RICE PAPER. 



THE rice paper tree, one of the 

 most interesting of the flora of 

 China, has recently been suc- 

 cessfully experimented with in Florida, 

 where it now flourishes, with other sub- 

 tropical and oriental species of trees 

 and shrubs, says the St. Louis Republic. 

 When first transplanted in American 

 soil the experimenters expressed 

 doubts of its hardiness, fearing that it 

 would be unable to stand the winters. 

 All these fears have vanished, how- 

 ever, and it is now the universal opin- 

 ion that it is as well adapted to the cli- 

 mate of this country as to that of the 

 famed Flowery Kingdom. 



It is a small tree, growing to a height 

 of less than fifteen feet, with a trunk 

 or stem from three to five inches in di- 

 ameter. Its canes, which vary in color 

 according to season, are large, soft and 

 downy, the form somewhat resembling 

 that noticed in those of the castor-bean 



plant. The celebrated rice paper, the 

 product of this queer tree, is formed of 

 thin slices of the pith, which is taken 

 from the body of the tree in beautiful 

 cylinders several inches in length. 



The Chinese workmen apply the 

 blade of a sharp, straight knife to 

 these cylinders, and, turning them 

 round either by rude machinery or by 

 hand, dexterously pare the pith from 

 circumference to center. This opera- 

 tion makes a roll of extra-quality pa- 

 per, the scroll being of equal thickness 

 throughout. After a cylinder has thus 

 been pared it is unrolled, and weights 

 are placed upon it until the surface is 

 rendered uniformly smooth throughout 

 its entire length. 



It is altogether probable that if rice 

 paper making becomes an industry in 

 the United States these primitive 

 modes will all be done away with. 



GOOD UNCLE TO ANTS. 



A KINDLY old English gentleman. 

 Sir John Lubbock, Bart., is no 

 more. He is not dead, but has 

 ceased to be a plain baronet, as were 

 his father, grandfather, and great- 

 grandfather before him. Now he is a 

 peer of the realm, and he is called Lord 

 Avebury. The new honor, lately con- 

 ferred by the Queen, Sir John proba- 

 bly owes to his great services in Parlia- 

 ment, for he is not only the owner of a 

 big bank in London, and a dis- 

 tinguished financier, but also a repre- 

 sentative in the English Parliament of 



the University of London. In both 

 fields his work for his fellow men has 

 been such as to merit well an honor 

 which all Englishmen are supposed to 

 desire. 



But we in America shall always re- 

 member him not as Lord Avebury, but 

 as plain Sir John Lubbock, a man who 

 probably knows more than any other 

 in the world about the habits, nature 

 and instincts of insects, especially of 

 ants, bees and wasps, of which he has 

 written more than one interesting 

 book. 



What the world needs for its happi- 

 ness is more work, more achievement. 

 Nature, which is never at rest, sets a 

 superb example, not only of unceasing 

 industry, but of exquisite workman- 

 ship. For not a beetle crawls along 

 the ground but has a burnished back 

 of ebony or jeweled green; not a weed 

 by the roadside goes to seed but hides 



its promise of next year's blossom in a 

 pod of fairy delicacy; not a spider-web 

 glitters in the sun that is not marvel- 

 ous in its structure. If only the world 

 could be more conscious of " the Mas- 

 ter of all good workmen " there would 

 be less heartache than there is. 



" Some little nook or sunny bower, 

 God gives to every little flower." 



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