CHAMBERS' EDINBURGH JOURNAL
CONTENTS
THE MANAGING PARTNER.
THE MOUNTAIN OF THE CHAIN AND ITS LEGEND.
IRON SHIPS.
SCIENCE OF POLITENESS IN FRANCE.
OUR WILD-FRUITS.
NICHOLAS POUSSIN.
ORIGIN OF MUSIC.
THE ARCHARD LEVER POWER.
MY SPIRIT'S HOME.
THE GUJARATI-HINDOO GIRLS' SCHOOL.
CONDUCTED BY WILLIAM AND ROBERT CHAMBERS, EDITORS OF 'CHAMBERS'SINFORMATION FOR THE PEOPLE,' 'CHAMBERS'S EDUCATIONAL COURSE,' &c.
| No. 462. New Series. | SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 1852. | Price 1½d. |
THE MANAGING PARTNER.
She is neither your partner, nor ours, nor anybody else's inparticular. She is in general business, of which matrimony is only adepartment. How she came to be concerned in so many concerns, is amystery of nature, like the origin of the Poet—or rather of blackTopsy. The latter, you know, was not born at all, she never had nofather nor mother, she was not made by nobody—she growed; and so itis with the managing partner, who was a managing partner from herinfancy. It is handed down by tradition that she screamed lustily inthe nurse's arms when anything went wrong, or as she would not haveit; and this gave rise, among superficial observers, to the notion,that Missy was naturally cross. But the fact is, her screams weremerely substitutes for words, like the inarticulate cries by whichdumb persons express their emotions. When language came, she gave upscreaming—but not managing. She did not so much play, as direct theplay—distributing the parts to her companions, and remaining herselfan abstraction. If she was ever seen cuffing a doll on the side of thehead, or shaking it viciously by the arm, this was merely a burst ofnatural impatience with the stupid thing; but in general, shecontented herself with desiring the mother of the offender to bestowthe necessary chastisement. Her orders were usually obeyed; for theywere seen to proceed from no selfish motive, but from an innate senseof right. This fact was obvious from the very words in which they wereconveyed: You should be so and so; you should do so and so; youshould say so and so. Her orders were, in fact, a series of moralmaxims, which the other partners in the juvenile concern took upontrust.
As she grew up into girlhood, and then into young-woman