Holmes County Republican. [volume] (Millersburg, Holmes Co., O. [Ohio]) 1870-1895, 1873-08-07
A Pinch Of Salt

-s-a - = - .----A
George went to the meadow te
carry, a bucket of salt for the cat
tle., "How odd," said George
athat nothing can live withou
salt! 4@What is salt !'' "Why
salt is salt, to be sure," said tn,
ploughman- That is SO. But th'
answer did not quite satisfy
George. seo9
There is a metal called sodium
which looks like little silvery
globes, and is a sort ofcousin to
gold and silver. e
If these little globes in thsil
way over the world meet and
are breathed upon by q yellow
ishgreen vapor, called chlorine
they vanish in an instant and in
place of the two, sodium and
chlorine, there is a grain of salt
It-is a happy thing in nature
that these do come together very
often, other wise we should have
no salt, and salt is necessary for
all sorts of life.
1t is found almost everywhere.
1t is in the great oceans; there
are also salt lakes,and salt springs
and salt mountains,an saltfields.
Spain has a great mountain OF
salt and Poland has some won
derful mines, where you are let
down into a pit, and come to
workshops where hundreds of men
are hewing out blocks of pure
white salt, which shine and spar
HES in the lamp light like dia-
monds. IUb bft
In America there is a famous
salt lake. Salt springs are very
common. The sea water is pump
ed into broad fiat pans, and left
out in the sun to be dried mp
When it is dried up, the salt i
left in a crust on the bottom o.
the pans. There are also great
salt works in England.
If water gives us sale so also
does fire. After an eruption, the
cracks and crevices of Mount We
suvius are often covered with a
thick coat of salt. Huge blocks
of it were once found very near
its burning mouth. The people
of Iceland, too, often carry whole
wagon loads of salt from their
burning Mt. Hecla. .asao
! There are plants likewise which
can yield a small supply. By
the seashore grows a grass,prick-
ly, homely plant, called the salts
wort. Our Soda mostly come
from the ashes of this very plant,
Do you know the curious and
pretty ice plant! 1t sometimes
grows in gardens oftener in
greenhoues. This is a great treas
ure to the people of Canary Is
ands, who raise it in large fields,
pull it up, burn it, and drive a
good trade with the soda which
they get from its ashes. What
stores of useful things are to be
found in nature!
Animals which live ON vegeta-
ton especially delight in salt.
Wild beasts on the plains, and
deer, as well as cattle in our
parnyards, are fond of it. Indeed
life would perish without it.
A man weighing one hundred
and fifty pounds has in him a
pound of salt. at least. His body
needs it in order to be strong and
healthy. Ifth:s is no longer to
be had, his flesh falls away, he
looses his hair, his eyes grow
dim, his bones become soft, and
his whole system breaks down.
Long ago, and even among the
Arabs of to-day, bargains are
made binding by the use of salt.
A tray of salt is put between the
two contracting parties, each
takes a piece, and that means
good faith for ever.
You remember the Lord Jesus
tells his people to be the salt of
the earth;' that is, to live so as to
shed a pure and wholesome infu-
ence around where nothing cor
rupt can live. And St.Paul says
our wordsmu be seasoned with
salt"
A pinch of saltis a very COM
mon thing. We see it every day
on the table, and never think of
it, much less think how curiously
God has made the world one
great salt-sellar for our use and
enjoyment!
Chicago has a clergerman nam
Sullivan who ohiecfs tn have hiS1