KIDD'S OWN JOURNAL. 



that it shall not be so ; and England is just 

 England — that is to say, simply with her 

 people the first and finest country on the 

 face of the earth. Those who rail at our 

 climate are but shallow people, and we pity 

 their ignorance ! 



TO CORRESPONDENTS. 



Communications Receive:t.— Felicia. By all means. 

 Write fully. Anything imparted to us, confidentially, 

 lives and dies with us.— James W. In about ten days. 

 — Eliza F. Most assuredly : send the particulars at 

 once. — Louisa K. You are not forgotten. That would 

 be impossible. Wait one week longer. — E. W., and 

 a host of other kind correspondents, shall have their 

 wishes complied with at the earliest possible moment. 

 Penelope. — Your frankness charms us. We therefore 

 unreservedly sav, "yes." Let your pen follow the 

 dictates of your heart, and fear notbing. — S. B. W. In 

 our next. — G. S., Tbanks. All in good time. — " Ver- 

 bum Sat." A good idea. We will improve upon it. 



Private Letters. — Of these we daily receive such 

 immense quantities, that we must really beg the 

 writers to excuse our not replying to them ; our time 

 being overwhelmingly occupied with Public duties. 



Correspondents sending in any " facts" connected with 

 Science or Natural History, are requested in every 

 case to append their names and places of abode. In no 

 instance, however, will their names be published with- 

 out their express sanction. 



To obtain this Paper without any difficulty, our readers 

 need only order it to be sent to them by any of their 

 local Booksellers or Newsvendors. It is published 

 simultaneously with all the other weekly periodicals. 



KIDD'S OWN JOURNAL. 

 Saturday, July 3, 1852. 



Our First Volume, ranging over a 

 period of twenty-six weeks, is now com- 

 pleted. 



For the last fortnight, we have been 

 busily occupied in preparing an Index worthy 

 of it, — we say " worthy " of it, for the mass 

 of contributions upon which our eye has 

 fallen, are indeed valuable. 



We are to-day about to try an interesting 

 experiment — interesting in a two-fold view. 

 First, as regards ourselves; we are once 

 more going to invoke the aid of our " grey 

 goose quill" to help us up the few remain- 

 ing steps of the ladder of life, — and secondly, 

 we propose to see if the old writers were not 

 in error when they said " Friendship," pro- 

 perly so called, " exists but in name." This 

 last essay is particularly pleasing to us ; for, 

 ere this Volume is completed, the question 

 will have been tried, and the point decided. 

 Oh, how we do long to prove that the world 

 is not so universally bad as some pronounce 

 it to be, — altogether hollow, altogether 

 false-hearted ! 



If there be faith in Man ; if there be faith 

 in Woman, — we believe there is in both, — 

 then will our Journal progress from to-day 

 in a manner perfectly delightful. 



We have had it said to us, — " Be of good 

 courage, Mr. Editor ; you have friends all 



over the country, who will never let your 

 Paper perish while you live. Only be true 

 to yourself. Issue it at a price that will 

 keep it alive; continue its present excel- 

 lence ; and trust to our good offices for the 

 rest. Every day adds to your fair fame ; 

 and victory will soon be yours." 



The above sentences embody, in few 

 words, the spirit of a multitude of other kind 

 communications that have reached us. We 

 cannot bring ourselves to believe, that such 

 friendly promises were ever made with a 

 view to their being remorselessly broken. 

 At all events, we are 



" Again afloat," — 

 and we return to our labor of love with a 

 lighter heart (though not with a heavier 

 purse), than accompanied us during our first 

 half-year. 



The second half-year will show whether 

 we have wisely confided in our kind patrons, 

 or whether we have, like the rest of the 

 world, been again pursuing a shadow. 



" "lis not in mortals to command success," 

 but we will do all that in us lies to deserve 

 it. If we fail, we shall have no cause, here- 

 after, for self-reproach. 



TO WRITE ABOUT PRETTY WALKS in 



shady groves ; to give glowing accounts of 

 wild -flowers rejoicing in the fields and the 

 woods ; and to luxuriate in flowery descrip- 

 tions of what grows* in our gardens — is 

 delightful, truly. But how does our pen 

 shrink from this pleasing employment at the 

 present time! It refuses to describe what 

 it cannot enjoy. 



Rain is falling in torrents ; the elements 

 are raging ; the winds are howling ; the 

 clouds are big with mischief; and all nature 

 seems at war with itself. We have gone 

 abroad to admire our roses. We have 

 seen them " open," and for a few hours we 

 have enjoyed their fragrance ; but alas ! all 

 have been destroyed, one by one, by a suc- 

 cession of heavy showers ! The peonies too, 

 of which we have before spoken, how soon 

 these were 



" Gone from our gaze !" 



We left them reposing, over-night, in 

 their loveliness ; and at day-break, found 

 them and many others mere fragments. 

 Wind and storms had bowed down their 

 heads — which alas ! will be raised no more ! 

 Pinks, Balsams, Geraniums, Fuchsias, 

 Sweet Williams, Pansies, and Virginia stocks 

 — all have shared a like fate, and our garden 

 is a comparative wreck. 



As for the foliage which clothes the trees, 

 it is indeed luxuriant in its wildness ; but 

 it has superseded both flowers and fruit, 

 and weeds run riot with unrestrainable free- 



* June 19th. 



