writing now known. It gives an ac- 

 count of a revolt of King Moab against 

 Jehoram, King of Israel, 890 B. C." 



"People who go to Paris can see the 

 old curiosity," said John. '*I wish I 

 could." 



"Much younger is the famous Rosetta 

 Stone, set up in 195 B. C. and discov- 

 ered in 1799. It proved a valuable key 

 to the interpretation of hieroglyphics." 



"That long word fairly takes my 

 breath away,'' exclaimed Madge, "but 

 you need not stop to define it, my Sun- 

 day school teacher did that the other 

 day and I haven't quite forgotten it 

 yet." 



"Then there is," Aunt Jane continued, 

 "a stone called the 'Sunday Stone,' be- 

 cause it is a calendar of Sundays and 

 holidays." 



"And how did that happen, I'd like to 

 know," said John. 



"In this way. It is composed of car- 

 bonate of lime. When the miners 

 worked in the colliery drain, from which 

 it was taken the water left a deposit col- 

 ored by coal dust ; when not at work the 

 water ran clear and left a white deposit. 

 In time the black and white layers made 

 a stone of considerable thickness with a 

 black streak for day, a white one for 

 night, and a broad white one for Sun- 

 day, hence it has its name the 'Sunday 

 Stone.' " 



"Which is the largest stone you know 

 of. Auntie?" 



"The largest artificial stone in the 

 world is the one used as the base of the 

 Bartholdi's Statue of Liberty in New 

 York harbor. It is made of broken trap 

 rock, sand and cement." 



"Were not the pyramids built of stone 

 of considerable size?" Howard queried. 



"Yes, it is estimated that one of the 

 largest weighs eighty-eight tons, yet the 

 stones of the pyramid are laid without 

 mortar and so close that a pen knife 

 cannot be inserted between them. 



"Those visitors to earth from un- 

 known space, the aerolites, are often of 

 great size. One in Stockholm is said to 

 weigh twenty-five tons. In Washington 

 at the Smithsonian Institute there is one 

 from Mexico which weighs 1,400 

 pounds. Such stones are largely com- 

 posed of iron. 



"The Astrologist's Stone, or Devil's 

 Looking Glass, used in Queen Eliza- 

 beth's time to unveil the future, was 

 simply a polished piece of coal ; but in 

 the British Museum may be seen a rock- 

 crystal once supposed to have a spirit 

 imprisoned in it." 



"I have seen a rock-crystal beautiful 

 enough for the home of some spirit," 

 cried Edith. "Oh, I think rocks are 

 wonderful !" 



"It is said that in Gothland stones are 

 found which are covered with a red. pig- 

 ment that upon being rubbed turns yel- 

 low and diffuses the smell of violets, 

 hence such stones are called 'Violet 

 Stones.' Perfume is certainly an unex- 

 pected attribute of a rock, but it is 

 doubtless due to the presence of an ex- 

 traneous substance in the pigment. 



"There are so many curious stones in 

 Nature's museum, stones sculptured by 

 the ages into rare forms, or dyed in 

 lovely colors, or filled with strange fossil 

 remains, that to make a living study of 

 them so as to become in a manner in 

 'league with the stones of the field' is a 

 most desirable pastime for you young 

 folks." 



"Please tell us a little bit about Plym- 

 outh Rock?" pleaded Madge. "It is 

 an historic rock we all like to know 

 about." 



"Certainly," she smilingly responded ; 

 "I do like you to feel interested in Plym- 

 * outh Rock. I expected when I saw it 

 to find a great ledge of rock right on 

 the edge of the water, but what I really 

 saw was a large smooth looking rock 

 with a stone canopy over it and an iron 

 fence around it. My coachman said 

 that in 1774 an attempt was made to 

 raise the rock from its original bed, to 

 prevent it from being covered by the 

 falling in of the v/harf about it. The 

 piece under the canopy was broken off. 

 It was removed to the town, and during 

 the war a liberty-pole was erected upon 

 it." 



"How did they drag it so far?" Birdie 

 inquired. 



"With horses, of course," John re- 

 sponded. "You can move anything 

 with horses." 



"No, they used oxen. I do not think 

 they actually needed so many, but twenty 



175 



