68 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



gous to the albinism of certain rodents, or at least to the recognized 

 staminal inferiority of a white horse. ... A child inherits its charac- 

 ter from the father, its intellect from the mother. Firmness of will 

 and courage, as well as the innate kindness and uprightness of a man, 

 are therefore more potent elements of popularity with the other sex 

 than intellectual brilliancy. Mental obtuseness does not impair the 

 chances of an otherwise eligible suitor ; on the contrary, genius (as an 

 abnormity) may exercise an unfavorable effect. Hence the apparent 

 paradox of a gross and stupid fellow superseding a refined and sensible 

 man in the affection even of sentimental ladies ; and the frequency of 

 glaringly heterogeneous matches: he, practical, egotistical, and prosaic ; 

 she, all moonshine and poetry ; he, metaphysical and learned ; she, a 

 goose. . . . Men, on the other hand, are guided less by the character 

 qualities of a girl than by her intellectual attainments, though sec- 

 ondary to the importance of physical qualifications. In accordance 

 with the perception of this bias, mothers try to enhance the attractions 

 of their daughters by educational devices, music, painting, foreign lan- 

 guages, etc. Even a native sprightliness of the female mind is apt to 

 outweigh the rarer merits of the heart, whence so many Socrateses have 

 found their Xantippes e. g., Shakespeare, Albrecht Diirer, Goethe, 

 Byron, and others. Female beauty, though, will eclipse both good- 

 ness and wit, while, in the rivalry of the males, strength in all its forms 

 is on the whole the main condition of success ; in the eyes of the nor- 

 mal woman even the extreme of turpitude (moral or physical) being 

 more pardonable than weakness." 



When Bishop Lee sat down on his coffin and heard the sheriff's 

 command of " Ready ! " followed by the click of six Springfield rifles, 

 the attendant photographer requested him to assume a pleasing expres- 

 sion of countenance." There have been individuals who possessed the 

 requisite control over their facial muscles, though they might have 

 lacked the inclination to gratify the enterprising artist. "A prince 

 of the Church should know how to die with dignity," said Cardinal 

 Frascati when he had been treated to a dose of poison and felt his 

 senses give way. In spite of all entreaties he persisted in dying seated 

 upright, with his hands folded and his face turned upward in an atti- 

 tude of meditation. Savonarola kept up a controversy at the very 

 stake, and, while the flames scorched his knees, his eyes twinkled, as 

 he watched the effect of a caustic repartee. 



When the French garrison of Detroit made a sally against the be- 

 sieging Indians, Boeuf-courant, an Ojibway chieftain, had both his legs 

 torn away by a cannon-ball. Carried into the fort, he refused medical 

 attendance, and his young son, who had never left his side, at his bid- 

 ding raked a pile of cold ashes from the guard-room chimney, and on 

 this pile deposited his crippled father, with the stumps downward. 

 Thus enabled to sit upright, he calmly smoked his pipe, till the com- 

 mander of the fort suggested his removal to a prison-cell. They gave 



