Various

“ She was always very quick in perceiving who liked her and who didn't; so this disapproval she returned with interest. She would creep along the floor dragging the fender until she could get hold of Miss G.'s foot, when she would scold at her in the angriest manner, her eyes glowing with indignation; and when loose, try to get at her with great fierceness.
On one occasion Poppet chased Miss G. up-stairs into her room, and then perched herself on a large wardrobe close to the door, evidently waiting for her to come out. ”

“ The earth turns in front of it like a roast turning before a fire. A conjurer will clearly shew you that he will bring any number of eggs out of an empty hat. He only brings them out of his sleeve, where they were cunningly concealed. And so on with a great many other illusions, all seemingly fair and above board, but in which we are imposed on either by our senses, or by some fallacy in reasoning. Less than two hundred years ago, courts of justice were hanging and burning thousands of old women for being witches—all on a sort of evidence which in the present day would only be laughed at. ”

“ In the temple at Karnak, the great hall of pillars, roofless and vast, presents to the eye of the curious gazer forests of colonnades, aisles of pillars, huge pylons, towering like giants to the sky, half-hiding, half-revealing weird fantastic bas-reliefs of the gods, who glare, superb in ruin, over their desolated shrines. The sunlight streaming through the open portal shines on avenues of sphinxes, battered colossi, vast lengths of splendid bas-reliefs, glowing with a depth and freshness of colour which Time has had no power to fade ”

“ It is now about forty years since, when by invitation to a friend's house, we were present at an evening séance in which an eminent professor at one of our universities entertained the company with what he confidently believed to be mesmeric experiments, such as sending persons to sleep, or rendering them temporarily mute by bidding them 'tie their tongue.' Here was a man skilled in a branch of physical science, but of eager temperament and with a rage for novelty, lending himself indiscreetly to certain popular delusions which had originated in the crazed fancy of a charlatan. ”

“ Egypt, baked and shrivelled by the glowing sun into one immense brick, annually sinks beneath the waters of the life-giving river, and emerges from the flood, fresh, radiant, shining, like an emerald, flower-crowned like Ceres of old, and holding in her full hands an ample promise of fruit and sheaf. ”

“ And what Art has so nobly accomplished, Nature has not been slow to assist. The cloudless sky, the graceful palms, the majestic carob trees, enwrap with greenness and beauty all the wealth of colouring, of sculpture, and of architecture which the past has bequeathed to this spot, once so hallowed, now so lonely. Lingering tenderly reminiscent on the pearly strand of this voluptuous Egyptian Iona, one half expects to see the white-robed priests of Isis wind again in long procession out of the shadow into the sunshine, solemn and stern, vainly questioning of the forgotten ages—What meaneth this? ”

“ The imitation of a label is one of the most prevalent modes of displaying the shabby dishonesty of those who disregard the rights conferred by a trade-mark; but brands and painted marks are imitated with equal boldness, if not so frequently. Soda-water bottles which have in the making been stamped with the name of a particular firm have, in like manner, got into the hands of persons who fill them with soda-water of an obscure and unrenowned quality. ”

“ Cupid sharpening his arrows, for emery-grinding wheels; a smart man measuring round a smart forehead, for hat-making; the sun eclipsing nearly everything, for the eclipse sauce; a dog's head, for fibrine dog-cake; four nigger plantation minstrels, for cigars; and 'No place like home' as a trade-mark motto for fenders and fire-irons. ”

“ Is it true that Birmingham manufacturers often receive orders from merchants to make certain goods, and to stamp on them certain trade-marks belonging to third parties; and that the manufacturers do this as a matter of course, 'all in the way of business?' Is it true that, in obedience to orders from wholesale houses in the Manchester goods-trade, manufacturers will sometimes put two hundred yards of sewing-thread on a reel, and paste on it a label denoting three hundred yards? ”

“ No doubt, the pencil will write answers as required, but it does so only by the conscious or unconscious muscular action of the hands on the board. This weak device of pretending to get answers to questions by the agency of an inanimate piece of wood and a pencil, has been resorted to by real or sham believers in spiritualism; and we are presented with the melancholy spectacle of decent-looking ladies and gentlemen sitting gravely round a table affecting to hold a conversation with beings in the unseen world. ”

“ There is a constitutional tendency in many minds to be seized by some strange notion which takes entire possession of them; so that all the actions of the individual "thus possessed" are results of its operation.' Placed on this footing, the Predominant Delusion, be it a belief in witchcraft, mesmerism, or spiritualism, is a kind of monomaniacal frenzy. An absurd idea has got possession of the individual, and no reasoning with him to the contrary will have any effect in driving it out. He will absolutely get out of temper if his fanciful notions are so much as questioned. ”

“ Unfortunately men do not always wait to consider how far honesty should actuate them. There is a vast amount of shabby peculation on the part of men who avail themselves, directly or indirectly, of other men's trade-marks, in order to obtain a share of custom which does not fairly belong to them. A belief or hope is entertained that if the public do not know exactly which is the real Simon Pure, a sham Simon may perchance come in for some of the pickings.
Suppose, for instance, there is a Macassar oil which has brought a fortune to a particular firm ”

“ A preconceived determination or proneness to believe in the reality of any seeming marvel without any other evidence than the senses, goes a great way to explain the stories that are fondly cherished by the dupes of spiritualism. The error lies in taking things for granted. At one time people were all agog as to the wonders of table-turning, and it is amusing to remember how the wonder was speedily exploded by the appliances suggested by Faraday. ”

“ The misfortune, however, is, that before the matters in question have been examined impartially by the light of science, the craze gets ahead, and many persons weakly allowing themselves to be carried away by their feelings, get painfully compromised, and are by the more cool and cautious part of mankind set down as little better than—fools. ”

“ One day my mother entered the bath-room just in time to see Poppet dart out of the window to a large tree, which unfortunately grew close by, with a quart bottle of magnesia in her hand, which she proceeded to shower down, much amused at the miniature snow-storm, and not leaving a grain in the bottle. The meals at that time were most uncomfortable. When there were eggs for breakfast, we had to pocket or hide those not in immediate use, or Poppet would snatch them up and be out of reach in a moment. As a general rule, when food is fairly in the mouth, it may be considered safe ”

“ As one registration of any trade-mark is valid only for one class of goods, a careful classification becomes necessary; and this has proved to be one of the most remarkable features in the system. Some one's brains, or the brains of more than one, must have been a good deal exercised in dividing the whole range of human industry into fifty classes, and in assigning the contents of each class. ”

“ No one can glance through the daily papers, in the columns relating to actions at law, without seeing evidence how jealously the privileges of trade-marks are watched by the owners; nor is it difficult to see why this jealousy is exhibited. If A possess something which has a money-value to him, B would like to possess it also if honestly obtainable, or something sufficiently like it to be equally advantageous. ”

“ In A Thousand Miles up the Nile, by Miss Edwards, we have a lively gossiping description of the Egypt of to-day with its wasted temples and ruined palaces. Cairo—where Miss Edwards tells{486} us she arrived in the end of November 1873, with a party of friends in pursuit of dry weather—is a picturesque city. Seen from a distance embowered in gardens of the richest green, it looks like a forest of minarets and domes intermingled with palm-trees and acacia groves. The streets, as is always the case in eastern cities, are narrow and intricate ”

“ Buried beneath the drifting sand of the Desert lie the glorious and yet grotesque masterpieces of the Egyptian chisel. Serene, grave, majestic, inundated with a flood of harmonious light, the calm features of the once inscrutable Sphinx look down upon us, as many centuries ago they looked down in their grand repose upon the wondering Father of History. Time has pressed lightly on these Titanic temples and vast tomb palaces, but from their shadowy portals the worshippers have gone for ever. Desolate and state-fallen, they open now only to admit the curious stranger. ”

“ POPPET'S PRANKS.
MY BABY.
PREDOMINANT DELUSIONS.
Seeing is believing! Such is an old saw, not usually called in question, and yet it is exceedingly fallacious. A great many phenomena seemingly true by the eyesight are not true at all. Ignorance and prejudice have led to very extraordinary mistakes. We speak of the sun rising and setting, because it appears to do so, but it neither sets nor rises. ”

“ Starting with the principle that there may be forces in nature which science has as yet failed to disclose, we should be cautious in asserting that any particular phenomenon that seems incomprehensible is a result of mere illusion or imposture. ”

“ Without canals and the ever-recurring water-wheels, the fresh green beauty of the river-plains would soon disappear, and famine, gaunt and hollow-eyed, stalk upon the scene, with disease and death in its train. ”

“ She was buried in the garden, and a headstone with a suitable inscription erected to her memory.
Now that the anguish for the loss of old friends (in glass and china) has been blunted by time, as we sit round the fire 'between the lights,' the recital of Poppet's pranks is listened to with rapt attention by the children; and I often think, with Frank Buckland, that many a more valuable friend may be less missed and less sincerely mourned than a pet monkey. ”

“ In some instances, the foreigners have given the go-by to us with an almost superb audacity: imitating the very notification on English wrappers that to imitate that particular trade-mark is felony! Print what they may, stamp what they may, English manufacturers of high-class goods find that they cannot ward off this kind of cheatery—cheatery, not of money direct, but of the good reputation which possesses{493} money's worth. However, international trade-mark laws are doing something to lessen this unfairness—of English towards foreigners as well as of foreigners towards English. ”

“ To account for others, the fancy must make wide excursions indeed. A maker of edge-tools adopts stars and crowns, a monkey eating an apple, an elephant's head, oxen and lions with initials on their flanks, a negro's head, a cassowary, a boot, a sledge; and the head of an Aztec accompanied by the inscription: 'Look for this stamp on each tool, if you want a genuine article made from electro-boragic cast-steel.' A locomotive does not seem specially suitable as a trade-mark for silk goods ”

“ Most amply have foreigners taken their revenge; indeed it is not improbable that they first began this game; seeing that they had more to gain from a great manufacturing nation than we had to gain from them in this way. Sheffield has been despoiled by them in a notable degree. Knives, files, fish-hooks, needles, &c. made very cheaply of inferior steel, receive in the German workshops (more perhaps than in those of France or Belgium) brands, marks, wrappers, and labels so closely resembling those of eminent Sheffield firms, as to deceive all but the most wary. ”

“ If a trader be making a good thing out of baking powder, and another man wraps up another (perhaps an inferior) kind of baking powder in packets printed almost exactly in the same style and wording, he trusts to an unwary public being deceived in the matter. No small difficulty has been felt at times, by judges and jurors, in determining whether a particular designation or inscription really deserves the rank of a trade-mark, and ought to be protected as such. ”

“ The world now knows better than believe such trash, but it took a long time to learn; and even yet this highly experienced and much complimented world occasionally falls into the most absurd crazes; or perhaps we should more correctly say, there are large numbers of tolerably educated but credulous people who with a taste for the wonderful are ever ready to believe in any kind of nonsense that turns up. ”

“ Each is a token to distinguish certain persons from others. In the middle ages distinguished families and famous old commercial companies had their marks; so had monasteries, abbeys, and convents; so had municipal towns and chartered guilds; so had merchants and shipowners. By degrees the mark became embodied as a trade-mark in some instances, as an heraldic shield or crest or coat-armour in others. Some noble families at the present day can shew coats of arms including (in the device) trade-marks once belonging to the founder of the family when a trader. ”

“ The Master, Warden, Searchers, and Assistants of the Cutlers' Company at Sheffield possess, in virtue of ancient charters, very special privileges, which the new registrar of trade-marks is not allowed to contravene. He works in harmony with the Company; and every trade-mark recognised by the latter may claim of right admission into the register. To facilitate the granting of trade-marks for cotton goods, an office has been established at Manchester for the exhibition of all marks, devices, headings, labels, tickets, letters, &c. ”