on the end whereof swung two inviting carrots and a clean white turnip. Away went the donkey in pursuit of these tit-bits, never more than a stride's length from his watering teeth, yet never attainable. Every stride deceived him; but Hope sprang eternal in the asinine bosom, and he still pursued. I was young and thoughtless in those days, and at this acted mystery I laughed unthinkingly. But in the years which have gone since then, I know now that not a day has passed in which I have not with equal wisdom raced after something no more worth having and no more attainable, and Paddy Byrne's donkey has with me risen to the dignity of a moral mythus, preaching eternal truths. And he typifies, indeed, not me alone, but a whole hungry foolish world, tearing headlong in pursuit of that sweet and dear to-morrow which it never reaches. With the rest of the world, let him typify this poor hungry-hearted Gerard. If I laugh,' wrote the saddest satirist that ever put pen to paper, ''tis that I may not weep.' One may as well put things cheerfully as sorrowfully. You may suck marrow of mirth, and grow as wise as by sipping the salt of tears-if you are a born angel, and a saint by nature. Mr Jolly apprised Constance, in the afternoon, of her aunt's desire; and it was decided that they should all three go to town together on the following day. Gerard came in the evening as usual; but she allowed him to ride away without telling him of the arrangement made. An hour before starting, she sent him a brief note, saying that her aunt desired to see her, and that she was going to London, but of design aforethought, forgot to give her lover her town address. She remedied this omission a day or two later, when she had secured a little quiet, and had discovered that it is better to be bored by admiration than not to be admired at all. To her amazement, Gerard did not fly to her when she lifted her finger. A day or two passed, and she did not hear from him. Matters grew a little wonderful, and even a little alarming. We have seen already that Val Strange made a call upon her. Familiar as Val contrived to seem in Reginald's eyes, this was his first visit; but he and Miss Lucretia were known to each ther beforehand, and Val was a reminder to the old lady of her one romance. These renewals of youth are singular. Val's father was the only one among many admirers for whom Miss Lucretia in her youth had cared; but with that perversity which is a part of love, they had quarrelled over some trifle or other no bigger than a mote in a sunbeam, and had so parted-the man to forget as men forget, the woman to remember as women remember. Of this the young fellow knew nothing. Had he known, he might have sought the sympathy and intervention of the old lady, and have besought her to implore Constance to break off a loveless engagement. It is hard to say whether such a course could or could not have been justified, though there is little doubt that Tal would have been able to justify it to himself. But he was ignorant of the tie between himself and the old maid, and knew nothing of the affection with which she regarded him. Had he known, the course of this story might have been altered; Lat then, there is nothing so slight in life that it might not alter the course of any human tragedy or comedy. And now Val was gone from Con The stance's little circle, and still no Gerard came. absence of one, and the silence of the other, became remarkable, before Reginald came to explain one of the phenomena, and a shock which was in its way a sort of social earthquake, came to explain the second. Reginald lounged in a day or two after Val's departure, and found his sister alone. Some conversational preliminaries being gone through which had but little interest for either of them, Reginald said casually: 'I say, Con., did Strange tell you he was going to the West Indies?' 'No,' said Constance, bending closer over her embroidery. When is he going? She tried to make the question sound commonplace and disinterested, but read failure in her own tones. 'Oh,' said Reginald, ensconcing himself for more safety behind his eyeglass, and watching her keenly, he's gone. Started yesterday.' Constance, with a great effort, retained composure. Why did he go?' she asked. 'Had he business there-property there?' 'Oh,' said the wary youth, you never know where to have Strange. You'd think he was dead-set on something or other, and meant to spend his life at it, and in half an hour he's deadset on something else. As I told him the other day, he's like Dryden's Duke of Buckingham, Everything by turns, and nothing long." You never know what he'll do next.' Women are much better actresses than men are actors, and when Constance spoke, her nonchalance might have puzzled a less careful observer. She held her embroidery a little from her in both hands, turned her beautiful head this way and that, regarding it; and then, slowly raising her violet eyes, she dropped one negligent word: 'Indeed?' But she had not calculated that Reginald suspected, and was watching, and so she overdid it by a trifle, and seemed to his keen vision supernaturally indifferent. 'Yes,' murmured the watcher, fixing his eyeglass with a facial contortion which laid the ghost of expression still lingering, 'he's an awfully odd fish is Strange. You really never know where to have him.' He was modest enough to distrust his own powers, and he stopped short there, having done enough, as he conceived, for one day. His finesse was well meant, and for the moment it was satisfactory. 'So,' said Constance to herself, he has run away to avoid me.' Her heart sank at this desertion. She had forbidden Strange ever to speak again on the topic he had once broached to her; but she had not forbidden him her presence, and indeed had not the strength of heart so to deny him or herself. She pitied him-it was sweet to pity him. Before she had heard his confession, she had gone the usual maiden path to love, and had not known to what goal it led her. She found his society pleasant, more pleasant than that of any man she had ever encountered—so much, she was aware of. She knew that her society was pleasing to him; but for so beautiful a woman, she was amazingly devoid of vanity, and no thought of his being in love with her crossed her mind. For that matter, her engagement to Gerard seemed to hem her about with a sort of Society sacredness-men did not fall in love with young ladies who were engaged to be married. And when at last Strange's wild snakes, many experiments have been, and still continue to be made; but as yet we have heard of no certain cure. One of our greatest authorities, Dr Fayrer, is obliged to admit that there is no hope for the person who has been bitten by a cobra whose poison is fully secreted and delivered. Our contributor Dr Arthur Stradling, late of the Royal Mail (Marine) Service, who favours us with the following interesting anecdotes, has made a lifelong study of the habits of snakes, both poisonous and non-poisonous. He has, we believe, made many experiments with the hope of mitigating the dire results accruing from snakebites, and has even gone the length of voluntarily permitting various poisonous species to exercise their fangs upon his own person! Taking certain precautions beforehand-the nature of which Dr Stradling has not yet made public-he has risked his life in the endeavour to counteract the baleful effects of snake-poison. If in the end he may be enabled to prescribe an antidote that shall prove effectual in staying the effects of the dreaded virus, mankind will owe him a debt of gratitude akin to that which it has paid to the discoverer of vaccination. declaration was made, her own heart answered it with a voice which there was no chance of mistaking. Here at last was the man who held the key to her heart, out of all the scores who had come a-wooing, and he came too late. It might have seemed easy enough to do the only thing which under the circumstances was wise and honourable—namely, to send Gerard his dismissal and to tell him that a union between them could lead only to unhappiness. But the wise and right thing to do is not always that which presents itself most attractively, and she had no one to advise and help her. That Gerard would have freed her, had she appealed to him, though he broke his heart in doing it, went of course without saying. But then, there was the natural disinclination to so pronounced an action, the natural fear of his silent reproach, the natural dread of the county talk. It would be bitter to be called a jilt; and there was no reason or shadow of a reason, except the true one, which she could assign against her engagement to Gerard. So, like wiser people, she decided to let things take their course for a time, with a vague hope that something might come to pass which would unravel the tangled skein and lay it out straight and smooth once more. And her reluctance to pain Gerard had more ground than a natural tenderness of disposition which is happily common to most women. She respected him, and For the truth of the following anecdotes, in in her secret heart was sensitively afraid of his which serpents play a part more or less promiill opinion. Notwithstanding the general chilli- nent, I can vouch; the incidents-except the first ness of their courtship, they might have made a-having all occurred within my own personal very happy married pair, but for the advent of Val Strange. It is only in novels that husband and wife are kept apart by those thread-like filaments of feeling of which a certain school of feminine romancists are so prodigal. The plain English of that matter is, that unless a man is absolutely distasteful, or the woman's mind is preoccupied, marriage is the shortest way to love, and the surest. SNAKE-A NECDOTES. IN TWO PARTS.-PART I. To the generality of people the very word snake conveys a shuddering impression. The animals themselves are regarded with wholesale aversion. Nor is this altogether to be wondered at when we consider the terrible effects produced by the bite of many species-the mortal effects produced by a certain section of the tribe. There are, however, some folks who, so far from entertaining any aversion to those creatures, are anxiously engaged in studying their ways, their mode of life, and happily the dreaded powers with which the poisonous species-one-fifth only of the entire race-are endowed. In Great Britain, one species only, the adder, is poisonous, though not to the extent of being deadly poisonous; but the case is different in countries such as India and South America, where there are snakes from whose bite there is no hope of recovery. Happily, these death-dealing creatures are few compared to their more innocent brethren, though in India the fatalities which are yearly reported are still as appalling as ever. With a view to providing a remedy for the bite of what are termed deadly With this prelude, we offer to our readers a few of the Doctor's snake-stories. He writes as follows: experience. The exception, however, is matter of history at the Zoological Gardens; and not only were the eye-witnesses of the occurrence-among whom were Mr Bartlett and the late Mr Frank Buckland-well known to me-my informants, indeed-but the snake itself afterwards became a great friend of mine. A few years ago, an immense anaconda or water-boa was received at the Gardens in Regent's | Park, brought in a barrel on board a steamer from Central America to Liverpool, and forwarded thence by rail. This reptile, as perhaps my readers are aware, is the largest of the serpent tribe, inhabiting the swamps of Tropical America, and sometimes attaining a length of thirty or forty feet, it may be much more. It is one of the Constrictors-that is to say, it is non-venomous, and kills its prey, like the boa and python, by crushing it within the convolutions of its is a fine stuffed specimen, about thirty feet long, In the British Museum there powerful body. represented in the act of seizing, though not constricting, a peccary. The subject of my tale measured twenty-three feet in length, and in girth was equal to the circumference of a man's thigh-a formidable customer, capable of swallowing a sheep. Prepared for his reception, with the floor duly gravelled, and a tank with water, Den No. 3, on the left-hand side of the reptile-house, counting from the entrance-door, was allotted to him; and within the cage is a stunted tree, up which these large serpents are wont to climb. The top of the cask unscrewed, the creature was allowed to find his way into the cage through the small aperture behind. Roaming about in the full enjoyment of his new-found liberty, he presently turned round between the tree and the front of the cage Journal -a space of several feet-in such a way that the bight of his body-to use a seafaring expression-lay within this space. Here, feeling the contact of the glass on one side and the wood on the other, he suddenly expanded his coil, probably in the sheer luxury of being able to stretch himself, and pushed the front of the cage out! Not simply the glass itself, which was not broken, but the heavy framework in which it is fixed, was forced away from its connection with the surrounding beams. Hereupon, several of the spectators had the presence of mind to rush forward and catch the sash before it could fall to the floor. In this way they supported it as well as they could with hands and knees until fresh assistance arrived, for the weight was too great for them to lift it back into position again; while the reptile inside, excited by the shouting and commotion, was dashing about furiously in all directions. This scattered the gravel about; and it was then found impossible to return the frame into its proper place, as the groove was choked with the small stones. Mr Frank Buckland, aided now by a number of men from all parts of the Gardens, still kept the glass from descending, while the keeper and carpenter, who got into the cage from behind, having thrown some blankets over the snake and pushed him into a corner, proceeded to scrape away the gravel. But the anaconda, now thoroughly enraged, contrived to extricate his head from the covering, and before the men could escape, flew at the carpenter and seized him by the shoulder. The keeper courageously turned, gripped the serpent by the throat, and forced him to let go, but not until the unfortunate man's arm was terribly lacerated by the powerful lancet-like teeth. Luckily, the door of the reptile-house had been locked when the first contretemps took place, so that no casual visitors were witnesses of the scene; otherwise, fainting women and horror-stricken men would doubtless have added to its confusion. By this time the groove was clear, and the frame temporarily secured, so that the carpenter made good his exit, while the keeper, watching his opportunity, flung the creature from him and jumped out. But it afterwards became very tame and tractable, and I established very friendly relations with it. Many a time have I stood at the door with Holland the keeper, and allowed it to rear its great black-spotted head out of the tank till it flickered its tongue against my face, while I patted its shining scales with my hand. Towards Holland it was most affectionate, and would always come up to the grated ventilator to see him when he was sweeping out the passage behind, though it took no notice of the people in front. Shakes take strong likings and dislikes to people, often unaccountably. Holland was one of the kindest and most intelligent keepers that ever handled a reptile, and could generally win any thing's confidence; yet there was-and probably is still-a West African python, some sixteen feet long, in the house, that positively conceived a murderous hatred of him. Why this should be so, neither he nor any one else could ever understand; but it is a fact that this python at feedingtimes would sit up close to the door and wait, not for the ducks and rabbits, but for him! The anaconda to which we have just referred was eventually killed by a guinea-pig! The little animal had been put into the den for a smaller snake's delectation, as our friend was torpid just then, owing to the approaching casting of_the_skin, in which state they do not feed. The guinea-pig was running carelessly over him, and the irritation of its feet probably caused the anaconda to move slightly, for its leg became entangled between two folds of the serpent's body-not constricted or nipped in anger, in which case it would have been all up with guinea-pig in a very short time-and it could not get free. It must probably have struggled some time, and then bitten its unconscious captor till it got away, for a great hole was found in the snake's side, and it lost much blood. This caused such profuse suppuration and ulceration of the whole body, that the poor brute had to be destroyed. I have succeeded in bringing alive to this country two specimens of that deadliest of serpents, the Brazilian çurucucu, or bush-master as it is called in Guiana; and in connection with the first of these I had a disagreeable little adventure. It was sent to me in Rio de Janeiro in an open bowl-shaped basket, having been caught with a lasso, which, drawn tight behind its large triangular head, and passed through the wickerwork, secured it to the bottom of the basket. Evidently, it could not go home like this. I had no snake-tongs, and was not at that time quite so confident about manipulating poisonous serpents as closer familiarity with them has since made me; besides, a cabin on board ship contains so many nooks and crannies wherein a snake, once escaped from control, would be wholly irrecoverable. Therefore, I covered the mouth of the basket with canvas in such a way as to convert it into a sort of kettledrum; and cut a square hole in this, which corresponded exactly, when the drum was turned upside down, to an aperture in a snake-box, made by removing the perforated zinc. Then, applying the two accurately together, I cut the noose from the outside, in the hope that the reptile would drop through into the box. This, however, he refused to do, but darted round and round inside the basket, striking passionately; and as the wicker was neither very thick nor close in texture, it may be imagined that the situation was rather a sensational one. I had commenced operations just as we were steaming out of the Bay of Rio; and while affairs stood in the position I have indicated, we crossed the bar. The heavy swell from the outside caught the ship right abeam, and caused her to give two or three of the most tremendous lurches I ever experienced. I thought for the moment that she was going over. Everything in my cabin went adrift; books, boxes, cages, chairs, and about a dozen other snakes, came tumbling about me with a deafening din of smashing glass and woodwork. I lost my footing, and was thrown down; and as the ship rolled back to the weather-side, a huge wave thundered in at the open port and flooded the cabin; but I clung to my basket and box all the time, holding them together literally for dear life; for I knew I might as well be drowned or get my brains knocked out, as let my prisoner escape. He was safely housed at last; but a filament of the grass lasso remained around his neck, spite of all my attempts to disengage it; this interfered with his respiration, and he died shortly after his arrival at the Zoo. Having brought home many scores, perhaps hundreds, of live snakes in the course of my voyages, I have at different times published the results of my experience in that line, in the hope | of inducing others to do the same. In the study of ophiology, living specimens are a great desideratum, since, after death and in spirits, snakes alter so much as to be scarcely recognisable, especially when injured, as they usually are. Nothing is more easily or safely kept during a voyage than a snake, if attention be paid to one or two small details. It is more easily kept than a bird, as it requires neither food, water, light, nor abundant ventilation; and beyond warmth, needs scarcely more care than a dead one in a bottle; but I suppose it is because these small details are so little known that we get so few rare snakes at the Zoo. In my papers, I have endeavoured to point out not only all that is necessary for their well-being in transmission, but also the dangers connected with them to be avoided on board ship. Nevertheless, an incident happened to one of mine some time ago, the possibility of which had never entered my head. I say to 'one of mine;' but in reality the reptile, a fine full-grown rattlesnake, did not belong to me, but to a brother-officer, who had bought it for presentation to the Zoological Garden at Hamburg, on the strength of my promise to look after it for him. It was brought on board in a small square box-a Schiedam-case, in fact neatly tied up in brown paper, at my suggestion, and labelled 'Feather Flowers,' for the benefit of inquisitive passengers. This box was fronted with galvanised wire-netting of small mesh, which must have been nailed on after the snake had been put in, as there was no door. All was perfectly secure; so, as I had a numerous serpent tenantry at the time in my own specially constructed cases, I decided to let my lodger remain where it was, more especially as I judged, from its plump appearance, that it had lately fed, and would require no more nourishment till it got home. (It is worthy of remark that, as a rule, snakes feed, or require to be fed, only at long intervals; a rattlesnake has been known to live a year and eleven months without food.) the box swarming with writhing little corkscrews, one of which was in the very act of escaping through the wire. I snatched up a towel and pressed it over the case; and while my boy nailed it on, and thus blinded the front, I despatched the two strays. Now came the question, What was to be done? The inmates were safe enough for the time; but it obviously would not do to trust to a thin towel as the only dividing medium between them and the ship at large, for the rest of the voyage. I had to be cautious then, not being in possession of the means which place me now to a great extent beyond the pale of danger, and allow me to handle these things with comparative impunity; but I was none the less anxious to save the brood. A woman happily extricated me from my dilemma-the old stewardess, who was quite in my confidence, since she didn't mind them things,' and who used to allay any anxiety on the subject among lady-passengers with, I fear, a greater regard for me than for the truth. She gave me an old stocking; and this is what we did with it. First, we removed all the nails from one corner at the back of the box for about two inches along the two sides of the angle, and fixed a screw instead at the extreme angle itself. Then, with an excision saw-out of my case of surgical instruments-we cut through the wood for two inches each way, so as to complete the square, then nailed the mouth of the stocking over it, and finally removed the screw with a small screw-driver through a tiny slit in the stocking itself. The piece of wood, two inches square, thus severed all connection, and the screw dropped down into the foot; and by dint of shaking and knocking, the little reptiles were induced to follow. When a good many were in, the stocking was tied with cord tightly near the heel, and again about an inch higher, and the lower part was cut off between the two ligatures. This was emptied of its contents into a glass box which stood ready for their reception, while the rest of the babies were shaken down into the leg of the stocking, which still remained a cul de sac. The only hitch in the proceedings was a momentary though rather serious one, caused by mamma protruding her head and evincing a disposition to follow her offspring. When all the little onesthere were thirteen of them, exclusive of those I had killed-were out of the box, the bag was again tied twice, and divided; and they were restored to the society of their brothers and Imagine my surprise when, on going to my cabin about a week later, I met a little rattlesnake, six or seven inches long, climbing over the combing of the doorway! There was no sisters. doubt about it; Crotalus horridus* was written in every scale of his wicked little head and diamond-patterned back, and signed by the horn at the end of his tail, which went quivering upwards as soon as he saw me. It was not a time to stand on ceremony, so I stood on him instead. Inside the cabin was another, wriggling along the floor, on whom also I executed a pas seul without further inquiry; and on turning round, sure enough there was a third on the washing-stand, sticking up his head and tail with the most menacing intentions. There was no longer any doubt that an interesting event had happened, a fact which was evidenced by the spectacle of * The Latin name for the rattlesnake. But stop a bit! The resources of our very subtle contrivance were not yet exhausted. About a foot-length of that most useful stocking was still left, and this was tied once more, but this time close up to the box; then the lower end was untied, two rats introduced and fastened up again; then, the upper ligature being removed, the rats were shaken into the cage, and the maternal rattlesnake was compensated for the loss of her promising family by a good dinner. Finally, the stocking or what was left of itwas pushed into the box, and the square piece of wood was nailed securely on again over it. But there was a pleasing uncertainty for the remainder of the voyage as to how many had got adrift before I discovered them, and where they had Journal stowed themselves, which rendered going to bed, putting on one's boots and the like, full of interest. When the importation of rattlesnakes becomes a recognised branch of industry, I shall take out a patent for that stocking dodge. could be discerned; then their low black hulls appeared, and the experienced eyes of the fisherwomen recognised the vessels in which their husbands, lovers, and sons had sailed. The women counted the approaching luggers. Not one vessel of the little fleet was missing. But it yet remained to be seen whether all the crews had THE FISHERWOMAN OF HONFLEUR. returned safe and well; and the hearts of the A TALE OF THE FRENCH COMMUNE. IN FIVE CHAPTERS.-CHAP. I. anxious watchers beat quickly, with hopes, doubts, and fears commingled. Another weary hour passed away, and the THERE was an unusual stir and bustle in the vessels were off the port. Then arose from old-fashioned and generally dull town of Hon- them a cheer which brought relief to the fleur, opposite the port of Havre, in France. anxious women. Well they knew its meaning. The old weather-worn, worm-eaten, wooden It announced, that all who had sailed with the wharfs and jetties were thronged with fisher- fleet had returned safe and well. The cheer was women and girls, all clad in their gala attire, answered with a general shrill cry of joy. The whose number increased as they were joined by vessels entered the harbour and ranged up alongfresh arrivals from the neighbouring sea-coast, side the wharf; and amidst cries of welcome, many having come from distant villages and bursts of hysteric laughter, and tears of joy and hamlets. There was such eager, lively, and con- gladness, the hardy, weather-beaten fishermen tinuous chattering, that a stranger might have leaped on shore to greet their impatient loved ones. imagined there had occurred a second confusion It was a strange yet pleasing sight to see these of tongues confined on this occasion to the stalwart, weather-browned, whiskered and bearded gentler sex. The eyes of all present were directed seamen, clad in their coarse pilot jackets, tarry seawards, and from time to time, some one petticoat-trousers, heavy sea-boots, and oilskin would mount one of the wooden piles to which sou'-wester caps-their garments still damp, and small vessels that frequented the harbour were glistening with the spray which had fallen in moored, and, pointing to a speck on the water, showers over the vessels' decks, even to the visible in the far distance, would cry: 'Ils moment when they entered the sheltered harbour viennent! Ils viennent! Je les vois! (They-clasped in the loving embraces of the women come! They come! I see them!) And for a few moments the clamour of voices would be hushed, only to break forth again with expressions of disappointment; for these fisherwomen and girls had assembled to greet the return of husbands, brothers, sons, and lovers who had been long absent, engaged in the cod-fishery in the stormy North Sea. For many weeks past, the weather had been tempestuous; and those who had friends and relations at sea-and these comprised almost every inhabitant of the town and the neighbouring sea-coast-had passed many a sleepless night, listening to the fierce gusts of wind that swept around their humble and often exposed dwellings; or had started out of a troubled slumber to breathe a short but earnest prayer for the safety of the absent ones; for there had come from time to time sad stories of fishing-vessels that had foundered at sea with all hands; and all who heard these dismal stories dreaded lest the lost vessels might be those which had sailed few months before with their dearest relations and friends on board. On the previous night, however, a steam-packet had arrived at Honfleur, and her captain had reported the glad tidings that he had that day passed the homeward-bound Honfleur fishing fleet off Dieppe, all safe, and that, as the wind was favourable, the vessels might be expected to arrive in port the next morning. Hence the vast and eager concourse of fisherwomen from the town and the adjacent coast. At length there was a general hush. A speck that to a landsman would have appeared like a bird hovering over the water, was discerned in the far distance; then another, and yet another became visible. There was no longer any doubt that the fleet was approaching. Nearer and nearer the vessels drew; the cut of their sails and girls the instant their feet touched the wharf. The elder women, though brown and wrinkled, were yet robust and healthy; the young women and girls fresh and comely, with pleasant pretty faces, fair complexions, blue eyes, and glossy brown hair. All alike, old and young, were neatly and smartly attired in their picturesque fisherwomen's costume, with high, wide-frilled caps, white as snow, short, full petticoats, creaseless blue or gray stockings, and neat buckled shoes, which set off their well-formed lower limbs to great advantage; while many of them wore large earrings of real gold, handed down as heirlooms from grandmothers and great-grandmothers. Amongst the first to leave their craft was a tall, handsome, young man, with laughing blue eyes, and curly, dark-brown hair, who leaped to the wharf into the extended arms of a pretty girl, apparently not more than eighteen years of age, who, as she embraced her lover, seemed perfectly regardless of the surrounding crowd. "Welcome-welcome home, my Antoine!' cried the girl as she kissed her lover's whiskered cheek. Ah, how I have prayed and sighed for thy return! The storms have been so severe; and we heard such bad news that my heart was troubled. But the blessed Madonna hearkened to my prayers, and again I behold thee safe and well. The sight repays me for all my sufferings.' The youthful pair released each other, and forcing a passage through the thick of the crowd, strolled away side by side in the direction of their native village, each with an arm twined round the other's waist. There was silence for a few minutes. Both were happy with their own thoughts. Madeleine at length broke the silence. 'Thou hast not told me about thy voyage, Antoine. Has it been successful?' |