The Great Round World And What Is Going On In It, Vol. 1, No. 24, April 22, 1897

My Dear Edith:

We are glad to have your nice letter to publish, and will be pleased to have you read for us.

Editor.

Dear Mr. Editor:

Miss Bessy reads The Great Round World, and will you please send me a pattern of the kite of Lieutenant Wise?

Yours truly, Sydney G.

Baltimore, Md., March 26th, 1897.

My Dear Sydney G.:

"The American Boy's Book of Sport," published by Charles Scribner's Sons, and mentioned in No. 21 of The Great Round World, will tell you how to make kites of all kinds. We cannot promise that you will find Lieutenant Wise's kite there, because we think he has kept the manner of making his kite a secret, and will do so until he has quite finished his experiments with it.

The Editor.

Dear Mr. Editor:

I take The Great Round World, and like it very much. In your last number you spoke of "Singing Mice." Can you tell me, where can they be got? If they can be bought, where and how much?

Yours truly,

Willie T.H.

Dear Willie:

Singing mice are very rare; but we have been to the store where we get our lizards, and tadpoles, and goldfish, and the man who keeps it has promised to see if he can hear of one. If he is fortunate enough to find such a mouse he is to let us know, and if you send us your address we will tell you how much he wants for it, and where you can see it.

Editor.

Dear Editor:

A number of us girls have formed a society named The Daffodil Reading Circle, of which I am the president. We meet at the different girls' houses every week. I subscribe for The Great Round World. It is one of the principal things we read, and we all enjoy it very much. We were very much interested in the article about the cuttlefish or octopus found on the coast of Florida, in Number 16. I am surprised to hear to-day that it has been examined by some scientific men, who say that it is not an octopus at all, but only the head of a deformed whale. I am very anxious to hear what the truth is about it.

Your interested reader, Florence C.R.

Jersey City, N.J., March 20, 1897.

Dear Florence:

We have written to the Smithsonian Institution about the cuttlefish. The reply has not reached us in time for this number, but next week we hope to be able to tell you what the scientific men have decided about it. That the monster found was the head of a whale was only the opinion of some of the gentlemen who examined it. We believe that no absolute decision was arrived at.

The Editor.

We were very much pleased to get an account of a gold mine published in a recent number, for we want our boys and girls to write letters describing the different industries of the United States. A number of New York boys a few days since went to Waterbury, Conn., and visited various factories; we publish two of their letters, and hope that we may receive similar letters from boys and girls in different parts of the country. In almost every town there is something which can be written about.

OUR EXCURSION TO WATERBURY

On Thursday last the three upper classes visited Waterbury, Conn., to inspect some of the numerous industries for which the town is so famous, and returned Friday night, filled with great thoughts of the wonders of Yankee inventive genius.

While there we had the good fortune to be admitted to a pin-factory, an iron-foundry, a watch-factory, and the most extensive brass-works in the world.

I shall here limit myself to a brief description of the last.

Brass is made by melting together in large crucibles certain proportions of copper and zinc. The heat applied must be considerable, for during the fusion of the two metals a white flame from the zinc and a green one from the copper flash from the mouth of the crucible. When properly mixed the molten alloy is poured into rectangular or cylindrical moulds. After cooling, the bars are driven between immense rollers, to be formed into sheet-brass. This process is very much like rolling out dough for pie-crust, and is repeated many times. But the great pressure to which the sheets are subjected makes the alloy very brittle, so that it has to be softened or "annealed," as it is called, by being heated red-hot in very large ovens before each re-rolling. When the sheets have attained the required thinness, they are cut into widths and lengths suitable for easy handling, transportation, and manufacture.

We also saw sheets of copper and German silver made in a similar manner. The latter is simply brass that has had some nickel added to it to make it white like silver.

The cylindrical casts above mentioned are placed in machines that draw them into wire or tubing. The process is a most interesting one, though rather difficult to describe.

A large quantity of the products of these works is used directly in the very town, in factories for making clocks, watches, pins, and other articles.

It is interesting and curious to note how the manufacture of brass in this country originally started.

During the war of 1812 many useful articles became scarce; among these were buttons. A man named Benedict, who lived in Waterbury, began to make them out of bone, and became very prosperous.

About 1830 "Dame Fashion" ordained that brass or gilt buttons should be worn. At first Benedict imported brass from England, but as he could not get it of the required thinness, he resolved to make it himself. As copper was scarce, he travelled about the country, buying up old copper kettles and other things made of copper, which he melted with zinc, and had the resulting brass slabs rolled at a neighboring iron rolling-mill. In this way the great brass industry of the United States started. Its product is now valued at $60,000,000 a year.

H.H. Rogers, Jr.

April 6th, 1897.