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DUTY.
For the right, and learns to deaden
Love of self, before his journey doses
He shall find the stnbbom thistle bursting
Into glassy purples, which outredden
All voluptuous garden roses.
The path of duty is the way to glory;
He that ever following her commands,
On with toil of heart and knees and hands,
Thro* the long gorge to the far light has won
Are close upon th§ Binning table lands,
To which our On/i Hi&sSd? is moon 2nd sun.
—leimyaon.
NEW IDEAS IN NAVAL WARFARE.
BATTBRY-BEA RING SHIPS TO BE DRIVEN
FROM THE SEAS—COMMODORE AM-
MEN’s IDEA ABOUT RAMS.
Commodore Ammen, chairman of
the Bureau of Navigation, has written
a letter to the Navy Department in
regard to a proposed marine ram. He
says:
It may he worth while to state that
Commodore Barron of our navy, half
a century ago, made a model of a ma
rine ram, and Commodore M. C. Perry,
of our navy, a quarter of a century
ago, expressed himself emphatically
upon this subject, but left perhaps the
embodiment of the thing undone.
Abroad we find in the British and other
services eminent constructors who pro
nounce positive opinions upon the
effectiveness of the marine ram. Ad
miral Teghethoff, of the Austrian navy,
at the battle of Tissa, gave a practical
illustration of the power of ramming,
in a vessel not specially constructed for
the purpose, and recently on the Irish
coast, the Iron Duke, without inten
tion, showed the fallacy of water-tight
compartments, at least in ordinary
models, in sinking the Vanguard. It
seems superfluous in view of the facts
to argue the value of the marine ram.
* * Armor-plated, gun bearing ves
sels, costing several millions of dollars,
have either to be built, maintained, and
kept in repair, or the nation not hav
ing them must possess the power to
destroy them. Thus the marine ram
assumes ten-fold its former significance.
It is fair to presume that if a marine
ram can be built, in round number,
for a third of a million dollars, which
would as one of a fleet be more than a
match for an armor-plated, gun-bearing
gauMi
men, and the latter by 400 or 600, the
cost and maintenance in time of peace;
and effectiveness in time of war, would
clearly be in favor of a fleet of marine
rams rather than one of armor-plated,
gun-bearing ships.
If the ram be found superior for this
purpose to armor-plated gun-bearing
vessels, it is plain that no nation will
continue so build them, from the fact
that they could never place themselves
in position to use their battery against
the works of an enemy possessing rams.
* * * The points of construction
of a marine ram are yet unsolved, but
the most effective must embody the fol
lowing: 1, other things being equal,
economy of construction; 2, the great
est speed possible in combination with
other essential qualities; 3, great facil
ity of maneuvering; 4, immunity from
injury in ramming an enemy, and
greatest powers of resistance when
rammed, or receiving the fire of an
enemv.
Keep mg the abo”c consideration* in
view, ine working drawings of a pro
posed ram are submitted by Commo
dore Ammen to the department. The
ram will be 175 feet long, with 30 feet
beam, exclusive of three feet of spon-
sons on each side' of the body of ^ the
vessel; 40 feet each side of midships
will be symmetrical; beyond this the
ends taper,, encbsed by parabolic
curves, fore and aft. All cross sections
will be formed by two semi-ellipses, the,
deeper one forming the bottom, the
other the part of the vessel above the
line .of greatest beam. The vessel will
be a combination,.of the longitudinal looking author of “Pericles of Aspa-
and bracket frame systems, and com- sia” was standing in the. middle of the
ptfeed of 28 girders, . built up of plate room when* we entered, and-hiS voi&e
and angle irons to break joints, and* founded like.an^ex^osion^f first-class
thus form a continuous girder. The artillery. Seeing Procter enter, he
ram will be a casting-of tempered steel, immediately began, to address him, in
having a soM end; but inside being a high-sounding Latin * compliments,
hollow cylinder with-radiating flanges Poor modest Propter pretended to.stop
cast around t it, to which the girders his ears‘that he might not listen* to
will be riveted. The vesselwill hecov- LandoFs eulogistic; phrases. Kenyon
ered with an outer and an inner plating came to the rescue by declaring the
war
icct. B} nlbVs :ng v»«itcr in/tuv- !u«ci Liiour* _ .« nett we .armveu as the table* l 7°r ..
Funny Incidents.
small turret of 6-mch steel plates, 6 feet
high aboyefhe crowtt of the vessel, pro
jecting 2 feet below and inclosing the
smoke-stacks to protect them. The to
tal weigh t of the ram will be 804 tons;
displacement 1,575 tons. With a ve-
losity of 12 knots an hour, it can give a
blow or impact of 7,920 tons. The
plans will be examined by Secretary
Robeson and the matter probably
brought to the attention of Congress.
Beware of Zinc.
The Boston Journal of Chemistry
contains a communication from a Port
land physician which we hope will
settle the matter in the minds of those
who have been in doubt thus far, in
regard to the injuriousness of galvan
ized iron pipes when used for con
ducting drinking water. Symptom's of
zinc poisoning set in among the whole
family of this physician in one m»nth
after using water drawn from such
pipes, while the water itself, by anal
ysis, proved to contain oxide of zinc,
with no traces of other metals or poi
sons. The symptoms disappear after
discontinuing the use of that water,
and reappear when, for an experimentum
cmisis, it was again used for a few
weeks.
Dr. Nichols, the editor of the above-
named journal, has for a long time
urged the discontinuance of galvanized
iron pipes for water conductors, but
his opinions were disputed, and even
ridiculed, by those who ought to have
known better, being appointed as
guardians of the public health; they
argued that zinc salts Are safely used
in medicines, and therefore would do
no harm in drinking water; but lead,
mercury, and arsenic are also safely
“1 in medicines, so this is* no argu-
tat all; besides, do they not' know
ulphate of zinc is a violent emetic?
that chiorid of zinc is an escarotic, in
.effect next to nitrate of silver? Do
they not know that zinc-covered iron
kitchen utensils have proved very in
jurious, that galvanized water tanks
were condemned six years ago, that
painters who continually handle zinc
white, in time suffer as though they had
handled white lead, (to which facts we
have heretpfore, called attention in this
journal), and finally, that even paper
collars covered with zinc white .have
proved injurious to those wearing them,
causing eruptions around the neck,
where the perspiration partially dis
solved this zmci eoyering7 ^p4^y> one ,
of the physicians at a meeting in Tar-
mercu
ft
ter,‘•fori cannot even, *wi
mid having never crossed'the Channel,
I do not intend to begin now.” “Never
crossed the Channel r roared Landor;
“never saw Napoleon Bonaparte!” He
then began td tell us how the yoUng
Corsican looked when he first saw him:
saying that he had the olive complexion
and soundness of. face of a Greek girl,
that the Consul’s voice wus deep and
melodious, but untruthful in tone.
While we were eating breakfast he
went on to describe his Italian travels
in early youth, telling us that he once
saw Shelley and Byron meet in the
doorway of a hotel in Pisa. Landor
had lived in Italy many years, for he
detested the climate of his native coun
try, and used to say, “One could only
live comfortably in England who was
rich enough to have a solar system of
his own.” * * * Procter told me
that when Landor got into a passion
his rage was sometimes uncontrollable.
The fiery spirit knew his weakness, but
his anger quite overmastered him in
spite of himself. “Keep your temper,
Landor,” somebody said to him one day
when he was raging. “That is just
what I don’t wish to keep,” he cried;
“I wish to be rid of such ap infamous,
ungovernable thing. I don’t wish to
keep my temper.” Whoever wishes to
get a good look at Landor yril} not seek
for it alone in John Forster’s interest
ing life of the old man, admirable as
it is, but will turn to Pickens’ Bleak
House for ^de-glancbs at the great ah*
thor. In that vivid story Dickens has
made his friend LanctiStlit fob the por
trait of Lawrence BoytKorh. The very
laugh that made the whole house vi
brate, the roupduess and fullness of
voice, the fury of superlatives, are all
given in Dickens’ best manner, and no
one who has ever seen Landor for half
an hour could ppssibly j mistake * Boy-
thorn for anybody else. Talking the
matter over once with Dickens, he said,
“Landor always took that representa
tion of himself in hearty good humof-,
andseemed rather proud of the picture.”
f4 r* f i I
New Phase of the Problem.—Lo
quacious life insurance agent to fat
S tleman on the street: “Come, my
r sir, if you should soon. Midi sud
denly be called to die, have you made
such provision for the dear ones de
pendent upon you ns will shelter them
from want and secure for them the
comforts of life?” Fat gentleman—
“Young man^ once the question was,
can a Christian man rightfully seek
entum, Allegheny county, Pa., held in life insurance? That day is past;
1857, reported a case* of the poisoning
of a child who had chewed an old pa
per collar covered with zinc white/ its
communicated at the time in Dr. But
ler’s Medical and Surgical Reporter,
published in Philadelphia. ; , , . '
Walter Savage Landor.
Jmiies T. Fields write*. . it* whk hi
a breakfast in Kenyon’s house that I
first met Walter Savage Landor, As?
I entered the room with Procter, Lan
dor was in the midst of an eloquent
Harangue on the high art of portrait*
ure. Procter had been lately sitting
to a daguerreotypist fai Aplctute, tod
that occasion. Landor was fcblding the
jjjcture in^ hand, declaring that it
of that particular art.
Speaking of his western trip, Mr.
Barnum said, “I met with two inci
dents on my trip. While going to
Kansas City I was busy part of the
time making some notes on a lecture
and arranging the heads of the dis
course. By anjd by a gentleman near
me asked me if IT was, an editor. I
said-no, but that I did a little, literary
work sometimes. v "iA?e vou from
■PPHT^ N^t said,,
but I Amdemaad-jnyjmme was in
the L’hicj&go papers,; the other day.’
‘What k your name?' .asked the
stranger. ‘P. T. Barnum.’: He was.
quite surprised, very glad to meet me
and oU that, and we talked a good
part of the day. He was a well in
formed and gentlemanly man. At
length I asked him his business. He
said be lectured some, and preached,
too. ‘ IVhere ?’ I saked. ‘In Chi
cago,’ ‘ and what’s your name ?' ‘David
Swing.’ Well, I was taken aback, to
think I had been traveling nearly two
days with David Swing and didn’t
know him., ‘When I came back to
Chicago,’ continued Mr. Barnum, ‘I
lectured there, and as I started for the
house one of the committee asked me
to call at a hotel and get a Mr. Millet
who had lectured for them the week
before and wanted to hear me. I
called and asked for Mr. Millet. A
gentleman came to me and said his
name was Miller and that he thought
he was the right man. Coming back
from the lecture he said to me •* Mr.
Barnum, I have to thank you for an
evening of great pleasure. I didn’t
use’d to like you a bit, but since I
have known more of you, I like you
better.” Well, I didn’t care for his
praise, and I asked him what he did
for a living. . He said he lectured a
little. ‘On what?’ I asked. ‘Gov
ernment,’ he replied, ‘ I’ve given Grant
two or three slaps.’ After a little talk
the man golbift; "As we were riding
away I asked the gentleman how this
man spelled bjs name. Hemiswered,
jjonq— ‘The old Harry,’ I shouted,
wouldn't have missed knowing that for
a thoufearid dollars.’ IU ? * 'i* J ' ,,s ’
t “ I -sat right* dbwh ,! fti8 t vfamfe
as sboft as I cduld, telling him I;
worse than a polecat, begging his
pardon, and the like. ’ He! lias.
answered me, hut I< can’t read what he
says, but it’s nR right. . .Here you are
at the depot just in time. Good by.”
[now the question is, is a Chiistian man
justified in killing a life insurance
agent ? ” Agent starts quickly up Street
to catch a friend.
Conway on Genius.—Conway has
a new definition of genius. He says
there is nothing like genius in the com-
iliuki aCcepLauuu uf the term, rl is
simply a mind pdlished until it shines;
polished until it catehes every color in
the air; polj$# itc&kes up
and keeps on its rays of light even in
Ike darkness, like a marble sphere in
the night.
)T
iurant allowance.—Customer
; L stud befeftteak and eggs.”
tor—“ This is beefsteak and
eggs." CustomeM-* 0,1 see the egg,
iSitVrherriithe ateak?” Proprietor
—“ The steak is under the egg!”
To Prevent Splitting of Han
dles.—All carpenters know how soon
the butt ends of chisels split when doily
exposed to the blows of the mallet or
hammers. .A remedy suggested by o
Brooklyn man coi sists simply in sawing
or cutting off ,the round 'end of the
handle, so as to niigke It flat, and at
taching by a few small nails on the top
»of it two round discs of leather, so that
the end becomes similar to the heel of a
boot. The, two thicknesses of leather
will prevent all fiirther splitting,and if
in the course of time they expand and
overlap the wood of the handle, they
are simply trimmed off all round.
— ,
English Suet Pudding.-—One cup
molasses, one cup sweet milk, one cup
raisins chopped fine, one teasj>oonfiu
of ciovea/cinnambn and nutmeg, ono
half teaspoonful of salt, four heaping
i . ft.l - .A—~
lAHU/UpiUL3 Ul OUtCU lima* OUl Oil WCU
together and place in yo.ur pudding-
boiler, which should not be more than
two-thirds frill, as room must be left
for the pudding to rise. Do not put
the pudding into the kettle until the
water is'boilmg hot; cook three hours.
jm _ M •; .
>< f WAS.'the crowd tumultuous? ” in
quired one man of another, who had
just come from a mass meeting. “ Too
multuous?” replied the other. “Oh,
it multuous enough to com
fortably fill the hall.”