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learned men and women, but they may all become well-informed and refined ones; and the public should give them all the opportunity. The prosperity and happiness of every community depend on the virtue, intelligence, and good manners of the individuals that make it up. Whatever promotes these three conditions adds to the material wealth as well as to the harmless pleasure of the body politic; and nothing can promote them more effectually than the providing of useful and entertaining occupation for the leisure of the busy classes. Merely teaching the young citizens to read, though a great boon undoubtedly, is a very imperfect one unless they can have access to books worth reading. It is inviting them to a Barmecide's feast, where there is nothing to eat. Or it is like the privileges that the ladies are allowed at English public dinners-that of sitting hungrily in the gallery and seeing the lords of creation eating of the fat and drinking of the sweets below.

And the expense need not be so great as to deter the humblest community from thus completing its apparatus for the teaching of its children. A library containing all the standard English anthors, with duplicates and triplicates of those most in demand, could be had for an investment of not more than two or three thousand dollars, and a very moderate annual appropriation would suffice to furnish it with all the new books worth adding to it. Of course, large towns and great cities would not be content with this modicum of mental food, but would provide for the necessities of the student as well as for those of the common reader. We are confident that no better investment could be made for the best interests of society, material as well as moral and intellectual, than such an appropriation of public money. The returns would soon begin to be perceived in the improvement of the general intelligence and morality. No better or more effectual antidote could be provided for the bane of bar-rooms, billiard saloons, and gambling-houses, than the cultivation of a literary taste and the love for books which a free access to an ample library would furnish. To the allurements of pleasure and the attractions of vice the best counter-charm is that supplied by the magic of reading. The devil, we all know, is always readiest with his temptations in our idle hours, and the most potent exorcism against him, to drown his whispers, is to be found in the tones of the enchanters who transport us away from the ignorant present to the past world or to the fair fields of the imagination. Bell, book, and candle used to be the appointed means for putting him to an ignominious flight; and the two last will be found sufficient for the purpose, even now, if they be used aright.

MANY run around after felicity, like an absent-minded man hunting for his hat while it is on his head.

WE

ISOMETRIC DRAWING.

LESSON II.

Use of the Triangular Rulers.

E will next consider the method of using the triangular rulers. The method by which parallel lines are drawn by the use of a straight ruler and one triangle is shown in Fig. 2. The line AK in that figure is supposed to have been drawn first, and the lines above it were drawn in succession, by the method referred to, which is as follows, viz. : The triangular ruler is placed with its longest side applied to the line AK, and held in place firmly; then the long ruler is made to bear carefully against the short side of the triangle. Now holding the long ruler with the left hand, the triangle may be made to slide along the paper with the right hand, keeping it against the long ruler. All lines drawn by the longest side will be parallel to AK. At the moment of drawing a line, the left hand must hold both triangle and ruler firmly in place.

Now, if you are provided with triangular rulers of the right form, we are prepared to draw the cube by the method to be employed in the subsequent lessons.

First, draw a line parallel to the bottom of the page, and at that place upon your paper where you propose to have the lowest point of your picture. Then by aid of your triangle draw a perpendicular to this line, at the proper place to represent the nearest corner of the cube: this is the line AL in Fig. 5 or Fig. 13. Draw this perpendicular the proper length: one inch is a convenient length for a drawing upon paper.

Now place your larger triangle as in Fig. 6, with its longest side applied to the horizontal line. Hold it with the left hand and bring the smaller triangle firmly against the shortest side, as in Fig. 7.

Hold the smaller triangle steadily in place with the right hand and slide the larger triangle down, keeping it against the smaller one, till the longest side of the larger triangle is about a quarter of an inch below the horizontal line; this position is represented in Fig. 7.

The larger ruler is to be held in this position with the fingers of your left hand, while the remaining lines are being drawn. It will probably slip frequently until you get used to holding it while you are drawing; if it slips in the least, you must replace it by this same method, starting from the line as in Fig. 6.

We will now draw the line marked AK in the finished drawing. Place the small ruler above the larger, as in Fig. 8, sliding it along carefully till the edge just comes to the bottom of the perpendicular, or rather till there is just room for your pencil to draw by the edge of the ruler exactly to the end of the perpendicular. At the moment of using the pencil your left hand must hold both rulers in place.

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Now turn the smaller triangle over, and draw, in like manner, the line which inclines to the left; the position of the ruler is shown in Fig. 9; the line to be drawn is the line AE in Fig. 5.

The two lines AE and AK are to be of the same length as the perpendicular ; you may generally draw such lines a little too long; then make the proper measurement, and mark the point where it falls by a dot. By following this method there will be ends of lines projecting beyond the proper limits; these ends are to be erased after the drawing is completed. Now draw the perpendicular KI with the ruler in the position given in Fig. 10.

Draw EF by the ruler in the position given in Fig. 11.

Draw from L to I and from L to F by following the plan represented in Fig. 8 and Fig. 9, except the ruler must be slid along till the longer side coincides with the top of the perpendicular instead of the bottom of it. The drawing now should be like Fig. 12.

The two remaining lines FH and HI are to be drawn by the method just given and with the rulers in the positions of Fig. 8 and Fig. 9, only carrying the ruler far enough to the left or right to permit the longest side to pass through the starting point of your new line.

If you will repeat the exercise of drawing the cube now, you will find it profitable to draw the lines in a slightly different order.

For instance draw first AL, and make it the right length; then draw AK, then LI; next draw AE and LF; measure the distances on AE and AK; then draw EF and KI; and, finally, FH and IH.

To draw the cube upon the blackboard, you may, if you prefer, dispense with the use of the wood triangles and use a paper one. The rule for making a paper triangle is given in the first lesson. To use it in blackboard drawing, proceed as follows: Draw the horizontal as before; next the vertical line AL, by holding your paper triangle with its shortest side on the horizontal line, and the right angle at the point you have selected for the point A; the direction of the upright side gives you the position of the line AL: six inches is a good length for this line.

Now, to get the direction of the lines AK and AE, you must use the sharp angle of the triangle for a measure, holding it in the position represented in Fig. 8 and Fig. 9; only the lower side of the triangle will be exactly on the horizontal line; measure both lines.

EF and KI may be drawn in the same manner as AL; make these lines also the proper length. Now join LF and LI; then hold your triangle with its longest side on FL, so that the 60° angle shall be at the point F, and the triangle on the upper side of the line; then the short side of the triangle will lie in the direction FH. In a similar manner you may find IH.

A LETTER FROM SANTA CRUX, CALIFORNIA.

CALIF

ALIFORNIA is a land of extremes. Here natural objects of every kind take on their most extraordinary types. As, for an example, trees. In general, this may be said to be a treeless country. Over a vast region here, there grow only scattered and remote trees-say not more than one to an acre, or much fewer. The most common species of tree is the "live-oak," as it is called (quercus agrifolia). It is found scattered here and there, or rarely collected in groves, in every part of the State which I have yet visited. Sometimes it is a low, straggling shrub, as on the hills back of San Francisco. Again, it is a majestic tree, widespreading and lofty, as in Oakland; and, at times, as in the forests about Santa Crux, it is tall and straight, with only summit branches. But everywhere its bark, foliage, and fruit are unmistakable-the picturesque, the shady, the useful. But vast regions are destitute of this or any other tree; not only the plains, but the hills and the mountains around the plains. This is one extreme. And when you do find a forest, it is a forest indeed! Not only am I astonished at the lofty grandeur of the forest trees, but at their density. I have not yet seen the "big trees" of Calavàras County, but I have seen the forests around Santa Crux. Where these yet remain intact, I have seen acres, each sustaining, I suppose, not less than five hundred trees, averaging nine feet in diameter and one hundred feet in height, while some specimens are twenty feet in diameter and two hundred feet high! Such are the famous "redwoods” of California. They make excellent lumber, and are durable to a period yet unknown, as none of the present inhabitants have witnessed their decay in any situation. These redwood forests cover but a few of the mountain ranges here, although further north such forests are said to be vast in extent. Now what is the compensation for the nakedness of the plains and hills generally? Look on them and behold! A luxuriance of verdure, a gorgeousness and beauty of bloom such as no words can describe, much less exaggerate. For instance, the Salinas Plain, forty miles by twenty, extending eastward from Monterey. At a distance it looks painted and variegated as no parlor carpet can imitate. Here a patch of richest, glowing orange-color (eschaltzia), there of watery blue (nemophila), there a dash of sulphur yellow (an orthocarpus), there of purple or pink (another), yonder of ultramarine blue (larkspurs), and another of checkered white and blue (lupines). But, more generally, these hues are blended, some impalpably diffused, others dashed in clear and definite lines and dots. But I labor in vain. No sense but sight can convey the conception.

Arrived in the presence of these flowers, the admiration inspired by the distant view becomes astonishment and delight. You are greeted by a variety of exquisite, upturned faces never before seen, unless in Eastern gar

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