CHAIR BROUGHT OVER TO AMERICA IN THE MAYFLOWER BY THE PILGRIM FATHERS.
How frequently do we obtain, from the ordinary articles of domestic life which they were accustomed to use, a correct idea of the habits and tastes of whole communities which have long since passed away. A striking instance of this is the chair, of which the above is a correct sketch. It belonged to John Carver, who was one of the band of single-hearted men who constituted the Pilgrim Fathers, and who after first setting out from Holland, eventually sailed from Plymouth in England, in August, 1620. They landed in Cape Cod Harbour, New England, on the 9th of November following. Carver, was one of the chief spirits of the band, and the chair which we have sketched was one of his best articles of furniture, which he took with him in the Mayflower. He was elected the first governor of the community, and died in the year following his election. How forcibly does it show the simplicity of taste, and the freedom from pomp and vanity which characterised the devoted and fearless men who left their native shores, and sought "freedom to worship God" in a land to them unknown, that they should have selected as their first governor, an individual, the best chair in whose house was the homely article which we have here depicted.
A HARMLESS ECCENTRIC.
The annexed cut represents a singular character who was well known about the year 1790 in the southern part of the county of Cumberland. Her appearance is thus described by a correspondent of the Gentleman's Magazine of that date:—"Though I have seen her at various times, and frequently conversed with her, for these 20 years, I have never been able to learn any particulars respecting her family, friends, or name. The country people know her by the appellation of Jenny Darney, from the manner, I presume, in which she used to mend her clothes. Her present garb is entirely of her own manufacture. She collects the small parcels of wool which lie about the fields in sheep farms, spins it on a rock and spindle of her own making; and as she cannot find any other method of making the yarn into cloth, she knits it on wooden needles, and by that means procures a warm comfortable dress. In the lifetime of the late Charles Lutwidge, Esq., of Holm Rook, she took possession of an old cottage, or rather cow-house, on his estate, in which she has ever since been suffered to continue. Her intellects seem at certain times greatly deranged, but her actions are harmless, and her language inoffensive. On that score she is caressed by all the villagers, who supply her with eatables, &c., for money she utterly refuses. She seems a person in her lucid intervals, of much shrewdness, and her understanding is above the common level. This has also been improved by a tolerable education. Her appearance has been much the same for these 20 years, so that she must now be nearly 90 years of age; but of this, as well as her family and name, she is always silent. She seems to have chosen out the spot where she now lives, to pass the remainder of her days unknown to her friends, and in a great measure from a distaste of a wicked world, to 'prepare herself,' as she often in her quiet hours says, 'for a better.'"
THE RULING PASSION.
A remarkable instance of the irresistible strength of the ruling passion was to be seen a few years ago in a Londoner, who had kept are retail spirit-shop, and retired into the adjoining county when he had made a fortune, to enjoy himself. This man used to amuse himself by having one puncheon filled with water, and measuring it off by pints into another. There was also another retired cit who used every day to angle in his round wash-hand-basin sized fish-pond for gold-fish. One fish he knew, because it had once lost its eye in being caught—and he used to say "Confound that fellow, this is the fifth, sixth, &c., time that I have caught him this season." It used to provoke him.