98 
THE YOUNG SCIENTIST. 
where to get such things as telescope 
lenses. I made, what was to me, a des- 
perate effort. I wrote to the editor of a 
New York paper, somewhat doubtful of a 
reply, asking him about the prices of 
lenses. A few days brought an answer 
and price list from an optician in Broad- 
way. The prices were much lower than I 
expected, and I found that for about five 
dollars I could get two lenses, one of three 
Inches diameter and three feet focus, and 
another of one inch diameter and one inch 
focus. 
All through that spring and summer, I 
saved and hoarded pennies and shillings 
to purchase the coveted glasses. But to a 
boy of fifteen, in those days, especially 
when kept upon a farm, the opportunity 
to get money was limited. I dare not tell 
my project to any one, for if it were known 
that I intended to build a telescope, I 
would become a subject for ridicule. Tele- 
scopes were only made by expert mechan- 
ics, and at that time were only then used 
in colleges and similar learned institu- 
\tions. 
Erom spring to fall my little store of 
money increased, until I had enough saved 
to make the purchase. A man who kept 
a small store, near where I lived, was 
going to New York to buy goods. I told 
him my secret, gave him my money and 
the price list of lenses. In a few days he 
returned. My daily task being completed, 
in the evening I hastened to his house and 
o"btained the coveted purchase. How my 
heart beat as I removed the last paper 
and the two glasses lay before me. I 
looked at them, turned them over, held 
them in my hands as they would be if 
placed in a tube, used them as eye glasses, 
etc., and after spending the entire evening- 
looking through them, went to bed and 
slept with them under my pillow. In the 
morning I hid them in my trunk and spent 
the day contriving how to make the tubes. 
I decided that paper would suit my pur- 
pose best, so I made a rough wooden cylin- 
der a little more than three inches in 
diameter and a little more than three feet 
long. I turned this in a rude foot lathe I 
had made. I wrapped some thick paper 
around this cylinder and over this imsted 
three or four layers of paper, taking care 
to paste it smooth and even. When these 
were thoroughly dry, I put on three or 
four thicknesses of paper fastened with 
glue. Over this I pasted other layers, and 
when dry I found it made a light and 
strong tube. I painted the interior black 
with a mixture of lampblack and turpen- 
tine. I then made a tube about one inch 
long and small enough to go inside the 
large tube. I put this in my lathe, and 
with a sharp chisel cut it in halves, making- 
two narrow rims or rings of it. One of 
these I put in o-ne end of the large tube, 
about an inch from the end, and glued it 
there. I put in the lens, and then put in 
the other ring to hold it there, and glued 
it also. I fitted a paper cap over the end 
so as to protect the lens from dust or in- 
jury. 
At the other end of the tube, a little 
more than three feet from the lens, I glued 
a piece of wood, turned to fit, and made a 
hole in it a little larger than my small 
lens. I made a small paper tube to fit 
this hole pretty tight, and filted in the 
small lens and fastened it at one end in 
the same way that I had fastened the large 
lens. My instrument was now done, and 
I waited for evening to test its powers. 
That my heart beat quick when I raised it 
to take my first look at the heavens, is no 
exaggeration. 
I found I could see quite well the hol- 
lows of the mountains in the moon, and 
could distinguish the shadows cast by the 
mountains. The crescent of Venus dis- 
tinctly showed, and I could make obser- 
vations on the satellites of Jupiter. 
In using it for land objects, everything 
appeared inverted, but I soon got used to 
this, in fact I cared little for it, as I valued 
it most for astronomical observations. 
I sadly wanted a stand for my telescope. 
I fastened a piece of wood about a foot 
long, lengthwise of the tube, and about 
midway from each end. Set in a groove 
that run lengthwise with the wood was a 
piece of brass about as thick as a card. It 
was fastened by screws put in crosswise 
through both wood and brass. That part 
of the brass that projected from the wood 
was nearly circular, about two and a half 
inches in diameter, with a hole through 
the centre. The top of an old fashioned 
