Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1875-03-19

we would wad in a gun. 1t is said tha
the ladies under the dominion Of the
Grand Lama, when good-looking, disfg
ure their faces to preserve them from
vanity. have never seen that recorded
OF our ladies-heaven forbid. The idea
however, is as ludicrous as the Tartar
custom Of pulling a man by the ear
when they want him to drink, and keep
pulling until he opens his mouth, when
they pour down the liquor. know a
man whose ears DO not require to be
pulled.
There is nothing very laughable TO an
American in the shaking of hands,
which is everywhere practieed in our
country; but foreigners find in it much
amusement Yet nothing will be more
ridiculous to us than the salutation ia
Germany, where one may see two big,
burly, hairy men rush to each other 5
embrace, and kiss with SCHOOLGIRL fer
yeney. The people Of Thibet salute BY
lolling out the tongue and scratching
the right ear, and the Esquimaux BY
rubbing their noses with their thumb and
describing comic section in the air With
their hngers--a custom practiced by
mischievous urchins in our land, but not
exactly as a salutatory grace. 1t is now
happily honored in the breach. 10 Tur-
key an American travelling with his un-
velled wife, even without the appendages,
80 usual here, of six small children and
seven large trunks and bandboxes, is to
them in funny predicament. On the
other hand what would be funny with us,
among the Turks is quite the reverse.
An American gives us an instance in
his experience in Syria. He was about
to mount his mule amidst crewd of
Oriental visitors and wished TO give
them an exaggerated idea of American
agility. He jumped a little too far
and oYershot the mark, coming down
on the other side like a diver, with his
hands and nose in the mud, bis feet
caught in the saddle, and his coat skirts
cleverly rolled over his head to screen
him. IRON what he supposed was laugh
ing crowd. Yet not soul smiled, not
sound was heard save a tender grunt of
sympathy and demure offers Of aid
Now, Turk in America, with baggy
breeches and turbanded head, taking a
leap over mule in the streets of an
American city, and getting stuck upside
down, with his proboscis in rut and
his heels in the saddle, would be saluted
with something more than grunt OF
sympathy and demure offers of aid. We
have more humor than dignity; the
Turks more dignity than humor There
never was an American who would not
sacrifice his courtesy and sympathy TO
his fun. He must have it, however, we'll
seasoned and done in hurry, and its
prevailing characteristic must be exag-
geration You saw this illustrated even
in the inordinate hopes of so calm and
sedate statesman as Mr.. Seward, as to
the closing up Of our late civil war 10
sixty days. That was the huge Joke of
our time. There was a court in General
Grants army which sentenced man to
work ten years on General Buffers
Dutch Cab canal; and il was generally
said, if not believed, in the army that
Palmer, who made the patent limbs, had
purchased 1000 acres of Western land,
and planted them with locust and maple
with n view to economize IN the future in
his manufacture Of arms and legs Hon.
5 S. Coz IN Harper's Magazine for
ApriL