Fayetteville observer. [volume] (Fayetteville, Tenn.) 1850-1966, 1852-02-12
Gbs 9'puty's + riena.
Diamonds.

the r motest ages. When pure, it
is perfectly transparent like crystal,
but much more brilliant. Indeed,
it has been said that the excel ency
of a diamond is greatest, when you
Cam OF see it. For, if you consider
"a little, lis not the diamond itself
that you see, but the light reflected
by il The FIST crater in diamonds,
means the greatest purity and per-
fection of their complexion, which
should be that of the purest water.
When diamonds fall short of this
perfection, they are said to be Of
'M Ne second or third water, sc. If
you were to see a diamond in its
rough state, before it is polished,
yon would not suspect il to be any
thing but a common stone; unless
you were accustomed toit. When
unpublished, diamonds have wbi-
tlsh gray appearance, and are des-
titute Of briliiancy. A poor woman
at Norwich, in England, once had
a jew rap at her door, to ask her
if she would part with a stone,
which lay in her window. She
said, No, it was keepsake from
son Ben, who was gone to the In
Hdies. The Jew, instead Of being
daunted, was stimulated, by this
account, and said he had taken a
fancy to it, and would give her a
crown for it. The woman was
shrewd enough to know, that Jew
would not give five shlilIngs for any
thing unless it were worth a great
deal more. She therefore refused
ftp part with it obstInately, till she
had found out what it was, and
what was its real value. In the
sequel, it was discovered that this
stone was a very large diamond, III
| IFS rough state, for which she pro-
cured a thousand gulneas or about
five thousand dollars; after it had
thus lain in her window for years,
as a common stone. | can tell you
another story TOO, which may serve
to make you careful, in things
which might not at the time seem
to be of any import lance, Some
fifty years ago, an East Lldiaman
was wrecked near Aldborough, on
the coast of England A few
weeks afterwards, SO md gentlemen
came down in apost- chaise, inqui-
ling for any remnants of the wreck;
especially for some small, but strong,
boxes. AT last, they found a labor
Ing man had got one OF the boxes,
which they might have if they
liked. 1t had taken him, he said,
/ a plaguy deal of time to break it
fopen, and when he had done so,
There y as nothing in it but a parcel
Iof ugly stones, The gentlemen
eagerly inquired what he had done
with them. Oh, he said, they were
good for nothing, and. he had hugled
them away into the field. They
made. him point to the place rs
nearly as he could, and were at the
expense of having the whole field
siited and searched, but almost to
no purpose; as very few Of the dia-
monds for such were these stones
in reality9 were recovered. Had
he been little wiser, he would
have supposed, that those could not
be common stones which were
packed up so carefully, in strong
| ir on-bound boxes. AS it was, be
had the punishment Of knowing,
| that he had thus missed of a hand
$50 me reward through bis ignorance,
and his want of common honesty,
which ought to have induced him
TO wait to see if any one came to
claim the boxes. II lie diamond has
always been in REQUEST, from its
scarcity, as well as'its beauty. The
ancients called it dRamdnt: which
word is still in use to express any
thing extremely hard. The dia-
mpnd is the hardest substance in
nature; nothing but itself can cut it.
To get the diamond into a proper
shape for showing its brllliants to
advantage, the lapidary rubs. two OF
them together, andthey wear away
each other. The very dust so
made is also carefully saved, as
nothing elsewill polish this exces-
siveIy hard Stone. There is a dia-
mond mill at Amsterdam, which is
an interesting object. The process
Of polishing the diamonds is as fol-
lows: Fonr horses turn,a wheel, set
ing in motion,~in the room above,
a number OF smdller wheels, whose
,ogs. acting on circular metal plates,
Keep them in continued revolution. I