Chapter I: Prithee Send Me Back My Heart (4)

“In the north, where you never yet trod, toward the point whence your instincts have warned you, there a specter will seize you. ’Tis Death! I see a ship; it is haunted; ’tis chased! it sails on. Baffled navies sail after that ship. It enters the region of ice. It passes a sky red with meteors. Two moons stand on high, over ice-reefs. I see the ship locked between white defiles; they are ice-rocks. I see the dead strew the decks, stark and livid, green mold on their limbs. All are dead but one man—it is you! But years, though so slowly they come, have then scathed you. There is the coming of age on your brow, and the will is relaxed in the cells of the brain. Still that will, though enfeebled, exceeds all that man knew before you; through the will you live on, gnawed with famine. And nature no longer obeys you in that death-spreading region; the sky is a sky of iron, and the air has iron clamps, and the ice-rocks wedge in the ship. Hark how it cracks and groans! Ice will imbed it as amber imbeds a straw. And a man has gone forth, living yet, from the ship and its dead; and he has clambered up the spikes of an iceberg, and the two moons gaze down on his form. That man is yourself, and terror is on you—terror; and terror has swallowed up your will.

“And I see, swarming up the steep ice-rock, gray, grizzly things. The bears of the North have scented their quarry; they come nearer and nearer, shambling, and rolling their bulk. In that day every moment shall seem to you longer than the centuries through which you have passed. Heed this: after life, moments continued make the bliss or the hell of eternity.”

“Hush!” said the whisper. “But the day, you assure me, is far off, very far! I go back to the almond and rose of Damascus! Sleep!”

The room swam before my eyes. I became insensible. When I recovered, I found G—— holding my hand and smiling. He said, “You, who have always declared yourself proof against mesmerism, have succumbed at last to my friend Richards.”

“Where is Mr. Richards?”

“Gone, when you passed into a trance, saying quietly to me, ‘Your friend will not wake for an hour.’”

I asked, as collectedly as I could, where Mr. Richards lodged.

“At the Trafalgar Hotel.”

“Give me your arm,” said I to G——. “Let us call on him; I have something to say.”

When we arrived at the hotel we were told that Mr. Richards had returned twenty minutes before, paid his bill, left directions with his servant (a Greek) to pack his effects, and proceed to Malta by the steamer that should leave Southampton the next day. Mr. Richards had merely said of his own movements that he had visits to pay in the neighborhood of London, and it was uncertain whether he should be able to reach Southampton in time for that steamer; if not, he should follow in the next one.

The waiter asked me my name. On my informing him, he gave me a note that Mr. Richards had left for me in case I called.

The note was as follows:

I wished you to utter what was in your mind. You obeyed. I have
therefore established power over you. For three months from this day
you can communicate to no living man what has passed between us. You
cannot even show this note to the friend by your side. During three
months, silence complete as to me and mine. Do you doubt my power to
lay on you this command? Try to disobey me. At the end of the third
month the spell is raised. For the rest, I spare you. I shall visit
your grave a year and a day after it has received you.

So ends this strange story, which I ask no one to believe. I write it down exactly three months after I received the above note. I could not write it before, nor could I show to G——, in spite of his urgent request, the note which I read under the gas-lamp by his side.

THE SEPTEMBER GALE.

BY OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES.

I’m not a chicken; I have seen
Full many a chill September,
And though 1 was a youngster then,
That gale I well remember;
The day before, my kite-string snapped,
And I, my kite pursuing,
The wind whisked off my palm-leaf hat;—
For me two storms were brewing!

It came as quarrels sometimes do,
When married folks get clashing;
There was a heavy sigh or two,
Before the fire was flashing,—
A little stir among the clouds,
Before they rent asunder,—
A little rocking of the trees,
And then came on the thunder.

Lord! how the ponds and rivers boiled,
And how the shingles rattled!
And oaks were scattered on the ground
As it the Titans battled;
And all above was in a howl,
And all below a clatter,—
The earth was like a frying-pan,
Or some such hissing matter.

It chanced to be our washing-day,
And all our things were drying:
The storm came roaring through the lines,
And set them all a-flying;
I saw the shirts and petticoats
Go riding off like witches;
I lost, ah! bitterly I wept,—
I lost my Sunday breeches!

I saw them straddling through the air,
Alas! too late to win them;
I saw them chase the clouds as if
The devil had been in them;
They were my darlings and my pride,
My boyhood’s only riches,—
“Farewell, farewell,” I faintly cried,—
“My breeches! O my breeches!”

That night I saw them in my dreams,
How changed from what I knew them.
The dews had steeped their faded threads,
The winds had whistled through them;
I saw the wide and ghastly rents
Where demon claws had torn them;
A hole was in their amplest part,
As if an imp had worn them.

I have had many happy years,
And tailors kind and clever,
But those young pantaloons have gone
Forever and forever!
And not till fate has cut the last
Of all my earthly stitches,
This aching heart shall cease to mourn
My loved, my long-lost breeches!

FACTS FOR THE WEATHERWISE.

WEATHER SIGNS.

The sun is bright, the sky is clear,
But grandma says a storm is near;
And when I asked how she could know,
She said the peacock told her so,
When, perching on the old fence rail,
He screamed so loud and dropped his tail;
And the shy cuckoo on the wing
Repeated over the same thing;
And “More wet!” all the bob-whites cried
That in the grassy meadows hide;
The soot that from the chimney fell
Came down, it seems, this news to tell;
The kettle sang the self-same tune
When it boiled dry so very soon;
The grass this morning said so, too,
That hung without a drop of dew;
And the blue swallows, flying low
Across the river, to and fro.
So all these told her very plain
That ere the evening it would rain;
But who told them, and when, and how?
That’s what I want to find out now.
_St. Nicholas._

THE SIROCCO OF ITALY.

Italy is visited by a hot wind from the south which is known as the “Sirocco.” This wind will run the temperature in southern Italy up to 110 degrees Fahrenheit in the shade, and has a most peculiar effect on the human system, causing intense weakness and irritable depression.

The Sirocco is said to be indirectly the cause of more murders, and of quarrels in which blood is shed, than any other phenomenon in nature.

WEATHER PROVERBS.

The absence of dew for three days indicates rain. Heavy dew indicates fair weather. Clouds without dew indicate rain. If there is a heavy dew and it soon dries, expect fine weather; if it lies long on the grass, expect rain in twenty-four hours.

With dew before midnight, the next day will surely be bright. If you wet your feet with the dew in the morning, you may keep them dry for the rest of the day.

If it rains before seven, ’twill clear before eleven. Rains from the south prevent drought, but rains from the west are always best. If it rains before sunrise, expect a fair afternoon. If it rains when the sun shines, it will rain the next day. Rain is likely to commence on the turn of the tide.

Marry the rain to the wind and you have a calm. If rain commences before daylight, it will hold up before 8 A.M.; if it begins about noon, it will continue through the afternoon; if it commences after 9 P.M., it will rain the next day; if the wind is from the northwest or southwest, the storm will be short; if from the northeast, it will be a hard one.

THUNDER IN ENGLAND.

An early English author writes:

“Thunders in the morning signifie wynde: about noone, rayne; in the evening great tempest.

“Somme wryte (their ground I see not) that Sondayes thundre should brynge the death of learned men, judges, and others; Mondayes thundre, the death of women; Tuesdayes thundre, pleantie of graine; Wednesdayes thundre, much blodshede; Thursdayes thundre, pleantie of shepe and corne; Fridayes thundre, the slaughter of a great man and other horrible murders; and Saturdayes thundre, a generall pestilent plague and great deathe.”

HOW TO USE A BAROMETER.

The following rules are those which are used by the Seawanhaka-Corinthian Yacht Club in their very successful attempts to forecast the weather with the aid of the barometer.

A Rising Barometer.—A rapid rise indicates unsettled weather. A gradual rise indicates settled weather. A rise with dry air and cold air increasing in summer indicates wind from the northward; and if rain has fallen, better weather may be expected. A rise with moist air and a low temperature indicates wind and rain from the northward. A rise with southerly winds indicates fine weather.

A Steady Barometer.—With dry air and seasonable temperature indicates a continuance of very fine weather.

A Falling Barometer.—A rapid fall indicates stormy weather. A rapid fall with westerly wind indicates stormy weather from the northward. A fall with a northerly wind indicates storm, with rain and hail in summer, and snow in winter. A fall with increased moisture in the air and heat increasing indicates wind and rain from the southward. A fall with dry air and cold increasing in winter indicates snow. A fall after very calm and warm weather indicates rain with squally weather.

The barometer rises for northerly winds, including from northwest by north to the eastward for dry or less wet weather, for less wind, or for more than one of these changes, except on a few occasions, when rain, hail, or snow comes from the northward with strong wind.

The barometer falls for southerly wind, including from southeast by south to the westward, for wet weather, for stronger wind, or for more than one of these changes, except on a few occasions, moderate wind, with rain or snow, comes from the northward.

COWS TELL RAIN.

A sign of coming rain or strong wind is evident when a herd of cows gather together at one end of a pasture, with their tails to windward. Again, when cows are unusually frisky—so that sedate old grandmother cows caper about the field and butt imaginary objects with their horns, while they fling up their heels—often storms are in the air.

Cows are sometimes thus playful in the witching hours of twilight, to the terror of nervous ladies who must cross their pastures.

But when in twilight cows follow one another along a field path unpleasantly close and gambol unpleasantly around one, fear of a storm need not necessarily add terror to the situation. For cows are very inquisitive, and in the dusk of twilight like to make careful investigation of strangers, without meaning any offense.

Cows show a sign of heat and its accompaniment, annoying insects, when they thus collect together, rubbing themselves against each other, and one might read in this a sign of fair weather ahead.

FIRE AS A BAROMETER.

Willsford, in his “Nature’s Secrets” (1658), tells us:

“When our common fires do burn with a pale flame, they presage foul weather. If the fire do make a huzzing noise, it is a sign of tempests near at hand. When the fire sparkleth. very much, it is a sign of rain. If the ashes on the hearth do dodder together of themselves, it is a sign of rain. When pots are newly taken off the fire, if they sparkle (the soot upon them being incensed), it presages rain.

“When the fire scorcheth, and burneth more vehemently than it useth to do, it is a sign of frosty weather; but if the living coals do shine brighter than commonly at other times, expect then rain. If wood or any other fuel do crackle more than ordinary, it is an evident sign of some tempestuous weather neer at hand; the much and suddain falling of soot presages rain.”

GOOSE-BONES AND PROPHECIES.

The goose-bone predictions are perhaps more closely watched in Kentucky than anywhere else, and it may be called the Kentucky weather prophet.

We must take the breastbone of a last spring’s goose—none other will do, for the prophecy does not extend beyond the year in which the goose is hatched. It must be divided into three different parts, which represent the three divisions of winter.

The breastbone of a goose is translucent, but at places has cloudlike blots upon it. These blots denote cold weather, and the prophecy is made according to their density and position.

ORIGIN OF COLD WAVES OF AIR.

Dr. Klein, in reference to the use of daily weather reports, states that in Europe, as in America, in all cases, the reports of the weather westward of a given station are of the greatest importance, while reports from stations to the east are, on the average, of minor importance in making weather predictions.

A southerly wind in the region of Ireland, Scotland, or Norway indicates the approaching side of an area of low barometer. It is therefore a sign of a coming change in the weather.

A northerly wind in those regions indicates, for Germany, that the pressure of the air from the ocean is high, and can be considered as a sign of steady pleasant weather.

The region of high barometer is generally separated from oceans and from equatorial regions by lofty chains of mountains. The coldest and densest stratum of air can therefore not flow away toward the sea.

The area of greatest cold on this continent is not prevented by any range of mountains from extending southward and eastward, but is only hemmed in on the west by the Rocky Mountains. Thus while the Pacific Coast is protected from an overflow of very cold air, the whole eastern portion of America becomes peculiarly subject to it.

A HOROSCOPE OF THE MONTHS.[7]

BY MARION Y. BUNNER.

The Nature of the Destiny and Some of the Idiosyncrasies Which Have To
Do with Persons Born Under the Sign “Libra,” Representing the Period
Between September 23d and October 23d.

_Compiled and edited for_ THE SCRAP BOOK.

Footnote 7:

This is the eighth instalment of “A Horoscope of the Months.” The
first was printed in the March issue of THE SCRAP BOOK. In subsequent
numbers we will give the sign for the month of issue and explain its
significance to those whose birth-month it may happen to indicate.
Watch for your month and note whether the characteristics given will
apply to yourself and to your friends.—The Editor.

LIBRA: THE SCALES.

SEPTEMBER 23d to OCTOBER 23d. CUSP: RUNS SEPTEMBER 23d to 29th.

The constellation Libra—the seventh sign of the zodiac, and the middle one of the Air Triplicity—is a cardinal, sanguine, diurnal, airy, masculine sign, governing the loins. The higher attributes are inspiration and perception.

A person born during the cusp, when the sun is on the edge of the sign, does not receive the full benefits of the individuality of either Virgo or Libra, but partakes of the characteristics of both.

There is a greater variety of disposition among the Libra people than among those of any other sign. They are energetic, ambitious, and inspired. The inner nature is receptive, intuitional, sensitive, and poetical. They always finish things in a careful, competent, and conclusive manner. They keenly feel and can closely imitate the acts and sentiments of others, and can thus readily learn from example.

Their strong emotions and great imitative ability make them well adapted for the dramatic profession. When angry, they leave nothing unsaid. Their nature responds to all forms of ideality. As students, they are fond of philosophical and ethical and especially of mystical literature, Many good linguists are found in this sign.

The Libra people have remarkable foresight, and in the decision of most matters they are correctly guided by their intuitive faculty. This is especially so in the buying or selling of commodities, in which they can rarely be defrauded.

When overtaken by disaster they recover quickly and go to work again with redoubled vigor. The Libra women are kind, constant, and merciful.

The other type of Libra people is to be found more among the men, who are cunning in their business dealings and inconstant in their affections.

In physical appearance Libra subjects are usually tall, slender, and well-formed, with oval face, or languid expression of countenance, and beautiful eyes. The physical temperament will be sanguine-bilious in Southern latitudes, and nervous-bilious in Northern climates.

Their most congenial friends will be found among the Fire people (Aries, Leo, and Sagittarius); next, with those born under their own sign, and, third, with those born under Aquarius.

Libra people take things from a material and literal standpoint; and though their intuitive nature will often show them the true side of the question, they prefer to accept the conclusions of human logic.

Impatience is one of their chief faults. They are prodigal of their strength and talents, and scatter their forces in all directions. They suffer through anger and jealousy.

When a Libra and a Sagittarius person are united, the children will be very talented. Children of Libra and Aquarius will be stronger physically, and will possess a keen intellect. These children are quick to perceive the truth in anything, and will make determined efforts to improve. They have a natural genius for invention, having a marked mechanical ability over all the other signs. They should be permitted to have their own way when not entirely wrong. To circumscribe a Libra child is to destroy its genius.

The governing planet is Venus, and the gems are the diamond and the opal. The astral colors are black, crimson, and light blue. The flower is the violet.

August and December are the most favorable months, and Wednesday is the lucky day in this sign.

October, the eighth month of the old Roman year, originally began in spring. By the Julian arrangement it became the tenth month, and had thirty-one days assigned to it. By the Slavs this is called “yellow month” from the fading of the leaf; to the Anglo-Saxons it was known as the Wyn-Monat (wine month), because it was the month in which they pressed grapes, also as Winter-fylleth, because at this full moon (fylleth) winter was supposed to begin. It corresponds partly with the Vendémiaire and partly to the Brumaire of the first French Republic.

In some of the very old Saxon calendars October is characterized by the figure of a husbandman carrying a sack on his shoulders and sowing of corn. In others, less ancient, hawking is the emblem of the month; and yet in more modern times it has been represented as a man clothed in a garment of the color of decaying leaves, with a coronal of oak-branches and acorns on his head, holding in his left hand a basket of chestnuts, medlars, etc., and in his right, Scorpio—_i.e._, the sign of the zodiac which the sun enters on the twenty-third of October.

The principal ecclesiastical feasts are those of St. Luke, on the 18th; and St. Simon and St. Jude, on the 28th.

The late Senator Mark A. Hanna and Mrs. Annie Besant were born under this sign. Bernhardt, Modjeska, and Peg Woffington are excellent illustrations of the dramatic genius of the Libra people.

THE ZODIACAL SIGNS.

1. Aries The Ram. Reigns from March 21 to April 19.
2. Taurus The Bull. Reigns from April 20 to May 19.
3. Gemini The Twins. Reigns from May 20 to June 18.
4. Cancer The Crab. Reigns from June 19 to July 23.
5. Leo The Lion. Reigns from July 24 to August 23.
6. Virgo The Virgin. Reigns from August 24 to September 21.
7. Libra The Scales. Reigns from September 22 to October
21.
8. Scorpio The Scorpion. Reigns from October 22 to November 20.
9. Sagittarius The Archer. Reigns from November 21 to December
20.
10. Capricorn The Sea-Goat. Reigns from December 21 to January 19.
11. Aquarius The Water Reigns from January 20 to February 18.
Bearer.
12. Pisces The Fishes. Reigns from February 19 to March 20.

WHAT FOREIGN JOHN SMITHS ARE CALLED.

Nearly Every Nation Has a Peculiar Manner of Spelling His Name—In Poland
He is Ivan Schmittiweiski, and in Turkey Yoo Seef.

Of all the families of the earth probably there is none more numerous than that of Smith, and of all the Smiths in the world it seems that at least fifty per cent have been christened John. If the name were not so common we should probably admire it and see it through a glamour, as we do many other names that are not half as solid and substantial.

As it is, plain John Smith is not very high-sounding; it does not suggest aristocracy. It is not the name of any hero in die-away novels; yet it is good and honest. Transferred to other languages it seems to climb the ladder of respectability.

Thus in Latin it is Johannes Smithus; the Italian smoothes it off into
Giovanni Smithi; the Spaniards render it Juan Smithus; the German
adopts it as Hans Schmidt; the French flatten it out into Jean Smeets;
the Russian turns it into Jonloff Smitowski; the Icelanders say he is
Jahnne Smithson. Among the Tuscaroras he becomes Tam Qua Smittia; in
Poland he is known as Ivan Schmittiweiski; among the Welsh mountains
they call him Jihom Schmidt; in Mexico his name is written Jontli
F’Smitri; in Greece he turns to I’on Sinikton; in Turkey he is almost
disguised as Yoo Seef.

MATHEMATICAL PUZZLES.

“Magic Squares” Were Held in Veneration by the Egyptians and
Pythagoreans, and They Constitute the Oldest Numerical Problems Known to
Man—Bewildering Results Obtained by Simple Methods.

The art of arranging numbers in the form of squares, so that the sum of the various rows—vertical, horizontal, and diagonal—would in each case be the same, is, without question, the oldest of mathematical puzzles.

The Egyptians and Pythagoreans held them in the greatest veneration—especially the latter, who dedicated them to the then known seven planets.

The magic 34 square was probably the strangest freak of figures known at this time.

┌──┬──┬──┬──┐
│16│ 3│ 2│13│
├──┼──┼──┼──┤
│ 5│10│11│ 8│
├──┼──┼──┼──┤
│ 9│ 6│ 7│12│
├──┼──┼──┼──┤
│ 4│15│14│ 1│
└──┴──┴──┴──┘

This strange freak may be found in Dürer’s “Melancholia,” engraved on
copper in 1514, being included in the series of symbolical engravings
of “The Death of the Devil,” “The Knight on Horseback,” etc.

The aim in this instance, as shown by ancient writings, was not only
to obtain the same total (34) in the ten rows of four, but to discover
as many symmetrical combinations as possible giving the same result.
According to the ancients, “symmetrical combinations which no man
could number” were to be found in this arrangement of the numbers from
1 to 16, inclusive. As an example, take 16, 3, 5, and 10, or 2, 8, 9,
and 15, or 1, 9, 16, and 8, and so on indefinitely. The result is the
same.

Another unique example is the following:

┌──┬──┬──┬──┬──┐
│ 3│20│ 7│24│11│
├──┼──┼──┼──┼──┤
│16│ 8│25│12│ 4│
├──┼──┼──┼──┼──┤
│ 9│21│13│ 5│17│
├──┼──┼──┼──┼──┤
│22│14│ 1│18│10│
├──┼──┼──┼──┼──┤
│15│ 2│19│ 6│23│
└──┴──┴──┴──┴──┘

In this case the sum is 65, and can be reached in an almost endless
variety of combinations. However, there is one feature to be
remembered in dealing with this problem, and that is that the central
number (13) must be added to each combination except in the straight
and diagonal lines. Thus: 20, 24, 2, 6, and 13, or 8, 12, 14, 18, and
13, etc., each make the magic sum 65.

The well-known “15 puzzle” is another illustration of the surprising
feats which figures are sometimes made to play. The problem being to
arrange in a square of three rows, three figures in each row, the
numerals, 1 to 9 inclusive, in such a manner that each row—vertical,
horizontal, or diagonal—will total 15. This is more difficult than
appears at first glance, unless you have the key, which is: place 5 in
the center, and let the four corners be 2, 4, 6, and 8. The rest is
easy.

┌──┬──┬──┐
│ 2│ 9│ 4│
├──┼──┼──┤
│ 7│ 5│ 3│
├──┼──┼──┤
│ 6│ 1│ 8│
└──┴──┴──┘

This form differs from the 65 and 34 in that it can only be added diagonally, horizontally, and vertically.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES

1. Silently corrected obvious typographical errors and variations in spelling. 2. Retained archaic, non-standard, and uncertain spellings as printed. 3. Enclosed italics font in _underscores_. 4. Enclosed bold font in =equals=.