyes from the bed where he had planted
them, and laid them a little higher up on the
sh re, so that for a short time each day they
were exposed out OF the water. After a fag
days of this exposure by the retresting lie,
they were moved a little higher still on the
shore line, which gave them little longer eE-
pOsure 10 the air at each low tide. And this pro-
cess was continued, each remove resulting in
longer exposure. And with what re-
sultsY Two very curious ones-inurement
TO exposure, srd the medication OF a pFoyidapt
hablt OF making preparation for the ssme.
What prov dence III an oyster! Yes, when he's
educated. When accustomed TO this treatnsnt,
ere the tide retiTeS, the oyster takes good full
drink, and retains the same until the tide re-
turns once, while waiting for the stage at a
country hoStelrv, We overheard the following
between two rustic practitioners at the bar:
Come, Swill, let's take a drink" s.WeIl, I
don't know. Amt dry myself HOwsever,
guess i will take drink, for fear mi ght get
dry" With better philosophy on their side
these educated oysters twice in every twenty
four hours took their precautionary drink. TIE
French method OF oyster training il much more
lsboriOus. The adult biyalves are Carefully
spread out in the water, and periodical lessons
are given to each one individually. Each oys-
ter on this occasion receives 8 tap, not with a
teTule, but with small iron instrument. This
causes the bivaive to close tightly. Finally the
last day comes with is last premonitOry tap.
its education thus finished, it takes passage
with its fellow graduates for Paris. AS a result
of tts education, it knows how to keep its mouth
shut when it enters society.-Prof. Lockwood in
Popular Scienoe Monthly for N0rem6er.
In HIS wANDRRIs9s about Rome Mr.. Dickens
used to meet certain typical British tourist
whom he describes as being deyoQTed by a slow
curiosity leading him TO do extraordinary things,
such as taking of the covers of funeral uTns
and looking ia at the ashes as il they were
pickles. Another EnglishmaDi in his peculiar
habits OF mind certainly recalls this odd trav-
eler; and that is Mr.. Gladstone. No subject is
safe from him. He flies, but not at all sportive-
~, from politics to Titualism, and thence to
Homer, and now he has chosen to discuss
feminine costume. He lifts the heavy cieaver
or bis styles and smites the airy fabric of
his subject Take" he says, "sRd as it is to
strike for once at the softer portion of the
species-the dress of English women, which,
apart from rank and special gift or training, is
reputed to be the worst in the European world,
and the most wanting alike in character and
adaptation. The 60 called beauty is admins
teredtn portentous doses Recommendation some
times running to actual defOrmity. Who shall
compete with the awakened Englishwoman
for the house of hair built upon her head, or for
the measureless extension Of her dragging train?
1t was aggravatiDg enough that Tame should
have made his witty and willfnl comments on
the attire OF Britannis's daughters; what will
they say to the grandiloquent disapprobstion,
the elephantine satire of their own great coun-
tEyman?-Nctg York Tribune.
A THEORY OF BRowN's "MrNp-RRADrsa."
DIR. George M. Beard, a well-kuown New York
Haven Register, declaring that next 10 the
''msterialiZatiOn" OF the Eddy family of Chit
tenden, VT, the pretended mind reading of j.
X. Brown, at New Haven, is the greatest Alb
surdtty Of the age" The doctor says that last
summer he exposed these operations in the pres
ence OF weil-knowD physicians OF New York
and Brooklyn, and that he lie now preparing an
essay on the subject. The whole mystery is ex-
planned, he says, by the unconscious movement
the subject when he arrives at or near the
hidden article. If the subject sees to IL that the
arm resting on the forehead of Brown is per-
fectly motionless, the "mind- reader" will fail.
He failed not only with DIR. Beard but with
every one whom the doctor instructed in the
philosophy OF the thing. DR.. Beard Offers to
render his assistance in exposing him again.
Beard thinks that the power of thought reading
was never given to man. He is inclined TO be-
heye that Brown is self-deceived, but thinks
that the Yale faculty owe il 70 themsel YES 70 in
yestigate the matter with the tests he has sug-
gested. Brown has previously advertised him.
self by exhibiting to the faculty of Michigan
University.
Rn hf Rhn