JUVENILE DE PARTMENT.

METALS, No. 2-LEAD.

Lead has the principal metallic proper ties in great perfection, except hardness. It is so mallable that children often pound it out into plummets to rule with; when fresh cut or scratched it shines as bright as silver; it is so heavy that it is used for weights and scales, and for sinkers to fish-lines and nets; and it melts very easily, that is at a low temperature, or without a very hot fire.We can see why the boys like this metal so much they can do with it what they please. I mean that they can cut and bend and break and melt it very easily. Iron is very different, and so are zinc and copper, otherwise we should find pieces of them in almost every boy's pocket.

Lead Ores.-There are several different kinds; but the most common has the same color and lustre as pure lead, and is almost as heavy; but it breaks easily into fine grains. In short it has not the valuable metallic properties of tenacity, malleability and ductility; and cannot be used until it has been reduced or purified. This ore is called Galena, or, in chemical language, Sulphuret of lead, because it is made of sulpur and lead. Scientific terms are descriptive of the nature of their objects.

Lead becomes dull very soon in the air. The oxygen combines with it, and destroys the lustre, as well as the other metallic properties of the surface. While hot it oxidizes or rusts very fast. The boys know this who have melted lead. The dross forms fast over the fire. Into water it may be poured hot without being made dull. It then forms very curious figures. Children however should know the danger of the hot lead being thrown back into their faces by the steam, if it falls on a little water.

Shot are made by pouring hot lead through iron sieves from the top of a high building. When cooled they are poured down a slanting board, when the uneven ones and those that have got stuck together, roll along in a crooked direction, and fall off from the sides. The round ones roll strait to the bottom-like good children and good men too, who go right, and mind those who have a right to direct them, and come out right at the end.

A Boiler Burst.-The boiler in the steam paper mill in 26th street, North River, exploded one morning, and the chief and assis tant engineers were slightly wounded, and one man was missing.

MISCELLANEOUS.

Boiling Potatoes.-Not one housekeeper out of ten knows how to boil potatoes properly. Here is an Irish method, the very best we know. Clean wash the potatoes and leave the skin on them, bring the water to a boil and throw them in. As soon as boiled soft enough for a fork to be easily thrust through them, dash some cold water into the pot, let the potatoes remain two or three minutes, and then pour off the water. This done, half remove the pot lid, and let the potatoes remain over a slow fire till the steam is evaporated, then peel and set them on the table in an open dish. Potatoes of good kind thus cooked will always be sweet, dry and mealy. A covered dish is bad for potatoes, as it keeps the steam in and makes them soft and watery.-Selected.

Dwellings for Work-people.-In consequence of the large number of laborers required at Birkenhead, Liverpool, it has been found necessary to provide them dwellings, and for this purpose the Birkenhead Dock Company are now engaged in a practical experiment likely to prove highly interesting to the working classes. The company have deemed it better economy to bulld large houses rather than cottages, and adopted a plan prepared by Mr. C. E. Lang, of London. The buildings now in progress, are divided into rows, each resembling what in Scotland is called a "land," a pile four stories high, and comprising several distinct houses, each having a common staircase communicating with the several "flats" or stories, each flat divided into two separate dwelling places. Each dwelling house contains a capacious and well managed "living room," two bed-rooms, and a yard. The former is lighted with gas, and the yard is a sort of scullery, comprising the sink, coal-hole, dust-hole, &c. The buildings are also accommodated at the top with a cistern containing a preparation for keeping it full, to the extent of 1000 gallons of water, to which a stream can be added at pleasure, carrying away the refuse into the sewer, into which the shaft runs below. Pipes from each yard are connected with the cistern, by which the various dwellings are supplied with watter. The accommodation and comfort afforded by such dwellings cannot fail to prove beneficial to those for whose use these buildings are intended. [London Times.

FOREIGN LANGUAGES.

Latin Extract.

SELECTED FOR THE AMERICAN PENNY MAGAZINE. The Death of Silius Italicus.

C. PLINIVS CANINIO SVO S. Modo nuntiatus est Silius Italicus in Neapolitano suo inedia vitam finisse. Caussa mortis, valetudo. Erat illi natus insanabilis clavus, cuius taedio ad mortem irrevocabili constantia decucurrit: usque ad supremum diem beatus et felix, nisi quod minorem e liberus duobus amisit, sed maiorem melioremque florentem, atque etiam consularem reliquit. Laeserat famam suam sub Nerone; credabatur sponte accusasse; sed in Vitellii amicitia sapienter se et comiter gesserat : ex proconsulatu Asiae gloriam reportaverat: maculem veteris industriae laudabili otio abluerat.Fuit inter principes civitatis sine potentia, sine invidia. Salutabatur, colebatur, multumque in lectulo iacens, cubiculo semper non ex fortuna frequenti. Doctissimis sermonibus dies transigebat, quum a scribendo vacaret, scribebat carmina maiore cura quam ingenio, nonnunquam iudicia hominum recitationibus experiebatur.

FIRE.-About eleven o'clock at night, the basement of the Alms House was discovered to be on fire. The flames were extinguished by the exertions of the firemen. Nothing is known of the manner in which the fire originated.

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tion a ground perhaps peculiar to Americans. His figures, in the pictures which we commonly see, are those of the poorest class of his countrymen, and bear about them the peculiar marks of the social condition in which they exist, which is something entirely distinct from every thing around us, a state wholly foreign to our customs and habits, to which our education and principles, our examples, instructions and expectations are all opposed, and which are wholly irreconcilable with our ideas and feelings. When we look upon persons degraded to the lowest Spanish level of society, we feel that it is a depth to which nothing in American religious, civil or social life can possibly descend, and which could not exist under its influence. We feel too, that where it exists, there can be no place for institutions like ours: for civil and religious freedom could not be appreciated by a people who would endure such intellectual and moral debasement.

The sight of one of Murillo's pictures, therefore, naturally makes on our minds impressions like those which are uppermost, when we travel in Spain, Portugal, Austria, or Italy. We start back from a state of society destitute of all that makes life dear to us, and, with unmingled horror at the system, and compassion for its victims, turn to contemplate our position, and ask whether it is well guarded.

The legitimate effects of travelling are, to fortify us in genuine American principles, and to qualify us better to do our part in sustaining and perpetuating them. Murillo has so employed his pencil, that we may lay before our eyes, or hang up in our houses, portraits of that national, intellectual and moral turpitude, to which we or our children may be reduced, by party-spirit, or irreligion or the neglect of education. Let self-called philosophers talk as they please about the tendencies of the age, the march of mind, the irresistable advance of civilization; we shall do more than they to secure all these, if we duly impress our children with the truth, that luxury, pride, idleness, ignorance, superstition and vice are the broad staircase that leads to degradation and ruin: that

"Righteousness exalteth a nation,

But sin is a reproach to any people ;" that the Bible, (of which the wretches above depicted, know not the name,) is the rock of personal and national happiness, and that

each one of us, little and great, is an important part of the whole edifice.

Bartholomew Murillo was born at Seville in 1608, and was instructed in the principles of his art by his uncle, Juan de Castillo. He found a generous patron in Velasquez, who brought him into notice in Madrid. After devoting himself assiduously, and with great success, to his profession, through the darkest period in Spanish history, (one of the darkest on record,) he died in 1680, at the age of 72, in consequence of falling from a scaffold while engaged in painting a picture of St. Catherine.

"The Sabbath Bells."-The following is from Douglass Jerrold's Magazine :—

"There's something beautiful in the church bells, don't you think so, Jem ?" asked Capstick in a subdued tone. "Beautiful and hopeful! they talk to high and low, rich and poor, in the same voice;-there's a sound in 'em that should scare pride, and envy, and meanness of all sorts from the heart of man, that should make him look upon the world with kind, forgiving eyes; that should make the earth itself seem to him, at least for a time, a holy place. Yes, Jem, there's a whole sermon in the very sound of the church bells, if we only have the ears to rightly understand it. There's a preacher in every belfry, Jem, that cries." Poor, weary, strug. gling, fighting creatures-poor human things! take rest, be quiet. Forget your vanities your follies; your week-day craft, your heart-burnings! And you, ye humble vessels, gilt and painted; believe the iron tongue that tells ye, that for all your gilding, all your colors, ye are of the same Adam's earth with the beggar at your gates.

"Come away, come, cries the church-bell, and learn to be humble; learning that, however daubed and stained, and stuck about with jewels, you are but grave clay! Come, Dives, come; and be taught all your glory, as you wear it, is not half so beautiful in the eye of Heaven, as the sores of the uncomplaining Lazarus! And ye poor creatures, livid and faint, stinted and crushed by the pride and hardness of the world-come, come, cries the bell, with the voice of an angelcome and learn what is laid up for ye. And learning, take heart and walk among the wickednesses the cruelties of the world, calmed as Daniel walked among the lions." Here Capstick, flushed and excited, wrought beyond himself, suddenly paused: Jem stared astonished, but said no word. And then, Capstick, with calmer manner, said--" Jem, is there a finer sight than a stream of human creatures passing from a Christian church?"

A large Shark was caught the other day in one of the docks in the East River.

BIOGRAPHICAL.

For the American Penny Magazine.

A SKETCH OF THE LIFE OF WASHINGTON.

GEORGE WASHINGTON was born in Virginia in the year 1732. His education was private, he having been placed under the care of a tutor for that purpose, under whose instruction he made rapid progress in learning, particularly in mathematics and engi neering. He early adopted the military profession; and in 1753 was employed in negotiations with the commander of the French forces on the Ohio, and in forming a treaty with the Indians, for which he received the formal thanks of the British government. In the unfortunate expedition of General Braddock, he served as his aid-de-camp; and when that officer fell into an ambush, by which he lost his life, Colonel Washington, with great skill, brought off the troops, and conducted the retreat for the distance of forty miles, in such a manner as to excite universal admiration. He retired from the service to his farm at Mount Vernon, where he engaged in agricultural pursuits, and during the same period occasionally held a seat in the legislature of the colony.

When the war of independence broke out, he was appointed by Congress commander-inchief of the Colonial forces; and early in July, 1775, repaired to the army in the neighborhood of Boston, in Massachusetts, the British forces at that time having possession of that capital. In March 1775, the British evacuated Boston, and in the course of that season took possession of New York, where they remained until after the peace of 1783, and the establishment of American Independence. During the seven years in which he was at the head of the army, he displayed the most consummate skill and abilities; and, though surrounded by difficulties, which would have discouraged almost any other man, he persevered in the course which his own wisdom and talents pointed out; and finally accomplished the great objects for which he had so long struggled the freedom and independence of his country.

After the establishment of peace, in a manner the most interesting and the most sublime, he resigned his commission to Congress, and retired again to his favorite residence at Mount Vernon.

In the year 1786, as a member of the convention assembled to form a constitution for

the United States, he presided over their deliberations; and when the government was established, he was twice unanimously elected under it, President of the United States. The wisdom, prudence, firmness, and unsullied integrity, with which he presided over the affairs of the nation, under circumstances of great difficulty, perplexity and embarrassment, elevated his character as a statesman and patriot, to as high a degree as the events of the war had raised him as an officer and a soldier.

Having voluntarily declined a re-election to the office of chief magistrate at the close of the period for which he had been chosen, he retired, once more, to Mount Vernon, with the expectation of ending his days in the tranquility of domestic enjoyment. But the prospect of a war with France, obliged the government to raise a military force, of which he was appointed commander-inchief. The threatened disturbance, however, passed by, and he for the last time returned to his home on the Potomac.

In December 1799, he was suddenly and severely attacked by an inflammatory affection of the throat, and died, after a short illness, at the age of sixty-eight. The history of the world exhibits very few distinguished characters, more worthy of universal esteem, respect and admiration than that of Washing, ton, Disinterested, patriotic, and virtuous, he uniformly sought to advance the highest interest of his country, without any regard to his own individual advantage. In all the situations in which he was called to act, he displayed great wisdom, talents, judgment and forecast. Keeping a single and steady eye upon the good of his country, he suffered no personal or selfish motive to draw him aside for a moment from the path of duty. Cool and collected in the most trying situa tions, brave in the midst of danger, and solely bent on promoting her honor, prosperity and happiness he passed through life without a stain upon his reputation, and met death in the full possession of his mental faculties, with calmness and resignation, and with the hopes and expectations of a sincere and humble Christian.

The importance of the example which this great man exhibited, not merely to his country, but to the world, is beyond all calculation. During his public career, both military and civil, he was a strict observer of the laws and regulations of society; conscientiously just in his conduct in public as well as in private life; unostentatious in his manners and conduct, even when placed at the head of the republic; strictly upright in his intercourse with other nations; entirely disinterested in every situation in which he was placed; destitute of all personal ambition, except that of contributing to his country's welfare; he has long been viewed, throughout the civilized world, as one of the most virtuous and exalted characters that have in any age adorned its history.