CANDLES.-RUSHLIGHTS. 131 a short time, they are again dipped, and again dried; and this is repeated till the candles become of a proper size, which is ascertained by weighing them. Rushlights are made in the same manner, only that a wick of dried peeled rushes is substituted for the cotton. HELEN. Rushlights are used for burning during the night, because they do not require snuffing? MOTHER. Yes; and as they emit a duller light, they would not answer so well for general purposes. LOUISA. Then candles are made of wax, spermaceti, and tallow. MOTHER. In China, we are told, there is a very remarkable tree, called the tallow-tree, the fruit of which is a nut inclosing three kernels, embedded in a substance that answers all the purposes of tallow. 132 TALLOW-TREE. LOUISA. Will it make candles? MOTHER. Yes; it is commonly used for making candles, and burning in lamps. The tree is about the size of a cherry-tree: its leaves are of a deep red colour, and its fruit not very unlike a chestnut. LOUISA. Such candles must be very delicate, and much purer than those formed from animal fat. MOTHER. Yet this same animal fat, which you appear to mention with disgust, is the source of all our cleanliness. LOUISA. Nay, mother, now I am sure you are joking! HELEN. I think, I know what mamma means; she is going to speak of soap. LOUISA. Soap cannot be produced from grease; because we use it to remove grease in washing. MOTHER. But suppose I tell you that all soap is composed of tallow, or oil? LOUISA. You astonish me! MOTHER. Yet nothing is more true. By certain processes, the tallow, or oil, is converted into different kinds of soap. The general principle is, boiling the grease in what is called a ley: that is, a mixture of water, and the white ashes, called alkali, obtained from burned vegetables. Some common salt is also used; and, when the mixture has been sufficiently boiled, it is converted into soap, which is cast into wooden moulds and dried. HELEN. I suppose the vegetable ashes absorb, or draw off, the oily particles of the grease, and thus purify and harden it. LOUISA. Then I am sure we are much obliged to the vegetable ashes. They turn a very nasty thing into a very useful one. |