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About Willamette farmer. (Salem, Or.) 1869-1887 | View Entire Issue (April 7, 1876)
58 ' Q WILLAMETTE FARMER. U .1 CI . Te HPE Circle. The Hand that Rocks the World. Br William Boss Wallace. Blessings on the band of woman! Angel) guard her strength and grace In the cottage, palace, hurel, 01 no matter where tue place! Would that never storms asaatled It; Itlnbowa erer gently curled; For the band that rocks tue cradle la the band that rocks the world. Infancy's the tender fountain; Power may with 1 eauty flow; Mother Brat to guide the streamlet, From thein souls unresting grow. Grow ou for the good or evil, Bunsblne streamed or darkness burled; Tor the rand that rocka the cradle la the band that rocka the world. Woman, bo divine your mission Here upon our natal sod: Keep, O keep the young lieirt open Aiwa J 8 to the hrcatll uf Uoil All true trophies of the ages Are from Mother Love lmpearlcd; Tor the baud that rocka the cradle Is the hand that rocks the world. Blessings ou the band of woman! Fathers, sons and daughters cry, Anil the sacred song la mingled With the worship In the sky Mingles where no tempest darkens, Kalnbows evermore are curled; For the hwl that rocks the cradle Is the hand that rocks tue world. Gleanings from Astronomy. Mns. OtonoiE D. W In Itural Press. "UucoubcIous from the sands of time, The pearls of truth to gathe." Here, on tbo vast plains of California, the panorumu which is presonted of the "spacious firmament," is indeed one of the most sublime the iniud can possibly conceiye. When night ushers in her train of stars, while jet the trail ing girinonts ol the sunset glory linger over the distant hills, and the weird shidowsdarkeu, growing dark, still d.irkor, until upon a sky of intense blackness the thickly inlaid constella tions blaze amid their interwovon satellites, the scene is at once transformed iuto one of more than Egyptian splendor. It was on one of those lovely evening, while I sit on our cottage porch with little eight-year-old Virgie on the sttps at my feet, also gazing intently at the Btarry host, while I answered her many oft repeated questions, that I was startled by the found of merry youthful voices, rind three fair young girls clustered around me in gladcome exclamations of delight that delight which comes only to the fresh young heart, awakened to the swtet romance of moonlight or star light hours. "What a glorious night!" cried one. "ltidiautl beautiful!" said another. "Oh! it is indeed luvely," said .Florence, the eldest, a fair young girl of 10, as nhe sink down on tho stops by little Virgie's Bide. "How very ap propriate is Amelias sweet poem On the Stars.' " "Oh! tell it, Floy," said little Virgie, and the sweet voice answered: "Oh! who can lift above a careless look. When such bright scents tho thought engage. And doubt, while reading trom so fair a book, ? That Gud'B owu fingers traced the glovvlug page." "Night, gorgeous in her coronet of stars, queen ot the jiweUd courts of heaven!" cried the merry Kate, in a mock-serious voice. "No, no, Katie, that isn't good poetry," said little Virgie, with a very demure air J "Not good like Floy's, or mine either." , "What is your poetry, Virg?"Baid Florence. "Oh! my poetry says; Twinkle, twinkle, little star." " "But you needn't laugh, Miss Kate; Orandpa says it's pretty, and he knows, 'cause it's got lots of sense in it." "Very sensible poetry, to be sure, Virgie," laughed Kate; "But tlieio are too many stars for it; I fear your little poet would Hud rather a ditHcult task in selecting any particular star to address his souuot to, ou such a night as this." "Come, cousin Oeorgie," said the quiet, wo mauly Mary, who hud been listening to the merry talkers. "Do tell us till about the stirs (o-ulght ; 1 am sure we are all in the right mood to enjoy as roiiumy." "Seek Him that mude the seven stars nud Orion," 1 answered. "My dear girls, tlioro is nothing that cau equal the simple grandeur of the Bible; from its inspired pages we loam the first sweet lessons in astronomy," "The Bible," eohned Kate; "I did not know the Bible had anything about astronomy." "You forget, Kitie," I replied; "Don't you remembir in tbo book of Job, where God asked Job; '(Jaunt thou biud tho sweet influences of the Pleiades, or Ioobo the binds of Orion?' I think Florence remembers Young's beautiful verses ou the passage." "Yes," said Florriioe, "It is familiar to most nil students in astronomy; Mamio cau repeat them, I think." "liepeat theui, Mary," I said. She quietly responded; "Oauat thou the sklca' benevolence restraiu, Or cause tho Pleiades to shlue In Vilu, When Orion sparkles In his sphere Thaws the cold season aud uuhtud the year Jlld li.uaroth his atatlou kuow, Aud Inch the bright Arcturuswherotoglont" "Indeed, I did not know there was anything so beautilttl in the Bible before," persisted Kale. "Will you nud them for mo to-morrow ?" 'Most willingly," I replied. "The Bible is full of tho most beautiful truths, if wu did but lieed them. From the Bible we learu that as tronomy dates lnok even unto the Urst day, when Ood said 'Let there hi light, and there was liulit.' Josephus tells us that Abraham was the Urst teacher and writer on tho celestial ucieuctm. He says Beasorus, a great ancient writer, speaks of Abrahsm as it Chaldean mau, righteous and greatly skilled in the celestial ecteiioes. All the ancient writers, both Greek and ltomttu, attribute the classing of the con stellations, particularly those of tue zodiac, to Ohuldea." "Canst thou biud the sweet influence ot the l'lelades," repeated Floteuoe, licr fair upturned face Boauniug the mystic cluster, "Oh," said Mary, "they are per dolly radiaut to-ulght Do you remember the pretty story of the seven stars?" "A story," orled the wide awake Virgie; "please loll the story." "Well, once upon a time, a long, long, time ago, the people that lived iu those days be lieved that the cluster of stars you sou youder were seven beautiful sieteru, ami oue of them, the most beautiful of them all, dared to love a mortal, which so euragel the reigning god, that lie caused her to be burnt up." "Yes," I con tinned, "the auciems believed some very un likely things. They also believed the stars goerned all earthly things, particularly the zodiac." "Brinii forth Mazairoth in his seasous?" juestioned Mary, "Mazzaroth meaua the zj Uiao, d 0 it not, oousiu Utorgie ?" "Yes," I return 'I, "I was tryiug to learn them to Virgie." 'Mo many do you kuow, Virglo ?"iuqulred Kate. "Oh, when mamma helps me, lean say them all." The little one commenced in quite a confi dent voioe. "Aries.Tanrus, Gemini, (' Cancer," I helped,) "Libra " "No, darling, Leo come9 next, then Virgo, then Libra, Soirpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius ana JL'Isces. The disconcerted vir gie bid her face in my dress, poutingly declar-1 and a half between the central and the one on lDg she didn't believe Katie oould say them at each side. The little needle-like cluster run all herself. I ning obliquely from the belt is the Sword of "No, indeed," cried Kate; "you beat me, i Orion. Again, a line passed through the Orion Virgie; you know three, and I am sure I . could nt name one. After the little laugh at Virgie's expense, I continued, speaking of the ancients' belief in the zodiacal signs, "I suppose it is true they did sincorely believe that all earthly things were governed by the signs of the zodiac, and we Deed not go so lar dock into tne ages lor ine remains of such belief. I was reading not long since in an old book called tbe 'English Phy sician,' published only 150 years ago, and written by 'Nicholas Culpeper, gentleman, stu dent in phyBio and astrology.' In one of his prefaces he says.f'to such as study astrology, who are the only men I know that are fit to Btudy pbys c, for I believe that physio without astrology is like a lamp without oil,' etc. "But then we need not go back 100, or even 50 years ago, for I am sure we have in our very midst a superstition worse than ever existed since tho dirk ages." "Do look girl"," said Mary, "see how plain tbe sword of Orion looks how like a beautiful comet " "You can only see the principal stirs," I re sumed. " That nebulous cluster is considered by astronomirs to be tbe most complicated nebula observed, at least from the time of Sir William Ilerschel.and his sister, Miss Caroline Herscbel -a lady eminent for her astronomical knowledge, who always assisted Sir Herscbel in all his studies of the heavens. "Iu 1815, the scientific world watched with profound anxiety the results from the investi gation of Lord liosse's wonderful six feet mirror. Its first tiial was made on that nebula but I believe it proved more or less a failure, sj far as the resolution of the nebula into dis tinc' stars is concerned." " II iw d.izzliugly biilliant Orion is to night," said Florence. " Yes," said Kate, " But what an absuid no tion of calling Orion a mighty warrior. 1 never would have found it out if it had not been for Floy. I had alwa s been hunting for a wonder ful giant, with uplifted arms and with shield and helmet, etc." "Ye, Kate," I remarked, " there have been wis-r heads than yours that have never been able to trace out ' Warrior Orion.' But the simple 'Orion Parallelogram ' can be, and, in fact, it is, oue of tbe easiest conistellations in the heavens to trace out." "Easy ennngh," returned Kate, "after one finds it once." "Yes," I returned; "there is where all the trouble lies with the ordinary observers of the heavens 1 mean those who are not praotical astronomers. Tne desoiiptions of the constel lations nie givoi by astrouomers through tbo assistance of powerful telescopes, that most ordinary people, like ourselves, don't possess; aud, consequently, we cannot seo with 'their eyes.' And in our fruitless eudeavors to find out the ooustellation ho clearly depicted on the map or globe, wo give it up as something be yond our 'ken'; when, if they would onlv give some simple rules, by which we could find out the co .stellalion with tbe naked eye, or by means of a small spy or opera glass, how muob pleasure even tho little child might enj y. "Prof. Dick, the Christian philosopher, is one of the most sensib e reasoners I have ever read. He s iys of the representations aud fig ures of tho celestial constellations, which we have now depicted on our maps and globes, 'in my opinion are awkward aud most unnat ural. The unnatural and hieroglyphic figures have no resemblance to tbe group of stars they are intended to represent, suon as Dears, ser ' ," ', ' ,a. , , ,, .:: ""-; . ltlon;aad mat these limits cannot oe tians- aud many o her frightfully ridiculous i objects. endmJ without aggregate deterioration in Even when the imagination has stretched is dislrictl tue Mtea$ n boverIoadi ng the mem utmost in order to fancy a resemblance, it is or ofetW0rkiDg the brain, and sapping the obliged to twist the creature's wings and legs loundatioDS of health.-Jacoo Sijeloio, Jf. D. ana tails aud claws iu a dreadful manner, so i J as to take all the stars Into a group, some pretty . ... , ,,. largo ones being left after all, uuformed in the I A Beautiful Allegory. intermediate spaces,' " "These are my sentimonts exactly," said Mr. Crittenden, of Kentucky, was once en matter of-fact Kate; "Prof. Dick shall have gaged iu defendiug a man who had been in my uudjiug Rralitude. But cun you not tell j dieted for a capital offense. After an elaborate us whauon consider a Rimple rule, by which and powerful argumeut, b closed his effort wo may trace out tbe different oonstellations?" with the following beautiful and striking olle- ttnnta runiQ tli'lnrr hnrauj t lii-A-lioi,laH Hnna "l-iir the casuu ousoreer, 1 replied, "1 Una one ot the bent methods is to take for our guide i Home particular coustellatiou or star that is familiar to us, their degrees and distances that have already beeu delermiued by astronomers, uud apply tbe rule to others. "But first, a young beginner must know some thing of tbe relative position of tbe stars, and the differeut positions they bear to each other at different periods of the year. The different constellations, although they may chauge their position at different times of the uigbt and sea-ons of the year, never shift their position iu regard to each other, but remain un chaugeableas when in that first hour they were spoue lnio being uy lUeir maker, ui cour-e, astrouomers aud students cau readily determino their positions by applying the rule of dividing the circle, which you kuw is three hundred ' aud sixty parts, subdivided into halves. quarters aud eighths, Astrouomers give the upp ireut diameter of tho kuu or moon us a half a degree. Thus, you seo, uiauy thousand miles are compressed into a very small compass, For iuslauce, the two bright stars iu the bowl of tbe Big Dipper, or Ursa M ijor, are just five degrees apart, and they point out the North Pole star, in the handle ot the Little Dipper, or Ursa Miuor; aud the two stars iu the Little Dipper point to the brilliaut star, Arcturus, in the coustellatiou Bootes, Thus yon see oue ooiiBieliatiou is a guide to others. "The Pleiades are the next familiar object in the heaveus, but as their orbit is entirely dif fereut from the 'Dippers,' they cau be seen at light only six months iu the year, while the 'Dippers' never disappear beueath the horizon, as the) belougiotheoircumpolarooustellations. The l'lelades are only visible the whole night during the winter seasons. They are now, tbe '.23th of Jauuary, on the meridian. "About H deg. southeast of the Pleiades is tho bright, ruddy star, Aldebarau, iu the con stellaiion of Taurus, besides having a little coustellatiou all of its on, whioh I thluk oue of the sweetest little ones iu the he tvens. It is a little cluster of stars, in the exaot shape of a fouutaiu of blessing is a cow! She is the a V. Aldeb trau form the top of the letter on mother of beef, the source of butter, the ongi tbe right side; the other priucipal four stars i ual cause of cheese, to say nothing of shoes, are very iuiliaiiuot to t'io uaked eye." horns, hair oouibs, and upper leather. A "I have very ofteu admired that tiny clus- r," aaid Floreuce. "How appropriite its ime, the Hyades. But let us coutiuue the tor name, formula of given rules for Kate's benefit "Sixteen, deg. southeast of the Pleiades aud Aldebarau may be seeu tbe spleudid parallel ogiam of theOriou. Now let us tike the Orion for a guide the first bright star about 10 deg. from Aldebarau is the bright star Beliatrix, in the Bouthwest shoulder of the Orion. Now, measure a straight hue eight degrees southeast and you wilt find Betelguese iu the right shoulder; a line 15 degree uortheaat, you meet Salph iu the right kuee, a star of tbe third uiaguitude. Again, uoitbwtsi, eight degrees, you fiud ltigel, a star of the first magnitude, iu the Orion's left foot. Now, 15 degrees back to Bellatriz, and the Oricn parallelogram is finished. "Iu the middle of this parallelogram are the three bright, eqni-distant stars, known as the 'Three Kings,' or the 'Ell,' or 'Yard,' also mentioned in the book of Job as the 'Bands of Orion. ' They are just three degrees apart, one belt, east and west, points to the Pleiades on the west side and Sinus on the east side. North of Sirlds the dog star but at a higher eleva tion, is 'Procyon' (the lesser dog). Northeast ot rrocvon. at a little nisner eievition. is uas- tor.and Pollux, in the constellation of Gemini beloDCg to the zodiac il constellation "Castor is the double star," said Florence. "Yes," I retarued, "it is very interesting, and we must get our telescope, and let Kate see what a wonderful change in the combination the assistance of the lens can make," For some time there was a chorus of excla mations and questions given and answered, un til I at last interrupted the busy star gazers with 'My dear girl-, it is getting late and we must indeed quit this charming scene." "Oh! it is too lovely to sleep," said Mary. "See! the full moon is even now rising in full tide of glory, and our pretty stars are growing pale," I continued. "But to fill to compl-te-ness the beautiful night," persisted tbe dear child. "Envious moon," said Kate. "Her royal ladyship is bidding our beautiful stars to be 'bi-autiiully less.' " "Dear little Virgie has gone to sleep," said Florence, tenderly, "with her long fair hair leaning asrainet your black dress. She looks like a little star h'rself." "Dear cousiu," sail Miry, "I thank yoH so much for a pleasant eveniug." "And I," said Kate, "for my instructive one, and the Bible truths you told me of." "I hope this will not be our last pleas int evening," I returned. "As our time is limited in observing tbe most beautiful constellations. But then our opportunities are so favorable; isolated as we are from the busy world, we can resort to our beautiful 'City of Stars,' and wander at will amid th'e jeweled courts of kings." "Yes," laughed Kate, "to the Orion castle, for instance, to make due obeisance to the three kings." "Then let as bid the shining host good night. Hoping very soon to resume ourpleasaut recre ation, aud in making ourselves familiar with tbe heavens we may enlist others, which will, indeed, make it a two fold pleasure." "But now the moon doth softly fling A silvery radiance o'er lake and bill, And all the planets, following slow and still, p. Along the depths, their solemn marches hold, While here aud there some meteor's startled ray Shoota streaka of arrowy lire udown the milky way." Amelia's roans " 1 The Limit of Human Intellect. A column or bridge conuot be carried beyond a certain Bize without crushing or breaking in substance; and a whale, if unsupported by the Burronnding water, would die from the pres sure of his own weight. A small animal will leap many more times his length than a large one, aud the integrity of his slender limos will not be injured by the exertion. The use fol development of a tree is known to be pro moted by severe pruning; and where this is im possible, as in primeval forests, tbe trees prune themselves, and attain greater .bight by the death of their under branches, the insufficient supply of suultght being iniiinopolized by the upper and dominant members at the expense of the lower. These examples, drawn both from inert and organic matter, may serve to illustrate tbe cor responding truth that human intellect, though varying in capacity in different indivduals, has , li. I I n. . ... . . II nlniin nf. li.nnmsnl l.n n nr-i , to - .- . . f . gory; When God in hiB eternal council conceived the thought of man's creation, be called to him the three ministers who wait constantly upon the throue Justice, Truth a id Mercy and ad dressed them: "Shall we make man?" then said Justice, "0, God, make him not, for be will trample upon toy laws." Truth answered also, "Ou, God make him not, for he will pol lute tby sanctuaries," But Mercy dropped upon ber knees, looking up through her tears, and exclaimed, 'Oh, God, make him I will watch ove him through all the dark paths which he may have to tread." Then God made man, and said to him, "O, man, thou art tbe child of Meroy, po and deal with thy brother." Has the Gorilla Human Instincts? This question would almost seem to require au Hfurmative answer it the following is literally true: The only captivp gorilla in existence recently died iu the Zoological Gardens, in Dresden. Tue animal, a female, was long supposed to be a chaajpauzee, and it was only lat ly that, to the eurptise of all naturalists, ber gorilla characteristics were recognized. The story of the death scene of this almost human monkey is a remarkable one, since it goes to show that tbe animal was the possessor of feelings hith erto deemed absent among tbe brutes. Says a writer in the Loudon Echo: "As Director Sohopf (the director of the gardens) leaned over his favorite, the ape drew him toward ber, placed her arm arouud tbe neck of ber kind friend, and looked at bun for some time with clear aud tranquil eyes; she tbeu kissed him three times, with short intervals between each salute, motioned to be laid upon her conch, gave her baud to Schopf as though bidding farewell to a companion of many happy years aud slept never to wake again," Thk Cow. If civilized people were ever to lapse into the worship of auimals, the cow would oertaiulv be th.-ir chief goddess. What geutle, amiable, ever yielding creature, wno , has no joy in her family affairs which she does . not share with man. We rob her of her chil- urtu, tuai we may too ner oi urr iuuk, hum we only rare tor ner that ttie roooery may oe per- petuated. Household ironfi. Pi-AXT Flowkbs. No home i attractive to children without flowers and fruits, aud noth ing ia more productive of pleasure in a family than the innocent employuiemt ol caring for nature's "blooming beauties" that never fail to come at our calling, whenever a little attention is paid to their cultivation. We hope every family will, the coming summer, enjoy the ele vating influence of a flower garden. Women in Society. The great French Emperor Napoleon, while in conversation with some of his courtiers on the subject of the nation, its soldiers, their patriotism, etc., wag asked what France most needed, and his emphatlo reply was "mothers." In all countries where woman is held as tbe equal of man, her influence is wonderful for good or for evil as she may chooe to use it. How important then that she should be actua ted by the right motives and should be found in the society of the young, lo helpBhape their characters tor usefulness. The society of woman is not only refining, but it is agreeable, and in society composed largely of women, needs no other and could find no greater element of cohesion. Many of our readers remember the old Washingtonian temperance society, which rose and spread rapidly for a while, but then dwin dled down to a handful. The Sous of Temper ance then came on the stage of action. They adopted closed doors, or seo-ecy, but there was au clement of strength and cohesion yet lack ing, and when the Good Templers came with woman as a cotaborer, the Sons of Temperance had to admit her as a visiting member to hold their membership. Take women out of the church to-day, and who can safely say how long it would BUtvive the blow? Pious men ot course would not forsake their religion, but they would enjoy it at home with their families rather than atapublia place of worship without them, and their influence would be lost to tbe world. Only a few days since we heard a geutleman remark. " Woman holds the kevs sure, if she only knew it." The history of tbe past is full of instances of men being led to destruction or taved as brands from the burning fire by the influence of woman. A certain man once said, "let me write the songs of a nation, and I care nut who makes the laws." He mieht have said, guarantee the virtue of the women of the nation and cive them their proper position in society, and I will warrant the nation's safety. wnai nation or frocitiy can ignore uisiuuiieuuei The success of tbe Patrons of Husbiudry was secured as soon as woman wag admitted within the Bates. What is most needed now, is to give her work there and encourage her to do tbe worn. Hake ner leel at nome, men bring in the younger member of the community under her iu'flueuce, aud the farmer's future is bright atid bis destiny safe. The Youko Napoleon How me Spekds his Time. A correspondent of the St. Louis Dem ocrat writes as follows: Napoleon the postible Fourth rises at dawn and works hard all day. His programme of study, whiuh he now pur sues in the classic retiiememt of Cobden Place, is rather severe. On Mondays he studies the facts of history in the.morning, and tbe philos ophy of history in tbe afternoon. On Tuesdays geography, and after simple geography, the manners, climate and wealth of various regions Ou Wednesdays he looks into the administra tive oiganizalion of France as compared with that ol other nations. On Tuursdays he stud ies iudiciarv organization. On Fridays French polmcs, past and pri-sent. On Saturdays he indulges, with competent professors, iu a pro found examination of contemporary events. On Sundays he rests. Refrigerating Railroad Cars. Anv practical method for refrigerating a rail road car so that the temperature may be kept constant at about 40 Fab. will be of immense service for transporting fresh meats, fruits, etc Efforts have been made to accomplish this by packing ice in tbe c'ir with the fruit, etc., and trusting to an ordinary ventilator, operated, by the speed of the train, for a constant supply of air from the outside to be cooled by the ice before coming in contact with the fruit. But this method has been found very uncertain and expensive, by reason of tbe large amount of ice consumed by the constant inrush of warm air. A lew plan has recently been addpted which is said to be meeting with very good success, and which is described as follows : The car is provided with a fan-blower, driven by one of tbe axles, by means of which air is forced over the ice and thus reduced to a low temperature. This chilled air is distributed among tbe fruit boxes through a large perforated pipe laid along the bottom of the car. After it has thus circulated among $he fruit, it returns to the blower, aud is again forced through the appar atus. By this means the atmosphere of the car is said to be kept at thedesirtd tempera ture with a very small consumption of ice. To Coat Nails With Tin. It often becomes desirable to coat nails with tin when used for certain purposes, as for picture hancinc. etc. This may readily be done by any purpose in a very inexpensive and simple manner, as follows: rut nan an ounce ot powdered tin (which may be procured of any operative chemist) int6 a common Florence flask; pour on about two ounces of concentrated muriatic acid, and boil over a spirit lamp until the tin is dissolved, When cool, pour into any convenient vessel, and dilute with about an equal bulk of pure water. Drop in the nails required to be coated, holding the vessel bo they may all fall to one side. Immerse a piece of sheet copper iuto the solution, as far apart from- the nails as possible, and connect it with the latter by means oj a piece of copper wire. The effect of this arrangement is the development of avoltaio electricity, which causes a rapid decomposition of the fluid, and the deposition of tin on tbe surface of the nails. After being subjected to this treatment for about an hour, the nails will be found to have received a thick coating of metal, and may then be removed from tbe liquid, dritd and polished. Steel pens may be coated in the same manner a process which effectually prevents their rusting. Thev mav be coated entire or merely the nibs may be subjected to tbe operation. Cabtixo Stove Plates. As the Btove plates of to-day are more or less elaborately orna mented with finely relieved patterns, having sharp corners, and oftentimes with extremely fine iines of depression and elevation, it be comes necessary to use tbe utmost art and care to bave the work as near perfection as possible. To accomplish this, and give tbe finest possible surface to tbe casting', beeswax is applied to the patterns. This is doue in the following man ner: The pattern must be heated till it is hot enough to melt tbe wax and not burn It. Then apply the wax by rubbing it here and there over the surface of the plate; a small quantity only is required. After which, and while the wax is in a liquid form, give the casting a thorough brusbiug with a new shoe brnsb; this will spread the wax uniformly over tbe entire surface and at tbe same time remove all the surplus wax. Then allow the castins to cool. and, with a second shoe brush, give it a thor ough brushing, and you will have a surface to your pattern that will give you a mold with as sharp corners as your pattern. To Detect Leaks is Gas Pipes. Apply soapsuds to a suspected leaky joint in the gas pipe. Tbe formation of bubbles will show any escape. This is safer than trying tbe joint with a lighted match. If the leak occur in the branch of a bracket or chandelier, it is repaired oy soldering with plumber's fine solder; if it be a very small one, heat the place first with a spirit lamp, aud fill the aperture with cement. Yoi)fQ Folks' CouJptl. The Beginning. "Give me a cent and you may pitch one of the rings, and if it catches over a nail, I'll give you- six cents." That seemed fair enough, so the boy handed him a oent, and took a ring. He stepped back to a stake, tossed his ring, and it caught on one of the nails. "Will von take six rings to pitch again, or six cents'?" "Six cents," was the answer, and two three cent pieoes were put into his hand. He stepped off well satisfied with what he had done, and probably not having an idea that he had done wrong. A gentleman standing near had watched him, and now, before be had time to look about and rejoin his companions, laid his hand on his shoulder. "My lad, this is your first lesson In gambling?" "Gambling, sir?" "You staked yonr penny and won six, did you not?" "Yes I did." "You did not earn them and they were not given you; ou won them just us gamblers win money . You have taken the first step in the path; that rann has gone through it and you can see tbe end. Now, 1 advise you to go and give him six cents back, and ask him for your penny, and then stand tquare with the world, an honest boy again." He had hung bis head down, but raised it quickly, and his bright, open look as he said, "I'll do it," will not be forgotten. He ran back aud Boon emerged from the ring, ljoking hap pier thau ever. He touohed his cap and bowed pleasantly as ho ran away to jom his comrades. That was an honest boy. Getting the Boys Up. Calling a boy up in tbe morning can hardly be classed under the bead of pastimes. And it is a little singular that the next hardest thing to getting a boy out of bed is getting him into it. There ia rarely a mother who is a success at rousing a boy. All mothers know this ; so do their boys. And yet the mother seems to go about it in tbe right way. She opens tbe stair door and insinuatinly observes, " Johnnie," There is no response. "Johnnie," louder. Still no response; then there is a sharp, short "John," followed by a prolonged aud emphatio ' John Henry." A grunt from the upper story signifies that an impression has been made, and the mother is encouraged to add: "You'd better be getting down here to your breakfast, young man, betore I come up there and give you something you'll feel." 'Ibis so startles the " young man" that be im mediately goes to sleep again ; and the opera tion has to be repeated several times. A father knows nothing about this trouble. He merely opens his mouth as a soda bottle ejects its cork, nud the "John Henry" that cleaves the air of that stairway goes into that boy like electricity and pierces the deepest recesses of his very na ture. And be pops out of that bed, into his clothes and down the stairs with a promptness that is commendable. It is rarely that a boy allows himself to disregard the paternal sum mons, about once a year ia often enough to quicken his understanding. He savis his father a great many steps by his thoughtful ness. Danbury News. A Five Hundred Dollar Cat. ' Our young friends will say that five hundred dollarsis a big price to pay tor a cat. But this is when and how it came about: Tbe London ers are famous for their "cat shows." Cats are often exhibited tnere as we exhibit the more useful animals here. One of these snows was lately held at Sydenham palace, near Lou don, where over four hundred cats were placed on exhibition. The prize cat took a premium of twenty-five dollars. He's a splendid fellow, named 'Tommy Dod" nine years old, and con sidered worth five hundred dollars. The heavi est specimen in the show weighed a few ounces over eighteen pounds. There's a cat for you, which would be a pretty good load for some of the little boys and girls who read this column. What is Life? At a recent session of the American dental convention, In the course of some remarks upon microscopic investigation, Dr. Atkinson said: "We shall never know anything about life until we go to the bottom of tbe matter of function. There is a substfatum denominated 'atom,' which is the least manifestation of life that we know of. Atoms are endowed with life they can't be killed. We have been told that tne molecular lite of our food is Killed, a statement like that is either a lapsus Unguce, or it shows an utter misapprehension of tbe sub ject. Atoms coalesce and manufacture mole cules; plasma is an aggregation ot molecules. Something must die that something else may live, throughout the raogo of organio life. We have crystalline life, and below that granular life, molecular life and atomio life. A crystal is regularly arranged granules that are regu larly arranged molecules that are regularly ar ranged atoms. "The doctrine of inorganio or azoio exist ence will not do in this day. If we wish to know tbe origin of life, we must define tbe ter ritory we are speaking of; when the consciour life has left tbe body, we bave organic, cellulas and molecular life left, and that is the food which we like to suck from the beefsteak. It is simply a polarizition and depolarization of atoms that constitutes molecular mass. We cannot disrupt molecules without reducing to ultimate atoms; there is no such thing as death. Matter means mother. Every oue who has followed me knows I have givtn as complete an answer to the question we are discussing, as that two and two are four. When tbe blessed love of the Father of Light comes in and illumines us, we are endowed with the capa bility to perceive. The doctrine that omne vlvum ex ovo is pretty old, as old as Harvey. If the protoplastio mass is an egg, that is true; there are no bricks without mud, there is no loaf without dough. What do Bastian's inves tigations prove? Only that these points are so small as not to bave been detected before; they do not prove that the germs are not essentially eggs. What is an atom? It is in size about the two hundred millionth part of an inch. If one side of it is warm and the other cold, there is polarization and depolarization, and that brings it to a point where freezing begins, and that is crystallization. When we have investi gated deep enough, we shall be prepared to understand the processes, and they will be as plain as the freezing of water." Chaucoai, Impboved ut Aqe. It is .well known that mineral coal deteriorates rapidly by exposure to the atmosphere, through the loss of inflammable gates and the slow ox idation of its other constitutents. But with charcoal the reverse is true. Charcoal improves with age by the meohanical absorption of ox ygen, which does not combine wuh it until sufficient heat ia applied to burn the coal, it which time tbe excess of oxygen adds intensity to the flame, and of course produces more heat thau would be given off by tbe coal if burned imu.ed atily after being made. 735B "E5
