344 



KIDD'S OWN JOURNAL. 



TO CORRESPONDENTS. 



Forestiera.— Your very kind favor is received, and shall 

 have all due attention in our next. You enclosed a 

 stamped envelope, -which is useless, inasmuch as your 

 name and address were withholden. Most gladly -would 

 we write to you, hut cannot. Do not let the birds fly 

 yet. 



Communications Received. — J. A. B. In our next. — 

 J. N. Your information about eels is quite incorrect. 

 "We have treated at great length upon what you want 

 to know. See pages 59, 73, 89, 106 and 121. Fitz, and 

 others. — Next week. 



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. 



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. 



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, May 29, 1852. 



WE HAVE OFTEN FOUND IT " WELL," for 



us to be occasionally " ill" — an anomaly not 

 so difficult in the solution as it may at first 

 appear. 



While we are in the enjoyment of rude 

 health, few of us experience any individual 

 attention, — we go in and out, and receive the 

 usual salutation. But when we are laid by ; 

 when sickness puts its paw on us ; and dis- 

 ease confines us to the bed, — then do we 

 secretly learn our value ; and distinguish 

 who are our friends, properly so called. 



And here let us remark, that nothing is 

 half so gratifying when we are thus made 

 prisoners, as the society of those kindred 

 souls whose visits to us are the result of 

 pure, unadulterated friendship. A little of 

 this still lingers in the land, — but oh, how 

 little! 



These observations are called forth by the 

 vast accumulating influx of Letters from all 

 parts of the country, — the writers of which 

 are anxious to know " the tendency of our 

 remarks at page 312 of the Journal." What 

 a dressing we have had! 



" Do you positively and seriously mean to 

 say, Mr. Editor," writes one whose name and 

 handwriting were unknown to us, " that you 

 are going to wind up your Popular Miscellany 

 at Midsummer ? Before you attempt to 

 commit so rash an act of suicidal madness, 

 let me urge you in the most friendly spirit 

 to reconsider your determination. Charge 

 us twopence, aye threepence if you will, for 

 your Paper ; but do not, pray do not, nip the 

 bud of a blossom which promises at a no 

 distant day to produce such rich fruit. Why, 

 among all the existing periodicals, yours is 

 4 the evergreen !' I will answer not only for 



myself but for the majority of your readers, 

 that — after what you have already said about 

 the dilemma in which you are placed, 

 every effort will be put forth to assist in 

 adding to the sale of your Journal. Indeed 

 it only requires notoriety to make it uni- 

 versally popular * * *. Although ranking 

 as one of the ' weaker sex,' yet let this 

 argument of a woman prove the strength of 

 her devotion to your interests. I do not 

 withhold my name ; but of course wish it 

 not to be made public." 



To multiply instances, all tending to one 

 object, would be absurd. In reply to all 

 these missives of kindness, we can only 

 repeat what we have before said. We are 

 by no means obstinate. So long as the 

 Public will enable us to live (we cannot 

 afford to write for "amusement" only), so 

 long will we devote all our best energies to 

 their service. 



One word more, in conclusion. Our 

 gentle and considerate Correspondent pro- 

 poses, our making a slight addition to the 

 charge for the Journal. How very much 

 more satisfactory would it be, to gain for it 

 an extended circulation at its present low 

 price! Nothing but numbers could repay 

 the cost of production ; and yet, a very, 

 very slight effort on the part of our present 

 subscribers, would at once accomplish what 

 appears to them to be so great a deside- 

 ratum. If, as we have before calculated, each 

 one of our patrons were to secure us only 

 two other weekly Subscribers, the desired 

 object would be at once attained. 



This suggestion is left for Public conside- 

 ration. There are yet three weeks to Mid- 

 summer. 



That we have had a backward Spring, 

 is an indisputable fact ; but how have we 

 been compensated by the late genial and 

 warm showers which have fructified the 

 earth, and made the valleys shout and sing ! 



There needs no extra inducement now, to 

 tempt us into the fields ; nor can we have 

 the shadow of an excuse for lying in bed 

 after day-break, or being found in the house 

 after the termination of the morning meal. 



The effects of the recent rains are especially 

 observable in the wheat fields. The stems 

 are already sufficiently high to wave grace- 

 fully in the wind ; which, as it passes over 

 them, seems to metamorphose them into a 

 beautiful lake of bright-green undulating 

 water. The meadows, too, glittering all 

 over with buttercups, and the cowslips start- 

 ing up close beside our path as we saunter 

 along, anxious to be seen yet hanging down 

 their modest heads as if half afraid of en- 

 countering the gaze they seem to court, — 

 these, and a hundred other pretty disco- 

 veries, meet us at every turn. 



