really made of pine, with a covering of mahogany outside. Such a table is much cheaper than if it were all mahogany. This is 13. "Then, next comes the table-cloth. made of linen. Linen is produced from a plant called flax. Have you ever seen flax growing?" 14. "Yes; father showed me some, last summer, growing in a field, on grandfather's farm. It had a green stalk, with a pretty blue flower. When father showed it to me, he repeated a piece of poetry about a little. girl that was lost in a shipwreck; and it said, Blue were her eyes as the fairy flax.' Father told me that this meant that her eyes were as blue as those flowers." 6 The seeds are then 15. "I am very glad, my dear, that you remember so well what your father tells you. After the flowers are dead, the plants are pulled up. beaten out; the stalks are soaked in water, and dried, and combed, and bleached, until they become a bundle of fibres, like very fine hair. 16. These fibres are spun into threads, and the threads are woven into cloth. You will see that the surface of the table-cloth is not uniform, or all alike, but that it has patterns, or figures, wrought into it. This is all done by very curious and ingenious machinery." 17. "Flax is not much raised in our country; nor are there many manufactories of linen here. They raise it in great quantities in England, Ireland, Belgium, and parts of Germany; and it is manufactured ;a in Scotland, England, the north of Ireland, and Germany. This table-cloth was brought in a ship from Liverpool, in England." 18. "You said just now, that the flax was bleached, What is that?" 19. "To bleach is to make white. The natural color of flax is a kind of brown, like the brown linen thread I have in my work-basket; and it has to be whitened by art. Most linen fabrics are whitened after they are woven. It used to be done by spreading the cloth upon the grass, in the sun, and frequently wetting it; but now the cloth is dipped into a kind of liquid which takes the color out at once. 20. "Now we have the table set, and the cloth spread; we will next see what there is on the table. Here are the coffee-pot, the tea-pot, the water-pot, the cream-jug, and the sugar-bowl. What do you think these are made of?" 66 21. They are made of silver, I suppose. They look like the silver half dollar father gave me once." 22. "Your answer is a natural one, my dear Lucy. Older persons than you judge of things by their outward appearance. These are not made of silver, though they look like it. Rich people have them of silver; but ours are made of a white metal, commonly called German silver, covered over, or plated, with real silver. German silver is made of copper, zinc, and nickel; all of which are metals. Articles of this kind are made, in great numbers, in the city of Birmingham, in England. They are also made in our country." XLIII.-BREAKFAST-TABLE SCIENCE, CONTINUED. 1. "LET us next go to the cups and saucers and the plates. They are of the same substance, and of a white color; but they may be of other colors. Our dinner plates, you know, are covered all over with blue figures. They are all called, in common speech, earthen ware, or crockery ware, and sometimes China ware, because much of it comes from China. 2. "All kinds of crockery ware are made out of earth or clay. The finest sorts, which are sometimes called porcelain, are made partly of clay, and partly of flint stones which have been burned, pounded, and ground into a powder. 3. "This material is mixed with water, and made into a sort of paste or dough; this is shaped or moulded into cups, plates, or dishes, and it is done very quickly and neatly by men who are accustomed to it. They use a wheel to help them shape it. Then it is put into an oven and heated, and after it comes out it is glazed, and sometimes painted with figures, and colored.” 4. "What do you mean by glazed, mother?" 5. "If you look at a cup or plate carefully, you will see that the surface is not merely smooth, but polished and bright, something like glass. This is the effect of the glazing. A substance made of lead, called litharge of lead, is put into water, and mixed up with ground flints or granite, so as to make a liquid like thick cream; and into this the articles which require glazing are dipped. They are then put into an oven and heated again. The glazing makes them easy to wash, and enables them to hold any liquid without absorbing it. 6. "Earthen ware and porcelain ware are made in England, France, China, and to some extent in our country. There is a place in France where plates and cups and saucers are made, which have most beautiful paintings upon them of birds, or flowers, or places. These sell for a great deal of money; and in looking at them, it seems impossible to believe that they were made of clay and flint stones. 7. "The knives are divided into two parts, the blade and the handle. The blade is made of steel, which is a preparation' of iron. Iron is a metal which is dug out of the earth. When first found, it is not in the state in which you now see it, but it looks like a rough, dark-brown stone. This is put into a furnace and melted, and the iron is drawn off in a liquid form. Iron is the most useful of metals, and is found in nearly all parts of the world. 8. "Steel is made by putting bars of iron into a close box with fine-powdered charcoal, and then heating the whole very hot. The vapor of the charcoal acts in a peculiar way upon the iron, and makes it harder, more elastic, and less liable to rust. Steel, also, when struck, sounds or rings louder than iron, and it takes a brighter polish. 9. "The handles of knives are made of ivory, bone, horn, or wood. Ours are made of bone. Knives are made in England, Germany, and also in our own coun try. Sheffield, in England, is a place where many are made. 10. "Do you see any thing else on the table that is made of iron?" 11. "No, mother, I do not." 12. "There is something else, though you do not perceive it. This waiter is made of iron. It is made of very thin iron, called sheet iron, which is first painted, and then varnished. A great deal of ware of this kind is made in Birmingham, in England. This is a large and rich city, and the people are mostly employed in various manufactures of metal. They make buttons, buckles, thimbles, pencil-cases, steel pens, tea-pots, trays, cake-baskets, and many other similar articles. 13. "The spoons are made of silver-real silver. Silver is a metal, which is dug out of the ground. It is one of the precious metals, so called; it comes next in value to gold and platinum, which latter is rarely used. Money is coined from gold and silver. Silver is used for many purposes; and various beautiful and useful things are made from it. It comes mostly from Mexico and South America. 14. "Having now disposed of the table, its covering, and the furnishing of the table, let us proceed to consider what we have had to eat. Our breakfast has consisted of tea, coffee, sugar, bread, butter, milk, boiled eggs, and baked apples. 15. "Tea is the leaf of a shrub which grows in China and Japan. It is from four to six feet high. The leaves are gathered twice a year-in the spring and the autumn. They are dried a little in the sun, then laid on plates of hot iron, and afterwards rolled on mats with the palm of the hand. There are many varieties' |