CURIOUS MATTERS. INTERESTING DISCOVERY IN THE VAULTS OF THE BANK OF ENGLAND.-It is not generally known (says a correspondent) that, under the provisions of its ancient charter, the governor and corporation of the Bank of England are obliged not only to purchase at their fair value any precious metals tendered to them, but are obliged to take charge of any gold or silver, in ingots or plate, that may be brought to them for safe keeping. From time to time plate chests have been deposited with this view in the vaults of the bank, and many of them have been there so long that they are actually rotting away. On a recent occasion the servants of the bank discovered a chest which, on being moved, literally fell to pieces. On examining the contents a quantity of massive plate was discovered, of the period of Charles II. This circumstance might not in itself be very interesting, but there was found with the plate a parcel, which proved to be a bundle of old love-letters, carefully arranged according to their dates. An inspection of them revealed a correspondence of a tender and romantic description, carried on during the period of the Restoration. The name of the writer was found to be Berners, and, after considerable search among the archives of the institution, it was found that a family of that name had been connected with the bank about the time in question. Acting upon this clue, the directors prosecuted their inquiry, and, being satisfied that a gentleman of the same name, now living, is the lineal representative of the owner of the plate and the love-letters, both have beeu handed to him. THE ESQUIMAUX DOG.-The most valuable domestic animal in Kamschatka is the dog. During the winter they are fed with dried fish every morning and evening; but, while travelling, they get nothing to eat, even though they run for hours. Their strength is wonderful. Generally no more than five of them are harnessed to a sledge, and will drag with ease three full-grown persons and sixty pounds of luggage. When lightly laden, such a sledge will travel from thirty to forty miles in a day, over bad roads and through the deep snow; on even roads, from eighty to one hundred and forty. During a snowstorm the dogs keep their master warm, and will lie quietly near him for hours, so that he has merely to prevent the snow from covering him too deeply and suffocating him. The dogs are also excellent weather prophets; for when, while resting, they dig holes in the snow, a storm may with certainty be expected. INDESTRUCTIBLE COLORS.-One drachm of aniline black is rubbed with a mixture of sixty drops of concentrated hydrochloric acid and three quarters of an ounce of alcohol. The deep blue solution obtained is dilated with a hot solution of one and a half drachm of gum arabic in three ounces of water. This color does not attack steel pens, and is unaffected by concentrated mineral acids or strong alkalies. If aniline black solution, instead of being diluted with gum water, be treated with a solution of between a half and three quarters of an ounce of shellac in three ounces of alcohol, an aniline lake is obtained which is remarkable for producing a very deep black color on brass or leather. SELF-REGISTEring Tide-GAUGES.-The self-registering tide-guages of the United States' Coast Survey are doing good work not only in recording tides, but also in catching the fleeting waves produced by earthquakes. One of the first cases of this kind occurred on the Pacific coast in 1864. The great earthquake of Arica, in 1870, produced a wave that travelled in one half of a day to Honolulu, and in one, two and three days respectively to San Francisco, Melbourne and Yokohama. It is now proposed to use this simple instrument at a number of points in the Mediterranean Sea as a regular means of recording the frequent earthquakes that occur there, where the systematic daily tides are so slight as to be nearly imperceptible. The annual report of the observatory at Sydney, New South Wales, states that the tide-guage at that port has reported fewer earthquake waves than that of Newcastle, a hundred miles distant. THE HOUSEKEEPER. MEASURE CAKE.-The following is a good receipt, and I send it for the sake of your lady subscribers. This cake is not very costly, and it can be made quickly, so that when company come in upon you, you will have something good for them to eat: Beat well two eggs. Add one cup of sugar, half a cup of butter, two cups of flour, and a teaspoonful of soda or baking powder; half a teaspoonful of lemon, or half a nutmeg. Bake in a cake pan or small tins. TAPIOCA PUDDING.-Soak three tablespoonfuls of tapioca in water over night; pour off the water, put tapioca in one quart of boiling milk and boil ten minutes; beat the yolks of four eggs, a cup of sugar, and three tablespoonfuls of cocoanut; stir in, boil five minutes longer, pour in a puddingdish. Beat the whites to a stiff froth, with three tablespoonfuls of white sugar; put this over the pudding, sprinkle cocoanut over the top, and brown five minutes. FROZEN CUSTARD.-One quart of cream, two quarts of milk, one and a half pound of sugar, yolks of four eggs. Mix milk, eggs and sugar, put on the fire, and let them scald; just cook enough to take away the raw taste; when cold, add cream; flavor when partly frozen. If lemon is ased, one large one, rind and juice, is sufficient for this quantity. CIDER CAKE.-Two pounds of flour, one oound of sugar, three-quarters of a pound of butter, one pound of currants, one pint of cider, six eggs, one teaspoonful of soda Spice to your taste. JUMBLES.-Four eggs, one cup of butter, two cups of sugar, one even teaspoon of soda, one heaping teaspoon of cream-tartar, flour to roll out. Dissolve the soda in a little milk or water. A GOOD OMELET.-Take five or six eggs, one tablespoonful of flour, one of melted butter, and a tablespoonful of milk to each egg. Beat the whites of the eggs to a stiff froth. Mix the yolks, well-beaten with the other ingredients, whites last, and add salt after it is in the pan. Grease the frying-pan, and pour the mixture in a thin layer; turn one half over upon the other as it thickens, or roll it up. Cook to a delicate brown; it requires close attention. Finely-minced or grated meat stirred into this omelet varies the dish. APPLE JELLY.-To every pound of apple add a pint of water, boil till all the goodness is extracted; then to every pint of juice add a pound of sugar; boil till reduced to half, then add a packet of gelatine to each gallon, and the juice of four lemons. TO ASSIST THE GROWTH OF HAIR.Wash the head two or three times a week in clean soft water, with two or three drops of aqua ammonia added. HINTS FOR HOUSEKEEPERS. Do everything at the proper time. Keep everything in its place. Always mend your clothes before washing them. Alum or vinegar is good to set colors, red, green or yellow. Sal soda will bleach; one spoonful is sufficient for a kettle of clothes. Save your suds for the garden and plants, or to harden yards when sandy. A hot shovel held over varnished furniture will take out spots. A bit of glue, dissolved in skim milk and water, will restore old rusty crape. Ribbons of any kind should be washed in cold suds, and not rinsed If flatirons are rough, rub them well with fine salt, and it will make them smooth. If you are buying a carpet for durability. you must choose small figures A bit of soap rubbed on the hinges of doors will prevent them from creaking. Scotch snuff, if put in the holes where crickets run out, will destroy them. Wood ashes and common salt wet with water, will stop the cracks of the stove, and prevent the smoke from escaping. Green should be the prevailing color for bed-hangings and window-drapery. The lad understood at once what attending to his case" meant, but there was an important matter of detail which he was painfully anxious to have more fully explained; so, pulling backward on the hand of his mother, he blubbered out, in a voice loud enough to be heard over most of the well-filled dining-room: An Ohio clergyman says that he once married a couple and the man said, "Be short! be short!" I said, "Yes, I can do it in three minutes." "That's right," he said. I saw that there was some little dissatisfaction on the part of the other half. I said, "You don't want to have it too short ?" "No," she said; "a body don't want to get herself up so for nothing." 66 In Connecticut a certain magistrate was called to jail to liberate a worthless debtor. "Well, John," said the magistrate, on entering, can you swear that you are not worth twenty dollars, and never will be?" "Why," answered the other, rather chagrined at the question, "I can swear that "Say, mother, are you going to take your I am not worth that amount at present." hand or your slipper?" The enthusiasm with which this brief address was received was unbounded. "I have come," said a Scotch farmer to a neighbor laird who was just dying-"I have come to settle about that bit of land." "Settle't!"' cried the old wrangler; "how will you settle't? Your father couldna settle't, and your grandfather couldna settle't, and the fifteen' couldna settle't, and how will you settle't ?" "O," said the rival claimant, "I'll let you have it altogether" "But I'll no takt!' cried the stout old litigant; and turned his face resolutely to the wall. A gentleman who lives in Danbury recently read an article setting forth the evil of two persons sleeping together. He became so impressed with the argument, that he proposed to his wife that they sleep in separate beds, and she acquiesced. The experiment was put in practice that night. About two o'clock in the morning the lady was awakened by some one stealing softly into her bed, and, on uttering a scream, was greatly relieved to find it was her husband. It had turned off cold in the night, and he had concluded that if he had to die anyway, he might as well go off quietly with a nervous attack as to be frozen dead in a grotesque attitude. "Well, well," returned the magistrate, "I can swear the rest; so go ahead." And the man was sworn and discharged. There are occasions on which it may be desirable to know whether a gun is loaded or not, but we should say that pushing the hammer back with the foot and blowing in at the muzzle was a particularly awkward way of finding out. A man near Paducah, Ky., lately adopted that method, and it is doubtful if he knows yet whether that gun was loaded, and if he does, his knowledge is of no use to him. The fact is, the top of his head was blown off. A five-year old "midget" brought to her mother the other day a couple of “cunning little black and white kittens," nicely cuddled up in her apron, that she had found "hind the fence." Her mother was getting dinner, but when "them kittens" were stirred up a little it took the taste all out of the victuals, and there was no dinner in that house that day. A Sunday school teacher, explaining the first chapter of Genesis, asked, "Why did God command them to leave the fruit of one tree untouched ?" A dead silence. At last a little girl spoke up and said, "Please, marm, I think he wanted them to leave some for manners!" TO THE SUBSCRIBERS OF BALLOU'S MONTHLY MAGAZINE, AND THE AMERICAN UNION, The Largest and Best Literary Weekly Paper in the United States. PREMIUMS! PREMIUMS! PREMIUMS! Five Beautiful Chromos given to Subscribers. The publishers of BALLOU'S MONTHLY MAGAZINE, acknowledged to be the best serial of its kind in the world, and the AMERICAN UNION, the largest and best literary weekly paper in the United States, announce that for the year 1874 they will give as Premiums to subscribers some of the handsomest and choicest Chromos ever produced in this country. Our experience of the past ten months has convinced us that the public prefer Chromos to all other Premiums; so we have determined to send to subscribers of BALLOU'S MAGAZINE and the AMERICAN UNION Some of the best to be obtained of the first artists in the country. The names of the Chromos to be given away are: THE BETROTHED, THE POWER OF MUSIC, ISN'T IT FUNNY? MORNING GLORIES, LILIES OF THE VALLEY. These Chromos are printed in oil, in many colors, and are remarkable for their beauty and originality. PREMIUMS FOR BALLOU'S MAGAZINE. CLUBS! CLUBS! CLUBS! As a great inducement to Clubs, we offer the following favorable terms:For a Club of FIVE copies of BALLOU'S MAGAZINE, $7.50, and a copy gratis to the person who gets up the Club, and also the Chromo "MORNING GLORIES," or," LILIES OF THE VALLEY," to each member of the Club. TEN copies of BALLOU'S MAGAZINE $13.00, and a copy gratis to the person who obtains the Club, and also the. Chromo "MORNING GLORIES," or, "LILIES OF THE VALLEY," to each member of the Club. SINGLE SUBSCRIBERS.-Single subscriptions $1.50 each, and either of the Chromos "MORNING GLORIES," or, "LILIES OF THE VALLEY," as the subscriber may glect. BALLOU'S MAGAZINE AND THE AMERI- BALLOU'S MAGAZINE and the AMERICAN UNION combined for $3.75; and also the Chromos "MORNING GLORIES" and "LILIES OF THE VALLEY." Or BALLOU'S and THE UNION for $3.50 without the Chromos. PREMIUMS FOR THE AMERICAN UNION. SINGLE SUBSCRIPTIONS.-We will send THE AMERICAN UNION for one year for $2.50, and also give every subscriber one of the beautiful oil Chromos, each worth $3.00, at retail, of "THE BETROTHED," THE POWER OF MUSIC," or, "ISN'T IT FUNNY?" 66 CLUBS FOR THE AMERICAN UNION. For $15.00 we will send six copies of THE AMERICAN UNION for one year and a copy of BALLOU'S MAGAZINE to the person who gets up the Club, and also to each member of the Club the Chromo "BETROTHED " or "THE POWER OF MUSIC." The subscriber must state which of these beautiful Chromos is desired, and it will be immediately forwarded. IMPORTANT NOTICE.-Be sure and send money by a post-office order, a registered letter, or by check on New York or Boston. We are not responsible for money lost on its way to us through the mails. Postoffice orders are safe and cheap. TO THE PUBLIC.-Subscribers can commence at any time, and not wait for their subscriptions to expire. Let them roll in their names as early as possible. Be careful in writing, to give State, County and Post-Office for each subscriber: and also to designate the name of the getterup of the club. Address THOMES & TALBOT, 36 Bromfield Street, Boston, Mass. |