Cooper's Clarksburg register. [volume] (Clarksburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1851-1861, 1857-08-28
HAMNEnING III IN.
Or the Inconvenience of Geological
Friends.

Depressed by a severe cold. for which
l was indebted to tho variable nature oi
the weather in the last day of February.
sat yesterday morning in Respondent
way beside my coffee aud dry-toast,
roasted the soles of my slippers, aud
read away my digestion over the last
murder recounted in the Times. Sudden.
ly l was startled by the step of man
rushing hurriedIy up stairs the door of
my sitting-room VAS burst open, and my
friend Boulder, Aourishing in his hand q
heavy hammer. stood before me and
gAsped out, live done it al last, Smith
I've donesit at last - Boulder is q most
cxcitable man, with a wife and large
family of boys. 1 looked aghast for
marks Of blood upon She hammer-for a
trace Of human hair ia some crack of the
handle.
"Which-who-how many?" shout
ed at the top OF my voice.
My son jack" he declared. lis the
cause of il all. lie brough. it up"n tnc.
.. Smith. my dear friend. would YOU
have believed l should have ever come
IL this Cut me some ham"
lie sat down opposite me in "a 'asy
choir, turned up his soes also t. the i:e,
helped himself to thick slice Of bread
;AuI said az Ain. Cut me some ham.
must be , f 10 she hills in ten minutes, and
it's we'll to fortify myself, because may
miss dinner today.
''Sir Mr.. Boulder -
Let me ring for a cup and sNucer.--
There now, go on with your breakfast
aud Ill tell you about it. was led to it
entirely by that hard headed fellow, DA-
vid Page"
Page ?"
David Page, f. G. S. lIark you
Three weeks ago. Mrs. Boulder came to
the. and said. 'Peter." replied, "Su~
sannah." She said, "Look at Jack 5
clean shirt" She showed me a shirt fold
ed neatly, with It's front covered with red
stains, holes, and indeutions. Mercy"
cried, "What's the cause Of this ?''-
Jack was at school-round the corner
you know--Ticklcboy' day schoOl.-
Il wish to show you, Mr.. 3 > said my old
girl, "Jack's linen drawer" Followed
my wife, looked in the drawers, found il
filled up with stones and dirt. In the
drawer below that, found clay. and old
shells in his Sunday jHckct. Caused the
dirt to be instantly car-..i to the dust
hole. Further cxam,aeA drawers in
Jacks room. aud in The corner of Cne
found a book entitled "Advanced Tex.
book OF Geology. Descriptive and indus
trial, by David Page, +. G. 5. That
what has done il, Peter" Mrs. B.. said
That's the book I've seen him rendine
evening after evening. "He shall rcac
no more OF it," said 1. "The book is con
fscAted." When jack came home a
dinner time we had great Disturbance
Here Mr.. Boulder gaSped over hi
ham. and felt painfully nervous. Bould
er went on
''Jack, said I, "you shall never more
look on that book" put it on my oWt
library table. pc ped into it l looked
studied it; l threw my heart aud sou
into it; 1 Icomprehended it - bought {
hammer"
Here Boulder caught his hammer VI
and aourished it again. He WAS evident
ly stone mad.
with this hammer, my boy, l break
my way into the treasury of Nature
Here Boulder brought his hammer doWr
and smashed my teAcup.
"Ah, good!" he cried. taking a frag'
ment up. A lucky accident. Look a
the crystalline fracture. What's here
Clay. What makes the clay crystalIin,
in its fracture ? Fire. Theory OF thu
igneous rocks. Thickness of the ponder
able crust of the globe, eight hundred
miles. Depth a. which moSt Of the rock
ordinarily found st the surface would OK
ist in moulten state, say tUenty-fV'
miles. Undercrust of the globe, granite
Here's bit,''
My exciseable friend took from th'
mantle piece handsome paper-Weigh
ofpolised stone.
''Some ass of man has polished thl:
fne specimen of primitive rock" With
one tap Of his BANNER, Boulder broke i
in two. "Observe," he said, "the ex'
quisite fracture"
ite-confound-"
'*Never polish fine specimen. The
geolgist, my dear boy, is most particular
to show you clean fracture and nothing
else. He breaks a stone, and takes pains
not so much as to dim with a fingers
touch the brilliance of the broken surface
Now fractures are of different sorts. con-
choidal, or shell-like, even. uneven,
smooth. splintery. kackly. Only look in
this beautiful Bit of granite, at the silvery
CLEANS of the mica and the ,suety bits O
quartz speaking the solid pudding of the
telspar. Quartz is. of simple minerals.
one OF the hardest. I knock out a little
EMP OF granite, and You will observe tha.