25

OUR LADIES' COLUMN.
BY "PENELOPE."

THE AMERICAN EXHIBITION. -OPENING DAY.-
A CROWDED ARRIVAL.-THE ORATOR.-BUFFALO BILL.-THE QUEEN'S VISIT.-PRINCE AND PRINCESS OF WALES. -MR. GLADSTONE.-ENGLISH VERSUS AMERICAN ACCENT. -A SCIENTIST IN PARIS.- PASTEUR'S EXPERIMENT. -PROF. CHARCOT'S HOSPITAL WARDS. -THE PARIS SALON. -A WELCOME SURPRISE.- HAMLET IN PARIS.

An invitation to be present at the opening of the American Exhibition tempted me to abandon a drive through country lanes and a ramble amongst daffodils and primroses on the finest and warmest day we have this year. Nevertheless, as we went in an open carriage, we had a longer time to breathe the air of Kensington and West Brompton than we had anticipated, for the whole distance of more than a mile before we reached the great building at Earl's Court Station was blocked with vehicles making their way thither. Carriages of every degree jostled with each other; coroneted carriages, neat little broughams, victorias, and stylish hansoms, but the crowding was not alarming, unless a brewers' dray or ponderous omnibus endeavoured to push on through the fashionable throng.As we sat waiting to move slowly along, we saw as many notabilities making for the Exhibition as at the picture private views a few days ago, and so, though we were late by reason of our slow progress, we were in good company. As is inevitably the case at the opening of every exhibition I ever saw, things were by no means complete on the opening day. Even the road up to the principal entrance was rough and unformed, and most difficult for horses to traverse. Inside the building the very shavings of wood still lay about, and the stairs were covered with sawdust. Nothing seemed ready, and in this one was reminded of every great exhibition ever opened in London since the year 1851. Not a seat was to be had when we reached the covered gallories overlooking the large open area in which Buffalo Bill and his troupe were to exhibit their feats of horsemanship, etc. Under a bright, clear sky, we saw before us an expanse of rough ground, apparently surrounded by well arranged rocks and boulders, with clumps of trees and thickets in the distance, which seemed capable of providing ambush for any number of hostile invaders. The stands on which we were placed seated some 20,000 persons, and there were another two or three thousand scattered about the place. On a rostrum in front of the raised seats stood a gentleman called the "orator," who explained and directed the proceedings from his elevated position, and in a stentorian voice and Yankee tones gave a sort of running commentary on all that was done.

Colonel Cody, or "Buffalo Bill" as he is called, is of course the centre of attraction in this his own particular domain. Here he is "at home," and his exploits in the Wild West seem almost to be re-enacted for the benefit of a fireside English public. The wonderful feats of horsemanship on backs of really untrained wild horses put ot shame anything like our cut and dried, tame, tinsel circus shows. This was real riding, worth going to see, and it filled me with admiration for the pluck and skill of the rough riders of the Far West. The Indian camp, with its painted reskins, the squaws and hideous little papooses, all anxious to display their accomplishments, whether in a war dance or a love song, brought scenes from Fennimore Cooper's novels vividly before one, and seemed altogether to justify the reputation of this American bit of enterprise. Never was any exhibition better advertised, for has not the Queen herself patronised it ? excluding the whole of the public whilst she watched the evolutions of Buffalo Bill and his troupe, and allowed a selection of them to be presented to her. How pleased an audience of ordinary visitors would have been to have welcomed her Majesty on such an occasion, when, had she so chosen, she could have been as little annoyed or disturbed as royalty usually is when it trusts itself at the theatre or any show managed people. A week ago the Prince and Princess of Wales made acquaintance with Buffalo Bill himself, and shook hands with the redskins in their tents. Then every paper told us some days since how Mr. Gladstone was one of the first visitors to the famous "scout" of the Wild West, and how he applauded and enjoyed the sharp shooting, buffalo hunting, and cowboys' feud, with which we were all entertained on the opening day.

The wonderful rifle shooting, in which Westen Boys and girls seem equally expert, was, I confess, less interesting to me personally than the feats on horseback, the races between cowboys and Mexicans on wild Texas ponies, the efforts at mounting and keeping a firm seat on bucking, jumping, untamed steeds, which I would, I fancy, have astonished a civilised full-dress circus rider, but which hese plucky followers of Buffalo Bill seemed to think excellent fun; then the attack on the mail coach as if jolted over the plain, by a group of wild Indians, was most exciting, adn I forsee that the front row of the raised seats will be besieged daily by schoolboys from every quarter, as soon as holiday times begin. Buffalo Bill himself does not do much beside looking very handsome and imposing as he rides about on his grey horse, firing at glass balls most successfully, and cracking a bullock-whip till it sounds like the sharp report of a gun. Mr. Cody, or the Hen. W. F. Cody as the programmes call him, earned the title of Buffalo Bill by supplying meat in his capacity of praire ranger to the men who built the Pacific Railway, and he is said to have killed for them above 5,000 buffaloes, besides deerland antelopes. Mr. Cody was once for a time in the Nebraska Lefislature; hence the prefix of "Honourable" to his name. His knowledge of the Indians and their territories was most useful and valuable in matters relating to border legislation and the Indian problem. Taller than most Americans, with a bronzed and handsome face, and considerable personal dignity indicative of physical courage, Buffalo Bill cannot fail to be adired by all ladies who see him, for I believe these characteristics go a long way to win favour with the fair sex, and amongst his numerous followers there are many fine fellows who deserve to divide such favours with him. But one item in the very attractive programme of camp life, buffalo hunts, attacks on travellers, and so forth failed to please me, and that we did not stop to see. I am told the bull baiting, to illustrate the use of the lasso, is cruelly carried on, and that it was not well recieved by the spectators. When the managers find that such performances are not according to the English taste they will undoubtedly omit it from the entertainment, which is indeed quite sufficient both is quantity and quality to satisfy the most voracious sightseer, even to the thrilling climax of beholding a party of painted and half naked Indian warriors seize their victims, apparently to scalp them.

I feel sure that this will prove to be one of the greatest and most popular exhibitions in London during the season. It was full of Americans on the opening day, who seemed highly pleased with these illustrations of some of the startling realities of far Western life. Whilst listening with interest to a conversation between two ladies just behind me, whose very decided Yankeeisms and tone of voice proclaimed their nationality, I was amused to hear them regretting that some friend of theirs had been so long in England that she had scquired the "English accent." I had no idea till them that the absence of Americanisms was ever to be regretted; but a Boston friend tells me that she always recogines the English by their "accent," not as I fondly imagined by their perfect freedom from anything of the sort.

The outbreak of rabies amongst the deer at Richmond Park adds another terror to this fearful disease. One always imagined that it was confined to carnivorous animals, and could only be communicated by immediate contact with them. The perils of the wolf hunters of Siberia and the Russian steppes have been greatly aggravated to my mind since we heard of the band of poor victims who came over to Paris for inoculation by Pasteur as a possible antidote to the poison of mad wolf bites. I was greatly interested in the fate of these poor fellows at the time of their visit, and regretted much when I read in the papers that the attempt to save them had failed, and that all of them had succumbed to the terrible disease. Believing this, with the usual credulity of newspaper readers, who are apt to forget that all is not ture that is printed, and that many hidden influences are brought to bear on a paragraph of news, I was rejoiced to have a long chat but yesterday with a distinguished man of science, who spent many days of last week in M. Pasteur's laboratory in Paris. He told me of Pasteur's charming, simple, unaffected behavior, of his earnest desire to discover the truth of his own theory, which, as time goes on, seems almost to challenge contradiction, so satisfacory are the results of his operations. I was glad to be assured that of sixteen Russian peasants who returned home after Pasteur's treatment only one developed rabies and died; the rest, all severely bitten, are now alive and well. My friend saw about fifty patients inoculated in one day, some very badly bitten by dogs, and ony young lady, who having a syte on her eye had been licked there by her pet dog, which went mad soon after. She, knowing the pro bable result, wisely and calmly submitted to M. Pasteur's treatment. As my clever friend explained to me the nature and theory of this system of inoculation with the very poison of rabies itself, I felt able to understand it as clearly as that of vaccination for small-pox; and probably in years to come the one discovery may be as fully recognised by the civilised world as the other, possibly with less numerical results, but who can over-estimate the blessing of escape from a painful and certain death such as hyrophobia, if the sufferers by only counted by hundreds instead of by thousands, as in small pox?

The work and experiments of Professor Charcot, the great doctor, interested my scientific friend greatly whilst he was in Paris, and the account he gave to me of the patients at the Salpatriere Hospital was most surprising. The whole subject of mesmerism is being thoroughly studied and investigated there, and to any one who regards these phenomena seriously as something yet but little uderstood by medical men, and affecting all nervous persons and their maladies, M. Charcot's wards in this French hospital are of the deepest interest. Amongst the pictures in the Salon in Paris at the present moment are two or three representing scenes both from Pasteur's and Charcot's laboratories. In England we should hardly tolerate pictures of so professional a character, but I was very glad to see a good photograph of each secured by my friend, which gave me an idea of the appearance of these distinguished men and their surroundings. Men of science of the highest distinctions have, I find, many interests besides their own specialties, and cultivated men of all classes are almost sure to take plesure in the drama. When the work of the day was ever in Paris my enthusiastic friend amused himself, and says in a letter, "You know how I delight in 'Hamlet', and that I know every word of the play. I have seen many Hamlets - Kean, Fletcher, Irving, Salvini, Barrett. Monsieur Soulet, who is now acting at the Francsaise, is in some respects very good, but he is rather too effeminate and fererish. The play is magnificently put on the stage, and the costumes are excellent." My critical friend was, I think, diverted from his attention to the play by the sight of a lovely face in the stalls which made him say to himself, "Ah, these French women; they are graceful and charming; we do not produce such lovely creatures as that!" when suddenly he recognised, as she removed her pincenez, that he was gazing at an English face, and one well known to him, of whose safety from shipwreck he had not then heard. She had just escaped with her little boy from the terrible catastrophe of the Victoria at Dieppe, and of course he rushed to congratulate her, and to hear of her fearul experience as she sat for seven hours in a boat expecting death every minute. Such moments as those must mae their impression on a lifetime, yet how soon we are all apt to forget dangers when we are out of them! We all live, and I suppose rightly so, in the present, or life would sometimes be almost unbearable with retrospection and anticipation.

London.

OUR LADIES' COLUMN.
BY "PENELOPE."

THE AMERICAN EXHIBITION. -OPENING DAY.-
A CROWDED ARRIVAL.-THE ORATOR.-BUFFALO BILL.-THE QUEEN'S VISIT.-PRINCE AND PRINCESS OF WALES. -MR. GLADSTONE.-ENGLISH VERSUS AMERICAN ACCENT. -A SCIENTIST IN PARIS.- PASTEUR'S EXPERIMENT. -PROF. CHARCOT'S HOSPITAL WARDS. -THE PARIS SALON. -A WELCOME SURPRISE.- HAMLET IN PARIS.

An invitation to be present at the opening of the American Exhibition tempted me to abandon a drive through country lanes and a ramble amongst daffodils and primroses on the finest and warmest day we have this year. Nevertheless, as we went in an open carriage, we had a longer time to breathe the air of Kensington and West Brompton than we had anticipated, for the whole distance of more than a mile before we reached the great building at Earl's Court Station was blocked with vehicles making their way thither. Carriages of every degree jostled with each other; coroneted carriages, neat little broughams, victorias, and stylish hansoms, but the crowding was not alarming, unless a brewers' dray or ponderous omnibus endeavoured to push on through the fashionable throng.As we sat waiting to move slowly along, we saw as many notabilities making for the Exhibition as at the picture private views a few days ago, and so, though we were late by reason of our slow progress, we were in good company.