The south-western. [volume] (Shreveport, La.) 1852-1870, 1854-09-13

h The SEcRET.--Roger Bacon was an Englis
= monk, who taught in the university of Oxfol
1t more than six hundred years ago. He was
t. man of great learning, skilled in Latin, Gree
and Hebrew, but especially fond of chemistr,
L He used to spend many hours each day in on
: of the secret cells of the convent, engaged
b some experiment. While thus employed,
), had found that sulphur charcoal and saltpetrt
S mingled together in a certain way, would max
new and strange compound indeed, SO srang
and dangerous did this new compound seem
that the monk himself was almost afraid of il
: and therefore told no one of his discovery.
: Among the pupils was a youth who was S
fond of study, and so prompt to obey his teach
, ers, that he became fayorive with all, ant
Roger Bacon would often ask his help in hi
: laboratory--a large room where the student
were instructed in chemistry; but he neve
f allowed him to enter his private CELL Thi
youths name was Hubert de Dreux.
Sometimes as Hubert sat reading or study
ing, or making medicines in this larger room
he was startled with sounds like thunder coming
from his masters apartment; sometimes q
bright light shone for moment thro' the chinks
OF the door, then an unpleasant odor would al
most sut1ocate him.
All these things excited his curiosity; but
whenever he knocked Or strove to enter Roger
Bacon would sternly bid him to attend to his
own affairs, and never again interrupt him.
The door was always kept locked, and every
! time the boy ventured to ask the cause, be was
silenced by his teachers gruf words and severe
looks
| Months g]ided away, and still he eagerly but
valnly sought to learn the secret At length
an opportunity afforded. Roger Bacon was
widely known as physician and surgeon. One
cold November day he was called to attend on
Walter de Losely, a rich man in the next town,
who had been dangerously hurt The monk
gave all the necessary orders to Hubert, and
bidding him to be careful to put out the fires
and lock the door when he was done, he started,
on bis errand Of mercy.
Hubert soon finished his task, and was lust
bounding up the oaken stairway when an evil
thought came into his mind. Roger Baconis
gone; he will not be back for several hours; |
can now find what keeps him so much in that
dark, damp cell" He looks anxiously around;
no one is near and with light step and beating
heart, he reaches the forbidden room The
key is not there, and so there is no hope of en-
terlng, yet perhaps he may see something
through the key-ho]e, and kneeling, he presses
his check against the heavy door. 1t opens at
his touch, for Roger Bacon, in his haste, had
locked without closing it, and thus the eager
boy stands where for months he had longed 10
be. In vain he looks for anything new or
strange, and with sad face is turning away, !
when his eye falls on a huge book, whose open
page is still wet with ink from his teachers
pen ltis written in Latin, but that is as plain
to him as his own English, and in another mo-
ment he had read the secret so long hidden
from him.
Now he must try it for himself, to see if the !
mixture isindeed so wonderful '*Ahr' he ex-
claimed, 'this yellow powder is the sulphur,
this hard, clear substance is the saltpetre. and
this black powder must be the other. Here is
the very bottle my master has used; will mix
1t in this and see The fire is not dead in the .
furnace, a few sparks will give heat enough and .
then Hubert de Drcux is as wise as his wisest
teacher" /
All that afternoon Roger Bacon had been
bending over the sick mans bed, he had done
all he could 10 relieve his sufferings, and as
night was coming On, he bade him good bye,
and set out for home. The wind whistled over
The bleak hills, and the monk wrapped his cloak
closer around him, and hurried his horse toward
he converts good shelter. As he reached the
op of the last hill, Oxford lay before him with
ights twlnkling here and there, and its tall
spires rising high. Suddenly stream of flame
'ose from his convent high on the darkened
ky, and IN an instant roar loud as the heaviest
hunder burst or the still night and distinctly t
tmid this fearful sound was heard the short crv
# distress. One moment and the whole CON ;
'ent was on fire! The trembling monk dashed {
(own the hillside to the scene Of Woe he i
prang from his horse, man drew forth from t
he ruins the lifcless form of Hubert! 6
The terrified crowd believed that Roger Ba- !
on had been practising withcraft, and without '
stenlng to his defence, threw him into gloomy a
ungeon. For many years he remained in l.
rison, but at last he was released and at the
ge Of eighty, lay down in DEATH He wrote
is will, kept secret in strange words in one of c
is books, and wise men studied long before S
ley could read it, He had discovered how to 8
lake gunpowder v
The terrible explosion in Oxford in 1889, P
oes not seem strange to us, for we know the Il
oEdeltui power Of gunpowdcr, but to the b
eople Of England at that tme it appeared to is
c the work of an evil spirit. Thus, year after q
ear, the world advanced in knowledge, and o
le children Of 1854 are familiar with many il
ings which were mysterious to learned men |;
K hundred years ago. How grateful we a
'ould be to God for all our privileges, and how {;
1retul toimprove them Alright Messenger. u
THE AMERICANS AS L1NGu1sTs.- an inter c.
ting article in the EIectic Review, on Amcri-
IN travellers in Europe, writer speaks in the Il
flowing complimentary terms of the particu- It
+ faculty Of our countrymcn for acquiring b.
nguages: CT
The Americans have peculiar aptitude for p1
reign travel. They are excellent linguists. 1t m
even said that they learn French more easily, tn
ID speak it better, than any foreigners in pl
'ance. Their knowledge Of Spanish and Ger tt
an surpasses ours, and numerous distinguish m
foreigners, not British, have long been natu- bt
Used among them-the Benezets, the Gala ri
Is, the Agassiz, the Aububons, the Girards, Vi
d the Slllimans, the family of our author.
le check work Of which all nations consist,