KIDD'S OWN JOURNAL. 



383 



with ridicule, how exquisitely ludicrous 

 would the position of that man appear, who, 

 having enjoyed his funny trick, and played 

 out successfully his game of fright, beholds 

 his triumph in the pallid visage, the wild 

 glance, the trembling limbs, the hurried 

 pulse, the panting heart of the object of his 

 cruel sport ; and becoming alarmed in turn 

 at the effect which he had taken such pains 

 to produce, is obliged to make some attempt 

 to palliate his error and to chase away the 

 spectres he has conjured up, by exclaiming 

 in the most deprecating and apologetic tone 

 — " I never thought it would have frightened 

 you so, it was only my fun !" 



We almost wish that the Legislature would 

 — just for the " fun " of the thing — pass some 

 law that might reach these reckless and des- 

 perate experimentalists ; and punish the 

 humorous players upon people's nerves, with 

 a severity proportioned to the whimsicality 

 of the hoax. The law recognises the crimi- 

 nality of those who carelessly or wilfully 

 sport with the safety of people's legs, arms, 

 or necks ; and it is peculiarly severe upon all 

 who heedlessly venture to trifle with the 

 sacredness of our goods and chattels ; but it 

 has no eye to the playful freaks of practical 

 jokers, to whose insatiable thirst for fun the 

 credulous child, the timid girl, the weak- 

 nerved woman, fall victims. It has no ear for 

 the short sudden shriek that bursts invo- 

 luntarily from white and quivering lips, 

 sounding not unfrequently the knell of sanity 

 in those who utter it, or proclaiming the ap- 

 proach of vacant, hopeless, miserable idiotcy. 

 The disciples of this school of fun are sure 

 to find plenty of nerves admirably suited for 

 them to work upon. 



Children are prepared for the sport almost 

 in their cradles. Nine out of ten are trained 

 up in terror. They are taught the destruc- 

 tive lesson of fear, Jbefore they can even spell 

 the word. Before they can speak plainly, 

 they become practised in the instinctive 

 expression of their feelings, by shuddering, 

 screaming, and crying their little hearts out, 

 at the idea of " bogie," and the horror of 

 being left alone in the dark. The very mo- 

 ment this idea is engrafted upon the sensi- 

 tive mind, the instant this horror takes 

 possession of the child's imagination, it loses 

 something of the health and happiness to 

 which it was born. The dread of being in 

 the dark — of being alone, and in the dark — 

 clouds perhaps all its after - life. It sees 

 nothing that really is, in its true light, from 

 the fear of seeing something which is not. 

 The influence of the first horror of " bogie," 

 remains for years and years after the par- 

 ticular species of " bogie " that had excited 

 the agony of alarm has become an absurdity 

 too childish to be even laughed at. Uncon- 

 sciously, the mind is sensibly affected, in ten 



thousand different forms, by the very image 

 which it despises and ridicules. The silly 

 bugbear of the nursery has an abundant and 

 most appalling progeny. In this, more per- 

 haps than in any other respect, may it be 

 said that "the child is father of the man." 

 The idea of darkness as something terrible 

 would in few instances be fixed in the mind, 

 were it not for the cruel and senseless prac- 

 tices, by which servants of all grades — we 

 may add, teachers of some— work upon the 

 imagination of children. They are taught to 

 see in darkness a natural enemy, as they 

 are sometimes taught to regard school as a 

 punishment. " If you are not good, you 

 shall be shut in the dark closet,"— or "if 

 you don't behave better, you shall be sent to 

 school immediately." These are family 

 phrases not yet quite out of fashion. — ■ 

 Leman Blanchard. 



[The immense injury inflicted on the minds 

 of children, by their coming in contact 

 with nurse-maids and domestic servants 

 generally, — can hardly be credited. The 

 effects are visible daily; but neither father 

 nor mother seem anxious to remove the evil ; 

 and we feel we labor in vain to bring about 

 a reformation. Superstition and ignorance 

 rule the mind of every female to whose care is 

 committed the child of our fondest affection. 

 There is no improvement whatever in this 

 matter. Time works no moral good upon 

 t he minds of servants ; and children as na- 

 turally share their vices now, as ever.] 



TOBACCO AND ITS VOTARIES. 



The insane rage for poisoning the human 

 breath, infecting our public highways, and de- 

 moralising humanity, still goes on. From the 

 shop-boy and the " gent," to the gentleman (so 

 called) and the man of fashion — all are smoke- 

 mad. We find by the statistical returns, that 

 upwards of 5,000,000/. are annually laid out upon 

 this most beastly article, in its various forms, by 

 the inhabitants of the United Kingdom ! ! ! This 

 is quite credible, when we reflect upon what 

 meets our eye daily, and goes down our throats, 

 in the streets. In filthy habits, we certainly are 

 only half a remove from our American neighbors, 

 whose annual consumption of tobacco has latterly 

 exceeded one hundred millions of pounds weight, 

 being at the rate of about seven pounds for each 

 inhabitant ! The cost of this abominable indul- 

 gence, is calculated at twenty millions of dollars. 

 The editor of the New York Commercial Adver- 

 tiser, on a late occasion, computed that the in- 

 habitants of that city smoked tobacco to the 

 value of 3,650,000 doilars annually, being at the 

 rate of about 3d. daily for each individual. 



Fancy. — Thought's holiday ; the fairy power of 

 the mind, which, like a kaleidoscope, can invest 

 the meanest trifles with the most brilliant hues. 



