Cutter

“ Ere we lay aside our pen, we will only state by way of conclusion, that we have aimed at the production of a work that should supply the young cutter with all he may require to fit him for the post of a ladies' tailor. Such has been our aim, our readers will judge whether we have succeeded in carrying out that aim to a practical issue. We desire to instruct, to improve, to encourage, and it may be that even in the defects of our work, others may take courage and persevere midst adverse circumstances and innumerable difficulties till a successful issue results. ”

“ Near the borders of a large forest dwelt in olden times a poor wood-cutter, who had two children—a boy named Hansel, and his sister, Grethel. They had very little to live upon, and once when there was a dreadful season of scarcity in the land, the poor wood-cutter could not earn sufficient to supply their daily food. ”

“ The creeper cutter agreed to it, that is, the woman and man, both of them, who are to marry, having looked face to face, with two ropes of fine thread are to be tied at a post, and after they have proclaimed their willingness or unwillingness for their marrying, they must marry. ”

“ We do not condemn all this: our object is rather to show the cutter who hopes to become first-class at this branch of tailoring, the necessity there is for application and study, to become acquainted with science in all its teachings, so as to apply it to his calling; to thoroughly understand the application of art in all its fine studies, so as to utilize its lessons to the adorning of the female form ”

“ If the Reverend Ralph Cutter had made any advances in her direction, he would have been met, frankly and honestly, [31] by a good true woman. She admired the new preacher the moment she first saw him, and that admiration grew with every service of his which she attended, and with every opportunity for becoming acquainted with him.
The coachman noticed the fire in the black eyes, as she alighted.
“You see that path?” he asked. “It leads through a hemlock grove, over a flint ledge, and into a little valley beyond. Pulpit Rock is across the valley from the ledge. ”

“ And simmers down in the last sentence to a description of the gowns worn by the respective mothers of the bride and groom. The word “exeunt” does not occur, of course; but that lick-and-a-promise praise of their toilettes really implies that this is the last prominent appearance of these worthy women.
The concluding paragraph is devoted to the groom. And it is evident that the writer saved his most obsequious words for this final flare of flattery. The groom was the son of “our distinguished fellow townsman, Mr. George William Cutter”—a “university man” ”

“ This must be a continuous study on the part of the cutter, for fashions change so rapidly, one style succeeds another so speedily, that unless he is on the alert, he will soon drop back into the second rate: for it is well known that ladies' make a study of dress; they not only know what is the latest style, but they also understand every application of art, and very often some of the laws of science. They will often tell you where the seams of their garments must be placed, and they know the effect certain styles of ornamentation will have on the body ”

“ The cry continued, however, and it sounded very near, almost under the woodcutter's feet. He looked into the hollow log and there he found a dimpled baby girl wrapped in a bright red sash.
"Poor little thing! Her own mother has abandoned her. My good wife will be a mother to her," he said.
The woodcutter's wife had no children of her own and received the baby gladly. She named her Maria-of-the-forest. As the days flew by and the babe thrived under her care, she could not have loved her more had she been her own child. ”

“ Upon this she awoke, and found herself still in the woodcutter's bosom. Now, the woodcutter was a young man of a stature approaching the gigantic, immensely powerful, but very ugly, very clumsy, and very stupid. At the first sight of him the princess recoiled, and could not make up her mind to take him for a husband; but then she thought that the fairies must know best what was for her good, so she reversed the generally received order of etiquette and made him a proposal of marriage. ”

“ As the woodcutter heard the angry, cursing, threatening reply of the rider, he ambled back to his hut to inform his wife of what was going on. The couple was quite shrewd enough not to reveal anything to a rude, angry, and ill-dressed man on horseback, because, they concluded that, however deficient their own hospitality to the child, it was likely to be better than whatever would be offered by such a ruffian. "And besides," the woodcutter's wife said, "I already love the child too much to give him up."
As the days passed, the old couple grew thoroughly attached to the baby. ”

“ She saw his own fresh, soft child’s face, smiling friendily. . . .
“I know the truth now, Mamma,” he said, “and, if people slander me now, I can bear it. . . .”
She threw her arms around him, dropped her head upon his breast. She felt him in that embrace grown older, bigger, stronger, now quite a man. She now felt a protector in him. But she was ashamed and again closed her eyes: “My boy!” she murmured. “Do you love your mother? . . .”
“Yes, Mamma.” ”

“ Most of the people he knew, more or less, but far down the table beyond the pink glow of the candles the profile of a stranger occasionally gleamed into view—the delicate, spirited profile of a girl, her small head set on a long throat that rose out of a gown cut slightly square at the neck. The outlines of her velvety black hair melted into the velvety black shadows beyond, but he could see the curve of the long lashes on her olive cheek, and the sweetly set, infantine corners of her mouth. ”

“ To-night he went up and looked at the baby on his return; she was asleep, with cheeks flushed to a beautiful rose. She was breathing very hard, but still she slept, with her head thrown back, and the soft rings of hair spread out over the pillow; the curves of the little round body were carved out in the white bedclothes. The light in the room was shaded, and the nurse sat by the table under it, writing out her official report with a gold pencil held in her taper fingers; but his wife sat and watched the child. A sudden ache invaded the man’s heart. ”

“ He breathed again, managed to catch a tram, stood on the front platform to get the wind in his face and cool his throbbing temples. . . . And all the time he was thinking:
"The girl's mad, to speak to me . . . to go kissing me! . . . I'd have done better not to give her any money. . . . Twelve years! . . . She looks older, but she's still a fine girl. . . . She's put on flesh and she was painted, which she never used to be. But she's still a fine girl. . . ."
Her kiss lingered on his mouth, like a burning pressure, as if she had sealed his lips with wax, the hot, melting wax of her kiss. ”

“ Why, then says the shepherd, to keep the eggs warm,
And that they may prosper and come to no harm;
You must set the eggs in a large cuckold’s cap,
And then all the chickens will come to good hap.
I have ne’er a cuckold’s cap, shepherd, says she,
Dot nevertheless I will be ruled by thee,
Tor this very moment I’ll trudge up and down,
And borrow one, if there be one in the town.
She went to her neighbour, and thus she did say,
Come lend me thy cuckold’s cap, neighbour I pray,
I am going to set a miraculous hen,
And when I’ve done with it, I'll bring it again. ”

“ The nurse requires knowledge and practice to enable her to discharge aright her duty to the patient, as much as the physician and surgeon do to perform what is incumbent on them. Woman, from her constitution and habits, is the natural nurse of the sick; and, in general, no small portion of her time is spent in ministering at the couch of disease and suffering. ”

“ The child and the aged person require more clothing than the vigorous adult. “Should we judge from observation, the inference would be, that children require less clothing than adults. This is an error, for the temperature in infancy is not only lower than in manhood, but the power of creating heat is feebler. The same remarks are applicable to those persons who have outlived the energies of adult life.” ”

“ BEWARE THE ROGUE
Deep in the shadow of her hazel eyes,
Waiting to capture men, Love lurking lies.
Her glances are the arrows of his bow,
Wherewith he lays unwary victims low;
And she, unused to Cupid’s artful wiles,
Unconscious aids his purpose by her smiles,
And knows not, as her smiles and glances dart,
What anguish these may bring to many a heart.
Ah! hapless maiden, innocently gay,
No presage of the future breeds dismay;
She does not know how soon the treacherous guest
Will make her heart the haven of unrest.
Ungrateful Cupid! ”

“ Thou hast the metoposcopy and physiognomy of a cuckold,--I say, of a notorious and infamous cuckold. With this, casting an eye upon Panurge's right hand in all the parts thereof, he said, This rugged draught which I see here, just under the mount of Jove, was never yet but in the hand of a cuckold. Afterwards, he with a white lead pen swiftly and hastily drew a certain number of diverse kinds of points, which by rules of geomancy he coupled and joined together; then said: Truth itself is not truer than that it is certain thou wilt be a cuckold a little after thy marriage. ”

“ When we consider the organization of the human system, the form and arrangement of the teeth, the structure of the stomach and intestines, we are led to conclude, that both animal and vegetable food is requisite, and that a mixed diet is most conducive to strength, health, and long life. ”

“ Indeed, in many instances, the increased circulation in the brain, attendant on mental excitement, reveals itself when least expected, and leaves traces after death, which are very perceptible. When tasked beyond its strength, the eye becomes insensible to light, and no longer conveys any impressions to the mind. In like manner, the brain, when much exhausted, becomes incapable of thought, and consciousness is almost lost in a feeling of utter confusion. ”

“ Waring severely. The gossip of servants, the trivial conversation and fulsome pity of vulgar neighbors, was this all that was left to her?
She went downstairs again, and sat in the drawing-room, inside of the window curtains, and wept. The gathering dusk seemed to prefigure the gloom that was to encompass her future years. If people only wouldn't pity her she might be able to live; the children would love her at any rate. Six years ago how happy she was, how dear his eyes looked when he gave her that first married kiss! She could smell even now the fragrance of the bride roses that she held. ”

“ Animals grow proportionally in all directions, while plants grow upwards and downwards from a collet only. The food of animals is organic, while that of plants is inorganic; the latter feeding entirely upon the elements of the soil and atmosphere, while the former subsist upon the products of the animal and vegetable kingdoms. ”

“ When exercise or labor is lessened, the quantity of food should be diminished. When a person who has been accustomed to active exercise, or even hard manual labor, suddenly changes to an employment that demands less activity, the waste attendant on action will be diminished in a corresponding degree; hence the quantity of food should be lessened in nearly the same proportion as the amount of exercise is diminished. ”

“ Quoth she to me,—and sore enraged for wounded pride was she, For she in sooth had bidden me to that which might not be,—
“An if thou swive me not forthright, as one should swive his wife, If thou be made a cuckold straight, reproach it not to me.
Meseems thy yard is made of wax, for very flaccidness; For when I rub it with my hand, it softens instantly.”
And quoth he likewise of his yard:
I have a yard that sleeps on base and shameful wise, Whenever one I love with my desire complies ”

“ Then is there another sort of cuckolds, as to whom doth arise the following question, to wit,—whether if a man hath had full enjoyment of a woman during the lifetime of her cuckold husband, and this latter die, and the lover do afterward marry the widow in second nuptials, he ought to wear the name and title of cuckold,—a case I have heard debated in regard to several, and these great men. ”

“ And upon the maid he gazes,
Grasps an arrow at his side,
And his silver bow upraises.
Swift the maiden turns to flee;
Swift the arrow follows after,
Wounding in its flight a tree:
Hark! how rings the maid’s clear laughter.
Cupid, with sleep-dazzled eyes,
Stares a moment through the bushes
Where the laughing maid still flies,
Then adown the wood he rushes.
Now the shaft o’ertakes the quarry,
Now it cleaves poor Phœbe’s heart—
Maidens, ere you wake Love, tarry
First to filch his every dart.
James B. Kenyon.
[54]
THE GROWTH OF LOVE
Ah, Chloris! ”

“ Herman Pupick, a prude with one glass eye and splintered pieces of glass in what passed for his heart, is forced to stagger in hilarious pursuits of Cutie herself, who represents an intelligent, involved, nicely belligerent pagan and hoyden, with a face so exquisitely [Pg 10] symmetrical, so magically, enticingly, softly, elasticly gleaming, that a paralyzed octogenarian would have jumped out of his wheel-chair in a miracle restoring him to youth. ”

“ By Mary Stewart Cutting, "HENRY, do you know what day Thursday will be?"
"Thursday? The twenty-first."
"Yes, and what will the twenty-first be?"
"Thursday."
"Oh, Henry!" Pretty Mrs. Waring looked tragically across the breakfast-table at her husband, or rather at the newspaper that screened him completely from her view. "Do put down that paper for a moment. I never get a chance to speak to you any more in the morning, and I have to spend the whole day alone. Do you really mean to say that you don't know what the twenty-first is?" ”