The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1873-11-07
Law that Could not he Broken.

a
One day, as sat reading a book called
Arnott's Physics or Natural Philosophy,
suddenly laughed aloud.
Now, Arnotts Physics is by no means
funny book. | am quite sure there is
not n joke in it, from cover TO cover SO,
when / laughed, my wife locked up in
had been reading aloud to the dear
little lady, and it put her in anything
but lively mood
"What is it, Joe p she asked, smil-
ing in spite of herself when she met my
broad grin.
"This part here, about the center of
gravity and its always taking the lowest
place" answered 1, tapping the page
with my fingers, made me think of
something"
"Did ?" she said with solemn sur
prise.
AS the precious girl please don't
mind my speaking in this way of my
wife, for, the fact is, we have been mar
ried only year, and she is just eighteen
to my twenty-two), as the precious girl
evidently did not expect an answer to
her question, L took up the book again
and read
Dy dJuSuullB W Vic CcuJcT Ol RTuNlJy
of the bodies around us on the earth,
we are enabled to explain why, from the
influence of gravity, some of them are
stable, or firmly fixed, others lettering,
others falling. The line of
plummet hanging from the center of
gravity is called the line of direction of
the center, or that in which it tends nat
urally to descend to the earth"
You remember, Lily" said /, inter-
rupting myself, the law we read in
Gale yesterday:
"While the line of direction falls
Dithin the base upon which the body
stands, the body cannot upset; but if
the line fall beyond the base the body
will tumble"
Then, taking pencil and notebook
from my pocket, / made picture of a
coach tilted by great stone in such a
way that perpendicular line drawn
from its center of gravity fell beyond
the base of the coach, that is, outside
of the point where its wheels touched
the ground on its tilted side, and she
saw at a glance that the coach must
upset.
"Oh, yes, understand it now, per-
fectly," she exclaimed, quite pleased.
So read on, as DIR. Arnott proceeded
to tell us how to find the center of gray
ity of any object, and to explain in a
very clear and delightful way the princi-
pie shown in rolling balls, leaning tow
ers, unsafe chimneys, i'll the graceful
positions of skaters, in tumbling dolls
and the movements of various toys,
when my wife said quickly:
"JoeI"
"No, dear" said l, listening mo-
ment and thinking that she had thought
she heard the baby cry.
"Joe !" she exclaimed again, what
were you laughing about ?"
"When?" said L.
"Why, a moment ago"
co." laughed, didn't L ever tell
you, my dear? 1t was such "A capital
Illustration of the laws we have just
been studying, though L didn't know it
at the time.
We'll % said she.
She drew her chair close to mine,
with a comical look of curiosity on her
face, and L began in dramatic fashion;
"'Tis now eleven years since small
boy, full of mischief by nature, but very
cautious by education, found himself
alone in the upper part of fine city
mansion. His mother was out. The
servants were in the kitchen, and this
small boy felt that, perhaps, never
again would he have such n grand
chance to be up to something, he hardly
knew what.
"Was it you, Joe ?"
cit was" said /. "Well, as the boys
say, / cast about for some tiTe, not
able to settle on plan. Many delight
full projects entered my head, but they
were all more or less connected will
danger. There was the roof, as steer
' and as slanting as heart OF boy could
wish but / had been made so thor
ougly to understand that to tumble from
it would be to break every bone in my
body, to say nothing of being killed
stone dead that / gave up my half
formed plan at once. Then there wa
the window 1t would be fun to let my
self down from it 10y tying stout rop,
to the bed-post, and so sliding to the
ground. But the rope might break, OF
, i might not be able to hold on-and tn,
wild thought was abandoned in a flash
Suddenly an idea came to me 4:
"There was beautiful porcelain
vase on the top of fathers bookcase
high out of reach. What fun it would
be if L only could manage to knock i
down without breaking it y
"You little goose then, not now,
added Mrs. Joseph, hastily.
"Goose or not, tried it," said /
cit was nearly time for mother to re
turn. There was not o moment to b.
lost. and had to make great prepare
tons.
"The bed was made up in fine style
with its great ruffled pillow fixings ant
its silken spread all tucked in as if /
were never to come out again. But
hauled off the covers, and with many
tug and pull brought the feather bed t
the floor Then / dragged it to the book
case. The next thing was to fetch
ladder from the garret-no easy job 70
a ten-yesr-old. This done, it was evi