Experiments Requiring Chemical Solutions.

To prepare these solutions, purchase of a druggist a small quantity of the solid crystals of the substance needed for the experiment you wish to try. Dissolve the crystals in clear pure water, and keep the solution in a little bottle, labeled with the name. It is seldom that the solutions need be strong. When the crystal is a colored one, enough should be used to give the water a light tint, blue, yellow, or what it may be. None of these solutions will do any harm to the hands, unless there is a cut or a wound of any kind upon the skin. It is well also, not to let a drop of any of them fall upon the clothes, or upon furniture, for some of them will stain. And none of them should ever be tasted, or touched by the lips or tongue, many of them being acrid and even poisonous.

With the acids still greater care is needed, the stronger acids being corrosive and poisonous. The greater portion of these substances must likewise not be smelled, as the fumes or vapors would affect the nostrils painfully.

For the proper performance of these experiments with solutions, etc.,—at all events for the neatest and most elegant performance of them,—there should be obtained from the chemist's shop about a dozen test-tubes. These are little glass vessels, manufactured on purpose, and very cheap. Do not take glasses that may afterward be used for drinking or household purposes. Be careful to have every one of your experiment glasses perfectly clean.

To produce a Beautiful Violet-Purple Color.

Take a nearly colorless solution of any salt of copper. The sulphate is the cheapest and handiest. Fill the test-tube or other experimenting-glass about two-thirds full. Then drop in, slowly, a little liquid ammonia. It will cause a beautiful blue to appear, and presently a most lovely violet-purple, which, by stirring with a glass rod, extends all through the fluid.

If now you drop into this a very little nitric acid, the fluid will again become as clear as pure water.

To Make a Splendid Scarlet.

Again take some solution of sulphate of copper. Add to it a little solution of bichromate of potash. Then add a little solution of nitrate of silver, and there is produced a splendid scarlet color.

To Make a Deep Blue.

Now, take a nearly colorless solution of sulphate of iron, and drop into it, slowly, a small quantity of solution of yellow prussiate of potash. This will induce a beautiful deep blue, quite different from the blues that are produced from copper salts.

To Make a Yellow Color.

Take a solution of acetate of lead, and add a few drops of solution of iodide of potassium, and a most lovely canary-yellow color is produced.

Invisible Inks.

Nearly all those experiments which result in the production of color may be performed in another way, and be then applied to the purposes of secret writing. Thus:

Write with dilute solution of sulphate of copper. The writing will be quite invisible, but become blue when held over the vapor of liquid ammonia.

Write with the same solution, and wash the paper with solution of yellow prussiate of potash, and the writing, previously invisible, will become brown. If you choose you may reverse this method, writing with solution of the prussiate of potash, and washing the paper with solution of the copper salt.

Write with solution of sulphate of iron, and the writing will again be invisible. Wash it over with tincture of galls, and it becomes black.

Write with sulphate of iron, and use a wash of yellow prussiate of potash, and the writing will come out blue. This experiment may likewise be reversed, and with similar result.

How to Copper a Knife-Blade.

Make a rather strong solution of sulphate of copper. Let a clean and polished piece of steel or iron, such as the blade of a knife, stand in it for a few minutes, and the iron will become covered or encrusted with a deposit of pure copper.

To Make Beautiful Crystals.

Dissolve, in different vessels, half an ounce each of the sulphates of iron, zinc, copper, soda, alumina, magnesia, and potash. The solutions can be made more rapidly by using warm water. When the salts are all completely dissolved, pour the whole seven solutions into a large dish, stir the mixture with a glass rod, then place it in a warm place, where it will not be disturbed. By degrees, the water will evaporate, and then the salts will re-crystallize, each kind preserving its own proper form and color. Some occur in groups, some as single crystals. If carefully protected from dust, these form extremely pretty ornaments for the parlor.

Alum Baskets.

These may be prepared by dissolving alum in water in such quantity that at last the water can take up no more, and the undissolved alum lies at the bottom of the vessel. The solution thus obtained is called a saturated one. Then procure a common ornamental wire basket, and suspend it in the solution, so as to be well covered in every part. There should be twice as much solution as will cover the basket. The wires of the basket should be wound with worsted, so that the surface may be rough. Leave it undisturbed in the solution, and gradually the crystals will form all over the surface. Before putting in the basket, it is best to further strengthen the solution by boiling it down to one half, after which it should be strained.

The Lead-Tree.

Dissolve half an ounce of acetate of lead in six ounces of water. The solution will be turbid, so clarify it with a few drops of acetic acid. Now put the solution into a clean phial, nearly filling the phial. Suspend in the solution, by means of a thread attached to the cork, a piece of clean zinc wire. By degrees, the wire will become covered with beautiful metallic spangles, like the foliage of a tree.

[UN ALPHABET FRANCAIS.]

Par Laura Caxton.


A	—annette a un très joli petit agneau.	B	—baptiste a une paire de grandes bottes.


C	—cécile est charmée de faire rouler son cerceau.	D	—denis pleure parcequ'il a mal aux dents.


E	—édouard va gaiement à l'école, avec ses livres.	F	—fanchon fait une cravate pour son frère.


G	—gabrielle a été grondée par son grand-père.	H	—henri va patiner sur la glace pendant l'hiver.


I	—isabelle est une pauvre petite invalide.	J	—jacques s'amuse toute la journée avec ses joujoux.


K	—k est la lettre que jean tient sous la main.	L	—louise donne des légumes a ses petits lapins.


M	—marie a des marguerites pour sa chère maman.	N	—narcisse a trouvé des oiseaux dans un nid.


O	—olivier, avec son parapluie, n'a pas peur de l'orage.	P	—pauline a beaucoup de plaisir avec sa petite poupée.


Q	—quentin aime à jouer aux quilles de bois.	R	—roland remplit un pot pour y planter son rosier.


S	—susette a un morceau de sucre pour son serin.	T	—thérese est triste parceque son tablier est sale.


U	—urbain a le drapeau des états-unis.	V	—virginie arrose ses violettes chaque matin et chaque soir.


W	—winifred est américaine, elle n'est pas une petite française.	X	—xénophon est le général renommé à qui paul croit ressembler.


Y	—y a-t-il une autre petite fille de si jolis yeux?	Z	—zénobie sait compter d'un jusqu'à zéro.

[A FAIR EXCHANGE.]

By Mrs. M. F. Butts.

"Oh, Willow, where did you get your fringe,

In New York or in Paris?

Tell me, and I will get some too,

Because I am an heiress;

And I buy me everything I want;

I have a ring and a feather;

I promenade in my white kid boots

Each day in pleasant weather."

"Oh, little one, where did you get the pink,

In your pretty, round cheek glowing?

And where did you get the yellow curls,

Over your shoulders flowing?

Perhaps you can tell me how they are made;

If you think so, darling, try it;

And when you succeed, I'll tell you about

My fringe, and where to buy it."

[HOW TEDDY CUT THE PIE.]

(A Geometrical Jingle.)

By Rossiter Johnson.

Teddy, Jimmy, Frank, and I

Fished all day for smallest fry,

And as evening shades drew nigh,

Stopped to see if we could buy,

At a road-side groce-ry,

Anything they called a pie.

There was one, and only one,

Deeply filled and brownly done,

Warm from standing in the sun,

Flanked on each side by a bun,

Since that summer day begun.

From the window it was brought,

With our pennies it was bought;

Then a knife was quickly sought—

Who would cut it as he ought?

"Leave it all," says Ted, "to me,"

As the knife he flourished free;

"I have cut a great ma-ny."

"But," says Frank, who feared our fate,

"Will you cut it fair and straight?"

"Straight?" says Ted. "I'll tell you what—

Straighter than a rifle-shot:

Straighter than the eagle's flight.

Straight as any ray of light."

"I will mark the place," says Jim—

Great exactness was his whim—

And he measured, on the rim,

Starting-points, as guides for him.

Ted put in the knife with glee;

First he cut from a to b!

Then he cut from c to d!!

Then he took the piece marked e!!!

Every cut was straight, he said,—

He would bet his curly head.

Such a perfect, born-and-bred

Geometric rogue was Ted.

["CHAIRS TO MEND!"]

By Alexander Wainwright.

The art of doing small things well has a good illustration in the humble chair-mender of the London streets, who is also one of the most interesting of out-door tradesmen.

He carries all his implements and materials with him. A very much worn chair is thrown over one arm as an advertisement of his occupation, and it is needed, for his cry, "Cha–ir–s to men–n–nd," is uttered in a melancholy and indistinct, though penetrating, tone. Under the other arm he usually has a bundle of cane, split into narrow ribbons.

His look is that of forlorn respectability; his hat is greasy, and mapped with so many veins, caused by crushings, that it might have been used as a chair or, at least, a foot-stool; around his neck he wears a heavy cloth kerchief, and his long coat of by-gone fashion reaches nearly to the ankles, which are covered by shabby gaiters. He walks along at a very gentle pace and scans the windows of the houses for some sign that his services are wanted.

"CHAIRS TO MEND!"

Perhaps business is dull, but in the neighborhoods where there are plenty of children he is pretty sure to find some work. Cane-seated chairs are durable, but they will not stand the rough usage of those little boys and girls who treat them as step-ladders and stamp upon them. It often happens that a neat English house-maid appears at the area railings with a chair that has a big, ragged hole in the seat, through which Master Tommy has fallen, with his boots on, in an effort to reach the gooseberry jam on the pantry shelf.

Master Tommy probably looks on while the repairs are being made, and is much interested by the dexterity with which the mender does his work. The old and broken canes are cut away, and the new strips are woven into a firm fabric, with little eight-sided openings left in it. The overlapping ends of the ribbons are trimmed with a sharp knife, and the chair-seat is as good as new.

It seems so easy that Tommy thinks he could have done it himself; but when he experiments with a slip of cane that the mender gives him, he finds that chair-mending is really a trade that must be learned.

Some chair-menders are blind men, and it is still more interesting to watch them at their work. The plaiting of the canes is done as unerringly by their unseeing fingers as by the men who can see, and with wonderful quickness. Occasionally the business is combined with that of basket-making, and should we follow poor old "Chairs-to-mend" home, we might discover his family busy weaving reeds and willowy branches with the same cleverness the father shows in handling the canes.

[TWO KITTIES.]

By Joy Allison.

Two little kitties

Wandered away

Into the prairie

One summer day.

One on two feet,

Rosy and fair,

Almost a baby,—

"Golden Hair."

Four feet,—useless,

Eyes fast closed,

Borne in a basket

The other dozed.

Searching in terror

Far and wide,

"Golden Hair's" mother

Moaned and cried.

Mother Puss calmly

Following slow,

Listening,—calling

Meoh!—Meoh!—

Mother Puss found them,

A little heap,

Down in the deep grass

Fast asleep.

["HARE AND HOUNDS."]

"What shall we do?" the children said,

By the spirit of frolic and mischief led,

Frank and Lulu and Carrie, three

As full of nonsense as they could be;

Who never were known any fun to stop

Until they were just about ready to drop.

Frank, whose "knowledge-box" surely abounds

With games, spoke up for "Hare and Hounds."

"Down the cellar, or up the stair,

Here and there, and everywhere,

You must follow, for I'm the Hare!"

Lulu and Carrie gave quick consent,

And at cutting their papers and capers went,

For the stairs were steep, and they must not fail

To have enough for a good long trail.

Away went the Hare

Right up the stair,

And away went the Hounds, a laughing pair;

And Tony, who sat

Near Kitty, the cat,

And was really a dog worth looking at,

With a queer grimace

Soon joined the race,

And followed the game at a lively pace!

Then Puss, who knew

A thing or two,

Prepared to follow the noisy crew,

And never before or since, I ween,

Was ever beheld such a hunting scene!

The Hare was swift; and the papers went

This way and that, to confuse the scent;

But Tony, keeping his nose in air,

In a very few moments betrayed the Hare,

Which the children told him was hardly fair.

I cannot tell you how long they played,

Of the fun they had, or the noise they made;

For the best of things in this world, I think,

Can ne'er be written with pen and ink.

But Bridget, who went on her daily rounds,

Picking up after the "Hare and Hounds,"

Said she didn't mind hearing their lively capers,

But her back was broke with the scraps o' papers.

Carrie, next day, couldn't raise her head;

Frank and Lulu were sick in bed;

The dog and cat were a used-up pair,

And all of them needed the doctor's care.

The children themselves can hardly fail

To tack a moral upon this trail;

And I guess on rather more level grounds

They'll play their next game of "Hare and Hounds."

[JACK-IN-THE-PULPIT.]

So, here's October come again. Another pleasant year gone by, another lot of sermons done, and nobody the worse! Dear, dear, how time does fly in cheerful company, to be sure!

Well, my dears, keep a bright lookout for the new volume, and, meantime, don't open your eyes too wide while I bring to your notice