little consideration was shown him, or rather | start from a house where all the party he was pushed and thrust about in a way assemble, the gentlemen driving themselves, which was indecent, if not disgusting, what- and each family taking some provisions with ever might have been his crimes. Some lit- them. After about an hour and three-quartle difficulty occurred in placing his head ters' drive the whole caravan arrives at the conveniently under the axe, from a recoiling house of a starosto (president) of the workmotion of the prisoner. He was certainly people employed by the foreign commercial the least brave of the three. The execu- houses in Russia. The starosto is usually a tioner having rolled his body into the larger wealthy man, and mostly looked up to by basket with the others, took up that contain- his neighbors, as he has by some most exing the three heads, which having emptied traordinary means acquired some few townupon the bodies, he gave the bottom of the ish manners, which suit his country appearbasket a jocular tap, which, being accom- ance as much as glazed boots, and a polka panied with a lifting of his foot behind, and tie would suit the true English country probably some funny and seasonable obser- farmer. vation, created a good deal of merriment amongst the spectators.

The guillotine is apparently the most merciful, but certainly the most terrible to witness, of any form of execution in civilized Europe. The fatal chop, the raw neck, the spouting blood, are very shocking to the feelings, and demoralizing; as such exhibitions cannot fail to generate a spirit of ferocity and a love of bloodshed amongst those who witness them. It was not uncommon at this period in Paris to execute sheep and calves with the guillotine; and fathers of families would pay a small sum to obtain such a gratifying show for their children. In such a taste may we not trace the old leaven of the first Revolution, and the germ of future ones?

The fate of poor Dr. Guillotin was a singular one. He lived to see the machine which he had invented, from feelings of pure philanthropy, made the instrument of the most horrible butcheries, the aptness of the invention notoriously increasing the number of the victims who fell by it; and he died in extreme old age, with the bitter reflection that his name would be handed down to posterity, in connection with the most detestable ferocities which have ever stained the annals of mankind.

After their having warmed themselves before a good hot Russian stove, the party begin operations by getting the sledges ready, and ascending the ice-hills. The hills are made of a wooden scaffold, covered with huge bits of ice, all of an equal size, placed side by side so as to fit closely together. By being constantly watered they gradually become one solid mass as smooth as a mirror. The hill, which usually is of a considerable height, and rather sloping, ends in a long narrow plain of ice called the run, which is just broad enough for three narrow sledges to pass each other, and long enough to carry you to the foot of a second hill.

The sledges are usually of iron, long and narrow, and covered by cushions, often embroidered by the fair hand of a lady. They are low, and so constructed that they can hold one or two persons as the case may be. Both the run and the hill are bordered by fir-trees on each side, and on such evening parties are illuminated with Chinese lamps placed between the branches of the trees. Fancy yourself on the top of the hill looking down this illuminated avenue of firs, which is reflected in the mirror of the ice, as if determining to outshine the lights on the clear sky, and the gay laughing crowds moving up and down the hills, and you have before you the finest and most perfect picture of sorrowless enjoyment as a striking contrast to the lifeless nature surrounding it. The briskness of the movement, and the AN ICE-HILL PARTY IN RUSSIA. many accidents happening to the clumsy THE reader, I hope, will have no objection members of the party, keep up the exciteto quit his comfortable fireside, put on his ment, whilst the contest of young men to furs and accompany me to a sledge, or ice- obtain this or the other lady for their parthill party. ner on their down hill journey, (not in life,) An army of about ten or fifteen sledges, never allows the conversation or the laugh

From "Bentley's Miscellany."

I remember once | perchance she is so much engaged in conversation with their more fortunate rival that she cannot even give them a grateful smile for their trouble. Now the ladies adjourn, and the field of action is left to the gentlemen. All restraint seems to have gone. The clatter of knives, the jingling of glasses, the hubbub of voices, all this makes such a chaos of strange and mysterious noises, that it has quite a deafening effect. At last a cry of order is heard from the top of the table. One of the directors of the party, after having requested the audience to fill their glasses, in flowery language proposes the health of the ladies, which of course, is drunk with tremendous applause, manifested by acts such as beating with the handles of knives and forks on the tables, and clapping hands.

to flag for one moment.
getting into what school-boys would call an
awful scrape with one of the ice-hill heroes.
We both started together from the second
hill on a race, and I, having a faster sledge,
overtook him by the length of my convey-
ance, and arrived at the top of the hill before
him. Seeing that the belle of the evening
was disengaged, I approached her with all
the formality with which the newly admit-
ted youth requests the queen of a ball-room
for the pleasure and honor to dance a
polka with her, and asked her to go down.
Forgetting a previous appointment with my
former antagonist, she accepted my offer,
and the latter just arrived in time to see us
start from the hill. In his rage he deter-
mined to do me some mischief by upsetting
my sledge, as soon as he had an opportunity
of doing so without any damage to another
party. He soon had an occasion, but un-
fortunately I had a sledge with a lady
before me; passing me he hit me, and I
hitting against the sledge before me without
being able to avoid it, at the same time get-
ting hold of his legs upset all three. Luckily
no injury was done, as the whole lot were
upset into the snow, to the great enjoyment
of all spectators.

Gradually the time to retire approaches. The lamps begin to go out, and the hills, divested of their beauty, appear like the ruins of a magnificent city of olden times. Here and there you see a single lamp peep ing out from the branches of the trees, wistfully looking round in search of its brothers, as if it wanted to assure itself of the absence of any other enlightening object.

After several other toasts the party adjourn to join the ladies. Merry-making now begins, and an hour or so is passed in social games, such as hunting the slipper, crossquestions, crooked answers, and others. At last, the parties wrap themselves up again in their furs, and prepare to go home. On their homeward tour one of the finest phenomena in nature may perchance appear to them. A streak of light suddenly appearing on the horizon shoots like lightning up to the sky. One moment longer, and the whole sky is covered by such streaks, all of different colors amalgamating together, and constantly changing and lighting up the objects as bright as daylight. This is the Aurora Borealis, one of the numerous spectacles of nature which the common people regard with astonishment; whilst the cultivated mind, finding a sermon on the glory of our Maker in every object he meets on his journey through life, looks at it with admiration and reverence.

"NEVER COMES THE BEAUTIFUL AGAIN."

The party go in to refresh themselves with tea and other warm beverages. The gentlemen wait on the ladies, and a new contest begins, as each tries to surpass the other in politeness and quickness. If it is a supper, you see these youthful and useful members of society running about with plates of sandwiches, or steering along with a cup of bouillon in one and a glass of wine in the other hand through the intricate passages formed by the numberless tables occupied by members of the fair sex. And then having, after a great deal of danger, at last arrived at their destination they find the lady they wanted to serve already pro- Is the pledge which nature's tongue had spoken. vided with every necessary comfort; and

BY CALDER CAMPBELL.

On! the cruel words that have been spoken—
"Never comes the beautiful again!"
Credit not the saying: still unbroken

With an earnest eloquence to men.

37

most disproportionate dimensions and height. holder's attention, is that connected with an But the part which most attracts the beupright shaft, capable of making about three

Where mystic echo 'mid hill-grottoes dwelleth, Where rills rush through deep glens, her foot-fourths of a complete revolution, from the steps stir.

Where gem-like stars are sparkling in the heavens,
And fragrant flowers are springing from the

earth

Where sunny morns are bright, and golden evens
Shed many-tinted clouds across the heavens,

Beauty, in changeful glory, wanders forth!

Where sea-waves, to the summer sunshine dancing,
Receive white-pinioned birds upon their breast-
Or where mad tempest, o'er the deep advancing,
Ushers fork'd lightning, that in rapid dancing
Curls, snake-like, o'er each tumbling billow's
crest;

Where genius looketh forth, with high endeavor,
From mental casements on the peopled world,
Beauty may aye be seen-" a joy for ever"-
To him who seeks her with a high endeavor,
Love's loyal banners in his hand unfurl'd.

Men may shut out the bright and glorious vision
By hateful arts and actions, and the sway
Of thoughts unnatural; but no hard decision
Of minds penurious robs us of the vision
Which beauty sheds across her lovers' way!

From the "Home Journal."

THE STEAM PADDY.

In a deep cut on the track of the Northern Railroad there is a mighty arm at work, shovelling. From the magnitude of its proportions, the strength displayed in its operations, and the slow dignity of its motions, it reminds one of an elephant. It is de signed to supply the place, or rather perform the work, of some mammoth Irishman with his shovel. It has, indeed, obtained for itself the euphonious sobriquet of "Steam Paddy," although its proper cognomen is Excavator. Steam is its motive power, and the machinery necessary to perform the various motions in the process of labor, is quite complicated. The engine and the principal portion of the machinery are contained in a small house, placed upon carwheels; and, when transportation is necessary, by a single touch of the engineer, the power is directed to the propelling of these wheels, when it at once becomes a formidable locomotive. From the roof of this "house" ascends the chimney, or smoker, of

top of which proceeds a horizontal arm or crane, whence chains and levers go to the "scraper." The motions and results of this part of the machinery are analogous to those of a huge arm and hand, grasping an immense scoop-the whole wielded by a giant of colossal strength. One scoop-full (or, more agreeably to the nomenclature given to the anatomy of this anomalous animal, one scraper-full) suffices to fill a car, and two cars are sufficient for a horse-load upon a railroad track. But, to carry out our comparison to the human arm. The scoop is drawn back by the flexion of the elbow, and is placed at the bottom of the bank. The extensor muscles of this powerful limb now commence their action, and push it forward and upward, scraping and gathering, in its progress, sufficient dirt to fill it; then it is slowly carried round, describing a considerable arc of a circle, till it is placed directly over a car stationed to receive its contents. This motion may represent that of the shoulder-joint. Instead now of rotating the hand and fore-arm upon the arm, and inverting the scoop, in order to "dump" the load into the car, there is a contrivance for simplifying its movements. The bottom of this scraper is a trap-door, which now very instinctively flies open, and out drops an avalanche of dirt, and the arm slowly wheels around for another dishful. The prominent edge of the scraper is armed with teeth, which may make our analogy a little more complete, by allowing them to represent fingers and nails-to scratch with.

But as the philosophers contend that there is no motion without mind, so in all this complication of movements there must be a mind to direct and guide as well as propel. This apparatus has its sensorium commune, and the human hand and arm are no less obedient to the mandates of the will, than

is this combination of wood and iron, chains and cylinders, to the will and direction of a very greasy, smutty man, standing upon a semi-circular platform about the upright shaft above described. Here, he touches first one spring, or (recollecting our analogy) one nerve, with one hand, next another with