The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1858-05-14
WHAT'S the Price of Brass.

Some % years ago, some merchants OF
Salem, Mass, sent a vessel on a secret
voyage. After two or three years absence,
ID returned richly laden with irory and
other tropical productions. The owners
were made rich, and great was the won
der, where the vessel had been.
Directly all the tinmen and braziers in
the city were set at work, in manufactur-
ing brass combs, rings, chains, &c, &c,
comprising everything calculated to catch
the eye and fancy of an untutored savage.
With these shining trinkets the vessel
again set SAIL az it was afterward ascer-
tanned, for the benightedcoast of Ianzi-
bar; and great profits again accrued to
the merchants, from their trade i'll brass.
The brazcrs Of our large cities are at
the present time all busy III the manufac
turc of brass----not for the foreign trade
but to gice array to the people at home.
The maxim, "all is not gold that glitters, y
no longer holds good for all glittcrs in
the gift enterprise, jcwelry is gold Except
perhaps the glass for as the surface only
glittcrs, 50 the surface is genuine gold
perhaps 4 five dollar breastpin undoubt-
eddy has shilings worth Of gold upon
it--or coating five times as thick as gold
leaf; and the o,-t.olo comes Us near to
,..,ut. z,oiI ..o does tho e,ilt oyyyo,5 pov,.
that goes with it. a book that costs 80 cts.
and piece of jowelry-alias, brass~-that
costs as much more, are bought for dol
or-thc seller has made fair profit, and
he Purchaser has cleared five or ten dol
r.rs The stones are philosophers stones,
for the setting is all turned to gold. This
Is surley great invention; and we dom
wonder that the shocmakers have their
hands full, in punching ladies ears for the
splendid iewelry that floods the land
We expect soon to see their noses orna-
mentcd with brassr-we mean gold rings,
Their eyes are getting full already. Hoops
must give way so they can show rings on
their pretty ankles; for they will soon
have more than they can carry on their
heads, nccks, arms and fingers, if the
present demands continues.
How can we help approving all this,
when it aids so essentially, the diffusion
# knowledge ? For it is understood that
this jewclry is never far Saiel-it is to be
i0ca away; but that only to those who
5,ly IA book; and it is warranted to last
till the book is read through provided it
.laldlcd ''with care, and the book read
vthou. delay.
Those who order these gifts from
To cities, should not send for them by
thread, because the railroads do not
make themselves responsible for perish
able articles Care should be taken to
send 10y honest agents as, should
they be stolen, it might be difficult to
" prove value" and so am action would
fail. That the iowclry is beautiful, all adj
admit; and so is dcw-drop in the sun
will last about the same length
of time
We advise all our friends to go into the
speculation. You will thus have to buy
"A book that may be useful----the trinkets
cost YOU nothing according to the pro-
--rammc) and in little while you will
have a lot of truck that will sell for II
cents a pound~-if the copper mines shoe
fail, perhaps 20 cents.
But we cannot help thinking that those
Salem merchants must laugh to this day,
whenever they think Low many tons OF
brass they sent to the natives of Zanzibar,
and how different the channels OF trade
now are.---Lansiog RepuJlican.