THE WORK-TABLE FRIEND. STOMACHER OF A CHILD'S DRESS. Materials. French muslin, with Messrs. Walter Evans & Co.'s royal embroidery cotton, No. 50, and Boar's-head sewing cotton, No. 60. THIS pattern may be enlarged to suit a child of any age. For a child of a year old, or more, it may be increased to double its present size, every part being proportionably enlarged. Should it be desirable to make it yet larger, the number of the scrolls, flowers, &c., should also be increased, as the holes should not be of more than certain dimensions. Nothing can be simpler than the pattern, or more easy to enlarge. Take a piece of tracing paper, sufficiently large for a full-sized body; rule lines for the top, waist, and sides. Mark the centre, and with a pencil lightly trace the scroll of one-half in simple lines. Correct any little irregularity, and from the one-half trace the other. The stems of the spray may then be put in the centre. After this is done, draw the pattern perfectly, eyelet holes, leaves, and flowers. Take a sheet of blue tracing paper; lay it with the blue side on muslin, and the clear paper over it, and draw the pattern. Tack it on toile ciré, and it is ready to work. Trace every part twice round, and sew it over. For the open-hem, sew a straight line at each edge, and within these two, pierce a succession of holes, first at one edge, and then at the other, with a very coarse needle, and sew over the threads between every two holes. They are so arranged that a hole at one edge falls just between two at the other edge. For the trimming of the sleeves, &c., the design given at the top of the frock, or any other simple and pretty broderie edging may be used. We have given several suitable ones in former numbers of the Family Friend. PARISIAN ESSUIE-PLUME. Materials.-1 skein of black netting silk, 1 skein of violet ditto; 1 skein maize, with a small quantity of any other bright colours you may happen to have; such as crimson, claret, blue, green. Also common black cloth, sufficient for six rounds, the size of the crochet work, and a French button. With the black silk, make a chain of 8; close it into a round, and work one round of Sc, doing two stitches in every stitch. 2nd Round. - Sc all round, with 2 stitches in every alternate stitch, all black. 3rd Round.-Do 2 stitches in every 3rd stitch, all round, in black. 2 violet, 1 violet and 1 maize on 1, 2 black on centre 2 of 4, 1 maize on black, +8 times. 10th Round.-1 maize and 1 violet on 1, 1 violet,+ 2 maize on 2 centre of 4 violet, 2 violet, 1 maize, 2 black on 2, 1 maize, 2 violet,+7 times, 2 maize, 2 violet, 2 black, 2 maize. 11th Round.- +3 violet, 1 maize on the same as the last violet, 3 violet, 2 maize, (over 1 maize 1 black), 1 black on same, 2 maize, + 8 times. 12th Round.- + violet, 1 maize on maize, 4 violet, 3 maize (over 1 black and a maize on each side), + 8 times. Fasten - Black and maize, +1 off black. 4th Round. maize, 3 black, + 8 times. 5th Round.+ 2 maize on 1, 3 black, +8 times. 13th Round.-+4 violet, 1 maize on violet, 2 maize on 1 maize, 1 maize on violet, 4 violet, 1 maize on centre of 3, + 6th Round.-Maize, violet and black. +8 times, 4 violet, 4 maize on 3. 1 maize, 3 violet, 1 maize on 1 maize, 3 black on black, + 8 times. 7th Round.+ 1 maize, 2 violet on 1, 1 maize, 3 black, + 8 times. 8th Round.-1 maize, 2 violet, 1 maize, 4 black on 3, + 8 times. 9th Round.+1 maize and 1 violet on 1, 14th Round.-+11 violet, 3 maize on 2 centre of 4, + 8 times. 15th Round.-+4 violet, 1 maize, 2 violet on 1, (the 6th of 11), 1 maize, 4 violet, 4 maize on 3, + 8 times. 16th Round.+ 1 maize, 2 violet, (on centre 2 of 4), 2 maize, 2 violet, 2 maize, 2 violet, 2 maize, 2 black on centre 2 of 4 maize, 1 maize, + 8 times. 17th Round.-4 maize, +4 violet, (over 2 violet, and 1 maize at each side), 5 maize (on two violet and a maize at each side) 4 black, 5 maize as before, +7 times, 4 violet, 5 maize, 7 black. 18th Round. +1 maize over the last of 5, 4 violet, 1 maize, 5 blue, 2 blue, (on centre 2 of 4 black), 5 black, + 8 times. Observe that when the blue is introduced in this and the following rounds, the other colours are to be substituted in the repetitions. If 4 colours are used, the blue may be in the 1st and 5th; orange on 2nd and 6th, green on 3rd and 7th, and crimson on the remainder. But if every one of the eight patterns is done in a different colour, the pattern will be still better. 19th Round.+ 2 maize, 2 violet, (on centre 2 of 4), 2 maize, 4 black, 5 blue, (on 2 blue and 1 black on each side), 4 black,+8 times. 20th Round.+ 1 black, 2 maize, 1 violet, 2 maize, 3 black, 3 blue, 1 maize, (on 2nd of 5 blue), 1 blue, 1 maize, 3 blue, 2 black,+8 times. 21st Round.+ 2 black, 3 maize, black, 3 blue, 2 maize, 1 blue on 1 blue, 2 maize, 3 blue, 1 black, + 8 times. 22nd Round. + 3 black, 1 maize, (on centre of 3), 6 black, 2 maize, 3 blue, 2 maize, 4 black, + 8 times, do 9 more black. Cut several rounds of black cloth rather smaller than the crochet. Pierce a hole in the centre. The French button has an ornamental top, with a screw and nut. It is slipped through the centre of the crochet, and the pieces of cloth, and the nut is then screwed on, to keep them tight. The French buttons are very ornamental. The top is a dog, or some other pretty device. THE WAISTS OF AMERICAN LADIES. THE unnatural length and ridiculous smallness of their waists baffles description. A waist that could be spanned is an English metaphorical expression used in a novel; but it is an American fact; and so alarming does it appear to an Englishman, that my first sentiment on viewing the phenomenon was one of pity for unfortunate beings who might possibly break off in the middle, like flowers from the stalk before the evening concluded. Not less extraordinary is the size of the ladies' arms. I saw many which were scarcely thicker than moderate sized walk3ing-sticks. Yet strange to say, when these ladies pass the age of forty, they frequently attain an enormous size. The whole economy of their structure is then reversed, their waist and arms becoming the thickest parts of the body. Here is a subject worthy the contemplation of the ethnologist. How comes it to pass that the English type which, I presume, has not, in every case, been so affected by the admixture of others as to lose its own identity-how comes it to pass, I say, that the English type is so strangely altered in a few generations? I have heard various hypotheses; amongst others, the habits of the people—the dry climate. The effect of the latter on an European constitution would have appeared to me sufficient to account for the singular conformation, if I had not been persuaded by natives of the country, that the small waist is mainly owing to tight-lacing. practice, it is said, is persevered in to an alarming extent; and if report be true, it is to be feared that the effects will be felt by future generations to a greater degree than they are at present.A FlyingShot at the United States. 23rd Round.+ 2 maize, (the 1st on 6th black), 5 blue, 2 maize, 13 black, +8 times. The last time the 13th comes over a maize. 24th Round.+ 2 maize, 3 blue, 2 maize, 15 black, +8 times. 25th Round.+ 2 maize, 1 blue, 2 maize, 18 black, + 8 times. 26th Round. + 3 maize, (over 1 blue and 1 maize, on each side), 21 black,+ 8 times. 27th Round.-1 maize on the centre of 3, and all the rest black, increasing so as to keep it flat. 28th Round.-All maize. 29th Round.-Violet, + 4 Dc in one chain, 1 Ch, miss 3, + repeat all round. 30th Round.-Maize. Sc on every Dc stitch of last row, and across the chain stitch, taking up the centre of 3 missed stitches in the 28th round. This ONCE UPON A TIME. BY MRS. SOUTHEY. I mind me of a pleasant time, The pleasantest I've ever known, Bees, birds, and little twinkling rills, The year was in its sweet spring-tide, I've never heard such music since, As all that pleasant time I found by every hawthorn-root- Yon merry down, so black and bare, Where hours and hours he used to sing- Such cutting winds came never then The morning mist and evening haze And blackberries-so mawkish now- And nuts-such reddening clusters ripe I ne'er shall pull again. Nor strawberries, blushing bright-as rich How all is alter'd for the worse- THE THRUSH'S NEST. BY JOHN CLARE. WITHIN a thick and spreading hawthorn bush, sound With joy; and oft, an unintruding guest, I watched her secret toils from day to day, How true she warp'd the moss to form her nest, And modell'd it within with wool and clay. And by-and-by, like heath-bells gilt with dew, There lay her shining eggs as bright as flowers, Ink-spotted over, shells of green and blue: And there I witness'd, in the summer hours, A brood of nature's minstrels chirp and fly, Glad as the sunshine and the laughing sky. THE WILD CHERRY-TREE. BY BARRY CORNWALL. Oн,-there never was yet so fair a thing, Up from the ground when the skies were blue, As thou-my wild, wild Cherry-tree! 'Twas the same to my wild, wild Cherry-tree! And I see thy branches against the sky, I see (nay, I taste) thy berries red, Death chill'd the fair fountain, ere sorrow had stain'd it, "Twas frozen in all the pure light of its course, And sleeps till the sunshine of heaven has unchain'd it, To water that Eden, where first was its source! Weep not for those, whom the veil of the tomb In life's happy morning hath hid from our eyes, Ere sin threw a blight o'er the spirit's young bloom, Or earth had profaned what was born for the skies. Mourn not for her, the young Bride of the Vale, And the garland of love was yet fresh on her brow; Oh! then was her moment, dear Spirit, for flying From this gloomy world, while its gloom was unknown, And the wild notes she warbled so sweetly, in dying, Were echoed in heaven by lips like her own! Weep not for her,-in her spring-time she flew To that land, where the wings of the soul are unfurl'd, And now, like a star beyond evening's cold dew, Looks radiantly down on the tears of this world. PROVERBS. A good surgeon must have an eagle's eye, a lion's heart, and a lady's hand. The best physicians are Dr. Diet, Dr. Quiet, and Dr. Merryman. Better be meals many than one too merry. If there be a rainbow in the eve It will rain and leave; But if there be a rainbow in the morrow If the partridge had the woodcock's thigh, Go early to the fishmarket, and late to the butcher's. A little house well fill'd, A little wife well will'd. Women must have their wills while they live, because they make none when they die. A man of words and not of deeds, Is like a garden full of weeds. INTERESTING VARIETIES. CYPRESSES are known to be 800 or 900 years old. They rise 120 feet, and are from 25 to 40 feet round. Strabo speaks of one in Persia, 2,500 years old. EVERY pound of cochineal contains 70,000 insects, boiled to death; and from 600 to 700 thousand pounds are annually brought to Europe for scarlet and crimson dyes. RENNEL thinks the mud of the Ganges, carried in the flood season into the sea, is equal to 74 pyramids of Egypt; but Lyall reduces it to one pyramid. Rennel thinks the mud a fourth of the water. THE odorous matter of flowers is inflammable, and arises from an essential oil. When growing in the dark their odour is diminished, but restored in the light; and it is strongest in sunny climates. The fraxinella takes fire in hot evenings, by bringing a candle near its root. THE Order of the Garter was instituted in 1350; that of the Thistle was revived in 1687; that of St. Patrick was instituted in 1783; that of the Bath was revived in 1725; and, of this class, and a third class, all naval and military. SOUND affects particles of dust in a sunbeam; cobwebs and water in musical glasses; it shakes As your wedding-ring wears, your cares will last, there are knights' grand crosses; a second wear away. Never sigh, but send. Spend not where you may save; spare not small pieces of paper off a string in concord. where you must spend. The charitable gives out at the door, and God puts in at the window. Lightly come lightly go. Knavery may serve for a turn, but honesty is best at long run. One leg of a lark is worth the whole body of a kite. He that doth lend doth lose his friend. When the wind's in the south, They must hunger in frost that will not work in heat. Better one's house too little one day than too big all the year after. When a man's house is burning it is not good to be playing at chess. Huge winds blow on high hills. A carrion kite will never make a good hawk. They that live longest must go farthest for wood. When the water is shallow, no vessel will ride. Deaf persons may converse through deal rods held between the teeth, or held to their throat or breast. To find the contents of a cask in imperial gallons, gauge the bung diameter, and multiply its square by 2. To the product add the square of the head diameter, and multiply these by the inside length. Then divide the last product by 1059, or, more accurately, by 1058 7 for imperial gallons. TAKING Volcanoes at 200, each operating on 100 square miles, they affect with their products 20,000 square miles, and if five times their existing number have become extinct it gives 100,000 square miles of volcanic products. This, however, would be only the 20,000th part of the earth's surface. THE Jews' great cubit was 22 inches, and the less 18 inches; 400 of the latter was a stadium, and the 10 of these a mile of 6,000 feet, 24 was a day's journey, and a sabbath day's journey 3,500 feet. A coner as 65 pints, and an ephah 6 pints; an homer was 75 gallons, and an ephah 7 gallons. A talent was 113§lbs., and a shekel 6 ounces. A small taper will illuminate the atmosphere to the distance of four miles; yet the luminous particles which fill that area cannot amount to the 5000th part of a grain. This is indeed beyond our power of computation. The minuteness of animalcula is equally wonderful. Insects have been discovered so small as not to exceed the 10,000th part of an inch; yet each animalcule must consist of parts connected with each other; each must have organs, Auids, &c., composed of particles; it is inconceivable-it is awfully orand! |