KIDD'S LONDON JOURNAL. 



233 



To every one has nature given a distin- 

 guishing bias, so that each one can follow his 

 own favorite pursuit. Some are attuned to 

 the soft vibrations of music, others melt be- 

 fore a painting or a statue. To some she 

 gives the powers of oratory, to others the 

 inspirations of poetry ; some, with a bolder 

 impulse, touch as it were the stars with their 

 fingers ; while others, at a more humble dis- 

 tance, investigate the instinct of a worm, or 

 calculate the course of an emmet. All these 

 pursuits are noble, and all of them give 

 pleasure to their followers. 



At this particular season of the year, how 

 lovely is the sight of the early opening 

 flowers ! and how delightful is it to deck our 

 apartments with them as they successively 

 appear ! " Set flowers on your breakfast- 

 table," says Leigh Hunt, " a Avhole nosegay 

 if you can get it, or but two or three ; or a 

 single flower, — a rose, a pink, — nay, a 

 daisy." So say we. Bring a few daisies 

 and buttercups from your last field walk, 

 and keep them alive in a little water. Pre- 

 serve but a bunch of clover, or a handful of 

 flowering grass, one of the most elegant, as 

 well as the cheapest of nature's productions, 

 and you have something on your table that 

 reminds you of the beauties of God's crea- 

 tion, and links you with the poets and sages 

 that have done it most honor. 



The privilege of having flowers on the 

 table, is by no means confined to the wealthy. 

 Wild flowers — and oh ! how beautiful are they 

 in their wildness ! abound everywhere : 



Garden flowers are reared by few, 



And to that few belong alone ; 

 But flowers that spring by vale or stream, 



Each one may claim them for his own. 



We are always pleased when we see windows 

 decked with some of these ornaments from 

 Nature's garden. They are evidences of a 

 correct taste, and of a kindly feeling in the 

 inmate of the dwelling. 



:, The birds are now beginning to charm our 

 ear with the melody of their voices; the 

 flowers, too, are beginning to attract our eye 

 by the variety of their colors. But nature 

 affords not satisfaction to the ear and the 

 eye only ; she administers also a sensible de- 

 light by the perfumes which she scatters in 

 every direction. By and by, we shall have 

 the fragrant odors of the hay-field, the wild 

 thyme of the heath, the roses in our gardens, 

 and the roses and woodbines that decorate 

 our hedgerows. We can, even now, scent 

 the modest violet that shrinks from our sight, 

 and inhale the perfume of the sweet briar. 

 But our pen must halt here, or we shall 

 be again called to order by the printer, who 

 has frequently told us that our Journal 

 ought to be of thrice its present dimensions 

 to accommodate itself to our lucubrations. 



He is assuredly right in his remarks ; but we 

 shall as assuredly return to our subject at an 

 early day. " Our appetite grows by what it 

 feeds on ; " and, as our diet is wholesome, we 

 wish to share it with our friends. None but 

 the voice of a printer could stop us. If 

 the prospect before us will not make us sing, or 

 try to sing, where else shall we look for a 

 singing-master ? 



ORIGINAL CORRESPONDENCE. 



Domestic Frogs. — Encouraged by a Journal 

 like yours to come forward and state what my ex- 

 perience has taught me in the field of nature, I 

 send you some interesting particulars of the frog 

 — a harmless animal, that vulgar prejudice has 

 doomed to destruction whenever he is met with. 

 I trust we shall succeed between us, in putting 

 an end to such cruelties, worthy only of the darker 

 ages. In July, 1849, I captured a fine male frog, 

 of a dark olive color on a green ground. He was 

 also beautifully striped with broad bands of black. 

 I intended to have him stuffed in the first in- 

 stance, but I afterwards changed my mind. Being 

 very wild, I placed him for security in a glass 

 fish-globe. This I half filled with water ; and 

 with a view to make Monsieur mount for air 

 when so disposed, I suspended, a short distance 

 below the mouth of the globe, a platform made 

 of card-board. This I covered with moss. He 

 soon used this as his table, and regarded it with 

 delight. It was quite amusing to watch his 

 struggles to escape when first put into his trans- 

 parent prison. For five whole days he remained 

 at the bottom, sulkily. Four others, since cap- 

 tured, have done the very same thing. At the 

 end of ten days, finding "discretion to be the 

 better part of valor," he capitulated; and as he 

 found me anxious to form his acquaintance, he 

 gradually grew friendly, and came as regularly 

 to the platform for his worm or fly as a horse 

 would to his manger for corn. The second I 

 caught in September, 1850; this is of quite a dif- 

 ferent color — dark orange, spotted with black. 

 When magnified, by looking at them through the 

 water, their appearance is really beautiful. The 

 others being younger than the two already spoken 

 of (which are full grown), are gradually attain- 

 ing their natural beauties. [The length of our 

 correspondent's letter, though the particulars he 

 furnishes are singularly-interesting and attrac- 

 tive, compels us to contract the further details.] 

 As for the tameness of these creatures, and their 

 great affection, they are beyond description. I 

 would undertake to carry one, or all of them, 

 from one end of London to the other, either by day 

 or by night, and they should never quit my per • 

 son. At home, all my family fondle them as they 

 would a kitten. The animals know not what fear 

 means ; but they love to play and frolic with any- 

 body. Their dexterity in catching flies is marvel- 

 lous to witness. They never miss their aim. I 

 hardly need tell you I give them their liberty 

 daily. While going through their exercises, it is 

 highly diverting to watch their long awkward 

 legs stretched out, as they elevate themselves 

 against a door or the wall. Their attachment to 



