Project Gutenberg's Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 462, by Various

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Title: Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 462
Volume 18, New Series, November 6, 1852

Author: Various

Editor: William Chambers
Robert Chambers

Release Date: January 17, 2008 [EBook #24343]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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CHAMBERS' EDINBURGH JOURNAL

CONDUCTED BY WILLIAM AND ROBERT CHAMBERS, EDITORS OF 'CHAMBERS'S
INFORMATION FOR THE PEOPLE,' 'CHAMBERS'S EDUCATIONAL COURSE,' &c.

No. 462. NEW SERIES. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 1852. PRICE 1-1/2_d._

THE MANAGING PARTNER.

She is neither your partner, nor ours, nor anybody else's in
particular. She is in general business, of which matrimony is only a
department. How she came to be concerned in so many concerns, is a
mystery of nature, like the origin of the Poet--or rather of black
Topsy. The latter, you know, was not born at all, she never had no
father nor mother, she was not made by nobody--she _growed_; and so it
is with the managing partner, who was a managing partner from her
infancy. It is handed down by tradition that she screamed lustily in
the nurse's arms when anything went wrong, or as she would not have
it; and this gave rise, among superficial observers, to the notion,
that Missy was naturally cross. But the fact is, her screams were
merely substitutes for words, like the inarticulate cries by which
dumb persons express their emotions. When language came, she gave up
screaming--but not managing. She did not so much play, as direct the
play--distributing the parts to her companions, and remaining herself
an abstraction. If she was ever seen cuffing a doll on the side of the
head, or shaking it viciously by the arm, this was merely a burst of
natural impatience with the stupid thing; but in general, she
contented herself with desiring the mother of the offender to bestow
the necessary chastisement. Her orders were usually obeyed; for they
were seen to p