101 SHORT ACCOUNT OF VESSELS. 101 the vast arena. Its loneliness and silence voices, at once! When we consider that were only broken by some friars, kneeling torture was inflicted here for enjoyment, before the representations of our Saviour's last suffering pilgrimage, and saying their prayers while they told their beads. What solitude and desertion! What a change since the day when Titus dedicated it by the slaughter of 5000 wild beasts, and the savage combats of gladiators; when Roman galleys rode in its ample arena, in all the counterfeit confusion of a nock naval fight; and when shouts of acclamation rent the air from 100,000 human and murder practised for recreation; that even woman's softer nature feasted on the writhing gladiator's last agonies, shall we not, for the moment, be tempted to regard men as demons? How much should it lead us to rejoice at the progress of a religion in the world which softens man's harsh nature, and drives from the earth, one after another all those savage sports which involve cruelty and death? the time of a storm, on the little sea or lake of Galilee, that "he was in the hinder part or stern of the ship, asleep, on a pillow;" --and of Peter, that "when he was come out of the ship, he walked on the water," &c. Even at the present day, people occasionally call all sorts of vessels, by the general name of ships. But it is not strictly correct, for all ships have three masts.-We cannot, at present, go into a particular description of all sorts of vessels that traverse the "great deep; " but as most of our readers are landsmen, a very brief account of the more common kinds, will, we think, be useful. When you see a vessel on the sea, at a 102 A SLOOP has but one mast, and is not square rigged. A CUTTER is much like a schooner, though there are some slight differences. But you will find the description of a cutter, in the first volume of this Magazine. There are also many other names for smaller vessels; and different countries often have different names for the same thing. Vessels used in war have a greater variety of names than those used merely in com merce. The following are some of them: viz. Ships of the line, frigates, brigs, sloops, corvettes, schooners, transports, feluccas. gunboats, galleys, and revenue cutters. US HAPPY. little distance, the three principal things HOW MANY THINGS IT TAKES TO MAKE which meet your eye, are the hull or body of the ship; the masts, which are long poles that stand upright like the body of a tree; and the rigging, consisting of cloth sails, with yards, ropes, braces, &c. It is the number of inasts, and shape of the rigging, which, in general, give the different names to vessels. A SHIP, as we have already told you, has three masts. It is also square rigged; which means that the sails are so set as to have a square appearance. This is done by having the yards (long poles to which the rigging is fastened) suspended on the masts, exactly crosswise, in such a way that the ends of each yard extend an equal distance from the mast. A BRIG has only two masts; but, like a ship is square rigged. There are several sorts of brigs, among which is the hermaphrodite brig. SCHOONERS, also, have two masts, but they are not square rigged. Their principal Bails have a slanting appearance. I SIT down to breakfast. Suppose it is one of the plainest possible, and set out in the plainest style. There is a loaf of good bread, a pitcher of water, and an empty plate and tumbler. There is also a knife to cut the bread with. These, with the table on which they are spread, and chairs to sit in, constitute the whole. Now it takes all these things to make me comfortable. I could not very well get along at breakfast with a smaller number. But have I ever thought, for one moment, that simple as this arrangement appears, it required the aid of a great many persons and things? The chair that I sit in. Somebody must cut the tree, and cart it from the forest; a sawyer must saw it, a turner must turn the posts; the chair-maker must put it together; and the painter must paint it. The table. The wood-cutter, again, must cut the tree; the sawyer must saw it into boards; the cabinet-maker must form them 03 HOW MANY THINGS &e. 103 into a table, and the painter must paint and winnowed, put up, and carried to the miller. varnish it. There is more to be said about the chair and table both. The workmen must have tools to cut the tree, saw it, and plane and joint the table: the turner must have lathes and tools; and the painter must have paints and brush. If nails are used, in putting the table together, there must be iron ore; it must be melted; and then there must be fire, and smith's shops, and a bellows, and instruments. But we might go back a great way farther, had we time. The plate. There must be clay, and heat, and workmen; and these workmen must have instruments. The clay must be transported to the pottery; and the plates, when completed, must be transported, to be sold. And before I use it, some person must be employed to see that it is clean. The pitcher. The same may be said of this vessel, which was said of the plate. The half pint tumbler. Sand, potash, great heat, many buildings and workmen, with many instruments; all these are necessary before I can have the pleasure and comfort of drinking out of a tumbler. The water. This, though cheap and abundant, required labor. It was drawn from a well. But wells cannot be dug, and walled, and covered, without workmen, and tools, and labor. The bucket requires the labor of a cooper, if not of a blacksmith. The loaf of bread. This loaf was made of wheat, ground. But it required yeast to raise it, and an oven and heat to bake it. Before wheat can be ground, however, it must be raised. This requires several persons and things. The land must be tilled and prepared with plough or spade, harrow, &c. It must be sown. cut and attended. It The grain must be must be threshed, The knife. I might get along without the knife, for I could possibly break the bread. So I might have dispensed with the plate, and the tumbler. But these things certainly contribute to make me comfortable. Now if they do, and if I must have a knife among the rest, it takes a great number of people and things to furnish it. First, the blade must be made. The iron ore must be dug, transported to the forges, melted, formed into steel, shaped properly, and ground. Secondly, it must have a handle. If made of horn, where is the animal, to furnish it? If made of bone, it requires animals, too, to furnish it; for bones are found only in animals-living or dead ones. But the bone must be wrought into a proper shape, and the blade fastened into it. So, then, you see that plain and simple as my breakfast is, and without breakfast, I should not be very comfortable - - a great many persons and things are employed in furnishing it for me. Who would have thought it required so many? But I have not done yet. If it were a cold winter's morning, I should not be very comfortable to eat my breakfast out of doors, and without fire. Here I have a shelter;-a good room, in a good house ;—and the room well warmed. How many persons must have been employed to prepare all the materials that go to make a building, and put it together, and make and furnish a fire-place! If I get three new ideas every weekday, and six on each Sunday, through a long life of 80 years, how many ideas shall I have in the end? THE CLOWN AND THE SUN-DIAL. A FABLE. A LAZY elown going to a sun-dial, to see of the moment of time had arrived when he might be idle and regale himself, when he found the hour had not yet come, was very fretful. "Suppress your foolish impatience," said the sun-dial, "and remember, that this very moment, pointed out by my shadow, and which you look at with so much scorn and fretfulness, is, to many, the last moment of their lives." that many spend their time as if they thought it was of no value, or would never end, never thinking that each moment may be their last. The daily instances of mortality before our eyes are sufficient to show us the importance of having the affairs both of this world and the next, so prepared that we may be able to quit life with proper resignation to the will of God, at any moment. He who lives well, can hardly fail MORAL. This is plain; but we may add to die well. Northcoté. Soap-wort-Its description-Uses-How prepared. THERE are plants in the world, whose Juices may be used, like soap, for the purposes of cleansing. Several sorts of them are found growing in Arabia, others in Syria, Asia Minor, Spain, and the southern part of Italy. They have various names; but are all of the same nature. One, called the Radicula, was formerly much used for cleansing wool;-so Pliny, the historian says. But the most remarkable of all this sort of plants, is the SOAP-WORT. It grows in Switzerland, and the north of Europe. It rises to the height of three feet, and is about as large as a goose-quill. The leaves are lance-shaped, and are attached to the stalk in pairs, nearly opposite each other. From the little hollow, or axillae, which is formed by the union of the leaf with the stalk, come out flowers of a lilac color, grouped together, but growing on separate footstalks. In the Helvetian Alps, sheep, before shearing, are washed with soapsuds made from this plant. The soapsuds is made by boiling both the plant and its root, for some time, in water. If ashes are added to the liquor, it will clean linen, Even without boiling, if the plant is steeped in water, for several days, it imparts its soapy properties. Some have recommended the following mixture, for cleansing. They say it saves soap very greatly. Take about twenty horse chestnuts, and rasp them in five or six gallons of water, then add a very little com |