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KIDD'S OWN JOURNAL. 



never allows me to go out where there are any 

 females present, without ruling me with a rod of 

 iron. I must not look, speak, smile, converse, or 

 attempt to make myself agreeable. If I only show 

 an inclination that way, I get a look that would 

 convert wood into stone, — a scowl that lets me 

 into the secret of " what" awaits me when we get 

 home. This happens whenever we go out together. 

 My life is a positive burden, — my prospect a most 

 dreary one; and yet I am one of the quietest men 

 [poor fellow !] alive. I would "love" my chicken 

 if she would let me, — but she won't. She tells 

 me to " be off, and to make love elsewhere, — she 

 wants none of it;" and yet she dodges my foot- 

 steps from morn till night ! What a poor wretch I 

 am, Mr. Editor! advise me for the best. — Mce- 

 kens Conjux, Peckham. 



[We should like to see the development of your 

 wife's head. As this cannot be, we say, — alas! 

 good sir, we pity you. You have forgotten the 

 good old saying, " Look before you leap." All 

 these domestic calamities have their rise, in the 

 natural unfitness of the parties to pass through 

 life together in the silken bond of love. You fear 

 your wife ; and she hates you — " N' est ce pas?" 

 Here you see are discordant elements. Fire and 

 water meet. The stronger gets the advantage 

 over the weaker. We could well define for you 

 the "duties of a wife," but this would avail you 

 nothing. It would indeed tend to aggravate your 

 distress. All we can say is, — stay at home, and 

 don't go out at all this Christmas. If Madame 

 asks " why," tell her the reason. If your natural 

 disposition is to be cheerful and chatty, you "can- 

 not help it;" and you know as well as we do, that 

 " prevention is better than cure." Some women 

 seem " bom" to be scourges to their spouses. 

 They quite spoil them for society, and shorten 

 their lives by a reign of terror at home. A good 

 Avife, sir, would most assuredly feel proud of her 

 husband's powers of pleasing; and rejoice exceed- 

 ingly in hearing his praises sounded from pole to 

 pole. Besides, she would estimate herself at too 

 high a value to dread the more powerful attrac- 

 tions of any other woman. Jealousy is a hideous 

 demon, with far more heads than the hydra. You 

 ask "where are its vulnerable points?" It has 

 none. It is proof against every known weapon. 

 You can neither scotch it nor kill it. It sleeps 

 with its eyes wide open. It feeds on venom, and 

 grows fat upon the poison that flows in its own 

 veins. Society will, perhaps, some day — not whilst 

 we live, sir, — make some alteration in its usages. 

 We are quite sure of this, — that no jealous man 

 or woman ought ever to be admitted into civilised 

 company. They are at once a nuisance to their 

 neighbors and a disgrace to themselves. Ignor- 

 ance and Suspicion are the parents of Jealousy ; 

 and their off-spring very closely resembles them 

 both. We are sorry, sir, so to " comfort" you ;* 

 but we have probed the wound to the bottom, that 



* We have seen so much in our lifetime, of what 

 we are now describing, that we " talk like a book." 

 How often have we blushed for certain people, 

 in certain houses, that could not blush for them- 

 selves! Practically, we know not the feeling of 

 Jealousy. We never did, and hope we never 

 may. The " effects" satisfy us, fully! — Ed. K. J. 



you may know the worst. Whatever you do, 

 give no just cause for suspicion. Keep your con- 

 science honest, cultivate the very best feelings of 

 the heart, and by all means " return good for 

 evil." If a gentle word fails, wrath and anger 

 only tend to make bad worse. When the wind 

 blows very high, begin to count one hundred. 

 When your wife stamps violently on the ground, 

 silently count two hundred. When your head is 

 likely to be placed "in chancery," open the door 

 gently — " to see if it rains," and glide noiselessly 

 into the garden. But not one word in reply, if 

 you value your life. " Hope on, — hope ever." 

 There must be an end by and by.] 



Cochin China Fowls as Food for the Table. — 

 Can you tell me, Mr. Editor, if, in addition to 

 their size, these birds are of good flavor? They 

 are so much cried up just now, that it is hard to 

 get an unbiassed opinion, — W. J., Camden Town. 



[We are not at all partial to this awkward 

 breed. We see nothing whatever in them to ad- 

 mire. A writer, however, in the "Agricultural 

 Magazine," says of them, with reference to food : — 

 We can add our testimony as to the excellency of 

 the Cochin China chickens as table fowls, for as 

 a test of the conflicting opinions upon that point, 

 Mr. Higgs, whose Cochins gained the first and 

 second prizes at Lewes, had a cockerel three 

 months old killed, of Avhich bird, at the table of a 

 friend, the writer of this partook. Two old house- 

 keepers were also present ; and the opinion was 

 unanimous, that no fowl could possibly be supe- 

 rior, either in flavor or in appearance. The bird 

 had been caught unfatted in the yard the previous 

 day, and killed by bleeding at the neck. The 

 bird, though only three months old, weighed, after 

 being killed and picked, four pounds. It is this 

 good size, at so young an age, that renders them 

 so desirable for table. They cost but little for 

 food in that short space of time, and their tender- 

 ness is unsurpassable. They are then also of a 

 form that no cook can deprecate. In flavor, we 

 also think them most excellent. Another valuable 

 produce of the Cochin-China fowl are its feathers; 

 these are so fluffy as to be nearly equal to goose- 

 down. We have heard from an extensive breeder 

 of Cochins that hens of this variety have laid two 

 eggs within the twelve hours, but then they did 

 not lay the day following.] 



Ill Effects Produced from Plants, or Flowers, in 

 a Sleeping Apartment. — The nature of plants is 

 very imperfectly understood. What is delightful 

 by day, at night becomes little better than poison- 

 ous. Yet are there some persons so fond of odori- 

 ferous plants and flowers, as to have them in their 

 bed-chamber. This is a very dangerous practice ; 

 many of them being so powerful as to overcome 

 the senses entirety. Even plants not in flower, 

 and without smell, injure the air during the night, 

 and in the absence of the sun, by impregnating it 

 with nitrogen and carbonic acid gas. A melan- 

 choly proof of this, recorded by Dr. Curry, occur- 

 red at Leighton Buzzard, in Bedfordshire. It is thus 

 noticed in the " Gardeners' Record : ' Mr. Sher- 

 brook having frequently had his pinery robbed, 

 the gardener determined to sit up and watch. He 

 accordingly posted himself, with a loaded fowling- 

 piece, in the green-house, where it is supposed he 



