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KIDDVS OWN JOURNAL. 



— and that is something; Hedge-sparrows, and 

 chaffinches, too, appear to have braved the storm; 

 but I he larger birds are certainly missing. The 

 savage gun has greatly assisted in thinning their 

 ranks, no doubt. During the frost, we observed 

 skylarks frequenting the high roads; dividing the 

 half-digested oats, found there, with the sparrows. 

 Poor creatures ! In London streets, too, we saw 

 a chaffinch (nearly starved) associated with the 

 black sparrows, — picking up what it could find 

 dropped in the road. In like manner, the various 

 races of tit-mice took refuge in our public squares 

 at the west, and subsisted on charity. Many 

 other feathered starvelings put in here, through 

 stress of weather. No doubt the total number 

 that has perished is inconceivable, — for the ground 

 was hard as iron, and all insect life was concealed 

 from observation by the snow. Another week or 

 two wull tell us more about the extent of our mis- 

 fortune. — W. K. 



The Holly for Ever I — Before the joys of the 

 season are passed away, and the holly ceases to 

 form part of our domestic decorations, I send the 

 following to be immortalised in Our Own : — 



Hurrah for the Holly ! the true evergreen, 



The plant that looks bright when most bright 

 things have faded, 

 And which, when old Winter has sputter'd his 

 spleen, 



Still shelters the stem that in summer it shaded. 

 So friends that in sunshine alone hover round, 



And when poverty threatens fly off in a volley, 

 May turn to the tree that unchanging is found, 



And learn that a lesson is taught by the Holly. 

 Hurrah for the Holly ! the evergreen Holly ! 



Come weave me a wreath of its berries to-night; 

 Its presence shall banish the churl, Melancholy, 



And send us, instead, the young fairy, Delight. 



Farewell now to Melancholy. And hurrah — three 

 cheers! — for the Delights of Spring! — Violet, 

 Worcester. 



Humility. — Can you squeeze in these few lines 

 from the pen of Montgomery ? If so, pray do : — 



The bird that soars on highest wing 

 Builds on the ground her lowly nest ; 



And she that doth most sweetly sing 

 Sings in the shade when all things rest : 



In lark and nightingale we see 



What honor hath humility ! 



Catharina. 



" Death-Song " of the Swan.— Mr. Hallett, of 

 Hooe, tells us that he feeds the swans of Col. 

 Harris, at Radford ; and that he observed the other 

 day, one of them, apparently healthy, swimming 

 about the pond, and uttering a wild, melodious, 

 wailing sound. He was singing his death -song! 

 In a few hours afterwards, he was floating on the 

 water, — dead! — Carmina jam moriens canit ex- 

 sequalia Cygnus. — Frank. 



An Excellent Receipt for Mending Delicate 

 China, &c — At a time when glass ornaments 

 and delicate china are so much in fashion, it 

 may be useful to know how to mend them neatly 

 and strongly. The preparation required is 

 simply, — isinglass, dissolved in spirit of wine. 



Being colorless, its presence is not perceive- 

 able, and its adhesive powers are marvellous. 

 The two pieces to be united, should each have a 

 small quantity of the mixture placed on their 

 edges, by means of a camel's hair pencil. Then 

 use gentle pressure ; keeping the mended ornament 

 in your hand for a few minutes, until the affinity 

 is perceptible. It will then be, — " good as ever." 

 — Rosa B. 



Cheap Cookery for " dear " Times. — One of 

 your contemporaries says : — The cottager's wife 

 has many avocations that necessarily prevent 

 constant attendance on her cooker} 7 ; but surely 

 it would be a humane and pleasing enterprise in 

 a gentleman's or farmer's family, to cause sundry 

 dishes to be prepared in their kitchens from 

 articles that are now neglected or despised. The 

 distribution of such food at cost price would be a 

 wholesome lesson to the people ; proving that a 

 hot nourishing meal may be obtained at less 

 expense than is now the rasher, the bread, or 

 cheese. And why should not a portion of such 

 fare be served at the master's table ? It would 

 need the example of superiors, to induce the 

 " million" to eat of food they have hitherto 

 despised. It was thus practised by the gentry 

 during the dearth that occurred towards the end of 

 last century — a dearth so great as to have caused 

 the Act of Parliament prohibiting the sale of new 

 bread. It was then a fashion to have some of 

 the cheap foods then recommended to be served at 

 entertainments, as well as at the gentleman's 

 family meals. There has resulted from this 

 fashion at least one beneficial effect, — that of a 

 very extensive use by the humbler classes of 

 herrings as salted at Yarmouth. There was 

 adopted also at that time a proposition to partially 

 salt fish at distant fisheries, so tbat London might 

 be served with it in an eatable state. Were a 

 hint taken from this, it might turn out a profitable 

 speculation (as well as a great additional supply 

 of food), to marinade or otherwise cook fish — on the 

 west coast of Ireland, for example ; and to have it 

 conveyed for sale to British towns. Even on our 

 own coasts, some kinds of fish are despised for 

 want of a better mode of cooking them — the conger 

 eel, for instance. It is too fat and luscious plainly 

 boiled or baked ; but dressed as a curry and eaten 

 with rice it is delicious. Pilchards with spices, 

 or mixed with a dry fish like skate, often a drug 

 in the west of England, might probably find a 

 ready sale in the metropolis at the low price at 

 which they could be profitably afforded. — R. W. 



Gold Fish in Frozen Ponds. — Are any of those 

 good people, who are always telling us to break 

 the ice in our ponds, aware that gold fish in China, 

 their native place, live in rivers which are frozen 

 over every year ? One would suppose that these 

 fishes were small whales which were obliged to 

 come to the surface for air, which true fish, of 

 course, never do. The reason why you must 

 break the ice in your pond is, that if allowed to 

 continue freezing, it lowers the temperature of the 

 water ; so that the fish are starved from cold, not 

 want of air. If all ponds were as deep as mine 

 (more than four feet in every part), you might 

 allow the ice to remain untouched in ordinary 

 winters. I believe the fish bury themselves in the 



