The following sections of this BookRags Literature Study Guide is offprint from Gale's For Students Series: Presenting Analysis, Context, and Criticism on Commonly Studied Works: Introduction, Author Biography, Plot Summary, Characters, Themes, Style, Historical Context, Critical Overview, Criticism and Critical Essays, Media Adaptations, Topics for Further Study, Compare & Contrast, What Do I Read Next?, For Further Study, and Sources.
(c)1998-2002; (c)2002 by Gale. Gale is an imprint of The Gale Group, Inc., a division of Thomson Learning, Inc. Gale and Design and Thomson Learning are trademarks used herein under license.
The following sections, if they exist, are offprint from Beacham's Encyclopedia of Popular Fiction: "Social Concerns", "Thematic Overview", "Techniques", "Literary Precedents", "Key Questions", "Related Titles", "Adaptations", "Related Web Sites". (c)1994-2005, by Walton Beacham.
The following sections, if they exist, are offprint from Beacham's Guide to Literature for Young Adults: "About the Author", "Overview", "Setting", "Literary Qualities", "Social Sensitivity", "Topics for Discussion", "Ideas for Reports and Papers". (c)1994-2005, by Walton Beacham.
All other sections in this Literature Study Guide are owned and copyrighted by BookRags, Inc.
FISH-HOOK BOOK.—A book has been invented for carrying fish-hooks, and it promises to be of great use to all those who find pleasure in the gentle art of angling.
It is a book arranged somewhat like a wallet. At one end is a strong leather pocket for flies, then stretched across it are four ledges. Each ledge has a number of slits in it. At the end opposite the pocket is the first ledge, and into the slits in this ledge the hooks are placed. The short line attached to the hook is carried to the next ledge, and carefully slipped into a slit opposite to the one which holds the hook. The line is carried over another ledge to be finally anchored in the one nearer the pocket. When the book is closed the ledges fit into each other, and the fish-hooks are kept in place and therefore cannot get tangled.
The book is of a convenient size and is likely to find many admirers.
A patent was lately issued to a man who has invented a means of cutting the pages of the magazines for us.
His idea is to bind a strong thread into every page that needs cutting, and when we would cut the pages there is nothing to be done but to pull the thread and this cuts the page.
The next thing to be invented should be a machine that reads the magazine for us, and tells us what is in them.
The nearest approach we have made to this idea is in reading stories to the phonograph, and having the instrument repeat them to us.
G.H.R.
Another heavy mail this week. The Editor’s friends are getting so numerous that a strike of the postmen on the route may be expected.
DEAR EDITOR:
Three daily readers of THE GREAT ROUND WORLD wish to know if Queen Victoria is allowed to see the daily papers. We once heard or read somewhere that certain things are cut from the papers and handed to her on a beautiful silver tray—such articles as her advisors think it best for her to see; but she cannot read all the daily papers as common folks do. Will you kindly answer in next week’s number of the Magazine, and oblige three constant and interested readers of the Magazine?
JOHN
ELIOT R.
URSULA FRANCIS
R.
HELEN L.H.
PLAINFIELD, NEW JERSEY, March 31st, 1897.
In reply to your letter asking how Queen Victoria gets her news, I must tell you that she is perhaps the most advanced and progressive woman in the world.
Though she is such an old lady, she keeps herself thoroughly posted about everything that goes on in the world. There is no question as to what she shall be allowed to read—she reads everything that is of interest to her; but that she may not waste her precious time looking over worthless articles, her secretaries are instructed to read the papers first every morning, and see what is worthy the Queen’s reading.
From long habit they know the subjects that are of interest to Her Majesty, and these they carefully outline with a blue pencil.
It has always been the custom for one of the Princesses, the Queen’s daughters, to read these items to her.
No clippings are sent to the Queen; the papers are marked and sent to her as they are.
Her Majesty really has a Great Round World made for herself every day, for the secretaries are like your Editor—they do their best to call the Sovereign’s attention only to such matters as are really important and true.
EDITOR.
To Ernest K., Lakewood, N.J.
DEAR ERNEST:—We were very pleased to receive your letter, but we will not publish it, because we think you could write us a much better one, that would be well worth putting in our paper.
Won’t you tell us something about golf, or what you see when you go out riding? We think you could write a very interesting letter on either of these subjects.
EDITOR.
Sydney G., Baltimore, and A.V.N. Myers, Cornwall-on-Hudson:
Thank you for your kind letter. We are glad you find THE GREAT ROUND WORLD interesting.
EDITOR.
DEAR MR. EDITOR:
I have had only two of your papers. I like them very much. I am going to save them and have them bound. It is so muddy here, and it was muddier last week; the mud was half a foot deep. There is a man that runs a dray-wagon here, and he has two little mules. He whips them almost to death.
A little while ago a poor
dog went by with a tin can tied to his
tail; the boys that did this
filled it full of dirt, and the
poor dog was half scared to
death.
Perhaps I ought not to be
so familiar, as this is the first
letter I have written to you.
Our neighbors are nice people. They have a little pug dog. There was a black cat in the yard, and the dog ran after it. It seemed as if the cat was crazy. It dragged its hind legs behind it, and pulled them with its front legs, and crawled under the barn before the dog got to it.
I guess I will close now.
Your loving friend,
GRAY
F.
WAYNE, NEBR., March, 1897.
We enjoyed your letter very much; it is very bright and interesting.
When we read it we said, Master Gray has gone off with his pen and paper all by himself to write to us, and that pleased us very much, because we want all our boys and girls to talk to us in their letters just as if they were speaking to us.
You seem to be a friend of dumb animals. Read Little Friend’s letter to us, in No. 19, page 498. Would you not like to form a Band of Mercy to help your animal friends? Think of that poor cat, who was probably half-dead with fright, and the doggie with the can tied to his tail. Would you not like to know just how to help these poor little kindly things, who cannot help themselves? EDITOR.
DEAR MR. EDITOR:
I wish to tell Grace of some good books. Three of C.M. Yonge’s books, “Dynevor Terrace,” “The Daisy Chain,” and its sequel, “The Trial,” are stories of English boys and girls, much like “Little Women.” Elizabeth Stuart Phelps’ “Gypsy Breynton” series are good. The last of the series “Gypsy’s Year at the Golden Crescent” is a boarding-school story. “The Five Little Peppers” series by Margaret Sidney are her best books. The five little Pepper boys and girls live in “the little brown house” with “Mamsy.” Their father is dead, and they are very poor. They gain a rich friend, a very nice boy named Jasper, and all go to live in his father’s house, “Mamsy” becoming the housekeeper. It is all written in a delightful and natural manner.
Flora Shaw’s three books, “Hector,” “Phyllis Browne,” and “Castle Blair,” are also good. In the first, Hector, a little English boy, goes to France to live with his little country cousin Zelie. In the second a little Pole, Count Ladislas Starinski, comes to England to live with his English cousins. The last is the story of five Irish boys and girls, their big dog Royal, and their two cousins Frankie and a French girl Adrienne (whose name they could not pronounce, and so they called her Nessa, after one of their dogs which had died, and which they said looked like her).
Elizabeth Champney’s
“Witch Winnie” series are very interesting.
The first two, “Witch
Winnie” and “Witch Winnie’s Mystery,”
are
boarding-school stories.
Other good books are: “When I Was Your Age,” by Laura Richards; “Two Girls,” and “Girls Together,” by Miss Blanchard; “Half a Dozen Girls,” by Anna Chapin Ray; “Dr. Gilbert’s Daughters,” by Margaret Matthews; “Captain Polly,” “Flying Hill Farm,” and “The Mate of The Mary Ann,” by Sophie Sweet; “Summer in a Canon,” and “Polly Oliver’s Problem,” by Kate D. Wiggin; The “Katy Did” series, by Susan Coolidge; the Quinnebasset Series, by Sophie May, comprising “The Doctor’s Daughter,” “Asbury Twins,” “Our Helen,” “Janet,” and “Quinnebasset Girls”; “The Jolly Good Time” books, by Mary P. Wells Smith; and all the books of Lucy C. Lillie, Nora Perry, Mrs. Mead, and Mrs. Molesworth.
I have read and enjoyed all the
above, and can recommend them to
any one as delightful stories of boys and girls.
EDITH.
We are glad to have your nice letter to publish, and will be pleased to have you read for us.
EDITOR.
DEAR MR. EDITOR:
Miss Bessy reads THE GREAT ROUND
WORLD, and will you
please send me a pattern of the kite of Lieutenant
Wise?
Yours
truly,
SYDNEY
G.
BALTIMORE, MD., March 26th, 1897.
“The American Boy’s Book of Sport,” published by Charles Scribner’s Sons, and mentioned in No. 21 of THE GREAT ROUND WORLD, will tell you how to make kites of all kinds. We cannot promise that you will find Lieutenant Wise’s kite there, because we think he has kept the manner of making his kite a secret, and will do so until he has quite finished his experiments with it.
THE EDITOR.
DEAR MR. EDITOR:
I take THE GREAT ROUND WORLD, and like it very much. In your last number you spoke of “Singing Mice.” Can you tell me, where can they be got? If they can be bought, where and how much?
Yours
truly,
WILLIE
T.H.
Singing mice are very rare; but we have been to the store where we get our lizards, and tadpoles, and goldfish, and the man who keeps it has promised to see if he can hear of one. If he is fortunate enough to find such a mouse he is to let us know, and if you send us your address we will tell you how much he wants for it, and where you can see it.
EDITOR.
DEAR EDITOR:
A number of us girls have formed a society named The Daffodil Reading Circle, of which I am the president. We meet at the different girls’ houses every week. I subscribe for THE GREAT ROUND WORLD. It is one of the principal things we read, and we all enjoy it very much. We were very much interested in the article about the cuttlefish or octopus found on the coast of Florida, in Number 16. I am surprised to hear to-day that it has been examined by some scientific men, who say that it is not an octopus at all, but only the head of a deformed whale. I am very anxious to hear what the truth is about it.
Your
interested reader,
FLORENCE
C.R.
JERSEY CITY, N.J., March 20, 1897.
We have written to the Smithsonian Institution about the cuttlefish. The reply has not reached us in time for this number, but next week we hope to be able to tell you what the scientific men have decided about it. That the monster found was the head of a whale was only the opinion of some of the gentlemen who examined it. We believe that no absolute decision was arrived at.
THE EDITOR.
We were very much pleased to get an account of a gold mine published in a recent number, for we want our boys and girls to write letters describing the different industries of the United States. A number of New York boys a few days since went to Waterbury, Conn., and visited various factories; we publish two of their letters, and hope that we may receive similar letters from boys and girls in different parts of the country. In almost every town there is something which can be written about.
On Thursday last the three upper classes visited Waterbury, Conn., to inspect some of the numerous industries for which the town is so famous, and returned Friday night, filled with great thoughts of the wonders of Yankee inventive genius.
While there we had the good fortune to be admitted to a pin-factory, an iron-foundry, a watch-factory, and the most extensive brass-works in the world.
I shall here limit myself to a brief description of the last.
Brass is made by melting together in large crucibles certain proportions of copper and zinc. The heat applied must be considerable, for during the fusion of the two metals a white flame from the zinc and a green one from the copper flash from the mouth of the crucible. When properly mixed the molten alloy is poured into rectangular or cylindrical moulds. After cooling, the bars are driven between immense rollers, to be formed into sheet-brass. This process is very much like rolling out dough for pie-crust, and is repeated many times. But the great pressure to which the sheets are subjected makes the alloy very brittle, so that it has to be softened or “annealed,” as it is called, by being heated red-hot in very large ovens before each re-rolling. When the sheets have attained the required thinness, they are cut into widths and lengths suitable for easy handling, transportation, and manufacture.
We also saw sheets of copper and German silver made in a similar manner. The latter is simply brass that has had some nickel added to it to make it white like silver.
The cylindrical casts above mentioned are placed in machines that draw them into wire or tubing. The process is a most interesting one, though rather difficult to describe.
A large quantity of the products of these works is used directly in the very town, in factories for making clocks, watches, pins, and other articles.
It is interesting and curious to note how the manufacture of brass in this country originally started.
During the war of 1812 many useful articles became scarce; among these were buttons. A man named Benedict, who lived in Waterbury, began to make them out of bone, and became very prosperous.
About 1830 “Dame Fashion” ordained that brass or gilt buttons should be worn. At first Benedict imported brass from England, but as he could not get it of the required thinness, he resolved to make it himself. As copper was scarce, he travelled about the country, buying up old copper kettles and other things made of copper, which he melted with zinc, and had the resulting brass slabs rolled at a neighboring iron rolling-mill. In this way the great brass industry of the United States started. Its product is now valued at $60,000,000 a year.
H.H. ROGERS, JR.
APRIL 6th, 1897.
Among the factories of interest in and around Waterbury, Conn., is the Clinton Pin Factory. This is one of the largest in America, and has perhaps the most highly developed machinery in the world.
It is well to remember that the pin-machine is a purely American invention, and its immense advantage can be fully appreciated if we recall that it does the work that was required of eighteen distinct hands hardly more than fifty years ago.
Pins are made of either brass or iron wire. Those made of the latter are much cheaper, as the price of iron wire varies from three to five cents a pound, while brass wire is usually worth fourteen.
The wire is fed to the machine from large reels. It is first cut into the proper lengths by a small steel knife, so arranged that when the regular length of wire is drawn, the knife descends and cuts it off. Next, each small piece of wire, for we can hardly call it anything else yet, is headed by a sharp rap from a small automatic hammer. Lastly, the blunt ends are pointed by passing over a series of rapidly revolving emery-wheels, and the pin falls, the essentially completed article, into a large box, at the rate of three or four per second.
The pins are now placed in large vats, filled with soft soap and water, to be freed from the dirt and grease gathered while passing through the machine. After being thoroughly washed, they are put in the “hopper,” mixed with bran or sawdust, to be dried. The hopper is shaken rapidly, and the clean, dry pins fall out at one side, the sawdust at the other.
The tinning or “silvering” process is next in order. To accomplish this, the pins are put into a vessel containing a solution of cream of tartar and tin, and boiled for four or five hours. From this they come forth bright and silvery-looking, to be dried again as before, previous to the final operation of polishing.
The pins are now ready to be put on papers. The machine which does this is perhaps one of the most ingenious ever constructed. Quantities of pins are thrown from time to time into a rapidly vibrating hopper, which causes them to pass, one by one, into a trough-like slide, that holds the pins by the head; consequently the imperfect ones are automatically rejected. They then slide along a groove to the main body of the machine, where they fall into slits properly distanced, and are pressed into the paper in rows, twelve in all, containing five hundred and sixteen pins.
Shield or safety-pins are made in about the same way, only there are twelve instead of three different stages before the pin issues from the machine absolutely complete. After this it has to be washed and tinned as above described.
The factory has more than fifty machines, which operate themselves so perfectly that they require the supervision of about ten men only.
It has been estimated that more than fifteen thousand gross of pins per day, or five million gross per annum, are turned out by this one concern.
GEORGE C. CANNON.
March 29th, 1897.
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