24 
AMERICAN AaRICULTURIST. 
[January, 
TAKING CARLO'S PORTRAIT. — Engraved for tfie American AgricuUurist 
ISoiuetliiu^ A1>oitt ITf alciug- Pictiirci^. 
As our young readers look at the beautiful engravings 
which are published every month in the American Agri- 
ctdturist, do they ever think how much skill and labor 
are required to make them ? First the artist must draw 
the picture. Usually he makes a sketch on paper, and 
■wlien sali&fied with its looks there, he copies it on a very 
emooth block of vtood. Box wood is generally used, be- 
cause of lis superior hardness. The block is sawed so 
that the drawing is made on the end of the grain. For 
large, coarse pictures, such as you see on handbills, ma- 
ple or pine may be employed. Before drawing on the 
wood, its surface is whitened with " Paris while ;" or if 
the block is not large, a white enameled card is nndistened 
and rulbed over it : this enables the draughtsman to make 
the lines clearer. Next comes the engraving. The 
workman uses sharp tools like very small chisels of dif- 
ferent shapes, willi which he carefully cuts out all the 
parts which are to appear white in the picture, leaving 
the dark lines raised up like type, to receive the ink and 
make the impression. When finished, the block is put in 
the press and printed from, the same as from types. 
It requires years of patient practice to become expert 
in either drawing or engraving. Some are naturally so 
gified that they learn very easily. The boy in the above 
engraving appears to be one of this class. He is taking 
"his first lessons by sketching familiar objects, which is 
the best kind of practice. If any of you have a taste for 
drawing, you may profitably imitate him. It will be for- 
tunate if you have a sisler so willing to help as tlie one 
who is here kindly keeping Carlo still while his portrait 
is being drawn ; but kind brothers make pleasant sisters, 
so that can be easily managed by those who have sisters. 
Tlie Small Loaf of Bread. 
At n time of great scarcity, a certain rich man invited 
twenty poor children to his house, and said to them, 
•* In this basket there is a loaf i.f bread for each of you ; 
take it, and come again every day at this hour until God 
sends us better times." The children seized upon the 
basket, wrangled and fought for the bread, as each wish- 
ed to get the best and largest loaf ; and at last they went 
away, without even thanking him. Francesca alone, a 
poor but neatly dressed child, stood modestly at a dis- 
tance, took the smallest loaf which was left in the bask- 
et, gratefully kissed the gentleman's hand, and then went 
home in a quiet and orderly manner. On the following 
day the children were just as ill-behaved ; and poor Fran- 
cesca this time received a loaf which was scarcely half 
the size of the rest. But when she came home and her 
mother began to cut the bread, there fell out of it a num- 
ber of bright new silver pieces. Her mother was per- 
plexed, and said, "Take back the money this instant; 
for it has. no doubt, got Into the bread through some mis- 
take." Francesca carried it back. But the benevolent 
man said, " No, no ! it was no mistake. I had the money 
baked in the smallest loaf in order to reward you. my 
dear child. Always continue thus contented, peaceable, 
and unassuming ; the person who is contented with the 
smallest loaf rather than quarrel for the larger one, will 
find blessings more valuable than money baked in bread." 
A Few "^Vords to Skaters, 
The word "skate" was imported from Hollaml, where the 
schaat, as the Dutch call it, is almost a necessity in win- 
ter. In many places there they have canals instead of 
roads, and when these are frozen, market-men and women 
with their loads of vegetables, merchants transacting 
their business, boys and girls going to school, and almost 
all foot passengers glide swiftly along on skates. It is 
probable that the Dutch first learned the art from their 
more northern neighbors of Norway and Sweden, where 
the first skates were made of the shin bones of the deer 
or sheep, bound upon the foot with sirips of skin. This 
must have been hundreds of years ago. as mention is 
made of skates in one of the ohlest Scandinavian poems. 
In Northern Europe there is less snow than in this coun- 
try, and skating is a universally popular amusement. In 
this rountrv it has recently become fnshionalile for both 
sexes and all ages to 
skate, and ponds for this 
puipose have been pre- 
I'ared near most of our 
large villages and cities. 
^Ve have seen clergymen^ 
lawyers, doctors and their 
fiimilies enjoying this re- 
tieation, and all agree 
tliat when properly in- 
dulged in it is a most 
lieallhful as well as pleas- 
ant exercise. It has its 
dangeis, however, against 
which our young readers 
c'-pecially should guard. 
Skating should not be al- 
I'.ivved 1o inteifere with 
'.\ oik or study. Teachers 
I'ften say ihey dread 
, smooth ice and pleasant 
weather ; lessons are neg- 
lected and the minds of 
tilth- pupils go skating off 
during school hours ; and 
nut a few mothers have 
had reason to complain 
that their daughters found 
the skaling pond too at- 
tractive for the perform- 
ance of home duties. 
Some care is needed to 
t-rcvcnt injury to health 
from this exercise. Phy- 
sicians report a large in- 
ciLa^e in some disease's 
in winter, since skaiing 
tins come into fashion. 
Avoid great exertion, as 
in racing, by which the 
body becomes heated, and 
ihen suddenly cooled by 
ilie keen air when the ex- 
ercise is over. Never sit 
down out of doors "to 
cool ofiV A friend of the 
writer nearly lost his life 
from this cause, and is yet 
subject to a troublesome 
throat disease. Keep the 
mouth closed while skat- 
ing. Cold air freely taken 
into the lungs while a per- 
son is exercit-ing violent- 
ly, may produce sudden 
and serious illness. No 
sensible boy or girl will under any circumstances en- 
danger life by venturing into known danger to show 
bravery. It is foolhardy, not brave, to skate over thin 
ice, daring others to follow, or to go because others have 
given the challenge. Keep your courage to face neces- 
sary evils and be brave enough to bear foolish taunts, 
Uitdergroiaiid Kailroads are liaving 
a trial in England ; not the sort known by that name in 
the United States, but the real article, with track and cars 
complete. For one without a locomotive, a brick tunnel 9 
feet high, 8 feet wide, and nearly a third of a mile long, 
has been made under the surface near the Crystal Palace, 
in which the track is laid. To the rear of the car is at- 
tached a frame work of boards forming a piston nearly 
filling the tunnel. The space between its edges and the 
brickwork is made partially air-light by a thick fringe of 
bristles. Near the entrance of the tunnel a stationary 
engine drives a fan wheel 20 feet in diameter, which forces 
air into the tunnel and against the piston, by which means 
the car is driven along at the rate of 26:3 miles per hour, 
with an atmospheric pressure of only 21 ounces. A some- 
what similar arrangement is in use in London, for forcing 
packages through smaller tubes, by exhausting the air in 
front of the piston. This is the first attempt to carry 
passengers underground by wind power. It may be suc- 
cessful, but the prospect is dark, at least to the passengers. 
A Sharp Customer.— A teller in one of the N. 
Y. City Banks relates that one nt the depositors made a 
practice of biinging considerable uncurrent money on 
which he was charged one-tenth of one per cent discount. 
One day he gravely informed the teller that he had found 
a broker who changed his money into bankable at a cost 
of only one eighth of one per cent, and insisted that the 
bank should do as well by him. The teller accordingly 
agieed to take the money on the same terms, and the 
man went away entirely satisfied.— How much did he 
lose on each one thousand dollars? He was probably 
of the boys who didn't like his arithmetic at schooL 
