IP THE HEAET OP MAN IS IN
THE EIGHT PLACE.
RY H. OLAY PREUSS.
Some men are rougit like the cocoa-
nut shell,
But full of the milk of kindness
within;
No man is'perfect since old Adam
feU,
An;l-the best of us mortals are
not without sin.
The faults rhat are outside the soon
est are seen,
Like humors of blood that misfig-
ure the face;
Such faults should the mantle of
charity screen,
If the heart of the man is in the
right place.
This world is constructed on God’s
mighty plan,
With sunshine and shadow com
mingled in one;
We should all bear in mind in our
judgment of man,
There is no hujnan angel under
the sun.
Here’s the right hand of friendship
for all human kin;
We question no difference of na
tion or race,
If the spirit of kindness is centred
within,
And the heart ofthemauis in the
right place.
One man in another can see but the
worst,
Like water and oil their souls can
not blend;
But often the one that repelled us
at first,
In the hour of need may prove
our best friend.
We own t'iei-e is many a failure in
life
From want of some polish of man
ner or grace;
But what we should prize in this
hard, earthly strife.
Is the heart of a man that’s in the
right place.
-Baltimorean.
From the New York Observer.
THE SECRET OP M. &UINAND.
When men appear in the
world, here and there in a
generation, unlettered, ob
scure, but intuitively wise,
gifted with wonderful apti
tudes and wonderful pres
cience for special ends, who
seem to be steered into
great achievments as by an in«
visible rudder guided by mins
istering angels--what are we
to savl Jonathan Edwards
wrote deep sermons at sixteen
years of age. Such precocity
is better understood. But
what of the other phenomena?
Is it explainable by any de
duction of philosophy, by any
law, by any faith?
Such a man was Pierre
Louis Guinand, humble
among the villagers of Bren-
ets in Switzerland, poor in
pocket and in the learning of
men, but rich in the energies
of toil. His nature glowed
with the passion of work. His
heroic soul, unabashed by
suffering and sacrifice and
failure was finally led to his
important discoveries and to
the glory of a science that
owes to him so much.
Europe was hastening into
the triumphs of peace after
the bitter wars of Napoleon,
The science of the present
century was dawning, and a
grand century it has been.
The telescope was a marvel
lous thing at that time, even
a littie telescope which one
might easily have carried un
der his arm. A lens the size
ehiua saucer would have
woh enthusiastic admiration
from the astronomers of two
generations or so ago, for they
were searching all Europe
for the genius able to produce
such. And the genius came
as it always comes, respon
sive to the demands of truth
and right and'the inscrutable
purpose of God ^ho rules the
times and the'seasons.
Many milesjaway from Paris
and the capital city of Bavaria,
where high art in Europe has
’ vays flourished, young
Guinand was quietly at work
at his trade as a bell caster.
As a boy he had been hired
in a cabinet shop, then became
apprenticed toa buckle maker,
and subsequently gained a
frugal living in casting the
ornaments of old time Swiss
clocks. Here and there he
picked up practical hints about
fusing metals and the indef-
nite and often dangerous
knowledge of a jack at all
trades and good for nothing,
One day at the house of M.
Jaquet Droz; in the village of
Brenets, there had been re
ceived a small but one of the
finest telescopes of that time.
Guinand asked permission to
take it apart, confident that
he could make one himself.
Guinand had shown remarka
ble dexterity in the employ
ment of M. Droz and the
master was led to consent
The year before he died*Guin-
and related this incident him
self, and remarked that he
carried away in his mind a
perfect counterpart of the in
strument with every measure
that he needed. Some months
intervened when a company
was assembled at M. Droz’s
house, and Guinand offered
his own telescope for compar
ison. One and another tried
to detect its inferiority, but
nobody could decide which
was the superior. M. Jaquet
Droz was astonished and so
anxious to learn of the young
artisan’s acquirements that he
compelled Guinand to confess
that lie could read but poorly
although past thirty years of
age, and he had never seen
such a thing as a work on op
tics. And this was the marvel.
The school had never taught
young Guinand the laws of
light, books had never reveal
ed to him the solution of dif-
ficult problems of mathemati
cal art, but guidwd by his in
spirations, calling into use evs
ery hint of experience, and
slightly aided by his friend
ship with a spectacle maker,
he fashioned this gem of the
astronomers unexcelled by
the best productions of the
age.
Some of the old inhabitants
of Brenets from whose memo
ry has not yet laded the aged
form of Guinand, when long
past three score years and
ten he achieved his great tri
umphs, still delight to relate
such instances as this of his
early career. He was hum
blest among the unpretending,
plodding cottagers. Kind
ness and love reigned in his
household. His hand was al
ways helpful, his temper al
ways serene. Patiently he
bore the hard struggles of
his life and unselfishly labor
ed for success for its own sake
and for usefulness to man
kind.
Guinand was nearly forty
years of age when the absorb
ing passion possessed him of
discovering the secret of mak
ing glass fit to be worked in
to large telescope lenses. M.
Ricordeau delivered to him
some pieces of defective flint
glass which he bad brought
from London, and by fusing
these Guinand detected lead
in the composition—a very
decided illustration of his de
ficiency in general scientific
information—but he pursued
his rude experiments for sev
eral years, never encouraged
by much success but with his
mind bent on achievement,
and on saving enough money
a bell -maker to put up a
cheap furnace near his native
village and on the banks of
the river Doubs. Closed
about in a little world of his
own, he ardently plodded,
while his family cheerfully
suffered, oftentimes, the want
of the meagre comforts of life
in order that more means
might be had to prosecute his
labors. At one time bis fur
nace threatened to burst, and
he was obliged to rebuild it
with costly material brought
a long distance. His cruci
bles cracked and spilled his
materials. Then he had to
return to bell-making for
means of subsistence. One
day this untiring genius suc
ceeded in casting a block of
glass of two hundred pounds.
He saw it vertically and by
polishing one of the sections
Guinand observed what bad
taken place in the process of
fusion. This careful study,
wholly unaided by books of
science, led Guinand to the
discovery of a varied density
in the composition of glass,
and to a knowledge of those
means which finally rendered
the mass homogeneous. In a
secluded nook in the dark
mou:!tains, overlooking the
Doubs, Guinand determined
to isolate himself and his
family. He permitted no per
son to be present at his work
except his wife and son, who
assisted him. “We often pass-
ed days and nights together
in this way,” said Guinand
when once adverting to 'his
struggles and ambition. At
length when nearly fifty years
of age he obtained a block
weighing almost four hundred
pounds, the greater part clear
and 'fine. His fame spread
over Doubs. It reached Par
is, Munich, and England.
Utzschneider, the head of the
great .optical works of Ger
many, sent the renowned
Fraunhofer to visit Guinand,
and finally the obscure Swiss
artisan was induced to go to
Munich in the employ of the
great firm under whose pat
ronage the later scientific
triumphs ofJFraunhofer were
made. Advancing science was
demanding more powerful in
struments than art could fur
nish. Europe waited for gen
ius. The secret of Guinand
soon gave the German teles
copes a wonderful fame, i»ut
the name of Guinand himself
was scariieiy spoken.
For seven years the Swiss
artisan, careless of praise and
neglectful of his own just in
terests, faithfully served the
great hou^e of Utzschneider.
He had sold his secret with
his service. To-day it is an
inherited possession, shared
only by a prominent concern
in England. German cupidi
ty eagerly appropriated even
the credit of Guinand’s secret
and attached it to the name of
the great Fraunhofer rising to
eminence by arduous, scien
tific studies under the best
masters of Germany. Guin
and was comfortably pension
ed by the Munich firm, which
was reaping so great advanta
ges from his discoveries, and
he returned to his old home
in Switzerland, and once more
tn his little furnace in the
dark forest. But he could
make no more great lenses,
nor reveal his process without
the sacrifice of his pension,
and he was growing old, The
itching purpose burned anew
within him. The youthful fire
only slumbered. He relin
quished his pension when
past seventy years old. The
faggots were again piled about
his furnace. New discoveries
of remarkable perfection fol
lowed, and during the six
years before his death Guin
and produced the splendid
disks of ‘ perfect glass which
astonished Europe, and some
of which are now scarcely
surpassed by more modern
art. Lerebours visited
Guinand, soon after him
Cauchoix, the most emi
nent French astronorner of
the time. Each obtained from
him all the glass Guinand
could make. The lens of nine
inches which Lerebours -put
into the Paris Observatory
was described by Sir David
&:ew8ter as the best ever
pointed to the heavens. In bis
very last years his native gen
ius, his strange gifts in that
iriess art which peculiarly
exacts the culture of books
the teaching of a master flash
ed put more wonderful still
When about eighty years of
age, he would never give up
to others a trifle of the work
that engaged him. With bis
own hands he built his furna
ces, made his own tools, and
without the mathematical
knowledge which seemed in
dispensable be devised a
graplhic method of ascertain
ing the proportion of the
curves to be given to a lens,
he even prepared the wood
which sixty years ago was
used for the tubes of a teles
cope, and to crown all, he
compounded the varnish.
The year before his
death, when venerable in age,
a troop of friends and neigh
bors of the kindly populace
of Brenets gathered to witness
the culmination of the grand
est endeavor of Guinand's
life. The immense block of
glass was put into his oven for
the last time, then to be an
nealed by a process which
Guinand had wrought out of
his patient and prescient gen
ius. Congratulations poured
in upon the old man and gave
him high spirits. By some
trifling accident the roof of the
rough building caught fire.
Everybody hastened to put
out the flames. But some wa
ter got into the oven, and the
enormous disk was irretrieva
bly ruined. Guinand was too
old not to be painfully affected.
For many weeks it seemed as
if a marriage feast had been
turned into a village funeral.
The French government has
tened to purchase all his
knowledge with an ample re'
ward. But the soul ol Pierre
Louis Guinand had then do.,
parted from the scene of his
persistent passion, the scene
of his long and happy and
triumphant labors. The vil
lagers of Brenets spoke of him
as a good and glorious old
man. He had learned to love
his Bible and his God. The
most distinguished scientists
of Europe often paid him the
homage of a visit, and a little
party of American travelers,
familiar with this narative,
which lies hidden away in
musty fragments in the fugi
tive literature of the last gen
eration, have since then wan
dered into the little Brenets
village, respectful if not loving
of the memory of Guinand,
wondering at his achieve
ments, and attracted too, as
the whole world ever will be
by the sublime grandeur of
the Swiss mountains and the
beautiful water fall of the
Doubs.
I questisned if this phenom
ena of man may be explained
by any law, any faith. But
we ought not to question.
The law of achievement is
work, and the law of work is
triumph. The hand of the liv
ing God is in it. F.A.D.
WIVES’ POWER.
A good wife is to man wis
dom, strength; a bad one is con
fusion, weakness and despair,
No condition is hopeless to man
where the wife posesses firmness,
decision, and economy. There
is no outward propriety which
can counteract indolence, ex
travagance and folly at home.
No spirit can endure bad influ
ence. Jfan is strong, but his
heart is not adamant. He needs
a tranquil mind, and especially if
if he is an intelligent man, with
a whole head, he needs moral
force in the conflict of life. At
home his soul renews its strength
and goes forth with fresh vigor
to encounter the labor and troub
les of life. But if at home he
finds no rest and is here met
with bad temper, jealousy, and
gloom, or assailed with com
plaints and censure, hope van
ishes, and he sinks into despair.
A LOCMOTIVE WITH A HISTORY
BIRTHDAYS.
The steamship Canada of the
National line, which arrived re
cently from London, brought
among her cargo twelve pieces
of machinery, composing the two
original locomotives built by
Stephenson and Watt m the ear
ly part of the present century,
Qne of them, the historic Rock
et, was the first successful loco
motive ever constructed. It was
built in 1815 by George Steph
enson in order to compete for a
prize of £500 sterling offered by
the directors of the Stockton
and Darlington Railway for the
most effective steam carriage.
At the trial, which took place
on October 6, 1829, the Rocket
was adjudged the best of the four
entered, having averaged a speed
of 14 miles an hour and even at
tained one of 29 miles. It was
used on the road for a number of
years and then removed to the
South Kensington Museum at
London. It has been lent by the
Museum to the National Expo
sition of Railway Appliances to
be held at Chicago, and will be
taken there immediately.
Let us remember each an
niversary of the birth ot our
loved ones, whether absent or
present, and prepare some
little memento of love to as
sure them they are never for
gotten in the daily round of
domestic duty that seemingly
engrosses every interval ol
time*
If the purse be collapsed,
only add to the breakfast or
dinner some dainty bit or del
icacy prepared solely for the
blessed one who has had in
God’s mercy another year
added to his or her life; and
under the plate, on a small
slip of paper, return thanks
to the Great Parent that this
precious life has been preserv
ed amid the many dangers bv
which it has been environed.
If possible observe eaoli birth
day religiously; there will be
no sweeter homo memory
when the sorrows and trials
ol maturer life weigh down
the spirit and tempt us to
think we never bad a friend,
and life itself had proved a
bitter failure.
Each birthday is a grand
epoch in a child’s life, and
for this day alone, if no other
let^Pommy strut in his first
new pants and boots, and lit
tle six-year old Mary don the
richly embroidered dress and
off alone to grandma’s, a
square distant, to tell her how
life is broadening into conse
quence. Prepare the special
cake for this day, and let big
brothers and sisters become
nonentities untill the day’s
rule is over.
Mothers who have large
families may overlook some
returning anniversary, but let
it be redeemed at earliest leis
ure, and some new token
added by way of recompense
for seeming neglect. It is an
old custom, and none more
fondly cherished, and in the
weary round of years they
would esteem such occasions
as holy priviliges.
Our Northern friends are
tenderly reverent of their
birthdays, and were this ob
servation more general
throughout the country, we
think it would have the effect
of strengthening bomties and
attachments. We reiterate,
let these golden milestones in
the life-pilgrimage be observ
ed with heart-warmth and
good cheer and as many
precious keepsakes as affec
tion call devise oi the means
will allow.—Baltimoreau.
An English authority has been
comparing the amount paid per
citizen in tho several European
states for education and war.
According. to his stateinonts,
Switzerland and Denmark,whose
autonomy is substanti illy guar
anteed, do not need so much for
war, and do not give it. Switz
erland pays as much for ed ucatioa
within a few cents per head as
she does for war. Denmark pays
twice as much for war as for ed
ucation. Russia pays for educa
tion only one-seventy second as
much as for war; France comes
next with one-thirteenth ; Wur-
temburg one-seventh; I'.;aly one-
eleventh; Holland and England
one-sixth; Prussia and Austria
one-fmrth; Belgium and Saxony
one-third. Meanwhile the Uni
ted States pays twice as much
for education oa for its army and
navy together.
■“i
J