The Portland daily press., 1878-12-21
Yerlck's Drawer.


"Curiosities of the Market in the Boston
Herald, mentioned in the Drawer some weeks
since. The writer is Mr.. William W. Wheil-
don, veteran journalist and author, who
has done and is still doing much good work.
His "New History Of the Battle of Bunker
Hill" will be remembered as one of the most
important works which the Centennial year
provoked, and is conceded to be the best ac-
count of the event yet given. He is also the
author Of the interesting and thoughtful Sc
ries of essays which Lee and Shepard pub
lished under the modest title "Contributions
to Thought" The History of Faneuil Hall
Market, written at the time of the semi-cen-
tennial celebration of the opening in 1876, is
one of bis contributions to the chroI i,les of
Boston, very entertaining to anyone inter-
estsd in the old market.
-"The Professor" writing from the scho-
lastic seclusion of Colby University tells Yorick
that while looking over volume called ''Spirit
of the Euglish Magazines" Published in
Boston, 1921. his attention was attracted by
an article protesting to De composed of items
from an imaginary journal, "The North
American Luminary, 1st July, 4796."
Among the extravagancies recorded are some
which have already ceased to be imaginary
wonders. For instance:
"The army of the Northern States will
take the ne'd asa,nst that of The Southern
provinces early next spring. The principal
Northern force will consist of 1,490, 900
picked troops"
sour celebrated travellers have just arrived
from their researches into two OF the coan-
tries of ancient Europe. By means of a new
invention DR.. Clarke crossed the Atlantic in
seven days"
"rhe new mechanical steam coach left
Philadelphia at eight in the evening of the
Sd ultimo and arrived at Parrvsburg at noon
on the 9Th, a distance of 893 mites ia 40
hours. It carried 18 inside and q outside
passengers, besides great quantity Of lug
gage"
"By the magic of modern science, If our
teeth are not to the model of perfection, they
can be extracted without paiu, aud by taking
those elements of which by analysis teeth are
found to be composed, they may be regen.
eraued, aud during their growth theg can be
formed to the standard OF ideal beauty"
Chow the scientific pigmies of the 18th
and 10Th centuries would have hid their
diminished heads could they have foreseen
our present perfection 10 lighting the atmos-
phere, by exciting attraction and motion
among the constituent particles of light and
heat. The aerometer of New YORK, at a
trifing expense, produces light in the at
mosphere equal to the brightest moonshine. /"
Here we find the steam car, the ocean
steamer, the an@sthetic, the electric light,
and the huge armies of our civil war, figuring
halt-centary ago as the widest vsgaries of
an extravagant imagination, put forward in
rldicue as We might now speak of journey
10 the moou. Thirty centuries were laugh
iugly given to the world in which to accom-
plish these wonders. Less than twice thirty
years have passed, and the wonders are ac-
complished facts. If the author of the je4
desprit be now living he may take comfort
in the French proverb that nothing is sure to
happen but the unexpected. The magazine
in which the items originally appeared was,
the Professor says, the New Monthly of
August 1921. The use Of the word Slug
gage" shows English origin.
Were Yosick family man, had be young
Margarets and Malcolms crowding about his
knee, do you know what he would do? He
would have the Arabian Nights, and three
volumed Bullfinch, and Mother Goose. and
Robinson Crusoe, and .E.Op's Fables and
the old ballads, and the genuine fairy stories
like Cinderella and Puss in Boots and Jack
the Giant Killer, lying about the living rooms.
These books should be literally illustrated,
even II he had to economics in pipes or live
on handful Of cigars a day (what stronger
proof of paternal affection conld be given y
so that the little ones would love them be-
fore they could read, and get acquainted
with them and treat them as companions.
Aud he would read to the children out OF
the dear old books, and their mother would
read the Bible to them. Very soon they
would learn to read for themselves. Then
Yorick would put in their way Paul and Vir-
gnis, and the Pilgrims Progress, and Gulli-
yer, and Sintram. and Don Qaixote and
other classics, but never tell them to read the
books, lest the reading should become task.
The works should have all the charm of dis
coveres of their own. Thus would their
craving imaginations be fed, and filled with
beautiful fofms and rich color. And Wal
ter Scott, best of all Juveniles" should be
close at hand, and Shakespeare near by.
Boys and girls will read Shakespeare just for
the stories. and the memory of those will
abide, and they will come back to the peru.
sal in later years with broader Intelligence
and quicker understanding. We always re-
turn to our first love, the French proverb
tells US.
Not only these, but books of reference,
great aliases with their colored maps, Illus
trated dictionaries and cyclopedias, gazetteers,
hand-books of all kinds, should be within
reach. They would be consulted by the Gag.
er, adventurous curiosity of youth far ottenel
than We may think. The boy of course
would not handle them as the student does
but he would acquire the habit of using them
of seeking their aid. Suppose in reading the
Arabian Nights his curiosity is excited con.
corning Bagdad or its Csliph, or Bullfinct
leads to desire to know more of the Trojan
war and the Greeks, or Of Charlemagne and
his paladins-the books that will give the in.
formation are by his side. A boy cannot read
the fable of Tiberius and the slave-especiay
if there be picture of the gloomy Empero
in his purple robes-without wanting tt
know Who Tiberius was. The fable of tht
belly and the members will lead him to in
quire further. He will not be content unit
be hears the eIwhole Of that story. We scarce
" 1ecognizSthe eagerness and extent of th'
leehild't Gesire for knowledge. He is one o
~ttpahttle fellows that are always wanting t.
know, you know, and sometimes sadly dis
I turbs our uulettered ease. Yorick remem
bers the intense curiosity he had concernin
q certain ''Ibid." whom he so frequently say
mentioned in foot notes, and pictured Ibid
as universal author who, like Bacon, ha,
taken all knowledge to be bis province. Pos
sibly he thought Ibid. was the editor of cy
clopedia. He certainly did think that if b
had that book he could find everything b
wanted to know; and so one day he aske
his father to buy Ibid. for him. The reques
precipitated al explanation, and between
roars of laughter Yorick learned the meanin