Epaulette

“ The figure and shape of the leaves thereof is not much different from that of those of the ash-tree, or of agrimony; the herb itself being so like the Eupatorian plant that many skilful herbalists have called it the Domestic Eupator, and the Eupator the Wild Pantagruelion. These leaves are in equal and parallel distances spread around the stalk by the number in every rank either of five or seven, nature having so highly favoured and cherished this plant that she hath richly adorned it with these two odd, divine, and mysterious numbers. ”

“ Are you not yourself of opinion, that if these detestable long garments did not come in your way to confine you, you would be able to walk and run—nay, to skip, jump, and dance, just as readily and lightly as before? The gleam and glitter of the bright dazzling epaulet, which formerly shone upon your shoulders, might again reflect upon your pale cheeks their wonted colour; and the clang of your military accoutrements would sound like cheering music in the ears of your noble horse, who would come neighing and prancing with joy to meet you, bending his neck proudly before his beloved master. ”

“ The eminent talents of the Epeirae are displayed to even better purpose in the industrial business of motherhood than in the art of the chase. The silk bag, the nest, in which the Banded Epeira houses her eggs, is a much greater marvel than the bird’s nest. In shape, it is an inverted balloon, nearly the size of a Pigeon’s egg. The top tapers like a pear and is cut short and crowned with a scalloped rim, the corners of which are lengthened by means of moorings that fasten the object to the adjoining twigs. ”

“ Epinglard falls into a meditative pose, his elbow in one hand, his chin in the other, and looks long at the young girl, scrutinizing not only the line and modelling of the body, but the expression of the face, the eyes, the shade and nature of the hair, reading her temperament with the lucidity of a phrenologist aided by the divination of a plastic artist who has had great experience of feminine humanity. The examination lasts many minutes, and finally, as if under the inspiring influence of the god of taste, Epinglard, in broken phrases, composes the dress: "Toilette entirely of tulle ... ”

“ One who has seen a lizard dart up the trunk of a tree can form an idea of the incredible swiftness of these great monsters. Before Epworth was aware a huge Thing dropped from the ceiling in front of him with a shrill siren call to its companions. Its eyes were flaming red; its mouth was foaming; its split tongue, protruding in evil menacing, twisted to and fro swiftly. It came with such awful quickness that Epworth was paralyzed for a second.
Joan saved him.
With remarkable calmness she extended her long light chloroform tube, and squirted the gas into the reptile’s snorting nostrils. ”

“ For a day or two she was left to do as she liked, and then one morning Euphronia came down to the kitchen and found her sitting at the window reading a book.
“Well I never!” cried Euphronia. “So that’s how you spend your time! Come here at once, and put on this coarse apron and then go down on your knees and scrub the floor.”
“I am doing no harm,” said Ella mildly. “Mother always used to let me read in the morning, after my lessons were done. As for the floor, it is quite clean, for the scullerv-maid has only just finished scrubbing it. Please, Euphronia, let me go on with my work.” ”

“ And when the sunshine grew strong and lasting, so that the buttercups were thick in the meadows, Silas might be seen in the sunny midday, or in the late afternoon when the shadows were lengthening under the hedgerows, strolling
out with uncovered head to carry Eppie beyond the Stone-pits to where the flowers grew, till they reached some favourite bank where he could sit down, while Eppie toddled to pluck the flowers, and make remarks to the winged things that murmured happily above the bright petals, calling 'Dad-dad's ' attention continually by bringing him the flowers. ”

“ Exposed to all the inclemencies of the weather, among the dead grasses, close to the ground, the Epeira’s nest has also to protect its contents from the winter cold. Let us cut the wrapper with our scissors. Underneath, we find a thick layer of reddish-brown silk, not worked into a fabric this time, but puffed into an extra-fine wadding. It is a fleecy cloud, an incomparable quilt, softer than any swan’s-down. ”

“ The epaulets are made in small stiff tabs, caught together in two places only, and so have plenty of give in the shoulder movements; they run to 21⁄4 inches at the widest part, and do not continue right under the arm. Fig. D, Plate V (see p. 71) , has the middle seam of the back open from the waist to within 2 inches of the collar, which is noticeable on many of the later Charles I coats. Long aprons are conspicuous through the 17th century, and one measured was 42 inches wide, gathered to 15 inches at the waist ”

“ A brood of young Epeira may often be seen looking like a ball of wool in the top of a bush, while below them, connected by threads to their roost, are the skins left at their second moult, and farther down, also connected by threads, the cocoon with the first skins. ”

“ In tropical Asia, and eastward to the Pacific Islands, the Danaidæ take the place of the Heliconidæ of America, in their abundance, their conspicuousness, their slow flight, and their being the subjects of mimicry. They exist under three principal forms or genera. The genus Euplæa is the most abundant both in species and individuals, and consists of fine broad-winged butterflies of a glossy or metallic blue-black colour, adorned with pure white, or rich blue, or dusky markings situated round the margins of the wings. ”

“ From the center of the variegated, rosette-like foliage springs a pubescent stalk, about a foot in height, bearing a spike of one-sided white flowers, which bloom in the deep woods through July and August.
The epipactus (Epipacius gigantea) is found in the tangled undergrowth along the banks of mountain streams, and has slender, leafy stems and from three to ten brown and green blossoms, marked with purple; while the Listera, or northern tway-blade, may be distinguished by the stout oval leaves, clasping the California Pitcher Plant. low stem, and the downy raceme of tiny purplish flowers. ”

“ The freshness of the air fanned her deliciously; larks were climbing the sky singing their prick-song, scores of finches crossed the slopes, dipping from bush to bush. Ippolita clasped her hands behind her head, and looked lazily at all this early glory. ”

“ This would not have mattered very much if the clothes had been in good taste, for it is quite possible to look well even if one’s clothes are shabby, but both the sisters had a liking for violent colours and tasteless finery. Thus, for instance, Euphronia would come down in the evening in a gown of yellow covered with black stripes, which made her look like a zebra. You can imagine the effect of it, in contrast with her red hair and painted cheeks. Charlotte, on the other hand, loved purple and green, and she would produce the most astonishing effects by mixing these
two colours. ”

“ With the prospect of the epaulet before them, they would strive to improve themselves, and to become fit society for the men of higher breeding and education with whom they hoped one day to be called upon to associate. ”

“ The sister has married, not a wizard king, nor even a giant, but an elephant. The woman hides her brothers, the elephant "smells something." In the night, the woman escapes, with all the elephant's herds except three kine, which she instructs to low as loud as if they were whole flocks. These beasts then act like the "talking spittle," in Gaelic and Zulu, and like the chattering dolls in the Russian tale. ”

“ Not to weary you, it is clear that Ippolita was the fashion. The poets, the courtiers, the painters, of whom in that age of peace Padua was full, were wild about this glowing girl, this sumptuous nymph of the Via Agnus Dei; they were melodiously, caperingly, symphonically wild, according to their bents. She saw herself on plates of faience, where the involutions of a ribbon revealed "Ippolita Bella" to the patient eye; she found herself (or they found her) an inordinate tri-syllable for a canzone, saw her colours of necessity reproduced on her lover's legs and shoulders as colours of election. ”

“ Of course the Dear Princess of the Crystal Mountain wore the great opal on the day that she was married to the Prince of the Far Land over the Hill. And when she was an old, old Princess, with white hair instead of dark, she often showed the opal to her grandchildren, and told them how it was made of blue sea, and green shadows, and fire, melted all together by the fairies and mixed with mist of sunshine. ”

“ But at last Eppie, glancing at the clock, checked the play, and said, “O daddy, you’re wanting to go into the sunshine to smoke your pipe. But I must clear away first, so as the house may be tidy when godmother comes. I’ll make haste—I won’t be long.” ”

“ Close to the princess are the chief eunuchs, richly adorned and finely mounted, each with a cane in his hand; and, surrounding her elephant, a troop of female servants from Tartary and Kashmire, fantastically attired, and riding handsome pad-horses. Besides these attendants, are several eunuchs on horseback, accompanied by a multitude of pagys, or lackeys, on foot, with large canes, who advance a great way before the princess, both to the right and to the left, for the purpose of clearing the road, and driving before them every intruder. ”

“ I gathered several species of the eucalyptus, during this excursion; amongst others, that which White has denominated eucalyptus resinifera. This is a very tall tree, the spungy bark of which is often three inches in thickness, and separates very easily from the trunk. It produces a gum resin, of a reddish colour and astringent taste, which is used for medicinal purposes. We likewise collected several species of philadelphus, the banksia integrifolia, a new species of epacris, &c. ”

“ The gold had asked that he should sit weaving longer and longer, deafened and blinded more and more to all things except the monotony of his loom and the repetition of his web; but Eppie called him away from his weaving, and made him think all its pauses a holiday, reawakening his senses with her fresh life, even to the old winter-flies that came crawling forth in the early spring sunshine, and warming him into joy because she had joy. ”

“ Go wherever a crowd of both sexes congregate, and there you will see an Ippolita in all her splendid vitality and magnificent growth, and beside her, nine times out of ten, there will be a Giorgio Aurispa, small, frail, half-blind, pallid, bloodless, beardless, sickly, and prematurely decrepit. ”

“ Peewit!” cried the lapwing, as he flew over the moss in the wood. “Dame Spring is coming! I can feel it in my legs and wings.”
When the new grass, which lay down below in the earth, heard this, it at once began to sprout and peeped out gaily between the old, yellow straw. For the grass is always in an immense hurry.
Now the anemones in between the trees had also heard the lapwing’s cry, but refused on any account to appear above the earth.
[78] “You mustn’t believe the lapwing,” they whispered to one another. “He is a flighty customer, whom one can’t trust. ”

“ The work, which is partly visible and partly hidden by its supports, is a pure dead-white, its shape, moulded in the angular interval between the bent leaves, is that of a cone and reminds us, on a smaller scale, of the nest of the Silky Epeira. ”

“ The golden-gray of the walls was thickly embroidered with climbing fruit-trees, and was entirely covered, at one end of the garden, by a small snow-white rose, old-fashioned, closely petaled; and here in a corner stood a thatched summer-house, where Eppie played with her dolls, and where, on warm summer days, the white roses filled the air with a fragrance heavy yet fresh in its wine-like sweetness. All Eppie’s early memories of Kirklands centered about the summer-house and were mingled with the fragrance of the roses. ”

“ The sun was just going down in its reddest glory, and Sir Henry and I were admiring the lovely scene, when suddenly we heard an elephant scream, and saw its huge and rushing form with uplifted trunk and tail silhouetted against the great red globe of the sun. Next second we saw something else, and that was Good and Khiva tearing back towards us with the wounded bull—for it was he—charging after them. ”

“ Perfect love has a breath of poetry which can exalt the relations of the least-instructed human beings; and this breath of poetry had surrounded Eppie from the time when she had followed the bright gleam that beckoned her to Silas's hearth: so that it is not surprising if, in other things besides her delicate prettiness, she was not quite a common village maiden, but had a touch of refinement and fervour which came from no other teaching than that of tenderly-nurtured unvitiated feeling. She was too childish and simple to rove into questions about her unknown father ”

“ Let even an affectionate Goliath get himself tied to a small tender thing, dreading to hurt it by pulling, and dreading still more to snap the cord, and which of the two, pray, will be master? It was clear that Eppie, with her short toddling steps, must lead father Silas a pretty dance on any fine morning when circumstances favoured mischief. ”

“ And, turning the model round, he shows the skirt in all its aspects, passing his fingers amorously over the batiste and seeming to give it life and beauty by his mere touch. "And you, Mademoiselle Ernestine, come here, too," calling to another model; who is walking about gloomily with a mantle on her shoulders: "put on Madame A——'s mantle." Then, changing back to his hypocritical tone, Epinglard continues his sing-song monologue to the Baronne de P——, and tells her that Madame A—— is a "great English lady who has deserted her husband and is now living in Paris. ”