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[MirrinMinttu]

Просматривая записи Светозара Чернова, кстати. И вот нашлось чудесное:

Детская писательница

В старой доброй Англии жила-была знаменитая детская писательница, миссис Мортимер. Она писала для детей познавательные книжки. Дети очень любили книги миссис Мортимер. Одна из них - The Peep of Day; or, a Series of the Earliest Religious Instructions the Infant Mind is Capable of Receiving - выходит до сих пор.

Вот из неё отрывок:

"Бог покрыл твои кости плотью. Твоя плоть мягкая и тёплая.

В твоей плоти течёт кровь. Бог поместил кожу снаружи, и она одевает твою плоть и кровь, как одежда... Как добр Бог, что дал тебе тело! Я надеюсь, что твоё тело не пострадает... Могут ли твои кости сломаться? Да, конечно, если ты упадешь с высоты, или если через них переедет телега...

Как легко было бы поранить твоё бедное маленькое тельце!

Если бы оно упало в огонь, оно бы обгорело. Если бы его проткнуть насквозь большим ножом, потекла бы кровь. Если бы тебе на голову упал большой ящик, он раздавил бы твою голову. Если бы ты выпал из окна, то сломал бы шею. Если бы ты несколько дней подряд ничего не ел, твое маленькое тело стало бы очень больным, дыхание бы прекратилось, ты бы похолодел и очень скоро был бы мёртв."

Но больше всего миссис Мортимер любила писать про разные страны и народы, населяющие Землю. Несколько поколений английских детей узнавали начала географии по её книгам. И о каждой стране, обо всяком народе она находила, что сказать хорошего. Вот, например, американцы:

"The children are brought up in a very unwholesome manner. At the dinner table of the boarding house they see all kinds of dainties, and they are allowed to eat hot cakes and rich preserves at breakfast, and ices and oysters at supper, when they ought to be satisfied with their basin of porridge, or their milk and water and bread and butter. The consequence is that many children die, and others are pale and sickly.

NEW ORLEANS - This is the gayest city in America, and also the most ungodly. There are few churches, but there are amusements of all kinds. It may be called a city of strangers, for people come from all parts of America to pass the winter here... But the river is the bane of the city. The banks are so low, that the damps from the water render the city unwholesome. Yellow fever frequently comes and carries away thousands. New Orleans is a dangerous place to live in, both for the body and the soul.

WASHINGTON - is one of the most desolate cities in the world: not because she is in ruins, but for the opposite reason - because she is unfinished. There are places marked out where houses ought to be, but where no houses seem ever likely to be...

...There are terrible snakes in the forests, especially the Rattle-Snake... There are many harmless inhabitants in the forest. There are the Pigeons. The foresters are glad at their arrival, for they knock them down and take them home to make into pies.

CHARACTER - The people in the Northern States are very industrious. As there are not many servants to be had, they wait upon themselves. The children are useful to their parents. They can be trusted to go on messages, and to make purchases, and even to go to dentist's by themselves.

The Americans are benevolent. They love to do good, and among other things they have asylums for the blind, and hospitals for the sick, and refuges for the destitute; and they make even their prisoners comfortable - perhaps too comfortable."

Россия

" ...The favourite drink is called "kwas." This is a wholesome drink, but you would not like it at all... The Russians live in very miserable dwellings made of trees cut down and laid along the ground, one on top of the other... The children (of rich people) are allowed to play so much, that they grow up very ignorant. The Russians are fond of music and dancing, and the children are very quick in learning to dance and sing; but dancing and singing will not make them wise...

Coachmen are sent to Siberia, if they run over a person in the street. This makes them very careful, but it makes the people very troublesome. Instead of getting out of the way, they will look up at the coachman, and say, "Mind Siberia."

There are some very strange things to be seen in the market. Look at those white hares, that appear to be running along the ground, and those cows which never move, and their calves beside them; and those quiet pigs with their little ones. They are all dead, but they are frozen, and therefore they are stiff, and stand upright."

Швеция

"Almost every one can read. In every little town there is a bookseller's shop, and sometimes there are more booksellers than butchers. It is never so in America, as you will see if you observe.

You are ready to think the Swedes are a wise and good people. Not so. There is no country in Europe where so many people are put in prison.
I do not mean to say that there are as many robbers in Sweden as in Sicily; there the robbers are seldom punished at all: in Sweden they are punished; but yet the rest of the people go on stealing. Travellers think the Swedes honest, because they do not steal their trunks; but I suppose they know they should be found out if they did, for the king has a great number of men watching to take up thieves. The Swedes swear also in a dreadful manner, the gentlemen as well as the poor people. They get drunk also very often.
The great people in Sweden set a bad example to the poor. There are many lords and ladies who spend all their time in dressing, and dancing, and singing foolish songs. The shopkeepers also neglect their business and waste their time.
The Swedes are very polite. Even the beggars will show their gratitude by kissing your sleeve or the skirt of your coat. But what is politeness compared to truth and honesty!

The Swedes do not care as much for comfort, as for ornaments. They have fine looking-glasses, and sofas, and chandeliers, and pictures, but they often go without basins, jugs, chests of drawers, curtains and other useful furniture. Nothing useful is well done in Sweden. The carpenters and blacksmiths are very clumsy in their work, but the musicians play beautifully, and the sculptors make fine statues"

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