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- A Niam-niam minstrel
A Niam-niam minstrel As the darkness came on. our camp was enlivened by the appearance of the grotesque figure of a singer, who came with a huge bunch of feathers in his hat, and these, as he wagged his head to the time of his music, became all entangled with the braids of his hair. Altogether the head was like the head of Medusa. These "minne-singers" among the Niam-niam as known as "nzangah." They are as sparing of their voices as a worn-out prima donna; except for those close by, it is impossible to hear what they are singing. Their instrument is the local guitar, the thin jingling of which accords perfectly well with the nasal humming of the minstrel's recitative. The occupation of these nzangah, however, notwithstanding the general love of the people for music, would not appear to be held in very high esteem, as the same designation is applied to those unfortunate women, friendless and fallen, who are never absent from any community. - Unmarried Village Girl
- Louisa M. Alcott
Whose Stories of Real Life Are A Delight to Girls and Boy Little Women, her first great success, is the story of the Alcott family. It tells of their jolly times and their hard times at the Orchard House at Concord, Massachusetts. The lively outspoken “Jo” of the story, writing in the attic, is Louisa herself; the other “March” girls are her own dear sisters, Anna, Elizabeth, and Abba May. “Marmee,” of course, is the beloved mother, and Mr. March, the father. - Jane Porter
This engraving represents our accomplished author as a lady of a chapter belonging to a chivalric order. The high compliment from a German court was paid to the merit of Thaddeus of Warsaw. This portrait, as contrasted with that of her sister, well justifies the appellation bestowed upon them by mutual friends - they went by the names of L'Allegro and Il Penseroso. - Robert Louis Stevenson
Robert Louis Stevenson - A Wedding ( La Madeleine )
The crowd is generally sympathetic to weddings. The hour at which they are accomplished generally coincides with that of the lunch of the milliners and other dressmakers of the district, which their lack of dowry maintains in the state of celibates without depriving them of the desire and the hope of going up in `rank`. They constitute the fund of spectators, and their special knowledge enables them to estimate with precision the probable resources of the new spouses and their entourage. - Sampans
- Man looking up from his reading and smiling
Man looking up from his reading and smiling - Constantine Phipps
Constantine Phipps, 1st Marquess of Normanby, author of "Matilda" - Ticket-of-leave men
Convicts who have been sentenced to prison, but are released early under the ticket-to-leave experimental scheme. - The waterer of the Louis XV bridge
Few horses are driven there for the sole purpose of quenching their thirst, but the number of tired hocks that we hope to strengthen by staying in cold water is large enough for the trough to be sufficiently populated, and the hope of seeing some clumsy groom fall into the water keeps a certain number of fans of free shows on the parapets. - Mr H H Champion
Henry Hyde Champion (22 January 1859 – 30 April 1928) - The Albuera
This mantilla is one of great beauty. It is made of blue glacé silk, but can be in any choice color. Lavender and lustrous pearl and mode colors look especially well, as also the greens, in this garment. Its chief peculiarity consists in its square front and its fitting so as to just cut the edge of the shoulder. It is fastened at the top by a bow; the back falls with an easy fulness; it is embroidered. - Return of the Races
From the weighing gate of Longchamps to the top of avenue du Bois, there is everywhere the same accumulation of cars, horses and bicycles. The lines follow one another without interruption, the noses of the horses touching the hood of the previous car and the drawbars threatening the rear of the footmen sitting behind the phaeton. Despite the impatience of some, the general resignation means that, in a relatively short time, this mass of spectators ends up flowing, which, first of all, seemed to be absolutely implausible. - Bicyclists ( Carrefour d'Ermenonville )
While at the Potinière we admire the velocemen and velocewomen in possession of all the secrets of art, we only meet here the laggards studying under the eye of professionals. It is assured that the ordinarily gifted people are, after ten lessons, in a condition to direct themselves properly. But just as some students take a long time to do their law far beyond the statutory years, so we find certain temperaments refractory to equilibrium which persist in capsizing at every turn of the wheel beyond all expectations. - An early illustration of the octagonal scarificator
An early illustration of the octagonal scarificator, 1801. This plate also includes one of the earliest illustrations of the syringe applied to cupping cups. (From Benjamin Bell, A System of Surgery, 7th edition, volume 3, Edinburgh, 1801.) - Midnight past ( New boulevards )
This is a serious problem. — Is the night rate applicable when you arrive home after 12:30 am, or is it necessary that the driver was picked up after that hour to be allowed to claim the price? In the current circumstance, the coachman claims the opposite, the bourgeois claims that he owes only the ordinary race, the agents are in an extreme perplexity, and the female part of the loading of the cab is moping while waiting for the solution of the conflict. - An Itinerant Barber
These itinerant barbers are quite an institution in China, going, as they do, from village to village and from monastery to monastery, in pursuit of their calling. They look so picturesque, as one meets them about the country, wearing, as they do, broad-brimmed straw hats, loose jackets, and long flowing trousers. These men carry a miniature chest of drawers, in which they keep their razors, brushes, combs, and earnings, suspended from one end of a thin bamboo pole which rests on their shoulders. From the other end a wooden washstand and basin are suspended. I have not mentioned soap, as none is used in Chinese shaving. The tiny chest of drawers serves as a seat for the customers. - Hoisting the Rice-beer Keg On Festival-day
- Cricket-fighting
We went on for some distance beyond the north gate of the city to witness cricket-fighting, a favourite pastime of the Chinese. As we approached the field where it took place, we saw crowds of men standing about some sheds erected on the spot. Most of the company were of the lowest order, but there were some respectable men, including Tartar officers and mandarins. Much money is lost in this form of gambling. On entering the largest shed, we saw a raised platform on which some men sat behind a counter, who were employed in weighing the crickets, in weighing the dollars, in recording the bets, in receiving the money laid by both sides on each match, and in paying the winner of each particular fight, after deducting a percentage for the expenses of the building. In this shed numbers of men were collected, each holding in his hand a little round earthenware basin covered with a cloth. These basins contained the fighting-crickets. The matches are played for large as well as small sums of money, and many hundred dollars changed hands during the short time we were present. - Andrew Jackson
Andrew Jackson [1767-1845] the sixth President of the United States - Girls Carrying Children on their backs
On the way to our boat from the parade ground, I was much amused, as I always am, by watching several very young girls and boys with babies strapped on to their backs. When these young people are engaged in play, they seem utterly to forget their living burdens, and one fears for the safety of the poor little babies. At times, when we pass through villages, the boys and girls, in their fright at the sudden appearance of Europeans, take to their heels and scamper away, and then the babies on their backs appear to be in imminent danger. - Eugène Carrière at work
Eugène Anatole Carrière (16 January 1849 – 27 March 1906) Caricature of the French painter (whose works are somewhat dark and misty in effect) Eugène Carrière at work. By Guillaume. From the French daily, Gil Blas - Thomas A Edison
Thomas A Edison - Men-posters ( Place de la Concorde )
It is noon. It's lunch time, and, as La Réclame knows that a hungry stomach has no more eyes than ears, it rests. Illuminated vehicles park lined up at the bottom of the sidewalks, while their hitches stretch their tired limbs and light the comforting cigarette. — To be immobile, these vehicles nevertheless retain their motley appearance for all, terrifying for quadrupeds, and like their daily station coincides with the return of the rides, it puts desperation the squires responsible for watching over the first steps of young Amazons, whose dismayed mounts manifest in various ways their invincible repugnance. - A refuge ( Line of large boulevards )
It is certainly the most important step that has been taken towards social reform since the new era. — The refuge adds to human rights that of being crushed only when it wants to, when it is lacking of patience, or that his physiognomy is unfriendly to the peacekeeper responsible for interrupting the movement of devices to crush the members of the poor people. - Parisian fishermen ( Quai d'Orsay )
The case sometimes arises that one of them takes a fish, - generally small; - the physiognomy of colleagues immediately expresses all the nuances of astonishment much more than the symptoms of jealousy, - which would tend to prove that no illusion supports them during their long stations, and that, far from coveting imaginary fries, they know what to expect from the probable results of their platonic passion. - Results ( The Breakdown Club)
The expected shock has occurred. A carelessly driven cab, it was seen, emerging from the rue de Presbourg, did not have time to avoid the avalanche with four wheels which rolled towards him. The rear wheel of the carried tank (it broke suddenly) struck hers so that the two vehicles were instantly stopped. The lighter cab was thrown to the side while his driver was launched on the back alley. - Suburban train ( Gare Saint-Lazare )
Everyone, after a hard day's work, is anxious to find the freshness of a more or less vast garden, but where one has the freedom to put oneself in shirt sleeves. — It is the hour when additional edibles abound in the nets of the wagons, and where the melons combine their perfumes with those of the marolles and the emanations of the cigars expensive or cheap, but also smelly, of our national factories. - Water Clock
The day after we had had our grand Chinese dinner we went into the city, and the first object we visited was the Clepsydra (or water clock), which is placed in a chamber erected on the tower called Kung-Pak-Lau. We saw four tubs containing water, which are placed on an inclined plane and connected by open spouts. The tube vary in size, the largest one being at the top. The water trickles from the one tub into the other. A copper dial resembling a carpenter's rule, with Chinese characters engraved on it marking its divisions, rests on a wooden float in the lowest tub. As this dial rises it shows the length of time expired. A man remains in the building night and day, for the purpose of giving the hour to the citizens of Canton. This he does during the day, by placing boards outside the clock tower, which are painted white, and bear large black Chinese characters marking the hour. A gong and drum are kept in the tower, by which the watchman makes known the various watches or hours of the night. A small shrine is placed immediately above the steps leading to the water clock, in honour of Pwan-Ku, who is described in Chinese mythology as having been the first man. As clothes were supposed to be unknown when he flourished, he is represented as wearing an apron or girdle of green leaves. He appears to be regarded as the tutelary god of the water clock. - The costumes given for 1835 are a nursemaid and children
The costumes given for 1835 are a nursemaid and children - Monceau Park
The instruction that cars must pass through this oasis intended for the recreation of children and nannies is perfectly legitimate, and we find it natural that we seek to protect future generations from any accident. But would it not be fair to demand a certain reciprocity for the safety of teams that venture there, and to prohibit these young men, so paternally protected by municipal by-laws, from launching horses such a wide variety of projectiles? - An electric tramway ( Rue Tronchet )
The horses had scarcely begun to get used to the steam trams, their smoke and their whistles, which it was thought fit to use electricity. — It was doubtless with good intention, since these new vehicles run noiselessly and smoke-free. Nevertheless they cause the Parisian cavalry an invincible terror. — The animals, who are only half stupid, are always wary of what they cannot explain, and the sight of this car that nothing apparently does not set in motion, and which stirs however, inspires them with a distrust which does not seem completely unintelligent to me. - At the bookstore ( Boulevard des Italiens )
Here, it is the meeting place for gourmets of intelligence, who prefer to the satisfaction of vulgar gluttony the feast of the spirit. No indigestion to fear if the chance of the title has misled you; the heaviest products have never had more serious effects than bringing sleep, sometimes anticipated, but always calm and often deep. The great advantage of this kind of gift is for the donor that it is not forced to taste it; the danger is to give, without having read it, a book which demolishes the political, religious and social tendencies of the important personage to whom he offers it for the sole purpose of making himself a protector as devoted as it is persevering. - An Itinerant Barber waiting for a customer
An Itinerant Barber waiting for a customer - An accident ( Rue de Rivoli )
The wooden pavement is sometimes slippery, - this is often the result of natural humidity; - more frequently still, this dangerous state of the roadways results from an insufficient watering which does not remove any of the refuse on which the horses skate. - These days, there are as many animals lying as standing, and without the spirit of brotherhood that leads our fellow citizens to help each other, the circulation would become decidedly impassable. - Spring Fashions 1854
Spring Fashions 1854 - Packing ( Avenue du Bois de Boulogne)
Suddenly, without us knowing which fly bit it, one of the horses in the procession suddenly took on a disorderly pace as the combined efforts of his coachman and of his tiller's comrade failed to moderate. He does not gallop, he flies, sowing fear in timid souls, arousing the noblest inclinations of devotion in generous natures. - A show ( Place Vendôme )
The downpour, so impatiently awaited during certain summers, sometimes multiplies in such a way that this cataclysm becomes the daily event. — Despite this regularity, the phenomenon varies so much the hours of its appearance, and occurs with such instantaneousness, that 'he succeeds each time in surprising and flooding a satisfactory number of walkers, who had thought they could profit from a fallacious clearing. - Ambulant Merchants ( Rue Montmartre )
Very sympathetic to the housewives of the district who support them against all odds, they are the masters of the road, and the heaviest vehicles are obliged to give way to them. — If an unfortunate coachman has the audacity to walk at the smallest trot , or the awkwardness of passing too close to a customer installed in the middle of the street, he is in the grip of a vocabulary which reveals the neighborhood of the halls. - Practical Dress Instructor
Headdress of the Lady on the Right.—Hair in bandeaux à la Niobe; torsade of pearls. Moire dress, low body, with progressive revers opening over a modestie of embroidered muslin edged with lace; short open sleeves à la Watteau; undersleeves of embroidered muslin; half-long gloves; bracelets of pearls, or more often worn different, according to choice. The other Figure (Lady seated).—Cap of tulle trimmed with lace and ribbon. Low body, with revers open to waist; loose bell-shaped sleeves, edged with a bouillonne; two skirts trimmed with the same; modestie of embroidered muslin, edged with point de Venise; black velvet bracelets, half-long gloves, and Venetian fan. - A Chinese Tomb
The number of Chinese going in the same direction as ourselves was very great, as the worshipping of the tombs had just begun. Most of these people were on foot, but some went along in chairs. They carried with them long strings of paper ingots, to burn at the tombs. These ingots, or mock-money, are done up like little sugar-loaves, and are strung on cord. I saw men carrying five or six such long strings of ingots from the end of their bamboos. They also had offerings of cake in red painted boxes, fire-crackers, and bright-coloured and white paper, the latter of which they stick in strips on the graves. I also saw some men carrying roasted pigs cooked whole, for offerings. The Chinese are too thrifty to leave these at the tombs ; they merely offer them, then bring them home and feast on them with their relations. All male members of a family must worship their ancestors' tombs yearly, and we met fathers taking their sons of all ages with them to the graves. The tombs were soon on all sides of us ; they are in the form of a horse-shoe, and are built on the sides of the mountain in stone or asphalte. These belong to the rich ; the graves of the poorer class are simply marked by an upright stone or a conical mound of earth. - An omnibus station ( Place de la Madeleine )
It is an open-air circle, without subscription, and with this advantage that women are admitted to it. It is undoubtedly for this reason that we see regulars there, who, although provided with numbers, never decide to take their place in the vehicles which succeed one another, however, without interruption. - At the confectioner ( Boulevard de la Madeleine )
Foresighters did not wait until January 1 to send their gifts, but the latecomers who waited until the last moment pile up at the confectioner's and go jostle to get the obligatory bag. The unfortunate thing is that in these extreme times the supplies of renowned specialists are often exhausted, and that to meet "the requirements of the public", they sometimes find themselves in the need to replace their usual products poisonous sweets and adulterated chocolates from the nearest grocer.— " Tarde venientibus ossa, " said the poet on forgotten New Years. - an incident
An incident - Chinese Mandarin
Chinese Mandarin - Prince Albert as a child
Prince Albert at the age of four - Paul Robin
Paul Robin (1837–1912) was a French educator and scientist. - Meeting ( Champs-Élysées )
The cyclist is generally daring — it comes from his age, his confidence in his address, the little space he needs to evolve, the speed he can get. — As a result, he throws himself with all his might, and that, if he encounters an unforeseen obstacle, he tumbles. — As long as it does not occur under the omnibuses, there is only half harm. in extreme cases, it is not yet said that it will not get away unscathed. — The Binger brake is so powerful! - Signature
Robert E Lees signature - Bismarck
Prussian affairs were then very much in the hands of a minister of the seventeenth-century type, Von Bismarck (count in 1865, prince in 1871), and he saw brilliant opportunities in this trouble. He became the champion of the German nationality in these duchies—it must be remembered that the King of Prussia had refused to undertake this rôle for democratic Germany in 1848—and he persuaded Austria to side with Prussia in a military intervention. Denmark had no chance against these Great Powers; she was easily beaten and obliged to relinquish the duchies. Then Bismarck picked a quarrel with Austria for the possession of these two small states. So he brought about a needless and fratricidal war of Germans for the greater glory of Prussia and the ascendancy of the Hohenzollern dynasty in Germany. German writers of a romantic turn of mind represent Bismarck as a great statesman planning the unity of Germany; but indeed he was doing nothing of the kind. - Boy Gambling for Fruit
The Chinese are most inveterate gamblers and I have noticed small boys gambling at stalls where nuts, oranges, or other fruits are sold. In the streets and squares one often sees groups of four or five Chinese squatting, who are engaged in playing cards and dominoes, whilst other stand and look on at the game. - Prince Albert as a young man
Prince Albert at the age of 20 From a miniature by Sir W Ross - The Young Wrestlers
- Eye-Hiding, or Blindman's Buff
- A Street Restaurant
We ordered mountain chairs, and at eleven o'clock we started. These chairs are very light, and as we had four coolies each, we went at a very good pace. We passed quickly through the city, and on reaching the I-ling-16u, which is in the northern suburb, our chair-coolies stopped at a street restaurant to regale themselves before going into the open country. Henry and I got out of our chairs and sat under a wide-spreading banyan tree. We were much amused by watching many wayfarers, who were passing from or into the city, refreshing themselves at the street restaurant, either with tea and cakes, or boiled rice and fried fish, or with soups, fruits, etc. - Johnny Reb and Billy Yank
Johnny Reb and Billy Yank Lee’s lines were so close to Grant’s at one point that the men would often call over to each other. The Federals called the Confederates Johnny Rebs, while the Confederate name for the Federals was Billy Yank. - Imitating the Procession to the Temple
- Richmond Residence
Residence of General Lee in Richmond - Tie-back skirt
Tie-back skirt Late '7o's and Early '8o's The bustle remained an important feature after the panier effect had been discarded. The skirts were made severely plain and were pulled back by strings, so as to fit with extreme snugness in the front. At the back, however, they were drawn out over a bustle of such extent that the fashion plates of the late '70's now have the appearance of caricatures.