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twg_000000044500 | "Come and see me next week," he said to one who demurred to the necessity for going again, knowing he would not accept a fee, "and I will arrange that you shall not be kept waiting." [Illustration: FACSIMILE OF A PRESCRIPTION WRITTEN BY SIR ANDREW CLARK.] The present Lord Tennyson writes: "We are among the many who are much indebted | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000044501 | to Sir Andrew Clark. It was in a great measure owing to him that my father recovered from his dangerous attack of gout in , when 'he was as near death as a man could be.' After this illness Sir Andrew paid us a visit, at Aldworth, in the summer of . He told us that he had come in | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000044502 | spite of a summons from the Shah, to which he had replied that the Shah's Hakim could not obey, as he had promised to visit his old friend--the old Poet. Sir Andrew added: 'This disobedience of your humble and devoted physician for the sake of his friend, the crowned King of Song, struck the crowned King of Kings so much | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000044503 | that, so far from being offended, he took a noble view, and, as a mark of signal honour, sent me the Star of the Second Class of the Lion and Sun of Persia.'" [Illustration: SIR JAMES CLARK. (Eldest son of Sir Andrew Clark.) _From a Photograph by Wyrall, Aldershot._] Sundays were often spent out of town, at Hawarden and elsewhere, | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000044504 | and latterly at Camfield, the house so lately purchased. Both this and his town house were entirely furnished, as he wished each to be complete in itself. Already at Essendon the example of his life was felt to be a power for good, as well as the kind interest he took in his poorer neighbours, inviting them up to his | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000044505 | house, promising to give the men a dinner at Christmas, etc. Yet Sir Andrew was no "country gentleman"; his favourite recreation was books. On being asked: "Which way are we looking? In which direction is London?" he replied: "I don't know." "Don't you know how the house stands, or what soil it is built upon?" and again he had to | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000044506 | plead ignorance. Nevertheless, his love of neatness made him notice if a place was in good order. One day, driving over to see some neighbours, after congratulating them on the well-kept garden, he was getting into the carriage, when he suddenly remembered he had not told the gardener how much pleased he was with the whole place, and with his | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000044507 | usual courtesy insisted on going back to find him. One of Sir Andrew's holidays was a trip to Canada, when he accompanied the Marquis of Lorne and Princess Louise, on the former being appointed Governor-General there. This he did as a friend, and in no way in a medical capacity. He was most popular on the voyage out among the | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000044508 | passengers, keeping the ship alive with jokes and amusing stories, and many called him "Merry Andrew." He was almost boyish in his keen enjoyment of a holiday. He was evidently devoted to music, and was delighted with the beautiful string band the Duke of Edinburgh brought on board at Halifax. In Canada, Sir Andrew was most warmly received and universally | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000044509 | liked by everyone. Amongst others he made the acquaintance of Sir John Macdonald. The Princess told me without doubt there was one predominating interest in his mind, and that the supernatural--whether at a British Association meeting, the College of Physicians, or speaking privately to his own friends. He realized the impossibility of explaining by scientific methods the supernatural. He would | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000044510 | often say: "There is more in Heaven and earth than this world dreams of. Given the most _perfect_ scientific methods, you will find beyond abysses which you are powerless to explore." He had the greatest charm of mind, and, needless to say, was a delightful companion. His topics of conversation were extremely varied: he liked dialectics for talk and argument's | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000044511 | sake, and enjoyed talking to those who had somewhat the same taste. Possibly for this reason he did not fully appreciate children, although they amused him, and he liked to understand their ideas. A friend of Sir Andrew's staying with him at the time told me the following characteristic anecdote: One afternoon during his autumn holiday in Scotland the footman | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000044512 | came in to put coals on the fire, and a child (a relation) coughed vehemently. "Why do you cough so much?" said Sir Andrew. "To make James look at me," said the child. Sir Andrew was "solemnly interested," and afterwards took it as a parable of a woman's nature, which, speaking generally, he considered morally and ethically inferior to a | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000044513 | man's. In his opinion very many women were wanting in the two great qualities--justice and truth--considering their own, their children's, or their husband's interests first rather than what was absolutely right. One subject that interested him very much was heredity, and he had, of course, countless opportunities of studying it. "Temperance and morality," he would say, "are most distinctly transmitted, | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000044514 | especially by the mother; but," said Sir Andrew, "in spite of heredity, I am what I am by my own choice." Sir Andrew was a great reader. Metaphysics, philosophy, and theology were his favourite subjects, especially the latter--he also occasionally read a good novel. Reading was his only relaxation, for it was one he could enjoy while driving or in | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000044515 | the train. Dr. Russell, who was with him when going to attend the tercentenary of Dublin College, tells the story how Sir Andrew not only read but wrote hour after hour in the railway carriage, and, in addition, listened to the conversation. Dr. Russell Reynolds, Sir James Paget, Sir Dyce Duckworth, and Sir R. Quain were of the party, and | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000044516 | the two latter joined Dr. Russell in remarking with him that it would ruin his eyesight. "I am using my eyes, not abusing them," replied Sir Andrew; "you cannot injure any organ by the exercise of it, but by the excess of exercise of it. I would not do it were I not accustomed to read and write without the | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000044517 | smallest amount of mischief." I much regret that lack of space prevents my describing the London Hospital as I should like. Of most hospitals Sir Andrew was a governor, but his great interest was the London, of which he and Lady Clark were both life governors. While Sir Andrew was visiting physician he came regularly twice a week, as well | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000044518 | as for consultation. He was interested in everything that concerned the patients, and always had a kind word for the nurses. One nurse in the Charlotte Ward (Sir Andrew Clark's) said he used literally to shovel out half-crowns at Christmas when he asked what the patients were going to do. Everyone speaks Of the pecuniary sacrifice and strain his connection | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000044519 | with the hospital involved. He endowed a medical tutorship, also scholarships for students. Students, nurses, etc., would eagerly listen to his informal expositions in the wards, as he invariably showed a grasp of the subject that was equally minute and comprehensive. "He would start from some particular point and work his way point by point down to the minutest detail, | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000044520 | not bewildering by a multiplicity of facts, but keeping them all in order with perfect handling, until the framing of the whole thing stood out luminously clear to the dullest comprehension. An old pupil says his well-known authoritative manner was the result of a profound and laboriously acquired knowledge of his art, acquired by years of careful work in hospital | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000044521 | wards and post-mortem rooms."--_Medical Journal_. [Illustration: SIR ANDREW CLARK. _From a Painting by G.F. Watts, R.A._] Happily there are two portraits of Sir Andrew. The last beautifully painted picture by Mr. Watts (which by the great kindness of the artist is allowed to be reproduced in this sketch) was only finished a few days before Sir Andrew was taken ill--for | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000044522 | he could only sit from eight till nine a.m. It is one of the series Mr. Watts is so generously giving to the nation, and he "thinks it one of his best." Sir Andrew himself was delighted with it, saying in his hearty way to Mrs. Watts: "Why, it _thinks_!" The position in the picture by Frank Holl is unfortunate. | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000044523 | Very imperfectly I have described the varied work of a man of limitless energy, with an exceptionally keen appreciation of men and things. A great man has passed away, and we are poorer in consequence. * * * * * _Beauties:--Children._ [Illustration: Winnifred Emma Heale. _From a Photo. by Heath & Bradnee, Exeter._] [Illustration: Edith Marguerite Dickinson. _From a Photo. | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000044524 | by J. Hargreaves, Barrow-in-Furness._] [Illustration: Myrta Vivienne Stubbs. _From a Photo. by Medringtons, Ltd., Liverpool._] [Illustration: Kathleen Keyse _From a Photograph._] [Illustration: Madge Erskine _From a Photo. by Allison & Allison, Belfast._] [Illustration: Dorothy Birch Done _From a Photo. by Stanley Hurst, Wrexham._] [Illustration: Evelyn Mary Dowdell. _From a Photo. by G. Ridsdale Cleare, Lower Clapton, N. E._] [Illustration: Nelly | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000044525 | M. Morris. _From a Photo. by J. W. Thomas, Colwyn Bay._] [Illustration: Aligander Smith. _From a Photo. by Norman, May, & Co., Ltd., Malvern._] * * * * * _The Signatures of Charles Dickens (with Portraits)._ FROM TO . (Born 7th February, ; died 9th June, .) BY J. HOLT SCHOOLING. "Everybody knows what Dickens's signature is like"--says the reader | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000044526 | who bases acquaintance with it upon the familiar, gold-impressed facsimile on the well-known red covers of his works--"a free, dashing signature, with an extensive and well-graduated flourish underneath." (No. .) Aye! But have you ever seen an original Dickens-letter? Have you ever handled, not one, but hundreds of his documents--letters, franked envelopes, cheques signed by Dickens, cheques indorsed by him, | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000044527 | legal agreements bearing his signature, and the original MSS. of his works? Owing to the kindness of owners and guardians of Dickens-letters, etc. I have been able to supplement the materials in my own collection by numerous facsimiles taken direct from a priceless store of Dickens-MSS. Here are some of the specimens. We will glance over them, and in doing | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000044528 | so will view them, not merely as signatures, but also as permanently-recorded tracings of Dickens's nerve muscular action--of his _gesture_. The expressive play of his facial muscles has gone, the varying inflections of voice have gone, but we still possess the self-registered and characteristic tracings of Charles Dickens's hand-gesture. [Illustration: NO. .--FAMILIAR "OVER" SIGNATURE.] [Illustration: NO. .--WRITTEN IN .] In | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000044529 | No. we have the signature of Dickens as he wrote it when aged forty-five to fifty; in No. there is the boy's signature at the age of thirteen, written to a school-fellow. This youthful signature shows the existence in embryo form of the "flourish" so commonly associated with Dickens's signature. It is interesting to note that the receiver of this | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000044530 | early letter has stated that its schoolboy writer had "more than usual flow of spirits, held his head more erect than lads ordinarily do," and that "there was a general smartness about him." We shall perhaps see that the direct emphasis of so many of Charles Dickens's signatures which is given by his "flourish" may be fitly associated with certain | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000044531 | characteristics of the man himself. We may also note that high spirits and vigorous nervous energy are productive of redundant nerve-muscular activity in any direction--hand gesture included. [Illustration: AGE . _From a Miniature by Mrs. Janet Barrow_.] Let us look at some other early signatures. Hitherto they have been stowed away in various collections, and they are almost unknown. [Illustration: | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000044532 | NO. .--WRITTEN IN .] The next facsimile, No. , is remarkable as being almost the only full signature out of hundreds I have seen which lacks the flourish; this specimen is also worth notice, owing to the "droop" of every word below the horizontal level from which each starts--a little piece of nerve-muscular evidence of mental or physical depression, which | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000044533 | may be tested by anyone who cares to examine his own handwriting produced under conditions which diminish bodily vigour or mental _lan_. [Illustration: NO. .--WRITTEN IN .] The writing of No. is very like that of No. ; the easy curves below the signature are cleverly made, and while they indicate much energy, they also point to a useful confidence | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000044534 | in self, owing to the deliberate way of accentuating the most personal part of a letter--its signature. [Illustration: NO. .--WRITTEN IN .] No. is the facsimile of a signature to a letter which was written in the Library of the British Museum to "My dear Knolle"; the letter ends: "Believe me (in haste), yours most truly." At this time----Dickens was | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000044535 | a newspaper reporter, and it is curious to notice that in spite of "haste" he yet managed to execute this complex movement underneath the signature. Its force and energy are great, but we shall see even more pronounced developments of this flourish before it takes the moderated and graceful form of confident and assured power. [Illustration: NO. .--WRITTEN IN OR | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000044536 | .] There is still more force and "go" about No. : it was written on "Wednesday night, past ," and also in haste. Dickens was reporting for the _Morning Chronicle_, and was just starting on a journey, but yet there are here two separate flourishes; one begins under the _s_ of _Charles_ and ends under the _C_ of that name; | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000044537 | the other starts under the capital _D_ and finishes below the _n_ of _Dickens_. [Illustration: AGE . _From a Miniature by Miss R. E. Drummond._] [Illustration: NO. .--WRITTEN IN .] [Illustration: NO. .--WRITTEN OCT. , .] The intricacy of the next facsimile, No. , is an ugly but a very active piece of movement. This group of curves is equal | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000044538 | to about a two-feet length of pen-stroke, a fact which indicates an extraordinary amount of personal energy. Dickens was then writing his "Sketches by Boz," and this ungraceful elaboration of his signature was probably accompanied by a growing sense of his own capacity and power. During the time-interval between the signatures shown in Nos. and , the first number of | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000044539 | the "Pickwick Papers" was published--March, --and Charles Dickens married Catherine Hogarth on the 2nd of April in that year. The original of a very different facsimile (No. ) was written as a receipt in the account-book of Messrs. Chapman and Hall for an advance of . [Illustration: NO. .--WRITTEN IN .] The six facsimiles numbered to deserve special notice. The | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000044540 | originals were all written in the year , and I have purposely shown them because their extraordinary variations entirely negative the popular idea about the uniformity of Dickens's handwriting, and because these mobile hand-gestures are a striking illustration of the mobility and great sensibility to impressions which were prominent features in Charles Dickens's nature. [Illustration: NO. .--WRITTEN IN .] Common | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000044541 | observation show us that a man whose mind is specially receptive of impressions from persons and things around him, and whose sensibility is very quick, can scarcely fail to show much variation in his own forms of outward expression--such, for example, as facial "play," voice-inflections, hand-gestures, and so on. Notice the originality in the position of the flourishes shown in | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000044542 | No. , and compare the ungraceful movement of it with the much more dignified and pleasing flourishes in some of the later signatures. A whimsical originality of mind comes out also in the curious "B" of "Boz" (No. ). [Illustration: NO. .--WRITTEN NOV. , .] [Illustration: NO. .--WRITTEN NOV. , .] [Illustration: AGE . _From a Drawing by H. K. | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000044543 | Browne._] The next pair--Nos. and --are interesting. No. shows the signature squeezed in at the bottom of a page; the flourish was attempted, and accompanied by the words: "No room for the flouish," the _r_ of _flourish_ being omitted. No. was written on the envelope of the same letter. [Illustration: NO. l3.--WRITTEN NOV. , . _Taken from the Legal Agreement | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000044544 | re "Pickwick."_] [Illustration: AGE . _From a Drawing by Alfred Count D'Orsay._] No. is a copy of a very famous signature: the original is on a great parchment called "Deed of License Assignment and Covenants respecting a Work called 'The Pickwick Papers,'" and which, after a preamble, contains the words: "Whereas the said Charles Dickens is the Author of a | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000044545 | Book or Work intituled 'The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club,' which has been recently printed and published in twenty parts or numbers," etc. It is probable that the fact of the seal being placed between _Charles_ and _Dickens_ prevented the flourish which almost invariably accompanied his signatures on business documents; the marked enlargement of this signature takes the place | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000044546 | of the flourish, and shows an unconscious emphasis of the _ego_. It would be almost unreasonable for us to expect that so impressionable a man, who was also feeling his power and fame, could abstain from showing outward signs of his own consciousness of abnormal success. Yet, in the private letters of Dickens, the simple "C. D." is very frequent; | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000044547 | a few examples of it are given in this article, and their present number in no way represents the numerical relation of these simple signatures to the more "showy" ones. It may at once be said that this point of difference is alike interesting to the student of gesture and to the student of Dickens's character. He was certainly a | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000044548 | very able man of business, and the wording of his "business" letters fully bears out the idea conveyed by his "business" signature--so to speak--that Dickens was fully aware of his own powers, and that, quite fairly, he did not omit to impress the fact upon other people when he thought fit. Both the wording and the signature of many of | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000044549 | his private letters are simple and unostentatious to a high degree. This curious fact, which is now illustrated by Charles Dickens's own hand-gesture, ought to be remembered when people talk about Dickens's "conceit" and "love of show." My explanation is, I think, both logical and true. [Illustration: NO. .--WRITTEN IN .] [Illustration: AGE . _From a Portrait-Bust by H. Dexter._] | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000044550 | No. closes this series for the year . It shows a quaint and pretty signature on a wrapper. [Illustration: NO. .--WRITTEN MARCH , . _(Announcing the Death of "Raven", a prominent character in "Barnaby Rudge")_] [Illustration: AGE ABOUT . _From a Drawing by R.J. Lane, A.E._] No. shows part of a very humorous and famous letter announcing the death of | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000044551 | the raven which figures in "Barnaby Rudge." Notice the curious originality of form shown in the capital _Y_ and _R_. The wording of this letter is also quaintly original, and the sensitive mind of this man again caused his nerve-muscular action--his gesture--to harmonize with his mood. Points of this kind, which the handwriting of Dickens illustrates so well, have a | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000044552 | deeper meaning for the observant than for the casual reader of a magazine article; they indicate that these little human acts, which have been so long overlooked by intelligent men, do really give us valuable data for the study of mind by means of written-gesture. [Illustration: NO. .--WRITTEN IN ] [Illustration: NO. .--WRITTEN IN .] [Illustration: NO. .--WRITTEN IN .] | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000044553 | [Illustration: CHARLES DICKENS READING "THE CHIMES," . _From the original Sketch by David Maelise, R.A._] [Illustration: CHARLES DICKENS AS "CAPTAIN BOBADIL" IN "EVERY MAN IN HIS HUMOUR." _From a Painting by C.R. Leslie, R.A._] In No. we see another and very original form of the "Boz" signature. No. has a curious stroke of activity above the signature. No. is a | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000044554 | fine, strong signature. [Illustration: NO. .--WRITTEN IN .] [Illustration: NO. .--WRITTEN MAY , . (PASS TO THE STAGE.)] [Illustration: CHARLES DICKENS AS "SIR CHARLES COLDSTREAM" IN "USED UP", . _From a Painting by Augustus Egg, R.A._] No. is remarkably vigorous and active. The well-controlled activity and energy of the signatures are now strongly marked. No. explains itself; the curious _P_ | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000044555 | of _Pass_ is worth notice. [Illustration: NO. .--WRITTEN JULY , .] [Illustration: CHARLES DICKENS IN HIS STUDY, . _From the Picture by E.M. Ward, R.A._] [Illustration: AGE . _From the Painting by Ary Scheffer_.] No. is a stray illustration of clever and gracefully-executed movements which abound in Dickens's letters. [Illustration: NO. .--WRITTEN WHEN ILL, OCT. , ] [Illustration: AGE . | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000044556 | _From an Oil Painting by W.P. Frith, R.A._] See, in No. , how illness disturbed the fine action of this splendid organism; but illness did not prevent attention to detail--the dot is placed after the _D_. [Illustration: NO. .--WRITTEN NOV. , .] [Illustration: NO. .--WRITTEN JAN. , .] [Illustration: NO. .--WRITTEN NOV. , .] [Illustration: DICKENS AS "RICHARD WARDOUR" IN | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000044557 | "THE FROZEN DEEP."] [Illustration: AGE . _From a Photograph_.] [Illustration: AGE . _From a Photo. by Alphonse Maze, Paris._] When on a reading tour, Dickens wrote at Bideford the letter from which No. has been copied. After writing that he could get nothing to eat or drink at the small inn, he wrote the sentence facsimiled. The exaggeration of the | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000044558 | words is matched by the use of two capital _T_'s in place of two small _t_'s. The letter continues: "The landlady is playing cribbage with the landlord in the next room (behind a thin partition), and they seem quite comfortable." No. is another instance of the variation which, in fact, obtained up to the very day before death. No. was | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000044559 | written at Berwick-on-Tweed; it is an amusing letter, and states how the local agents wanted to put the famous reader into "a little lofty crow's nest," and how "I instantly struck, of course, and said I would either read in a room attached to this house ... or not at all. Terrified local agents glowered, but fell prostrate." By the | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000044560 | way, notice, in No. , the emphasis of gesture on the _me_. [Illustration: NO. .--WRITTEN FEB. , .] [Illustration: DICKENS IN HIS BASKET CARRIAGE. _From a Photo. by Mason._] No. is written in one continuous stroke with a noticeably good management of the curves. The graceful imagination of this is very striking. [Illustration: NO. .--WRITTEN JUNE , .] [Illustration: CHARLES | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000044561 | DICKENS READING TO HIS DAUGHTERS, . _From a Photograph by R. H. Mason._] No. shows the endorsement on a cheque. [Illustration: NO. .--WRITTEN JUNE , (THREE DAYS BEFORE DEATH).] [Illustration: NO. .--WRITTEN JUNE , (ONE DAY BEFORE DEATH).] [Illustration: AGE . _From a Photograph by Garney, New York._] But we near the end. Doctors had detected the signs of breaking | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000044562 | up, which are not less plain in the written gesture, and had strenuously urged Dickens to stop the incessant strain caused by his public readings. The stimulus of facing an appreciative audience would spur him on time after time, and then, late at night, he would write affectionate letters giving details of "the house," etc., but which are painful to | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000044563 | see if one notices the constant droop of the words and of the lines across the page. Contrast the writing in No. , broken and agitated, with some of the earlier specimens I have shown you. This was written three days before death. The wording of the letter from which No. has been copied tells no tale of weakness, but | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000044564 | the gesture which clothes the words is tell-tale. The words, and the lines of words, run downward across the paper, and No. is very suggestive of serious trouble--and it is specially suggestive to those who have studied this form of gesture: look, for example, at the ill-managed flourish. [Illustration: NO. .--WRITTEN JUNE , (ONE DAY BEFORE DEATH.) _From the last | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000044565 | letter written by Charles Dickens._] Now comes a facsimile taken from the last letter written by Charles Dickens. It has been given elsewhere, but, not satisfied with the facsimile I saw, I obtained permission to take this direct from the letter in the British Museum. This was written an hour or so before the fatal seizure. Every word droops below | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000044566 | the level from which each starts, each line of writing descends across the page, the simple _C. D._ is very shaky, and the whole letter is broken and weak. Charles Dickens was not "ready" at " o'clock"--he died at ten minutes past six p.m. And so ends this too scanty notice of a great man's written-gesture. * * * * | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000044567 | * NOTE:--Considerations of space and of the avoidance of technicalities have prevented a really full account of the written gesture of Charles Dickens; scanty as the foregoing account is, the illustrations it contains could not have been supplied by any one collector of Charles Dickens's letters. I express my sincere gratitude to the many persons who have enabled me to | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000044568 | give these illustrations, and only regret that one collector refused my request for the loan of some very early and interesting letters. J.H.S. * * * * * _The Mirror._ By George Japy. [Illustration] It has always been said that the Japanese are the French of the Orient. Be that as it may, it is very clear that in certain | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000044569 | traits which characterize the French, there is no resemblance whatever between the people of those two nations. Almost as soon as a French baby (a girl, be it understood) is born, its first instinct is to stretch out its tiny hands for a mirror, in which to admire its beautiful little face and its graceful movements. This natural, and we | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000044570 | may say inborn, taste grows with the child's growth, and ere the fair girl has reached her seventeenth year, her ideal of perfect bliss is to find herself in a room with mirrors on every side. There is indeed a room in the Palace of Versailles which is the elysium of the Frenchwoman. It is a long room with looking-glasses | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000044571 | from ceiling to floor, and the said floor is polished so that it reflects, at any rate, the shadow of the feet. Now, in the little Japanese village of Yowcuski a looking-glass was an unheard-of thing, and girls did not even know what they looked like, except on hearing the description which their lovers gave them of their personal beauty | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000044572 | (which description, by-the-bye, was sometimes slightly biased, according as the lover was more or less devoted). [Illustration: "HE PICKED UP ONE DAY IN THE STREET A SMALL POCKET HAND-MIRROR."] Now it happened that a young Japanese, whose daily work was to pull along those light carriages such as were seen at the last Paris Exhibition, picked up one day in | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000044573 | the street a small pocket hand-mirror, probably dropped by some English lady-tourist on her travels in that part of the world. It was, of course, the first time in his life that Kiki-Tsum had ever gazed on such a thing. He looked carefully at it, and to his intense astonishment saw the image of a brown face, with dark, intelligent | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000044574 | eyes, and a look of awestruck wonderment expressed on its features. Kiki-Tsum dropped on his knees, and gazing earnestly at the object he held in his hand, he whispered, "It is my sainted father. How could his portrait have come here? Is it, perhaps, a warning of some kind for me?" He carefully folded the precious treasure up in his | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000044575 | handkerchief, and put it in the large pocket of his loose blouse. When he went home that night he hid it away carefully in a vase which was scarcely ever touched, as he did not know of any safer place in which to deposit it. He said nothing of the adventure to his young wife, for, as he said to | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000044576 | himself "Women are curious, and then, too, _sometimes_ they are given to talking," and Kiki-Tsum felt that it was too reverent a matter to be discussed by neighbours, this finding of his dead father's portrait in the street. For some days Kiki-Tsum was in a great state of excitement. He was thinking of the portrait all the time, and at | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000044577 | intervals he would leave his work and suddenly appear at home to take a furtive look at his treasure. [Illustration: "ALWAYS WITH THE SAME SOLEMN EXPRESSION."] Now, in Japan, as in other countries, mysterious actions and irregular proceedings of all kinds have to be explained to a wife. Lili-Tsee did not understand why her husband kept appearing at all hours | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000044578 | of the day. Certainly he kissed her every time he came in like this. At first she was satisfied with his explanation when he told her that he only ran in for a minute to see her pretty face. She thought it was really quite natural on his part, but when day after day he appeared, and always with the | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000044579 | same solemn expression on his face, she began to wonder in her heart of hearts whether he was telling her the whole truth. And so Lili-Tsee fell to watching her husband's movements, and she noticed that he never went away until he had been alone in the little room at the back of the house. [Illustration: "WHAT WAS IT SHE | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000044580 | SAW?"] Now the Japanese women are as persevering as any others when there is a mystery to be discovered, and so Lili-Tsee set herself to discover this mystery. She hunted day after day to see if she could find some trace of anything in that little room which was at all unusual, but she found nothing. One day, however, she | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000044581 | happened to come in suddenly and saw her husband replacing the long blue vase in which she kept her rose leaves in order to dry them. He made some excuse about its not looking very steady, and appeared to be just setting it right, and Lili-Tsee pretended there was nothing out of the common in his putting the vase straight. | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000044582 | The moment he had gone out of the house, though, she was up on a stool like lightning, and in a moment she had fished the looking-glass out of the vase. She took it carefully in her hand, wondering whatever it could be, but when she looked in it the terrible truth was clear. What was it she saw? Why, | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000044583 | the portrait of a woman, and she had believed that Kiki-Tsum was so good, and so fond, and so true. Her grief was at first too deep for any words. She just sat down on the floor with the terrible portrait in her lap, and rocked herself backwards and forwards. This, then, was why her husband came home so many | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000044584 | times in the day. It was to look at the portrait of the woman she had just seen. Suddenly a fit of anger seized her, and she gazed at the glass again. The same face looked at her, but she wondered how her husband could admire such a face, so wicked did the dark eyes look: there was an expression | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000044585 | in them that she certainly had not seen the first time she had looked at it, and it terrified her so much that she made up her mind not to look at it again. She had no heart, however, for anything, and did not even make any attempt to prepare a meal for her husband. She just went on sitting | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000044586 | there on the floor, nursing the portrait, and at the same time her wrath. When later on Kiki-Tsum arrived, he was surprised to find nothing ready for their evening meal, and no wife. He walked through to the other rooms, and was not long left in ignorance of the cause of the unusual state of things. "So this is the | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000044587 | love you professed for me! This is the way in which you treat me, before we have even been married a year!" "What do you mean, Lili-Tsee?" asked her husband, in consternation, thinking that his poor wife had taken leave of her senses. "What do I mean? What do you mean? I should think. The idea of your keeping portraits | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000044588 | in my rose-leaf vase. Here, take it and treasure it, for I do not want it, the wicked, wicked woman!" and here poor Lili-Tsee burst out crying. "I cannot understand," said her bewildered husband. "Oh, you can't?" she said, laughing hysterically. "I can, though, well enough. You like that hideous, villainous-looking woman better than your own true wife. I would | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000044589 | say nothing if she were at any rate beautiful; but she has a vile face, a hideous face, and looks wicked and murderous, and everything that is bad!" "Lili-Tsee, what do you mean?" asked her husband, getting exasperated in his turn. "That portrait is the living image of my poor dead father. I found it in the street the other | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000044590 | day, and put it in your vase for safety." Lili-Tsee's eyes flashed with indignation at this apparently barefaced lie. "Hear him!" she almost screamed. "He wants to tell me now that I do not know a woman's face from a man's." Kiki-Tsum was wild with indignation, and a quarrel began in good earnest. The street-door was a little way open, | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000044591 | and the loud, angry words attracted the notice of a _bonze_ (one of the Japanese priests) who happened to be passing. "My children," he said, putting his head in at the door, "why this unseemly anger, why this dispute?" "Father," said Kiki-Tsum, "my wife is mad." "All women are so, my son, more or less," interrupted the holy _bonze_. "You | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000044592 | were wrong to expect perfection, and must abide by your bargain now. It is no use getting angry, all wives are trials." "But what she says is a lie." "It is not, father," exclaimed Lili-Tsee. "My husband has the portrait of a woman, and I found it hidden in my rose-leaf vase." "I swear that I have no portrait but | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000044593 | that of my poor dead father," explained the aggrieved husband. "My children, my children," said the holy _bonze_, majestically, "show me the portraits." "Here it is; there is only one, but it is one too many," said Lili-Tsee, sarcastically. The _bonze_ took the glass and looked at it earnestly. He then bowed low before it, and in an altered tone | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000044594 | said: "My children, settle your quarrel and live peaceably together. You are both in the wrong. This portrait is that of a saintly and venerable _bonze_. I know not how you could mistake so holy a face. I must take it from you and place it amongst the precious relics of our church." So saying, the _bonze_ lifted his hands | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000044595 | to bless the husband and wife, and then went slowly away, carrying with him the glass which had wrought such mischief. END. [Illustration] * * * * * _Handcuffs._ WRITTEN AND ILLUSTRATED BY INSPECTOR MAURICE MOSER, _Late of the Criminal Investigation Department, Great Scotland Yard._ The ordinary connection of ideas between handcuffs and policemen does not need very acute mental | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000044596 | powers to grasp, but there is a further connection, a philological one, which is only evident at first sight to those who have made a small acquaintance with the science of words. The word "handcuff" is a popular corruption of the Anglo-Saxon "handcop," _i.e._, that which "cops" or "catches" the hands. Now, one of the most common of the many | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000044597 | slang expressions used by their special enemies towards the police is "Copper"--_i.e._, he who cops the offending member. Strange as it may seem, handcuffs are by no means the invention of these times, which insist on making the life of a prisoner so devoid of the picturesque and romantic. We must go back, past the dark ages, past the stirring | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000044598 | times of Greek and Roman antiquity, till we come to those blissful mythological ages when every tree and every stream was the home of some kindly god. In those olden days there dwelt in the Carpathian Sea a wily old deity, known by the name of Proteus, possessing the gift of prophecy, the fruits of which he selfishly denied to | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000044599 | mankind. Even if those who wished to consult him were so fortunate as to find him, all their efforts to force him to exert his gifts of prophecy were useless, for he was endowed with the power of changing himself into all things, and he eluded their grasp by becoming a flame of fire or a drop of water. There | 60 | gutenberg |
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