Then the anti-matrimonials have theirs, too, always exceedingly select,
where the men look frightened, and the women indignant, and which
partakes somewhat of the character of a Methodist prayer-meeting, the
gentlemen all clinging to each other as if for protection, evidently in
bodily fear of another Sabine expedition, with the order of the
programme, however, a little reversed in regard to the two sexes. The
Sanitary department also indulges in a little treat of this kind, and in
such a case, it becomes really a duty. After guarding the city's health
for so long a time, after sternly following up Scarlet-fevers,
Small-poxes, and Ship-plagues, and driving them forth from their chosen
haunts, it certainly needs to look after its own constitution a little,
and sharpen, by country airs and odors, the powers probably deteriorated
amid the noxious vapors of city alleys and by-ways.

The Teachers' Institute, too, looking at the thing physiologically,
psychologically, and phrenologically, after mature deliberation,
conclude to descend to a little harmless amusement, contriving, however,
to mingle some instructive elements with the frivolous ones that less
enlightened spirits delight in. For instance, the flowers, that are
truly the "alphabet of angels" to the simple souls that love the violets
and daisies for their own sweet sakes, offer a very different alphabet
to the "Schoolma'ams" and Professors. They are no longer flowers, but
specimens, each bud and blossom pleading in vain for life, as ruthless
fingers coolly dissect them to discover whether they are poly or
mollyandria. And what an ignoramus you must be, if you do not know that
a balloon-vine is a _Cardiospernum Halicactum_. The "feast" on these
occasions is that "of reason" alone, encyclopedias and dictionaries
being all the nourishment required, although a stray bottle here and
there might hint at "the flow" of a little something beside "soul."