Foam-wreaths her last plank crown! Osborne. CXXIX. GREAT RESULTS FROM SMALL BEGINNINGS. ΕΙ 1. ABOUT the year 1336, an obscure monk, in making some experiments, having put into a common mortar a mixture of saltpetre and other combustible materials, accidentally dropped into it a spark, when he was astonished to see the pestle fly off into the air. 2. This incident furnished two ideas: that of the increased power of gunpowder when confined, and that of its applicability to the propulsion" of heavy bodies. These two simple ideas, carried out into practice, produced guns, large and small, and revolutionized the entire system of war. 3. The vibration of the lid of an iron tea-kettle gave the first hint of the expansive power of steam. This hint, followed out through innumerable experiments, finally ended in the modern steam-engine, which is fast revolutionizing the mode of both land and water carriage. EI 4. The first idea of our modern railways and it is a very simple idea came from a mine near Newcastle, England. The plan occurred to some one of "laying rails of timber exactly straight and parallel; and bulky carts were made with four rollers fitting those rails, whereby the carriage was made so easy that one horse would draw four or five chaldrons" of coal." 5. Thus coal was conveyed from the mines to the bank of the river Tyne. This mode was in practice in 1676; how much earlier is not known to us, probably to no one; for, though a great idea, it was, like most other great ideas, thought of little account at the time of its origin. 6. Like Columbus's method of making an egg stand or the big end by jarring it so as to break the yolk, it was thought to be too simple to deserve any praise. Nevertheless, out of this simple idea sprang, one hundred and fifty years afterward, the modern railway. 7. It had been noticed, by chemists, that flame cannot be made to pass through a tube of small diameter. In the hands of Sir Humphrey Davy this fact grew into the miner's safety-lamp, which has saved the lives of thousands. 8. The magnet had been for centuries a plaything in Europe. At last its property, when freely suspended, of taking a north and south position, was noticed, and applied to navigation. This resulted in the discovery of America. 9. The power of the sun's rays to discolor certain substances had long been known. In the hands of Daguerre this great fact grew into a most beautiful and perfect method of taking miniatures. 10. From Volta's simple pile to Morse's magnetic telegraph, what a stride! yet this stride is only the carrying out into practice of certain very simple properties of galvanism and magnetism. 11. So we might go on to enumerate the instances in which a very simple ideä has ended in mighty results. It is too often the habit of unthinking people to look upon certain studies as useless, just as the ignorant looked formerly on the magnet as a plaything. But everything seems to have its use, could we but find it out. CXXX CHARITY. 1. THOUGH I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing. 2. Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. 3. Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. 4. When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man I put away childish things. For now we see through a glass darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known. And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity. PAUL. CXXXI. SONG OF THE MOUNTAIN BOY. 1. I AM the mountain shepherd-boy! A noble prospect I enjoy ; I cătch the sun's first morning beams, 2. Here, in the torrent's native cell, Tempests around their battles wage; 4. Thunder and lightning under me, I greet the storms with friendly tone: 5. And when the bell begins to toll, And mountain-fires their flame-wreaths roll, And swing my sword and sing my lay: FROM THE GERMAN OF UHLAND CXXXII. THE CHANGES OF THE MOON. 1. THE moon, like the earth, is a dark or opaque body, and, also like the earth, owes her light to the sun. If the moon were to shine by her own light, she would always appear full; but, as we only see that part which is turned towards the sun, it is evident that she shines only by reflecting the light of that body, and puts on different shapes according to her situation with respect to the earth. 2. Thus, when the moon is in a line between us and the sun, her dark side is toward the earth, and we do not see her; but when she has removed a little from that line, in her revolution round the earth, a streak of light appears, in the shape of a beautiful crescent. 3. This keeps increasing till she has passed through one quarter of her course, when she becomes a crescent, or half-moon, and is said to be in her first quarter. Night after night we see her growing larger and larger, till she has completed half her course, and is directly opposite the sun. One half of her surface is now enlightened, and she appears circular. This is full moon, the second quarter. 4. After this she begins to decrease, and, as she proceeds in her revolution, again presents a half-moon; this is the third quarter. Finally, she goes on showing less and less of her surface, till she disappears altogether, being now again placed between the sun and the earth, both morning and evening, and, consequently, her dark side is turned towards us. 5. These phases, as they are called, or variations in the appearance of the moon, are thus marked in the Almanac: ○ new moon; > first quarter; full moon; « last quarter. These figures represent the moon in her various stages very accurately. The horns or points of the increasing moon are directed towards the east, because it is from the west that the sun first enlightens her. When waning, the horns are turned westward, because it is from the east that the light is then received. EI 6. The length of time in which the moon passes through all the signs of the Zodiac is twenty-seven days, eight hours, nearly; but the space between each conjunction of the sun and moon, or between the new moon and another, is twenty-nine days and a half, and these form a lunar month. The reason of this difference is to be found in astronomical works. 1. Ir is the peculiar vice of our age and country to put a false estimate on the mere acquisition of riches. I do not undervalue either wealth or the diligence and enterprise so often exercised in its attainment. I would not say a word to throw doubt on the importance of acquiring such a measure of this world's goods as to render one independent, and able to assist others. |