20 
THE YOUNG SCIENTIST. 
gilt standards. A very pretty one has a 
centre of pale pink satin upon which is 
painted a small landscape, this is set in 
a wide frame of grey plush, decorated 
with a loose drooping sj)ray of wild 
roses. 
— A handsome mantel drapery is made 
of terra-cotta Japanese canvas, the two 
ends of which are heavily scolloped. The 
centre is a piece of deep crimson velvet, 
upon which a design of sumac blossom is 
worked in arasene. 
— Transparencies are displayed of a 
material called Miller's muslin, upon 
which exquisite designs can be worked in 
long stitch. These transparencies are 
framed in ebony or ebonized wood, and 
placed where they can transmit the light. 
— Small banner screens for a bracket 
or mantel are painted in oil colors upon 
white satin. Carved stands for them can 
be bought at any fancy store, and the ad- 
dition of thin white silk cord and tassels 
makes them very effective. 
Prisoners' Pastimes. 
BY A. W. EGBERTS. 
OVEETY makes strange bedfel- 
lows, is an old proverb, and it 
may with equal truth be said 
that the pursuit of science 
makes strange companions. 
Little I thought when starting from the 
New York Aquarium on that particularly 
exhilerating and sunny Monday morning, 
that I would, before the day had ended, 
have accepted the companionship of two 
professional criminals, one a notorious 
burglar and the other well— no matter; 
but so it came to pass. My object was to 
obtain anemones ;* the beautiful dianthus 
anemone, neither the small long-armed 
variety, nor the small but exquisitely sal- 
mon-colored one so plentiful on the rocky 
shore of the East Elver, in the neighbor- 
hood of Eightieth Street. No ; neither of 
these would satisfy the ambition and 
* As many of our readers may not be familiar 
with this curious and beautiful animal, we have 
prepared a description with elaborate drawings. 
Avhich will appear in the next issue of the Young 
Scientist. 
pride of an expert collector. In this par- 
ticular instance I felt extremely anxious- 
for success, as all the large anemones at 
the Aquarium had from some unaccount- 
able reason suddenly collapsed. When 
connected with Barnum's (old) Museum 
Aquaria the dianthus anemone was plen- 
tiful on the rocks about Hell Gate, but 
within the last twenty-flve years numer- 
ous oil, gas, acid and other works had 
become established at Greenpoint, Hun- 
ter's Point, and along the shores of New- 
town Creek, and hundreds of submarine 
blastings had taken place at Hell Gate. 
Turning over in my mind all these facts, 
and knowing from experience how the 
rocks along both banks of the river are- 
more or less coated with the villianous. 
materials that pour into the East Elver 
from these establishments, it became a 
question of no easy solution where to ob- 
tain the much-desired marine animals. 
After some deliberation I concluded that 
my only chance, my only hope, was to 
visit that renowned, secluded, and very 
private locality, commonly known as^ 
Blackwell's Island. But how was I to- 
get there? That was the rub! I had 
plenty of letters in my pocket to prove 
my identity and occupation, not to men- 
tion a goodly supply of free passes to the 
Aquarium, but these were of no use where 
political influence was the chief, perhaps, 
the only passport to favor. In this dilem- 
ma I called to mind that an old friend, 
whom for short I call " Cush," reigned su- 
preme at the Morgue as deputy coroner, 
and was well paid for supplying the 
brains— medical, anatomical and scien- 
tific—needed at the coroner's offlce. I 
sought him at once, and in a few mo- 
ments I had obtained two documents, 
one passing me on to the little steamboat 
that plys between New York and the lone- 
some isle, the other introducing me as 
one of the faithful to the Grand Mogul of 
the Island of Concentrated Sin. On the 
island I was passed along from one 
official to another, and at last into the 
guard boat. This boat consisted of a 
well-modeled, red cedar, copper-fastened 
row boat, containing two prisoners in full 
uniform of prison clothing. At the stern 
of the boat sat the guard, silent and som- 
