Page:Once a Week Volume V.djvu/160

. 3, 1861.] with a certain blackguardism, inseparable from them so long as they are chiefly participated in by the lowest class of the population. “Bell’s Life,” we predict, will ere long be the record of the athletic sports of the youth of the middle class, as represented by our Volunteers, and when such is the case, it will truly represent all classes in the country, and will be as true a reflection of sporting life in England in its entirety, as the “Times” is of its political life.

A. W.

Turks, the youngest of all the Eastern nations, though they have now been for centuries in continual intercourse, political and commercial, with all the countries of the civilised world in and out of Europe, have, nevertheless, preserved to this day, in all their integrity, all the ancient prejudices and popular traditions of their race, and to which they still adhere with a pertinacity that neither time nor the frequent attempts at civilisation have, in the least, been able to modify. Even their common almanac (Takvim) shows how widely the Turks still differ from us in their views and notions of even common life relations, and no wonder that the Turkish astronomers direct their attention chiefly to the gratification of the popular taste in the daily wants, wishes, dealings, and requirements of practical life generally. The Takvim is thus the household book of the common people, and embraces all sorts of moral, social, religious, and even sanitary precepts, in a national point of view.

The very clumsy size and form of the Takvim speaks already of a different taste even in book-making, its width being about four inches, while the length measures upwards of six and a-half feet! The top of the inside is adorned with various pictorial illustrations of stars, crescents, spheres, telescopes, arms, standards, &c. These are followed by an astronomical account, written in a truly pathetic style, of the exact time when the sun is to pass the equinoctial line, and having reference to the respective eras as computed by the Copts, Greeks, and Arabs. Next comes the astronomical calendar, commencing with New Year’s Day (Nevruz). It is introduced and prefaced by some religious hymns and blessings on the heads of the orthodox believers. Then follow—from right to left—the old Turkish signs of the zodiac, with their Persian names: swine, dog, ox, leopard, crocodile, serpent, monkey, sheep, rat, horse, hen, and hare. Next come—from left to right—our Christian signs of the zodiac, with their Arabian names, as also of those of the sun, moon, and planets.

The Takvim is divided into twelve parts, under the following headings:—1. Remarkable days; 2. Days of the week; 3. The Arabian era; 4. The Greek era; 5. Dominant constellations; 6. Hour and minute of sun-rise; 7. Mid-day prayers; 8. Afternoon prayers; 9. Evening prayers; 10. Morning prayers; 11. New moon; and 12. Miscellaneous.

We will select a few items for the month Moharrem (first month of the year), which begins on the 23rd of our February month.

In part 6 we read:—

The last part, Miscellaneous, contains things that are to be done on certain days in the month.

M.

, let us go down from this weather-stain’d hill—

One, two, three, and away!

Go down to the hollow where glassy and still

The mill-race rolls over the wheels of the mill,

And its foam is the dew of the morning.

There are two bonny eggs in a nest on the hill—

One, two, three, and away!

One lies in the warmth of its mother-bed still,

But the other is rolling adown to the mill—

For the winds are so wild in the morning.

Two children are playing atop of the hill—

One, two, three, and away!

One clings to the peace of its infancy still,

But the other is off and away to the mill,

To see how it looks in the morning.