Cotillon

“ Claghart: Do you remember your promise to run down to Baltimore? Well, I shall expect you to keep it next Thursday. We are to have a little dinner and a dance afterward (perhaps I should say a dinner and a little dance—no, the adjective belongs to both) , and I shall certainly expect you to be on hand. Your fame has preceded you, of course, and a great many very nice young women are simply existing on the thought of meeting Mr. Wayne Claghart, the artist! Shall I reserve the very prettiest and nicest of them all to dance the cotillon with you? ”

“ When the mare drinks water, the blue sea rises in waves and leaves fall from the trees; when she scratches herself on hundred-year oaks, they fall to the ground like bundles of oats. Every month she has one colt; twelve wolves follow her and devour these colts. Bide thy time; and the moment a colt is born with a star on its forehead, seize it quickly,—that colt will be an heroic steed for thee. On that colt Koshchéi Without-Death will not overtake thee.” Ivan Tsarevich did as his brothers-in-law taught him. ”

“ So the youth did it again, and when he went up on the hill next year to look after his colt and the mares, each of the mares had her foal again; but the dappled colt was so big that when the lad wanted to feel its neck to see how fat it was, he could not reach up to it, it was so high, and it was so bright that the light glanced off its coat.
‘Big and handsome you were last year, my colt, but this year you are ever so much handsomer,’ said the youth; ‘in all the King’s court no such horse is to be found. ”

“ One of these same young colts,—black as a coal, with a large head with a marvellous top-knot rising above his ears, and his tail still inclining to the side on which he had laid in his mother's belly—pricking up his ears, and opening his stupid eyes, as he stood motionless in his place, looked steadily at the colt jumping and dancing, not at all understanding why he did it, whether out of jealousy or indignation.
Some suckle, butting with their noses ”

“ Therein dwell the thrifty peasants, as cosy as a weevil in a cheese. These earthy coteaux, or long level lines of low-banked hills, are peculiar, I think, to France, and common in every part of it: if they lie to the north, they are generally covered by a natural copsewood; if they slope to the south,{68} well set to the sun, they form a perfect nursery for the vine. Near Ballan, the coteaux of the Cher grow an excellent red wine; the banks of the Loire produce the sparkling golden Vouvray; at Chinon, on the Indre, the vines give a claret celebrated in the south of France ”

“ One day Colette suggested going to the Zoo to entertain the people who were watching the animals, and since Uncle Antoine and Monko were always ready to please her, they hurried across the city, pushing the big hurdy-gurdy before them.
Only a Tiny Bunch of Whiskers Remained
When they arrived at the Zoo they found that great crowds were there before them, and when Uncle Antoine started to play and Colette to dance, not only did the boys and girls and [57] grown-ups turn to look and listen, but all the animals began to cut capers. ”

“ It has pleased Madame Colette Willy to embody in a couple of delightful animals, the aroma of gardens, the freshness of the field, the heat of state-roads,—the passions of men.... For through this girlish laughter ringing in the forest, I tell you, I hear the sobbing of a well-spring. One does not stoop to a poodle or tom-cat, without feeling the heart wrung with dumb anguish. One is sensible, in comparing ourselves to them, of all that separates and of all that unites us. ”

“ If she happen to have a colt by her side, this is no objection, as the mules soon form the most devoted attachment to it. I have often seen them leave their grazing when very hungry, and flock around a small colt, manifesting their delight by rubbing it with their noses, licking it with their tongues, kicking up their heels, and making a variety of other grotesque demonstrations of affection, while the poor little colt, perfectly unconscious of the cause of these ungainly caresses, stood trembling with fear, but unable to make his escape from the compact circle of his mulish admirers. ”

“ Correspondingly, their caulicle does not lengthen to elevate them above the surface of the soil; the growth below the cotyledons is nearly all of root. It is the little plumule or bud between them which makes the upward growth, and which, being well fed by the cotyledons, rapidly develops the next pair of leaves and raises them upon a long internode, and so on. The cotyledons all the while remain below, in the husk of the fruit and seed, and perish when they have yielded up the store of food which they contained. ”

“ I once knew my unfortunate neighbor to have a fine blooded colt, foaled in the pasture with his mules. These vicious devils had no sooner perceived that the colt was without those long ears which characterize their species, than they set to work with one accord to demolish the monstrous production, and in spite of all the efforts of the mother, which fought with a desperation worthy of some old Roman, beset by a host of foes, succeeded in trampling to death her beautiful offspring. ”

“ But this is the start, and here they are,—coats bright as silk, and manes as smooth as eau lustrale can make them. Some of the best of the colts are pranced round, a few minutes each, to show their paces. What is that old gentleman crying about? and the old lady by him, and the three girls, all covering their eyes for? Oh, that is their colt that has just been trotted up on the stage. Do they really think those little thin legs can do anything in such a slashing sweepstakes as is coming off in these next forty years? ”

“ He is capable of suggesting, in these miniature compositions, moments of the keenest excitement, as, for example, in the tailpiece to the Baboon in the second edition of the 'Quadrupeds.' A vicious-looking colt is feeding in a meadow; a little tottering child of two or three plucks at its long tail. The colt's eye is turned backward; its heel is ominously raised; and over the North Country stile in the background a frightened relative comes rushing. The strain of the tiny group is intense; but as the little boy was Bewick's brother, who grew up to be a man, we know that no harm was done. ”

“ Taylor and her servant found themselves in the cabin of the splendid new steamer "Walk-in-the-Water," bound from New Orleans to Mobile. Every berth in the boat was occupied by persons fleeing from the fearful contagion that was carrying off its hundreds daily.
Late in the day, as Clotelle was standing at one of the windows of the ladies' saloon, she was astonished to see near her, and with eyes fixed intently upon her, the tall young stranger whom she had observed in the slave-market a few days before. ”

“ The mother of one, coming to the dividing fence, and putting her head over it, said to her neighbor:
“Just look at the color of my colt! Was there ever a lovelier bay? Before another spring has passed over his head I expect to see him in the stable of some millionaire. You know what a rage there is among rich men for fast horses. Now, look at the points in my colt—his long, clean limbs, his deer-like shape, his full eye and broad nostril. ”

“ The colts who live here are very good colts; but they are cart-horse colts, and of course, they have not learned manners. You have been well bred and well born; your father has a great name in these parts, and your grandfather won the cup two years at the Newmarket races; your grandmother had the sweetest temper of any horse I ever knew, and I think you have never seen me kick or bite. I hope you will grow up gentle and good, and never learn bad ways; do your work with a good will, lift your feet up well when you trot, and never bite or kick even in play. ”

“ On picking the embryo carefully out of the seed coats, however, I find a conformation that in a measure removes the difficulty. In the speciess which I have examined, viz., the present, L. ruderale, L. campestre, and, perhaps, L. intermedium, the cotyledons are continued, in the form of petioles, about half way down the radicle; the cotyledons, in fact, being transversely folded upon themselves, as stated and illustrated in Gray's Genera in the case of Subularia and Senebiera, the genera immediately preceeding Lepidium. ”

“ Clothilde, Cæsar, and I had ridden late into the night before we had reached the little village on the Seine where my boatman, Gustave, was to tie up. But it was moonlight and we rode through a beautiful country dotted with royal châteaus,—the birthplaces of illustrious kings,—and I had my thoughts, and Clotilde and Cæsar had each other: for Cæsar was the first of her kind Clotilde had seen since coming to France, and much as she might enjoy the attentions of footmen in gorgeous liveries, after all they were only "white trash," and she loved best her own color. ”

“ A little beyond, the road lay through a dark piece of woods that countrywomen, returning late from the store, were afraid to ride through after night-fall; as their horses always started and trembled and laid back their ears at the appearance of a mysterious white colt, which was frequently seen gamboling among the trees, and which no sensible people believed to be a real or living colt, as one horse is never frightened at the sight of another. ”

“ On arriving in India, Captain Devenant and lady were received with honors—the former for his heroic bravery in more than one battle, and the latter for her fascinating beauty and pleasing manners, and the fact that she was connected with one who was a general favorite with all who had his acquaintance. This was indeed a great change for Clotelle. Six months had not elapsed since her exposure in the slave-market of New Orleans. This life is a stage, and we are indeed all actors. ”

“ An enemy hath done this. And the servants said to him: Wilt thou that we go and gather it up? And he said: No; lest perhaps gathering up the cockle, you root up the wheat also together with it. Suffer both to grow until the harvest, and in the time of the harvest, I will say to the reapers: Gather up first the cockle, and bind it in bundles to burn; but the wheat gather ye into my barn.
What is to be understood by the kingdom of heaven?
The Church of God, or the congregation of the faithful upon earth.
What are we to understand by the good seed and the cockle? ”

“ The colt sees by the road side some quite new object—a cast-away boot, an old kettle, or what not. What a fearful monster! What unknown terrific powers may it not possess! And the colt shies across the road, runs up the bank, rears on end; putting itself thereby, as many a man does, in real danger. ”

“ I am unwilling to pass on to another illustration without more fully impressing on the minds of those who raise or break colts the necessity of kind and careful usage in educating their animals. Never approach your colt quickly. Never, pull the halter or bridle off quickly. Always handle the colt’s ears with great care. Never punish him on the body with anything but a whip, and with it as seldom as possible, as many colts become sulky and show signs of balking when severely whipped. ”

“ Now I am touching so deeply upon poetry, can I forget that I have just received from Cottle a magnificent copy of his Guinea Epic. [2] Four-and-twenty books to read in the dog days! I got as far as the Mad Monk the first day, and fainted. Mr, Cottle's genius strongly points him to the Pastoral, but his inclinations divert him perpetually from his calling. He imitates Southey, as Rowe did Shakspeare, with his "Good morrow to ye, good master Lieutenant," Instead of a man, a woman, a daughter, he constantly writes "one a man," "one a woman," "one his daughter." ”

“ So he mounted the animal and made it pace to the right and to the left causing it now to prance and curvet and then to step leisurely, while the connoisseur looked on and after a time quoth he to the groom, "'Tis enough!" Then he went in to the presence and stood between the hands of the King who enquired, "What hast thou seen in the colt, O Kashmar?"32 Replied the Sharper, "By Allah, O King of the Age, this colt is of pure and noble blood on the side of the sire: its action is excellent and all its qualities are praiseworthy save one ”

“ Among the shrubs I was struck by a species of Colletia, a genus characteristic of temperate South America. They are nearly or quite leafless, and remind one slightly of our European furze, but are much more rigid, with fewer, but hard and penetrating spines, which, unlike those of the furze, are true branches, sharpened to a point and set on at right angles to the stem. The species common here (Colletia spinosa of Lamarck) grows to a height of four or five feet, and would probably be found very useful for hedges on dry stony ground in the south of Europe. ”

“ The stem and the cotyledon.—Notice that a rod, somewhat thicker than a root, grows out near the origin of the roots, and curves upwards towards the light. When this is about an inch long on a maize seedling, slit it open carefully, and observe that it consists of a pale outer sheath and a green core. The sheath is the single cotyledon; the green core is the young stem enclosed in a young foliage leaf. Cut open the grain and notice how the endosperm has shrivelled. As the seedlings become larger watch the young stem growing out at the end of its sheathing cotyledon. ”

“ The colt would rear and kick, and struggle to get free, when Tonish would take him about the neck, wrestle with him, jump on his back, and cut as many antics as a monkey with a kitten. Nothing surprised me more, however, than to witness how soon these poor animals, thus taken from the unbounded freedom of the prairie, yielded to the dominion of man. In the course of two or three days the mare and colt went with the led horses, and became quite docile. ”