MY BIRTHDAY. Ir is high time to write on my birthday, for my grey hairs tell me there must need be some uncertainty as to its return. An hour ago the postman gave his spirited double rap, and my table is tolerably well covered with letters and packages, the winged messengers of friendship, and the kind offerings of affection...Every reader must have some interest in his own birthday, and in that of his friends; I will adapt myself, then, both to the merry and the mournful hearted. A birthday in youth and prime is usually a sunshiny season; but as the sun of life declines, the returning period brings with it more earnest thought and more serious feeling...An old man can hardly avoid looking before and behind him; and thus, while young people on their birthdays, with their faces lit up with smiles, think only of the present, the aged on such occasions, with graver countenances, reflect on the past and the future... This is as it should be. Age may be cheerful and yet thoughtful, and not to be the latter would supply a much more reasonable cause of regret than not being the former. A birthday is oftentimes a harvest day of affectionate remembrances and tokens of goodwill. Would that on this day I could give to others half the gratification that others have given me. How kindly do I feel toward my several correspondents, whose communications are full of freehearted desires for my welfare ! Birthdays include all days in the calendar*, for there is not one in the revolving year that is not a holiday to some rejoicing heart, or a day of mournful recollection to some sorrowing one...Parents rejoice in the birthdays of their children, and children in those of their parents. A fond mother remembers with tears that it is the natal day of a son who is abroad, perhaps tossing on the billowy deep, or settled in some distant locality; and an affectionate father calls to mind with a sob, which he vainly tries to suppress, that it is the birthday of a dear daughter in heaven,-a day once kept so joyfully...Our birthdays while we are here will be remembered by ourselves, and perhaps when we are gone they will be borne in mind by others. * Calendar, register of the months &c. of the year; almanac. Who is there that has not, on many occasions, wished that he could soar toward the skies and look down on the manifold pursuits and occupations of mankind? Could I now see the yearly jubilee of others' birthdays, what a chequered scene would be spread out before me !... Hundreds who win their bread by daily toil are too much occupied in the hard, every day duties and cares of life to think much of their birthdays; while others are altogether absorbed by the return of a season which brings to them so much of pleasure. There rises in my memory a birthday scene, in which a rosy band of cottage children were the happy actors. It was in a dreamy nook, a worn-out quarry, sheltered from the hot sunbeams; a peaceful place, garlanded with woodbines and hanging plants, and where all day long were heard the hum of bees and songs of joyous birds...Around it grew straggling brambles laden with blackberries. There, grouped together, the happy-hearted children enjoyed their mimic feast, their acorn cups before them. Just as I looked down upon them from the high banks above, a sister wreathed her arms about the neck of her chubby-cheeked little brother...Amid many fair things, those children were the fairest. Love reigned among them, and the kiss went round. It was a gladdening sight, for that childish revel had in it a more real pleasure "A joy more sweet, and innocent, and pure, INDIAN JUGGLERS. IN India the inhabitants are very fond of watching the tricks of jugglers and sleight-of-hand performers, and the men who practise this employment attain great skill, and do things which European travellers look upon with astonishment and admiration. Some of their feats are astounding...An English gentleman, who witnessed the performances of a company of jugglers at the court of one of the native princes, has given an interesting account of them :— One of the men, taking a large earthen vessel with a . Chequered, variegated, diversified (with contrasts of color). capacious mouth, filled it with water and turned it upside down, when all the water flowed out, but the moment it was placed with the mouth upwards it always became full. He then emptied it, allowing any one to inspect it who chose... This being done, he desired that one of the party would fill it. His request was granted, but when he reversed the jar not a drop of water flowed, and, upon turning it, to our astonishment, it was empty...So skilfully were these deceptions managed, that though every one was allowed to examine the jar freely, no one could detect anything that would solve the mystery. It was a rough-looking vessel, made of the common earthenware of the country, and, to show there was nothing peculiar about it, it was broken in our presence, and the pieces handed round for inspection. A man then took a small bag full of brass balls, which he threw one by one into the air, to the number of thirty five. None of them appeared to return. When he had discharged the last there was a pause of full a minute...He then made a variety of motions with his hands, at the same time uttering a kind of wild chant. In a few seconds the balls were seen to fall, one by one, until the whole of them were replaced in the bag. This was repeated at least halfa-dozen times. No one was allowed to come near him while he was playing this curious trick... The next performer spread upon the ground a cloth about the size of a sheet. After a while it seemed to be gradually raised, and upon taking it up there appeared three pine apples growing under it, which were cut and presented to the spectators. This is considered a common juggle, and yet to us it is fectly inexplicable. per A tall athletic man now advanced and threw himself upon the ground. After performing several strange antics, he placed his head downwards, with his heels in the air, raised his arms, and crossed them over upon his breast, balancing himself all the while upon his head. A cup, containing sixteen brass balls, was now put into his hands; these he took and threw severally into the air. He kept the whole sixteen in constant motion, crossing them, and causing them to describe all kinds of figures, without al lowing one to reach the ground... When he had thus shown his dexterity for a few minutes, a slight man approached, climbed up his body with singular agility, and stood upright upon the inverted feet of the performer, who was still upon his head. A second cup, containig sixteen balls, was handed to the smaller man, who began throwing them till the whole were in the air...Thirty-two balls were now in motion, and the rays of the sun falling upon their polished surfaces, the jugglers appeared in the midst of a shower of gold. The effect was singular, and the dexterity displayed by the men quite amazing. They were as steady as if they had been turned into stone, and no motion, save that of their arms and hands, was visible...At length, the upper man having caught all his balls and replaced them in the cup, sprang upon the ground, and his companion was almost as quickly upon his legs. After a short pause, the man who had before exhibited himself with his body reversed, planted his feet close together, and, standing upright like a column, the smaller juggler climbed his body as before, and placing the crown of his own head upon that of his companion, raised his legs into the air, thus exactly reversing the late position of the two performers... At first they held each other's hands until they were completely balanced, when they let go, the upper man waving his arms in all directions to show the steadiness of his position. The legs were kept apart sometimes, one being bent while the other remained erect, but the body did not seem to waver for a single instant... After they had been in this position for about a minute, the balls were again put into their hands, and the whole thirty-two kept in motion in the air as before. It was remarkable that, during the entire time they were thrown, no two of them ever came in contact, a proof of the marvellous skill displayed. When they had done with the balls, the upper man took a number of small cylindrical * pieces of steel, two inches long. Several of these he placed upon his nose, producing a slender rod full a foot in length, which, in spite of his difficult position, he balanced so steadily that not one of the *Cylindrical, shape of a pencil. pieces fell...He then crossed the taper column with a flat bar of copper, half an inch wide and four inches long. Upon this he fixed one of his little cylinders, and on the top of that a slight spear, the whole of which he balanced with perfect steadiness, finally taking off every separate piece and throwing it upon the ground...This concluded the wonderful show. Grasping the hands of his companion, as before, the little man sprang upon his feet and made a parting bow to the gallery. Anon. POOR DIGGS! His THE quarter-to-ten bell rang, and the small boys went off upstairs, praising their champion and counsellor, who stretched himself out on the bench before the hall fire. There he lay, a very queer specimen of boyhood, by name Diggs...He was young for his size, and very clever. friends at home, having regard, I suppose, to his age, and not to his size and place in the school, had not put him into tails, and even his jackets were always too small, and he had a talent for destroying clothes and making himself look shabby...He was not intimate with any of the bigger boys, who were warned off by his oddnesses, for he was a very queer fellow; besides, among other failings, he had that of lack of cash in a remarkable degree...He brought as much money as other boys to school, but got rid of it in no time, no one knew how. And then, being also reckless, he borrowed from any one; and when his debts increased and creditors pressed, he would have an auction in the hall of everything he possessed in the world, selling even his schoolbooks, candlestick, and study-table...For weeks after one of these auctions, having rendered his study uninhabitable, he would live about the school-room and hall, doing his exercises on old letter backs and odd scraps of paper, and learning his lessons no one knew how...He never meddled with any little boy, and was popular among them, though they all looked upon him with a sort of compassion, and called him "poor Diggs," not being able to resist appear |