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tested against the partition of Poland, laugh
ed at Pulteney, the patriot’s patent for a peer
age. lalked of Prague and the Palatinate, and
the presumption of Privatus picking up prizes
in our very ports.
Mr. Pritchard would hardly part with us.
.tral placed a padlock on the stable, to pre
vent our proceeding; but perceiving we were
peremptory, at length permitted us to pass.
We pricked on our palfreys at a good pace,
though it was pitch dark, and some of us rode
plump against the posts placed to prevent
passengers from riding on the path for ped
estrians. Mr. Pratt, who was our pilot, prov
identially escaped, by his pad’s penetration,
being plunged down a perpendicular preci
pice. These perils put us in a palpitation,
and persuaded us to plod on as slow asapro
cession, pian-piano, as the Piedmontese say,
or pas a pas, as the French phrase is. I shall
postpone other particulars till I have the plea
sure of passing a day with you at Putney,
which 1 propose as soon as possible.
“ Philip.’,
<£!je tUorking ill an.
CHAPE SHAWLS.
There are many who may not know how
the Canton crape is made, and a short sketch
may not be out of place. When the crape
shawl comes from the weavers loom, it is
perfectly smooth and resembles gum silk
cloth. But the threads of which this cloth
is formed are made with one thread harder
than the other, and for deeper craping the
ward is harder twisted than the weft. The
difference of twist in the warp and weft as
the crapes are twilled, formsjillrhe crimping
of the crape, but not until it undergoes the
process of boiling. This is done by boiling
the shawls in fine white soap for a consider
ble time, which removes the gum from the
silk, and by the warp swelling more than
the weft, the shawls come out of the boiler
with that fine crisp so much admired. All
this crisp can be shaken out again by stretch
ing the shawls on stenters —hence in the
dressing operations care must be exercised
not to stretch them too much.
The embroidery of these shawls is perform
ed after the gum is removed. For this pur
pose the pattern is printed on the shawls
with fugitive blue, and the flowers are then
wrought with the needle. After this the
shawls are sent to the dyer's to be dyed and
dressed. Sometimes they are embroidered
before the gum is boiled off. but this is not a
good method, as silk is deteriorated in lustre
by boiling in soap any longer than merely to
remove the gum ; and to embroider with spun
silk on the. .gummed fabric, would require
the embroidery silk to receive too much boil
ing, and thus dim its lustre.
The use of soap to remove the gum of
raw silk cannot he recommended, but it is
the best and the cheapest with which we are
acquainted. Many of our fair ones will no
doubt be surprised to be told that their crape
shawls have been boiled for two or three
hours in soap. Many suppose that boiling
in soap would utterly destroy any silk fabric.
This in a measure is true; the operation is a
nice one —but there is not a silk dress worn
in our city, that has not in the yarn been boil
ed in soap.
The reason why the Chinese finished silks
have a liner lustre than the English and
French, is owing to the gum being removed
by a tedious and expensive process of steep
ing the silks in a cold spirituous liquor. In
the raw state, before the gum is removed, the
crape is of a dirty yellow color, but the boil
ing in soap removes the yellow gum and the
whitish silk appears. But still it is not yet
white. It has to he dyed for this purpose.
Some may think this strange, but it is a prac
tical fact. It takes red, blue and yellow rays
of light to form a white ray—a triunity, like
the great Author who created what Milton
terms
Holy light,
Offspring of Heaven’s first dawn.
The dyer to make his crape shawls white,
uses in clean soap for that purpose a little
archil and fine indigo strained through a cloth.
These colors, mingling with the yellow of
the shawl, form a white,, which is further
cleared up by thfe shawl's being washed out
of the soap in cold water, and afterwards sub
mitted to the fumes of sulphur is a very close j
room,
Crape veils are very expensive, and con
taining, as they do, so little silk, this seems
unreasonable--but the fine crape manufac
ture is in the hands of a few foreign houses,
and the art of dressing the crape is both a te
dious and a troublesome process.
In the last volume of the Scientific Ameri
cana patent process for dressing fine crape
3© 0T ‘ll i£ [R A ib fl Vis A A its ¥ &A%lbif if & ♦
shawls was described. It was to use a small
quantity of disolved gum copal and borax, a
long with liquid glue to stiffen the crape. —
This composition if rightly made and applied,
we have reason to know, is good, and is wor
thy of those in this and other cities of our
country whose business it is to redress dam
aged crape.— Scientific American.
INGENUITY IN THE USE OF THE
HAND.
In type-founding, when the melted metal
i has been poured into the moulds, the work-
I men by a peculiar turn of his hand or rather
| a jerk, causes the metal to be shaken into all
I the minute interstices of the mould.
The heads of certain kinds of pins are
formed by a coil or two of fine wire placed
lat one end. This is cut oft'from a long coil
fixed in a lathe : the workman cuts off one
or two turns of the coil, guided entirely by
his eye. and such is the manual dexterity dis
played in the operation, that a workman will
cut ofl 20,000 or 30.000 heads without mak
i ing a single mistake as to the number of turns
in each. An expert workman can fasten on
from 10.000 to 15,000 of these heads in a
; day.
The reader will frequently have seen the
papers in which pins are stuck for the con
venience of sale ; children can paper from
30,000 to 40,000 in a day, although each pin
involves a separate and distinct operation.
In stamping the grooves in the heads of
i needles, the operative can finish 8000 needles
|in an hour, although he has to adjust each
separate wire at every blow. In punching
the eyeholes of needles by hand, children
! who are the operators, acquire such dexterity
| as to be able to punch one human hair and
thread in with another, for the amusement of
visitors!
In finally •• preparing” needles for sale the
[ females employed can count and paper 3000
in an hour.
How to Live long.— A venerable minis
ter. who had preached some sixty-five years
i in the same place, being asked what was the
: secret of long life, replied, “ Rise early, live
temperately, work hard, and keep cheerful.”
Another person who lived to the great age of
one hundred years, said, in reply 1o the
question how he lived so long, “ 1 have al
ways been kind and obliging; have never
quarrelled with any one; have eaten and
drank only to satisfy hunger and thirst, and
have never been idle.”
Above all things, avoid law suits ; they
j prey upon the mind, they impair the health,
I and they dissipate your property.
: _ -ij'j nil.. ‘ __ i j ■■■■i
3, Column Crecto) to JTun.
Pat’s Dream. —A son of the Emerald Isle
! was observed by a friend one morning to look
! exceedingly blank and perplexed, he inquired
of him what ailed him ? Fat said, ‘* I had a
j dream.” His friend interrogated him, as to
j whether it was a good or a bad dream ? Pat
; answered, 44 It was a little of both.” 41 Faith.
; I'll tell you :—I dreamed I was wid the Pope,
j who was as great a jintleman as any one in
| the district : an’ he ax'd me wad 1 drink ?
i Thinks I, wud a duck swim, and seeing
the Innish-owen and the lemons, and sugar
on the sideboard, 1 told him I didn't care if I
tuk a wee dhrap of punch ! Cowhl or hot ?
axed the Pope. Hot , yer holiness, 1 replied ;
and be that he stepped down to the kitchen
for the hiring wather, but before he got back
I woke straight up !—and now it's distress
ing me that I didn't take it cowld /”
All the Degrees.— Thos. Fuller, who
j was a very lively writer, but rather addicted
to punning, was occasionally repaid his puns
with interest. He was exceedingly corpulent,
! and, as he was out riding with a friend nam
ed Sparrowliawk, “Pray, what is the differ
ence,” said he, 44 between an owl and a spar
row-hawK 1” “An owl,” replied his friend,
“is fuller in the head, fuller in the body, and
fuller all over.”
Charles and the Royal Society.—Charles
11. incorporated the Royal Society, and occa
sionally presided over its sittings’ Upon one
of those occasions, his Majesty inquired why
a fish of a weight being put into a pail of
water, was found not to augment the weight
of the pail as long ashe supported himself on
his fins? After a lengthened and a very
warm debate, one of the members got up and
told his Majesty that he doubted the fact.
The King merrily replied, “So do I.”
Capital Punishment.— Being kissed to
death by a pretty girl.
Classical Pun. —The completest pun on
the records of literature, is produced in the
following words, which were inscribed on a
tea-chest: Tu docks, which is the second per
son singular of the verb doceo , to teach : and
when literally translated, becomes Tiiou Tea
chest.
A Sharp Retort. —A physician, passing
by the shop of a stone mason, bawled out to
him
•‘Good morning, Mr. , hard at work,
1 see : you finish your grave-stones as far as
14 In memory of,” and then you wait, 1 sup
pose. to see who wants a monument next?’’
4 * Why, yes, replied the old man, resting
for a moment upon his mallet, 4 *unless some
body is sick and you are doctoring him, and
then I keep on.”
m
Patent Conundrums. —Why is an eagle
like a light-house ? Because it has a beak on
(beacon.)
Why is a considerate creditor like good
roast-beef? Because he is rare dun.
The Dumb Waiter. —A lady purchasing
a second-hand waiter, asked the broker wheth
er he thought it would answer? * 4 Yes, mad
am.” replied he, “without a question .”
Practical Satire. —During the joint stock
mania of 1842, a wag in London advertised a
company for draining the Red Sea, and re- j
covering valuables dropped therein by the j
children of Israel in their passage, and the j
Egyptians in their pursuit.
PATCH WORK.
“I don’t like to pay forfeits!” said
Jemima, 44 and have all the fellars kissing
me —it makes me common propety,”
44 Nothing is common which is dear,” meek-
O 7
ly responded Bemus.
I&2-U A quaint divine calls sin the umbrel
la of the soul, which prevents the rain (reign)
of grace from decending thereon.
When a schoolmaster once asked a
fair pupil: “ can you decline a kiss ?” she re
plied, droping a perplexed courtsey : 44 Yes ‘
sir, I can —but I hate to most plaguily.”
JUiU “Is he very tame ?’’ asked a printer
of a countryman, who had a pet squanei he
wished to sell, “Certainly he is. Look how
he sets on my arm.”
“ But will he set type?”
‘•To be sure he will. Bless your soul, he
I will set anywhere !”
t&T “ Put that right back where you took
| it from! —as the girl said when her lover
’ snatched a kiss.
J6S“A Dutchman w?.s relating his rrmrvel
lous escape from drowning, when thirteen of
his companions were lost by the upsetting of
a boat, and he alone was saved.
“And how did you escape their fate?” ask
ed one of his heavers.
‘•I tid not go m te poat!” was the Dutch
man’s placid answer.
IdiY” L ntil very recently, the Swiss au
thorities at Lucerne, absolutely forbade the
ascent oi Mount Pilate, in order that the
ghost of Pilate might not he needlessly dis
turbed, and storms thereby increased.
&YU What Tally says of war may be ap
plied to disputing; it should be always so
i managed, as to remember that the only true
end of it is peace: hut generally true disput
| ants are like true sportsmen ; their wholede
| light is in the pursuit, and a disputant no
i more cares for the truth than the sportsman
for the hare.— Pope.
A.
The vulgar phrase, “take the rag oft’
; the bush,” is now rendered, ** remove the
i dilapidated linen from the infantile tree.”
[tfxF* “Madam,” said a druggist to a lady
i who was examining some cologne, “I assure
you, it is an excellent article, and if you con
descend to approximate the extreme extension
of your probsocts to the unclosed orifice of
the bottle, you will perceive the truth of my
assertion.”
“Does your arm pain you much,
sir ?” asked a young lady of a gentleman who
had seated him.sell near her in a mixed as
sembly, and thrown his arm across the back
of her chair.
** No, Miss, it does not: but why do you
ask ?”
“ 1 noticed that it Mas considerably out of
place, sir,” she replied ; “that's all.”
The arm was removed.
EDITOR’S DEPARTMENT.
’ -
ATHENS: SATURDAY, JAN. 20, 1840
VALUABLE PRIZES!
The Editor of the Southern Literary Gazette, lo
ins desirous of developing and encouraging Literaiw
Talent in the South, has resolved to offer the eiim Jf
On’e Humored Dollars, in prizes, as exhibited in’
the annexed schedule :
THE FIRST PRIZE
For the best Tale of the South, . . Fifty Dollars
THE SECOND PRIZE
For the second best Tale, . . . Twenty Dollars
TIIE FIRST PRIZE
For the best Poem, Twenty Dollars,
OR A COPY OF HARPER’S SPLENDID PICTORIAL BIBLE*
THE SECOND PRIZE
For the second best Poem, Ten Dollars,
COMMITTEE OF AWARD.
The following gentlemen have kindly consented
to act as Judges upon the articles offered in compe
tition for the above prizes:
Professor JAMES P. WADDELL
Dr IIENRY HULL,
JAMES W. HARRIS, Esq.
The True Interests of the South.
* Uir political and commercial exchanges teem with
articles on the inter ests of the South —suggest ac
tive measures of reform in our agricultural policy,
and recommend also, the multiplication of manufac
tories. Far be it from us to deny the importance of
all these suggestions, or in the least degree to dis
courage the public from immediate action upon
them. Asa literary journalist, however, we skill
doubtless be pardoned if we venture to suggest the
necessity of reform of another kind—a reform of vi
tal importance, and of a necessity, so absolute and
imperative, that our wonder is extreme at the indif
ference which prevails concerning it. Our public
speakers are eloquent in their advocacy of popular
reform in those interests which concern the wealth
of our jieople, but their voice is mute in behalf of
I their intellectual progress. Cur journals teem with
! arguments and appeals to the public, in favor of
’ manufactures, improved agriculture.and other equal
ly valuable objects ; but they utter no plea for the
great cause of Education —they make no complain',
of the inefficiency of the preseut system of public in
i struction, which is so meagre, that it rather impov
-1 erishes than enriches the mental soil around ns.
In the midst of this general inattention to the in
tellectual wants and obligations of the South. we
I cannot forbear to sound the rote of warning, alarm
, and earnest exhortation. This we conceive it to he
our duty to and we must be true to ourself aud
to our position.
j It is a lamentable truth, that the South is very
| far behind the spirit of the age, in educational views
, and measrues. If there is not a general conviction
j of this fact, it only ad Is additional force to the mcl
i ancholy charge. It would be a delightful task Kr
us to laud the spirit and conduct of our people in re
gard to Education, if the truth would allow of it
it would be irony, however —nay, it would be un
kiudness —to do so, in the face of all the evidence af*
j forded to us of the contrary. Wc will not disguise
a truth as clear as the sun at noon-day —that com
paratively nothing is done by the South in behalf o.
Education. We do not intend tosay that therem -
! not many very admirable Schools and higher Inst -
! tutions among us. These, however, are the monu
ments of, individual interest and industry. Y
speak of Eilucitioa as a boon to be given by ft R
State to her poor population, of a public school-Y 3
tem, which shall counteract the debasing and denm
ralizing influences of Ignorance, which too gencralb
prevail among the lower classes.
What a contrast does the North present to the
South in this respect! How humiliating to u?, t lO
consideration, that while New York and the various
States of New Eng'and are diffusing all over thci
territory the blessings of a good Common Bchoo
Education, there is not in the South an efficient .y 8
tem of the kind in operation. We are firmly U r
guided, that it is one of the true interests of 1 9
South to amend this deficiency —to adopt
diate, energetic and adequate measures to esta i 1
in every section of her beautiful territory good t on
j mon Schools, and thus open to all classes the ic fry
ing fountains of knowledge. .
This would be enlightened policy; this wou >
‘ judicious action: this would add to the resQ-rU