THE UNIVERSAL FAMILY PAPER FOR INTER-COMMUNICATIONS ON 



R SCIENCE-THIM8S IN OEIERAL. 



Conducted by WILLIAM KIDD, of Hammer smith,— 



Author of the Familiar and Popular Essays on "Natural History;" "British Song. 

 Birds;" " Birds op Passage ; " "Instinct and Eeason;" " The Aviary," &c. 



"the OBJECT op our work is to make men WISER, without obliging them to turn over folios and 



QUARTOS.— TO FURNISH MATTER FOR THINKING AS WELL AS READING."— EVELYN. 



No. 46.— 1852. 



SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 



Price 3d. 



Or, in Monthly Parts, Price Is. Id. 



THE COMING SEASON,— 



AND 



ITS CHAKMING ASSOCIATIONS. 



"Lord Mayor's Day" has passed. 

 This and fog seem to be the signals for 

 grand preparations for Christmas. No 

 sooner is this important day over, and the 

 fog " on," than our shops and the whole 

 character of our streets undergo a complete 

 change. We revel in temptations. No 

 greater change could have been effected by 

 the magic wand of Harlequin. 



It is " well" that these things should be 

 forced upon us. Unless so reminded, we 

 should be very apt to forget, as we grow older, 

 that the joys which were once ours and have 

 decayed, live in the young of the present 

 days, just as they formerly did with US. 



When we pass by the windows of our en- 

 terprising booksellers, and recognise our old 

 friends — Jack the Giant Killer ; Puss in 

 Boots ; Robinson Crusoe ; Sandford and 

 Merton; Little Red Riding Hood ; " A. was 

 an Archer," &c. &c, standing out in all 

 their modern accession of beauty by the aid 

 of colored illustrative engravings — when we 

 see these, we ought not to turn up our noses, 

 and " wonder at some people's folly." Once 

 WE loved these books, dearly. They have 

 many a time served us in good stead. They 

 have peopled our imagination with thoughts 

 that have never left us ; and we rejoice in 

 looking back upon the " Light of other 

 Days." We were indeed innocent then — 

 and happy. 



" I wonder — in such enlightened days as 

 these, WHO can read these ridiculous books ; 

 these nonsensical productions !" So spake 

 an elderly gentleman to us, one day. Now 

 this worthy failed to remember, as doubtless 

 do many others, that as fast as we arc tra- 

 velling down the hill of life, just so fast are 

 infants and children scrambling up the hill 

 we so long since topped. What therefore 

 seems folly to us — now that we " have put 

 away childish things," to them has charms 



irresistible. Would we have it otherwise ? 

 Not for the sake of a kingdom ! May God 

 bless our promising blossoms ; and as they 

 go on growing up, we will try to grow young 

 again (at Christmas) for their sakes ! 



We have used the word " folly ;" but let it 

 not be imagined that we are adverse to the 

 enjoyments of life, or indifferent to the 

 amusements of those crowds of merry faces 

 which we so dearly love to behold — espe- 

 cially when they have returned home for the 

 holidays. Too well can we remember the 

 feelings peculiar to " breaking up," for us to 

 speak of them slightingly, or with disre- 

 spect. Happy school-boys; happy school- 

 girls! — be merry as ye list ; be jolly while 

 ye may. 



We feel whilst we write, a kind of grow- 

 ing inspiration coming over us ; and our pen 

 wants to travel out of its way, to enlarge 

 upon the joys of youth. But this is not our 

 present object. 



We had occasion, a few days since, to 

 pass through the City — that great emporium 

 for all that is attractive in eating, drinking, 

 pleasure, amusement, and passe temps. Here 

 we saw, in active preparation for the coming 

 Christmas, novelties innumerable ; but they 

 were not meant exactly for the public eye at 

 this somewhat early day. We forced our- 

 selves in, with a friend who had a good 

 excuse for his entrance ; and thus we got 

 " behind the scenes." The " scene" we 

 speak of, was " laid" in Cornhill. 



We will not be wearisome in detailhi2f all 

 we beheld — but our eye was positively 

 riveted by a " German Tree." It was of a 

 stately bearing, and seemed to come of a 

 goodly family. Arms had it, out of number ; 

 and the ramifications of its branches ap- 

 peared to have no end. Still, nothing was 

 out of proportion. It was, let us believe, 

 planted for some great purpose ; and we ima- 

 gined it would ere long cause some noble- 

 man's mansion to ring with the sounds of 

 merriment. But sounds of merriment, and 

 exuberant joy, are not confined to a noble- 



VOL. II. 



