396 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Aug. 



eminent London jeweller. His cases con- 

 tained sj)efiinens of every variety of natural 

 coral, a.s well as of every ornament into whieh 

 it has been wrought by art. The ne<'klaces, i 

 bracelets, earrings, beads, bou(iuets, foliage, 

 cameos and bas-reliefs were described as of 

 the most elaborate workmanship, and ex- 1 

 quisitely mounted. One of the necklaces was i 

 valued at something more than S^jyoO in gold, j 



This account may surprise readers who have ! 

 never associated any idea of beauty with the | 

 manufactured forms of coral. It is no won-' 

 der, for taste and skill are not too plentiful in ! 

 the world, arW the jewels of this niateritd I 

 which we conmionly see are coarse, clumsily 

 cut, and dear at any price. 



To secure a different result several things 

 are needed. Of the varieties of coral known 

 to commerce the number, we believe, is fif- 

 teen. There are several which are totally 

 unfit to be worked into the higher forms of 

 ornament. A discriminating choice of ma- 

 teria! is the first step. The second is the de- 

 termination of the form. For this an artistic 

 taste is needed, which does not make part of 

 the stock of every goldsmith. The third in- 

 dispensable recjuisite is a skilful hand. The 

 cutting must be at once sharp and delicate, 

 and nothing is easier than to bungle. 



Under certain conditions coral is an excel- 

 lent material for art. Its beautiful color, the 

 solidity of its tissue, its resistance to atmos- 

 pheric action, and the fine and soft polish 

 which it readily assumes combine to recom- 

 mend it. But while human artists can work 

 it into forms more convenient for our use, 

 they can never hope to attain the skill of the 

 little workmen under the water. Natural 

 coral has brought before now twenty times its 

 weight in gold. We believe that there is at 

 present among the collection in the cabinet of 

 Yale College a specimen which is unsurpassed 

 in this countrv. 



a stomach, and feelers radiating from it in 

 search of sometliing to fill it. It is true that 

 a child is always hungry all over ; but he is 

 also curious all over ; and his curiosity is ex- 

 cited about as early as his hunger. He imme- 

 diately begins to put out his moral feelers into 

 the unknown and the infinite to discover what 

 sort of an existence this is into which he has 

 come. His imagination is quite as hungry as 

 his stomach. And again and again it is 

 stronger than his other appetites. You can 

 easily engage his imagination in a story which 

 will make him f(irget his dinner. He is 

 credulous and superstitious, and ojien to all 

 wonder. Li this, he is exactly like the savage 

 races. Both gorge themselves on the mar- 

 velous ; and all the unknown is marvelous to 

 them. 1 know the general impression is that 

 children must be governed through their stom- 

 achs. I think they can be controlled (juite as 

 well through their curiosity ; that being the 

 more craving and imperious of the two. I 

 have seen children follow about a person who 

 told them stories, and interested them with 

 his charming talk, as greedily as if Iiis pockets 

 had been full of bon-bons. — My Summer in a 

 Garden — Charles Dudley Warner. 



Little Things. — The preciousness of little 

 things was never more beautifidly exjiressed 

 than by B. F. Taylor in the following : "Little 

 words are the sweetest to hear ; little chari- 

 ties lly farthest, and stay longest on the wing ; 

 little lakes are the stillest ; little hearts are 

 the fullest, and little farms are the best tilled. 

 Little books are the most read, and little 

 songs the most loved. And when nature 

 would make anything especially rare and 

 beautiful, she makes it little — little pearls, 

 little diamonds, little dews. Everybody calls 

 that little which he loves the best on earth." 



CHILDKEN. 



As for children, it is admitted that they are 

 barbarians. There is no exception among 

 them to this condition of barbarism. This is 

 not to say that they are not attractive ; for 

 they have the virtues as well as the vices of a 

 primitive ])eople. It is held by some nat- 

 uralists that the child is only a zoophyte, with 



Little Alice found out an ingenious way of 

 getting to bed in a hurry. The crib in which 

 she i-lept was so low that, by placing one foot 

 on the inside, and taking hold of the post, she 

 could easily spring in. "jNlamma,'" she said 

 to her mother, "do you know how I get to 

 bed (piick P"' "No,''' was the reply. "Well," 

 said she, in great glee, "I step one foot over 

 the crib, then I say 'rats,' and scare myself 

 right in." 



