52 



KIDD'S OWN JOURNAL. 



they go to church on Sunday, stick holly on 

 their shelves at Christmas, and most reli- 

 giously eat plum-pudding ; think not, pause 

 not, but — vehemently snow-ball them ! 



Oh, reader — if, indeed, you are the sort of 

 reader we desire— you have enjoyed the first 

 strawberries of summer, the sweet early pea, 

 the tender potato. 



Wherefore then should you not taste the 

 luxury of winter ? Why not enj oy your 

 snow-ball ? 



Consider this, — if it be found out, it is only 

 five shillings ! A. B. 



THE CRYSTAL PALACE, 



SYDENHAM. 



Much anxiety was felt by certain parties 

 about the strength of this building, when the 

 late heavy fall of snow took place. It was 

 feared that it would be quite unequal to 

 sustain the pressure. However, to the 

 surprise of all, it has survived the trial, and 

 is not apparently much injured by the strain. 

 Time will test this. 



The glazing not being properly looked to, 

 a considerable quantity of snow and rain 

 found its way into the interior ; and portions 

 of the flooring and plaster casts ranged near 

 the garden front were covered with a thick 

 coating of snow. The principal sufferers by 

 the inclemency of the weather were the 

 plants and exotics, which have been arranged 

 in large beds at the southern end of the 

 building ; but the influence of the weather 

 told upon more than the plants. The works 

 were necessarily suspended ; and over 

 palace and park a dreary silence reigned. 

 This was augmented by the snow wrapping 

 every external object. 



A huge mass of scaffolding still fills up the 

 entire area of the centre transept ; and, al- 

 though a large proportion of the ribs are now 

 up, and the glazing at the west end commenced, 

 some time will elapse before this, the most 

 striking architectural feature of the building, 

 can be completed. The internal decorations, 

 less affected in their progress by the weather, 

 proceed apace. Egypt, Greece, and Rome, 

 are now so far advanced as to speak for 

 themselves ; and the decorator is concen- 

 trating his chief energies towards the resto- 

 ration of the Alhambra. Upon the opposite 

 side of the nave, Mr. Wyatt is vigorously at 

 work. The decoration of the Pompeian 

 House is nearly completed; and Mr. Fer- 

 guson is making rapid progress with his 

 Assyrian Court, which promises to be not the 

 least successful part of the palace. Both he 

 and Mr. Owen Jones may congratulate 

 themselves upon a new arrangement ; the 

 i esult of a compromise on a disputed point, 

 which may be worth mentioning. 



It was originally, it seems, proposed by 



the latter, as one of the earliest ideas for 

 securing great effects within the building, to 

 place at the north end of the nave, the 

 colossal seated figure of the god R&, with the 

 head of which every visitor of the British 

 Museum is familiar. This figure, which is 

 seventy feet high, and painted in the striking 

 colors which give so peculiar a character to 

 Egyptian art, would have completely ex- 

 tinguished the fine- winged, and human - 

 headed bulls with which Mr Ferguson guards 

 the main entrance of his Assyrian hall. 



The question, however, was — what was to 

 be done? A solid pile of masonry, more than 

 thirty feet high had been constructed as the 

 seat of the deity. Mr. Jones, having made 

 up his mind to have him there, was not to be 

 driven from his purpose. The west end of 

 the north transept was, however, offered; 

 and the privilege of erecting there two gods 

 instead of one, with a double row of sphinxes 

 leading up to them, provided the site at the 

 end of the nave was given up. 



This was too great a temptation to be re- 

 fused ; and, accordingly, when in July (for 

 it is now ascertained that it cannot be earlier) 

 the doors of the Crystal Palace are to be 

 thrown open to the public, next to the 

 building, and the fountains (surpassing in 

 size even Mr. Waterhouse Hawkins's primae- 

 val monsters) — the largest objects, and those 

 most likely to fill the minds and eyes of the 

 Londoners with astonishment, will be these 

 two wonderful representations of the scale 

 upon which the sculptors of ancient Egypt 

 wrought out of the rock the objects of their 

 Pagan idolatry. 



SONG. 



THE SOWER TO HIS SEEDS. 



Sink, little seed, in the earth's black mould, 

 Sink in your grave so wet and so cold, 

 There must you lie ; 

 Earth I throw over you, 

 Darkness must cover you, 

 Light comes not nigh. 



What grief you'd tell, if words you could say, 

 What grief make known for loss of the day ; 

 Sadly you'd speak ; 

 " Lie here must I ever ? 

 Will the sunlight never 

 My dark grave seek ? " 



Have faith, little seed— soon yet again 

 Thou'lt rise from the' grave where thou art lain ; 

 Thou 'It be so fair, 

 With thy green shades so bright, 

 And thy flowers so light 

 Waving in air. 



So must we sink in the earth's blnck mould, 

 Sink in the grave so w T et and so cold, — 

 There must we stay, 

 Till at last we shall see 

 Time to eternity, 

 Darkness to day. 



