KIDD'S OWN JOURNAL, 



143 



and disorder, the importance of the one will 

 serve to demonstrate the evil of the other. 

 Method has been termed " the very hinge of 

 business"— a declaration equivalent, in an 

 opposite sense, to another that carries with 

 it the proof of its justice. Disorder is the 

 very soul of ruin. Truths, these, that ought 

 to hang, in letters of gold, as an ornament to 

 every mantel-piece in the kingdom. 



Not least, in its many guises of worth, does 

 it appear in the comforts of the hearth and 

 our domestic concerns. Good management 

 is but another name for order. They are 

 sisters, and go hand-in-hand with each other ; 

 in the kitchen and the field. The methodical 

 master has the best servant. His work is 

 done best, soonest, and the most cheerfully. 

 The methodical mistress serves to form the 

 characters of her maids. There are proper 

 places for particular articles, and proper times 

 for particular work. Everything is effected 

 without great bustle, and each minute is ap- 

 propriated coolly but effectually. The un- 

 methodical mistress has domestics of the 

 same spirit ; or if, indeed, she does possess a 

 good one, she can never think so, because she 

 is unlike herself. If her proceedings coincide 

 with those of the mistress, of course no fault 

 can be found with misplaced dishes and 

 tureens ; for she naturally thinks the more 

 conspicuous and scattered, the more business 

 must be going forward. 



The value of order cannot appear more 

 obvious than in the faculty of memory. Some 

 enjoy a natural tenacity of memory, by whom 

 such an auxiliary as order is not so much ap- 

 preciated. It is much easier to commit to 

 remembrance a quantity of figures or signs, 

 arranged so as to follow in order according 

 to value or quality, than the same without 

 regard to either. Children learn lessons in 

 poetry more easily than they can the same 

 ideas in prose ; more easily still, if the termi- 

 nations of the lines have a consonance with 

 each other — what we familiarly term rhythm, 

 from the fact, perhaps, that harmony leads 

 the expectation onward to consecutive lines. 

 So it is with every subject that engages our 

 attention. The quality of our thoughts 

 should have a careful arrangement, in order 

 that each may be employed in its full force 

 and value, and probably give birth to others 

 of still greater worth. 



Instances might be multiplied in order to 

 demonstrate the power of order. 



It is the prop of the universe ; for by it 

 are its words regulated. It is the strength of 

 cities and nations ; for the strength of their 

 defenders centres in their discipline, and 

 therefore constitutes their safety. It is the 

 prosperity of families ; for " the house divided 

 against itself cannot stand." It is a character 

 alone for a man to be orderly, for it never 

 causes his business to be hurried, or half 



done ; makes him a man of his word ; and con- 

 sequently respected. It is the parent of 

 wealth, for the order of business is money in 

 perspective, with a certainty of possessing it. 

 It is also the parent of learning. Blair says, 

 " They who are learning to compose and ar- 

 range their sentences with accuracy and 

 order, are learning at the same time to think 

 with accuracy and order. 1 ' 



As a closing eulogy, it may be termed the 

 mysterious elixir for the prolongation of life ! 

 Order of action produces economy of time ; 

 and economy of time, whether attained by 

 early hours at night and morning, or the 

 devotion of what we have to laudable pur- 

 poses, is nothing more nor less than enjoying 

 a happy longevity. 



H. R. 



PHOTOGRAPHIC PICTURES. 



POPULARLY DESCRIBED. 



Photographs, or " light pictures," are 

 formed by the action of light upon a chemi- 

 cally-prepared surface. Every one knows 

 how light fades or changes the color of al- 

 most everything submitted to its influence. 

 Darkness or the want of light entirely bleaches 

 many substances. Many vegetable juices 

 change color on exposure to light ; and it 

 causes a solution of nitrate of silver, and some 

 other chemicals, to assume a dark or black 

 color. Leaves and lace were first copied on 

 prepared paper, by merely laying them upon 

 it ; thus preventing the light from acting 

 upon the part covered by their leaves, &c. 

 The picture formed by a lens in a camera- 

 obscura, was next made permanent by the 

 action of light on a prepared surface. The 

 various colors and shadows of the picture, 

 act in different degrees ; so as to produce 

 from the colored image in the camera, a deli- 

 cately-shaded picture on the prepared sur- 

 face. Various processes are required to ren- 

 der the pictures thus produced permanent, or 

 to secure them from the further action of the 

 light when the picture is once formed. Were 

 this not done, the continued action of the 

 light would obliterate the picture and reduce 

 it to a uniform black. 



Photographic pictures are now taken on 

 three different materials — silver, paper, and 

 glass. The pictures on silvered plates are 

 what are called daguerreotypes. They are 

 much used for portraits ; but their expense, 

 the labor of cleaning large plates, the incon- 

 venience and danger of their preparation from 

 the mercury which must be used, and the 

 metallic glare of the pictures — render them 

 ill adapted for landscapes, which are now 

 scarcely ever taken in this style. For some 

 years, too, there has been no improvement 

 in daguerreotypes. We have portraits taken 



