Year: 1872

OILs Az INOs Ii
he knows that il he had omitted the saw
ing clause nobody would have believed
him. But it is Just this vagrant tendency
which renders IL so dear to us. We feel
as the mother feels toward the darling
who is sure to go wrong. 1t is so seldom
that we can count on months uninter-
rupted converse with our own umbrella
that we cherish the intercourse OF every
day. Life, too, is never weary of provid-
ing pitfalls for our umbrellas. They are
constantly being reft from us at doors and
corridors. There is a general theory
among official people that we use them to
demolish vases and TO poke outthe eyes of
pretty pictures. Innocent and playful as
the umbrella appears to us, 1t is to the
official person dangerous weapon" !"
which has to be seized and ticketed and
detained in queer pigeon-holes. We sigh
and part to meet no more. A more terri
BILE pitfall lies in the tendency of mankind
to regard umbrellas as a sort of circula-
ting medium. 1t Is odd that while it re.
quires at least years acquaintance to
borrow half-a-crown, casual chat of
five minutes is supposed to warrant one
Il
terrible result of this is that there are a
race of people who never have umbrellas,
and steadily borrow their way through
every shower. There is something ago
nizing in the sight of one of these preda-
tory persons watching calmly the patter.
ing of the rain out of ones window,
while one is conscious that that little gem
in the hall is destined to he carried off in
few minutes. But there is no redress.
Adroit use of "Christmas bills" or the
plea of an already overdrawn account,
may evade the demand for pecuniary
loan; but there is no conceivable pretext
on which one can escape the loan of an
umbrella.


But these cummunistic aspects are not
the only social aspects of umbrellas. 1t is
curious to note the part they play in ac-
quaintanceship or in love. 1t is very diff
ficult to reman an absolute stranger to
the man who has walked few miles with
one under the same umbrella; contiden-
tial relation seems to spring up with sim
gular rapidity under the kindly circle of
its roof. A good many very pleasant
! friendships have been born in this way
out of a kindly shower. But prettier
things have sprung out of showers than
pleasant friendships. In the earlier stages
of affection the umbrella is simply vent
| for feelings which it is difficult to ex-
press in any other way. On the eve of
declaration, for instance, it is an immense
relief to be able to fix ones eyes steadily
on the ground, and to poke viciously at
the gravel with ones umbrella. The awk-
wardness, the hesitation, the want Of the
right word, is eXquisitely annoying, and
it is comforting TO vent ones annoyance
in a good poke, while the fair expectant
is drawing curious and elaborate mathe-
matical diagrams with the point of her
paIasol. But it is in hours of hesitation
that the umbrella finds its noblest sphere
| of employment. Sunshine is by no means
the best atmosphere for making lovers
| happy. The two companions loiter and
dawdle; the gentleman hovers lightly
over the new tenor at the opera, the lady
picks flower or two, and murmurs
monosyllables in reply. The subject they
are both longing to touch seems to recede
| into further distance as the end of their
stroll draws lear. After all, Strephon
thinks, with little thrill of vexation,
there will be other strolls and other sunny
afternoons. But the whole difficulty van
ishes with drop of rain. Strephon opens
his umbrella, and Belinda is soon hanging
to his arm, and pressing closely to his
side. 1t is easier to utter the three little
words" when they can be whispered un
| der an umbrella than when they have to
be shouted across gravel path.


The educational umbrella carries us
into a widely different region of emotion
and thought. The ingenious contriyel
of this new invention has evidently been
struck with the enormous field which 6
walk in the rain offers to self-imprOve
! t., Oe hue ha off org
us an opportunity of studying astronomy
The concave of silk is turned into the
concave of the sky, where a host of planet;
and consultations CLEAN down upon us
from between the bars of whalebOne
In another we are wooed to the study OF
geography, and our eyes may wander
through Batfins Straits to where the
umbrella stick represents the pole. The
idea is ingenious enough, and in the cast
of poets or persons addicted to walking
with their eyes directed heavenwarC
might no doubt be turned to very pretty
purpose. Imagine the consolation tC
Mr. Tupper of walking beneath an ex
panded copy of the "Proverbial Philoso
ply" and of being able at any moment
to turn to one of its golden sentences or
the roof above him. In the present
dearth of polite conversation, we car
fancy very adroit use being made o.
models of talk, such as Swift drew VI
for the fine people of his time, and which
could in this way be hung peacefully
overhead. Each rib of the umbrell,
might contain a dialogue adapted
to different people, and a dexterou
twist, as Lord Heavyside left us
would provide us with spI lightly an(
vivacious repartee for Lady Flighty. TIL,
uses of the umbrella, in fact, can hardly
be said to have been as yet explored. Blu
after all, its great charm will always lie il
its inutility. To the Emperor Nichola
war was nuisance, because it spoiled hi
admirable soldiers; and rain is, for tn
same reason, q nuisance to the amateur o
umbrellas. A rose 'just washed in


shower" as Cowper says of it, may be


pretty thing in its way, but the lightnes
and grace of an umbrella vanish with


wetting. 1t never folds again. It's slim
proportions gather shade of portliness
In side-lights we see in it something o
the trace of Mrs. Camp. 1t is in Vail
that we watch its decadence with curiou
regret, and veil the sadness of its last me
ments by shilling cover from Red
mayne's. It's hour has come, but there
a romance even in its last moments. /
simply vanishes. Old sticks linger abou
the house, but an old umbrella is as invis
ible as dead donkey. Jew voice
rise from the area in the earl
dawn, and suggest to us, as we tur
dreamily on our pillow, theories abou
its end. But we know nothing. Th
umbrella vanishes into the infinite, an
we make no impious attempt to lift tn
curtain of the dark.-LOndOR SGtuTdd
Re0ielo


A Boy Blind from His Birth Made :


See.