Robert Merry's Museum, Volumes I-II (1841)
Boston:
PUBLISHED BY BRADBURY & SODEN,
10, SCHOOL STREET.
1842.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1841, by S. G. Goodrich, in the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of Massachusetts.
TO THE
FIRST VOLUME.
FROM FEBRUARY TO JULY 1841, INCLUSIVE.
ROBERT MERRY’S MUSEUM.
Kind and gentle people who make up what is called the Public—permit a stranger to tell you a brief story. I am about trying my hand at a Magazine; and this is my first number. I present it to you with all due humility—asking, however, one favor. Take this little pamphlet to your home, and when nothing better claims your attention, pray look over its pages. If you like it, allow me the privilege of coming to you once a month, with a basket of such fruits and flowers as an old fellow may gather while limping up and down the highways and by-ways of life.
I will not claim a place for my numbers upon the marble table of the parlor, by the side of songs and souvenirs, gaudy with steel engravings and gilt edges. These bring to you the rich and rare fruitage of the hot-house, while my pages will serve out only the simple, but I trust wholesome productions of the meadow, field, and common of Nature and Truth. The fact is, I am more particular about my company than my accommodations. I like the society of the young—the girls and the boys; and whether in the parlor, the library, or the school-room, I care not, if so be they will favor me with their society. I do not, indeed, eschew the favor of those who are of mature age—I shall always have a few pages for them, if they will deign to look at my book. It is my plan to insert something in every number that will bear perusal through spectacles.
But it is useless to multiply words: therefore, without further parley, I offer this as a specimen of my work, promising to improve as I gain practice. I have a variety of matters and things on hand, anecdotes, adventures, tales, travels, rhymes, riddles, songs, &c.—some glad and some sad, some to make you laugh and some to make you weep. My only trouble is to select among such variety. But grant me your favor, kind Public! and these shall be arranged and served out in due season. May I specially call upon two classes of persons to give me their countenance and support—I mean all those young people who have black eyes, and all those who have not black eyes! If these, with their parents, will aid me, they shall have the thanks and best services of
Various
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ROBERT MERRY’S
MUSEUM:
INDEX
Address to the Reader.
The Sociable Weavers.
About Labor and Property.
My First Whistle.
Owls and Eagles.
My own Life and Adventures; by Robert Merry.
Swallows.
The Human Frame likened to a House.
Chinese Spectacles.
Story of Philip Brusque;
The Sailor’s Family.
The Groom and the Horse;
The Druids.
The Re-entombment of Napoleon.
What is Truth?
Varieties.
JACK FROST, A SONG
My own Adventures.
Origin of Words and Phrases.
The Pelican.
John Steady and Peter Sly.
The Three Friends.
The Fox and the Tortoise;
The Travels, Adventures and Experiences of Thomas Trotter.
Story of Philip Brusque.
Napoleon’s Last Obsequies.
Our Ancestry.
The Month of March.
The Child and the Violets.
Varieties.
SPRING IS COMING! A SONG.
My own Life and Adventures.
The Great Northern Diver, or Loon.
Story of Philip Brusque.
The Spectre of the Brocken.
Trifles.
The Travels, Adventures, and Experiences of Thomas Trotter.
The New Custom-House, Boston.
The New Patent Office, Washington
What sort of Heart have you got?
Professions and Trades.
What is Poetry?
THE RIVER, A SONG.
Story of Philip Brusque.
The Sun.
Night.
Queen Elizabeth, of England.
Hunting Wild Animals in Africa.
Sketches of the Manners, Customs, and History of the Indians of America.
The Travels, Adventures, and Experiences of Thomas Trotter.
The Kingfisher and the Nightingale;
Absence of Mind.
Varieties.
Death of the President.
THE APRIL SHOWER, A SONG.
My own Life and Adventures.
The Artists’ Cruise.
Travels, Adventures, and Experiences of Thomas Trotter.
Sketches of the Manners, Customs, and History of the Indians of America.
Fanny Gossip and Susan Lazy;
Antiquities of Egypt.
A Drunkard’s Home.
The Boastful Ass.
Architecture of Birds.
HYMN.
My own Life and Adventures.
The Humming-Birds.
Madagascar.
A Philosophical Tea-pot.
Astonishing Powers of the Horse.
The Moon.
Importance of Attention:
The Horse and the Bells,
The Crane Family.
Sketches of the Manners, Customs, and History of the Indians of America.
The Shetland Pony.
Instinct.
Varieties.
TEARS.
The Siberian Sable-Hunter.
The Wolf that pretended to be robbed.
Beware of Impatience.
Travels, Adventures, and Experiences of Thomas Trotter.
Lion Hunting.
Merry’s Life and Adventures.
Toucan
The Newfoundland Dog.
The Mysterious Artist.
Egyptian Schools.
Varieties.
THE BOY AND THE LARK.
The Siberian Sable-Hunter.
The Lion and the Mouse;
Merry’s Life and Adventures.
Origin of Words and Phrases.
Travels, Adventures, and Experiences of Thomas Trotter.
HYMN.
The Sparrow and Robin;
The Mysterious Artist.
Sketches of the Manners, Customs, and History of the Indians of America.
The Alligator.
Mungo Park and the Frogs.
A Child lost in the Woods.
AUTUMN.
Merry’s Life and Adventures.
The Siberian Sable-Hunter.
Habit.
Travels, Adventures, and Experiences of Thomas Trotter.
The Oak and the Reed.
Sincerity.
The Hyena.
Jewish Women.
Story of Philip Brusque.
An Incident from Ancient History.
Saturday Night.
Oliver Cromwell.
Musings.
THE BIRD’S ADIEU!
Merry’s Life and Adventures.
Story of Philip Brusque.
The Siberian Sable-Hunter.
Wisdom of the Creator.
Washington a Teacher to the Young.
The Poet and the Child.
The Ostrich.
What do we mean by Nature?
A Vision.
The Sun and Wind.
Habits which concern ourselves.
Anecdotes of Haydn.
The Fox and Raven;
I don’t see why.
Sketches of the Manners, Customs, and History of the Indians of America.
Charles and his Mother.
John Doree.
UP IN THE MORNING EARLY.
Story of Philip Brusque.
London.
AURELIA AND THE SPIDER.
Exotic Fruits and Flowers in England.
Benevolence of the Deity.
Sketches of the Manners, Customs, and History of the Indians of America.
The Rhinoceros.
Briers and Berries.
The Crows’ Court of Law.
The Story of the Supposed Miser.
The Mouth.
Travels, Adventures, and Experiences of Thomas Trotter.
THE PILOT.
Merry’s Life and Adventures.
A Little Child’s Joy.
The Mammoth.
Geordie and the Sick Dog.
The Sable-Hunter.
The Tongue.
What is Selfishness?
WINTER.
Sketches of the Manners, Customs, and History of the Indians of America.
A Long Nap.
Lord Bacon.
Habits which concern Others.
The Black Skimmer of the Seas.
The Squirrel.
Gothic Architecture.
Merry’s Life and Adventures.
The Apple; a German Fable.
The Pretender and his Sister.
Winter.
The Hand.
Nuts to Crack.
To the Black-ey’d and Blue-ey’d Friends of Robert Merry.
WINTER—A SONG.
Transcriber’s Note:
