Ribless Boats.

SAIL-BOATS, for coast and river fishing, "built up" without ribs, are very popular in Massachusetts Bay, on account of their speed, lightness, cheapness, and ease of construction. They are so easily and quickly made that Eastern fishermen are becoming independent of the boat-builders, and each man builds his own boat at his leisure. To make one, the only material needed are good clear pine boards, each the whole length of the intended boat, a few pounds of small nails (galvanized), and the material for the stem, keel, and stern-post. The boards are run through a saw-mill and cut into strips about an inch and a-half wide, and out of these the boat is built up | according to working models. These models are merely patterns of wood that give the outside of a half-section of the boat. They give the shape of the boat at every foot of her length, and are formed from some existing boat or drawn from a scale designed by some competent boat-builder. The keel, stern-post and stem are set up and secured together firmly, and then to the keel two strips are fitted horizontally, one on each side, and having been planed down at each end to fit the model, holes are bored through them and they are securely nailed to the keel. Over each is laid another strip, and with the plane and shave it is fitted to them in such a way as to conform to the shape of the boat, and then each is nailed down as before. In this simple manner the work proceeds. As the strips are nailed one over the other, they are bent to conform to the shape of the boat, and beveled to give the sides the right form.

A single day's practice in fitting the strips to the shape of the boat will enable a good carpenter to do the work with neatness and dispatch, and any person skillful with plane and hammer could in time turn boat-builder. When the sides rise to the gunwale, a broader and thicker strip of oak or ash is laid over all, to act as a fender and gunwale. During the whole process, the strips are kept heavily painted with white lead, and, when all is finished, we

have a ribless shell, showing no nails except at the top, and exactly conforming on the outside and in to the model. To give lateral strength, shorter pieces of the strips are built up from the keel inside, and carefully fitted to the sides. The seats are placed over these, and then decks, store-room and cabin may be added as desired. Boats made in this way are very light and buoyant, and, being smooth on the outside, are good sailers. In case of injury, they are easily repaired by cutting out the broken place and inserting new strips, secured by backing on the inside. In practical use, such boats are found to be swift, dry and safe. They make good sea boats, and are said to resist injury with ease. In sailing they demand plenty of ballast, to compensate for their lightness. Their cheapness and ease of construction are rapidly bringing them into favor, as the cost is about one-third less than by the ordinary method. Two men with the materials in hand can easily make a boat 18x6 in sixteen days.

Riveted Joints.

THE increased demand for plate and boiler-work has stimulated scientific investigation, and brought out many facts of general interest. The value of a piece of plate-work depends on the strength of the riveted portions. Calling the strength of an unpunched plate at 100, the strength of a double-riveted joint is reckoned at 66, a single-riveted joint at 50. Pinched rivet-holes, by means of the tearing and splitting caused by a smashing blow, are found to be less valuable by 15 per cent. than drilled holes. Oval rivet-holes have been tried with success. The long diameter of the rivet is placed in line with the length of the plate, thus reducing the space between the holes in its weakest direction. Sir W. Fairbairn suggests rolling-plates with thickened edges, so that the line of rivet-holes will be relatively stronger. This idea is now undergoing experiment. Boilerplates are also being riveted diagonally, with the joints at an angle of 45 with the axis of the boiler. As the relative strength of iron and steel plates isiron, 50,000 lbs. ; steel, 60,000 lbs., many boilers are now being made of steel for the sake of this difference in strength.

Enameled Ceilings.

A REFRESHMENT saloon in London has been finished inside in such a manner as to be readily washed out with a hose. The floor is paved, the walls are of majolica, and the ceiling is covered with enameled sheet iron. When it is desired to clean the room, the furniture is removed, the hose is laid on, and the place is simply drenched and flooded till clean. The ceiling is the novel feature of the room. To prepare it, large pieces of sheet iron were coated with white enamel in the usual manner, and were then handsomely painted in colors. After baking to secure the colors, the sheets were affixed to the beams of the floor overhead. The joints are made to fit tight, and once in place, the enameled plates will last as long as the building stands. This style of ceiling is partially fire-proof, and saves all the expense, repairs and dangers of laths and plaster. There is no patent on this system of ceilings, and any enameling firm may make the sheets in plain colors, clear white, or in patterns to fit any refreshment-room, bath-room, laundry, dairy, or other room where a washable ceiling is desired.

Asbestos Paper.

ASBESTOS pounded in a mortar till reduced to a cotton-like mass, and then freed from earthy matter in a sieve, has been put in a paper vat, and good sheets of laid paper produced in the usual way. The sheets, on being written upon, were placed in the fire, but came out uninjured, though the writing was burned out and effaced. Such sheets of paper might be easily available if the letters in the writing were punched through it.

Morse's alphabet would be useful here, as the letters would be mere slits and minute holes, not liable to tear the paper.

Graphic Illustrations of Music applied to Decoration.

THE Oscillations of illuminated tuning-forks are often used to exhibit graphically the curves that result from the union of harmonic vibrations. Bits of glass are fixed to the forks, and, by the aid of a lamp, reflections from the little mirrors are cast upon the screen. On sounding the forks, the spots of reflected light assume various curves and figures upon the screen. A fork sounding a note, and another giving its octave, give one figure; two forks, tuned a fifth apart, give another, and so on. In every case the figures are fixed for each chord, and so well known are the curves produced in this way, that each chord is readily recognized, and the curves are named the octave, the third, the fifth, the seventeenth, etc. All of these harmonic figures have more or less beauty of form. Some of the more complex are exceedingly interesting and attractive on account of their grace of outline and detail. Drawings of these figures have been made; but aside from their scientific interest, they did not prove of any special value. Another and more simple method of producing them has led to a new application of these curves, and they can now be produced in a permanent form that makes them available in decorative art. This method is well known to students of sound, and may be easily carried out after a little practice. A stiff wooden bar (a yard-stick will answer) is supported at the ends in a horizontal position. From this is suspended a short piece of string in the form of a loop, each end being fixed to the stick. The string is drawn through a common four-hole button, and from this is hung a single piece of string, having a cup or hollow pendulum at the end. This pendulum has a small hole in the bottom, and when in use is filled with sand. This compound pendulum has a universal motion upon a horizontal plane. Set the string swinging in the line of the loop, and the pendulum will perform backward and forward excursions in that direction. Let the string rest and swing the loop, and the pendulum will make journeys at exactly right angles with the first directions. Set both loop and string in motion in the two directions, and the pendulum will describe curves that represent the combined or resultant motions. It is easy to see that the lengths of the string and the loop may be so adjusted to each other as to bear the same relation as a note to its octave, its third, fifth, etc. If arranged in this way, the pendulum will then make its excursions in curves, exactly representing the figures shown upon the screen in graphic illustrations of harmonic intervals by the aid of tuning-forks. To make the pen

dulum record its motions, it is filled with sand. This escapes in a slender stream through the hole in the bottom, and is distributed along its path. A plate of glass held beneath the pendulum will be covered with the sand laid down in lines corresponding to the figure it describes.

To fix the sand permanently, the glass is first painted lightly with "French varnish." When this is cold and hard, the sand figure is laid upon it by the pendulum. On exposing the under side of the glass to a gentle

heat (without disturbing the sand), the varnish is melted, and the sand quickly adheres to it. On cooling the plate, the varnish sets, and a portion of the sand is fixed. The loose sand is rubbed off, and a perfect and permanent picture of the harmonic curves is permanently secured to the glass. Glass decorated in this way may then be treated as lights in window decoration; or, framed, may be hung upon the wall. In place of sand, smalt may be employed to give color to the designs. Tiles for exterior walls might have the same figures laid upon them in the various vitreous colors used in tile-painting, and, properly burned, would give an entirely new style of architectural decoration.

Memoranda.

A NEW device for controlling the tension of the thread in sewing-machines has been brought out which has some features of interest. In place of the usual tension is a horizontal disk fixed to a standard placed at the end of the machine opposite the needle, and at the operator's right. This disk has a slight up-and-down motion, and is connected by a short arm that is geared to a small wheel on the shaft under the table. At each revolution of the wheel the arm raises and lowers the disk, alternately biting and holding the thread, and throwing it loose at every stroke. By this simple device the tension of the thread follows the motion of the needles automatically, and adjusts it to whatever kind of work is passing through the machine.

In the straw-burning engines now in use the straw is fed to the fire in a loose stream, and consumed as fast as it enters the fire-box. The consumption is therefore rapid and continuous. A device for retarding the combustion of straw, and for the utilization of a vast supply of fuel in the form of dead leaves, grass, etc., has been brought out, and good results are claimed for it. The grass or straw in the stove is compressed into a solid mass by a movable follower or weight that rests upon it. By thus applying pressure to the straw only the sides of the mass can burn, the top and bottom being protected by the follower and grate. By regulating the draft the fire may then be placed under control. In place of a needle in ships' compasses two concentric circles mounted upon a cross piece of aluminuni are recommended. The maximum of magnetization is at the north and south sides of the rings, and decreases to the neutral points east and west. The advantages claimed for this ring-compass, and recommended by the naval experts who have examined it, are greater sensitiveness, a less sluggish motion, and more freedom from the motion of the ship.

In photography the simple device of local heating of the plate during development is announced as producing better definition. In the case of children and other restless sitters, a lighted wax match held under the face brings out that part of the picture into greater distinctness.

"Words and their Uses."

BY A MYSTIFIED QUAKER.

RESPECTED WIFE: From these few lines my whereabouts thee'll learn

Moreover, I impart to thee my serious concern:
The language of this people is a riddle unto me,

And words, with them, are figments of a reckless mockery!

For instance: As I left the cars, an imp with smutty face, Said "Shine?" "Nay, I'll not shine," I said, "except with inward grace!"

"Is 'inward grace' a liquid or a paste?" asked this young Turk;

"Hi Daddy! What is inward grace?' How does the old thing work ""

"Friend," said I to a Jehu, whose breath suggested gin, "Can thee convey me straightway to a reputable inn!" His answer's gross irrelevance I shall not soon forgetInstead of simply yea or nay, he gruffly said "You bet!"

"Nay, nay, I shall not bet," said I, "for that would be a

sin

Why don't thee answer plainly: Can thee take me to an inn?

The vehicle is doubtless meant to carry folks about inThen why prevaricate?" Said he, perversely, "Now yer shoutin'!

"Nay, verily, I shouted not!" quoth I, "my speech is mild; But thine-1 grieve to say it-with falsehood is defiled. Thee ought to be admonished to rid thy heart of guile." "See here! my lively moke," said he, "you sling on too much style!"

"I've had these plain drab garments twenty years and more," said I,

"And when thee says I sling on style,' thee tells a willful lie!"

At that he pranced around as if "a bee were in his bonnet," And, with hostile demonstrations, inquired if I was "on it!"

"On what? Till thee explains thyself, I cannot tell," I said. He swore that something was "too thin; " moreover it was

played!'

But all his jargon was surpassed, in wild absurdity,

By threats, profanely emphasized, "to put a head on " me!

"No son of Belial," said I, "that miracle can do!"
Whereat he fell upon me with blows and curses, too,
But failed to work that miracle-if such was his design-
Instead of putting on a head, he strove to smite off mine!

Thee knows I cultivate the peaceful habit of our sect,
But this man's conduct wrought on me a singular effect;
For when he slapped my broad-brim off, and asked, "How's
that for high?"

It roused the Adam in me, and I smote him hip and thigh!

The throng then gave a specimen of calumny broke loose, And said I'd "snatched him bald-headed," and likewise "cooked his goose;

Although, I solemnly affirm, I did not pull his hair,

Nor did I cook his poultry-for he had no poultry there!

They called me "Bully boy!" although I've seen nigh threescore year;

They said that I was "lightning" when I "got up on my

ear!'

And when I asked if lightning climbed its ear, or dressed in drab,

"You know how 'tis yourself!" said one inconsequential blab!

Thee can conceive that, by this time, I was somewhat perplexed;

Yea, the placid spirit in me has seldom been so vexed;
I tarried there no longer, for plain-spoken men-like me-
With such perverters of our tongue, can have no unity.
-Frank Clive, in the "Buffalo Courier."

Apropos of the Centennial, we republish from "The New York Ledger" of January 6, 1872, the following little poem by the Poet Laureate. The Editor stated at the time that this was the only poem ever written by Mr. Tennyson for an American publication:

ENGLAND AND AMERICA IN 1782.

BY ALFRED TENNYSON.

[Mr. Tennyson writes to the editor of the "Ledger: ""The poem, which I send herewith, is supposed to be written or spoken by a liberal Englishman at the time of our recognition of American Independence."]

O thou, that sendest out the man
To rule by land and sea,
Strong mother of a Lion-line,
Be proud of those strong sons of thine
Who wrench'd their rights from thee!

What wonder, if in noble heat

Those men thine arms withstood,
Retaught the lesson thou hadst taught,
And in thy spirit with thee fought-
Who sprang from English blood!

But thou rejoice with liberal joy,
Lift up thy rocky face,

And shatter, when the storms are black,
In many a streaming torrent back,
The seas that shock thy base!

Whatever harmonies of law

The growing world assume,

Thy work is thine-The single note
From that deep chord which Hampden smote
Will vibrate to the doom.

Edgar Allan Poe.

FARMDALE, KY., September 10, 1875.

I NOTICE in your September number fac-simile of a poem by Poe, dated in March, 1829, and said to have been written after he left West Point. E. L. D.

is in error. Poe was a member of my class at the Military Academy-which entered the Academy in June, 1830, and he left the Institution sometime in 1831. I remember him well. While at the Academy he published a small volume of poems which were not thought to have much merit. He was too much occupied with his poetry to attend to the severe studies of the course at the Academy, and hence resigned, in order to devote his whole time to poetry.

The writer, having graduated, left the Academy in 1834, and, while visiting a friend in Baltimore in the fall of that year, was asked by a casual acquaintance if he knew Edgar Allan Poe, who had informed the gentleman alluded to that he was acquainted with me. On responding in the affirmative, I was told that Poe was then working in a brick-yard in Baltimore, being engaged in wheeling clay in a wheelbarrow. This may throw light on that part of his history immediately after his leaving the Academy. R. T. P. A. (R. T. P. Allen, of the Class of 1834, late Superintendent of Kentucky Military Institute.)

Faithless.

I WONDER if it seems as long

To you; three years have passed, or more,
Since, loath to speak the final word,
We parted at the vine-wreathed door.

The graceful gesture of your hand,
Your wistful eyes, I see them yet,
And hear from out those pleading lips,
The whispered mandate, "Don't forget."
Ah, was it that your faith in me
Was weak, or that my thoughts you read,
And guessed the plot my brain conceived,
Black as the heavens overhead?

Fast fell the rain; the pallid moon
Was hidden by the tempest's rack.
"Adieu!" you cried; "now, don't forget
To bring our best umbrella back!"

H. B.

The Literary Assistance Bureau. Mr. H. R. E., of New Haven, writes to us, confidentially, that while recently engaged upon an American novel, he received the following communication by mail. As the circular is a private one, our readers will please say nothing about it:

(PRIVATE AND CONFIDENTIAL.)

The Metropolitan Literary Assistance Bureau, learning that you were engaged on a work of fiction, and appreciating the vast difficulty as well as importance of the career you have undertaken, respectfully submit the claims of their establishment for your consideration. Our business has flourished for many years, and we can show testimonials from the most successful novelists of the day as to our honesty and efficiency. We pledge you our perfect integrity, and we expect from you, in return, inviolate good faith. Be pleased, then, to consider this communication expressly confidential.

Knowing the difficulties which beset the conception and execution of fiction, we have collected at great expense all the materials for the novelist's work that he can possibly need. We ask your attention to the following goods.

Our stock of heroes and heroines is large and well assorted. The line of heroes includes all grades and shades of young

We

man, college graduate, curate, peasant, poet, etc., etc. deal as well in all standard heroes of a ripe or advanced age. We have only recently added three rescuers from burning buildings, one honest bank clerk, and other novelties. We show a prime lot of heroines, with or without sheeny hair. We have the lovely but wayward, the homely but interesting (freckled, lame, one-eyed, red-haired, pock-marked and consumptive), the fascinating, innocent, etc. One fine heroine with a hump, who dies young-a great favorite. We have, too, all the common and many rare scoundrels, braggarts, misers, and eccentrics. No author in want of villains should fail to examine this department. All these characters sold either with or without appropriate names.

You may wish to know more definitely with regard to some of our specialties, yet we can scarcely discriminate amid such a wealth of stock. We call your attention, however, to the following. Ex pede Herculem.

A very old lady with a stoop. Can be used as a scandalmongering old hag of fashion. Has also served as a witch. One fine sailor boy, with a marline-spike to knock down mutineers with. Also, a gross of maritime oaths.

A half-pay major to say "Gad." (Companion piece to old lady.) His false teeth drop out very amusingly.

A noble red man (cheap, being somewhat dingy, through long disuse). He is six feet and a half high in his moccasins, is of swarthy hue, with eyes which alternately flash like the wild cat and beam softly as the doe. He says "Umph!" whenever squeezed. His rifle, "Hit-peanut-mile-off," is very rare and valuable.

A detective. He can find out anything. Has the highest recommendations from Wilkie Collins, who knows him intimately.

A kitchen-maid with ten smart speeches and four kisses for policemen. Also a dairy-maid with a fine color and pretty ankles. This pair are very old, but far from decrepit. They both seem to possess wonderful vitality.

For those in quest of the aged and infirm, we have a fine old negress, blind and fond of the Scriptures She dies easily after the hero has met the heroine, while the latter is reading to the Afric from the Sacred Word, instead of attending the Ball.

A young lord. His locks are raven, and curl; very wicked. A plow-boy, to thwart him. (These two never sold separately.)

An Irishman to make bulls; and others too numerous to mention.

Our supply of Plots is rich and varied. A complete assortment of Social Wrongs, now so fashionable: Political Corruption, Hospital Mismanagement, Trade Combinations, Ill-Assorted Marriages, etc. Our satires on Fashion have been repeatedly used, and always with the greatest satisfaction. Plots sold whole or in separate incidents. Examine our ScrapBook Department. We have thousands of incidents of Real Life in stock suitable for working over into first-class fiction. Buyers should notice our stock of Difficulties, which includes a rich assortment of Misunderstandings, Family Quarrels, Accidents to life and limb, Shipwrecks, Adventures with Pirates (very choice) and Snakes.. Stony-hearted Parents in great variety.

A good precipice (somewhat worn).

A Cave on the Irish Coast, for smugglers or rescuers from rising tides.

Harpsichords, bowers, and moons in profusion. Digressions,-an endless variety. Now, when every third chapter of a novel is expected to be an animated sermon, this department of our stock is very popular among the guild. Discussions on morals, philosophy, politics, or society, sold by the page, or single epigram. Come and see us.

Quotations, in stock or made to order. Our Thackeray and Shakespeare selections have been often admired. Some prime extracts from obscure authors. Original quotations furnished by the dozen or hundred. In ordering, please state whether they shall be labeled "Anon." or "Old Song." We also keep the standard Scriptural allusions, and have many pleasant references to familiar authors and characters. Also, a good stock of valuable geographical localities, much used, but in perfect repair, such as Louvre, Pall Mall, Ducal Palace, Mer de Glas, etc. Our Manual, the novelist's vade mecum, obviates the necessity of personal travel.

Sunday School Books. We are wholesale dealers in this species of manuscript, which we buy and sell by the thousand, the cord, or the hundred-weight. Writers are notified that the heroine must be lame and die young, or the manuscript will not be considered.

Respectfully soliciting your patronage, we remain,

Your most obedient servants,

The Metropolitan Literary Assistance Bureau,
New York.

Accompanying the above was:

A GENERAL RECIPE FOR A MODERN NOVEL.

Stir in a fool to make us laugh!

Two heavy villains and a half;

A heroine with sheeny hair,
And half a dozen beaux to spare;
A mystery upon the shore;

Some bloody foot-prints on a floor;
A shrewd detective chap, who mates
Those foot-prints with the hero's eights,
And makes it squally for that gent-
Till he is proven innocent;

A brown stone front: a dingle dell;
Spice it with scandal; stir it well;

Serve it up hot;-and the book will sell.

A curious slip occurs in a catalogue issued a short time ago by a well-known bookseller. A work on block-printing at the beginning of the fifteenth century, is catalogued, which is said to contain "sixty-nine engravings, either from wood or metal, twelve of which bear inscriptions representing scenes of Christian mythology, figures of patriarchs, saints, devils, and other dignitaries of the Church."

Talfourd introduced Dickens to Lady Holland. She hated Americans, and did not want Dickens to visit us. She said, "Why can't you go down to Bristol and see some of the third and fourth rate people, and they'll do just as well."

Montaigne was importuned by a sturdy beggar, in good health, to give alms; the philosopher asked him why he begged when so able to work and earn a livelihood. He replied: "If you only knew how lazy I am, you would have pity on me!"

Cheerfulness is the daughter of employment, said Bishop Horne, and I have known a man to come home in high spirits from a funeral, merely because he had had the management of it. In a case of manslaughter, a Somersetshire wit

ness thus testified: "He'd a stick and he'd a stick, and he hit he, and he hit he; and if he'd a hit he as hard as he hit he, he'd a killed he, and not he he."

66

During his first success at Drury Lane, Kean overheard a knot of old stage carpenters discussing the various performers of Hamlet they had seen in their day. Well," said one, "you may talk of Henderson, and Kemble, and this new man; but, give me Bannister's Hamlet. He was always done twenty minutes sooner than any one of 'em."

Prof. tells the following: "During the after-dinner talk, the rough specimen for whom I was surveying remarked that mathematics had always seemed a very wonderful thing to him. Thinking to interest him somewhat, I began to illustrate some of the wonders; among others, tried to show him the way in which Neptune was discovered. After some twenty minutes of elaborate explanation, I was somewhat taken aback to hear him say: 'Yes, yes; it is very wonderful, very; but (with a sigh) there's another thing that's allers troubled me, and that is, why you have to carry one for every ten; but, if you don't, 'twon't come out right."