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it all the more necessary to impress upon such of his fair readers as have to yield their places to second wives the desirability of controlling their feelings.

The rules laid down for the management of children are very few. They are to be kept clean, they are not to be allowed to eat and drink gluttonously, nor to play too much for fear of contracting idle habits; and whenever a visitor arrives the girls are to be sent away and the boys only presented. Here also there are rules for summoning servants of both sexes. Their master is to exhibit towards them a serious air, and to forbear jesting with them on any pretence; but if they have committed a fault they are on the first occasion to be called to account-on the next they may be beaten. Paterfamilias, after reprimanding his butler for making too free with the '32 port, is afterwards justified in kicking him downstairs. The calculating wisdom of the Celestial crops out in the advice given to feed servants well, "since if you are sparing of their food they will be sparing of their exertions." As regards one's neighbors the having of a good understanding with them is held up as "a magnificent thing," and elsewhere "unity between neighbors" is proclaimed to be an "inestimable jewel."

cold, bring them their food, and supply them with new shoes when necessary; they must obey their orders and endure their anger without replying." A young lady when grown up and married is enjoined not to forget the benefits she has received from her parents. "Once or twice a year she ought to ask her husband's leave to go and see them." Nothing is said, however, on the subject of return visits on the part of the mother-in-law. Ample directions are given as to the bride's behavior towards her husband and the members of his family.. "From the remotest antiquity to the present time the rule in marriage is that the husband commands and the wife obeys. In all matters it is the husband who will decide, and it is the duty of the wife to conform to his decision." Not only is the wife to obey her husband, but she is to be even more attentive and respectful to his parents than towards her own. "She must inquire after their health night and morning, help them to go in and out, always meet them with a smiling countenance, obey their orders, bring them food and drink at appointed times, and joyfully offer to wash their clothes, caps, and sashes. She must furnish them with new shoes, new clothes, and new blankets, fulfil all their wishes without delay, and make every effort to satisfy them. Your new parents,' The section devoted to "woman's work" she is told, "have the right to scold you if may possibly not find favor in the eyes of you are in the wrong," and under such the advocates of woman's rights. Chinese circumstances she is only at liberty to re- women are enjoined to rise early, since proach herself, and not to utter a single "as spring is the most favorable season word against them. Younger sisters resid- for the work of the year, so is the dawn ing with their married brothers are enjoined for that of the day." They are, moreover, neither to hate nor deceive their sisters-in-bidden to take care of the hemp and the law, and if the latter have faults they are 'to conceal and not divulge them. For it is remarked that "young girls are too fond of telling everything, thereby causing serious misunderstandings."

A very delicate section, but one which has no application in this country, is that treating of "the consideration to be shown towards the second wife." If the first wife has not the happiness to give birth to a male child, the husband chooses a person whom he loves, in order to have a son who will continue his race. In these circumstances, remarks the sage, it does not do to give way to sentiments of jealousy, for it is necessary that all who live in the same house should maintain amicable relations. But he concludes by recording the sad fact that "nowadays great dissensions exist between first and second wives. Out of a hundred first wives scarcely more than one or two are of a mild and affable character." For this reason he considers

mulberry-trees; to spin with zeal silk and cotton for their own use; to learn to cut out and make their own garments, and not to have recourse to assistance elsewhere; to wash these when they get soiled in order not to become an object of repugnance to others; while such leisure time as they can find is to be devoted to making shoes for their husbands and children, their fathers and mothers in law. Mr. Buckmaster and other professors of the school of cookery will be pleased to learn that in China the care of the kitchen is regarded as one of the first of the wife's duties. Morning and evening she has to prepare the necessary dishes of fish, meat, soup, and vegetables, taking care that they are neither too salt nor too sour, and that the cups and plates are always clean. When a guest arrives tea and hot water are to be at once served, the one for internal, the other for external use. The wife is enjoined always to fall in with her husband's

wishes when it is a question of pressing a visitor to stay to dinner. On such occasions the eatables and drinkables are to be the best that the house can afford, although we are assured that it is of little moment what is offered if it is only offered with politeness. And no doubt it is true that "the husband of a woman who knows how to receive a visitor is certain of being well received elsewhere."

He

He must have powers of self-control, for he must be ready to give his mind for a moment into another man's custody. must have a certain amount of deference and humility, which the man who accompanies your words with a running commentary of protest or contradiction does not possess. The person who lets his eye wander while you are talking to him shows that he is deficient in the first element of A concluding section of the work relates good breeding, courtesy. The eye of the to the libations and offerings accorded to good listener is one of the eyes which the the dead. Mourning for a husband and poet and novelist have not remembered to for a father or mother in law lasts for three extol. It is always serene, patient, and years. During this time the wife has to intelligent. It is sad to think how few wear garments unhemmed at the bottom, persons will take the trouble of learning and of a sad color. To laugh in the pres- the art of attention in its simplest form. ence of funereal hangings exposes the of- The majority who will not listen, however, fender to universal contempt. "In spring do not hesitate in constantly demanding and autumn offerings have to be made to of their neighbors what Mark Antony the dead, and this established rule is not asked as a favor of his countrymen, to to be lightly disregarded." "The porce-"lend him their ears." When you have lain utensils reserved for this purpose gratified their request they do not hesitate must be of the best quality and scrupu- to inflict the greatest injury on those senlously clean." The wife is required to prepare all with her own hands, "letting her zeal testify the sincerity of her sentiments." Conjugal fidelity is expected of her not only during her husband's lifetime but after his decease. She is adjured to emulate the virtuous heroines of antiquity-the wife of Ven-tchiang, who cut off an ear to disfigure herself; the spouse of Wang-i, who cut off her arm to escape a seducer; the lady of Koung-Kiang, who "took an oath as tough as a boat of cypress wood;" and the widow Soung, who refused to quit her husband's tomb. Finally, she is told "not to imitate faithless women who transgress their duties, but to keep her heart, hard as stone and iron, always pure."

From The Examiner.
ON TALKERS.

A GENTLEMAN well known in literary circles for his inexhaustible flow of words was one day lamenting the decay of good conversationalists, when a very clever lady remarked that what she most regretted in the present day was the decay of good listeners. We fear the decay of good listeners is a sad and momentous fact, and proves the demoralized state of mind of the men and women of the present generation. It is not easy to be a good listener, for it requires certain high moral qualities. A man to listen well must be unselfish, he must be willing both to give and take.

sitive and much-abused organs. The sermons of Mr. Carlyle, preached in innumerable large volumes, on the text, "Silence is golden," have borne but little fruit. It is said of the elder Matthews that he suffered from a painful disease of the tongue, from having talked so much and so fast; we have often wondered that the disease is not more prevalent in the present day. No doubt, if the majority of people were more silent life might possibly become a little more dull, but it would be prolonged. The companion who is ever talking is no better than a murderer, and in a healthy state of society he would be hanged. The saddest part of the matter is that most men talk, not because they have anything to say, but because they have a dread that the world will discover that they have no great wit. If they would only read a book much despised in this clever age, but which contains many wise sayings, they would find it there stated that "even a fool when he holdeth his tongue is counted wise." How many a man has gained a reputation for having a great deal in him by the simple process of holding his tongue. It is, however, now rare to meet with any one who ever thinks of ruling that member. But still, although talking goes on in the world without intermission, conversation in its proper sense is fast dying out. Our talking, like our writing, is serious and dull, and is unrelieved by wit and brilliancy. There is no greater nuisance than when a company at dinner is forced to listen to two literary lions, who try to

be clever and smart. No doubt it is pleasing to them, and to them only, but it is not conversation, because all present do not share in it. Nothing is more annoying than to find two men interrupt the easy flow of talk by a hot argumentation. As De Quincey says, "Mere good sense is sufficient, without any experience at all of high life, to point out the intolerable absurdity of allowing two angry champions to lock up and sequestrate, as it were, the whole social enjoyment of a large party, and compel them to sit in sad civility, witnesses of a contest which can interest the majority neither by its final object nor its management." There are a small class of men who mistake declamation for conversation. Coleridge was a good talker, but he spoilt it by too much declamation. The declamation of Coleridge was, however, instructive and brilliant, but the declamation of the modern littérateur can hardly, by any stretch of the imagination, be considered one or the other. No conversation was ever so delightful as that of Reynolds, Goldsmith, Burke, and Johnson. But then the famous club was composed of clever men who conversed freely on every subject, and who had steeped their minds in literature. In the present day most men limit their reading to their own writings. There are men whose sole conversation consists in putting forth the one idea they have borrowed from the leading article in the morning. But they are not nearly so disagreeable as the pretentious talker who talks his own article in a loud and authoritative voice. The leader-writer's talk as a rule consists in making pungent and exaggerated remarks on most topics. He carries his professional art into social life. It is not conversation, but it is amusing if not carried too far, and it is useful at times. The writer of social articles is a man who earns a miserable pittance by making bricks without straw, and he acquires the painful art of going on talking for any length of time about absolutely nothing. He is horribly vapid on nearly every subject, but he prattles to his unfortunate listeners like a giant rejoicing to run his course. Among young ladies in the country he can, however, generally ensure both attention and applause. The most spurious kind of talker is the middle-aged college don who has spent his vacation on the Continent, and who steals his new views and interpretations from foreign magazines. This is a very easy road to a reputation for sound learning in one of our universities. The most affected

talker is the young college don who solves the enigma of free-will and constructs a philosophy of being in twenty minutes. He is fond of parading his small knowledge of Hegel and Herbert Spencer, and he is always expressing his deep regret that the university does not allow him a large endowment for the purposes of research. He is a man whom only an esoteric audience can appreciate or bring out to his best. To the common vulgar herd he is only a bore. He does not converse, but he expresses his opinions in a serene, confident voice. If you speak to him of Shakespeare he gives a sickly smile, and asks you if you have read Rosetti. He informs you that works of art can only be appreciated by loving and reverent criticism," and that if you wish to understand an author you must get behind his soul. He will not discuss anything so vulgar as politics; but on green paper and china plates he can be eloquent. His language is nicely chosen, but it would be inconsistent with his genius to call things by the same names as are used by inferior men. There is only one thing of which he is ignorant. He is not aware that display of vanity is one of the most annoying of the minor social sins. A large view of life, however, ought to teach all of us to be tolerant of all things of the young Oxford prig and his talk.

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From The Leisure Hour. SERVIA.

a

SERVIA is about one-fifth smaller than Scotland, and sparsely inhabited by 1,352,000 inhabitants. Like Scotland, it is a land of mountains. On the south-west the mountains consist of offshoots of the Dinaric Alps, and elsewhere the branches of the Balkan chain. One of these, gathered into a knotty group in the centre of the country, forms the Rudrik Mountains. Another, running northwards, meets range of the Carpathians, and with it forms the "Iron Gates" of the Danube. Nothing can exceed the wildness and stern sublimity of this celebrated portal, through which the great river flows. Generally speaking, Servia is traversed from south to north by extensive mountain ridges. These form valleys, which nowhere expand into plains. In its physical features the country is not unlike Bosnia and the Herzegovina, but with its green and wellwooded hills it is in striking contrast to the bare and sterile region of Montenegro.

As Montenegro was the unconquered | revolt. The drawn sword between the remnant of the old Servian empire, there- dates may be taken to indicate that the fore the little principality in the Black attitude of the subject Serbs on the DanMountain may, in that sense, be held as ube during four long centuries of Turkish its truest representative. Modern Servia rule was not one of servile submission, however, on account alike of name, re- but of a nourished antagonism. What sources, and geographical position, claims gives importance to the revolt of 1815 is continuity of national life with the Servia that it resulted in the permanent acknowlof the fourteenth century. The motto of edgment of Servia by the Porte as a selfthe princes of the present house of Obre- governing though still tributary power, novitch is, "Time and my right." Their under native rulers. Servia, restored to arms represent a white cross on a red the Serbs, brought back with it the hope field, and on the cross are inscribed two at some future time of entire independ dates, 13891815; between them lies a ence, and of an extension of territory codrawn sword. The first date commemo- extensive with the old Servian kingdom. rates the fatal fight of Kossova, when the Nor do the free and warlike inhabitants of Servians, overthrown by the Ottoman the Black Mountain entertain any jealousy arms, became a subject people; the sec- of the national aspirations of their brethond marks the year when Milosch Obre-ren on the Danube. The two Serb pownovitch went from his dwelling among the mountains of the interior to the church of Takovo to raise anew the standard of

ers are in close alliance, and between the families of the respective princes there exists a cordial friendship.

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THE VISIBLE HORIZON. A point of some scientific interest has just been argued in the High Court of Justice. It was contended by the solicitor-general that the three miles' limit of territorial waters was of modern origin, and by Sir R. Phillimore that it was due to that being the distance a cannon-ball would reach from the shore. There can, however, be no doubt that the limit was recognized long be fore the invention of gunpowder.

Three miles is the distance of the offing or visible horizon to a person six feet in height

THE MAMMALS OF THE ASSYRIAN SCULPTURES. The Rev. W. Houghton, who is a well-known contributor to this journal, recently read a paper on the above subject before the Society of Biblical Archæology (May 2, 1876). Beginning with the order Quadrumana, Mr. Houghton said two species were represented. He referred to the absurdly human appearance of the monkeys of the sculptures: the face is that of a man with a fringe of whiskers round it neatly trimmed, but one figure more true to nature indicates the species of monkey-viz., Presbyter entel-standing on the shore. It is natural to suplus, the hoonuman of India, or some closely allied species. There was also another species, the Macacus silenus. The Assyrian word for monkey was u-du-mu, the same as the Hebrew word Adam, "a man; compare our "anthropoid ape." Of the order Fera there are mentioned the lion, the hyena (in Accadian lig-bar-ra, "striped dog"); the bear, Ursus Syriacus, especially as being of various colors, and the leopard. Other wild animals were the hare, Lepus Sinaiticus (ka-zin-na, "face of the desert"); the wild bull, which was clearly a Bos and not a Bubalus, most probably Bos primigenius of the tertiary period; the wild goat (Capra Sinaitica), the Asiatic steinboc or ibex; the wild sheep (Caprovis orientalis), the wild deer (Cervus Mesopotamicus), and other species, Cervus elaphus and Cervus Maral, or Persian deer; the gazelle (G. dorcas); the wild ass (Equus hemippus); the elephant (Elephas indicus); the rhinoceros, or, as it is called on the black obelisk of Shalmaneser, "the ox from the river Saceya;" and the wild boar (Sus scrofa). Popular Science Review.

pose that the early maritime peoples of Eu
rope would lay claim to the sea as far as the
eye could reach. This distance they would
find by experience was just three miles, and it
can be proved mathematically to be correct.
Measured by this standard-a tall man, usu-
ally taken as six feet high—the distance is
invariable for all time, places, and peoples;
measured by a cannon-ball, it is constantly
varying, and now ought to be five miles rather
than three. The fact that the distance de-
pends on both ocular and mathematical dem.
onstration, and is not subject to improvement
in gunnery, is the best explanation of its origin
and application.
B. G. JENKINS.
Dulwich, May 8.

Nature.

PROVOST CAZENOVE has retired from the editorship of the Church Quarterly, but will continue to contribute to that periodical. The new editor is Canon Chichester. Athenæum.

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