The Queer, the Quaint and the Quizzical Part 13

"Now, musing o'er the changing scene, Farmers behind the tavern screen Collect; with elbow idly press'd On hob, reclines the corner's guest, Reading the news, to mark again The bankrupt lists, or price of grain, Puffing the while his red-tipt pipe, He dreams o'er troubles nearly ripe; Yet, winter's leisure to regale, Hopes better times, and sips his ale."

_Ancient Antipathy to Red Hair._

Ages before the time of Judas, red hair was thought a mark of reprobation, both in the case of Typhon, who deprived his brother of the sceptre in Egypt, and Nebuchadnezzar, who acquired it in expiation of his atrocities. Even the donkey tribe suffered from this ill-omened visitation, according to the proverb of "wicked as a red a.s.s." a.s.ses of that color were held in such detestation among the Copths, that every year they sacrificed one by hurling it from a high wall.

_Lightning-Prints._

Lightning-prints are appearances sometimes found on the skin of men or animals that are struck by lightning, and are currently believed to be photographic representations of surrounding objects or scenery.

At Candelaria, in Cuba, in 1828, a young man was struck dead by lightning near a house, on one of the windows of which was nailed a horse-shoe; and the image of the horse-shoe was said to be distinctly printed upon the neck of the young man. On the 14th of November, 1830, lightning struck the Chateau Benatoniere, in Lavendee. At the time a lady happened to be seated on a chair in the salon, and on the back of her dress were printed minutely the ornaments on the back of the chair.

In September, 1857, a peasant-girl, while herding a cow in the department of Seine-et-Marne, was overtaken by a thunder-storm. She took refuge under a tree, and the tree, the cow and herself were struck with lightning. The cow was killed, but she recovered, and on loosening her dress for the sake of respiring freely, she saw a picture of the cow upon her breast.

_No b.u.t.tons but Bra.s.s b.u.t.tons._

There is a curious law extant in England in regard to bra.s.s b.u.t.tons. It is, by Acts of Parliament pa.s.sed in three reigns, (William III., Anne and George I.), illegal for a tailor to make, or mortal to wear, clothes with any other b.u.t.tons appended thereto but b.u.t.tons of bra.s.s. The law was put in force for the benefit of the b.u.t.ton-makers of Birmingham; and it further enacts, not only that he who makes or sells garments with any but bra.s.s b.u.t.tons thereto affixed, shall pay a penalty of forty shillings for every dozen, but that he shall not be able to recover the price he claims, if the wearer thinks proper to resist payment. The Act is not a dead letter. Not more than thirty years ago a Mr. Shirley sued a Mr. King for nine pounds sterling due for a suit of clothes. King pleaded non-liability on the ground of an illegal transaction, the b.u.t.tons on the garments supplied being made of cloth, or bone covered with cloth, instead of glittering bra.s.s, as the law directs. The judge allowed the plea; and the defendant having thus gained a double suit without cost, immediately proceeded against the plaintiff to recover his share of the forty shillings for every dozen b.u.t.tons which the poor tailor had unwittingly supplied. A remarkable feature in the case was, that the judge who admitted the plea, the barrister who set it up, and the client who profited by it, were themselves all b.u.t.toned contrary to law!

_Curious Signs in New York._

One may see in the shop-windows of a Fourth avenue confectioner, "Pies Open All Night." An undertaker in the same thoroughfare advertises, "Everything Requisite for a First-cla.s.s Funeral." A Bowery placard reads, "Home-made Dining Rooms, Family Oysters." A West Broadway _restaurateur_ sells "Home-made Pies, Pastry and Oysters." A Third avenue "dive" offers for sale "Coffee and Cakes off the Griddle," and an East Broadway caterer retails "Fresh Salt Oysters" and "Larger Beer." A Fulton street tobacconist calls himself a "Speculator in Smoke," and a purveyor of summer drinks has invented a new draught, which he calls by the colicky name of "aeolian Spray." A Sixth avenue barber hangs out a sign reading "Boots Polished Inside," and on Varick street, near Carmine, there are "Lessons Given on the Piano, with use for Practice.", "Cloth Cutt and Bastd" is the cabalistic legend on the front of a millinery shop on Spring street; on another street the following catches the eye: "Washin Ironin and Goin Out by the Day Done Here."

_Recipes from Albertus Magnus._

"If thou wylt see that other men cannot see: Take the gall of a male cat, and the fat of a hen all whyte, and mixe them together, and anoint thy eyes, and thou shalt see it that others cannot see.

"If the hart, eye or brayne of a lapwyng or blacke plover be hanged upon a man's neck, it is profitable agaynste forgetfulnesse, and sharpeth man's understanding."-_Black letter copy-very old._

_Infamous Nankeen._

The wearing of nankeen at one time was so popular among gentlemen in England, that it also became the fashion in France. English nankeen threatened to drive all French manufactured articles of summer wear out of the market. Louis XVI., however, was equal to the emergency. He ordered all the executioners and their a.s.sistants to perform their terrible office in no other dress but one made out of nankeen, which rendered the material so "infamous" that its use was discarded.

_The Military Salute._

The military salute, which consists of the hand being brought to a horizontal position over the eyebrows, has a very old origin, dating, in fact, from the very commencement of the history of the English army. Its origin is founded on the tournaments of the Middle Ages, and was as follows: After the queen of beauty was enthroned, the knights who were to take part in the sports of the day, marched past the dais on which she sat, and as they pa.s.sed they shielded their eyes from the rays of her beauty.

_Book-keeping in Norway._

The process of keeping accounts among the Norway lumbermen is unique in style. The time-keeper, after comparing accounts with the workman, sends him to the cashier for his wages, with the amount due to him chalked on his back; and when the cashier has paid it, he takes his receipt by brushing off the chalk-marks.

_Curious Post-Office._

The smallest post-office in the world is kept in a barrel, which swings from the outermost rock of the mountains overhanging the Straits of Magellan, opposite Terra del Fuego. Every pa.s.sing ship opens it to place letters in or take them out. Every ship undertakes to forward all letters in it that it is possible for them to transmit. The barrel hangs by its iron chain, beaten and battered by the winds and storms, but no locked and barred office on land is more secure.

_Inordinate Self-Esteem._

Some Frenchmen who landed on the coast of Guinea, found a negro prince seated under a tree on a block of wood for his throne, and three or four negroes, armed with wooden spears, for his guards. His sable majesty anxiously inquired: "Do they talk much of me in France?"

_He's a Brick._

If this is slang, it is cla.s.sical slang. Of the thousands who use the expression, very few know its origin or its primitive significance.

Truly, it is a heroic thing to say of a man to call him a brick. The word so used, if not twisted from its original intent, implies all that is brave, patriotic and loyal. Plutarch, in his life of Agesilaus, King of Sparta, gives us the original of the quaint and familiar expression.

On a certain occasion an amba.s.sador from Espirus, on a diplomatic mission, was shown by the king over his capital. The amba.s.sador knew of the monarch's fame-knew that though only nominally king of Sparta, he was ruler of Greece-and he had looked to see ma.s.sive walls rearing aloft their embattled towns for the defence of the town; but he found nothing of the kind. He marvelled much at this, and spoke of it to the king.

"Sire," he said, "I have visited most of the princ.i.p.al towns, and I find no walls reared for defence. Why is this?"

"Indeed, Sir Amba.s.sador," replied Agesilaus; "thou canst not have looked carefully. Come with me to-morrow morning, and I will show you the walls of Sparta."

Accordingly, on the following morning, the king led his guest out upon the plain where his army was drawn up in full array, and pointing proudly to the serried hosts, he said-

"There thou beholdest the walls of Sparta-ten thousand men, and EVERY MAN A BRICK!"

_Punch and Judy in 1669._

Although Punch was not originally French, he has always been greatly esteemed in France. The following entries are found in the registers of the royal treasury:-

"Paid to Brioche, the puppet-player, for sojourning at St.

Germain-en-Laye, during September, October and November, 1669, to divert the royal children, 1365 livres."

"Paid to Francois Daitelin, puppet-player, for the fifty-six days he remained at St. Germain, to amuse Monseigneur le Dauphin (July and August, 1669), 820 livres."

Five successive months must almost have been enough of such amus.e.m.e.nt for the royal children of France.

_Offending Barbers._

On the 20th of November, 1746, fifty-one barbers were convicted before the commissioners of excise, and fined twenty pounds each, for having in their custody hair-powder not made of starch, contrary to Act of Parliament.

_Primitive Tavern Signs._

In Ireland, in the taverns by the road-side, in which illicit whiskey can be obtained, the traveler is informed of the fact by a piece of turf un.o.btrusively placed in the window. In the Middle Ages, road-side ale houses in England were indicated by a stake projecting from the front of the house, from which some object was suspended. Sometimes a garland was hung upon the stake, to which occasional reference is made in Chaucer's poems. The bush, however, was more common than the stake, and was often composed of ivy. The saying "Good wine needs no bush," no doubt originated from this custom.

_Watch-Papers._

Years ago it was the custom for watch-makers to put their business cards inside of the case. These cards were sometimes enlivened with a couplet or a verse, of each of which we subjoin a sample-