BALLOU'S MONTHLY MAGAZINE. www Vou. XXVII.-No. 5. MAY, 1868... WHOLE No. 161. ... ..... FOOTBALL. BY B. P. SHILLABER. Tracing a resemblance between a game of football, and its ups and downs, and the game of after-fe in which latter the disproportion of winners is far greater. And skipping lightly o'er the ground, Now darts along the level plain, There is no grain of dark alloy I feel delight yon shout to hear, That all deserve the goal to gain. Yet, as they chase the fickle round, The stoutest in their strivings slip, While those who watch the timely bound The oftenest get the mastership. The jolt, the rush, the strife, the meed, They see it not; care weaves no spell To knit their brows with anxious thought; Like the light ball their feet repel The world as yet affects them naught. That bound is bound of all their hope, That flight the height of all their aim, Their only strife to friendly cope, Their effort ending with the game. There, in the jubilant scene, I see With all its bustle, jolt and din- The strife and toil-to lose and win. Unequal is the exciting race The strong, in eager effort, fall, By subtle watching catch the ball. IMPERIAL COLLEGE AT MOSCOW. We present, on page 407, a picture of the Royal College at Moscow, where the sons of the nobility are educated for public service to whichever brauch they may choose to devote themselves. This elegant structure, fronting upon a broad, public square, and ornamented with select shrubbery, is one of the good fruits of the great fire of 1812, when Napoleon was smoked out by the Russians. It is an ill wind, it is said, that blows nobody good, and so the fire, that swept off three quarters of the city, burning, in three days, 7932 houses, made room for a better style of architecture, which was availed of, exhibited in the present elegant structures of Moscow, like that represented in our engraving, which makes it one of the finest cities in the world. The rebuilding of Moscow was so actively pursued, that in the course of nine years, it had risen from its ruins in its present style of magnificence. The houses are principally of brick, the streets are paved with pebbles and bordered with foot-paths; fifteen main streets diverge from the centre, terminating at the fifteen barriers. It retains more of the Russian peculiarities than St. Petersburg, which has grown to be a centre of fashion and an exponent of European civilization, and there fore the Russians love it. If any one praises St. Petersburg to a Russian, he invariably says, "You should see Moscow." The distance between Moscow and St. Petersburg is four hundred miles, which is made an easy journey by railroad. As formerly travelled, it was very tedious. In the February number of our Magazine, we had an illustrated article on the educational system of Russia, in which the school under notice was alluded to, but its scope was confined mostly to the schools of St. Petersburg. It is pleasant to note the spirit of a government that tends to the instruction of its people, and prosperity and happiness are attendants upon the enlightenment of the public mind. The progress that Russia has made in this direction is most commendable, and, though the vastness of the country, and the indifference to education proceeding from the late condition of serfdom to which the poorer classes were subjected, are bars to the rapid progress made by more compact nations, there is a most gratifying report of the growth of schools, and the spread of education in all parts of the vast empire. This must be the case where the heads of the nation are educated, as at the college under notice. A nobility, refined by the processes observed at such schools, is like gold refined, and from such proceeds an influence which affects society to its outer limit. It is the result of education. The influence must expand. It cannot remain selfishly inactive, but outflow for the good of the people. Educate the head, and the heart comes in for its share of the benefit. The general need is seen, and the remedy suggests itself to the enlightened mind. This imperial university has a library of nearly, if not quite, 40,000 volumes. The course of instruction includes the moral and political sciences, physics, mathematics, medicine and polite literature. Several learned societies are also connected with it. The diplomatic, military, legal and clerical dignitaries of Russia are the finest educated men in the world, and have no superiors, and the emperor himself is remarkable for his intelli gence and liberality. To this school they, and through them the nation, have received the benefit of the thorough instruction that has made them distinguished. The world outside of Russia, however, has little benefit from the college. It is a Russian institution literally, and its graduates are claimed by the State. This, indeed, holds true in all the Russian schools, the public good holding their graduates to service within their own borders. The tendency of this is the individualism of the Russian, and the exclusion of all approach to cosmopolitanism. The Russian is a Russian the world over. There are many fine palaces of the nobility at Moscow, who, though remote from court, make a little court of their own, and enjoy a pleasant community. The city numbers about 250,000 population in summer, and in winter, the fashionable season, it receives an addition of some 150,000 more. INDIA PORTRAITS. We present a series of portraits of individuals representing the Punjaub country, and a few words about the country itself may not be uninteresting. The name signifies in the A RAJAH. Persian "five waters," and is thus called from its position among five great effluents of the Indus, that is, Jhelum Chenaub, Ravee, Beas and Sutlej, the last named forming the eastern border. The Punjaub is in the form of a triangle, and forms the northwest portion of Hindostan. The Himalayas bound it on the north, and the Khyber and Soliman ranges on the west. For the most part the country is an extensive plain, gradually sloping to the southwest, in the direction of the five rivers by which it is abundantly irrigated. The soil is generally fertile, the climate hot and dry. The population, of about 12,000,000, is composed of various races, about one-fourth holding the Mohammedan faith. The Sikhs are the dominant race, though forming not more than one-fourth of the entire population, living between the Jhelum and Ravee. The Sikhs are a military and agricultural people, brave and hospitable. The language of the Punjaub is a jargon of various tongues. Education is very general, both elementary and advanced, in which female education is included. Before the conquest of the country by England, the government was a sort of confederation of chiefs, or Rajahs, all holding independent sway, and administering the laws in their own districts. We give a representation of one of the best-looking of them on page 408. Before the En lish conquest, they became subject to the Maharajab, under whom they were feudal chiefs. The present government resembles that existing in the other districts of Bengal, and is administered by a Lieutenant Governor, subordinate to the Governor General. Nothing is taxed but salt. The Rajahs for merly lived in splendid state, but much of DANCING FAQUEER. their impor tance has departed. It was the custom formerly, on the death of a Rajah, to burn a dozen or two of his wives with him, according to an ancient rite called suttee; but the English rule has abolished this now. We present, on pages 409 and 410, two specimens of the genus Faqueer, though of very different habits and pursuits. The term Faqueer signifies the "poor man of the place," not, necessarily, mean. The first is a pest in the villages of the Punjaub, belonging to the district Lahore, an intolerable vagabond, who represents a class of determined and stalwart beggars, one to each village, that, with lute and voice, not the most musical, worry the people into giving, and in this way live. Their costume is fanciful, and, with their quaint songs and voluptuous dances, they illustrate Bohemianism in the East. They live from hand to mouth, and, though objects of detestation, do a measure of good, as do our organ-grinders, in the attempt to make the Punjaubers harmonious. If all attempted as much, the world |