NATURE'S REPOSITORY. CASHMERE. No part of India has been more celebrated in prose and verse than Cashmere for its natural beauties, genial climate, and textile fabrics. The valley nearly severed by very lofty inclosing mountains, from the rest of the world, is about one hundred and twenty miles long, by seventy broad, and comprises an area little less than four-fifths of the size of Yorkshire. It is said to be never visited by winds and storms, the surface of the lake of Welar never showing a single ripple. It produces the finest fruits and most beautiful flowers in abundance, especially roses, cultivated for otto of roses, and the renowned Attu Gul perfume. The town of Cashmere, near the centre of the valley, is 5800 feet above the level of the sea. It is from the hair of the species of goat of which we give a correct representation, that the celebrated shawls of Cashmere are manufactured. These excel all others in purity of colour, which is attributed to the superiority of the water, and the style of the execution, due to the expertness of the weavers. Our word shawl is a corruption of the Cashmerian duschula. The goats which supply the material for their manufacture, are small animals, reared principally on the more elevated highlands of central Asia. Recently, the whole region of Cashmere has been subjected to calamities, which have nearly depopulated it. Under the rule of the Sikhs, many of the people emigrated to escape oppression. A frightful earthquake occurred in 1828, quickly followed by an outbreak of cholera, which in forty days destroyed one hundred thousand lives. In 1833, the rich harvest failed, famine ensued, a second attack of the same scourge came, and again swept off its thousands. Christmas-day, and to be accompanied by a large spaniel, who terms of great intimacy; and for many years it had been the custom of the London family to pass the Christmas at Guildford, and their uniform practice was to arrive to dinner the day before was as great a favourite with the visited, as with the visitors. At the end of about seven years, after this plan had been adhered to, the two families had an unfortunate misunderstanding, which occasioned an omission of the usual invitation. About an hour before dinner on the day before Christmas-day the Guildford gentleman, standing at his window, exclaimed to his wife, Well, my dear,' the W- -s have thought better of it, for I declare they are coming as usual, though we did not invite them; here comes Cæsar to announce them; and the dog came trotting up to the door and was admitted as usual into the parlour. The lady of the house gave orders to prepare beds, dinner waited an hour, but no guests arrived. Cæsar, after staying the exact number of days he had been accustomed to, set off for home, and reached it in safety. The correspondence, which of necessity occurred, had the happy effect of renewing the intercourse of the estranged friends, and as long as Cæsar lived he paid the annual visit in company with his master and mistress. DOMESTIC UTILITIES. DIRECTIONS FOR MAKING MARKETS. SALMON. Previous to giving directions for choosing a salmon, it may general. In order to discover whether they be fresh or stale, not be improper to make a few remarks on the choice of fish in take notice of the colour of the gills, which should be of a lively red; whether they are hard or easy to be opened, the projection or indention of their eyes, the stiffness or limberness of their fins, and the scent from their gills. The flesh of a salmon, when The flesh of this fish is very little white, and has a few blue veins, the grain even, the skin tender, good-coloured, and soft. All the veins and gristles should be blue; for, when they are brown and yellow, the skin harsh, tough, and dry, the fish is not good. It has a pleasant smell when in perfection, but a very disagreeable one when bad. It should also cut firm, without crumbling. The females are as full of roe as a carp. OYSTERS. Oysters, when alive and full of vigour, will close fast upon the knife on opening, and let go as soon as they are wounded in the body. Of the various species, those called the native Milton, being the fattest and whitest, are most esteemed; but some prefer the Colchester, Pyfleet, and Milford oysters. LOBSTERS. The tail of a boiled lobster, if fresh, will be stiff, and pull up with a spring; but if it be stale, the tail will be flabby, and have no spring in it. The cock lobster is known by the narrow back part of his tail; the two uppermost fins, within his tails, are stiff and hard; but those of the hen are soft, and the tail broader. The male, though generally smaller than the female, has the higher flavour, the flesh is firmer, and the body of a redder colour, when boiled. CRABS. When they are stale, their shells will be of a dusky red colour; the joints of their claws limber, which being loose, may be turned any way with the finger; and from under their throat will issue an unpleasant smell. But, if good, they are the very reverse. PRAWNS AND SHRIMPS. These fish, when in perfection, afford a pleasant scent, are very firm, and their tails turn stiffly inwards. They have a bright colour, when fresh; but their tails grow limber, the brightness of their colour goes off, and they become pale and clammy, when stale. THE CABINET. FORGIVENESS.-We pardon as long as we love. DAILY EVILS.-Evils in the journey of life are like the hills which alarm the travellers upon their road; they both appear great at a distance, but when we approach them we find they are far less insurmountable than we had imagined. THE GOOD AFFECTIONS.-All the benign affections such as love, hope, joy, and pity-add to beauty; while the preponder ance of hatred, fear, or envy in the mind, deforms or injures the countenance. Grace is the noblest part of beauty. THISTLES.-Thistles, though noxious things in themselves, are usually signs of an excellent ground whereon they grow; so bashfulness, though it be a weakness and betrayer of the mind, is yet generally an argument of a soul ingenuously and virtuously inclined. THE ENJOYMENT OF DOCTORS.-Objection has been made to lies not in the phrase, but in its application. There is a class of the statement that such a one enjoys bad health. The fault men who live in the constant enjoyment of bad health; they are not, however, the patients, but the doctors. THE PASSPORT TO GREAT SOCIETY. In England, says D'Israeli, personal distinction is the only passport to the society of the great. Whether this distinction arise from fortune, family, or talent, is immaterial; but certain it is, to enter into high society, a man must either have blood, a million, or genius. TRUE POVERTY.-A philosopher has said, "Though a man without money is poor, a man with nothing but money is still poorer." Worldly gifts cannot bear up the spirits from fainting and sinking when trials and troubles come, any more than headache can be cured by a golden crown or toothache by a chain of pearls."Earthly riches are full of poverty." THEORY OF THE EYES.-Dark blue eyes are most common in persons of delicate, refined, or effeminate nature; light blue, and much more, blue eyes, in the hardy and active. Greenish eyes have generally the same meaning as the grey. Hazel eyes are the more usual indications of a mind, masculine, vigorous, and profound. A BEAUTIFUL SIGNIFICATION.-"Alabama" signifies in the Indian language, "Here we rest.' A story is told of a tribe of Indians who fled from a relentless foe in the trackless forest in the southwest. Weary and travel worn, they reached a noble river, which flowed through a beautiful country. The chief of the band struck his tent pole in the ground and exclaimed, "Alabama! Alabama!" ("Here we shall rest! Here we shall rest!") THE PAST.-The Past-with what a sad and spiritual voice does the memory of the past come over the vast dim ocean of time, reflecting, as it were in a mirror, thoughts and images long buried in the heart, and obscured and forgotten amid the turmoil of daily life. Alas, our very hearts seem to have changed; with the progressive alterations of our physical frame we are not what we were unconsciously we have lost the freshness and innocence which made the true charm of youth, and have grown colder, more calculating, and more selfish. - " THE FUTURE OF LITTLE GIRLS. Two pretty little girls, whose ages together barely exceeded a dozen years, were overheard ruminating over their future prospects. They say," observed the elder of the two, with a complacent smile, and a shake of her curls, "that you and I are the prettiest girls in the school." "Ah, but," interposed mamma, "you'll soon lose that, for, you know, pretty faces turn ugly in old age." 'Do you say so?" ejaculated the younger with a look of surprise and disappointment; but, rallying her thoughts for a moment, the smile returned to her rosy cheeks, and drawing her stool closer to her juvenile "Never mind, we'll get married when we're young, and then they cannot put us away when we are old!" HEROISM. Doing one's duty is heroism, duty done is companion, she whispered in her ear with evident triumphSuccess. A RESURRECTION.-Milton says, there will be, one day, a resurrection of names and reputation, as certainly as of bodies. THE COVER OF A BLEMISH.-Nothing hides a blemish so completely as a cloth of gold. This is the first lesson that heirs and heiresses commonly learn. LIBERALITY. A man who is not liberal with what he has, does but deceive himself when he thinks he would be liberal if he had more. CHARACTER. You may get gold by subscription, but a man of real power, of piety, of faculty, of energy, cannot be subscribed for; and till you get your man, nothing is done. Imbecility seated on a mountain of gold can do nothing. THE BIBLE IN THE WINDOW. Would I then withhold the bible from the cottager and the artisan? Heaven forfend! The fairest flower that ever clomb up a cottage window is not so fair a sight to my eyes as the bible gleaming through the lower panes. Let it but be read by such men as it used to be read by, when they came to it as a ground covered with manna, even the bread which the Lord had given for his people to eat; where he that gathered much had nothing over, and he that gathered little had no lack; they gathered every man according to his eating. They came to it each as to a treasure-house of Scriptures; each visitant taking what was precious, and leaving as precious for others; yea, more, says our worthy old church historian, Fuller, where the same man at several times may in his apprehension prefer several THE FAMILY MIRROR. A Yankee jury sat upon a man who died from drink"Death by hanging. They returned the appropriate verdict, ing-round a rum shop." It is said that certain aristocratic temperance men have refused to have anything to do with water because it is so often drunk. 66 One person having asked another if he believed in the No," was the reply, "but I believe in appearance of spirits, their disappearance, for I've missed a bottle of brandy since last night." A Yankee doctor has contrived to extract from sausages a powerful tonic, which he says contains the whole Sulphate of strength of the original bark. He calls it the " Canine!" A contemporary describing a dance at a village in the neighbourhood, says: "The gorgeous string of glass beads glistened on the heaving bosoms of the village belles like polished rubies on the delicate surface of warm apple-dumplings." A lady entered her kitchen the other day and found On asking the servant, a the oven swimming with grease. Welsh girl, the cause, the Cambrian maid answered with the "Look you, missus, the candle was fell in greatest simplicity, the water, and I put her in the oven to dry." A juryman, kept several days hanging on, at his own expense, sent a friend to the judge to complain that he had been "Oh, tell him, said the witty paid nothing for his attendance. judge, "that if ever he should have to go before a jury himself he would get one for nothing." The celebrated portrait painter, Stuart, once met a lady in the street in Boston who saluted him with, "Ah, Mr. Stuart, I have just seen your miniature, and I kissed it, because it was so much like you." "And did it kiss you in return?" no." Then," said Stuart, "it was not like me." 66 Why "Ahem!" So here I am, between two tailors," said a dandy at a public table, where a couple of young tailors were "Very true," said one seated, who had just begun business. of them, we are now but beginners, and can only afford to Exit dandy in a hurry, pretendkeep one goose between us!"' He forgot his ing that he had forgot something in his room. way back, too. An Irishman, who was giving his testimony in the Boston Municipal Court lately, convulsed the bar, tickled the jury, and raised a smile on the bench, by the following statement:-"Ye see, may't plaze you, that this man got a stroke and fell down. Everybody around called out, Oh, he's kilt! he's kilt!' Thin I steps up, and I hollied out to the crowd, 'If the man is kilt, why don't yees stand back, and give him a little air!" " Passing through Bleeding-heart yard the other day, we met a stout Hibernian damsel, with health bursting out of her blue-red cheeks, as the richness of her native potatoes does out of their empurpled jackets. "Hillo, what have you got there?" "Och, my mother," says she, "and what's the matter with her?" "Sure sir, an I don't know; she's always ill after tatoes," says she, with a smile at her own figure of speech, for it was whisky she meant. A lady visiting the Coldbath-fields jail saw the prisoners at work on the tread-mill. She said to the Governor, "Ah! there they go-tread, tread-climb! Poor things! Be kind to them, Mr. Chesterton, and don't work them too hard." Some time afterwards, a dog was stolen from the lady's house, the thief was convicted, and, on her second visit to the prison, he was on the tread-wheel. "Ah! there they go-tread, treadclimb, climb!" she exclaimed, as before; and then, suddenly assuming the wildest energy, she continued, with outstretched arm and clenched hand, "Work them to death, Mr. Chesterton work them to death! I don't care what you do to them, now they've got my dog." An American paper says:-Dip the Atlantic Ocean dry with a tea-spoon, twist your heel into the toe of your boot, send up fishing hooks with balloons and fish for stars, get astride of a gossamer and chase a comet; when the rain is coming down like the mighty cataract of Niagara remember where you left your umbrella, choke a musquito with a brickbat; in short, all things hitherto considered impossible to be possible, never attempt to coax a woman to say she will when she has made up her mind to say she wont. A Scotch farmer, celebrated in his neighbourhood for his immense strength and skill in the athletic exercises, very frequently had the pleasure of meeting people who came to try if Lord D, a great wrestling they could settle him or not. amateur, had come from London on purpose to test the athletic Scot. The latter was working in an enclosure at a little distance his horse to a tree, and addressed the farmer:-" Friend, I have from the house when the noble lord arrived. His lordship tied heard a great deal of talk about you, and I have come a long way to see which of us is the best wrestler." The Scotchman, without answering, seized the nobleman by the middle of the body, pitched him over the hedge, and then continued working. When his lordship had got himself fairly picked up, "Well," said the farmer, "have you anything more to say to me?"-"No," replied his lordship; "but perhaps you'd be so good as to throw me my horse." The widow of Holcroft, the dramatist, married Raising the Wind," and other James Kenny, the author of successful dramatic pieces. She was the daughter of Monsieur Le Mercier, to whom we are indebted for "Le Tableau de Paris." Upon the termination of the war between England and France, this distinguished French writer, a fine, venerable old man, immediately crossed the channel to see his daughter, who, a short time previously, had been confined with twins. The following year he renewed his visit, but on repairing to the residence of his offspring near Bedford-square, he found, to his great mortification, that the family had removed the same morning to Brompton, day. Upon the servant opening the door with the infant in her the nurse and one of the twin children remaining till the following arms, the distress of the old gentleman was extreme, it being much increased by his slight knowledge of the English language. Clasping the unconscious babe to his breast, the tears rolling down his careworn features, he thus vented his enquiries:-"Oh mon petit, ma dare-ah, yas you, littale rog,-whar ees-ah, yas, With great diffi-whar ees de oder piece belonging to dis?" culty he at length found his way to Brompton, but the family had retired to rest. After knocking some time at the door, a voice from within demanded who was there. The reply, a comprehensive one, gained immediate admittance, it being-"Opane, opane de door; I am de fader of all." GENERAL TOTTLEBEN. I ken'd him weel. The chiel was born in Fife, 1 TO CORRESPONDENTS. T. S. (Hampstead St.)-We must decline your kind offer, as our pages are occupied with previous arrangements for some time to come. S. DAVIS.-Yes. A. R.-There is a report abroad that the Bishop of Norwich contemplates resignation. JAMES HEDLEY.-It is Mr. George Scharf, jun. who has been appointed by the Chancellor of the Exchequer to the post of permanent secretary to the National Portrait Commission, under the presidency of Lord Stanhope. A. SOLDIER.-Arrangements are in progress for an electric telegraph between England and India, by way of Seleucia and the Persian Gulf. A. B.-The title under which the Speaker ascends to the House of Lords is that of "Lord Bromley," the right hon, gentleman having property in that part of this county (Middlesex). THOMAS.-The number of officers and men who have proceeded as German military settlers to the Cape of Good Hope is 2362. INQUIRER.-Arrangements have been made by the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company for establishing packet communication with China, in connection with the Overland India mail leaving London, ria Southampton, on the 20th, and ria Marseilles on the 26th of each month. A CORRESPONDENT says, it is a singular fact that if you read fifty electioneering addresses at the present time, you will find no two alike. INTENDING EMIGRANT.-A network of 26,000 miles of railway now covers the United States. This has been accomplished principally by Irish labour, and it is unnecessary to say that the cost of construction has been very small, compared with that in this country. The single article of the difference in the value of land would, of course, make an enormous difference. The cost of construction per mile on the New York and Massachusetts Railways has been 10,0007 to 12.0001. as compared with 35,000/, on British railways. A. JAMES.-It is quite true that the Duke of Grafton has] announced his determination to shut up all the public houses on his estates. TO THE EDITOR OF THE Family Mirror.-A public injustice.-Sir, Allow me to inform you of the inconvenience inflicted alike upon equestrians, pedestrians, and the inhabitants of our principal thoroughfares, by the frequent breaking up of the carriageway for granite, wood, or iron pavement, or some experimental macadamisation, and also of the fact that whatever damage may be caused to the water-pipes by these proceedings the cost of repair falls upon the unfortunate tenant whose house may happen to be supplied by the injured pipe, although he has paid water, sewer, paving, and all other rates in the delusive hope that he would be free from expense as far as all casualties outside his premises are concerned. The New River Company have just cut off my water supply, because the pipe in the carriage way, 30 feet from my house, was broken by the paviors, and I could not instantly get a plumber to repair it. Surely, sir, this is too arbitrary for the citizens of London to submit to. An M. D. ELIZA.-Cloth, the colour of which easily fades, and which will neither endure soap nor hard rubbing, may be washed extremely well with bran. THOMAS HARVEY.-Wash for outside walls.To a half bushel of stone lime put one gallon of raw linseed oil, the lime to be first wetted with sufficient water to cover it completely over, and the oil to be added when in its boiling state. It can be tinted according to taste with any common colours. The above ingredients are sufficient to colour at least 500 yards. Care should be taken to clean the surface well before using the colour. If two coats of the colour be given to the wall, it adds much to its beauty and durability. The above if mixed and laid on with care, will stand the weather, and keep its appearance equal to paint for three or four years. FAMILY EAS SIME [As we devote a portion of our space to this kind of innocent and intellectual entertainment, contributions from our numerous subscribers towards it are solicited. ED. F. M.] 66. In summer I'm seen, I exist, though with death, Then guess who I am, for I'm now in your eye, T. MARSDEN.-The Russian flotilla on the Caspian Sea consists of seventeen steam ships. H. Y.-At Frankfort the rate of discount is as low as 3 per cent. ROBERT MARSH.-The ships taking out troops to China are to be provided with Clifford's lifeboat apparatus. A. M.-Quite the contrary. The slave trade is one of the lucrative branches of the commerce of New York. According to the commercial papers of that city, no less than from twenty-five to thirty slave ships have been fitted out there during the last three years, and though three of these have been seized, and forty-six men held to answer under various statutes, only two convictions have taken place, AN INVALID. Many erroneous notions prevail respecting the uses and the properties of the warm bath. To many persons, the idea of submersion in warm water on a summer's day, would be preposterous; but if it be rationally considered, it will be found that the warm bath may be taken with equal, or perhaps greater benefit, in the summer than in the winter. During the hot weather, the secretions of the skin are much increased in quantity; and consequently, a greater necessity exists that it shou'd be perfectly free from obstructions. Another prevailing error respecting the warm bath is, it tends to relax and enervate the body; for, experience has sufficiently proved the fallacy of the opinion, and many physicians have prescribed its use to patients labouring under debility from disease, none of whom experience such effects, but have all felt invigorated, an! mostly restored to health and strength. Many persons are deterred from using the warm bath especially in winter, from the fear of catching cold; but this fear is groundless, for it has been found that the warm bath, by increasing the circulation on the surface of the body, renders it more capable of withstanding the effects of cold than it otherwise would have been. A SERVANT.-If the house is on fire, and you have to pass through the flames and smoke, pull off any loose cotton clothes which you may have on, and put on stays, flannel or any close fitting garments. If you have to pass through thick smoke crawl along the ground, or if you run through it, hold your breath. J. P.-In speaking of races of workmen, it must be understood that some countries and climates produce the Saxon variety in the greatest abundance-others the Celtic variety. But it is the intermingling of the two which produces what we are accustomed to consider as an Englishman-physical power united with mental acuteness. R. A.-It is not our earnings but our savings which make ns rich-as what we digest makes us fat. T. FRASER. By the term Celt, is meant that class of men found largely in southern France, in southern Ireland, and in some parts of the Scottish Highlands, men mostly dark skinned and dark haired, of little physical strength, as compared with the Saxon, but capable of occasional great nervous energy, of delicate organization, and with acute perceptive faculties. *.* We cannot engage to return rejected manuscripts. All our literary arrangements are complete. |