Love is a passion "Tis heaven's own blessing "Tis the peace that surpasseth So, when thy frail image And all that thou'st lived for May hold supreme sway, DAISY H. I WATCHED the tints of the setting sun, All nature's voice around was still, So peaceful was nature, so fragrant the flowers, A LITTLE WHILE. STEPHANIE SEE how fast the storm clouds gather Clear and sweet their joyous cry. And the sun shall smile again. Seek not, strive not to detain them, THE PARTING. Away from his belov'd one far- They meet to part no more, The stately vessel is at hand To bear him off from Britain's shore! One parting look-one last embraceEach reads the other's thoughts too well,, By the expression of the face The vain attempt to say "Farewell." "Yet must it be! 'tis vain to weep, And we are doomed, alas! to part; What tho' ere long in death I sleep? Maiden, let not it break thy heart! C. W..B.. SONNET. LAST night I heard, as in a dream of bliss, JOHN GEORGE THOMSON. HOW TO MAKE AN ELECTRICAL MACHINE. and when they were in place the distance between them was exactly eleven inches. The hole near the top was three quarters of an inch diameter, and was bored through perfectly straight and smooth, to receive the pin or axis of the cylinder. Fig. 1. IT was not until Dr. Franklin made his experiments that people began to understand the nature and importance of electricity: and since then, discovery has been added to discovery, and we can now make electrical machines so powerful, as to kill a rabbit with their shock, and imitate thunder and lightning on a small scale. We make it useful in the electric telegraph; we can make it turn machinery, or lay a coat of gold or silver on commoner metal, and we can employ it in several useful operations. I had heard that cylinders could be But with all this, we do not know what bought ready prepared for use, but they electricity really is; we know that it is a were far to dear for me to buy; and after a force or power existing in nature, and that good deal of thinking and planning, I puris nearly all. An electrical machine ena- chased a show-glass, such as confectioners bles us to collect a quantity of this power use for exhibiting barley-sugar and other for experiment; but what we see is not the sweetmeats in their windows; it was ten electricity itself; it is only the effects of inches long, and four and a-half inches in electricity. And this is a point worth re- diameter; and cost five and sixpence. membering; for many people are apt to Such an one might now be bought for two believe when they see a flash of lightning, shillings, or less. It puzzled me for a time or a spark from a machine, that they see to know how I should mount it; that is, fix electricity; but this, as I have just ex- a wooden cap at each end. I considered, plained, is not the case-no one has ever and got two pieces of mahogany one inch yet seen electricity. We do not produce it thick, and cut them into a round a little with a machine, we only use it, and make it more than five inches diameter, and had show some of its wonderful powers and re- them turned in the shape of a saucer, or sults; and this is not at all the same as the lid of a snuff-box, by a turner, with a knowing what it really is. That is a ques-pin three-quarters of an inch diameter, tion which will puzzle the brains of the greatest philosophers for many years to come. Now, to tell my own story: when I first began I had never seen electrical machines, I had only read about them. knew that the wood to be used in the making of one should be perfectly dry and seasoned, and that a glass cylinder would be wanted; and I remember having been a very long time saving money enough to buy the cylinder, and in fitting ends to it when I had bought it. First, I made the stand; which was a piece of mahogany, one inch thick, fourteen inches long, and nine inches wide. To insure its being quite dry, I got a baker to let me put into his oven for a night, with the pieces of wood for other parts of the machine. After this, I made the stand perfectly smooth and square with a plane, and next prepared two uprights or standards. which were to support the cylinder; these were also one inch thick, and twelve inches long, and three inches wide. I then cut a hole, or mortise, as it is called, through each end of the stand, and fitted one of the uprights into each hole, as shewn in fig. I; fitted into, and projecting from the centre of each. These caps fitted over each end of the cylinder like a lid, but leaving room for the cement with which they were to be fixed. The fixing was a critical operation, and I had great doubts of success. The cement was made of resin melted in a ladle, and mixed with very finely powdered brickdust, until it formed a stiffish sort of paste. Í had scratched each end of the cylinder with a broken file, to make it bite, as the saying is, into the cement, and I put it, as well as the caps, near the fire to get thoroughly warm. Then, having filled one of the caps with the warm cement, I placed it perfectly level on a table, and pushed the end of the cylinder into it, taking care to make it stand upright; for if it leaned ever so little to one side, it would not have run truly when mounted. All the cement not required for holding the cap to the cylinder, was forced out all round the edge, and was easily chipped off when it hardened. After standing a few minutes the cement had set, and then I turned the cylinder upside down, and fixed the other cap in the same way; and was not a little pleased at the success of the operation; the appearance of the cylinder was then as shown in fig. 2. It measured eleven inches long with the caps on, being just the length to fit between the two uprights of the stand. With Fig. 2. what pride I put it into its place and twirled it round, wondering what sort of sparks it would some day give off! It would be possible to make a still cheaper cylinder, with a wide-mouthed of the standard, and was cut square to receive the handle with which the cylinder was to be turned. The handle of an old coffee-mill would do very well for a small machine; but it is not at all difficult to make a wooden one of the shape shown in the drawing. The next thing was to make the cushion against which the cylinder was to rub it is by rubbing that the electricity is produced. The way in which this cushion is fixed is shown in fig. 4. The upright which Fig. 3. green glass bottle; but one should be chosen which has perfectly straight sides. Electricity is kept under control with great difficulty; it is always trying to fly off from the place where you want it to stay, and this has to be prevented in every possible way. There are some substances through which it cannot pass, and these are called non-conductors. Sealing-wax is one of these non-conductors, and it is usual to varnish certain parts of electrical machines with a varnish made by dissolving sealingwax in spirits of wine. I therefore gave a smooth coat of this varnish to every part of the outside of my two cylinder caps, except the pivots, and thus guarded against the electricity running away through them, when the machine came to be finished. The varnish is easily made by putting seal ing-wax broken small into spirits of wine, and leaving it for a night to dissolve. It is not to be placed near the fire. If one coat does not completely fill up the pores of the wood, then two or three must be laid on. The cylinder was now ready for being mounted I put the two pins into the holes made for them in the standards, and then Iglued the latter securely into the mortises as shown in fig. 3). One of the pins was eft an inch longer than the thickness Fig. 4. supports it is mortised into the stand, in such a place as to allow of the cushion pressing pretty tightly against the cylinder. The cross-piece at the top was about half-aninch thick, and full eight inches long, extending nearly the whole length of the cylinder, and on the next side the glass was covered with a cushion, made hollow to fit the cylinder. This cushion is to be filled with horse-hair, and covered with washleather, and made about as soft as an ordinary pin-cushion; when finished, it can be fixed in the cross-piece with glue. A piece of silk, to serve as a flap or apron, is to be sown to its upper edge, and to be long enough to reach the opposite side of the cylinder (see fig. 3). The use of this is to keep the sparks from flying off after they have been produced by the rubbing; for silk is one of the non-conductors. This part of the machine was now complete. The conductor was the next thing to be made: for this I got a stand one inch thick and six inches in diameter, and as nothing but glass would do for the stem or upright, I found a long phial, and fixed it into the stand, in the same manner as. had fixed the caps to the cylinder. The upper end was fitted into the conductor by a hole bored of the required size, but not fixed with cement, as it is convenient at times to be able to take the conductor off. This conductor is intended to receive the electricity from the cylinder, and it does so by the row of points which nearly touch the glass (see fig. 3). These points belong to what resembles a comb or rake, fitted to the end of a conductor so as to take out when necessary. I made mine of brass wire, very smooth, and with no sharp corners left in any part of it. Nothing is to be sharp but the points of the teeth; the electricity from the cylinder passes into these, and these convey it into the conductor behind. The conductor I got made by the turner: it was nine inches long, and about two and a-half inches diameter, of dry beech, and covered it with tin-foil, which had to be pasted on very smoothly, and it was only by patience and contrivance that I made it fit smoothly on the rounded ends. It is impossible to make an electrical machine too well. I next bought a brass ball about three-quarters of an inch in diameter, and fitted to the end of the conductor opposite to the rake, by a stem of brass wire. And now the conductor was complete. After this, what remained to be done seemed very easy. For the jar in which the charge of electricity was to be collected, got an old pickle-bottle of white glass, and covered it on the bottom and inside and outside with tin foil, for about two-thirds of the height, or nearly to the top, and filled the opening with a thin piece of wood varnished all over with the sealing-wax varnish. Then 1 got a ball similar to that fitted to the conductor, and fixed a piece of brass wire to it, long enough to reach nearly to the bottom of the bottle, and passed it through the wooden bung or cover, (as they are shown in fig. 3). This is commonly called a Leyden jar. Now I only wanted a discharging rod: this I made of a piece of brass wire about a foot long, with a small ball attached to each end, and for the glass handle I took a small phial, and filled it with melted cement, and before the cement cooled, I pushed the straight part of the wire into it, having first made it rough with a file, and when the cement cooled I had a firm and complete discharging rod. I next bought a yard or two of brass chain, such as costs about threepence a yard, and then my machine was ready for the trial. I arranged all the parts on a table, as shown in fig. 3, using a small piece of the chain twisted lightly round to connect the conductor with the jar. Then, with mingled feelings of pleasure and anxiety, I turned the handle of the cylinder until I thought a small charge of electricity had passed into the jar. I took hold near the bottom of the jar with one hand without lifting it from the table, and touched the ball at the top with the other, expecting to get a shock; but no shock followed. Here was a disappointment! What could be the reason? looked carefully over every part of the machine, but could see nothing wrong; still I could get no shock. At last I remembered reading that there is more electricity in dry weather, and that when experiments are being made with a machine, every part must be perfectly dry; I therefore drew the table pretty near the fire, and warmed an old silk handkerchief, and rubbed the cylinder and all parts of the glass until they were quite dry and warm. Then I turned the handle again, and on trying the jar this time I was not disappointed. I got a shock. Soon I began to try different experiments, and to give shocks to my brothers and sisters, or to any one that would take them. But the shocks were not so strong as I hoped they would be; and I one day asked my schoolmaster if he could tell me the reason why. He said that there were certain things which assisted the development of electricity which made it come, as it were, in greater quantity and among these things were some of the metals. Under his advice I bought a small quantity of zinc and quicksilver, which were to be mixed together in proportions of one of the former to two of the latter-that is, to one quarter-ounce of zinc there were to be added two quarter-ounces of mercury. These I melted in a ladle, and poured the melted metal into a box and shook it about quickly until it cooled. It was now soft and brittle, and I bruised a small piece till it became a fine powder, and mixed this powder into a paste with lard. It was then what is called amalgam. I rubbed some of it upon the cushion of my machine, and the next time I took a shock I found it stronger than I liked. The amalgam had helped to collect a greater quantity of electricity. EULALIE'S EVENTIDE. MEMORIES. "Adieu! adieu! remember me."-Hamlet. STRONG in the human heart is the desire to remember, and to be remembered. Few are there in this naughty world, who, pale with misery though they be, would take with passionless hand the cup of Lethe-drinkand calmly all the past submerge in dull oblivion ;-some friend, or one far dearer than a friend, hath been, or is, within whose memory we would fain enshrine some moments of a bliss once shared in sweet communion. Without memory there could be for us no future. Hope has its only sure foundations in the past, and all the visions playful fancy weaves will bear a family likeness to the things that were-the past that was. This instinct to perpetuate our emotions, our thoughts, our deeds, is evidenced in many varied ways, in tokens, letters, books, and monuments:-even from the first early birth of thought to the last lingering look we leave on earth, we thread the rosary of our days on memory. We once were children, and that thought speaks to us day by day; the little brighteyed image playing in our path is hope im personate; he links us to his love, and lets us not forget. Since then our breasts have been the homes of many joys, of many sorrows. Darkness and light-such is the lot of humanity; even as earth, undershadowed, revolves and bathes herself in light, so there is sunshine for us when we turn to look upon nature, and upon the great soul of light that playeth ever in her countenance. Seeing that we are as flowers, coloured according to the soil that feeds us, how anxiously ought we to watch over the culture of the young, and train with tender care our little-thinking plants. Children should live in the open beauty of nature, the lovely and the grand should ever encircle them, for none of this is lost the impressions received are treasured up, consciously or unconsciously, and act their part in the formation of character, developing it to particular tendenciesthey, like the sunbeams on the chrysalis, help the young Psyche to its unfolding. Still onward as we tread the summer verge of life, our warm affections grow luxuriant and rich in memories. We have felt the treasured weight of friends upon our arm, and listened to the silvery tones heard 'neath the happy moonbeams. Many a maiden's vigil lamp hath burned, illu mining the tracings of some dear one's hand, or glistening through fast falling tears, tears shed in happiness, or blended with sorrow for the far-away. Letters! Who does not possess some of these ever-eloquent treasures? who has not felt their magic power to rouse the soul to bitterest anguish, or lap it in sweet fairy reverie? Oh, strange it is how much of human love passes us each day folded up in letters, like fragrance in. flower-buds, unnoticed, uncared for by us,-balm for a heart nigh breaking, joy for a spirit in anxious tremblement, love for a soul, maybe to warn and beckon from destruction's brink. Wondrous and unfathomable power of words, teaching us the lesson of a widespread human sympathy in the joys and sorrows, the hopes and anxieties of all our unknown brothers and sisters. Among the hours of our purest enjoyments are those in which, after long absence, we meet our chosen, our truest friends. Like the marks set upon the trees by the forest traveller to guide him when he would return, so these hours indent themselves in the memory; the bark of age never overgrows them they grow with the growth of time.. So natural seems the giving of mementoes and tokens to those from whom we part, that we can scarcely imagine a time in the world's life, when friends separated without an act so simply beautiful. The market value of the gift counts for nothing, rather, indeed, would we prize the highest the gift which the world would not envy, and to the robber be no spoil. It would be a curious and interesting catalogue wherein was noted down the variety of gifts, leaving out such ominous ones as knives and scissors-which, in the charac teristic customs of the different tribes and nations of the earth, through ages past and present, have been used as tokens and remembrancers. The gift received at parting is seldom without its indication of the kind of love with which we are loved. A trinket speaks not much; a book is the expression of intellectual sympathy; of deeper meaning is a flower,-it tells, perhaps, of happy confidingness and serene anticipation, or symbolizes those fair frail hopes that we press to our bosoms, knowing too well that ere the morrow they will be withered. A flower is sacred; but holier far is the simple lock of hair,-the depth of tenderness has nothing more eloquent. Once that little ringlet waved around her foreheadglanced as a veil over her joy-bounding smiles, or lay pillowed on her bosom, and slept there. We part, the fair fingers clip it from its home-tremulously place it |