29G 
THE LADIES' FLORAL CABINET. 
At ten o’clock came the lessons for Tom and Jessie, 
dearly enjoyed by all, and stopping only for the dinner 
bell. 
After dinner is generally the warmest time of a 
southern day; even the irrepressible Tom and Jessie 
generally subsided for an hour or two, and June either 
took a little nap under her rosy mosquito-bar, or loung¬ 
ing in the hammock, spent the time in studying up 
“poultry-books,” or Henderson on “Strawberry cul¬ 
ture.” 
From four o’clock till sunset, are always the pleas¬ 
antest hours of the twenty-four, and there were always 
so many things to do. First the eggs were to be gath¬ 
ered, and perhaps some fruit for supper or to-morrow’s 
cooking, then, sometimes there was a game of lawn- 
tennis with her young brother—or a row on the inlet— 
with the radiant colors of sunset, reality and reflection 
all around them; or, perhaps, donning her scarlet 
bathing-suit, she would run out to meet the in¬ 
coming tide, for June was a fearless and graceful 
swimmer. 
Her evenings were nearly always spent with her 
father in the library, and each week found them more 
loving and devoted campanions, more truly, one in 
heart. Louise. 
Altamonte, Fla. 
REMARKABLE MECHANISM. 
“Some wonderful accounts are handed down” says 
the Boston Transcript “of mechanism so constructed 
as to resemble the figure and imitate the actions of 
mankind. About four hundred years before our era 
Archytas, of Tarentum, is said to have made a wooden 
pigeon that could fly, an automaton was also constructed 
that could open a door when any one knocked, and the 
celebrated Regiomotanus made a wooden eagle that 
flew forth from the city, saluted the emperor and re¬ 
turned. He also constructed an iron fly which flew out 
of his hand and returned after flying about the room. 
“In 1738 an automaton flute player was exhibited in 
Paris, that played on the flute in the same manner as a 
living performer. In 1741 Yaucansen produced a flag¬ 
eolet player, which played the flageolet with the left 
hand and beat a tambourine with the right. He also 
made a duck, which dabbled in the water, swam, drank 
and quacked like a real duck. A Frenchman exhibited 
a duck in New York, seven or eight years ago, which 
went through several of the same operations. 
“Automata have been constructed which wrote, play¬ 
ed on the pianoforte, etc. During the present century 
a Swiss named Mailardes constructed a figure represent¬ 
ing a female, which performed eighteen tunes on the 
piano, and continued in motion an hour. He also made 
another figure, representing a boy, who could write and 
draw. 
“Robert Houdin, the most celebrated conjurer of his 
day, was a clever constructor of automata. The taste 
was first developed in him in consequence of his pur¬ 
chase from a Dutch mechanic, named Opre, of a small 
harlequin, which leaped out of a box, performed some 
evolutions and returned to the box at the word of 
command. This automaton had to be repaired by 
Houdin, who afterwards repaired other automata, 
namely, Vaucansen’s duck, and the Componium, a me¬ 
chanical orchestra, which could play operatic overtures 
with precision and effect, and could improvise varia¬ 
tions without repeating itself. It was exhibited by a 
Prussian named Koppen in Paris about 1829, and brought 
him in a considerable sum, after which he sold it. The 
automata, made and exhibited by Houdin, were four in 
number. One was a pastry cook that issued from a 
door at the word of command, bringing various refresh¬ 
ments, according to the request of the spectators. At 
the side of the shop assistant pastry cooks were seen 
rolling paste and putting it in the oven. Another of 
Houdin’s automata was an imitation of the two clowns, 
Auriol and De Bureau. The latter held out a chair at 
arm’s length, on which his comrade performed acrobatic 
tricks, like his namesake in the circus at the Champs 
Elysees. Afterward Auriol smoked a pipe and accom¬ 
panied with the flageolet an air played by the orchestra. 
Since Houdin’s time other tumbling figures have been 
exhibited. The earlier of these, called the Automaton 
Leotard, was constructed by Professor Pepper. It 
tumbled and postured on a swinging trapeze. It was 
patented, and the meahanism is fully described in the 
specification. A conjurer named Beaumont improved 
upon this by making a large doll vault upon a swinging- 
rope, and, after holding by its hands, disengage them 
from the rope without assistance, and then hang by its 
feet. A third mechanical contrivance of Houdin’s was 
the mysterious Orange-tree, on which flowers and 
fruit seemed to grow at the request of the ladies. This 
was also used as part of a conjuring trick, a borrowed 
. handkerchief being discovered in one of the Oranges, 
which opened, when two butterflies took it by the cor¬ 
ners and unfolded it. The electrical dial trick of Houdin 
may also be classed as automatic, it being intended 
that the spectators should believe it to be isolated. A 
dial of transparent glass was hung up in the theatre, 
and while suspended it would mark any hour desired 
by the audience, and would strike the time on a crystal 
bell, suspended with the dial. 
“When Eugene Beauharnais was King of Bavaria, 
the chess automaton, then in the possession of M. 
Maelzel, was exhibited successfully before him. Eugene 
offered £1,200 for the figure and its key. The offer was 
accepted; the courtiers were sent from the room; the 
doors were' locked by Eugene, and every precaution 
taken to insure his acquiring the sole knowledge of the 
enigma. The prince is alone with the demonstrator; 
the latter, unhesitatingly and in silence, flings open 
simultaneously all the doors of the chest, and Prince 
Eugene saw—what he saw! Blue Beard’s wife at the 
door of the azure chamber looked not more blue than 
Bavaria's monarch; but Eugene faced the denouement 
with greater wisdom than the former royal purchaser 
of the secret. He shrugged his shoulders, took a pinch 
of snuff, laughed at the joke, and, though he probably 
thought his purchase rather dear at the price, expressed 
much gratification at inspecting the figure in all its 
parts. He even subsequently placed himself in the 
