Jasper Republican, Volume 1, Number 50, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 August 1875 — Children’s Fears. [ARTICLE]

Children’s Fears.

The objects that excite the-fears of children are often as curious and unaccountable as their secret intensity. Miss Martineau told me once that a special object of horror to her when she was a child were the colors of the prism, a thing in itself so beautifhl that it is difficult to conceive how any imagination could be painfully impressed by it; but her terror of these magical colors was such that she used to rush past the room, even when the door was closed, when she had seen them reflected from the chandelier by the sunlight on the wail. A bright, clever boy of nine, by no means particularly nervous or timid, told me once that the whole story of Aladdin was frightful to him; but he never was able to explain why it made this impression upon him. A very curious instance of strong nervous apprehension, not,how ever, in any way connected with supernatural terror, occurred to a young girl about eight years old, the daughter of a friend of mine. The mother, the gentlest and most reasonably indulgent of parents, senther up-stairs for her watch,, cautioning her not to let it fall; the child, by her own account, stood at the top of the stairs with the watch in her hand till the conviction that she certainly should let it fall took such dreadful and complete, possession of her that she dashed it down, and then came in a paroxysm of the most distressing nervous excitement to tell her mother what she had done.— Mrs. Kemble , in September Atlantic.

—A very valuable plastic material has been Introduced in Paris, the constituents of which are gutta-percha, oxide of zinc, amianthus and sulphate of baryte* in conjunction with various colors. The guttapercha is first prepared and hleached by being dissolved in rectified naphtha, benzole, or sulphuret of carbon, and when the compound does not exhibit sufficient elasticity, caoutchouc is added. After the gutta-percha is prepared and filtration effected the solution is placed in a still, the other ingredients are added, and the whole well stirred together. Heat is then applied until all the volatile oil is driven off, when the material is removed to the desiled molds. It is said to be suitable for quite * variety of molded works of art, tissues, or artificial flowers, and when rolled into sheets forms a substitute for leather in certain cases. —“Mrs. Mary Coffin” is Credited with an unsuccessful attempt to smuggle a Chinese cargo into California. “ Honest tea is the best, Polly G.”—Graphic,