

118 
KIDD’S OWN JOURNAL. 

SUMMER ENJOYMENTS. 
DOINGS AT TRENTHAM PARK. 

THERE IS NO MISTAKE NOW, about out-of- 
door amusements. All who have a shilling to 
spend have run away to spendit. And why 
not? Health is alone thus obtainable in the 
summer months. 
There has just been a grand gathering of 
visitors at Trentham Park* where, by the 
kind permission{ of his Grace the Duke of 
Sutherland, all comers may freely enjoy 
themselves on the greensward. We have re- 
ceived from our amiable Correspondent, ‘ A 
Clergyman’s Wife,” before introduced to 
our readers (see p. 265. vol III.), some very 
interesting particulars of the doings on the 
grand occasion; and we quite enter with her 
into the harmless pleasures of the happy 
visitors. It must indeed have been a grati- 
fying sight, to witness so many thousand 
joyous faces assembled together, making holi- 
day. The presence of her Grace, the Duchess 
of Sutherland, too (who was present in the 
af ernoon), must have added greatly to the 
effect of the tableau. 
We learn that, from eight in the morning 
until five in the afternoon, visitors poured in 
in a continuous stream ; and at that hour the 
crowd in the park could not have numbered 
many less than forty thousand. Some of the 
young men engaged in cricket, prison bars, 
and other athletic games; but the majority 
preferred amusements in which the fair sex 
could participate ; and many were the parties 
engaged heart and soul in the stirring polka, 
and other favorite dances. Pic-nic parties 
luxuriated beneath the shade of the noble 
trees skirting the park. Those who pre- 
ferred “ pairing off”—not exactly as do mem- 
bers of the legislature,— wandered along the 
numerous glades opening out in different 
directions ; whilst the more youthful engaged 
im various innocent recreations. 
It is often remarked that “ it always rains 
on the Trentham day,” but this year was a 
delightful exception to the watery rule. 
Warm genial sunshine, and abalmyair, largely 
promoted the enjoyment of the day. 
When evening approached, the company 
began to move off. At nine o’clock the park 
was deserted, and every road leading there- 
from thronged with joyous parties returning 
homewards. 
Our fair Correspondent, we should observe, 

*It was the grand week for the Stoke Wakes 
and the North Staffordshire Races, when it is 
usual for every class to congregate from all parts 
of the country for many miles around. High and 
low, rich and poor, people of all ages and of both 
sexes—the gentler largely predominatine—mect 
in armies, on one common ground, in pursuit of 
one common object—enjoyment. 

nee 
was on a visit in the neighborhood. Her 
observations were therefore leisurely made 
in a carriage drive. Her description of the 
holiday dresses, the motley costumes, and the 
happy faces of their wearers; their dances, 
and their various rustic sports,—has delighted 
us exceedingly. Her graphic delineation, 
too, of the natural beauties of the spot 
where these festivities were celebrated, 1s 
quite charming. 
How refreshing it is for us poor editors, 
during the season of drought, to meet with 
a heart like this,—so alive to the beauties of 
Nature’s pencil; so able to enter into and 
enjoy the harmless frolics and pleasures of 
the rustic peasantry ! 
We regret that our limited space forbids 
us to print our Correspondents letter in full, 
but we have endeavored to give the spirit 
of it. May these little festivities be regu- 
larly kept up! say we. ‘They are wholesome 
both for mind and body. 
ORIGINAL CORRESPONDENCE. 

Summer Gnats—These very troublesome little 
creatures have been, and are just now, committing 
sad havoc on the human countenance. We both 
hear them buzz, and feel them bite, whilst slum- 
bering on ‘the bed of wakefulness.” In such a 
case, my dear Mr. Editor, that which you so much 
hate will be found very useful,—I mean the smoke 
of tobacco, in its least objectionable form of a cigar. 
Indeed, if coarse brown paper be lighted and the 
smoke allowed to enter the room for a minute or 
two, the end will be answered. The gnats will 
become stupid, and will remain on the walls, “in 
amazement lost,” until the morning. The window 
will then be open, and they can take their departure. 
—Puss. 
[Thanks. Smoke, we know 7s a good remedy 
for this seasonable, or, rather, wn-seasonable annoy- 
ance. We have, more than once, been sadly put 
out of late by these back-biting little rascals, who 
are so fond of cheek, and who feast so unmercifully 
on our tenderest points. They will face you, do 
what you may to prevent it. Indeed we regard 
them as a perfect eye-sore. Try the smoke, good 
people, but use cedar chips instead of pigtail. You 
will soon find your apartment “all serene.”’] 

Poisonous Fish.—Much curious and useful 
information is often lost to the world, from the 
want of knowledge of what to observe in men who 
have the opportunity of correctly ascertaining the 
facts and conditions of many, as yet, unexplained 
phenomena which fall under their notice. ‘The 
alleged and generally received facts of the 
poisonous nature of various fishes, in given loca- 
lities at certain seasons, whilst they are perfectly 
innocuous and suitable for food when caught in 
other places—is one of those mysterious things 
which can only be explained or disproved by one 
who possesses both the opportunity and the 
ability to observe correctly. On this subject Mr. 
Schomburgh remarks, in some observations on 
Anegada, one of the Virgin Islands, that whilst 

—_—_— 

