which conveyed the ore by an inclined-plane railway to furnaces at the base. In European mines the clothing of workmen is carefully examined at night, to see that they do not carry But here, a few hundred blocks as large as a dwelling-house would not be missed. The labourers were French, German, and Irish. away ore. Five miles further north is the Iron Mountain-a slight elevation over which the railway to St. Louis passes. Busy labourers were blasting out and breaking the ore within a few yards of the track. In 1833 this mountain was "entered" in the land-office at one dollar and a quarter an acre. Three years later the entire tract sold for six hundred dollars. Its present value is incalculable; for it is the largest and richest mass of iron yet found upon the globe. Its base covers five hundred acres. The ore, which contains seventyone per cent. of pure iron, has been penetrated nearly four hundred feet below the surface, with no sign of exhaustion even at that depth. In reducing, crude blocks one or two feet in diameter are placed upon a foundation of logs, in alternate layers of charcoal and ore, until they form a huge pile. For a month they are exposed to a fire as hot as they can endure without melting. This expels impurities, and leaves the ore brittle and easily broken into lumps three or four inches thick. It is next hauled to the furnaces and cast into their fiery jaws, together with limestone and charcoal in proportions varying with its quality. The furnaces are either "hot blast" or "cold blast," according to the strong currents of hot or cold air pumped into them to supply oxygen, without which the ore would turn to cinder," yielding no iron. The heat is two thousand seven hundred degrees Fahrenheit. The cinder, separating from the iron, rises to the surface of the molten mass, and is skimmed off. Some of it hardens into a dark mass resembling coke, coarse glass, or variegated marble. But when the charges and blasts are properly adjusted, it is white as snow, and like the most exquisite moss suddenly petrified. The ore remains in the furnace some twelve hours. Then from the bottom of the great crucible it pours a red glowing stream into moulds of sand, where it hardens into "pigs." The workmen guide these dazzling currents of liquid fire into their proper channels with long-handled hoes. By night the furnace buildings, with their brick arches, blackened roofs, clouds of smoke, fiery torrents, and sooty workmen darting hither and thither, catching lurid gleams on their dark faces, are grotesquely suggestive of Pandemonium, and contrast sharply with the white villages and dark wooded hills. Shepherd's Mountain contains rich ore, but has been little mined. All these iron hills are of volcanic origin. The State geologist reports in this vicinity sufficient deposits of ore near the surface to yield one million tons per annum of manufactured iron for the next two hundred years. A. D. RICHARDSON. em-bráce, fold in the arms, enclose, contain. French, embrasser, from en, "in," and bras, an arm. con-ic-al, cone-shaped, in the form of a cone; like a sugarloaf. ore, metal as dug out of the earth, mixed with other substances. e-nòrm-ous, unusually large, huge. Lat. enormis, from e, "out of, beyond." and norma, "rule. "" boul'-ders (ból-), rounded, water-worn blocks of stone. còn-sti-tute, form, make up. Lat. constituo, from con, "together," and statuo, "I set up." pic-tur-èsque (-es), of the nature of a picture, fit to form a picture; of striking appearance. àt-mo-sphere, the air-sphere; the air; the whole mass of air, clouds, and vapour surrounding the earth. Greek, sug-gèst-ive atmos, "smoke, steam, vapour," and sphaira, "a sphere." per cent., contracted for Lat. per centum, "by the hundred." "Fifty per cent." means "fifty parts in a hundred," that is, one-half. pry, to raise by lever, to force up or apart. fràg-ments, bits, pieces broken off. From Lat. frango (frag-), "I break." in-clined-plane, a plane or flat surface, inclined, or made to lean, as it were, on something. Lat. in, “upon,” and clino, "I bend; planus, "level, flat." in-càl-cùl-a-ble, more than can Fah-ren-heit, the name of one crú-ci-ble, pot for melting kind of thermometer (instru- ad-just-ed, arranged exactly to metals. Lat. crucibilum. grot-èsque-ly (-èsk-), oddly, whimsically, fantastically; after the absurdly fanciful manner of the ornamentation of grottoes. Pan-de-mòn-i-um, the dwelling of all the evil spirits. Greek, pan, "all," and daimon, a demon, or spirit.” vol-can-ic, belonging to, or produced by, a volcano, or by fire. Lat. Vulcanus, Vulcan, the god of fire. Rocks made by the agency of water are called aqueous. Lat. aqua, "water." HIAWATHA'S FRIENDS. Two good friends had Hiawatha, Bound to him in closest union, Chibiabos the musician, And the very strong man, Kwasind. Straight between them ran the pathway, Never grew the grass upon it; Singing-birds, that utter falsehoods, Story-tellers, mischief-makers, Most beloved by Hiawatha When he sang, the village listened; From the hollow reeds he fashioned Flutes so musical and mellow, That the brook, the Sebowisha, Ceased to murmur in the woodland, And the squirrel, Adjidaumo, Ceased his chatter in the oak-tree, And the rabbit, the Wabasso, Sat upright to look and listen. |