Any one may do a casual act of good nature; but let a continuation of them show that it is a PART OF OUR TEMPERATURE. STERNE. WE SHOULD REALLY FEEL "WANTING," if we allowed the year of Our Lord,-one thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, to pass away without a word of comment from Us; and as this is our "last appearance" in print this year, we must say what we have to say (it shall be brief)—in this very place. "A Merry Christmas to you, Sir!" will soon be ringing merrily in all our ears. It is a delightful greeting, savoring of goodtemper, good-will, mirth, jollity, happiness. We shall see, anon, all the good things of this world gathered together from the four quarters of the world in unlimited abundance. Our railways will be blocked up with hampers, boxes, baskets, crates, &c.,-all well filled with the choicest delicacies of the season. Carts, wagons, vans, and trucks; all will be full. We shall see turkeys by the thousand passing to and fro. "Game," too, of all sorts. These will be changing hands with the rapidity of lightning. A vast multitude of other seasonable delectabilities will also be seen in never-ending supply; pouring in from one end of the country to the other. And what are all these good things for? Why" are they sent in such lavish abundance at this particular season? They are "presents," good people,-remembrances of love and affection from one friend to another. CHRISTMAS is the recognised time for universal rejoicing, the time when young and old re-assemble; the latter to rub off the rust of the past year, and the former to assist in the operation. Shyness now must be exchanged for a hearty grasp of the hand (no "two fingers" now!); suspicion for frankness; jealousy for love unfeigned; coldheartedness for true charity (which "envieth not"); and the love of gold for the love of one another. Such are the proper elements for the enjoyment of Christmas festivities. toe! And then our parlors, our drawingrooms, our studio, and sundry other snug "little rooms, "--will they not all shine again, -decked in the glories of Holly and MisselAnd what about the Christmas log, and the bright fire on the hearth; and all the winter games, &c., improvised and performed by our merry boys, and laughing, rosy-faced, innocent, giggling girls! Call we that nothing! Hide your ugly features, oh, ye cold-blooded, dried-up prudes, who would forbid our darling mother,-Nature, to preside at the season of Christmas. In spite of ye,-God willing, "a Merry Christmas" will we have,―aye, and a "Happy New Year." It would be late in the day for us now to be questioned touching our "profession of Faith." Purely orthodox are we in everything that concerns morality, the love of God, and the true welfare of mankind. We have lived many years in the world, associated with the best company, and seen such professions of goodness as have positively made us tremble. People professing to hate the world-and yet living as if they seemed to care for nothing else! This is the case with one half the polite world at least, whilst we are now writing. And on Sunday, they go to church -to cleanse away the sins of the week! It is this deception that we hate. Demure looks, and faces two feet long, do no manner of good-either to their possessors or to those who are associated with them. Our Creator abhors such shallow artifices. With Him it must be all the heart, or none. Therefore is it that we so advocate cheerfulness, honesty, and an obedience to the sweet laws of Nature. Playfulness is not wickedness. People may be merry, and wise withal. We defy any one to say that a single word from our pen has ever had an evil tendency. We love society too well for that, as OUR JOURNAL proves; and yet are we perpetually cheerful and merry, trying to make others so also. Honi soit qui mal pense! say we. So come on, young and old; and let us set a lesson worthy of imitation all over the world. "Let us kiss and be friends." In, boys,-in with the Christmas bough; and let it hang aloft in the centre of every room in our dwellings! But now, friends,-listen. Having drawn the picture of OUR happy Christmas, we must look a leetle further. Whilst we all hope to be "jolly,"-feasting, playing, and keeping up "good old customs," within; let us not forget the immense amount of sorrow and "want" that awaits the eye without. We see much of it; but real worth often hides its sorrows in its own breast. It pines in secret ; and tells its piteous tale to ONE" who seeth in secret." Let us, one and all, be the happy instruments in the hand of that Great "One," in trying to make " some "heart happy,— some sorrows less. A certain widow gave two mites." We hear it recorded to her แ แ THE PAST, THE PRESENT, & THE FUTURE. value and excellence-if the vine has been well cultivated. AGONE!—we were seriously indisposed. Our illness was of a nature placing us midway between life and death. Nor was it certain, for many hours, which way the tide would flow. We recorded this at the time; and shortly afterwards expressed our gratitude to the Giver of all Good for having caused the tide to turn in our favor. we be now? A If we were grateful then for a pleasing change in our earthly prospects-what should year of unexampled general sickness-and trials of all kinds, has since passed over our head; and here we are, more jolly than ever. Aye,-happy are we as any king; rejoicing and triumphing in the work of our hands, and delighted to know that we have been the means of making many thousand others happy as ourself. It is in this that all our ideas of happiness consist. It is "sweet" to live-for the sake of doing good. Whoever the historians of the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and fifty three may be their duty will not be a light one; neither will it be a pleasing one. Winds, storms, shipwrecks, most fearful pestilence, famine, war, bloodshed, murder, and an almost incalculable loss of human life, these, and many other dire calamities and visitations will swell the fearful record. Happily, this duty does not devolve upon us. We shall no doubt read it, and tremble while we read. There is "a voice" in these things, and woe be to them who turn to it "a deaf ear." Avowed enemies though we be to cant and long faces, yet let us here most thankfully record the mercies of the past year, which have been neither few nor small. In the midst of life, DEATH has been everywhere present. On the right and on the left, we have lost friends and acquaintance by the dozen-yet are WE among the living still; and able as willing to render our best thanks to the Creator of Heaven and Earth, for the joys of life, health, and happiness. Let each one of our readers add their "Amen!" Then will we begin the NEW YEAR-one thousand eight hundred and fifty-four,-with all the energy and delight of renovated youth. We feel, at this time of writing, as if we were yet in our teens. And why not? The mind and the heart can never die; never grow old. Like old wine the older they get, the greater their VOL. IV.-21. So much for the past. Of the present we could, if need were, be eloquent. We are arrived at a season when Nature bids us all be merry and joyful. She has provided for us an abundance of everything that is good, and she woos us to be cheerful. On every hand we are surrounded by sweet, smiling faces, cherry cheeks, ruby lips. Sparkling roguish eyes too, and their innocent owners, greet us at every turn. How plavful they look-how undeniably happy! Who would inoculate such dear hearts with sorrow, by preaching the doctrine of play being wickedness? Who would call laughing a crime, in such presence; and at such a season? Many such Mawworms there are. More shame for them! say we. "There is a time for everything under the sun," writes the Wise Man; and we have no wish to be "wise above what is written." Our sentiments about the réunions of Christmas and the New Year are now pretty generally known. We regard them as wise provisions of Nature to strengthen the bond of love, friendship, and esteem, which may have been weakened by a multitude of causes during the past year. Absence from those we love, is as painful as propinquity is delightful. Besides-shyness, once created, wants removing. Some people are apt to be very fanciful. They imagine all sorts of things that never existed. A shake of the hand, a kiss, a dance, a song, a Christmas yarn, and a good round party-soon remove all this rust. And it really must be removed, if we would be happy. For ourself-at this season we are here, there, everywhere. We have made so very many kind friends during the past year, that our little body is in universal request. It is said that "Where there is a Will (now we were christened Will-i-am), there is a way." It would seem so. We certainly do get through a very great deal of interesting business. Being a "little Editor" too, and having no sub-Editor, our privileges are extensive. We never! Active have we been-are so now-very; and pleasingly passive. Both, by turns. And by "doing unto others as we would they should do unto us," our reward has been sweet indeed! Only set a good example at this season, and it is sure to be followed! The only pity is, that these "natural impressions" wear off so soon; and that "Christmas comes but once a year.' Well, n'importe! We continue to make the most of our privileges whilst they last. Whilst we are thus enjoying the society of our sons, daughters, guests, friends, and neighbors and practically working out the goodly command, "Love one another!" our dear mother, Nature, is having a sweet slum first; for few people like to acknowledge themselves to be in error. ber. Her yearly task is over. She has bountifully supplied all our wants, superintended all our preparations for the coming Let us be generous; and say that, in this seasons, and brought us safely to our jour-matter, WE are the obliged party. We ney's end. She will sleep anon, and her sleep really mean what we say; for there is a will be a sound one. pleasure derivable from doing good which is perfectly indescribable. How she will stretch herself out ere she again awakes! And how will she look when her eyelids unclose? Who will be near her when her early handmaids-the snowdrop, the crocus, the violet, and the primrose, attend to do her homage? Well, let her sleep. Soon shall our present pastime be among the things that were. Our boys and girls, now so happy and frolicsome, will return to school. We older folk shall resume our every-day duties; the season of Winter will move on; the Spring will return; and then once more shall our dear Parent open her eyes, her heart, her bosom-beam upon us with universal benevolence; and, hand in hand with her partner, the Sun, gladden us with sights of beauty and songs of praise. Thus much of the present, Of the future, we need not say much. Let us hope we shall, in every sense of the word, progress. If we reduce to practice only onehalf what has occupied our thoughts and our pen in OUR JOURNAL, during the past year, we shall be going a-head pleasantly, profitably, safely. The "fashions" of the past year have been degrading to us as a nation. Let these be reformed. We would be men and women-not beasts, and caricatures of humanity. Gifted with souls, we would exercise reason and good sense. Gifted with hearts, we would live to benefit the world in which we move. How much better this, than to be targets for those noble moral reformers, PUNCH and DIOGENES! These worthies would then seek other objects to crack their jokes upon, and society would cease to be the scoff of the "thinking" portion of mankind. In place of all these tomfooleries, let the coming year tell of labors of love and works of benevolence. As this is the concluding number of the present volume of OUR JOURNAL (the Fourth), we shall not, although it be the opening month of the New Year, say anything here to our readers about future movements. We may offer, perhaps, a few passing remarks in our next. Meantime, all will be gratified to know that we have of late made rapid strides in public estimation-amply sufficient to warrant us in prosecuting our pleasing duties with redoubled ardor. We have not only made and retained hosts of friends, but we have won back those who were angry with us for so fearlessly speaking out in the discharge of our public duty. This last conquest is more glorious than the AN ODE TO NEW YEAR'S DAY. Hail, happy day! with joy I welcome thee; And plann'd new pleasures for our leisure hours. the dead? Long ere this day arrived, some time was spent But time now brings me to the well-spread board, Thus, as the day wore on, each hour was spent Saw wearied Nature sink in deep repose: DAY!" PICKINGS FROM AUSTRALIA. NATURAL HISTORY OF MELBOURNE. BY MRS. CHARLES CLACY. EELS are very plentiful in Victoria. They are peculiar to this district; being seldom, if ever, found in any other part of the known continent. Old writers on Australia have stated that eels are unknown in this part of the world; since this colony has been settled in, this has been found to be erroneous. The Barwin, the Yarra-Yarra, and their tributaries, abound with them, some weighing five or six pounds. A few days after our return from the diggings, we breakfasted off a dish of stewed eels, caught by a friend. The smallest weighed about a pound and a half, the largest about three pounds. They were caught three miles from Melbourne, in the Salt Water Creek. A small kind of fish like the lamprey, another similar to the gudgeon, and also one (of rather a larger kind-the size of the roach) called here the "white herring," but not at all resembling that fish, are found. Pike are also very numerous. Crabs and lobsters are not known here; but in the salt creeks near the craw-fish. sea we have Of course, parrots, cockatoos, and "sichlike," abound in the bush, to the horror of the small gardeners aud cultivators; as what they do not eat they ruin by destroying the young shoots. Kangaroos are extremely numerous in the scrub. of They are the size of a large greyhound, and of a mouse color. The natives call them "kanguru." The tail is of great strength. There are several varieties them. The largest is the Great Kangaroo, of a greyish-brown color, generally four or five feet high, and the tail three. Some kangaroos are nearly white; others resemble the hare in color. Pugs, or young kangaroos, are plentiful about the marshy grounds; so are also the opossum and kangaroo rat. The latter is not a rat, properly speaking, but approaches the squirrel tribe. It is a Lilliputian kangaroo, the size of our native woodsquirrel, and has large eyes, only grey or reddish grey. It can leap six or eight feet easily, and is excellent eating. The native dog is of all colors. It has the head and brush of a fox, with the body and legs of a dog. It is a cowardly animal, and will run away from you "like mad." It is a great enemy of the kangaroo rat, and a torment to the squatter; for a native dog has a great penchant for mutton, and will kill thirty or forty sheep in the course of an hour. A species of mocking-bird which inhabits the bush, is a ludicrous creature. It imitates everything, and makes many a camping party imagine there is a man near them, when they hear its whistle or hearty laugh. This bird is nicknamed the "Jack-ass," and its loud "ha! ha! ha!'' is heard every morn ing at dawn echoing through the woods, and serving the purpose of a "boots," by calling the sleepy traveller in good time to get his breakfast and pursue his journey. The bats here are very large. Insects, fleas, &c., are as plentiful as it is possible to kinds, are a perfect nuisance. The largest be; and the ants, of which there are several formidable creatures they are luckily not are called the old colonists' "bull-dogs," and very common; about an inch and a half long, black, or rusty-black, with a red tail. They bite like a little crab. Ants of an inch long are quite common. They do not-like the English ones-run scared away at the sight of a human being. Australian ants Nay, more; should you retreat, they will run have more pluck, and will turn and face you. after you with all the impudence imaginable, has tempted me slightly to disturb with the Often when my "organ of destructiveness end of my parasol one of the many ant-hills on the way from Melbourne to Řichmond, I have been obliged, as soon as they have discovered the perpetrator of the attack, to take to my heels and run away as if for my life. Centipedes and triantelopes (colonial for exactly fatal, are very dangerous if not attarantula) are very common; and though not tended to. The deaf adder is the most formidable" varmint " in Australia. There are two varieties; it is generally about two feet long. The bite is fatal. The deaf adder never moves unless it is touched; hence its name. I do not think it has the power of twisting or twirling like the ordinary snake or adder, and it is very slow in its move ments. There are several species of snakes. Some of them are extremely venomous, and grow to a large size, as long as ten feet. The black snake is the most venomous of any; its bite is fatal within a few hours." The above are from the "Note-book" of a very funny lady. We will not vouch for all the particulars being "facts." to her heels, and run away as if for her life," It seems odd that "a lady" should "take pursued by an Australian ant in sevenleague boots! It may be true. Let us be polite, and try and think it is! TEARS AND LAUGHTER. for kind purposes. For as laughter enables mirth GOD made both tears and laughter; and both and surprise to breathe freely; so, tears enable sorrow to vent itself patiently. Tears hinder sorrow from becoming despair and madness; and laughter is one of the very privileges of reason-being confined to the human species. THE MIGHTY KINGDOM OF CHINA. "A CHINESE PUZZLE." For this reason, it is almost immaterial All the world has marched on to right or left during this period. China alone has stood still-eating rice, exposing small babies, THE GREATEST OF ALL PUZZLES is "the swallowing swords, producing scholars, and, "artful CHINESE PUZZLE." Not the complication of respectfully be it spoken, practising rings and rods that bothers the school-boy-dodges," just as under the dynasty of Han, nor ivory sphere within ivory sphere, which or when Confucius sat down to a cup of taxes the constructive powers of European "æsthetic tea" and controversy with the mechanics to imitate-but the Chinese people profound Lao-tze, whose mother gave him to themselves. Historically and ethnologically, the world after seventy years' gestation, and it is difficult to know what to make of them. he appeared a hoary-leaded baby. It would really be a great convenience if we could resolve the whole empire of Celestials into a myth. We know too much of them, and we know too little. They are, and they are not. They have been, and they have not been. China has been peopled since the flood, and it has not been peopled sooner than the seventh or eighth century before Christ. China was an Assyrian colony, and an Egyptian colony. It was Japhetic in its origin, and it was Semitic. It had its arts from Egypt, and it lent its arts to Egypt. Moses, according to Professor Hermann, of Strasburg, knew all about the manufacture of gunpowder, which he had learned of the priests of Egypt; and from Egypt the "villanous" manufacture was carried to the land of Cathay. what book upon China one takes up to read. The most ancient book tells as much about this singular people as the most recent book; and all the better, because ancient writers were not afflicted with modern prejudices. Renaudot's two Mohammedan travellers, Carpini Rubruquis and Marco Polo are, jointly and severally, quite as much to the point as Staunton, Davies, Gutzlaff, Huc, or Callery. Mendoza, whom we have here before us, by favor of the Hakluyt Society, may be taken as a guide to China and the Chinese as safely as the most modern writer; because Mendoza had a good eye to perceive, and a clever hand to detail what he saw; and because the China of the nineteenth century is twin brother to China of the sixteenth-so alike are they in stature, feature, and complexion. China had its mythology from Greece, and the Grecians borrowed their mythology from the Chinese. They adore God, and they China had no historical beginning; no dehave no word even for God. They had velopment, no growth. It came into the clocks in the ninth century, and were aston-world with all its teeth in its head, ready to ished at the sight of Father Ricci's clock in masticate from rice upwards to the unicorn, the sixteenth. They were eminent astrono- whose flesh is a dainty. It had no boyhood mers, and yet were such bunglers that they as a nation, but became all at once a stunted had Mohammedans to attend to their observa- man; and such it has continued, still preservtories, and to calculate their almanacs, for ing its teeth, and having small need of a several centuries. Their chronology harmonises with the chronology of Moses, and it does not harmonise with the chronology of Moses. They worshipped the cross before the cross was erected on Calvary, and they despised the cross when it was preached to them. They knew the books of the Old Testament before they were very well known in England or France; and they knew nothing about these books until the appearance of Milne and Morrison's translation in the present century. The list of contradictions could as easily be multiplied, as chapter and verse can be given, endorsed by high names, for every contradiction that has been above stated. The Chinese have been, in short, shuttlecocks for philosophical battledores. But the greatest "puzzle " of China, after all, is the facts of China. The Chinese were an ingenious, lying, cheating, learned people ten centuries ago; and they are so still-not a whit more ingenious, not a lie more mendacious, not a cash more dishonest, not a letter more learned. What they were, they are. barber. We have never read of Chinese epics or bucolics; but we are assured that before Homer lost his sight, and took to practically, the right of woman to publishballad-singing-before Sappho vindicated, before dainty Horace wrote odes and had lamprey suppers with Maecenas-China had its writers, its men of letters, its naturalists and historians. Before Bavaria had its beer, China had its tea. Before the German had his blanket, the Chinaman had his robe of silk. When Kelt was proud of his wooden fibulæ, and plaited his hair to keep it tidy, there were gentlemen in Nanking, and cits in Canfu, who fastened their robes with brooches of amber, and who made wholesome use of combs of ivory. Long before Regnar, the Norse Viking, was surnamed, on account of his continuations, Lodbrog, or, in plain English, Leatherbreeches, the Chinese dandy went a-wooing in silken pantaloons. When Alfred, or the venerable Bede, was scrawling tediously on rough paper of a night, guided by faint light from a horn lantern, |