fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day." Had you seen his dinner table any day in the year, it would have reminded you of Thanksgiving or Christmas. Brandt was engaged in almost every branch of mercantile business, and he prospered in all of them. For years and years he had a singular run of good luck. On account of good fortune or superior judgment, he was always able to buy cheap and to sell dear. The fish oil which he bought for little more than a song, he traded off for olive oil in some Mediterranean port, always making a good profit. The cod and herring which he bought so cheaply of the Norwegian fishermen, always happened to be in demand in Spain as soon as he had made the purchase. If the market was overstocked with any particular thing, he would buy it up; and then it would be found that there was an active demand for it at some port within easy sailing of his ships, whose sails were never struck by evil winds. He traded in laces, silks and satins, and even sent to distant India to procure diamonds and Cashmere shawls. If he sold these for cash it was for double the amount he gave. If he bartered them he made still more money than before. But an evil day came to the great and prosperous merchant, as it has come to other men who have not stopped trying to make more money when they had enough. As if it were not enough to carry on trade in the four corners of the earth, he rushed into speculation. One fine morning he awoke and found himself a ruined man. Now, what did Brandt, the bankrupt, do? Hadn't he been in the herring business in his prosperous days? And didn't he know, even after the great hauls he had made, that "there were as good fish in the sea as had ever been caught"? Of course he did. And of course he knew it was the general understanding that most of the gold and silver coins that he had dropped into his money bags and strong boxes during his prosperous days had been made out of old horse-shoes, copper bolts, and lead bullets. And so, strong in his faith and purpose, as every man should be who expects to accomplish any thing, he set about preparing to make money again: this time in a new way. There were not a great many books on the subject of changing old pewter spoons into nice, new gold coins, and the few that were in existence were held at a high price. Nevertheless he bought all the volumes that treated of this subject, that his limited means would allow. To increase his stock of knowledge he cultivated the society of certain persons, who were said to be thoroughly acquainted with the principles and practices of alchemy. He fitted up a small room in the basement of his house, and stocked it with such chemicals as the market afforded. When he went down to engage in his new work, the place seemed rather strange to him. He took time to consider what he had better do first. The books reported, and some of his new friends said that it was possible to convert scrap iron into solid gold, but that it was easier to change silver. He concluded, being a new hand at the business, that he would not commence on the most difficult experiment first. When he got into practice he would make bright gold out of rusty iron, as others did; but in his first day's work he would be satisfled with making it from silver. He had an old silver pocket-piece, which he had carried a long time for luck. His uncle, for whom he was named, had given it to him. He purposed, as it was a little worn, to convert it into a gold coin. The stove which warmed the apartment of Brandt, the alchemist, and which served the purpose of a chemical furnace, did not look a bit like the iron stoves we use. It was a large, square, awkward-looking affair, made of Dutch bricks. Brandt, the alchemist, was too intent on his work to keep a correct account of all he did, and I can not, therefore, give the exact details of his experiment. A tradition states that he placed a porcelain dish on this queer-looking stove, into which he dropped his silver pocket-piece. On this he placed some lime, and afterward poured on some queer liquid and oil of vitriol. The contents were soon boiling, and he stirred them with a stick. He soon noticed that the end of the stick turned black as a coal; but this did not alarm him-he was on the look-out for strange things. After stirring the mixture for some time his stick all turned to coal and became part of the contents of the dish. There was no appearance of gold, and he concluded to make a change in his plan of operations. So he scraped the material, which had become quite dry, into an earthen retort, the bulb of which he placed among the coals, letting the end of the neck project into water. After a little while he noticed bubbles of gas coming out of the retort, passing through the water, and then taking fire in the air. Brandt got excited. If he had not made gold out of silver, he had made charcoal out of a stick without burning it, and had caused fire to come from water. Brandt punched the fire. As he did so he noticed that a liquid substance came out of the neck of the retort, and dropped into the water. As it did so it cooled and assumed the size and form of shot. The drops had a yellow look, and it might be that they were gold, though not fine gold. He fished one of them out with a spoon, and laid it on the table. Both color and weight were rather light for gold. He thought he would try his knife on it. He did so, and it burst into flame, filling the room with a white smoke. The long and short of the whole matter was-old Brandt had discovered phosphorus. Brandt didn't know any more than a child what to do with this discovery. After some time, he sold the secret to a man named Kraft, of Dresden. Neither Brandt nor Kraft ever knew to what wonderful purposes the substance would be put. They never dreamed that it would be converted into an acid to be used in raising bread, or that tons of it would be manufactured every year for the purpose of making matches, though only one pound is required to tip half a million of these useful articles. RODNEY WELCH. Notes.- Merchant prince is a name applied to merchants who have acquired great fortunes by trade. It means that their immense wealth gives them both the luxuries and the power belonging to princes. Quartered, as used in the second paragraph, means occupying a room or rooms. Cashmere shawls are made from the hair of the Cashmere goat. This hair is straight, and about eighteen inches long. Shawls of the finest quality are sold at from $500 to $2,000 each. A pocket-piece is a coin, usually of a foreign country, carried in memory of the giver. Elocution.-Make a list of the emphatic words in the last paragraph, and in every case give a reason for the emphasis. Language.-Overstocked is made up of what two words? Is it a compound or a complex word? Remark.-If a word is used as a prefix or suffix in connection with a large number of words, it is customary to call such a word a prefix or suffix, and not part of a compound word. 'Neverthe-less" is a compound, made up of three separate simple words. "Fearless" is a complex word, the suffix less meaning without. 55. THE DEATH OF THE OLD YEAR. brim, upper edge; rim; margin. jěst, fun. quips, smart, sarcastic turns. hêir (âr), one who receives the property after the death of the owner. Full knee-deep lies the winter snow, And the winter winds are wearily sighing: And tread softly and speak low, For the old year lies a-dying. Old year, you must not die; You came to us so readily, Old year, you shall not die. |