t 
■ ^ 
face a few minutes ago, what sulphuric acid 
remained on it combined with the ammonia 
and formed a sulphate of ammonia, which 
does no harm, to speak of, on the skiu,” 
“ But suppose,” asked the old gentleman, 
“I should put sulphuric acid into a bottle 
half full of the ammonia in water, which 
we call hartshorn, what would happen ?” 
“ This would happen :—The acid would 
unite with the ammonia, as 1 just told you, 
and form a sulphate. If you should set the 
bottle away for a while, the sulphate would 
siuk to the bottom in the form of crystals. 
It is in this form that it is kept for sale.” 
“ Is that the stuff neighbor Jones wanted 
to buy in New York 
for manure ?” -- 
“ Just the same; and 
it is made in pretty 
much the way I have 
just told you. In 
making coal gas for 
lighting cities, some 
ammonia is also 
formed. When the ^' - : 
gas comes from the |§ 
apparatus where it is 
made, it is caused to ||fr 
bubble through water, 
which absorbs the am- ' £* j *' u 1 I ' 1 \ 
monia, but lets the il- ajpj pjpfef :; \fo"> 
luminatin 
room, wdiere it was quite cool, and Johnny 
held it over the flame just as is shown iu this 
tmrttnnal 
KATARINA ON THE PORCH 
Aft old, old house by the sldo of the sea, 
And novor a picture poet would paint; 
But 1 hold tho woman abovo the saint. 
And tbn li«ht of the hearth is more to ma 
Than the shimmer of air-built castle. 
it ills as It irrnw to the landscape thoro— 
One hardly fools as It stands aloof 
Whore the sandstone end#, and the red slate n 
Jnts nvor tlu> window, low and square, 
That looks on the wild sea-water. 
From the top of the hill so trreen and high 
There slopet h a level of goldou moss 
That bar* of scarlet and amber cross. 
And rolling out to the farther sky 
la the world of wild sea-water. 
Some starved grape vineyards round about— 
A zigzag road cut deep with ruts— 
A little cluster of Ushers’ Huts, 
And the blank sand scalloping In and out 
"I’wlxt th’ laud and th’ wild sea-water. 
Gray fragments of somo border towers 
Flats pell-mell on n circling mound. 
With a furrow deeply worn all round 
By the feet, of children through tho flowers, 
And all by the wild sea-water. 
And there, from the silvery break o’ th’ day 
Till the evening purple drops to the land. 
She sits with her ohook llltua rose in her hand, 
A rift her sad and wistful eyes nno Way— 
The way of tho wild sea-water. 
And there, from the litght till tho yellow morn 
Kails over the huts and th’ soallops of sand— 
A tangle of curls like a torch In her hand— 
She sits and makot.h her moan so lorn, 
With the moan of tho wild aea-wator. 
Only a study for homely eyes. 
And never a, picture a poet, would paint: 
But 1 hold the woman abovo the saint. 
And tho light of the humblest hearth I prize 
O’er the luminous alr-bullt castle. 
[Alice Gary , In the Galaxy. 
HOW JOHNNY STUDIED SOIENOE. 
BY UNCLE OATSTKAW. 
[Continued from page 113, Feb. 18.] 
When Johnny had brought the cows to 
tlio yard, lie helped his father with the milk¬ 
ing, and by Hie time it was finished supper 
was ready. When he sat down fit the table 
lm found Alice had come to pass the even¬ 
ing. She looked very pretty with her long 
hair hanging down upon her shoulders. 
Johnny’s lace was very red all supper time, 
and he ate hut very little. I do not know 
the reason why. 
After the table was cleared and pushed 
back by the wall, Sally put the kerosene 
lamp at one end so that Johnny should have 
plenty of room at the other, Alice sat by 
the side, close by, for she was very anxious 
to see the whole experiment. Sally took 
her knitting and sat a little way off, and the 
old people were farther back, keeping a sharp 
lookout, too see what was coming. First of 
all, Johnny got all his materials together 
These were a bottle about fouv inches high 
and two inches thick, a cork, a pipe stem 
and a gimlet. The gimlet was to make a 
hole lengthwise iu the cork. The pipe was 
to put through the hole, and the cork was to 
fit tight in the neck of the bottle. The way 
the whole was put together is represented in 
the little engraving here. But before lie 
fixed the cork fast in ils 
A place, Johnny put into the 
bottle about a dozen old 
shingle uails that he had 
pulled out of a used-up lien 
coop; then he filled I he bot¬ 
tle half full of water, and 
alter this poured in some 
sulphuric acid — about one- 
quarter as much of acid as 
_ there was of water. He took 
''—~ m good care not to have the 
liquid come quite up to the lower end 
of the pipe, because this would have pre¬ 
vented the hydrogen gas from getting 
out of the bottle. Finally the cork was 
forced in tight. In a minute the old nails 
began to grow bright, as if something was 
eating Ihe surface ofl' them, and fine bubbles 
began to rise up through the liquid. Some¬ 
how or other Johnny was somewhat ex- I 
cited that evening, and instead of wailing a 
liillu while after he got his chemicals into 
the bottle, he touched, right away, a match 
to the top of the pipe stem sticking up from 
the cork, when—whoop! the whole tiling 
blew up with a bang, aud the glass flew all 
over the room. The old gentleman jumped 
up from his chair, while the mother and 
Sally rau to comfort little Alice, who be¬ 
gan to scream. As for Johnny, he started 
back aghast, with the liquid from the bottle 
running down his face. 
“ Has anybody any of the acid on their 
faces or hands ?” said Johnny, in a moment. 
“No,” answered Sally; “nobody but 
you.” 
“ It’s lucky none of it got into my eyes,” 
replied he, “ or I should have lost them. It’s 
lucky, too, that the acid was diluted with 
water, or the skin would have been taken 
off my fuoe by this time; it will be, as it is, 
unless I do something pretty quick. Bring 
me the ammonia, or hartshorn as you all 
call it.” 
Then he ran out and washed his face in a 
tub of rain water by the door, and when lie 
came buck bathed it with the hartshorn. 
When this was done and mailers had cooled 
down a little, his mother said;—“ See what 
you have done; your shirt is all spoilt with 
this acid, and you will have to change it 
right away; besides, Alice’s apron has acid 
on it too.” 
“Never mind,” said Johnny; “go and 
wash il first and then put ammonia on it. It 
will come out all right, for it’s white, and 
there’s no color to be changed in il.” 
This was done, and pretty soon Johnny 
came back ready for work. In the mean¬ 
time Sally had wiped off the table, and Mr. 
Scroggs sat smoking again and meditating 
very hard. 
“Johnny,” said he, when his son came 
back, “ before you go any farther, I want 
you to tell me two things. In what way 
does the hartshorn keep the acid from eating 
into your face or burning up Alice’s apron; 
and what made your bottle explode ?” 
“Both are easily explained,” was the 
answer, “ and I am ashamed that I made 
the experiment in such a clumsy manner. 
As to the hartshorn, what we call by that 
name is ammonia in water, which absorbs a 
large quantity of it. Ammonia is the oxyd 
of a kind, of metal, and it unites with other 
substances very much like potash and other 
alkalies, and, consequently, is classed with 
the alkalies. Because it flies off into the air 
f° 5 eHtli| y> especially when it is made warm, 
it is called tin* volatile alkali. Now, when 
sulphuric acid unites with, an alkali or any 
otliei oxyd of a metal, it forms what is called 
a sulphate. When I put hartshorn on mv 
year to an unusual extent, vizBooks, 2,- 
734; pamphlets and periodicals, 3,140; musi¬ 
cal compositions, 3,891; engravings, photo¬ 
graphs and chromos, 173; prints. 420; maps 
aud charts, 146; total, 7,112. Upwards of 
__5,000 copyrights have 
11 vN.s ,!» been recorded in the 
librarian’s office dur- 
- - • work was projected in 
1863 by Mr. John 
k"*""} 1 Murray, the London 
tion of the Speaker of 
th© British House of 
tv xi^y;vo.” known enterprise of 
these publishers, wo 
may be sure tlmt neither pains nor cost 
will be spared in the dissemination of Dick¬ 
ens’s works, in forms adapted for every class 
little engraving. Iu a minute there was a 
thin, white film of moisture, like dew, on 
gas pass 
on through pipes to 
the place where it is 
kept. After a while 
Hie water contains a 
good deal of am¬ 
monia. Sulphuric 
acid is then put into 
it, and the sulphate of 
ammonia fulls to the 
bottom. It is then 
collected and sold for 
manure and for many 
other purposes," 
“ Concerning my 
explosion," continued 
Johnny, “it hap¬ 
pened because I was 
careless. You see, 
when the iron aud sul¬ 
phuric acid and water 
are mingled, a very 
curious process goes 
on. The iron takes oxygen from the 
water to form an oxyd, and the acid 
unites with this oxyd to form a sulphate 
of iron, which is commonly called cop¬ 
peras. When the oxygen js let loose 
trom the water to combine with the iron, 
the hydrogen is set free in the form of gas. 
Now, if this hydrogen gas is kept from mix¬ 
ing with other gases, and caused to flow out 
ol the pipe stem aud let out at the top, it 
will burn quickly, as I will show you in a 
minute; hut it we first mingle it with from 
seven to ten times its hulk of air, it will ex¬ 
plode like gunpowder 
“ Yes, we know that to our sorrow,” said 
Sally; but Johnny talked right along. 
“ It is just the same with other gases and 
vapors containing hydrogen, such as coal 
gas, the vapor of kerosene and the gases that 
come out of oil-wells, and mines of some 
kinds of coal—but we bad better get back to 
our experiment.” 
So Johnny took another bottle and some 
more chemicals, and fixed it just the same as 
before; only this time he waited about two 
minutes before he applied the match. When 
he did so a thin flame, almost without any 
color, appeared at the top of the pipe stem. 
It was so transparent that the old gentleman 
did not perceive it because it happened to be 
between him and tho lamp. 
“ Yon haven't lighted it after all,” said he. 
Then Johnny placed the bottle down In 
Hie corner where it was rather dark and the 
flame showed better. It was of a slightly 
bhicish color and gave very fit i le light. “ You 
notice the difference,” said Johnny, “be¬ 
tween the burning of hydrogen and the 
burning of carbon. The hydrogen yields 
very little light, hut its 
flame is very hot, very ABC 
hot indeed; carbon gets — —.— 
red when it is burning, M N O 
and gives a great deal-—- 
of light. This is a very 71 Si L 
important difference, 
and I intend to remem q 
her it, for there is no- ^ ^ 
thing like being master - 
of first principles as my 
book says. It is a very curious thing that in 
caudles and lamp-oil and kerosene which, all 
ot them, contain both hydrogen and carbon, 
the hydrogen burns first and makes heat 
which heats the little particles red hot, and 
these emit light from the time they are made 
red hot until they are quite consumed.” 
“I think,” said Sally, “you said that 
there is another great difference between 
these two things ; you said that when carbon 
burns it makes carbonic acid; but when 
hydrogen burns it unites with oxygen of the 
air to form water. Now show us the water 
from the flame.” 
“ Thai is easy done. Bring me a cold 
plate, perfectly dry.” 
Sally brought a plate from the milk- 
A TRUE STORY OF RURAL EIFE 
OMITTING LOVE AND SENTIMENT. 
WHOLE THLNG BLEW TJJfc* WITH 
the surface of tho plate. i 
“ I here, you see," remarked the young ’ 
experimenter, “ that is water formed by tbe 
burning of the hydrogen. Of course when < 
it comes from th© hot flume tqe water is in 
the form of steam; but when we cans© it to 
the form of steam 
come against the cold plate it is cooled down 
so that it condenses — that is, it becomes 
liquid again, in fact water, as you see.” 
“How much hydrogen does it take to 
make a pound of water?” said Alice. 
“ One part, by weight, of hydrogen unites 
with eight parts of oxygen to form water, 
so that one ounce or pound Of hydrogen and 
eight ol oxygen will make nine ounces or 
pounds of water when tho hydrogen is 
burned.” 
“ And how much carbon does it take to 
make a pound of carbonic acid ?” asked 
Sally. 
“ I’ll give you the rule,” replied he, “ and 
then you can cipher it out for yourself. Six 
pounds of carbon combine, iu burning, with 
sixteen of oxygen, and of course, formtweu- 
ty-two of carbonic acid. You see how im¬ 
portant it is to have plenty of air for the fire 
when we want it to burn.” 
“I wish Johnny’s science would tell us 
what is the matter with the stove,” remarked 
his mother. “ Sometimes the fire burns well 
and other times, when the wood is just as 
dry, it don’t.” 
“ That's because Johnny don’t take the 
ashes out from under the grate when he 
kindles the fire," put in Sally. “ Johnny, 
you had better give us a lecture on how to 
make the fire, burn." 
Like enough,” answered he, a little con- 
on this farm, dividing my remarks as parsons 
are wont to their discoursesFirstly, my 
own particular failures and triumphs; sec¬ 
ondly, Tom’s doings, and some tilings we 
propose to do and others to leave undone— 
merely stating, by way of introduction, that 
it is not one of my failings to stick to my 
text, and the reader must not be surprised 
if some things arc recorded under the wrong 
head. 
Firstly, it had been one of my pet theories 
that a home should have some distinctive 
features of its own. Ours was a large,square, 
white house, built near a century ago, when 
lumber and land were the cheapest of all 
commodities. Some later owner had added 
a piazza across the entire front, above and 
below. From the eastern windows, or the 
piazza, there was a view of the Green Moun¬ 
tains, green-fringed and snow-crowned, giv¬ 
ing an infinite variety of scenery—rose-tinted 
in the morn, deep blue at noon, and at eve 
covered with the crimson and purple lights 
caught from wondrous sunsets. At the foot 
of the long hill sloping to the east, ran the 
river, like a thread of silver, until it widened 
into the pond beyond. Southward, looking 
through the long valley, the eye rested on 
the "everlasting hills” once more, while 
west, behind the house, there rose ranks of 
rock maples on a little slope that kept the 
house warm in wintry weather. So we had 
the possibilities of a home before us—moun¬ 
tain scenery to the east and south, a view of 
the river and pond from the front windows, 
and just over the little bluff west of the 
house, the village, giving ready access to the 
post-office and church, those necessities of 
New Englanders, So, with the blessing of 
our own consciences, we commenced house¬ 
keeping. 
We had beds, chairs and tables, but no 
sign of carpets or lounges. A carpet was 
bought for tho best room, however, at an 
outlay of six dollars; and to the horror of 
the natives, who were accustomed to see 
one room kept sacred to darkness and com¬ 
pany, it became silting, sewing, and loung¬ 
ing room for the family. True, the carpet 
was cotton, and the lounge was covered 
with the skirt of an old dress turned to look 
“amaist as weel as new;” but the center 
table was pretty, the chairs were light cane- 
seated, aud the windows were draped with 
THE MOUSE TELEGRAPHIC ALPHABET. 
fused, “ there is a good deal of chemistry in 
how the fire burns.” 
“Ob, he knows all about it.” said Alice, 
clapping her bauds. “ Wouldn’t he make a 
good school-master!” 
“ I guess lie bad better talk about the fire 
next time,” said his father. 
“ YVhen?” asked Alice. “I want to be 
here." 
“One week from to-night,” said Sally; 
and now, Johnny, clear out to bed.” 
TcieKi’apti Alphabet. 
Lulu Edma asks us to give the telegraph 
alphabet in the Rural New-Yorker. We 
herewith give that used in the Morse sys¬ 
tem of telegraphing. The House system 
prints Hie letters of the alphabet. We give 
all the characters used by the Mouse system 
including figures and punctuation points. 
\ 
l. 
