When we had attentively examined the eyes of all the cats at our disposal, we concluded that it was past noon, as all the eyes perfectly agreed upon the point.
We have had some hesitation in speaking of this Chinese discovery, as it may, doubtless, tend to injure the interest of the clock-making trade, and interfere with the sale of watches; but all considerations must give way to the spirit of progress. All important discoveries tend in the first instance to injure private interests, and we hope, nevertheless, that watches will continue to be made, because, among the number of persons who may wish to know the hour, there will, most likely, be some who will not give themselves the trouble to run after the cat, or who may fear some danger to their own eyes from too close an examination of hers."
EARLY ENGLISH HELMET.
The above is a correct representation of a helmet of the latter part of the twelfth century, resembling those seen on the great seals of Richard I. The aventaille, or moveable grating for covering the face, has been lost, but the hinges, staples, and other means of fastening it still remain. Its form may be seen on the great seals of Henry III. and Edward I.
ILLUSTRIOUS FARMERS.
Adam was a farmer while yet in Paradise, and after his fall was commanded to earn his bread by the sweat of his brow. Job, the honest, upright, and patient, was a farmer, and his firm endurance has passed into a proverb. Socrates was a farmer, and yet wedded to the glory of his immortal philosophy. Cincinnatus was a farmer, and the noblest Roman of them all. Burns was a farmer, and the Muse found him at his plough, and filled his soul with poetry. Washington was a farmer, and retired from the highest earthly station to enjoy the quiet of rural life, and present to the world a spectacle of human greatness. To these names may be added a host of others, who sought peace and repose in the cultivation of their earth. The enthusiastic Lafayette, the steadfast Pickering, the scholastic Jefferson, the fiery Randolph, all found an El Dorado of consolation from life's cares and troubles, in the green and verdant lawns that surrounded their homestead.
ANCIENT COUTEAU-DE-CHASSE.