id stringlengths 16 16 | text stringlengths 151 2.3k | word_count int64 30 60 | source stringclasses 1
value |
|---|---|---|---|
twg_000000035000 | greatly diverted at the dispute. But he good-naturedly added, that, notwithstanding the ridiculous figure they had that day made, they were all men of genius and ability, but had done their parts injustice by their vanity, and the ambition of originating a new theory. "With all the extravagance," said he, "to which they push their several systems, they are not | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000035001 | unsuccessful in practice, for habitual caution, and an instinctive regard for human life, which they never can extinguish, checks them in carrying their hypotheses into execution: and if I might venture to give an opinion on a subject of which I know so little, and there is so much to be known, I would say, that the most common error | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000035002 | of theorists is to consider man as a machine, rather than an animal, and subject to one set of the laws of matter, rather than as subject to them all. "Thus," he continued, "we have been regarded by one class of theorists as an hydraulic engine, composed of various tubes fitted with their several fluids, the laws and functions of | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000035003 | which have been deduced from calculations of velocities, altitudes, diameters, friction, &c. Another class considered man as a mere chemical engine, and his stomach as an alembic. The doctrine of affinities, attractions, and repulsions, now had full play. Then came the notion of sympathies and antipathies, by which name unknown and unknowable causes were sought to be explained, and ignorance | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000035004 | was cunningly veiled in mystery. But the science will never be in the right tract of improvement, until we consider, conjointly, the mechanical operations of the fluids, the chemical agency of the substances taken into the stomach, and the animal functions of digestion, secretion, and absorption, as evinced by actual observation." I told him that I believed that was now | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000035005 | the course which was actually pursued in the best medical schools, both of Europe and America. Our worthy host, though very feeble, had so far recovered as to dress himself, and receive the congratulations of his household, who had all manifested a concern for his situation, that was at once creditable to him and themselves. Expressing our gratitude for his | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000035006 | kind attentions, and promising to renew our visit if we could, we bade him adieu. We took a different road home from the way we had come, and had not walked far, before we met a number of small boys, each having a bag on his back, as large as he could stagger under. Surprised at seeing children of their | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000035007 | tender years, thus prematurely put to severe labour, I was about to rail at the absurd custom of this strange country, when my friend checked me for my hasty judgment, and told me that these boys were on their way to school, after their usual monthly holiday. We attended them to their schoolhouse, which stood in sight, on the side | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000035008 | of a steep chalky hill. The Brahmin told me that the teacher's name was Lozzi Pozzi, and that he had acquired great celebrity by his system of instruction. When the boys opened their bags, I found that instead of books and provisions, as I had expected, they were filled with sticks, which they told us constituted the arithmetical lessons they | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000035009 | were required to practise at home. These sticks were of different lengths and dimensions, according to the number marked on them; so that by looking at the inscription, you could tell the size, or by seeing or feeling the size, you could tell the number. The master now made his appearance, and learning our errand, was very communicative. He descanted | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000035010 | on the advantages of this manual, and ocular mode of teaching the science of numbers, and gave us practical illustrations of its efficacy, by examining his pupils in our presence. He told the first boy he called up, and who did not seem to be more than seven or eight years of age, to add , , and together, and | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000035011 | tell him the result. The little fellow set about hunting, with great alacrity, over his bag, until he found a piece divided like three fingers, then a piece with five divisions, and lastly, one with seven, and putting them side by side, he found the piece of a correspondent length, and thus, in less than eight minutes and a half, | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000035012 | answered, "fifteen." The ingenious master then exercised another boy in subtraction, and a third in multiplication: but the latter was thrown into great confusion, for one of the pieces having lost a division, it led him to a wrong result. The teacher informed us that he taught geometry in the same way, and had even extended it to grammar, logic, | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000035013 | rhetoric, and the art of composition. The rules of syntax were discovered by pieces of wood, interlocking with each other in squares, dovetails, &c., after the manner of geographical cards; and as they chanced to fit together, so was the concordance between the several parts of speech ascertained. The machine for composition occupied a large space; different sets of synonymes | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000035014 | were arranged in compartments of various sizes. When the subject was familiar, a short piece was used; when it was stately or heroic, then the longest slips that could be found were resorted to. Those that were rounded at the ends were mellifluous; the jagged ones were harsh; the thick pieces expressed force and vigour. Where the curves corresponded at | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000035015 | one end, they served for alliteration; and when at the other, they answered for rhyme. By way of proving its progress, he showed us a composition by a man who was deaf and dumb, in praise of Morosofia, who, merely by the use of his eyes and hands, had made an ingenious and high-sounding piece of eloquence, though I confess | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000035016 | that the sense was somewhat obscure. We went away filled with admiration for the great Lozzi Pozzi's inventions. Having understood that there was an academy in the neighbourhood, in which youths of maturer years were instructed in the fine arts, we were induced to visit it; but there being a vacation at that time, we could see neither the professors | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000035017 | nor students, and consequently could gain little information of the course of discipline and instruction pursued there. We were, however, conducted to a small _menagerie_ attached to the institution, by its keeper, where the habits and accomplishments of the animals bore strong testimony in favour of the diligence and skill of their teachers. We there saw two game-cocks, which, so | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000035018 | far from fighting, (though they had been selected from the most approved breed,) billed and cooed like turtle-doves. There was a large zebra, apparently ill-tempered, which showed his anger by running at and butting every animal that came in his way. Two half-grown llamas, which are naturally as quiet and timid as sheep, bit each other very furiously, until they | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000035019 | foamed at the mouth. And, lastly, a large mastiff made his appearance, walking in a slow, measured gait, with a sleek tortoise-shell cat on his back; and she, in turn, was surmounted by a mouse, which formed the apex of this singular pyramid. The keeper, remarking our unaffected surprise at the exhibition, asked us if we could now doubt the | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000035020 | unlimited force of education, after such a display of the triumph of art over nature. While he was speaking, the mastiff, being jostled by the two llamas still awkwardly worrying each other, turned round so suddenly, that the mouse was dislodged from his lofty position, and thrown to the ground; on seeing which, the cat immediately sprang upon it, with | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000035021 | a loud purring noise, which being heard by the dog, he, with a fierce growl, suddenly seized the cat. The llamas, alarmed at this terrific sound, instinctively ran off, and having, in their flight, approached the heels of the zebra, he gave a kick, which killed one of them on the spot. The keeper, who was deeply mortified at seeing | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000035022 | the fabric he had raised with such indefatigable labour, overturned in a moment, protested that nothing of the sort had ever happened before. To which we replied, by way of consolation, that perhaps the same thing might never happen again; and that, while his art had achieved a conquest over nature, this was only a slight rebellion of nature against | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000035023 | art. We then thanked him for his politeness, and took our leave. . _Election of the Numnoonce, or town-constable--Violence of parties--Singular institution of the Syringe Boys--The prize-fighters--Domestic manufactures._ When we got back to the city, we found an unusual stir and bustle among the citizens, and on inquiring the cause, we understood they were about to elect the town-constable. After | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000035024 | taking some refreshment at our lodgings, where we were very kindly received, we again went out, and were hurried along with the crowd, to a large building near the centre of the city. The multitude were shouting and hallooing with great vehemence. The Brahmin remarking an elderly man, who seemed very quiet in the midst of all this ferment, he | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000035025 | thought him a proper person to address for information. "I suppose," says he, "from the violence of these partisans, they are on different sides in religion or politics?" "Not at all," said the other; "those differences are forgotten at the present, and the ground of the dispute is, that one of the candidates is tall, and the other is short--one | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000035026 | has a large foretop, and the other is bald. Oh, I forgot; one has been a schoolmaster, and the other a butcher." Curiosity now prompted me to enter into the thickest of the throng; and I had never seen such fury in the maddest contests between old George Clinton and Mr. Jay, or De Witt Clinton and Governor Tompkins, in | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000035027 | my native State. They each reproached their adversaries in the coarsest language, and attributed to them the vilest principles and motives. Our guide farther told us that the same persons, with two others, had been candidates last year, when the schoolmaster prevailed; and, as the supporters of the other two unsuccessful candidates had to choose now between the remaining two, | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000035028 | each party was perpetually reproaching the other with inconsistency. A dialogue between two individuals of opposite sides, which we happened to hear, will serve as a specimen of the rest. "Are you not a pretty fellow to vote for Bald-head, whom you have so often called rogue and blockhead?" "It becomes you to talk of consistency, indeed! Pray, sir, how | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000035029 | does it happen that you are now against him, when you were so lately sworn friends, and used to eat out of the same dish?" "Yes; but I was the butcher's friend too. I never abused him. You'll never catch me supporting a man I have once abused." "But I catch you abusing the man you once supported, which is | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000035030 | rather worse. The difference between us is this:--you professed to be friendly to both; I professed to be hostile to both: you stuck to one of your friends, and cast the other off; and I acted the same towards my enemies." A crowd then rushed by, crying "Huzza for the Butcher's knives! Damn pen and ink--damn the books, and all | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000035031 | that read in them! Butchers' knives and beef for ever!" We asked our guide what these men were to gain by the issue of the contest. "Nineteenths of them nothing. But a few hope to be made deputies, if their candidates succeed, and they therefore egg on the rest." We drew near to the scaffold where the candidates stood, and | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000035032 | our ears were deafened with the mingled shouts and exclamations of praise and reproach. "You cheated the corporation!" says one. "You killed two black sheep!" says another. "You can't read a warrant!" "You let Dondon cheat you!" "You tried to cheat Nincan!" "You want to build a watch-house!" "You have an old ewe at home now, that you did not | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000035033 | come honestly by!" "You denied your own hand!"--with other ribaldry still more gross and indecent. But the most singular part of the scene was a number of little boys, dressed in black and white, who all wore badges of the parties to which they belonged, and were provided with a syringe, and two canteens, one filled with rose-water, and the | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000035034 | other with a black liquid, of a very offensive smell, the first of which they squirted at their favourite candidates and voters, and the last on those of the opposite party. They were drawn up in a line, and seemed to be under regular discipline; for, whenever the captain of the band gave the word, "Vilti Mindoc!" they discharged the | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000035035 | dirty liquid from their syringes; and when he said "Vilti Goulgoul!" they filled the air with perfume, that was so overpowering as sometimes to produce sickness. The little fellows would, between whiles, as if to keep their hands in, use the black squirts against one another; but they often gave them a dash of the rose-water at the same time. | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000035036 | I wondered to see men submit to such indignity; but was told that the custom had the sanction of time; that these boys were brought up in the church, and were regularly trained to this business. "Besides," added my informer, "the custom is not without its use; for it points out the candidates at once to a stranger, and especially | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000035037 | him who is successful, those being always the most blackened who are the most popular." But it was amusing to see the ludicrous figure that the candidates and some of the voters made. If you came near them on one side, they were like roses dripping with the morning dew; but on the other, they were as black as chimney | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000035038 | sweeps, and more offensive than street scavengers. As these Syringe Boys, or Goulmins, are thus protected by custom, the persons assailed affected to despise them; but I could ever and anon see some of the most active partisans clapping them on the back, and saying, "Well done, my little fellows! give it to them again! You shall have a ginger-cake--and | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000035039 | you shall have a new cap," &c. Surely, thought I, our custom of praising and abusing our public men in the newspapers, is far more rational than this. After the novelty of the scene was over, I became wearied and disgusted with their coarseness, violence, and want of decency, and we left them without waiting to see the result of | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000035040 | the contest. In returning to our lodgings, the Brahmin took me along a quarter of the town in which I had never before been. In a little while we came to a lofty building, before the gate of which a great crowd were assembled. "This," said my companion, "is one of the courts of justice." Anxious to see their modes | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000035041 | of proceeding in court, I pushed through the crowd, followed by the Brahmin, and on entering the building, found myself in a spacious amphitheatre, in the middle of which I beheld, with surprise, several men engaged, hand to hand, in single combat. On asking an explanation of my friend, he informed me that these contests were favourite modes of settling | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000035042 | private disputes in Morosofia: that the prize-fighters I saw, hired themselves to any one who conceived himself injured in person, character, or property. "It seems a strange mode of settling legal disputes," I remarked, "which determines a question in favour of a party, according to the strength and wind of his champion." "Nor is that all," said the Brahmin, "as | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000035043 | the judges assign the victory according to certain rules and precedents, the reasons of which are known only to themselves, if known at all, and which are often sufficiently whimsical--as sometimes a small scratch in the head avails more than a disabling blow in the body. The blows too, must be given in the right time, as well as in | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000035044 | the right place, or they pass for nothing. In short, of all those spectators who are present to witness the powers and address of the prize-fighters, not one in a hundred can tell who has gained the victory, until the judges have proclaimed it." "I presume," said I, "that the champions who thus expose their persons and lives in the | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000035045 | cause of another, are Glonglims?" "There," said he, "you are altogether mistaken. In the first place, the prize-fighters seldom sustain serious injury. Their weapons do not endanger life; and as each one knows that his adversary is merely following his vocation, they often fight without animosity. After the contest is over, you may commonly see the combatants walking and talking | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000035046 | very sociably together: but as this circumstance makes them a little suspected by the public, they affect the greater rage when in conflict, and occasionally quarrel and fight in downright earnest. No," he continued, "I am told it is a very rare thing to see one of these prize-fighters who is a Glonglim; but most of their employers belong to | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000035047 | this unhappy race." On looking more attentively, I perceived many of these beings among the spectators, showing, by their gestures, the greatest anxiety for the issue of the contest. They each carried a scrip, or bag, the contents of which they ever and anon gave to their respective champions, whose wind, it is remarked, is very apt to fail, unless | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000035048 | thus assisted. Having learnt some farther particulars respecting this singular mode of litigation, which would be uninteresting to the general reader, I took my leave, not without secretly congratulating myself on the more rational modes in which justice is administered on earth. When we had nearly reached our lodgings, we heard a violent altercation in the house, and on entering, | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000035049 | we found our landlord and his wife engaged in a dispute respecting their domestic economy, and they both made earnest appeals to my companion for the correctness of their respective opinions. The old man was in favour of their children making their own shoes and clothes; and his wife insisted that it would be better for them to stick to | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000035050 | their garden and dairy, with the proceeds of which they could purchase what they wanted. She asserted that they could readily sell all the fruits and vegetables they could raise; and that whilst they would acquire greater skill by an undivided attention to one thing, they who followed the business of tailors, shoemakers, and seamstresses, would, in like manner, become | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000035051 | more skilful in their employments, and consequently be able to work at a cheaper rate. She farther added, that spinning and sewing were unhealthy occupations; they would give the girls the habit of stooping, which would spoil their shapes; and that their thoughts would be more likely to be running on idle and dangerous fancies, when sitting at their needles, | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000035052 | than when engaged in more active occupations. This dame was a very fluent, ready-witted woman, and she spoke with the confidence that consciousness of the powers of disputation commonly inspires. She went on enlarging on the mischiefs of the practice she condemned, and, by insensible gradations, so magnified them, that at last she clearly made out that there was no | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000035053 | surer way of rendering their daughters sickly, deformed, vicious, and unchaste, than to set them about making their own clothes. After she had ceased, (which she did under a persuasion that she had anticipated and refuted every argument that could be urged in opposition to her doctrine,) the husband, with an emotion of anger that he could not conceal, began | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000035054 | to defend his opinion. He said, as to the greater economy of his plan, there could be no doubt; for although they might, at particular times, make more by gardening than they could save by spinning or sewing, yet there were other times when they could not till the ground, and when, of course, if they did not sew or | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000035055 | spin, they would be idle; but if they did work, the proceeds would be clear gain. He said he did not wish his daughters to be constantly employed in making clothes, nor was it necessary that they should be. A variety of other occupations, equally indispensable, claimed their attention, and would leave but a comparatively small portion of time for | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000035056 | needlework: that in thus providing themselves with employment at home, they at least saved the time of going backwards and forwards, and were spared some trips to market, for the sale of vegetables to pay, as would then be necessary, for the work done by others. Besides, the tailor who was most convenient to them, and who, it was admitted, | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000035057 | was a very good one, was insolent and capricious; would sometimes extort extravagant prices, or turn them into ridicule; and occasionally went so far as to set his water-dogs upon them, of which he kept a great number. He declared, that for his part he would incur a little more expense, rather than he would be so imposed upon, and | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000035058 | subjected to so much indignity and vexation. He denied that sewing would affect his daughters' health, unless, perhaps, they followed it exclusively as an occupation; but, as they would have it in their power to consult their inclinations and convenience in this matter, they might take it up when the occasion required, and lay it down whenever they found it | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000035059 | irksome or fatiguing: that as they themselves were inclined to follow this course, it was a plain proof that the occupation was not unhealthy. He maintained that they would stoop just as much in gardening, and washing and nursing their children, as in sewing; and that we were not such frail or unpliant machines as to be seriously injured, unless | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000035060 | we persisted in one set of straight, formal notions, but that we were adapted to variety, and were benefited by it. That as to the practice being favourable to wantonness and vice, while he admitted that idleness was productive of these effects, he could not see how one occupation encouraged them more than another. That the tailor, for example, whom | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000035061 | he had been speaking of, though purse-proud, overbearing, and rapacious, was not more immoral or depraved than his neighbours, and had probably less of the libertine than most of them. He admitted that evil thoughts would enter the mind in any situation, and could not reasonably be expected to be kept out of his daughters' heads (being, as he said, | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000035062 | but women): yet he conceived such a result as far less probable, if they were suffered to ramble about in the streets, and to chaffer with their customers, than if they were kept to sedate and diligent employment at home. Having, with great warmth and earnestness, used these arguments, he concluded, by plainly hinting to his wife that she had | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000035063 | always been the apologist of the tailor, in all their disputes; and that she could not be so obstinately blind to the irrefragable reasoning he had urged, if she were not influenced by her old hankering after this fellow, and did not consult his interests in preference to those of her own family. Upon this remark the old woman took | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000035064 | fire, and, in spite of our presence, they both had recourse to direct and the coarsest abuse. The Brahmin did not, as I expected, join me in laughing at the scene we had just witnessed; but, after some musing, observed: "There is much truth in what each of these parties say. I blame them only for the course they take | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000035065 | towards each other. Their dispute is, in fact, of a most frivolous and unmeaning character; for, if the father was to carry his point, the girls would occasionally sell the productions of their garden, and pay for making their clothes, or even buy them ready made. Were the mother, on the other hand, to prevail, they would still occasionally use | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000035066 | their needles, and exercise their taste and skill in sewing, spinning, knitting, and the like. Nay," added he, "if you had not been so much engrossed with this angry and indecorous altercation, you might have seen two of them at their needles, in an adjoining apartment, while one was busy at work in the garden, and another up to the | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000035067 | elbows in the soap-suds--all so closely engaged in their several pursuits, that they hardly seemed to know they were the subject of discussion." I told the Brahmin that a dispute, not unlike this, had taken place in my own country, a few years since; some of our politicians contending that agricultural labour was most conducive to the national wealth, whilst | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000035068 | others maintained that manufacturing industry was equally advantageous, wherever it was voluntarily pursued;--but that the controversy had lately assumed a different character--the question now being, not whether manufactures are as beneficial as agriculture, but whether they deserve extraordinary encouragement, by taxing those who do not give them a preference. "That is," said the Brahmin, "as if our landlady, by way | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000035069 | of inducing her daughters to give up gardening for spinning, were to tell them, if they did not find their new occupation as profitable as the old, she would more than make up the difference out of her own pocket, which, though it might suit the daughters very well, would be a losing business to the family." . _Description of | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000035070 | the Happy Valley--The laws, customs, and manners of the Okalbians--Theory of population--Rent--System of government._ The Brahmin, who was desirous of showing me what was most remarkable in this country, during the short time we intended to stay, thought this a favourable time to visit Okalbia, or the Happy Valley. The Okalbians are a tribe or nation, who live separated from | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000035071 | the rest of the Lunar world, and whose wise government, prudence, industry, and integrity, are very highly extolled by all, though, by what I can learn, they have few imitators. They dwell about three hundred miles north of the city of Alamatua, in a fertile valley, which they obtained by purchase about two hundred years since, and which is about | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000035072 | equal to twenty miles square, that is, to four hundred square miles. A carriage and four well-broke dogs, was procured for us, and we soon reached the foot of the mountain that encloses the fortunate valley, in about fifty-two hours. We then ascended, for about three miles, with far fatigue than I formerly experienced in climbing the Catskill mountains of | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000035073 | my native State, and found ourselves on the summit of an extensive ridge, which formed the margin of a vast elliptical basin, the bottom of which presented a most beautiful landscape. The whole surface was like a garden, interspersed with patches of wood, clumps of trees, and houses standing singly or in groupes. A lake, about a mile across, received | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000035074 | several small streams, and on its edge was a town, containing about a thousand houses. After enjoying the beauties of the scene for some minutes, we descended by a rough winding road, and entered this Lunar Paradise, in about four hours. Along the sides of the highway we travelled, were planted rows of trees, not unlike our sycamores, which afforded | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000035075 | a refreshing shade to the traveller; and commonly a rivulet ran bubbling along one side or the other of the road. After journeying about eight miles, we entered a neat, well built town, which contained, as we were informed, about fifteen thousand inhabitants. The Brahmin informed me, that in a time of religious fervour, about two centuries ago, a charter | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000035076 | was granted to the founder of a new sect, the Volbins, who had chanced to make converts of some of the leading men in Morosofia, authorising him and his followers to purchase this valley of the hunting tribe to whom it belonged, and to govern themselves by their own laws. They found no difficulty in making the purchase. It was | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000035077 | then used as a mere hunting ground, no one liking to settle in a place that seemed shut out from the rest of the world. At first, the new settlers divided the land equally among all the inhabitants, one of their tenets being, that as there was no difference of persons in the next world, there should be no difference | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000035078 | in sharing the good things of this. They tried at first to preserve this equality; but finding it impracticable, they abandoned it. It is said that after about thirty years, by reason of a difference in their industry and frugality, and of some families spending less than they made, and some more, the number of land owners was reduced to | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000035079 | four hundred, and that fifty of these held one half of the whole; since which time the number of landed proprietors has declined with the population, though not in the same proportion. As the soil is remarkably fertile, the climate healthy, and the people temperate and industrious, they multiplied very rapidly until they reached their present numbers, which have been | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000035080 | long stationary, and amount to ,, that is, about four hundred to a square mile; of these, more than one half live in towns and villages, containing from one hundred to a thousand houses. They have little or no commerce with any other people, the valley producing every vegetable production, and the mountains every mineral, which they require; and in | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000035081 | fact, they have no foreign intercourse whatever, except when they visit, or are visited from curiosity. Though they have been occasionally bullied and threatened by lawless and overbearing neighbours; yet, as they can be approached by only a single gorge in the mountain, which is always well garrisoned, (and they present no sufficient object to ambition, to compensate for the | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000035082 | scandal of invading so inoffensive and virtuous a people,) they have never yet been engaged in war. I felt very anxious to know how it was that their numbers did not increase, as they were exempt from all pestilential diseases, and live in such abundance, that a beggar by trade has never been known among them, and are remarkable for | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000035083 | their moral habits. "Let us inquire at the fountain-head," said the Brahmin; and we went to see the chief magistrate, who received us in a style of unaffected frankness, which in a moment put us at our ease. After we had explained to him who we were, and answered such inquiries as he chose to make: "Sir," said I, through | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000035084 | the Brahmin, who acted as interpreter, "I have heard much of your country, and I find, on seeing it, that it exceeds report, in the order, comfort, contentment, and abundance of the people. But I am puzzled to find out how it is that your numbers do not increase. I presume you marry late in life?" "On the contrary," said | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000035085 | he; "every young man marries as soon as he receives his education, and is capable of managing the concerns of a family. Some are thus qualified sooner, and some later." "Some occasionally migrate, then?" "Never. A number of our young men, indeed, visit foreign countries, but not one in a hundred settles abroad." "How, then, do your associates continue stationary?" | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000035086 | "Nothing is more easy. No man has a larger family than his land or labour can support, in comfort; and as long as that is the case with every individual, it must continue to be the case with the whole community. We leave the matter to individual discretion. The prudential caution which is thus indicated, has been taught us by | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000035087 | our own experience. We had gone on increasing, under the encouraging influence of a mild system of laws, genial climate, and fruitful soil, until, about a century ago, we found that our numbers were greater than our country, abundant as it is, could comfortably support; and our seasons being unfavourable for two successive years, many of our citizens were obliged | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000035088 | to banish themselves from Okalbia; and their education not fitting them for a different state of society, they suffered severely, both in their comforts and morals. It is now a primary moral duty, enforced by all our juvenile instructors with every citizen, to adapt his family to his means; and thus a regard which each individual has for his offspring, | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000035089 | is the salvation of the State." "And can these prudential restraints be generally practised? What a virtuous people! Love for one another brings the two sexes together--love for their offspring makes them separate!" "I see," said the magistrate, smiling, "you are under an error. No separation takes place, and none is necessary." "How, then, am I to believe.....?" "You are | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000035090 | to believe nothing," said he, with calm dignity, "which is incompatible with virtue and propriety. I see that the most important of all sciences--that one on which the well-being and improvement of society mainly depends,--is in its infancy with you. But whenever you become as populous as we are, and unite the knowledge of real happiness with the practice of | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000035091 | virtue, you will understand it. It is one of our maxims, that heaven gives wisdom to man in such portions as his situation requires it; and no doubt it is the same with the people of your earth." I did not, after this, push my inquiries farther; but remarked, aside to the Brahmin,--"I would give a good deal to know | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000035092 | this secret, provided it would suit our planet." "It is already known there," replied he, "and has been long practised by many in the east: but in the present state of society with you, it might do more harm than good to be made public, by removing one of the checks of licentiousness, where women are so unrestrained as they | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000035093 | are with you." Changing now the subject, I ventured to inquire how they employed their leisure hours, and whether many did not experience here a wearisome sameness, and a feeling of confinement and restraint. "It is true," said the magistrate, "men require variety; but I would not have you suppose he cannot find it here. He may cultivate his lands, | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000035094 | improve his mind, educate his children; these are his serious occupations, affording every day some employment that is, at once, new and interesting: and, by way of relaxation, he has music, painting, and sculpture; sailing, riding, conversation, storytelling, and reading the news of what is passing, both in the valley and out of it." I asked if they had newspapers. | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000035095 | He answered in the affirmative; and added, that they contained minute details of the births, deaths, marriages, accidents, state of the weather and crops, arbitrations, public festivals, inventions, original poetry, and prose compositions. In addition to which, they had about fifty of their most promising young men travelling abroad, who made observations on all that was remarkable in the countries | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000035096 | they passed through, which they regularly transmitted once a month to Okalbia. I inquired if they travelled at the public expense or their own? "They always pursue some profession or trade, by the profits of which they support themselves. We have nothing but intellect and ingenuity to export; for though our country produces every thing, there is no commodity that | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000035097 | we can so well spare. Their talents find them employment every where; and the necessity they are under of a laborious exertion of these talents, and of submitting to a great deal from those whose customs and manners are not to their taste, and whom they feel inferior to themselves, is a considerable check to the desire to go abroad, | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000035098 | so much so, that we hold out the farther inducement of political distinction when they return." "What, then! you have ambition among you?" "Certainly; our institutions have only tempered it, and not vainly endeavoured to extinguish it; and we find it employment in this way: Of our youthful travellers, those who are most diligent in their vocation; who give the | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000035099 | most useful information, and communicate it in the happiest manner, are made magistrates, on their return, and sometimes have statues decreed to them. Besides, the name which their conduct or talents procure them abroad, is echoed back to the valley, long before their return, and has much influence in the general estimate of their character. "But have you not many | 60 | gutenberg |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.