nounces that a substitute has been 

 found that is just as good as the real 

 article. The facts seems to indicate 

 that neither the famine nor the substi- 

 tute is really at hand. Rubber planta- 

 tions are being extended in Mexico to 

 meet the demands of the growing trade, 

 but the bulk of our rubber still comes 

 from the Amazon country in South 

 America, and that country is almost 

 limitless in its supplies of this article. 

 It is true that the trees along the banks 

 of the rivers have been tapped until 

 their product is much inferior to what 

 it once was, but this condition exists 

 only for a distance of two or three miles 

 along the river banks. There are plenty 

 of magnificent trees standing un- 

 touched a little farther back. All that 

 is needed to get m'ore rubber is to get 

 more men into these forests gathering 

 it. The real difficulty is to get the 

 men to do the work. The finest rub- 

 ber forests remaining near the river 

 fronts are along the Purus, one of the 

 large rivers flowing into the Amazon 

 from the south. 



SUNSHINE CAUGHT.— For'thou- 

 sands of years men have tried to use 



the heat of the sun's rays in the place 

 of fire. It is now claimed that Dr. 

 William Calver of Washington has 

 finished an invention which will bring 

 into the space of a few inches all the 

 rays of heat from the sun that would 

 naturally fall upon one acre of ground. 

 By bringing so many rays to a focus he 

 gets such a powerful heat that iron and 

 steel melt in it like icicles. 



A magnifying glass or lens of almost 

 any sort held in the sunshine makes a 

 bright, warm spot. Dr. Calver's ma- 

 chine gets the same effect, only more 

 powerfully. He has secured a tem- 

 perature of several thousand degrees 

 Fahrenheit. To make his machine use- 

 ful for heating houses and making 

 steam for factories he has invented a 

 reservoir to store the heat gathered 

 while the sun is shining, so that it may 

 be used at night or on dark days. Men 

 of science have been looking for such 

 a machine for a long time, and if Dr. 

 Calver and his friends are not much 

 mistaken his invention will be as great 

 a help to civilization as the harnessing 

 of Niagara Falls for electric work. His 

 laboratory is in the outskirts of Wash- 

 ington, D. C. 



WASHINGTON'S MONUMENT. 



GEO. P. MORRIS. 



A monument to Washington? 



A tablet graven with his name? 

 Green be the mound it stands upon. 



And everlasting as his fame! 



His glory fills the land — the plain. 

 The moor, the mountain and the 

 mart! 



More firm than column, urn or fane, 

 His monument — the human heart. 



The Christian, patriot, hero, sage! 



The chief from heaven in mercy sent; 

 His deeds are written on the age — 



His country is his monument. 



"The sword of Gideon and the Lord" 

 Was mighty in his mighty hand — 



The God who guided he adored. 



And with his blessing freed the land, 



The first in war, the first in peace, 

 The first in hearts that freemen own; 



Unparalleled till time shall cease — 

 He lives, immortal and alone. 



Yet let the rock-hewn tower rise. 

 High to the pathway of the sun. 



And speak to the approving skies 

 Our gratitude to Washington. 



96 



