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1 11
1 I I I' C
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'SAMUEL WEIGHT, Editor and Proprietor.
' VOLUME XXXIV, NUMBER 1.1
PUBLISHED EVERY SITURDIY MORNING.
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Entrg.
'Laude Clare
)3T CIIRISTINA ROSSETTI
Out of the church she followed them
With a lofty step and mien:
Mi., bride W. 19 like a village maid,
Maude Clure was like a gotten.
"Son Thomas," his lady mother said,
With smiles, almost with tears;
"May Nell and you but live as true
As we have done for years;
"Your father thirty years ago
Had just your tale to toll;
But he was not so pale as you
Nor I so pale as Nell."
My lord w t. pale with inward strife,
And Nell was pale with pride;
My lord gazed long on pale Maude Clare
Or ever he kissed the bride.
"Lo. f hayes brought my gift, my lord,
Have brought my gift," she said:
''To bless the hearth, to bless the board
To bless the marriage -bed.
"Here's my half of the golden chain
You wore about your neck,
That day we waded ankle-deep
For lilies in the beck:
Here's my half of the faded leaves
We plucked from the budding, boinh,
With feet among, the lily leaves,—
The lilies are budding, cow?,
He strove trunatch her scorn with scorn,
Ile (altered in his place:
"Lady," he said,—"Mande Clare," he said,—
"Maude Clare:"—and hid his face.
She turned to dell: "My Lady Nell,
I have n gift for you;
Though, were it fruit, the bloom were gone,
Or were it flowers the dew.
"Take my share of a fickle heart,
Mine of a paltry love:
Take it or leave it as you will,
I wash my hands thereof.,
rid Mint you leave,' said Nell, "I'll take,
Awl what you spurn, I'll wear;
For he's my lord for better and worse,
And him I love, Matido Clara.
"Yen, though you're taller by the head,
More wise. and midi more fair:
I'll love him till he loves me hest,
Me best oral]. Moude Clure.
gtrttiinto.
Kiss Fyfe's Adventure.
I=
It is now some six or seven years ago, be
gan Miss Fyfe, since my nephew Fred, hav
ing just left college, came to reside with me
for a short time previous to going out to In
dia. I had been living for a year past in
London, and had grown heartily tired of it;
indeed, the town and I never agree very
well together, and by the time I have been
in it a month or two, I always find myself
possessed with an intense longing to visit
either the country or the sea. So, in the
present instance, I determined to go down
for a while to u little country house I have
in Leicestershire, which happened at that
time to be without a tenant, at which place
it was arranged that Fred should join me.
The idea of a few quiet months in the coun
try was as pleasant to him nit was to my
self, for he was busy with his Sanscrit and
Arabic, and in London he had so many ac
quaintances, that his studies were being
constantly interrupted. The beginning of
June found us all comfortably established
in Ivy Lodge—myself, Fred, and the two
woman servants, which were all that our
little establishment needed. There was one
fault to find with Ivy Lodge, and that was
the reason why it could never keep a tenant
in it more than two winters in succession:
this fault was its distance from any other
habitation, even of the humblest kind; the
nearest house being, in fact, two miles away,
while it was six miles distant from the near
est country town. But neither Fred nor I
cared for this in the least, for he got on fa
mously with his studies within doors, and
botanized to his heart's content in the fields;
while a visit to Westbury once a week satis
fied all my social requirements.
Well, summer and Autumn passed quiet
ly and pleasantly away. One morning. in
early winter, Fred received a letter inviting
him to attend the wedding of an old college
friend, who lived about thirty miles away in
another country. Fred replied, accepting
the invitation, and set off shortly afterwards
without fixing the duration of his visit,
which would probably extend over three or
four days. Oa the second morning after
Fred's absence, Mary, the housemaid, came
to me to inquire whether I could contrive to
spare her and Bessy for the afternoon and
evening to attend the wakes at Weitbury.
made no demur at letting them go, for they
had been cooped up long enough without a
holiday; so in the afternoon they were called
for by Mary's father, and duly driven away
by him in his light cart. Before going, the
old man observed that it would "most likely
be rather late at might befoti the lasses
amid get back again, but perhaps I Wouldn't
mind it for once."
"If they are likely to be very late," I said,
"It will, I think, be best for them to stay all
night at your house, and get back first thing
in the morning in time for breakfast."
The manifest delight with which this pro
position was received by the two girls, only
served to confirm it, so it was finally arrang
ed that they should not return tilt morning.
The cart was just turning the corner of the
lane when it came into my olind for the first
time, that Fred being also away, I should
have to spend the night alone in Ivy Lodge;
and I remembered further, that I had in the
house a considerable sum of money, which
I had drawn from the bank on the previous
day fur a certain purpose, and which was
still lying untouched up stairs.
The feeling was not a comfortable one at
the moment; but I am not naturally a ner
vous wt.man, and I soon banished the sub
ject from my mind as one not worthy of much
consideration. Besides, Wolf, the large
house-dog, would be protection enough for
one night; and I determined to release him
from his choin at dusk, and let him have
the run of the premises. Then, again, who
was to know I had been to the bank on the
previous day, and still had the money in the
house? So I went in doors, feeling as cheer
ful as usual, and made myself a comfortable
tea; after that sat working for an hour or
two; and then feeling the need of a change,
put my sewing away, and took up a book
which Fred had brought DID from Westbury
a few days before. It was "The Night-side
of Nature." Situated as I was, having to
pass a night by myself in a lonely country
house, it was, with its strange narratives of
apparitions and ghostly appearances, one of
the worst books I could have chosen to read
before going to bed. I was not long in per
ceiving this, but the fascination of the sub
ject was such that I could not quit it; and I
read on quickly, leaf after leaf, till I had
got half through the book, when, looking up.
I was surprised to find that the fire was
nearly out, and the clock on the point of
twelve. I shut the book, and rose at once
to go to bed. "How about Wolf?" I said to
myself. "Shall I g, and release him, or
leave him chained to his kennel? I would
have him in doors for the night, only I knew
he would do nothing but 'scamper up and
down stairs till morning, and put sleep en
tirely oat of the question."
51 10
E
I opened the door of the passage lending
to the yard-door, with the intention of re
leasing the dog, but at the same moment I
felt a sudden nervous tremor shoot through
me, such as I had never experienced before,
and a strange disinclination to move out of
the lighted parlor into the darker parts of
the house. I sat down again in my chair to
argue the point with myself, and prove to
mysejf the absurdity of my fears. This I
did quite conclusively, and in a very short
time; but, nevertheless, I determined not to
go and release Wolf. "I have had a slight
cold for the last few days," I said to myself,
"and it would not be advisable for me to go
out of this warm room into the night air."
lloving found so reasonable an excuse for
myself, I determined no longer to delay go
ing to bed; so I put out the lamp, and light
ed my bed-room candle without further par
ley: and carrying in my hand a little tisane,
which I had cozkpounded for myself as a
sovereign remedy for a cold in the head, I
proceeded slowly and cautiously on my jour
ney up stairs. I say slowly and•cautiously,
for the influence of the book I had been
reading was still strongly upon me, and I
found it requisite to pause for a moment at
every second or third stop in my progress
upward, and glance back fearfully over my
shoulder, expecting to Fee I knew not what
—nothing, and yet something; perhaps a
black, formless, crouching creature, stealing
noiselessly after me up stairs, and only wait
ing an ungarded moment to clutch me by
the dress and pull me backward; perhaps a
gigantic phantom band protruded from each
door after I bad passed it, menacing me with
the anger of some power unknown; perhaps
a white, corpselike face glaring over my
shoulder, with sightless eye-balls and purple
lips. Inwardly annoyed with myself as I
was for being so absurd, I could not for the
world have gone up stairs that night in my
usual careless fashion. But, thank heaven!
hero was my bed-room at last. One more
fearful glance over my shoulder, and then I
hurried in, and closed and bolted the door
* with a sigh of relief. "flow I shall laugh
at myself to-morrow for these idle fears," I
said; but, in any case, I won't spend anoth
er night alone in Ivy Lodge."
When I got into bed, my ghostly terrors
vanished in some measure, but in their stead
I became oppressed with a melancholy un
defined presentment of some impending evil
near at hand, but whence or how coming I
could not tell.
Feeling thirsty after a time, L put out my
hand to reach the tisane, which stood ea a
low chair by the side of the bed, when—hor
ror of horrorsl—my wrist was suddenly
clutched by a death-cold hand, which grasped
it for a single instant, and then let it go. It
is not too' much to say that my heart ceased
to beat, and all the pulses of life seemed to
stand still in awful fear, but only for a mo
ment; the next they burst madly ontheir
courses; a cold sweat wrapped me from head
to foot, and I lay with wildly staring eyes,
momentarily expecting the appearance of
some dread apparition.
"Yes, there it is—coming—coming!" I
whispered to myself, as a figure, black and
vague, but still Of human shape, rose slowly
from the floor, till it reached what seemed
to trfe a more than mortal atatoreioutliniog
"NO ENTERTAINMENT SO CIIEAP AS READING, NOR ANY PLEASURE SO LASTING."
COLUMBIA, PENNSYLVANIA, SATURDAY MORNING, AUGUST 2, 1862.
itself as it rose against the white disc of the
window-blind. There was not, however,
much time for coniideration, for the next
minute the blinding glare of a dark lantern
was thrown full in my dazzled eyes, and a
hoarse voice, a voice with a chronic cold in
its tones, exclaimed: "Now, mum, will you
oblige me by getting up again? Sorry to
disturb a lady, but it can't be helped this
time."
Only a vulgar burglar after all!
The revulsion of feeling, from the ghostly
terrors of the minute before, was so great,
that all my sang froid came back at once;
and a predicament which at another time I
should have deemed serious enough, seemed
to me at that moment as but a matter of
comparatively little consequence. "How
has the fellow got into my room without be
ing seen or heard?" was the first question I
asked myself—a question, by the way, which
at the present moment I am equally unable
to salvo, fur a mystery it was then, and a
mystery it remains.
"If you had only written to say you wore
coming, I would have sat up for you," I said
aloud.
"I wanted to give you a. pleasant surprise,"
he replied with a grin. "Are you going to
get up?"
"Presently. Just step outside that door
fur a moment, while I put on a few clothes."
"None of your tricks, now!" he said rough
ly, "cos I won't stand 'em."
"You aro forgetting your manners, sir, to
a lady."
"Well, you're a cool hand, anyhow!" So
saying, he went outside the door, holding it,
however, carefully both with hand and foot,
while I hurried on my clothes.
I began by this time to feel rather more
alarmed than at first, but still I thought it
would never do to show it; to treat such a
man with polite audacity, if my nerves would
only carry me through the contest, was evi
dently the best plan I could adopt.
"I am at your service," I said in a couple
of minutes or so.
"Then light your candle, and go down
stairs; you in front, me behind. But first
band me over that gimerack watch of yours;
I always bad a fancy fur a lady's ticker."
"You must be careful not to turn the key
more than six times, when you wind it up,
or you may break the spring," I said, hand
ing him with an inward sigh my watch and
chain.
Now that the candle was lighted, I was
able to see more clearly what the fellow was
like. . Thoth hands and face were thoroughly
blackened, and his head was further dis
guised with a rough flaxen wi .; and a fur
cap. lie wore a thick woolen comforter
round his neck, and a capacious top-coat
concealed the rest of his person. I deter
mined to keep both eyes and cars open, to
note any little peculiarity, either of voice or
person, which might afterwards aid me in
identifying him. It seemed to me unac
countable, that on that night of all others,
when, for the first time since my arrival at
Ivy Ledge, I happened to have anything like
a large sum of money in the house, I should
have to entertain such a visitor. It was al
most hoping against hope, but still it was
just possible that ho might not be aware of
my visit to the bank, and might not find the
money in his search. ifa the question was
quickly decided for me. When we reached
the foot of the stairs, I going first, and the
man following closely behind me, he said:
"Stop a moment. Let us pay our first visit
to that little room on the left, where you
keep your books, and where there's a 'and-
some rosewood desk, in which, at the present
moment, there's two hundred pounds in good
money—seventy in sovereigns, and the re
mainder in Ilimseys—numbers all known,
no doubt, but still disposable in the proper
quarter."
Ilow, in the name of goodness—or bad
ness—had he obtained such precise infor
mation?
. .
There was nothing for it but to obey, so I
conducted him into my study, opened my
escritoire, and quietly handed him the mon
ey. lie counted it over with a complaisant
chuckle, and then put it carefully away in
his breast pocket.
"Now, this is what I calls a comfortable
way of doing business," he said; "no fuss,
no bother, no cries nor tears—business-like
and proper. I hate folks that snivel and
bawl, and always feel inclined to give 'em a
quiet tap on the head. If everybody was as
sensible as you, mum, our trade would be a
pleasanter one than it is. And now I think
a few spoons and forks wouldn't come amiss,
for I'm expecting company next week, and
would like to do the thing in style. Ah! I
wonder who was the first chap that found
out it was vulgar to eat with a knife?"
Both spoons and forks were soon disposed
of, and, sorrow of sorrows, my cherished
silver teapot, together with sundry other ar
ticles of plate, placed in a capacious bag
which Mr. Black produced from one of his
pockets. "There, mum, I'm pretty well
loaded now, thank you," ho said, as he dis
posed of the last article. "And it's truly
thankful lam that I came here without a
pal, or else I should have had to go shares
with him. I knew I could crack a little crib
like this by myself—it'a child's play, that's
what it is." He pulled out my watch, and
referred to it with an evident air of satisfac
tion. "Why, blow toe! it wants two hours
and a half yet till daylight. Time for a bit
of supper, if you've no. hobjection—hey
mum?"
"None whatever," I replied. "If you will
follow me into the dining-roam, I will see
what I can find for you."
"Gosh! but this is prime, and no mistake!"
lie exclaimed, turning up his coat-cuffs, as I
set before him a cold fowl, a roll of bread,
and three parts of a bottle of old port. "Best
quarters I'vo been in fur many a day, hang
me if it ain't!"
He set to work with savage energy, and
sat silently enjoying himself for several min
utes; while I sat watching him closely, and
trying to discover some slight personal traits
which might assist me hereafter in recog
nizing him again.
"Here's your health, mum!" lie said after
a time, speaking with a full mouth, as he
held up a glass of wino before the candle;
"and the best wishes of a fellow whose heart
doesn't hold too many good wishes for any
body!" Not a bad tempered man, evident
ly, when he could havP his own way; and
not without certain rude elements of polite
ness in his composition. When he had
made a hearty meal, and finished the wine,
he produced from one of his numerous pock
ets a little black pipe and a tin tobacco-box.
"By your leave, mum," he said, "I'll just
blow a little cloud; though perhaps it's
against the rule to smoke in the drorering
room; if so, say the word, and we'll adjourn
to the kitchen."
"You are a privileged visitor," I replied;
"so light your pipe by all means."
"A brick! I said it before, and I'll main
tain it again," ho exclaimed, slapping his
leg. with ris huge hand. "Ab, a comfortable
crib, this, and no mistake!" he went on,
puffing away in a contemplative manner at
the little pipe; "and I wouldn't mind if I
was master here. What do you say, mum?
Your in wants of a husband, and I'm in
wants of a wife—shall.we make a splice of
it? You're not quite so young and tender
as you have been, you know; but I'll treat
you well, and do everything that's right and
proper by you; for I'm blessed if you're not
the style of woman I'd pick out of a thous
and; no sentimental nonsense about you,
but plenty of gumption; and then you know
how to make a char comfortable. What do
you say, mum—is it a bargain?" He leered
at me with his blood-shot eyes, and with his
head a little on one side, and took his pipe
out of his mouth fur a moment in his eager
ness to hear my reply.
"Thank you, but I'm not in want of a hus
band at present," I said; "and even if I
were, I should prefer seeing you with your
face washed before deciding to accept you."
Ho burst into a great - roar of' laughter,
and slapped his leg again. "Why, it's my
full dress evening suit that I've got on!" he
exclaimed; . "and I thought I looked quite
(fascinating in it. Well, if you won't have
me, you won't; there's no forcing an obsti
nate woman. But let us have a drop more
wine instead; there's more where this come
from, I suppose?"
"Yes, plenty more in the cellar."
"Then to thecellar we'll adjourn. Gosh!
but it's prime stuff to stir a fellow's blood.
Take a candle, and lend the way, if you
please."
Taking a candle in ono band, and -my
bunch of keys in the other, I led the way
towards the cellar, my black-visaged friend
following closely in my roar. The wine
cellar was reached by descending a steep
flight of' stone stairs, which opened out of a
passage leading to the kitchen. At the top
of this flight of stairs was a slight door,
partly made of glass; and at the foot of the
stairs was another and a stronger door, usu
ally kept locked. Having descended the
stairs, still holding the lighted candle, I un
locked the lower door, and we both entered
the cellar, a small vaulted apartment, just
high enough fur a man to stand upright in.
I pointed to the various ranges of bottles,
and said to Mr. Black: "Pick and choose
where you please. That row close to the
floor is all port; perhaps that will suit you
best."
"Couldn't improve on the last lot. But I
say, mum, it wouldn't be amiss for me to
carry away a couple of bottles, if—alt, ha!
—you wouldn't think it too great a liberty,
and I'll crack another up stairs before I go."
"You have such a polite way of making
your wishes known," I said, "that I find it
impossible to refuse you."
Chuckling to himself, ho bent down to
pick out some bottles from the lower tier.—
While he was thus stooping, I gave him a
sudden push with all the strength of my two
hands, which sent hint crashing bead first ,
among the bottles; and before ho knew whar
had happened, or could recover himself in
the least, I had blown out the candle, and,
rushing to the staircase, had pulled to and
doable•lockel the door behind me. In doing
this, I had acted entirely without forethought,
and on the impulse of the moment, without '
at all calculating the consequences to which
it might lead, and I now sank down on the
stairs in the dark, with a heart that beat as
though it must burst its bounds. Mr. Black
picked himself up, with many oaths, from
among the broken bottles, and stumbled to
wards the door. "What fool's trick is this?"
he shouted through the keyhole. "Open the
door, you hag, or I'll murder you when I
get end" But I had struggled up the stairs,
and was away in the kitchen by this time,
where I quickly relighted my candle. Leav
ing the ..candle for a moment, I hurried to
the back door, and unfastening it, called at
first gently, and then louder, for Wolf; but
hearing no growl of recognition, or joyful
bark in reply, 1 hastened as fast as I could
across the yard to his kennel; and there, by
the faint light of the stars, saw my poor
dog lying dead and cold—poisoned, doubt
less, by that miscreant in the cellar.
This cruel deed seemed to set my blood
all aflame with hatred of the man; the loss
of my poor favorite touched my feelings far
more closely than the loss of my money and
plate had done; and with my dread of the
wretch swallowed up in a great measure in
my desire for vengeance, I hastened back to
the house, contrary to my first impulse,
which had been to rush away and hide my
self in the darkness. But what had I to
fear now? Was he not trapped—shut up
securely in the cellar, there to await his
doom? Suddenly I remembered that there
was generally a brace of pistols hanging
over the fire place in Fred's little room;
should the man succeed in bursting loose—
though I had but little fear of it, for the
door was very strong—they might prove
useful; but on coming to examine them, I
found that they were not loaded. All this
time, Mr. Black was exerting his utmost
strength to break open the door; but it was
stoutly built, and so far defied his efforts.—
I placed the candlestick on a bracket at the
top of the stairs, and stood close by with my
brace of empty pistols, dreading every mo
ment that the door would give away and
the miscreant rush upon me, and yet with
a stubborn drop of blood in my heart, which
bade me not flee so long as there remained
a chance, however remote, of capturing hint.
Ile ceased his eflorts after a time, and I
could hear him moving about in the dark.
What was he about to do? Not long was I
left in doubt, fur I had hardly asked myself
the question, when, the noise of a pistol-shot
resounded through the house, responded to
by a scream from me; the door at the bottom
of the stairs fell back on its hinges: he had
shot away the bolt. "Now, mum, I'll pay
you off fur your little trick!" I heard him
say. The next instant, I saw him, with a
bottle in each hand, and a large open knife
between his teeth, emerge out of the gloom
into the dull twilight made by the light of
my candle at the entrance to the cellar.
"Come ono step nearer, and you are a
dead man!" 1 exclaimed, standing at the
top of the stairs. and pointing both pistols
full at him.
Ile turned yellow with fear, even through
the lampblack with which his faco was
smeared, as be glanced up and saw me
standing there; and dropping the bottles, ho
shrunk back in the darkest corner of the
"Ila, ha! what a jolly lark!" he exclaimed
with a wretched attempt at a laugh. "I
said all along that you was a brick. But I
say, mum, just turn them barkers away for
a moment, will you, while I come up stairs.
Let bygones be bygones, and we'll bid each
other a friendly farewell."
"Come a step neiirer, at your peril!" I
said. "You have poisoned my dog, and
robbed me of my of my money; you ore
a coward and a thief; and hero you shall
remain, unless you prefer being shot through
the head, until I give you into the custody
of the police."
A long and terrific volley of curses was
his only reply, but be still kept carefully
out of sight, for much as he feared the police,
lie feared a bullet infinitely more. "If he
only knew that the pistols are not loaded!"
I kept repeating to myself.
After this the silence remained unbroken
for nearly five minutes: he was probably
brooding over what course he should next
adopt; he spoke again: "Let you and me be
rasonable, now," he said; "let us come to
terms. I'll give you back the spoons, and
plate, and"—
"Not if you were to give back what you
have stolen to the uttermost farthing, would
I let you go! Hero you are, and here you
shall remain till I see those wrists of yours
decorated with a F air of haudeulis."
Another terrible volley of oaths was age in
his reply; then I heard him knock ofT the
neck of another bottle, end drink at the
contents. What I dreaded more than any
thing was, that Ito would drink till, he lost
the sense of fear, and then make n sudden
dash up the staircase towards me; but what
ever my fears miAllt be, I still stood reso
lutely on the topmost stair, peering down
into the darkness with eyes that never turn
ed away, and holding n pistol firmly in
either hand. Apparently, the first result
of Mr. Black's extra bottle was to cause him
to take out my watch, fling it on the floor,
and crush it into minute particles beneath
'his heel. "Curse her! I'll have my revenge
somehow!" I beard him mutter; and then
he fell to drinking more wine.
[low beautiful to me that morning looked
the first cold streak of daylight which stole
in after a time, and seemed to whisper that
deliverance was at hand.
Ttvo or three times more did Mr. Black
appeal now to my fear, now to my compas
sion; but my only reply was a warning to
him not to put his foot on the stairs, a warn
ing which he conscientiously obeyed. Then
I heard more bottles broken, and I knew
that he was drinking himself either into a
state of frenzy or a state of helplessness.—
Ilow slowly the morning advanced! it seem
ed as though it would never be seven o'clock.
Every bone in my body got to ache terribly
long before my weary watch was over; at
intervals there danced before my eyes a
strange phantasmagoria of figures, red, blue
and flame colored; then my prisoner below
- would growl and %cline like a wild beast in
its lair, and recall my flagging attention to
the duty before me. When seven o'clock
' struck I was weary almost to fainting, but
help was near; for a few minutes later,
Bessy and Mary drove up in a light cart,
escorted by a stalwart cousin of the latter.
$1,50 PER YEAR Mi ADVANCE; $2,00 IF NOT IN ADVANCE
I rushed to the door, and opened it as quick
ly as my trembling fingers would let me,
and in a few words everything was told.—
The stalwart cousin was not to be alarmed
by a dozen Mr. Blacks, but walked ninon
, cernedly down stairs to see him, and there
found him so helplessly drunk that no pre
caution was needed to keep him in safety
till the constable arrived, who took him in
to custody, and conveyed him to the nearest
jail.
Manufacture of Large Gans
The Fort Pitt Works, at the foot of O'Hara
street, Pittsburgh, Pa., have obtained de
served celebrity for the casting of large ord
nance. The premises aro nut very attrac
tive in apprearance they being composed
principally of a few common brick struct
ures. Their fame, however, however, does
not rest upon outward embellishments—nor
upon their extent, but upon the character of
the work executed therein. For several
months past this establishment has been
turning out weekly from seven to nine large
guns and mortars. It was at these works
that the great 15-inch Rodman gun was
completed, and two others of the same size
have lately been cast. Ono of these we snw
last week on the lathe, nearly finished, the
other had just been lifted from the foundry
floor. In the rough, ono weighs nearly
thirty tons; when finished, twenty five tons.
Its extreme length is fifteen feet ten inches;
its greatest diameter is four feet. We never
obtained a comprehensive and just idea of
the size of this great piece of ordnance—the
largest in the world worthy of the name of
gun—until we saw the huge mass upon the
lathe. These two new guns aro exactly
similar to the one at Fortress Monroe > with
the exception of their trunnions, which are
placed three inches further back. They
were cast hollow' and cooled according to
Capt. Rodman's invention. We counted
nine finished guns and mortars ready to bo
sent away, and an equal number undergoing
the coring and planing operations in the ma
chir..e shop. Several were cast and ready
to he raised from their molds, and several
others were undergoing the cooling operations
in their molds. The classes of mortars we saw
were eight ten and thirteen inch; the navy
guns nine and eleven inches; the army guns
ten and fifteen inches. These guns aro all
pure castings,lming made entirely of castiron.
Very great care is exercised in the selection
and purification of the metal used; and great
experience and much skill are necessary in
conducting such operations. The castings
ore truly beautiful; the metal is clear and
very close in the grain, resembling steel.—
A piece is cut from the casting of every gun
and submitted to a severe test, then it is
labelled, numbered and laid aside for refer
ence. A most excellent quality of pig iron
comes to this foundry from Bloomfield, Blair
county, Pa.; but good iron is also suede
in Pittsburgh from Missouri ores. It is,
however, in treating the iron when in the
furnace that the practical skill of the molder
comes in ploy. The impurities are carefully
removed, and only the purest metal allowed
to reach the mold.
A new class of large navy guns are about
to be cast and finished in this foundry. Hith
erto eleven inch guns have been the largest
size used in the navy, but a contract has
been made for several fifteen inch Dahl
grens, designed to suit the turrets of such
vessels as the Monitor; and we had the pleas
ure of examining the huge patterns from
which they are to be east. The total length
of each will be thirteen feet five inches;
depth of bore a hundred and thirty iuclies;
diameter of bora fifteen inches; greatestdiam
eter forty-eight inches; diameter at the muz
zle in the rough thirty eight inches. This
muzzle, however, is to be turned off to twen
ty-six and a half inches and from thence
taper up to nothing at the base line (a line
struck through at the base of the cylindri
cal bore.) The thickness of metal outside
of the bore at the base line will he sixteen
and a half inches; from the line to the out
side of the circle it will be twenty-four
inches. A small tapering gas chamber will
be formed he:iind the bare at the base line,
a hole one fifth of an iuch will be drilled one
inch back from center, then carried straight
to the top forming the vent. These guns
when finished will not only ho the largest,
but the best and moat beautiful navy guns
in the world. They are not to be cast solid
as has been usual with navy guns hereto
fore, but they will be cast hollow and cool
ed upon Capt. Rodman's principle. It
would be impossible to obtain a good, sound,
solid casting of such a size, hence the neces
sity for casting hollow. Under Major W.
Wade, experiments were made with an
eight•inch Columbind cast solid at Fort Pitt
works, and another cast hollow, and coolol
inside with water; also with two ten-inch
Columbiads, one made solid and the other
cast hollow, each pair having been cast from
the same metal and furnace. -The result
showed the hollow east guns to be much the
strongest. The charge of powder used in
the trials ranged from ten to fifteen pounds
for the eight-inch guns, and from eighteen
to twenty-four pounds for the ton-inch guns,
with shot and sabots. The solid cast eight
inch gun burst at the seventy-third fire; the
hollow cast glut of the same size was fired
one thousand five hundred times without
bursting. The solid ten-inch gun burst at
the twentieth fire; the hollow cast gun stood
two hundred and forty-nine fires before it
I:urst. The mold for a hollow cast iron gun
has a core formed on a cast-iron tube cloned
4 at the lower end, and after the metal is run
[WHOLE NUMBERI,667.
into the mold, the interior is cooled by u
stream of cold water admitted into the core
by a tube that reaches nearly to the bottom.
The cool water desconds through this tube
to the bottom of the hollow core, then it sa
-1 cends through the annular space between
the two tubes, and is discharged from the
core at a point a short distance above the
casting, and it flows off in a heated state.—
It requires the water to flow in a continued
stream for several days before a large gun
is sufficiently cooled. This system appears
to be the most perfect ever devised for oast
ing and cooling Large guns. Each of the
Monitor class of vessels armed with them
will be able to hurl shot weighing four hun
dred and twenty-five pounds, which is near
ly three time the weight of the round shot
fired from the largest Armstrong gun yet
made for the British navy.
Ti's DOCTOR ix TIIE DATII CIIAIR.—At the
Dover Police Court, the other day, John
Conyer applied for assistance to regain pos
session of his Bath chair. Ile said that, at
three o'clock on the previous afternoon, an
order came to the chair-stand for a gentle
man to be taken up front a street at the
hack of St. Mary's Church; he took the chair -
round, and found Dr. Standen upon the door
step waiting for him. 'Not knowing that
the people of the house had shat him out,
and so got rid of a troublesome lodger, he
assisted him into the chair, and had been'
driving h m about ever since. (A. laugh.]
Magistrate: What, ever since throe yester
day afternoon, all night? Applicant: Yes.'
sir, except for a little while. I can't get
him out of the chair anyhow. I was wheel
ing him about from three in the afternoon'
until past two in the morning. (Laughter.]`
Magistrate: I don't see how I am to help ,
you; he has got possession of your che.ir.+'
Where is ho now? Applicant: He doesal
know I've come here. r left him and - the'
chair opposite Mr. Eiger's, the butche . r . 's,
Magistrate: But has he bad any refresh
ments all this time?, Applicant: Liz' bleas..
yet Why I've druv him to nearly, miery,
public house in town—specially to Pier-eitd;
he calls for something to drink, and then
gives the best part of it away—[laughter]—
'cept what he puts in a little square bottle
ho carries with him. [Loud laughter.] Af
ter driving him to all the places I was tired,
so I said to him, "When do you meanto go
home again, sir?" "That's my busineis,"
says he; "you mind yours, and drive me
back to the Pier-end." (Laughter.] And
there, sir, we wont from one house to the
other until it was twelve' o'clock, and he
couldn't get anything else served. Then I
diuv him about the town. [Laughter.] Su
perintendant Ceram raised a new' roar of
laughter by adding that, at one o'clock in
the morning, he saw the chair pulled up
close to ono orthe public lamps, by the light
of which the doctor was reading. [Renewed
laughter.] Magistrate: How long did be
keep reading? Applicant: not long, sir.—
Soon afterwards he lit his pipe. [Laughtei.]
I was very cold, and and ho said I might
keep him "moving," so I pulled the *hair
until between two and three, and we'd been
all over the town; and then I says to him,
quite worn out, "Where are yen going now?"
"Where are
.you going to?" says he. [Loud
laughter.] "Home," says I. Then he told
me he hadn't any home to go to, and asked
me where I was going to put the chair. I
told hint in the coach-house, where I kept it.
I "Alt," says he, "that'll do very well—put
I one in with it. I shall be just as well in this
chair as in bed,"—and so you know he
would, sir. [Loud laughter.] Magistrate:
And so you locked him up in the coach
house all night? Applicant: I left him there
about three, and looked in about five to see
whether he was all right, and then he told
me he had never slept more comfortable in
all his life. [Laughter.] At half-past sir.
I took him a cup of coffee, part of which he
drank, and told me he was quite ready to
begin his morning visits when I was; but
I ain't a going to draw him about the town
all day to-day. (A. laugh.] Magistrate:
Well, he can't make yon draw hint about;
that's optional. • What was he doing when
you left hintjust now? Applicant: Rending,
or writing, or smoking. Sergeant -Itaile'y
was directed is accompany applicant to.the
chair, and try the affect of his uniform 'and
authority upon the occupant. A small
crowd accompanied them, and in due time
the chair was found whore Collyer had left
it. Ile received orders , from the Doctor to
call at the Druid's Head; and after a craftily
qualified cup at this b ostelrie the doct o r
was "caught napping." Wiper then 'pre
cured the services of a sturdy butcher, and
the key to an empty room, attached to the
Temperance Hall, having been obtained.
Dr. Standen was lifted front the seat ho had
stuck to for 22 hours oat of 21, and deposited
on the boor.—Sussex (Eng.) Express. •
PROOF READING.—The superiority of Eng
lish publications has arisen from three con
concurring circumstances: perfect typtigre
, phy, good paper, and composition so correct
that a literal error is very rare indeed. T ae
readers in a first class English printing 'of
fice are educated men. Oliver Goldsmith
occupied such a position fur a time. The
reader on the London Times receives in
editorial salary, but has to forfeit one guinea
for every typographical error, even a earned
Jotter, in each day's impression; if hi hits
marked the error on the proof. the oentiolfi
t2r Apo neglected to correct it pays the for
feit.
EU