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WEAR AND TEAR OF STEAMSHIPS. It was stated by the Surveyor of the Navy in a report to the committee appointed by the treasury to inquire into the navy estimates, that at the end of fifteen years on an average the hull of each ship in the navy requires a complete and extensive repair. And, further, that the duration of a sbip of war cannot be estimated at more than thirty years. The surveyor took for his guidance the average of the ten years from 1849 to 1859, when thirty-five ships of the line and forty-six frigates were removed from the effective list of the navy. We much fear that our “converted "ships, nor indeed any of our finest specimens of naval architecture, will stand the wear and tear for the periods assigned to them by the naval surveyor; and it is supposed, when he made the above statements, he alluded to the duration of sailing sbips only; for we have had a few warnings lately as to the fate of our Victorias, Duncans, Howes, and Diadems, by the introduction of steam into ships of war. We have found instead of requiring a complete repair once in fifteen years, that as many months are sometimes suffcient to send a ship into dock. Shipwrights know the plank where to "prick" for rotten wood in a steamship. With unerring precision they try her just in the " wake of the boilers,” where alternations of heat and cold are the greatest, and which are sufficient to destroy the seasoned timber. It is in these places that steamships require repairs oftenest. There is, however, another destructive power that disables a steamship of war in a very marked manner, and that is the "sbake of the screw.”
Long.continued screw propulsion at full speed soon tells a tale. We have had indications in the Princess Royal, 91, now under repair at Portsmouth, of the destructive effects of the vibratory motion of the screw. She has been almost rebuilt abast, after having passed through one commission only. It is said also in confirmation of this, that the whole of the channel fleet is leaky, and that the Royal Albert, the flag-ship, will require a thorough caulking. When we remember how recently this ship was built and commissioned, these reports are by po means satisfactory. Judging, therefore, from the experience to be derived from the few years the screw has been in the navy, we must expect to find defects in the “ deal wood” of all our ships, which is subject to the cross-strain it receives in passing through a body of water in a state of perturbation. Of course other naval powers will have the same destructive elements to contend with as ourselves. Indeed we are happy to know that the vibration in some French lineof-battle greatly exceed that of our best ships. The emperor, however, aims at speed; he knows its importance as well as we do. But to obtain this very desirable quality in screw ships of war he must be prepared to do as we do, and that is, to anticipate a very serious increase in his navy estimates, under the bead of repairs."
LABOR, THE CONDITION OF SUCCESS, In the days of the alchemists, says the Boot and Shoe Reporter, the world believed that the baser metals could be transmuted into gold; and many a man spent his life in vainly searching for the philosopher's stone. But this doctrine is numbered with the chimeras of the past, and an intelligent man would now resent the imputation of such a belief. Still, among our dealers, our manufacturers, and our workmen, there are those who belong to the race of the alche.
mists. “ The royal road to wealth " is the desire of numbers. In their view, the days of their fathers were the golden age, the era of easy work and large profits. Such men are always complaining of hard times, while their presence is sufficient to make hard times for any trade.
There is not-there never has been a time when light exertions, and limited experience and skill could, except by mere accident, command a fortune. Labor omnia vincit, “ Labor conquers all things," has ever been a true maxim. Its converse is equally true ; nothing but labor conquers all things. There has always been a competition, always a race to run. The timid and faint-hearted have never won the palm. It requires more than the magic of alchemy to show that all can possess
“ what each desires to gain.” But labor must be attended with common sense. A man may throw earth into a quicksand, and expect to rear a solid foundation. The tower of Babel was a work of labor, but it ended in a confusion of tongues. Both in the shoe and leather manufacture many believe in the labor maxim, and exemplify their belief by crowding into an overstocked market vast quantities of poor goods. Labor, to be successful, must be intelligent, well-directed labor.
But it may be asked what shall be done in times of depression ? The answer is ready. Put more labor into the same quantity of material. We might be tempted to go further, and remind the questioner that it is a disregard of the true labor principle that has produced the times of depression. It is the desire of rushing into the market the greatest quantity of production with the least amount of labor, that causes all the difficulty. The makers of good shoes and the makers of good leather seldom or never have occasion to be idle. They are the men who seldom or never fail.
There are those who believe that by remaining idle, say one-fourth part of the time, they can make their labor, during the remaining three-fourths, worth more than it otherwise would be for the whole time. The shoe journeymen have acted on this principle, and devoted several weeks to making speeches on the value of labor. The theory is absurd. The wise monarch never uttered a truer sentiment than when he said —"In all labor there is profit, but the talk of the lips tendeth only to penury.” The same remark is applicable to shoe manufacturers and tanners. Mere complaints can do no good. Attempts to seek the cause of difficulty outside of themselves, and to cast blame on others, will accomplish nothing. It is well for them to throw as much light as possible on the working of the trade, and to receive from others similar assistance; but all this should have a direct tendency to make their labor more intelligent and better directed. If a manufacturer is forced to suspend a part of his exertions for a time, he certainly can use those means which will increase liis skill, and consequently make his time more valuable when he is able to resume. A good workman seldom fails to find employers, and at the highest wages. A good manufacturer seldom fails to find purchasers, and at the highest prices.
There are times in the history of every trade when the question may arise for intelligent labor to consider whether, to be successful, it may not be necessary to extend the market, or for a portion to seek employment in a different field. This question has already confronted the journeymen, and whether the mani. facturers of shoes and leather hive yet to meet it, may receive our further attention.
EARLY HOURS. Much of the best preaching in the world, and a good deal of the worst practice, has reference to habits of early rising. All the moralists agree in urging the advantages of being up betimes. A. Bronson Alcott, the finest transcen. dental philosopher of the times, grows eloquent upon the spiritual benefits derived from “ breakfasting upon the morning dew." Franklin, chief of those philosophers who are “ of the earth, earthy,” gives currency to the maxim, that,
• Early to bed and early to rise
Makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.” Most of those who recommend early rising forget to urge early retiring as of equal importance. But it happens to be true that the former without the latter is injurious rather than beneficial. There is no wisdom nor merit iu cutting short one's nightly allowance of sleep for the mere purpose of being up at a certain bour in the morning. This is folly. Indeed, the moralists who deal with this subject, would do better to drop the advice about early rising, and lay all the force of their injunctions upon the importance of retiring early. For those who are “ early to bed” are pretty sure, as a matter of course, to be “ early to rise.” Late hours in the morning is generally confined to those classes whose business or pleasure keeps them up “ late o' night.” Hence literary people, who affect to regard the night as the noonday of the mind, are apt to keep late hours and defend the same. Charles LAMB considered the saying that " we should lie down with the lamb” to be as truly a popular fallacy as that “ we should rise with the lark.” Tom Food, the iuveterate punster, satirized early rising in ten verses of of " Morning Meditations," in his best style :
" Let Taylor preach upon a morning breezy,
How well to rise wbile vight and larks are flying,
By half as lying.
Till something nearer to the stroke of noon ;
Must be a spoon.
RULES FOR THE ECONOMICAL.
The price is, of course, a little higher ; but good articles spend best. It is a sacritice of money to buy poor cheese, lard, etc., to say nothing of the injurious effect upon
Of the West India sugar and molasses the Santa Cruz and Porto Rico are considered the best. The Havana is seldom clean. White sugar from Brazil is
sometimes very good.
Refined sugar usually contains most of the saccharine substance ; there is
more economy in using loaf, crushed, and granulated sugars, than we
Butter that is made in September and October is the best for winter use. Lard should be hard and white; and that which is taken from a hog not over a
year old is best.
Rich cheese feels softer under the pressure of the finger. That which is very strong is neither very good nor healthy. To keep one that is cut, tie it up in a bag that will not admit flies, and hang it in a cool, dry place. If mould appears on it wipe it off with a dry cloth.
Flour and meal of all kinds should be kept in a cool, dry place.
The best rice is large, and has a clear, fresh look. Old rice sometimes has little black insects inside the kernels.
The small white sago, called the pearl sago, is the best. The large brown kind has an earthy taste. This article, and tapioca, ground rice, etc., should be kept covered.
To select nutmegs, pick them with a pin. If they are good, the oil will instantly spread around the puncture.
Keep coffee by itself, as the odor affects other articles. Keep tea in a close chest or canister.
Oranges and lemons keep best wrapped close in soft paper, and laid in a drawer of linen.
The cracked cocoa is best ; but that which is put up in pound papers is often very good.
Soft soap should be kept in a dry place in the cellar, and not be used until three months old.
To thaw frozen potatoes, put them in hot water. To thaw frozen apples, pat them in cold water. Neither will keep after being frozen.
EMPLOYMENTS FOR LADIES. Nothing marks the civilization of any city or country so much as the employments of females. In large sections of Europe the eye of the traveler will, as he scans the fields in the spring, see women harnessed to the plow, and drawing in connection with the beasts of burden. As civilization advances among the masses, all this of necessity is cut short, because there are so many more duties in which she can work with so much greater efficiency and profit, so that po family can afford for women to be thus employed. The old-fashioned ideas of nobility have acted upon society in no way so injuriously as this, namely: To render the serious employment of woman in works of utility unfashionable. This idea has filled the Turkish harems with expensive dolls dressed in Oriental magnificence, and yet pining in idle misery. In this country there is a wider range of employment for woman than any other, unless it be France. Certain it is, that here the amount of money paid for work performed by females is far greater. There is, however, still a constant increase in the variety of female employments, and new ways are being constantly struck out by which they can utilize their powers.
It is no longer needle-work alone that occupies thein, or the sale of certain articles, such as millinery, etc. Book-keeping is performed by them with the most perfect accuracy and success. The setting of types and reading of proofs seem exactly to suit her quick eyes and nimble fingers. Large and important branches of medical attendance are rapidly into her bands, and for teaching she has always been more fitted than man; from our a, b, c to algebra and mathematics on the one hand, or music and painting on the otter, the largest and best share of the teaching of her own ses and of the childbood of the other, seem naturally to devolve upon her.
The age is constantly producing changes in this respect. The improvements of the machines and ioventions for saving all kinds of domestic labor, renders her work lighter in some directions—those requiring less skill and more force. This makes necessary new employments of a higher character every year. Sewing machines must, by degrees, render the needle less and less productive, but the increased remuneration given to those who learn well to manage the new machines more than compensates for this, to the enterprising and industrious. Still new employments are needed, and methods of safeguard from insult and fraud in the old walks of female industry.
COMMERCE AND THE PEERAGE. The great bulk of the Evglish peerage is comparatively modern, so far as the titles go; but it is not the less noble that it has been recruited to so large an extent from the ranks of honorable industry. In olden times, the wealth and commerce of London, conducted, as it was, by energetic and enterprising men, was a prolific source of peerages. Thus, the earldom of Cornwallis was founded by Thomas Cornwallis, the Cheapside merchant; that of Essex by William Capel, the draper; and that of Craven by William Craves, the merchant tailor. The modern Earl of Warwick is not descended from “ the kingmaker," but from William Greville, the woolstapler ; while the modern dukes of Northumberland find their head, not in the Percies, but in Hugu Smithson, a respectable London apothecary.
The founders of the families of Dartmouth, Radnor, Ducie, and Pomfret, were respectively a skinner, a silk manufacturer, a merchant tailor, and a Calais merchant; while the founders of the peerages of TANKERVILLE, Dormer, and COVENTRY, were mercers.
The ancesters of Earl ROMNEY and lords DUDLEY and Ward, were goldsmiths and jewelers, and Lord Dacres was a banker in the reign of Charles I., as Lord Overstone is in that of Queen Victoria. EdWARD OSBORNE, the founder of the Dukedom of Leeds, was apprentice to WilLIAM HEWETT, a rich clothworker on London Bridge, whose only daughter he courageously rescued from drowning, by leaping into the Thames after her, and eventually married. Among other peerages founded by trade, are those of FirzWILLIAN, LEIGH, Petre, Cowper, Darnley, Hill, and CarringTON.
LIVING WITHIN MEANS. There is now a dreadful ambition abroad for being " genteel.” We keep up appearances too often at the expense of honesty; and though we may not be rich, yet we must seem to be a respectable," though only in the meanest sense-in mere vulgar outside show. We have not the courage to go patiently onward in the condition of lite in which it has pleased God to call us, but we must needs live in some fashionable state to which we ridiculously please to call ourselves, and all to gratify the vanity of that unsubstantial world of which we form a part. There is a constant pressure and struggle for front seats in the social amphitheater, in the midst of which all poble avd self-sacrificing resolve is trodden down, and many fine patures are involuntarily crushed to death. What waste, with the glare of apparent worldly success, we need not describe. The mischievous results show themselves in a thousand ways--in the rank fraud committed by men who dare to be dishopest, but do not dare to be seen poor; and in the desperate dashes at fortune, in which the pity is not so much for those who fuil as for the hundreds of innocent families who are so often involved in their ruin.