should not be disturbed by the distribution of letters until the duties of the morning had been accomplished. Our digestive faculties, however, were less tenderly protected, for the half-hour before dinner was the period set apart for the enjoyment of our correspondence. On St. Valentine's Day, the young ladies had elicited from a friendly domestic the welcome fact, that "Missis had a heap of letters for them," and they awaited, with ill-dissembled impatience, the moment at which they usually assembled around Miss Frigid's table, to receive their treasures. The deportment of that lady was unusually bland, as she announced her regret that she had no letters for the young ladies. She ought, perhaps, to add, she continued, that certain com munications had reached Acacia House, but of such a character that she had felt, in committing them at once to the flames, she only anticipated the desire of the ladies to whom they were addressed. She felt gratification, too, in sparing them the feeling of indignation which such impertinences were calculated to awaken in well-regulated minds. With a look of bland decision, Miss Frigid swept out of the room, leaving be. hind her quite as many indignant emotions as from the aforesaid well-regulated minds she could have expected, though whether directed precisely in the quarter she desired, may be a matter of doubt. Kate Aguilette (only daughter of Colonel Aguilette, of Woolwich) went into real hysterics of disappointment, having intended to patronise Society very largely on the strength of the numerous tributes to her charms, which she had reason to expect would pour in from a coterie of young gentlemen-then engaged in the service of their country, and the study of military strategy in that garrison. Of my own personal experiences of St. Valentine's Day, I shall say but little. I received, perhaps, somewhat less than the average number of letters, of rather above the average style; and here I may observe, en passant, that it was remarkable how much the general character of these effusions harmonised with that of the popular literature of the day. During the time of the ballad poetry of Sir Walter Scott, they were usually of a genial and chivalrous cast; but when the fierce fashion of Byron set in, nothing short of blackness and blight could do justice to the intensity of passion of these Conrads and Laras of modern times. I could almost fancy, that in my early youth the shadow of Old Maidism must have hung over me, for one long extract from Hayley's "Triumphs of Temper" hailed me as a sort of Serena rediviva; and once a full page from Miss Bowdler's "Love of Solitude" complimented me upon the pensierosa character of my tastes and habits. None of these addresses, however complimentary, terminated in any practical result; and it is strange that, in the whole range of my Valentine experiences, I have only met with two cases that ever did so. In the one instance, a gentleman-who, though past the first flush of youth, and seriously interested in the lady, could not summon courage to address her viva voce-tendered his homage for five successive years, in the shape of a lock of hair; the white threads in which, increasing in number after every interval, seemed gracefully suggestive of the danger of delay on her part. A dark tress at length requited the silent but constant lover, and for many a year those two fates have been united. In the second instance, the interference of St. Valentine was rather incidental than direct; but at any rate it was equally successful. Ladies of all ages and conditions are accused of entertaining a particular penchant for the clergy, and in my own person I am most ready to admit the truth of the impeachment; for surely, if the Church is our venerable mother, to cherish her sons is but a sisterly duty. Similar views being entertained by the other members of my family, it happened that the young Incumbent of our village became, soon after his arrival there, a more frequent guest at the Hall than the courtesies of country visiting rendered absolutely necessary. Although the High Church party considered him too liberal to Dissenters, and the Low Church found it impossible to profit fully by sermons preached in a surplice, Mr. Hargreaves was acknowledged by all to be an excellent young man, who did his duty thoroughly, but might be richer with advantage. (Blackwell-cum-Titheridge is a perpetual curacy only, rated in the clergy list at £193 16s. 5d. per annum.) The beneficial influences of his society soon evinced themselves in the increased interest taken by my second niece in the ancient matrons, and other objects of charity which the village afforded; and when the young Divine avowed on evening, with unconscious enthusiasm, that he considered Mary the sweetest name in the calendar, I began, though no match-maker, occasionally to ponder the question, whether good principles, good talents, and good lineage, might not worthily match with a good fortune, even though a pretty girl were attached to it. The practical decision of this point, MEDICAL EDUCATION OF WOMEN. however, rested not with me, and my spe- how could do otherwise come up to the culations respecting it seemed doubly vain Hall and plead his own cause, in his own and profitless, when the visits of our pastor words. The sequel may easily be guessed. waxed gradually fewer and shorter. I If he had been charming before, the episode noticed in our chance encounters that he of the afternoon rendered him irresistible. looked as though keeping an anticipatory My good brother was vanquished by a hint Lent, and also that Mary had become sub- that Mary's headaches might become ject to headaches and ennui. Not liking to chronic; and, with a mention of the merry see grave faces where I had been accus-wedding we had on the 14th of February tomed to meet glad ones, I resolved, after last, I conclude these Reminiscences of St. some hesitation, to call at the parsonage, Valentine's Day. and see what medicaments I could offer for the mind or suggest for the body of its occupant. Our friend's staid housekeeper ushered me into the study, promising to fetch her master, who was then engaged in a colloquy respecting the grate for the vestry. I turned to the table to take up a book, when lo! there lay spread out before me, pure and spotless, three of Mr. De la Rue's most elaborate lace-bordered Valentines. For the first time in my life, I was horror-struck at the sight; for what would have called forth only a sympathetic smile in other young men, seemed undignified and unbecoming in a clergyman. I thought, too, of poor Mary, and sighed as I did so; in fact, when the culprit stood before me, I could hardly collect myself sufficiently to respond to his courtesies. He in his turn became surprised, and followed the direction of my eyes, still fixed on the evidences of his guilt. He took them up, and a faint colour and a fainter smile were perceptible on his countenance as he inquired if I did not think them beautiful, and added, that he hoped they would give pleasure to her for whom they were intended-one, little susceptible of enjoyments, but well worthy of all her friends could afford her. He read my surprise in my looks, and then forth came the mystery. He had an only sister, at once the care and object of his life. A fearful fever had visited her some years before, which, whilst sparing her life, and many of her personal attractions, had reduced her mental powers to the simplicity of childhood. Her memory, he added, by one of those strange instincts which science has failed to elucidate, whilst blank to almost all beside, was still alive to ex. pressions of admiration and the pleasures of a first Valentine. "So, year by year," he continued, "I strive to keep alive this remembrance, and add a drop of honey to the tasteless cup of life." ENGLISH Women are also desirous that certain departments of medical science should be opened to them, and the means of instruction rendered more accessible. This is no new idea. It is as old, certainly, as the family life, coeval with the first dawn of civilisation; and we do not see why, as civilisation progresses, woman should be more and more excluded from what appears to be her natural sphere, if she is to be in any respect the "help meet for man. On the proper training of an order of women, who should act among us like the Sisters of Charity, and the Sisters of Mercy in the Roman Catholic Church, I have spoken at large in the following essays. We have abundance of women overflowing with mercy and charity, but ill-trained for the work. I have spoken of this social need, of the state of destitution of our hospitals, but a few years ago, for want of effi.. cient female help; and the revolution in practice and opinion caused by the expedition of the lady-nurses to the East in 1855. It is a strange, a sorrowful thingat once painful and exasperating-to hear events which then thrilled every heart with gratitude and admiration, spoken of now by certain people, in a petty tone of despondeney, as "Quite a failure, you know!-So sad to think of!" How a failure? Is that a failure which at the time saved the lives of thousands of brave men? Is that a failure which has led to a higher standard of efficiency employed in the hospitals from one end of England to the other? Is that a failure which has raised in public estimation the character, the responsibilities, the rank and privileges of those admirable and devoted men, the army surgeons? Is that a failure which has enlarged our experience His confidence did not end here. His in the management and construction of love the doubts and misgiving of success, military hospitals? If another war should which had almost overwhelmed him; the come, and find us as deplorably destitute of hopes he had scarcely dared to indulge, all all the resources which lie in woman's tenwere laid bare before me. I bade him-derness, intelligence, and energy, as we once were, will it be because that experiment was a failure? or will it be because the funds, which exist in the hands of respectable trustees for the training and organisation of a staff of nurses, have not yet been applied? But it is not merely as nurses in military and civil hospitals that wonen might be trained, but as managers of rural hospitals, and medical sisters of charity in district-visiting. exist. English women desire that an evil so great should be looked into and considered. There are schools of midwifery in which very young men are instructed theoretically and practically? we desire that these advantages should be extended to female practitioners; that they should have the means of acquiring medical knowledge of a higher kind; that it should be a profession to which well-born and well-educated women might devote themselves; that it should by every possible means be raised in responsibility and public estimation; and that no woman should be permitted to practise without a regular diploma, character. This is the case in Germany. We do not see that it is particularly unpractical or un-English-to use the common phrases. There are at present in London two hospitals for the treatment of female diseases only, and two for children; they are under the management of men, and they are, like our other hospitals, considered as schools for young physicians and surgeons; women, except as nurses and subordinates, are shut out from the:n. There is now an intention of founding an hospital for women and children, "to be placed under the direction of women-physicians, in connection with a board of consulting physicians and surgeons," in which women will not only be employed in a subordinate capacity, but enter as students.", Mrs. Jamieson, in a Letter to Lord John Russell. The imperative need of female physicians has been acknowledged by men of the highest standing; and if it be now opposed, it is either from some practical difficulties which can be surmounted, or from some imaginary difficulties, the result of custom and pre-certifying her capability and good moral judice, which will be surmounted. Every one is aware that there are certain maladies and trials peculiar to one sex. Every wife and mother, and young sensitive female, knows how inexpressibly painful it is in many phases of suffering peculiar to the feminine and maternal organisation, to consult young inexperienced medical men; many young men have suffered cruelly, and some fatally, rather than consult a medical man at all. In the higher classes of society we have it in our power in such afflictions to call in the confidential family physician, who is often the family friend, or to send for some medical man of reputation, experience, and mature age. From these how often has a mother to hear those terrible words. "Had I been called in sooner I could have saved your daughter." But how does it fare with the lower middle classes, who cannot afford first-rate attendance; more especially the poor, who are turned over to the juvenile assistant of the parish apothecary? I often think that men who A MODEL HUSBAND.-In the Gentleman's can be tenderly considerate to refined ladies Magazine for 1761, we find the following in drawing-rooms are under the impression "mental and personal qualifications of a that the coarsely-fed and coarsely-dressed husband:"-Great good nature, good hulabouring women have not the natural feel-mour, and good sense. Lively by all means. ings of their sex; but those who have visited among the poor understand the deep dislike they feel to place themselves in the hands of mere boys, who are to gain their experience at the cost of their miserable patients. Then the sufferers have recourse to some woman, ignorant and despicable, with such small experience as she may have picked up in village practice, and they place themselves in her incompetent hands. They are warned again and again against trusting themselves to such women, wholly uneducated, and without any position or responsibility; but the natural instincts are stronger than any warning, and the means of giving these professional women, if they may be so called, a better training, do not Stupid by no means. His person agreeable rather than handsome. No great objection to six feet, with an exact symmetry of parts. Always clean, but not foppish in his dress. Youth promises a duration of happiness, therefore is agreeable. Well read in the classics, but no pedant. Experimentally acquainted with natural philosophy. A tolerable ear for music, but no fiddler. I must repeat it again, no fiddling husband. An easy and unaffected politeness. No bully; but just as much courage as is necessary to defend his own and wife's honour. No traveller; no enthusiasm for the vertu. May fortune smile on the man of my wishes. A freethinker in everything, except in matters of religion. PETER THE GREAT AT ZAANDAM. man of the name of Gerrit Kist, who had formerly been a blacksmith in Russia, and who, as may well be imagined, was astonished at the "imperial apparition;" indeed he could not believe that Peter really wished to hire so humble an abode. But the Czar persevered, and obtained permission to occupy the back part of Kist's premises, consisting of a room and a little shed adjoining, Kist being bound to secresy as to the rank of his lodger: Peter's rent amounted to seven florins (about eleven shillings) a week. We learn from authentic records that Peter the Great, Czar of Russia, entered himself, in the year 1697, on the list of ship's carpenters at the Admiralty Office of Amsterdam, in Holland. This is true; but before Peter so enrolled himself, he had made an attempt to fix his abode, for the purpose of study, at Saardam, or Zaandam, a little town situated on the river Zaan, about half an hour's voyage, by steam, from the populous and wealthy city of Amsterdam. Zaandam, though then, as now, one of The maisonnette, or hut, of Peter the the most primitive, original little towns in Great now stands alone, and has been enEurope, had for some time held important cased in a strong wooden frame in order to commercial intercourse with Russia; and preserve it. It is in much the same state as Peter had long seen the advantage to be when occupied by the Czar. The chief derived from studying at its head-quarters apartment is entered by the door you see the art which he felt sure would elevate his open, the projecting roof covers the room country in an extraordinary way. He there- probably occupied by Peter's servant, and Lore opened a private correspondence with on the left of the larger room is the recess some trusty friends in Holland, and set or cupboard in which Peter slept. Formerly forth, with his band of intelligent com- the rear of this abode was crowded with panions, early in the summer of 1697; in inferior buildings; it is now an airy space, the autumn of the same year he disem- with trees waving over the wooden tenebarked at Zaandam, and, alone and unat-ment, and a garden full of sweet-scented tended, sought an humble lodging from a flowers embalms the atmosphere around it. A civil old Dutchwoman is the guardian of the property, which is kept up with some taste, and exquisite attention to cleanliness. The maisonnette has but one door. In Zaandam the old Dutch custom of closing one entrance to the house, except on state occasions, is still kept up; the purpose of the other, the porte mortuaire, or mortuary portal, is sufficiently explained by its name. After Peter's departure, his dwelling passed from hand to hand, and would have fallen into oblivion had not Paul the First of Russia accompanied Joseph the Second of Austria and the King of Sweden to Zaandam, on purpose to visit the Czar's old abode. After this it became a sort of fashion to make pilgrimages to the once imperial residence; and it acquired a still greater celebrity when the Emperor Alexander visited it in 1814, and made a great stir in the waters of the Zaan with a fleet of three hundred yachts and innumerable barges, gaily decked with flying pennons. In 1818, William the First of Holland purchased the property, and gave it to his daughter-inlaw, the Princess of Orange and a royal Russian by birth: it is to her care the building owes its present state of preservation. PORT COON CAVE. well deserves a place among our collection of wonders. It is called Port Coon Cave. and is in the line of rocks near the Giants' Causeway. It may be visited either by sea or by land. Boats may row into it to the distance of a hundred yards or more, but the swell is sometimes dangerous; and although the land entrance to the cave is slippery, and a fair proportion of climbing is necessary to achieve the object, still the magnificence of the excavation, its length, and the formation of the interior, would the roof and sides are composed. and which repay greater exertion; the stones of which are of a rounded form, and embedded, as it were, in a basaltic paste, are formed of concentric spheres resembling the coats of an onion; the innermost recess has been compared to the side aisle of a Gothic cathedral; the walls are most painfully slimy to the touch; the discharge of a loaded gun reverberates amidst the rolling of the billows, so as to thunder a most awful effect; and the notes of a bugle, we are told, produced delicious echoes. |