Page:Littell's Living Age - Volume 129.djvu/392

384  of the family, he says, had partially entered into that life, but somehow, when those who had, as it were, initiated the family into it, disappeared, the charm of it disappeared too, and it no longer became possible to recover the attitude of mind in which the old reminiscences appeared so quaint and so delightfully ludicrous. The truth is, no doubt, that in the enjoyment derived by Macaulay and his sisters from the admirable stiffnesses and pedantries of a bygone day, full and vivid memory was everything. Macaulay could chronicle the number of fainting-fits recorded of each particular person in the silly old novels of the romantic-gallant period. He had calculated, in relation to "Sir Charles Grandison," that Miss Byron's letters must have brought to the post-office of Ashby Canons, and consequently cost her Uncle Selby, a revenue exceeding the annual interest of her fifteen thousand pounds; every little bow and scrape in the book was evidently impressed on his mind, and when he refers in his letters to "the venerable circle" who so much delighted in Miss Byron's epistles, you feel that in fact, though he was not one of it, he was completely Piaster of all the details of its old-fashioned punctiliousness; and this, or something like this, is necessary to give to these quaint reminiscences their full fascination as humour. These reminiscences had, too, evidently become a special tradition in the Macaulay family. They had acquired all sorts of additional flavour from the references to family acquaintances and newer scenes with which the old manners had been associated. It was no longer the mere quaintness of the old books, it was the charm of the association between the old books and the youthful merriment, which threw so much life into this tradition. And all this was due originally, of course, to the wonderful accuracy, tenacity, and faithfulness of the memory which was at the root of all this enjoyment. No one can read Macaulay's life without feeling that a great memory, so far from overbalancing an ordinary mind, supplies it with all kinds of new life, strengthens the judgment, quickens the imagination, and feeds with a hundred streamlets of rich and delightful association any sense of humour which the owner of that memory may boast.

 

  — We have had sewing and knitting machines for some time, but the latest addition to our stock is that of a darning-machine, which is described by the Scientific American as follows: — "Two small plates, one stationary and the other movable, are placed one above the other. The plates are corrugated, and between them the 'holy' portion of the stocking is laid. Twelve long-eyed pointed needles are arranged side by side in a frame, which last is carried forward so that the needles penetrate opposite edges of the hole, passing in the corrugations between the plates. Hinged just in front of the plates is an upright bar, and on this is a cross-piece carrying twelve knobs. The yarn is secured to an end-knob, and then, with a bit of flat wire, pushed through the needle-eyes. Then the loop between each two needles is caught by the hand and hooked over the opposite knob, so that each needle carries really two threads. Now the needles are carried back to their first position, and, in so doing, they draw the threads, which slip off the knobs through the edges of the fabric. A little push forward again brings the sharp rear edges of the needle-eye against the threads, cutting them all at once. This is repeated until the darn is finished, and beautifully finished it is. The cost of the machine is but ten dollars."

— Information as to the meteorology of South America is always precious, so that we are glad to see a paper on the above subject from Herr Beschoren in the Austrian Journal for February 15. The author gives a general account of the striking contrast between the climate of the upper country, the cima da serra, and that of the lowlands; but as his thermometers were soon broken he gives no observations. He notes a fall of five inches of snow at Passo P. Nuevo on June 13, a previously unheard-of amount in that locality. The tables are for three stations: Santa Cruz, Porto Allegro (30° 6m. S, lat.), and Pelotas (31° 47m. S. lat.).