C. Y. P. R. U.
Lucy wants to know something about the agate. She has a very pretty one set as a breastpin, and her brother prizes agates as among the most valuable things which he collects and exchanges. They have an interesting history.
Agates are composed of layers of quartz, generally of different varieties, intimately joined together, and are found of all colors, sometimes exceedingly vivid. In modern mineralogy this stone is an impure variety of chalcedony, which derives its name from Chalcedon, that once famous city of Bithynia, in Asia Minor. The rocks near this place, which is not far from the present Scutari, contain this stone in considerable quantities. Chalcedony consists of silica and alumina, and comprises besides agate, heliotrope, onyx, plasma, and sard, differently colored by metallic oxides. It is found in grape-like masses, but more frequently in rolled pebbles. The finest Oriental chalcedony presents in its interior a fine mottled appearance.
The first engraved gem that Pliny mentions is an agate that belonged to Pyrrhus, King of Epirus. This was in the first half of the third century before Christ. The same monarch is said to have had in his possession an agate on which were figured the nine Muses, and Apollo holding a lyre; the work not of an engraver, but of Nature herself! The veins in the stone were said to be arranged so naturally that each of the Muses had her particular attribute.
At a late period, and even in the Middle Ages, it was a popular belief that the engraved gems found in digging the ground of ancient sites were natural objects, and that the representations on them were a mere natural indication of the special power or quality each possessed.
Busts and heads in full and bass relief were executed by the Romans on chalcedony in the grandest style; the finest specimens of these that we possess are the Marlborough "Medusa," and the bust of "Matidia," supported on a peacock, and three inches high. The chalcedony was supposed to cure lunatics, and make them "amiable and merry."
The agate was an object of the most fanciful delusions to the ancients. Orpheus says, "If thou wearest a piece of the tree-agate on thy hand, the immortal gods shall be pleased with thee; if the same be tied to the horns of thy oxen when ploughing, or round the ploughman's sturdy arm, wheat-crowned Ceres shall descend from heaven with full lap upon thy furrows." He adds that every kind is an antidote to the asp's bite, if taken in wine.
By burning the agate it was believed that storms would be averted, the proof of their efficacy being that if thrown into a caldron of boiling water they immediately cooled it; but in order to do good, they must be strung on the hair of a lion's mane. The stone, colored like a hyena's skin, was believed to be the cause of domestic strife, and was viewed with horror.
What do you think of the wardrobe of Queen Elizabeth, girls? It must have been about the most varied and extensive ever recorded in royal annals, to judge from a list of her wearing apparel recently gathered from the State papers. When the Maiden Queen was sixty-eight, and might therefore have been supposed to have outlived some of her youthful vanity, she possessed 99 complete official costumes, 102 French gowns, 100 robes with trains and 67 without, 126 antique dresses, 136 bodices, and 125 tunics, not to mention such trifles as 96 mantles, 85 dressing-gowns, and 27 fans. With all these dresses, however, it is curious to note that Queen Bess owned only nine pairs of shoes. When she died, in 1603, three thousand articles of apparel were found in her wardrobes, duly catalogued.
"A Germantown Girl."—Thanks for your cordial indorsement of the article on cigarette smoking in No. 117. We hope you will ask the boys of your acquaintance to read it, and we are sure that you and your girl friends will do much to put an end to the bad habit in your set if your young gentlemen friends know that you disapprove of it.
Among the thousands of young people who read this paper there must be some who suffer from timidity or bashfulness. The Postmistress wishes all such to read the following quotation from an address made to children at a recent service in Westminster Abbey by Dr. Bradley, the successor of Dean Stanley, of whom you all have heard:
"Dean Stanley was, as I said, a man whom not only children, but all persons, rejoiced to meet, because, as an American whose name is known all over Europe said, at a great meeting held close by the other day, 'he was so pleasant'; simple words, but very true. Yet, strange to say, he was in his childhood and boyhood so shy and timid that his mother and his father—who, besides being a very good man, could tell stories all day about birds and insects and country life, and could draw children after him as a magnet draws the needle—were alarmed about him. They could not teach him to enjoy games like other children; and though he was not unhappy at school, they were much distressed because they could not get him to speak a word or seem happy in company. He seemed not to like—some of you, perhaps, know the feeling—to notice anything, or to be noticed when others were by him that he did not know quite well. He cured himself of this so completely that if it were not for the many letters describing him as he was then, no one would now believe this about him. How did he do so? By always trying to instruct himself about other things, and to interest himself about other people.
"It was not merely because he was so clever, and wrote such good poetry, that boys christened the corner where his little study was 'Poet's Corner,' that the Rugby boys were so fond of him, but because he was so affectionate, pure-minded, warm-hearted, and kind; and years afterward we young men, as we were at Oxford, learned to love him as our tutor, not because he was becoming famous in the land, but because he cared so much about us, and was always ready with a kind word and act, and we thought him so good. If any of the children to whom I am speaking suffer very much now, as boys and girls often do, in a way their elders never know of, from this same shyness and timidity, let them learn from the story of Dean Stanley the best way to cure themselves, and be of good cheer."
The members of the C. Y. P. R. U. will find in this number an interesting article, by Mrs. John Lillie, entitled "The Gavotte," giving a description of this picturesque old dance, together with a sketch of the boy life of the famous musician John Sebastian Bach. Our boy readers will be interested in the description of "Mr. Barnum's Show in Winter-Quarters," some of them may be inclined to try the Indian game of "Tchungkee," and others may like to busy themselves in the construction of "A Novel Chair-Sleigh." The girls will be interested in the story of "The Milkmaids of Dort."
PUZZLES FROM YOUNG CONTRIBUTORS.
No. 1.
DIAMOND.
1. A letter. 2. To descry. 3. A vulgar woman. 4. One of the United States. 5. A place where watches are manufactured. 6. A loud noise. 7. A letter.
Bob.