could not read it, though he possessed a copy of the table and knew how to use it, unless he knew the key-word. The chance of his guessing this is only one in millions. And there is no such thing as interpreting it by any other method, because there are no repetitions, and hence all comparison is at fault. That is to say, in the same cipher, in one place a letter, as for instance may stand for one letter in the translation, and in another place C may stand for quite a different letter. This is the only kind of cryptograph we have ever seen which is absolutely safe. C The Reason Why. WHY THE GERMANS EAT SAUER-KRAUT. THE reason why the most learned people on earth eat sauerkraut may be found in the following extract from a work entitled Petri Andrac Matthioli Senensis medici commentarii in sex libros Pedacii Dioscoridis de Materia Medica. Venetiis. ex officina Valgrisiana MDLXV. Traduit de Latin en Francais, par M. Antoine du Pinet. Lyon, MDCLV. Preface, p. 13. ligne 30: "Finally, in order to omit nothing which can add to the knowledge of simples, it must be noted that Nature, mother and producer of all things, has created various simples, which have a sympathy or natural antipathy to each other; which is a very considerable point in this matter, and has no like as a mystery and secret. And thus it has seemed to me good to hint a word about it, and principally of those which are used in medicine. To commence, then, with the oak and the olive; these two trees hate each other in such sort that, if you plant one in the hole from which the other was dug, it will die there; and, even if you plant one near the other, they will work each other's death. The cabbage and the vine do the like; for it has been seen that, if you plant a cabbage at the foot of a vine, the vine will recoil and draw itself away. And thus it is no marvel that the cabbage is very useful to sober topers, and that the Germans eat it commonly in a compost to safeguard themselves from their wine." WHY PENNSYLVANIA WAS SETTLED. Penn refused to pull his hat off Before the king, and therefore sat off, Another country to light pat on, Where he might worship with his hat on. HUGUENOTS. They were so called because their first places of meeting in the city of Tours (where Calvin's opinions first prevailed) were cellars under-ground, near Hugo's Gate [Heb. XI. 38], whence the vulgar applied this name to them. ROYAL DEMISE. How monarchs die is easily explained, And thus upon the tomb it might be chisel'd; As long as George the Fourth could reign, he reigned, And then he mizzled. BOSTON. In the seventh century a Roman Catholic monk by the name of Botolph, or Bot-holp, viz., Boat-help, founded a church in what is now Lincolnshire, England. Gradually a town grew up around the church, and was called Botolphstown, which was afterward contracted into Botolphston, and then shortened to Botoston, and finally to Boston. From that town of Boston in Lincolnshire came to America the Rev. John Cotton, who gave the name to the New England Capital. So that the metropolis of good old Puritan Massachusetts was, it seems, named in honor of a Roman Catholic saint and monk! WEATHERCOCKS. The vane or weathercock must have been of very early origin. Vitruvius calls it triton, evidently from an ancient form. The usual form on towers and castles was that of a banner; but on ecclesiastical edifices, it generally was a weathercock. There was a symbolical reason for the adoption of the figure of a cock. The cross was surmounted by a ball, to symbolize the redemption of the world by the cross of Christ; and the cock was placed upon the cross in allusion to the repentance of St. Peter, and to remind us of the important duties of repentance and Christian vigilance. Apart from symbolism, the large tail of the cock is well adapted to turn with the wind, just as is the arrow which is so frequently chosen. CUTTING OFF WITH A SHILLING. According to Blackstone (ii. 32), the Romans were wont to set aside testaments as being inofficiosa, deficient in natural duty, if they disinherited or totally passed by (without assigning a true and sufficient reason) any of the children of the testator. But if the child had any legacy, though ever so small, it was a proof that the testator had not lost his memory or his reason, which otherwise the law presumed; but was then supposed to have acted thus for some substantial cause, and in such case no querula inofficiosi testamenti was allowed. Hence, probably, has arisen that groundless error of the necessity of leaving the heir a shilling, or some such express legacy, in order to disinherit him effectually. Whereas the law of England makes no such constrained suppositions of forgetfulness or insanity; and, therefore, though the heir or next of kin be totally omitted, it admits no querula inofficiosi to set aside such a testament. CARDINAL'S RED HAT. The red hat was given to cardinals by Pope Innocent IV., in the first Council of Lyons, held in 1245, to signify that by that color they should be always ready to shed their blood in defence. of the church. THE ROAST BEEF OF ENGLAND. Brave Betty was a maiden Queen, Bold and clever! bold and clever! To court her did endeavor. Queen Bess she frowned and stroked her ruff, And gave the mighty Don a huff: For which he swore her ears he'd cuff, All with his grand Armada. Says Royal Bess, "I'll vengeance take!" A SENSIBLE QUACK. An empiric was asked by a regular physician how it was that, without education or skill, he contrived to live in considerable style, while he could hardly subsist. "Why" said the other, "how many people do you think have passed us lately?" "Perhaps a hundred." "And how many of them do you think possess common sense?" "Possibly one." "Why, then," said the quack," that one goes to you, and I get the other ninety-nine." GENEALOGY. The doggerel couplet repeated in varied forms but usually presented in this shape― When Adam delved and Eve span, Who was then the gentleman? is a translation of the German Da Adam hackt und Eva spann, Wer war damals der Edelmann? which is further referred to a wag who had written the couplet on a wall near to which the Emperor Maximilian was tracing his pedigree; upon which the Emperor wrote the following impromptu: Ich bin ein Mann wie ein ander Mann, Nur dass mir Gott die Ehre gann, (I am a man like another man, only that God gave honor to me.) A JUGGLER'S MYSTERY. The French Government, which formerly sent dancing-girls and comic actors to cheer up its soldiers when they were ordered away from the dancing-saloons and theatres, so common throughout France, engaged Mr. Robert Houdin to go to Algeria and exhibit his best feats of legerdemain before the natives, to shake the excessive influence exerted by the marabouts or priests, whose power seems to be established solely on their adroit jugglery. The marabouts were not disposed to yield to the new-comer's powers without a struggle, and pressed him as hard as they could. M. Houdin was successful, but his victory was not altogether easy, as he tells in the following narrative: The marabout said to me: "I believe now in your supernatural power. You are really a sorcerer. I hope, therefore, you will not refuse to repeat here an exhibition of your powers made on your stage." He gave me two pistols, which he had concealed under his bournous, and said: "Choose one of those pistols; we are going to load it, and I shall fire it at you. You have nothing to fear, since you know how to parry any bullet." I confess I was for a moment dumb with embarrassment. I tried my best to think of some subterfuge, but I could think of nothing. Every eye was fixed on me, in expectation of my reply. The marabout was triumphant. Bou Allem, who knew that my tricks were due solely to my adroitness, became angry that his guests should be annoyed in this barbarous way, and he scolded the marabout. I stopped him. An idea had struck me which would at least extricate me for the moment from my embarrassment. So I said to the marabout, speaking with all the assurance I could summon: |