Evening at Home58

Evening at Home58

At length, an aged magistrate from a distant province made his

appearance. He was simply clad in a long cotton robe, and his hoary

beard waved on his breast. He made his obeisance before the young

monarch, and holding forth an embroidered silken bag, he thus addressed

him:—

 

“Deign, great king, to accept the faithful homage and fervent good

wishes of thy servant on this important day, and with them the small

present I hold in my hand. Small, indeed, it is in show, but not so, I

trust, in value. Others have offered what may decorate thy person—here

is what will impart perpetual grace and lustre to thy features. Others

have presented thee with rich perfumes—here is what will make thy name

sweet and fragrant to the latest ages. Others have given what may afford

pleasure to thine eyes—here is what will nourish a source of

never-failing pleasure within thy breast. Others have furnished thee

with preservatives against bodily contagion—here is what will preserve

thy better parts uncontaminated. Others have heaped round thee the

riches of a temporal kingdom—this will secure thee the treasures of an

eternal one.”

 

He said, and drew from the purse a book, containing _the moral precepts

of the sage Zendar_, the wisest and most virtuous man the East had ever

beheld. “If,” he proceeded, “my gracious sovereign will condescend to

make this his constant companion, not an hour can pass in which its

perusal may not be a comfort and a blessing. In the arduous duties of

thy station it will prove a faithful guide and counsellor. Amid the

allurements of pleasure and the incitements of passion, it will be an

incorruptible monitor, that will never suffer thee to err without

warning thee of thy error. It will render thee a blessing to thy people,

and blessed in thyself: for what sovereign can be the one without the

other?”

 

He then returned the book to its place, and kneeling, gave it into the

hands of the king. He received it with respect and benignity, and

history affirms that the use he made of it corresponded with the wishes

of the donor.

 

 

 

 

ON EARTHS AND STONES

 

_Tutor_—_George_—_Harry_.

 

 

_Harry._ I wonder what all this heap of stones is for?

 

_George._ I can tell you—it is for the lime-kiln; do n’t you see it just

by?

 

_Har._ O yes, I do. But what is to be done to them there?

 

_Geo._ Why, they are to be burnt into lime; do n’t you know that?

 

_Har._ But what is lime, and what are its uses?

 

_Geo._ I can tell you one; they lay it on the fields for manure. Do n’t

you remember we saw a number of little heaps of it, that we took for

sheep at a distance, and wondered they did not move? However, I believe

we had better ask our tutor about it. Will you please, sir, to tell us

something about lime?

 

_Tutor._ Willingly. But suppose, as we talked about all sorts of metals

some time ago, I should now give you a lecture about stones and earths

of all kinds, which are equally valuable, and much more common than

metals.

 

_Geo._ Pray, do, sir.

 

_Har._ I shall be very glad to hear it.

 

_Tut._ Well, then. In the first place, the ground we tread upon, to as

great a depth as it has been dug, consists for the most part of matter

of various appearance and hardness, called by the general name of

_earths_. In common language, indeed, only the soft and powdery

substances are so named, while the hard and solid are called _stone_ or

_rock_; but chymists use the same term for all; as, in fact, earth is

only crumbled stone, and stone only consolidated earth.

 

_Har._ What!—has the mould of my garden ever been stone?

 

_Tut._ The black earth or mould which covers the surface wherever plants

grow, consists mostly of parts of rotted vegetables, such as stalks,

leaves, and roots, mixed with sand or loose clay; but this only reaches

a little way; and beneath it you always come to a bed of gravel, or

clay, or stone of some kind. Now these earths and stones are

distinguished into several species, but principally into three, the

properties of which make them useful to man for very different purposes,

and are, therefore, very well worth knowing. As you began with asking me

about lime, I shall first mention that class of earths from which it is

obtained. These have derived their name of _calcareous_ from this very

circumstance, _calx_ being lime, in Latin; and lime is got from them all

in the same way, by burning them in a strong fire. There are many kinds

of calcareous earths. One of them is _marble_; you know what that is?

 

_Geo._ O yes! Our parlour chimney-piece and hearth are marble.

 

_Har._ And so are the monuments in the church.

 

_Tut._ True. There are various kinds of it: white, black, yellow, gray,

mottled and veined with different colours; but all of them are hard and

heavy stones, admitting a fine polish, on which account they are much

used in ornamental works.

 

_Geo._ I think statues are made of it?

 

_Tut._ Yes; and where it is plentiful, columns, and porticoes, and

sometimes whole buildings. Marble is the luxury of architecture.

 

_Har._ Where does marble come from?

 

_Tut._ From a great many countries. Great Britain produces some, but

mostly of inferior kinds. What we use chiefly comes from Italy. The

Greek islands yield some fine sorts. That of Paros is of ancient fame

for whiteness and purity, and the finest antique statues have been made

of Parian marble.

 

_Har._ I suppose black marble will not burn into white lime?

 

_Tut._ Yes, it will. A violent heat will expel most of the colouring

matter of marbles, and make them white. _Chalk_ is another kind of

calcareous earth. This is of a much softer consistence than marble;

being easily cut with a knife, and marking things on which it is rubbed.

It is found in great beds in the earth; and in some parts of England

whole hills are composed of it.

 

_Geo._ Are chalk and whiting the same?

 

_Tut._ Whiting is made of the finer and purer particles of chalk washed

out from the rest, and then dried in lumps. This you know is quite soft

and crumbly. There are, besides, a great variety of stones in the earth

harder than chalk, but softer than marble, which will burn to lime, and

are therefore called _lime-stones_. These differ much in colour and

other properties, and accordingly furnish lime of different qualities.

Whole ridges of mountains in various parts are composed of lime-stone,

and it is found plentifully in most of the hilly counties of England, to

the great advantage of the inhabitants.

 

_Geo._ Will not oyster-shells burn into lime? I think I have heard of

oyster-shell lime.

 

_Tut._ They will, and this is another source of calcareous earth. The

shells of all animals, both land and sea, as oysters, mussels, cockles,

crabs, lobsters, snails, and the like, and also egg-shells of all kinds,

consist of this earth; and so does coral, which is formed by insects

under the sea, and is very abundant in some countries. Vast quantities

of shells are often found deep in the earth, in the midst of chalk and

lime-stone beds; whence some have supposed that all calcareous earth is

originally an animal production.

 

_Har._ But where could animals enough ever have lived to make mountains

of their shells?

 

_Tut._ That, indeed, I cannot answer. But there are sufficient proofs

that our world must long have existed in a very different state from the

present. Well—but besides these purer calcareous earths, it is very

frequently found mingled in different proportions with other earths.

Thus _marl_, which is so much used in manuring land, and of which there

are a great many kinds, consists of calcareous earth, united with clay

and sand; and the more of this earth it contains, the richer manure it

generally makes.

 

_Geo._ Is there any way of discovering it when it is mixed in this

manner with other things?

 

_Tut._ Yes—there is an easy and sure method of discovering the smallest

portion of it. All the varieties of calcareous earth that I have

mentioned have the property of dissolving in acids, and effervescing

with them; that is, they bubble and hiss when acids are poured upon

them. You may readily try this at any time with a piece of chalk or an

oyster-shell.

 

_Geo._ I will pour some vinegar upon an oyster-shell as soon as I get

home. But now I think of it, I have often done so in eating oysters, and

I never observed it to hiss or bubble.

 

_Tut._ Vinegar is not an acid strong enough to act upon a thing so solid

as a shell. But sulphuric and muriatic acids will do it at once; and

persons who examine the nature of fossils always travel with a bottle of

one of these acids, by way of a test of calcareous earth. Your vinegar

will answer with chalk or whiting. This property of dissolving in acids,

and what is called neutralizing them, or taking away their sourness, has

caused many of the calcareous earths to be used in medicine. You know

that sometimes our food turns very sour upon the stomach, and occasions

the pain called heart-burn, and other uneasy symptoms. In these cases it

is common to give chalk or powdered shells, or other things of this