up at four o'clock in the morning, hoing potatoes, and I believe it would do you good if you had the same to do." "You do n't eat any thing this morning," said Mrs. Henderson. "I expect your stomach wants bracing; I think the quinine would do you good." "Or a wine-glass full of camomile and quassia, taken three times a day," interrupted Miss Patience; "it is excellent for wind in the chest. And that reminds me of poor Mrs. Hapgood-I went to see her yesterday-you can't think what she suffers; she has such a stricture across her breast, that it seems as if she would die every breath she draws. And then her stomach is so weak that she can't keep any thing down a single minute. I am afraid she can't live-and then only think of her leaving all those little children, and a baby only six months old." Fortunately at this moment the papers came in, full of details of the cholera, and I was allowed to finish my wretched meal in peace. In the course of the day, I encountered several of my acquaintances, old and young, male and female, from all of whom I met with more or less annoyance, either in the form of tedious inquiry, or still more tedious advice. One person reproved me for not wearing Indiarubber shoes; and another, for not having on an outside garment. A deaf old lady kept me ten minutes in the open street, roaring into her ears the assurance that I was perfectly well, but very busy. I was recommended to go to Europe, by a gentleman who knew that I was never ten dollars ahead of my debts in my life; and by another, to take daily rides on horseback, as if a horse were as invariable and indispensable an appendage to a man, as a pocket handkerchief. By one, I was told that I was looking wretchedly; by another, that I never looked better in my life; and what, in all this, was most intolerable, was, that I felt assured that nine out of ten of these people did not care a straw about me, but talked to me about my health, as they would to the generality of men about the weather or the newsbecause they must say something, and had nothing to say. It is hard to be so badgered, without even the consciousness of sympathy to support you under the trial. But I had not yet been through the worst. I had an engagement of some standing, to drink tea with Mrs. Marchmont, a lady, who, having an easy fortune, a healthy and an indulgent husband, no children, and the most benevolent affections, employs her time and energies in being the comforter, and often the nurse of all the sick people among her very extensive acquaintance. She is never so happy as in the society of habitual invalids, attempting to animate their spirits, and giving them the best of advice; but having been always in good health herself, her success is not often so great as her intentions are good. On my entrance into the drawing-room, I found about a dozen persons assembled, most of them females, and none of them uncomfortably young. I had a presentiment that Fate had some arrows yet in store for me, and I presume my face expressed it, for Mrs. Marchmont, while welcoming me in the most cordial manner, remarked, "You don't look so well as I hoped and expected, Mr. D—— ; I am afraid you have not recovered." "Why, I was thinking Mr. D looked a great deal better than he did last spring," said a thin, sharp voice, belonging to Miss Thoroughwort, an ancient maiden from the country. "I'm sure I thought at that time, he would have been under the sods before now.' "I am afraid Mr. D- studies too much," said Mrs. Balsamine, a venerable widow, who sat knitting in a corner, and looking at me over the glasses of her spectacles. think it's a great pity there are so many books in the world." The attention of the room being thus drawn to me, I endeavored to escape from it by slipping into the nearest open chair; from this I was immediately dislodged by my watchful hostess, who warned me that there was a window at my back, and pressed me to take a rocking-chair, which a kind lady had just vacated for me. Of course I refusedshe insisted, and two or three most embarrassing minutes were passed in urgent solicitations and vigorous denials, which were ended by my taking possession of the chair-which I should have done, if the cushion had been stuffed with thistles. Soon afterwards, the tea-equipage was brought in. As I was extending my arm to the waiter, it was arrested by Mrs. Marchmont, who told me that the tea was green, and very bad for my complaints, and that if I would wait a few minutes, she would have some black made for me. I comforted myself for my disappointment with an ample slice of bread and butter. As I was discussing this with great relish, a lady, whom I had never seen before, and whose name I did not know, addressed me from the other side of the room, "Are your complaints consumptive, Mr. D." Very much so, just now," I replied. "Then let me recommend to you to drink flax-seed tea twice a day, and whenever you feel a soreness on your lungs, apply a blister of hog's-fat and tartar-emetic." "I should rather think from his looks that his bilious system was disordered," said Miss Thoroughwort. "O, he suffers from general debility," said Mrs. Marchmont; "he lets things worry him when they ought not to." "White mustardseed is very good for almost all kinds of sickness," said Mrs. Balsamine." My husband used to take a great deal of it." "For my part, I have great faith in cold water,' ," said Miss Thoroughwort; (no one would have suspected it from her appearance ;) "I think it would do you good to take a shower-bath every morning, and to have a tub of cold water standing at your bed-side and dip your feet in it when you first get up." "And rub yourself with a stiff flesh-brush till you are all in a glow," said the advocate of flax-seed tea. The conversation now became general, and, without being able to point out each individual's share, I will merely write down the expressions as they came to my ears. "Drink copiously of valerian tea; take a Rochelle powder before breakfast; walk five miles every day; chew ginseng root; soak your feet in hot water, with a handful of mustard thrown into it; take a dose of magnesia; take a dose of rhubarb; wear a deer-skin waist-coat over your flannels; drink Congress water; don't study by candle-light; indigestion-catnip tea; pain in the side; good for a cough, &c. &c. Thus was I tortured with well-meant kindness. However, at last, they ceased talking about me, and I was in hopes to have enjoyed some pleasant conversation, but I was mistaken. The all-engrossing subject of the Cholera was brought up and occupied them the rest of the evening. The various stages of the disease were described, and the symptoms commented upon with a minuteness and a goût which, with the state of nervous excitement into which I had been previously thrown, drove me almost distracted. I imagined myself afflicted with all the spasms and convulsions of that frightful disorder. I hurried home before nine o'clock, and never enjoyed, with greater zest, the luxury of solitude. My imagination had been so wrought upon by the scenes I had been through, that my very dreams were infected by them. All nature seemed to suffer an apothecary change. The glorious sun in heaven was turned into a Burgundy pitch plaster; the moon into a bread poultice; and the host of the stars became blue pills. The flowers had all a medicinal smell, and labeled vials hung from the trees instead of fruits. I floated down rivers of camomile tea, in a bark of slippery elm. I opened a letter from a dear friend, and lo! it was filled with doctors' prescriptions. I stretched out my hand to grasp that of an acquaintance, and it was turned into a flesh-brush. The heavens drenched me with showers of tincture of rhubarb, and pelted me with Tolu lozenges; and I awoke in a cold sweat, with the agony of the nightmare, which brooded over me in the shape of a huge mortar and pestle. Now, Mr. Editor, I appeal to you and to all benevolent people, if my case is not a hard one. In my moments of desperation, I have been tempted to settle in a western prairie, with no human being within five miles, or to fly to a foreign land, where no one can speak my language. I have one thing to console me when I am sick a-bed, that I am free from all these annoyances which beset me in health. I hope that the publication of my case will induce my friends, to give up in future, that ill-judged kindness, which is really the most refined unkindness. SCINTILLATIONS OF SCIENCE. LETTER FROM MISS BOADICEA BLUEBOTTLE TO HER COUSIN IN THE COUNTRY. DEAR JENNY : Boston, April 1, 1832. We arrived here safe in the stage, or, to speak more correctly, I should say, we accomplished our itineration in the diurnal vehicle. My sanitary condition is as good as I could reasonably desiderate, although riding in the stage is somewhat unpleasant, and I was rather incommoded by the strepituosity of the circumrotatory motion attending the wheels. I am informed, however, this is a defect from which such machinery never can be exempt. Pray write to me soon, as to the health of all the family, and how you get on with your studies in mathematics and chemistry. For my part, I think of nothing else. I hope the Lyceum is well attended, and the Female Philosophical Union. What did they do with my essay on the dissection of butterflies? Meantime I shall give you some account of my journey. The quadrupeds which conveyed us were four in number, and appeared to be the equus caballus. My proficiency in Natural History has not been so great as I could wish; yet I was enabled to distinguish, as we passed along, many interesting animals, as the ovis aries, which are kept in multitudinous flocks, and whose lanigerous integuments are fabricate into cloth. I also noticed the bos taurus in considerable numbers. I saw a great many large trees with knotty and crooked branches, which, 2 I am sure, were the quercus robur. We were surprised by the sight of a man in a state of complete inebriety, lying under a tree by the roadside, which I took to be a species of juglars. An awkward accident happened, about ten miles from town, which I had nearly forgotten. We were descending a steep hill, in which case, according to the laws of gravitation, it is mathematically demonstrable, that the movement is on an inclined plane. This occasioned such a rapid circumgyration of the rotatory supporters, that ere we reached the foot of the descent, the vehicle lost its centre of gravity and was propelled with so impetuous a concussion against a rock, as utterly to annihilate its integrity. The rock I did not examine geologically, but have no doubt of its being a sort of wacke. Most of the journey we were troubled by the pulverulent state of the atmosphere around us, which I think must have been occasioned by the gravel on the road being comminuted by frequent contact with the feet of quadrupeds. The calorific action of the solar rays, moreover, acted as a powerful sudorific during the meridional hours; but towards the close of the day a nebulous expansion of the aerial regions at the extremity of the horizon indicated the approximation of a shower. The rain would have proved highly agreeable, had not the moisture been superabundant. Cotton, unfortunately, is not impermeable to the aqueous element, and my starched ruffles were diminished of all their rigidity. Cousin Jenny, I assure you, Boston is full of wonders. I mean to give you the whole description, but have not at present been able to hit upon a plan sufficiently scientific. The streets are not altogether rectilineal, and on many occasions approach towards that tortuosity of course, which Doctor Hardscrabble, you know, explained to us as the hyperbola. The squares are rather polygons, with the angles abscinded. The streets are generally furnished with an artificial stratification of granite nodules, presenting a surface not altogether so uniform as that of a mahogany table; and as the numerous vehicles that permeate the city, traverse on iron-bound peripheries, you may imagine that the reverberation and repercussion of sound is occasionally annoying to our auriculars. I could say as much of the tintinnabulatory echoes from some score of bells. One of the largest hangs in a steeple directly opposite my window. I employed myself last Sunday, while it was ringing, in making some remarks upon the rapidity of the vibrations, but before I could complete them, I was attacked with a sudden deafness in both my ears. I hope, however, to get rid of it in a few weeks. Many of the old houses here, are built of ligneous materials, and, in consequence, are exceedingly liable to sudden ignition. The modern edifices are generally constructed with rectangular parallelopipeds of argillaceous earth, indurated by combustion. Animals are very rare in the city, except a single species of the equus. A few houses contain some of the lesser quadrupeds. My arms were sadly scratched yesterday by one which I recognized as the felis catus; and I am kept awake all night by the barking of another, which I shall beat soundly, if ever I catch him, as I have no doubt he is of the species canis. Uncle Gregory is very good humored, but I fear I shall never imbue him with a proper respect for science. He laughs at me for calling his leathern snuff-box, a coriaceous receptacle of titillating nicotiana. I should have sent herewith some presents for my little cousins, consisting of certain saccharine concretions, fantastically modulated into the semblances of animals and men; but these were unfortunately demolished, together with a looking-glass and two china vases, by the awkwardness of an old lady to whom I was exhibiting the operation of the electrical machine. Pray send me the muslin gown I left at home. I have spilt a bowl of sulphuric acid upon the white satin one, and believe it will never wash out. Have the pigs got well of the experiment I made upon them with the carbonic gas? Yours ever. LINES WRITTEN AT SEA. Ship Florian's log-book, "April 7, 1824. Day-break, storm entirely spent; light winds from the S. W. and a heavy swell-carpenter employed making a new spanker-boom-all hands busy in repairing the damages of last night's gale, which, the Lord be thanked, is well over. Mr. leave to write these lines in the Ship's log-book." When the rising storm appears, With sail close-reefed the bark he steers, Warned, Almighty God, by thee. For distant climes, the tribes of air The northern blast and southern sun. On Zahaara's parching plains, Eternal Architect, by thee, Are taught to build their cells with care, All heed thy voice but fallen man; May all the tears of sorrow, shed Gave |