Harper's Young People, March 2, 1880 Part 10

"Perpetual motion!" cried Tommy. "I've been watching it for the last half hour, and it works bully!" Then grasping "Pop" by the hand, "Come up in the garret and see it."

His father went up, and, sure enough, there was perpetual motion--that is, as long as there was any life left in the dog and that piece of roast beef hung to his tail.

THE SOAPBOXTICON, OR HOME-MADE MAGIC LANTERN.

Would you like to have a magic lantern? Very well: I will tell you how to make it. In the first place you must procure a burning-gla.s.s, such as you can get at any toy store for a few cents; or you may, perhaps, have the gla.s.s out of an old telescope. You also want a soap box (or any other kind of square box), a cigar box, and a piece of white muslin or linen as large as a pocket-handkerchief. Make a hole in the cigar box to fit your magnifying-gla.s.s, and put the gla.s.s into it. Now look at Fig.

1, and see how the cigar box is placed inside the soap box. Stretch the muslin over the opposite side of the soap box (from which, of course, you have removed the bottom), and tack it to the edges of the box. Put a lighted candle in the cigar box as represented in the ill.u.s.tration, and if you hold a drawing or a photograph opposite the gla.s.s in the cigar box, it will be reflected on the muslin stretched over the end of the soap box, and you have a magic lantern.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 1 is the perspective view; Fig. 2 is the back view; Fig. 3 is the side view (or section); Fig. 4 is the front view, showing the picture.]

One thing more. By looking at Fig. 1 you will see that there are two bars and a cross-bar to hold the picture. These can easily be fixed, and will save you the trouble of holding the picture in your hand, and will be more steady. By carefully looking at the different drawings, you will soon see how to make one yourself.

=A Brave Princess.=--In one of the Sandwich Islands, in the South Seas, is a volcanic mountain with a huge lake of ever-burning fire. This was the reputed abode of the G.o.ddess Pele and her fiery companions, the worship of whom was the central superst.i.tion of the islanders. The young Princess Kapiolani was converted to Christianity through the teaching of the missionaries. Grieving for the ignorance and misery of her people, she resolved to visit the burning mountain of Kilauea, and dare the dreaded Pele to do her worst. There a priestess met her, threatened her with the displeasure of the G.o.ddess if she persisted, and prophesied that she and her followers would miserably perish. In defiance of this threat, she and her Christian followers went down to the edge of the burning lake, and, standing erect, she thus spoke: "Jehovah is my G.o.d.

He kindled these fires. I fear not Pele. If I perish by the anger of Pele, then you may fear the power of Pele; but if I trust in Jehovah, and He should save me from the wrath of Pele, then you must fear and serve the Lord Jehovah."

CHARADE.

FIRST.

I am rocked in the arms of the sea, Or tossed on the flowing main; Then fold my white wings in some peaceful bay, And am bound to the earth with a chain.

SECOND.

There's a fruit with its hue of gold From the land of the tropical sun; _I_ make it a cooling draught to hold To the lips of the thirsty one.

WHOLE.

With the tread of many feet, And the changeless roll of the drum, With a deadly volley my foe to greet, Mid the flash of steel, I come.

[Ill.u.s.tration: "WILL IT RING, MAMMA, IF I PULL?"]