THE DWINA.*

A RUSSIAN BALLAD.

STONY-browed Dwina, thy face is as flint, Horsemen and waggons cross, scoring no dint, Cossacks patrol thee and leave thee as hard, Camp-fires but blacken and spot thee like pard,

For the dead silent river lies rigid and still.

Down on thy sedgy banks picquet the troops, Scaring the night-wolves with carols and whoops,

Crackle their faggots of drift-wood and hay, And the steam of their pots fills the nostril of day,

But the dead silent river lies rigid and still.

Sledges pass sliding from hamlet to town, Lovers and comrades, and none doth he drown,

Harness-bells tinkling in musical glee,

For to none comes the sorrow that came unto me,

And the dead silent river lies rigid and still.

I go to the Dwina, I stand on his wave, Where Ivan, my dead, has no grass on his grave,

Stronger than granite that coffins a Czar,
Solid as pavement, and polished as spar,

Where the dead silent river lies rigid and
still

Stronger than granite? nay, falser than sand!
Fatal the clasp of thy slippery hand,
Cruel as vulture's the clutch of thy claws,
Who shall redeem from the merciless jaws

Of the dead silent river so rigid and still ?

Crisp lay the new-fallen snow on thy breast, Trembled the white moon through haze in the west,

Far in the thicket the wolf-cub was howling, Down by the sheep-cotes the wolf-dam was prowling,

And the dead silent river lay rigid and still, When Ivan my lover, my husband, my lord, Lightly and cheerily stepped on the sward, Light with his hopes of the morrow and me, That the reeds on the margin leaned after

to see,

But the dead silent river lay rigid and still. O'er the fresh snow-fall, the winter-long frost, O'er the broad Dwina the forester crost, Snares at his girdle, and gun at his side, Gamebag weighed heavy with gifts for his bride,

And the dead silent river lay rigid and still.

Rigid and silent, and crouching for prey, Crouching for him who went singing his way, Oxen were stabled, and sheep were in fold, But Ivan was struggling in torrents ice-cold, 'Neath the dead silent river so rigid and still.

Home he came never, we searched by the ford,
Small was the fissure that swallowed my lord,
Glassy ice-sheeting had frozen above
A crystalline cover to seal up my love

In the dead silent river so rigid and still.

Still by the Dwina my home-torches burn, Faithful I watch for my bridegroom's return, When the moon sparkles on hoarfrost and tree

I see my love crossing the Dwina to me

O'er the dead silent river so rigid and still.

Always approaching, he never arrives, Howls the north-east wind, the dusty-snow drives,

Snapping like touchwood I hear the ice crack, And my lover is drowned in the water-hole black,

'Neath the dead silent river so rigid and still

THE OLD LOVE.*

THE roving seasons come and go,
In each, like flowers, fresh passions blow,
They bud, they blossom, they decay,
And from my heart's soil pass away,

But still the old love dieth not.

Soft, pensive, tender, warm and gay,
But transient as an April day,
Each in its short but potent reign,
Sweeps like a flood through heart and brain,
But that old love it quencheth not.

Listen, ye breezes, ye who dance
O'er the blue waves to sunny France,
I have a message ye must bear
To a sweet maid who dwelleth there,
Tell her the old love dieth not.

HAPPINESS.

IF solid happiness we prize,
Within our breast this jewel lies,

And they are fools who roam.

The world hath nothing to bestowFrom our own selves our bliss must flow, And that dear hut our home.

*From The Maid of Messene and other Poems,

DISINFECTANTS

AN INTERVIEW WITH DR. MUSPRATT.

DRA MUSPRAAT, with whom we have the honour of a personal acquaintance, is editing a most elaborate work upon "Chemistry, as applied to Arts and Manufactures." In the second volume of this work he gives an instructive chapter upon Disinfectants, which he says are," Properly speaking, such as remove the causes of infection; but, as the French signification has been adopted in England, the removal of any ins jurious taint is also understood." This subject being of extreme importance to the welfare of families, we will accept with gratitude from Dr. Muspratt those facts which have a practical application. Washing with pure water, to remove all putrescent or putrescible matters, has always been, and must continue to be, the most important disinfectant whenever it can be applied. It has generally been found that the soil is a very valuable disinfectant, decomposing animal matter with great rapidity, and sending out gases which are, on the whole, innocuous, unless sufficient space has not been allowed for the remains. Efficacious as the soil is for the disinfection of bodies buried in it, it has been found in large towns that the amount of soil covering the dead has been insufficient: most nations, therefore, have interred their dead in the suburbs and less populous localities.

A process of purification after the burial of a person was, among the ancients, nearly universal: sometimes it resolved itself into a mere religious custom, but this had evidently arisen out of a distinct act of cleansing. Among the Romans, certain days were set apart for the ceremonial cleansing of the family, and the house was swept out by an officer appointed for the purpose.

Embalming has sometimes been resorted to in Europe from the very earliest times, and with great success. The remains of the French kings disinterred at St. Denis by the revolutionists, preserved their countenances, it is said, perfectly when first uncovered; but immediately yielded when exposed to

the air. Sometimes the preservation is effected by the mere action of currents of air. This may be readily believed of a warm climate, but the same result occurs at Bonn, in the vault of a chapel, where the bodies of the buried monks are dried up or shrivelled, but not decomposed. No means, whatever, it is said are used to obtain this result, further than placing an open coffin con taining the body in a dry repository where the wind is continually blowing.

Infection arises from decomposing matter, which, coming in contact with that which is healthy or sound, induces a continuation of the decay. It is in this wide sense that the word is used when disinfection is spoken of. Matter may be thrown into this state in various ways and situations. Vegetable and animal substances decay spontaneously, even if left to themselves, without the interference of any body in a state of decay. No infection is known without the presence of such putrefying agent. The origin and history of all plagues and infectious diseases point to this sa tisfactorily. No chemcial re-agents, properly so called, have been known to give rise to contagion. Gases are known which destroy health, and by producing decomposition may cause such decay to proceed in the system that the exhalations may engender infection; but even in this case it is produced by the organic substances, though the distinct and direct injury is effected by the chemical agency. What, then, are the sources from which disease may arise?

Here Dr. Muspratt enumerates certain causes which do not relate to those matters to which, alone, we think it needful to direct the attention of our readers. We therefore passion to his remark that

When a country is badly drained, and there is no outlet for the products of the decomposition of plants but the air, it often happens that disease spreadsrapidly. If the land be properly drained, these emanations, passing through the soil, become disinfected, and a comparatively healthy atmosphere results. Marshes in all ages have been unwholesome; but they

are so in proportion to the temperature and the state of vegetation. A damp climate and a moist soil, such as those of Holland, do not produce disease in an equal degree, with a similar condition in the tropics, where the decay is more accelerated. Still, even in Holland, those who live in the immediate neigh bourhood of that part of the country, which is adjacent on one side to the sea, and on the other to fields below its level, are far inferior in appearance to those who live where the land is elevated only a foot above the ocean's surface.

Diseases sometimes seem to arise from a greater expanse of sea than above alluded to, at least when connected with one or more great rivers. A reddish vapour was seen by the inhabitants of the surrounding country, to their great alarm, to arise out of the Yellow Sea: after floating about, it dispersed itself over the land, and produced, or at least, it was followed by that most dreadful outbreak of cholera, which afterwards passed over all Asia, ultimately coming to Europe. Means of cure are not readily found for such cases, but recourse must be had to energetic disin fectants.

Ponds, and such collections of water as are too shallow to prevent rapid decomposition, and which allow the sun's rays to enter so as to encourage the growth of plants at the bottom, become fertile sources of disease. They can only be disinfected entirely by the destruction of the vegetation, generally accomplished by complete drainage.

Masses of matter in a state of decomposition around a dwelling may easily become centres of contagion; and the best method of dealing with these is to remove them immediately; but if in a dangerous condition, to disinfect them previously, as the removal abundantly spreads the noxious vapours and gases. A still atmosphere favours the spread of infection, as a whole district or country may become like a closed vessel, rapidly filling up with impure matters; and pestilence being generated. Hurricanes, it is well known, have a powerful tendency to stop the progress of disease.

Before the plague of London an unusual calm occurred.

Sudden changes in temperature are likewise injurious, affecting the healthy condition of animals and vegetables, causing decomposition, and occasionally infection. The peculiar condition of the air, called blight, is a state of this kind, but is imperfectly understood. Great natural phenomena in any way interfering with organic life, may acce lerate various maladies. Rain has sometimes been so continuous as to cause a whole district to become corrupted, destroying vegetation, and not only starving, but infecting man with offen. sive emanations. So also great swarms of insects, locusts, and caterpillars, for example; better known in history than by the experience of the present days droughts and pestilential heats, are similarly destructive of animal and vegetable life. These causes of infection have been recounted, that a distinct view of the opposite, or disinfection, may be taken. Vapours arise in all these cases mentioned, and pervade the atmosphere. That organic matter has been found in the air has been sufficiently proved by Ehrenberg, who ascertained the presence of animalcule; by Vogel and Dr. Southwood Smith, and more re cently by Dr. Angus Smith, who obtained it in the moisture condensed from the breath in crowded rooms. A state of the atmosphere in which organic matter does not exist, can scarcely be imagined; even when it comes from healthy bodies it is found to be injurious if allowed to collect; but when ema nating from unhealthy constitutions, it must communicate disease more readily. Its first action is in the nasal organ, when nature generally gives notice of contiguous evil; but when persons are accustomed to living in impure airy habit causes them to be insensible to its effects. It must next enter the lungs, where the blood absorbs it; distemper is thereby communicated to the most vital parts in a direct manner.

The subject is of so vast importance, and Dr. Muspratt's communications upon it are so lucid and useful, that we will seek another Interview with him.

THE TABLE.

DOMESTIC discoveries are constantly being made; and though, too frequently, useful hints die away after serving the purpose of a Newspaper paragraph, we think that among the readers of the Interview there are many persons who will not let practical suggestions slip. We therefore bring together, as peculiarly adapted to the present season, the following useful suggestions for easily supplying the table with rareties. We commence with a paragraph, extracted from the Gardener's Chronicle, giving instructions

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HOW TO GET GREEN PEA SOUP IN WINTER.-"We shall have visitors early in February, and must have green pea souponce or twice at least. Tell the gardener to provide a supply of young peas." Such was the order given one Christmas-day to the cook in a great household, and duly communicated by the culinary to the horticultural department. "Fresh green peas in a month, in the middle of winter! the thing's impossible," cried the astonished gardener. My lord can't have given such an order; we haven't a house or a light to grow them in-and if we had "We must have them for all that," was the curt rejoinder; and the gardener was left to discover the quo modo. In his despair the worthy man bethought himself that young peas and young pea leaves tasted much alike, and that, perhaps, the one might be as good for soup as the other. So he took some shallow pans, planted them pretty thickly with dwarf Spanish peas, put them in his early vinery on a shelf where he sometimes grew strawberries, and where a good heat was kept up. The peas soon began to grow; they had air as much as it was possible to give it them, and by the beginning of February were six inches high, well furnished with healthy tender green leaves and stems. The supply thus obtained was cut like mustard and cress, and handed over to the cook, who declared that it made better purée than

And from that time forward peas were forced at as regularly as French beans; and all lovers of good living wondered how Lord continued to have such capital puree of green peas whenever they visited him in the winter.

To this we will add the following from our own note-book :

HOW TO OBTAIN CRESS ALL THE YEAR ROUND. This may be done in a manner to supply both a salad and an ornament for the table. Take bottles, baskets, plates, dishes, or any other articles, and cover them with flannel, old pieces of baize, cloth, or other absorbent material. The cloth should be cut out, and sewn so as to form a perfect shape for the article to be covered. Saturate the cloth with water after the covering is complete, and then sprinkle thereon mustard seed, or pepper seed, so as equally to pervade the surface, not too thick, nor too scanty. In a little while the gluten of the seed will become softened, and fix the seed firmly to the cloth. Place it in a dark and moderately warm place, and moisten it occasionally. When the seeds begin to germinate, bring them to the light, and as their strength increases, expose them as opportunity may occur, to the sun. You will soon have cress from an inch to two inches long, growing in an ornamental shape, which may be set upon the table, and the cress cut from it as wanted. This may be done at any season of the year.

TO OBTAIN MUSHROOMS ALL THE YEAR ROUND.-Instructions for the formation of artificial mushroom beds, by which button mushrooms may be obtained all through the year, are given in Enquire Within (2151).

TO OBTAIN SEA KALE IN THE WINTER.-Early in November cover the surface of the bed, including the drills and the intervening spaces with stable litter, to the depth of two and a half feet. The plants will be matured by Christmas, and will yield abundantly in January. This vegetable is easily and cheaply forced, and blanched in