Red Wing sentinel. [volume] (Red Wing, M.T. [i.e. Minn.]) 1855-1861, 1859-01-15
From Dickens Household Words.
IIAMMERING 1T IN.

Depressed by severe cold, for
which was indebted to the variable
nature Of the weather in the last days
Of November, sat, yesterday morn
ing, in u Respondent way beside my
coffee and dry toast, roasted away
the soles Of my slippers, and read away
my digestion over the last murder re-
counted in the Times. Suddenly I
was startled by the step of man
rushing up stairs; the door of my
sitting room was burst open, and my
friend Boulder, tlourishing in his hand
a heavy hammer, stood before me and
gasped out, "pvc done it ut last -
Boulder is 4 most cxcitable man, with
4 wife and \ large family of boys. II
looked aghast for marks of blood upon
the hammcr-for 4 trace of human
hair in some crack of the handle.
Which-who-how many? - Il
shouted.
MY son Jack" he declared KS the
cause Of it all. He brought it upon
me. o Smith, my dear friend. would
you have believed I should ever come
to this? Cut me some ham. I must b.
OFT to the hills in ten minuts, and it is
we'll to fortify myself, because l may
miss dinner to-day"
"Sir! Mr.. Bouldcr!"
"Lct me ring for a cup and saucer
There, now go on with yonr breakfast,
and III tell you all about it. I was
led to it entirely by that har.l-hcadcd
fellow David Pagc.''
pager
David Page, F. G. S. Hark YOU !
Three weeks ago, Mrs. Boulder came
to me, and said, Peter and I replied.
'Susannah,' She said look at Jacks
clean shirt She showed me shirt
neatly folded, with its front covered
with rcd stains, holes and indentations.
Mercy | cried what's the cause OF
this - Jack was at schcol--round the
o3rneryou know--Ticklcby's day school
>! wish to show you, Mr.. b. said INV
old girl, Jacks linen drawer Fol.
lowed my wife, looked in the drawer,
found it filled up with stones and dirt.
In the drawer below that found CLAW,
sand and old shells in his Sunday lack.
ct. Caused the dirt to be carried in
stantly to the dust hole. Further OK.
,'''lned drawers III Jacks room and in
the corner of one found book entitled
Advanced textbook of Geology, De.
scrlptlve and Industrial BY David
I*gc, F. G. s. That's what has
tlene it Peter Mrs. 3. sad, that's the
book I've seen him reading, evening
tier evening" He shall read no more
Of it, said !. The book is confiscated.
When Jack came home at dinner time
we had a great Disturbance ~.
Here Mr.. Boulder gasped over his
ham, and I felt painfully nervous
Boulder went on: .,.. -.
Jack said I, you shall neye,
more look on that book put it on
my own library table. I pceped into
it; l read bits Of it; 1 read more of it.
/ liked it; studied it; l threw my
self heart and soul into it; I compre
hcnded it 81 bought q hammer"
Here Boulder caught up his ham
mer and tlourishcd it again. He was
evidently stone mad. I'LL
With this hammer, my boy, I break
my way to the treasury Of Nature"
Here Boulder brought down hi.
hammer and smashed my tea-cup.
"Ah, good" he cried taking a .frag
mcnt up. "A lucky accident. Loci
at the crystalline fracture. What.
here? Clay. What makes the ella,
crystalline III its tacturc? Fire. Theo
ry of the igneous rocks. Thickness O.
the ponderable crust Of the globe cigb
hundred miles. Depth at which mos
OF the rocks ordinarily found at thu
surface wo-l1 s..;s+ -, q ..,vltv., stat,
say tve-and'twenty miles. Under
crust OF the globe, granite, Here's
my cxcitable friend took from tn,
mantle piece handsome paper-weigh
Of polished stone.
Some ass Of a man has polished thi
fine specimen of primitive rock
with one tap Of his hammer, Boulde
broke it in two. s"Observc," he said
the exquisite fracture.''
"Exquisite-confound-'
"Never polish fine specimen. TIL,
geologist, my dear boy, is most partic
ular to show youa clean fracture an,
nothing else. He breaks stone, an,
takes pains not 50 much as to dim witt
fingers touch the brilliance Of a bro
ken surface. Now fractures are o
various sorts, oonehoidal or shell-hke
even. uneven, splintery, smooth, hack
]y. Only look in this beautiful bit Q
granite, at the silvery CLEANS of tn
mica and the suety bits Of quartz speck
ling the solid pudding of the fefspa,
Quartz is, Of simple minerals, one q
the hardest KNOCK out little chi
Of granite, and you will observe tha
it is impossible to powder the quart
in it BY blows Of a hammer on tn
hearthstone. Yon perceive the hearth
stone breaks, but the quartz grains RI
main uncomminuted." =,
"Mr. Boulder-''aI began, f.intl,
/ was made somewhat weak and hell
less by my cold, Or ] should have p,'
vigor with vigor. !;
:'Pardon ME, Smith; they rcmail
l say unco,nminutc'l.a Let me advii