KIDD'SOWN JOURNAL. 



2G1 



THE BRIGHT DAYS OF SUMMER ARE 

 COMING. 



BY HELEN' HETHERIXGTON. 



I hear the song of the happy birds 



Merrily carolling over the plain, 

 ' Singing in tones far sweeter than words, 

 " The bright days of summer are coming again ! " 

 Away, away to the forest glade, 



Sweet summer will bring new joys for ye, 

 Thera hide yourselves in the leafy shade, 



When the brilliant sun shines fervently. 



I hear from my lattice the busy bee, 



Sportively joining the numerous train, 

 And telling the flowers that sport on the lea 



The bright days of summer are coming again. 

 Cease not from labor ; yes, summer will come, 



And bring with it pleasure and pastime for 

 thee ; 

 Oh, still cheer the vale with thy gay, merry hum, 



And join in the scenes that are happy and free. 



I hear the murmuring melody 



Of the rivulet pure, in its ceaseless strain; 

 It seems to know, and rejoice with me 



That summer's bright hours are coming again. 

 Merrily over the mountain glide, 



Murmur thy love through the flowery vale, 

 Summer will soon with thy wavelets hide, 



And chase the light spray where the sunbeams 

 regale. 



I hear the whispering zephyrs tell 



Of the sun's bright beams on land and main ; 

 And echo replies from the woodland dell, 

 "The bright days of summer are coming again." 

 And ye, too, shall welcome the joyous mirth, 



The festive scenes, and the revelry, 

 And bear the rich fragrance far over the earth, 



With the sweetest tones of melody. 



1 feel the breath of the opening rose 



Cherish the thoughts that I love to retain, 

 The sun gaily beams on its leaves, for he knows 



The bright days of summer are coming again. 

 Beautiful flowers, fair gems that nourish 



Thoughts for the happy, joy for the gay, 

 Summer will visit the path where ye flourish, 



And light zephyrs bear the rich fragrance 

 away ! 



EXTRAORDINARY CHINESE FEATS.* 



" Wonders will never cease." 



Old Proverb. 



There has been a party of Chinese, 

 my dear sir, recently exhibiting in Paris, a 

 description of whose marvellous feats may 

 be interesting to the readers of Our Own. 



The performers are introduced in an 

 amusing little piece, written expressly for 

 them. A lady is supposed, through frequent 

 contemplation of the figures on her Japan 



* By an oversight, for which we beg to apolo- 

 gise, this paper was omitted last month. It is, 

 however, of sufficient interest to warrant its inser- 

 tion- now. It will be referred to hereafter as a 

 most curious document. — Ed. K. J. 



tea-box and fire-screen, to have become the 

 victim of a feverish longing after the country 

 which produces them. Her thoughts fly 

 beyond the Great Wall. She hears in her 

 dreams the jingling of the bells of the Porce- 

 lain Tower. She walks in gardens deco- 

 rated with artificial rocks, where the peach- 

 tree sheds her rosy shower, and the willow 

 waves her gold-green tresses ; where the 

 richly-tinted blossoms of the China Aster 

 and Tree Pceony bend over their porcelain 

 vases. She crosses, on bamboo bridges, 

 ponds where the water-lily spreads her 

 mantle, and where the wings of the fishing 

 cormorant and crested crane ripple the surface 

 of the waters. She reposes in the pavilion 

 of phantasy, and leans out of the trellis to 

 get a transient glimpse of a young student, 

 distinguished by the jade buttons which 

 decorate his dress, and who has just triumph- 

 antly passed his examination. 



Unable to satisfy this passion, which has 

 become almost a monomania, her friends are 

 supposed to improvise for her an ideal China, 

 in a country villa ; and it is here the interest 

 of the piece commences. 



An arm-chair is placed on a platform. The 

 gong sounds ; giving out those strange rever- 

 berations which might be taken for the hoarse 

 voice of a bronze chimera, barking at the 

 approach of an evil spirit. The doors open 

 with a clash ; and suddenly a dwarfish' crea- 

 ture appears, — an enormous head soldered on 

 to a diminutive body ; of so refined and com- 

 plicated a degree of ugliness, as to realise 

 the most curiously-hideous deformity of the 

 ugliest josses. Never did kaolin, kneaded 

 by the uncertain fingers of a modeller, and 

 half intoxicated with rice brandy and opium, 

 twist itself into more extravagant contortions. 

 The very nightmare of absurdity could not 

 exceed it. This head glides along, and hoists 

 itself into the arm-chair, much as one of the 

 death's heads in a witches' sabbath, or in a 

 scene of incantation, might be supposed to 

 do. A dozen improbable-looking beings, 

 clothed in satin, worked over with serpents 

 and dragons, group themselves around this 

 monster, who sits upon his heels, like O-Mi- 

 To-Fo, the god of porcelain and earthenware. 



Their motions seem regulated by springs. 

 They perform the singular evolutions of 

 Chinese politeness, with a deep gravity, 

 which in its grotesqueness provokes laughter 

 while it chills ; and when they turn round, 

 the eye naturally seeks between their shoul- 

 ders for the place where the key which winds 

 up the machinery is inserted. As for their 

 heads, the grotesque faces formed by the 

 knots in the wood of some canes give the 

 nearest idea of them ; while the roots of 

 the inandragora and gin-iseng* with their 



* Panax quinque folium, I believe, of botanists 



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