The National tribune., 1882-12-21
WOMANS WORK.
Home, and How TO Make 1t Beautiful
and Happy.


have given place to household furnishing which
is artistic and harmonious. This reform IN the
popular taste has affected both palace and cot
tage and there is an eager desire IN every
quarter to conform to the best CanOns Of taste
in the adOrnmcnt of our parlOrs dlnlng-roOmS,
and bed-chamberS. One of the best features OF
this reform is its relative Responsiveness. OF
course. it costs a great deal to fit out modern
house in such n way as to please cultivated
taste. But on the whole, artistic furniture and
ornamentation is cheaper than was the Sombre
and iuelegant furniture of the past. For this
reform we are, in a large measure, indebted TO
asthetiCism, which has perSiStently taught the
doctrine that the ordinary things used by man
kind may as well be handsome as ugly. y
picture or cup, or any table utensll, costs no
more if wrought artistically than If made by
the most clumsy workmanship. Of course
there are some extravagances connected with
aesthetic reformation, but these only help TO
attract attention to the general subject OF art
in connection with the decoration of our house
holds. The aesthetics are now critiCising the
dress of man with view to its reform. They
say the " "stovc-pipe" hat is an abomInatIon; !;
that the swallow-tail" H." coat is 4 reminisccnce
of the Darwinian theory of the origin of man !;
that trousers should give way to knickerbOck-
ers, and that the male leg should not disdain
the light of open day. 1t is notable circum-
stance that in outdoor sports, such rs lawn
tennis, foot and baseball playing, bicycling, and
so forth, our young men are adopting the sug-
gestions Of the aesthetic school,
SOMETHING ABOUT PRECIOUS STONES.
Before the Chemical Society of the School of
Mines in Columbia College last week, Prof.
Thomas Egleston, PHI D., delivered Il lecture
on precious stones, in which he described their
origin, characteristics, and limitations The
history of gems, the lecturer declared, was the
good deeds of mankind since the world began.
Many superstitions have been attached to pre-
cious stones. The amethyst was considered a
cure for drunkenness, and was dedicated to
BacChus; jasper was used as charm by ath-
leteS. Although the diamond is made of COM
mon carbon, no successful attempt has been
made to reproduce it. Its composition was dis
covered in 1851, and its weight was determined
by the weight of n bead found in the East
called carat diamond of more than 10
carats is called princely; diamond of more
than 100 carats sovereign. There are not 1000
known diamonds that weigh over 10 carats,
and not 20 that weigh more than 100 The
value of q diamond is determined partly by
color and partly by weight, and in this country
there is an absurd custom of considering no
diamond worth having that is not absolutely
white. Flaws in diamonds are black specks,
carbon that has not crystalized, or bubbles of
that have not been ground of. Black diamonds
are mostly used for tools, but in Russia they are
worn when the Court is in mourning. They
are beautiful gems with brilliant luStre. The
lecturer described some of the famous diamonds
of the world and then characterized the ruby
as the most precious of all the stones when 1T
has the true pigeon blood color A ruby Of five
carats is worth twice as much as diamond of
the same weight. The ancientS held this stone
fo hp oh
wicked thoughts. Sapphircs, to be beautiful,
must be of a uniform deep blue. The lecturer
said he had seen q small stone which was ruby
on one side and sapphire on the other. In an
experience of twenty years he had seen only
five Oriental emeralds and one Oriental anne
thyst. Of the five varieties of cats-eye that he
had come across, only ysoberyl-was
valuable. The deeper the green OF the emer-
aid the better and this stone loses no brilliancy
by artificial light. It's color was supposed TO be
the same element that colOrs the leaves of trees
The opal, considered the unlucky stone, was to
the ancients the only gem that seemed to store
up the light of day. 1t cannot be successfully
initiated. The hard opal is found in Hungary,
the soft in Mexico Five per cent. of water is
a constituent of the latter, and when placed in
water the dull stone resumes its wonted bril-
iancy. GarnctS are found in Bohemia; the
most beautiful are gathered in Nevada. They
have been seen of almost every color of the
rainbow, but green and red are used in jewelry.
The lecturer urged in conclusion that his audi
tors should not lose confidence in human ma
ture by reason of the widespread imitation Of
precious stones which he had described.
AN ENGLIsHMAN ON AMERICAN GIRLS.
A writer in the Manchester England Err
dminer says: "We are told that talking is only
a variety of singing, and in listening to the
talk Of American ladies that doctrine becomes
easily acceptable. At first the pitch sounds
somewhat shrill, though not disagreeably, only
unaccustomcdly so. BY and by you begin to
like it. as presumably we should like any key
note coming from pretty lips. There always
seems a note of interrogation at the end of the
spoken sentences of American ladies, and Il
sort of cosy queru lousncSs, not SO much plaint-
i've as sympathetic a splinter peradventure of
the pity which is said to be dangerously near
to love. Nevertheless, over the rows of lOung
ing chairs on deck there seemed to brood a sort
of cooing sound as of wcl-c0ntented doves
The young American ladies take the talking
rens in their hands very early in life. At
fifteen they ease their mammas considerably in
that respect and singularly enough, with their
1nalamas' consent. The English mammas at
that age, would prefer conversationally sleep
ing daughters.
about this early American talk there is no
gabble. These young women rising sixteen
speak as deliberately ana naturally as MT.
Henry Irving and without the mocking twinkle
of having something in reserve which renders
the talk of that eminent actor not unplcas-
anty irritating. English girls at the same
age talk, as it were, with their hands behind
them, as if to conceal a skippng-rope. The
Yankee girl looks yOu straightly and serenely
in the face-we never ourselves ShFlied the
Ordcal--and scrces off IN easy bobbin of cOnVer-
satiOn. You may act as picccr' if you please,
but generally she does the 'piecing' herself;
you have sat down TO talk to your companion
as a child and before the talk is over an in
teryal of three years in supposed to have
elapsed and you say good afternoon to a self
possessed woman. Should anyone run away
with the idea that all this is unnatural or
pTecocious he should be undcceived. For us
it was one Of the pleasantest pastimes on the
ship and when the sun was shining and the
waves were dancing there could be no more
agreeable accompaniment than the unaccus-
toned chant Of the New England dialect, with
its note of interrogation at the end"
BLOSSOMS OF THE NEEDLE.
Saws the Louisville C0rrier-.JournaI: at is
not many years since the embrOiderer'S stock
in trade was confined to half dozen floral
specimens, when hassocks, pin-cushions and
sofa pillows presented an eternal repetition of
a single pattern, with some slight variations
a pattern in which the moss rose served as
piece de resistance, supplemented with rigid
tulip, "A distorted fuchsia bighted lily of
the valley. Now the vegetable kingdom is the
only limit, so far as floral designs are con-
cerned, and the human species is largely rep
resented in some Of the later ventures. The
II