Map of Petersburg Virginia

APRIL 22, 1865.]

HARPER'S WEEKLY.

247

THE SCENE OF CONFLICT IN VIRGINIA.

as willing to tell people what she thinks as she is to speak of them during their absence. I think she rather prefers it, as she is thus able to inflict more pain and vexation. " You made that dress yourself?" she says to a friend. " Ah! I thought so : one can see directly the difference between a thing made by a dress-maker and an amateur." Or, if the dress has passed through the hands of a dress-maker : " I must say, dear, that she has by no means done justice to your figure. What a pity! How many yards did you say you gave her ?" Then, with a look of incredulity, followed by one of compassion, " My dear, she has certainly robbed you. She has not given you half your stuff. We all know how these people crib. Why did you have blue ? It is horridly unbecoming to you. Why did you let her put in that sleeve ? that shape has quite gone out," etc., etc. To a musical friend she declares, with a wry face, that amateur playing or singing is unendurable, and a sheer waste of time ; for the spiteful girl, though she affects much judgment, rarely bath any music in her soul. If one of her friends acquaintances, it should be said, for she has no real friend if some girl whom she knows happens to pique herself on the beauty of her needle-work, she continually tells her that it is absurd to fritter away precious time on doing things which may be purchased for a mere trifle now ; and if she is obliged to admit that the work shown is well done, she regrets that so ugly, or ineffective, or old fashioned, or easily soiled a pattern should have been selected, or objects to the combinations of color, or asserts that crochet is rapidly becoming "out of date," or, any thing which may suggest itself to her imagination. If she knows that any body fancies they have a reputation for being clever, she says, with an indescribable look, which points, or barbs, her remark, "How nice it must be to have any kind of talent, even a spark of the divine fire. What a pity it is one never meets any clever people in private life !"

The sulky girl is only second to her spiteful sister. Nothing pleases her. The day is too hot, too cold, too sunny, too dull ; she will not admit that she cares about any thing. Ask her opinion, and she irritates you by the very tone in which she answers you. She is often a sloven, for she regards the world with disdain ; she is frequently ugly, and revenges her misfortune if it be such on every body who may come within her reach. There is a wonderful difference in ugliness. Pleasant ugliness will often gain the preference over supercilious beauty ; but sullen ugliness is without question most repulsive.

The girl who insists in reposing confidence in all her friends is eminently disagreeable. It is not particularly flattering, but decidedly a bore, to be the depositary of her secrets ; for, in the first place, they are not worth knowing secrets very seldom are and in the second, you are perfectly conscious that all her friends and acquaintances are in the receipt of them. They are generally love secrets, referring either to her or somebody else's affairs. If she would simply tell you, and please herself by the sound of her own voice, it would be bad enough; but she asks so dolefully and so seriously for your advice, that you are vexed with yourself for not being able to sympathize with her griefs or her joys.

The girl with one idea is undoubtedly disagreeable. So long as people are talking around her of any thing in which she takes no interest, she will sit or lean back in her chair with a countenance in which nothing but stolid stupidity or weariness is

depicted ; if some one chances to touch on her favorite topic dress, flirtation, personal appearances, scandal, be it what it may she starts up and begins to chatter as if she had been wound up like a clock. Unfortunately, it usually happens that her favorite subject is one of narrow limits, which does not admit of prolonged discussion. This girl is much addicted to whispering in a corner.

The irritable, capricious girl is detestable. The slightest word, spoken at random, will suffice to estrange her from her " dearest friends." She is not in the habit of making such bitter speeches as the spiteful girl, but she contradicts, and interrupts, and reproaches in the most provoking manner every instant. She is disrespectful to her parents, cross and unyielding with her brothers and sisters, captious with her friends, barely civil to her acquaintances. The latter, however, fare the best with her, as she is either ashamed or has no opportunity to display her ill temper before those of whom she knows little.

There is one disagreeable girl who combines all the unpopular qualities of her sisters. She is haughty, she is plain, but tries to compel every one to confess that she is the reverse ; she is irritable, she is sulky, she patronizes those who do not either declare open war against her, or treat her opinion with thinly-disguised contempt ; she says spiteful things with an air of condescension ; like the famous miller of song, she " cares for nobody," and regards love and friendship as chimeras of the brain.

Some girls are disagreeable to those of their own sex, but very agreeable in the society of " the gentlemen ;" others are voted extremely disagreeable by men, but liked by women ; others, again, are disagreeable to every body. Some are disagreeable because they can not help being so ; others are disagreeable because they will not take the trouble to rid themselves of the peculiar quality which renders them unendurable. Some are pleasing at first, but after a little time, from some mysterious cause, they change, and become excessively disagreeable. These girls are perpetually acquiring and losing friends, and it is to be observed that, when they have lost a friend, they seize every occasion of " backbiting" and " telling tales" of them, and assure you that " Really, I was not to blame in the matter at all ; now would you have put up with such treatment?"

The aggressively handsome and the aggravatingly ugly girls are equally disagreeable. The one is either utterly inane or intolerably flippant, seeing in every other girl a rival, and in every man a victim; the other is perhaps resentful and " strong minded," or stolidly stupid. It would be impossible to pronounce which of these types might be called the most disagreeable.

INTERESTING ITEMS.

ECCENTRICITIES OF PARISIAN TOILETS. - Women as youthful and as fresh as spring wear dresses covered with artificial insects, butterflies, lizards, scarabees, shells, and birds, rain drops, and showers of bugles. Duchesses and Marchionesses may be seen at the theatres in red satin and yellow velvet jackets, ornamented with steel, crystal drops, and Chinese embroideries. All that is eccentric and showy is accepted with enthusiasm. The jewelry follows in the same wake; sleeve studs are made with " Apartments to let" written on them ; gold brooches are fashioned with the four aces in black enamel, and mounted as weather cocks ; the ear rings are both heavy and long, and the necklaces are equally out of proportion. , What is delicate and feminine gives way to exaggeration and eccentricity.

A FEMALE PIRATE.—Piracy was, in early times, a favorite and fashionable pursuit. One of the most celebrated pirates of the Northern seas was a Princess Alvilda, the daughter of a Gothic king, who, according to the legend, embraced the occupation of a sea rover to relieve herself from a marriage which was sought to be imposed upon her, contrary to her inclination, with Alf, a Danish prince. She habited herself in male costume, and selected as her rowers and crew a band of Amazonian damsels, who assumed the same attire. Touching at a strange port in one of her first cruises, she met an association of male pi-\rates, who were bewailing the death of their leader, and, captivated by the gallant bearing of the heroine, they chose her as their chief. Thus reinforced, she became so formidable in her depredations that her former suitor was sent to encounter her, and a fierce contest ensued at sea, in which, after vigorously repulsing for a time his warlike assaults, Alf at length boarded her bark, and, having slain numbers of her crew, she became his prisoner. The Princess wore a casque, which concealed her face ; he raised it, and recognizing his former fair one, she fainted in his arms, and on his again offering her his hand she became his bride.

A NEW OPENING FOR PHOTOGRAPHY.—Not long ago there appeared in various publications the copy of an epitaph on a tombstone, below which the widow had caused the announcement to be engraved that she continued to carry on her husband's business ; thus preserving a certain bond of union between the dead and the living, and making a profit out of the grave. Not long ago it occurred to a photographer that he might increase his business by announcing that he copied photographs of deceased individuals, and prepared them in such a way that, if placed in coffins along with the defunct, they would endure for any number of ages. Since that time the practice is said to have become common on the Continent. And it is very evident that a good deal may be said in its favor; more than can be said of a novel proceeding of a well favored widow, who, lately, in one of the foreign cemeteries, instead of hanging a crown of immortelles on the tomb of her deceased husband hung a portrait of herself.

THE RULING PASSION.—Whoever has visited Nismes has seen the ruins of the great amphitheatre, and will remember how dangerous it appeared to climb to the summit. An anecdote is related in a local paper of a youngster who would persist in mounting the walls, in spite of the orders and threats of his father, in search of bats, which abound among the ruins. One day his father caught sight of him very high up, and, notwithstanding the risk to himself, he managed to reach his boy and seize him by the leg. Dragging him from his hold, he held him suspended by the leg in the air. " Now," said his father, " will you ever climb up here again ?" The position was enough to frighten the boy, who could see nothing between him and the ruins a long way below ; but, instead of being alarmed, he exclaimed eagerly, " Stoop a little lower, father ; I can see a whole swarm of bats in a crack just out of my reach. Let me get them, and I will promise you not to climb up here any more."

A TURKISH TRAGEDY. A great tragedy is reported from Scutarn. An Arab slave in the house of Ahmet Effendi had been promised his freedom, but, at the suggestion of the Effendi's wife, the time for granting, it was postponed. Sullen and incensed at this delay, the slave took advantage of the absence of his master and the whole of the household except the hanum and himself at mosque, to enter the harem, and deliberately strangle his mistress. The cunning savage then hastened to meet his master, whom he encountered at the mosque door, and told out loudly that he had done his bidding in murdering his mistress. Accompanied by the police and many other persons, the Effendi hurried home, and, on entering the harem, truly enough found the corpse of his murdered wife. The slave then asked his master's thanks for having so well executed his bidding. Upon this charge the bereaved Effendi was taken prisoner by the police, and remained in the common prison till the authorities had fully investigated the tragic affair.

PRIMITIVE COSTUMES.—Several of the Paris journals speak against the extremely decollete style of dress which the ladies have adopted at the balls this season in the French capital: "What remains at the present day of women's dress," says M. E. Texier, in the Siecle, is so small that it is hardly worth talking about. Ladies are almost attired like the natives in South America with nothing but a necklace. Besides that, such a style of dress may be made very rich. It has the advantage of covering but little ; and at a ball, where the heat is always excessive, one can not be too thinly clad!" M. Venet, in the Monde, makes the following remark : " If one of the present

queens of the Parisian beau monde were to walk out of doors in ball costume, the sergens de ville would lock her up, and the correctional tribunal would visit her with the withering effect of a conviction."

A LADIES' DUEL.-Madame de Nesle, irritated by the attentions of the Due de Richelieu to Madame de Polignac, wrote her an insulting letter, concluding, " Si du ceste, madame, ces raisons ne vous persuadent pas, je vous attendrai demain, dix heures du matin, an Bois de Bealogne. Mon acme est le pistolet." They met, attended by their lady's maids, and it was arranged that they should fire on reaching a scarf placed half way between them. Madame de Neste fired first and missed. Madame de Polignac fired more deliberately, and wounded her rival in the shoulder; but Richelieu, for once in his life, acted like Cato, and preferred the conquered to the conqueror.

IN some places in England it has been found necessary to get up an anti-Mormon league, as the gentlemen who wish to wed a few dozen have become very triumphant in their efforts, and it is feared there may be a scarcity of womankind if they go on exporting to America.

WORTH KNOWING.—A correspondent says : " A young lady, while in the country some years ago, stepped on a rusty nail, which ran through her shoe and foot. The inflammation and pain was of course very great, and lockjaw apprehended. A friend of the family, however, recommended the application of a beet, taken fresh from the garden and pounded fine, to the wound. It was done, and the effect was very beneficial. Soon the inflammation began to subside, and by keeping on the crushed beet, and changing it for a fresh one, as its virtue seemed to become impaired, a speedy cure was effected. Simple but effectual remedies like this should be known to every one."

A GERMAN WORD.—In the poem by Hoffman, the German poet, who was expelled from the Prussian dominions, the following word appears : " Steuererverweigerungver-fassungsnassigberechtigt" meaning a man who is exempt by the constitution from the payment of taxes. The expulsion of such a poet as this would be justified by the laws of prosody if not by the code of Prussia.

SOME people have the toothache ; to them it may be interesting to know without a five-dollar fee that between the tip of the left hand thumb and the nose there is a great connection; the nerves of the nose are connected with the mouth, and toothache may therefore be cured by the application of a mustard poultice to the tip of the left hand thumb.

PENMANSHIP.—A veteran living statesman has taken occasion, more than once, to notice publicly the rarity of good penmanship in our age, as compared with former times. It is; in our opinion, a well founded complaint. Few gentlemen nowadays write a perspicuous hand, or any thing better than a scrawl. How often, when a stranger addresses you, do you find one half of his sentences unintelligible, and his signature so utterly enigmatical, that you are forced into the impoliteness of cutting out the name and pasting it on the envelope of your answer! If you cast your eye over any extended manuscript or sheaf of letters of the early part of the last century, the writing is generally of a very different character. The writer of this note possesses a manuscript of ten volumes, written at different times, between 1746 and 1773, by a clergyman, and in the whole of it he has never detected an e or an l without its loop, or an i without its dot ; neither, in reading, was he ever at a loss about the meaning of a single sentence. We can not say much for the hand writing of ladies of that or any earlier age, for a tolerable education for women is a matter of later date. But certainly there was a time what may be called the era of our mothers when feminine handwriting was both elegant and intelligible. Old ladies still, as a rule, write better than young ones.

"JUST a little, a very little, a very, very little !" said the Brook to the Bank.

And the Bank was silent, and the Brook wore its side till the earth melted away and the sods floated down the stream.

"Just a little more, a very little more !" said the Brook again.

And the waters pressed against the roots of the willows that grew beyond the bank, and laid them bare.

"Just a little, little more," said the Brook again; and the widening stream advanced with fresh force till one by one the willows fell and were borne away in the torrent.

" Alas!" cried the Meadow, as the water closed in on it, " if I had not neglected the attack on my bank, my fence would never have been destroyed ; but now my protection is gone, and I am rightly served in being turned from a fruitful field into a watery waste."