recommended to American parents of intelligence and wealth, as the richest gift they could confer upon them, the only valuable property which in this country can be entailed, the best legacy they could possibly bequeath. Look, said he, in a strain of argument and eloquence which powerfully excited the feelings of his audience, while it bore them to a high pitch of patriotic emotion-look at the unreasonable, the discouraging, the dangerous, the often ruinous course through which you conduct your children! You surround them with all the temptations of the most luxurious life, and set them the irresistable example of yielding to its influence-promise them to lay up exhaustless stores to enable them to support the same expensive train of expenditure, and yet blame them if they do not begin life with the same humble expectations, and pursue business with the same persevering labor, to which you submitted in your youth.Thoughtless, unreasonable and short-sighted parents! Why do you blame them for not engaging in the toil of earning? Do you not see that you have robbed them of the motives? Electrical Telegraph in France.-M. Arago estimates the rate of transmission at the rate of 32,000 leagues per hour. Origin of the French Language. Translated from the Magazin Pittoresque, for the Am. Pen. Magazine. The foundation of French, indeed its very substance, is Latin; but words from other languages also are found in it, as Celtic, German, Iberian, Greek, Arabic, Spanish, &c. One very important rule to be regarded in studying etymologies is, trust but little to the resemblance of the sounds, much more to the meanings presented by words at different epochs, and to the intermediate states which they passed through. A want of resemblance is no objection to etymology, as the example of the word jour will prove. It offers no resemblance to the Latin word dies, from which it has been derived. The Romans made diurnus, daily, from dies, day; and from that the Italians derived giorno, day, and the French their old word jor, which had the same meaning. The change was slight from that to jour. The permutations of letters is another very important point. With respect to vowels it is very difficut to give any rules, because they are changed in almost every possible manner; but a prevailing fact is, that the Latin vowels are changed into dipthongs, and commonly into improper ones, as eu, ou, our, etc. The following table will show the changes among consonants. B is changed to v, c to ch, d to t, f sometimes to h, g to j, 1 to r, al to au, el to eu, ol to ou, m to n, n to l or r, p to b, v or f, qu to gu, s to z or r, t to d, v to b or f, w to gu.Also, b, c, d, p, t and v, in the middle of words, are habitually silent. Foreign words beginning with s, have e before it in French; thus, spiritus makes esprit. The s often disappears; thus, studium was at first estude, and then étude; and spata became successively espée and épée. In many cases two French words of the same meaning, but of very different sounds, are derived from the same Latin word: as, redemptio has produced rancon and redemption. The former of these has been transmitted to us by the mouths of the people, and the latter through books. The Chess Player.-There has been some inquiry lately, in the newspapers, for the present whereabout of the automaton chess-player, which once excited so much wondering speculation in Europe. It was generally remembered that after the death of Maelzel the automaton was sold, with his other ingenious pieces of mechanism; and a rumor had got abroad that the chessplayer was lying, dilapitated and neglected, in some lumber-room of Philadelphia or New York. This, however, appears to be an unfounded story. A communication in the Newark Daily Advertiser tells us that when Maelzel left this country (he died at 1 3 1 sea) he took the chess-player to pieces and boxed up the parts in several cases which were stored at Philadelphia. Recently, Dr. S. K. Mitchell, of that city, after careful examination of these disjecta membra, discovered the secret of their construction, and has sueceeded in putting them together, and the machine is now exhibited at Peale's Mu seum. But a more interesting disclosure has been made, it seems, at Paris, by one Monsieur Mouret, who was Maelzel's player in Europe. He reveals the secret of the manner in which the games were played. quote from the Courier and Enquirer : We The concealed player was seated immediately under the automaton's chess board, and may be supposed to be looking up to its under surface. He there sees a representation of that board, each square painted to correspond with the square above, the only difference being that while on the automaton's board some of the squares are occupied by chess men and others are empty, every one of the squares beneath is numbered, and furnished with a small iron knob suspended by a short thread. Every chess man on the automaton's board contained a small magnet. Now, suppose the game about to begin: thirty-two chessmen are on the automaton's board; of course, each one having a magnet, the thirty-two iron knobs beneath are drawn up to the board. As soon as one of the chessmen is taken up, the knob being released from the attraction, drops, and the concealed player knows at once which square is vacated. As soon as it is placed upon another square the knob beneath is drawn up, and thus indicates the play that has been made. The concealed player repeats these moves on a small board of his own, and then sets in motion by strings, the arm of the automaton; and thus the game goes on. Maelzel's player in this country, we have been told, was a German named Slomberger, and he too died, we believe, some three or four years ago. Now that the present condition of Maelzel's chess-player is known, we should like to hear something of the duplicate which was constructed by an ingenious son of New England. For it is a characteristic fact that the secret which had baffled the ingenuity of all Europe for half a century, was here detected and applied in the fabric of the second automaton, before Maelzel had been a year in the country. The Yankee machine was played, we believe, by Henry Coleman, since deceased-a son of William Coleman, the once celebrated editor of the Evening Post. It was exhibited in opposition to Maelzel's at the corner of Reade or Duane street and Broadway, where we saw it and played with it. Maelzel bought it out of the way as we are told: and, if so, he probably destroyed it.-N. Y. Com. MISCELLANEOUS. THE GREAT PACIFIC RAILROAD. Mr. WHITNEY, its enthusiastic projector, is on his way, accompanied by a number of scientic and other gentlemen, to make an exploration of the probable route, from some point on lake Michigan to the Missouri river. The distance between these two points, on or near the forty-second degree of latitude, will probably be a distance of six or seven hundred miles. He expected to be joined by quite a large company at Milwaukie, and thence to proceed with all activity and energy, through the summer and fall with his reconnoisance. Fearful Avalanche in South America.-Accounts from New Granada mention the occurrence of a fearful avalanche from the snow-capped heights of the Paramo de Ruzio, one of the highest mountains in the centre of the Great Cordillera de los Andes. There had not been sufficient time, at the period of the last advices, to ascertain with any thing like precision the amount of injury to property and loss of life which had reresulted, but we learn that the mass of snow which fell had carried every thing before it— blocked up the rivers and caused frightful inundations-crushed all agriculture, and among other things extensive plantations of tobacco for leagues round, and destroyed, it is supposed, some 1200 human beings.—(Falmouth Post.) Largest Cylinder in the World.-There was cast at the works of the West Point foundry on the 12th, a blast cylinder of 126 inches in diameter and 11 feet in length, weighing 10 tons. It is intended for the Mount Savage Iron Company, near Cumberland, Maryland, and is to blow four blast furnaces of the largest class, making 400 tons per week. The time occupied in running the iron from the furnaces to the mould was 63 seconds. The Newark Daily Advertiser says that there is living near that city a lad, not ten years of age, who has saved four persons from a watery grave. Two years ago he rescued a younger brother from downing, and last winter he succored, at different times, three boys. The Magnetic Telegraph-The efforts to establish Magnetic Telegraphs, touching on the principal cities throughout the country, are now likely to be successful. The cost of construction, in this country, is estimated at $130 per mile. We shall soon have Boston bound to New Orleans, and New York to the great West. Another line is in contemplation, to be called the Atlantic and Mississippi route; it will commence at Philadelphia, (connecting with the lines from New York and Washington,) and run so as to touch all the State Capitals and large towns that can conveniently be reached on the route to St. Louis. Branch lines will run southwardly from this main route to the capitals of Kentucky and Tennessee, and to the cities below Pittsburg, on the Ohio river, so as to include Wheeling, Cincinnati, and Louisville: and other branch lines will run northwardly from the main route, so as to include the principal places along the Lakes, between Buffalo, Detroit, Chicago, Milwaukie, &c. The arrangements for completing this great central line as entrusted by Mr. Kendall to Henry O'Reilly, and it is understood that enough of the work will be finished with despatch for transmitting to Harrisburg (if not to Wheeling, via Pittsburg, or even to Columbus, Ohio,) an abstract of the President's Message at the commencement of the next session of Congress.-New York Tribune. JUVENILE DEPARTMENT. SUGAR MAKING. Edward and his father had many conversations about sugar making. It seemed very curious to him, that any thing so sweet, and which can be made into so many shapes by the confectioners, and colored so varionsly, should come from the juice of a plant. How does it get into the juice? Is the ground sweet where it grows? To such questions and many others he got answers-not all at once, nor all in the same way. One day his father brought home a round stick, sat down, and called all the children together. Then, taking his knife, he cut off a piece, and put it into the baby's mouth. She smiled; and the others tasted pieces as fast as they got them, and said they were very sweet. "It is sugar cane," said Edward, "it is not ?" "Yes; there are different sorts-this is beautifully striped, red and white, and is called Riband Cane. We have begun to cultivate much of it, within a few years, in our most Southern States, and make excellent sugar and molasses, most of which is called here New Orleans. They cut the canes, press them, and boil the juice in large kettles, till most of the water has gone off in steam. Then they cool it, and it turns to brown sugar. The remaining water slowly drains off, and that makes molasses." Steam machines are now often used in pressing cane, and other improvements have been introduced in some countries. The picture above shows a windmill where it is ground, and a house where it is pressed with screws. The palm trees in sight show that the place is in some tropical country where they grow, and the negroes at work appear to be slaves. There THE AMERICAN PENNY MAGAZINE. are many curious parts to windwills, and much useful labor is done by them in some countries where are no waterfalls, especially in Holland. The long pole reaching to the ground, is used to turn round the top of the mill, with the fans, when the wind changes. Sugar is made in the northern parts of our country from maple trees, and has been made from chestnut trees and several other kinds. But we have not room to-day to say more about it. Wonderful Cave. A most extraordinary cave was recently discovered in Howard county, between Glasgow and Cooper's bottom. One of the farmers of the neighborhood, wanting stones, to build, we believe a chimney, went to an adjacent hill side for the purpose of quarrying them. In striking the earth with a hoe, or some similar implement, a sound was emitted, plainly indicating that the hill side was hollow beneath; and proceeding to remove the dirt covering the surface, he discovered a wall built of stone, and built evidently by human hands. This wall he displaced, and it gave him entrance to the mouth of a cave, which upon subsequent examination, he found a most extraordinary natural curiosity. The cave has been explored to the distance of 300 yards. Twenty-five or thirty yards from the entrance is a sort of room, the sides of which, according to the account we see in the "Glasgow Pilot," present a most bright and brilliant and wonderful appearance. The writer who entered a cave with a lantern, says: "I had not proceeded far,.before I entered the principal chamber, that by a single light presented the most magnificent scene that I The ceiling of this splendid ever beheld. cavern is eighteen or twenty feet high, and of a hectagon form, the whole ceiling presented a shining surface as though it was set with diamonds." Very near the mouth, another writer says, there is a stone shaped like a horse, but not so large, being only about three feet high: "The head, neck and body are entirely fin- In another part of the cave the walls on Just above these figures the letters DON & CA An arm of the We The walls and ceiling of this extraordinary cave are pretty much the same as in The walls have a peculiar the other rooms. and extraordinary brilliancy, occasioned I discovered from the fact that instead of stone as we first believed, we found them to be of a metal, very much resembling sulphate of iron, but more of a silvery appearance. had not proceeded very far before we heard a rumbling noise that occasionally broke upon our ears in notes the most thrilling and melodious I ever heard. We stood for a considerable time in breathless silence to catch the most enchanting sounds that ever greeted the ear of man, and it was only at an interval that we could summon courage to explore its source, which we did, and were much surprised to find it proceeded from a gushing spring in the side of the wall. The sounds we heard we found to be produced by the fall of the water, and varied by the current of air before alluded to, which we then found to be very strong. We each took a hearty draught of the limpid water of this gushing spring, and after surveying the diamond walls of the greatest natural curiosity in the world, we commenced retracing our steps to its mouth, when we found it to be quite dark and eight o'clock at night."-Missouri States a Salicene. A writer in the Washington Union says, it is understood to be the design of the medical department of the army, to have this medicine tried on large scale, at one or two of the most unhealthy military posts on our south western frontier, with the view of determining its precise value. Salicene, as its name imports, is obtained from the bark of the willow. It is prepared in France, and appears in the form of a clear white powder. It possesses many of the properties of quinine, and in cases of extreme debility, is preferred to it by many judicious physicians POETRY. A Lesson of I.ife. By a Teacher to a Listless Student. Up and on, nor sit despairing O'er the common ills of time; Grope not through the world supinely, Working with the shining day. Think of those who went before you, Be deceived not, nor misguided, Indecision breeds despair. Who is he that shines in story, And is numbered with the wise, That has won his way to glory, But by toil and sacrifice? Every spark from action beaming, But among the strivers strive; Thought and labor are demanded Of the heritors of earth; Up and onward to the battle, While the heart is young and brave, Where the flags of promise wave. Not a star that shines above you, Up, then, while the day is glowing, Lines to Fingal's Cave. For the American Penny Magazine. Wild cave of the Ocean, What wonders are thine! How fain is my fancy, Such art and such beauty On one occasion General Washington invited a number of his fellow officers to dine with him. While at table one of them uttered an oath. The General dropped his knife and fork in a moment, and in his deep under tone, and characteristic dignity and deliberation, said, I thought we all considered ourselves gentlemen. He then resumed his knife and fork, and went on as before. The remark struck like an electric shock, and, as he intended, did execution, as his remarks, in such cases, were very apt to do. No person swore at the table after that; and after dinner, the officer referred to, remarked to his companions, that if the General had struck him over the head with his sword, he could have borne it; but the home thrust which he gave him was too much, it was too much FOR A GINTLEMAN. Two negro kings, on the coast of Africa, salute by snapping the finger three times. Editors receiving this paper in exchange, are invited to reinsert the following advertisement: THE AMERICAN PENNY MAGAZINE AND FAMILY NEWSPAPER, Edited by Theodore Dwight, Jr. Is published weekly, at the office of the New York Express, No. 112 Broadway, at 3 cents a number, (16 pages large octavo,) or, to subscribers receiving it by mail, and paying in advance. $1 a year. The postage from July onwards will be Free for this city, Brooklyn, Harlem, Newark, and all other places within 30 miles; and only one cent a copy for other parts of the United States. Persons forwarding the money for five copies, will receive a sixth gratis. Editors known to have published this advertisement, with an editorial notice of the work, will be supplied with it for one year. By the quantity, $2 a hundred. The work will form a volume of 832 pages annually. Postmasters are authorized to remit money with out charge. We particularly request the public to remember that no person is authorized to receive money in advance for this paper, except the Editor or Publishers and an Agent in Ohio and the five south-western counties of Pennsylvania, who will show an attested certificate, signed by the Editor |