POETRY. Deal Gently. BY EDWARD H. DAVIS. Deal gently with the lowly, A world of grief and care. It is not always May," May drive your friends away; [Spirit of the Times. Thou canst delve inearth, And from its mighty depths bring forth pure gold; Thou canst unwrap the clouds in heaven rolled, And give the lightning birth! Thou hast the stormy sea Chained to thy chariot wheels, and the wild winds Obey the o'erruling intellect that binds Their rushing winds thee! Thou canst new bands create, Where the wild, rolling wave no mastery owns, And the vast distance of opposing zones Lift, then, thy hand to Heaven! In regard to facts wrongly stated, no wellbred man ever thinks of correcting them, merely to show his wisdom in trifles; but, with politeness, it is perfectly easy to rectify an error, when the nature of the conversation demands the explanation.—Art of Conversation. French Proverbs, Bon mols, &c.— 15. Là où sont les yeux, là est le cœur. On détourne les yeux de ce qu'on n'aime pas. Un regard est donc presque toujours une marque de sympathie, de bienveillance ou d'amour. 16. Les grammairiens, les moralistes et les rhéteurs resemblent à ces poteaux placés aux carrefours des chemins; ils indiquent aux autres la route qu'ils ne peuvent suivre. Translation of French Proverbs, &c., p. 352. 13. The object generally proposed in discussion is not the truth, but victory. A debate is a duel between lungs: victory is for the strongest. 14. In everything appropriateness is every. thing. THE AMERICAN MAGAZINE, AND FAMILY NEWSPAPER; With numerous Engravings. Edited by Theodore Dwight. Is published weekly, at the office of the New York Express, No. 112 Broadway, at 4 cents a number, or, to subscribers paying in advance, a year. 7 sets for $10. Monthly, in covered pamphlets, at same price. Rare seeds sent to Subscribers. Postmasters are authorized to remi: money, and are requested to act as agents. Enclose a Two Dollar Bill, without payment of pos tage, and the work will be sent for the year. Manner of Catching, Taming and Transporting the Camelopards. Our print represents a part of the grand procession, formed by the Camelopard expedition, on its return from the Kalliharry desert to the Cape of Good Hope. The scene is on the bank of a brook, at the verge of a plain, and at the base of one of the numerous ridges of mountains which the travellers had to pass. The wagon, with its extraordinary height, and the fine yoke of oxen by which it is draw, will give some idea of the magnitude of the undertaking so successfully performed, as it is a specimen of a long train of vehicles of similar dimensions appropriated to the same purpose: viz. the transportation of such of those rare and delicate animals as might prove unfit to perform the journey on foot, whether from youth or from dis ease. Numbers of them were carried in strong and tall vehicles of this description, over the great distance of about twelve hundred miles; while the strong were carefully led, and treated with care. It was in a pleasant and shady spot that the hunting-party halted, after their long, toilsome and dangerous march, erected habitations for their shelter under the noble forest trees which grew on the place, and made other arrangements for a stay of several weeks. It was there, as we were informed the traveller that he made the experiment in lazoing horses; and to that spot he brought back the first camelopard of which he made a prize. The first effect of the lazo, as it is commonly used on our western continent, is one of the most rude and violent description. In Mexico and even in Texas, as well as in South America, on the plains of New Granada, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Brazil, &c., trained horses are used in the chase of wild horses, oxen, and sometimes of other animals and even of men, and are taught to stand still, and brace themselves as soon as the cord is thrown by the master. The victim seldom escapes the noose, and is usually brought to the ground in an instant, with the utmost violence, as the other end of the lazo is secured to the saddle. A wild horse is sometimes severely injured or killed by the fall, but always stunned and choked for a time; and, before the rope is loosened, the cruel sportsman forces his powerful curb bit into his mouth, sits upon his back, then shakes the noose loose, and spurs him with his long rowels, until, after a long gallop across the plain, he sinks to the ground from exhaustion. Keeping his seat, he awaits returning animation; then gallopping back to the place of starting, the horse ceases forever all signs of disobedience to his triumphant master. But so delicate an animal as the Camelopard would never endure treatment like this; and happily our enterprising hunter in the Kallibarry desert had too much sense and humanity to practice it. His treatment of his prize was of the gentlest kind. Leading it back to the camp, he kept it confined with ropes only long enough to form a prison where bonds would be unnecessary to security, and soon devised the plan of a pit in the ground. This was dug, with a path left on one side, by which the animal was led down. The path was then dug away, the earth thrown out, and the laborer lifted out by a rope. The advantage of this mode of confinement will be obvi. ous; and it was practised with success. The Camelopards were permitted to enjoy the air, and to look about, and there could be easily fed and watered, and yet suffered no injury. As the number of prizes by the lazo increased, pits were multiplied; and at length the season approached to prepare for the return to the Cape of Good Hope. MEANS OF SAFETY FOR VESSELS IN DANGER. An experiment took place on the Downs, illustrative of Mr. Carte's plan for effecting a communication between stranded vessels and the shore, or vice versa. The apparatus possesses the great merits of simplicity and portability. In the compass of little more than a large gun case are packed rockets of different calibre and power, capable in proportion to their power of carrying an attached rope to varying distances. This and an arm of grooved wood, somewhat longer and stouter than a musket stock, are all that are required. The experiments were strikingly successful. Distances being marked out by flags, the rope was thrown with unerring precision over the point indicated, the rocket, in one case, taking the line (a stout cordage, the thickness of a finger) a cl ar range of between 400 and 500 yds. with as true a coure as a rifle ball would travel.-London paper. Sign-Painting. When a sign is to be lettered with gold or gilt letters, the face of the board, after being painted and smoothed, is to be varnished with copal varnish, before the letters are formed. The letters are drawn and painted with a composition called by painters "Gold sizing," which is prepired as follows:--Grind equal quantities of white lead and litharge, in a mixture of equal quantities of old fat linseed oil, copal varnish and spirits of turpentine. To this compound may be added a very minute quantity of chrome yellow, sufficient to bring the sizing nearly to a gold color. The oil for this purpose may be generally procured from the top of oil paint that has been long standing in an open vessel. With this sizing, the letters, ruling and ornaments are formed, th sizing being applied with brushes or pencils, the same as common paint. When this sizing becomes hard, but yet not so perfectly dry but that a slight stickiness remains, the sized parts are covered with gold leaf, which is gently pre-sed down with a puff, or ball of raw cotton. The leaves of gold for this purpose, may be first laid on a piece of soft buff leather or sheepskin, and may be cut into convenient sized pieces, with a smooth edged knife. These pieces may then be conveyed to the work, and each piece placed where it is wanted, by means of a little block of wood, covered with fine flannel. The most convenient shape for this block is that of a segment, about three inches long and three fourths of an inch thick; the strip of flannel being drawn over the straight side and the two ends thereof, tacked upon the curved part. The flannel, being occasionally rubbed on the hand, or on another piece of cloth, instantly acquires an electrical attractive property, sufficient to raise several pieces of the leaf in succession, and carry them to the sized work:-the block being slightly pressed on the leaf, the latter will adhere to the flannel, and may be carried to, and placed on, such part of the sizing, as its size and form will best fit. In this manner, the sized letters, or figures, are completely covered with the gold leaf, which will adhere to the sizing the whole may then be rubbed over with cotton, and all the superfluous leaf will be brushed off, leaving the letters or figures entire. No varnish must be put on over the gold leaf, as it would injure the appearance of it, without contributing to its durability; but gilt letters, or ornaments on carriages, sleighs or chairs, on which they are exposed to wear, must necessarily be varnished in order to preserve them. In Silver or brass leaf may be managed in the same manner, but neither of them will retain its lustre, unless it is protected by a coat of varnish. In the formation of letters, in sign painting, very little instruction can be given. The shape and proportion of the letter depends on the taste and skill of the artist: but, in general, the perpendicular sections of capitals are made to swell at the top and bottom, more than those in types, and the hori zontal lines and crosses are heavier. calculating the size of letters-Roman or antique capitals,--which may be placed in a line, divide the length of the board by the number of letters in the line, and take three quarters of the quotient for the height, or vertical length of the letters. When a V or W succeeds on A or L, the two letters may stand closer than in type work: and, on the other hand, when an I succeeds H, or is succeeded by L, the space between should be greater than in types. By the observance of these and similar rules, the proportion and balance of the line of letters may be made far superior to those of printed words.--Sci. American. PATENT DRY BRICK MACHINE.--The machine for making bricks, from dry clay, invented by Mr. T. Culbertson, of Cincinnati, Ohio, must undoubtedly produce an entire revolution in the art of brickmaking. It is simple in construction, strong, and has but few wearing surfaces, requiring but little power to work, and but few hands to tend it. It is self-feeding and self-delivering, and operates with certainty and accuracy, and is so arranged, that by a slight alteration of the moulds alone, bricks, of any desired size and shape, may be made, for paving, building arches, lining cisterns, &c., and will throw off upwards of 3,000 good, smooth, firm bricks, per hour.--N. Y. Express. In Peru there are now sixteen mines of silver and forty-two of copper, worked, mostly, by American and English companies.--SEL. Nest of the White Ant. (Concluded from page 346.) The outward shell, or dome, is not only of use to protect the interior buildings from external violence and heavy rains, but to collect and preserve a regular supply of heat and moisture, which seems indispensable for hatching the eggs and rearing the young ones. The royal chamber, occupied by the king and queen, is manifestly considered of the most consequence, being always situated as near the centre of the interior building as possible, and generally upon a level with the surface of the ground, at a pace or two from the hillock. Its interior shape nearly resembles half an egg, or an obtuse oval, not unlike a long oven. In the infant state of the colony it is scarcely an inch in length, but it is enlarged as the queen increases in bulk, until it reaches the length of about eight inches. Its floor is perfectly horizontal, and about an inch thick; the roof is generally of the same solidity, being formed of one well-turned oval arch; the doors are" made level with the floor, equidistant from each other, and just large enough to admit a labourer, but not to permit the exit of their majesties, who are imprisoned for life. In a large hillock, the royal chamber is surrounded by numberless others of different shapes and dimensions, all of them arched either ovally or circularly; these communicate with one another by means of passages, and are the waitingrooms for the attendants employed in removing the eggs of the queen; they also lodge the soldiers engaged in the defence of the colony. Next to these are the magazines, in which are deposited the inspissated exudations and juices of trees, of various colours and consistency. Intermixed with the magazines are the nurseries, differing totally in construction from any other part of the building being composed of raspings of wood cemented with gum. They are compact, and divided into many very irregularly-shaped chambers, not one of which is half an inch wide. The nurseries are enclosed in chambers of clay; they are placed at first near the royal cell, but as the queen enlarges, they are removed to a distance, in order that room may be made for her increasing wants. In the early state of the hill, these nur sery-chambers are not bigger than a hazlenut; but as it advances, they become enlarged to the size of a child's head. The intervention of these various cavities is well calculated to regulate the temperature of the interior. There are also large subterraneous galleries, to which the Roman sewers are not to be compared, when the size of the worker is taken into account. Some of these are thirteen inches in the bore, extending more than a hundred yards under ground, and forming the great thoroughfares of the community. The tender body of the termites, compared with the armour-like integument of their mortal enemies the ants, makes it necessary for them thus to conceal themselves in their covered roads. These galleries wind spirally up to the top of the hill. By this contrivance the ascent is rendered easier to an insect toiling under its load. Let us only conceive a man carrying a heavy weight up a ladder two thousand eight hundred and eighty feet, and we shall have some notion of the labour saved by inclining the ascent. The distance too is shortened by another ingenious contrivance: an arch is thrown from one frequented spot to another; and one of these when measured has been found to be ten inches in length, half an inch in width, and one fourth of an inch in thickness; and, according to Smeathman, it was not excavated, but projected from one point to another. It would be curious to know the site of these arches in different hills, as proving how far they might or might not be varied with the exigencies of each community. It is related of the celebrated conqueror Timour, that, being once forced to take shelter from his enemies in a ruined building, he sat alone many hours: desirous of diverting his mind from his hopeless condition, he fixed his observation upon an ant which was carrying a grain of corn (probably a pupa) larger than itself, up a high wall, Numbering the ef forts that it made to accomplish this object, he found that the grain fell sixtynine times to the ground; but the seventieth time it reached the top of the wall. "This sight," said Timour, "gave me courage at the moment, and I have never forgotten the lesson it conveyed." The Jesuit Dobrizhoffer, in his History of the Abiphones, gives the following |