Round-about Rambles in Lands of Fact and Fancy | Page 3

he scudded,
over there among the chestnuts, and Rover right at his heels, and when
we got down there to the creek, Rover turned heels-over-head on the
ice, he was going so fast; but I gave one slide right across, and just up
there, by the big walnut, the other two dogs got him!"
That boy is almost as much excited as you are, and he would drop his
axe in one minute, and be off with you on another chase, if his father
were not there.
And now you find that you have reached the wood-cutters exactly in
time, for that great tree is just about to come down.
There go the top-branches, moving slowly along through the tops of the
other trees, and now they move faster, and everything begins to crack;
and, with a rush and a clatter of breaking limbs, the great oak comes
crashing down; jarring the very earth beneath your feet, and making the
snow fly about like a sparkling cloud, while away run the dogs, with
their tails between their legs.
The tree is down now, and you will want to be home in time for dinner.
Farmer Brown's sled has just passed, and if you will cut across the
woods you can catch up with him, and have a ride home, and tell him
all about the rabbit-hunt, on the way.
If it is Saturday, and a holiday, you will be out again this afternoon,
with some of the other boys, perhaps, and have a grand hunt.
Suppose it is snowing, what will you care? You will not mind the snow

any more than if it were a shower of blossoms from the apple-trees in
May.

TRICKS OF LIGHT.
[Illustration]
There is nothing more straightforward in its ways than light--when we
let it alone. But, like many of us, when it is introduced to the inventions
and contrivances of the civilized world, it often becomes exceedingly
fond of vagaries and extravagances.
Of all the companions of light which endeavor to induce it to forsake
its former simple habits, there is not one which has the influence
possessed by glass. When light and glass get together it is difficult to
divine what tricks they are going to perform. But some of these are
very interesting, if they are a little wild, and there are very few of us
who do not enjoy them.
[Illustration]
For instance, what a delight to any company, be it composed of young
folks or old, is a magic-lantern! The most beautiful and the most absurd
pictures may be made to appear upon the wall or screen. But there is an
instrument, called the phantasmagoria, which is really nothing but an
improved magic-lantern, which is capable of producing much more
striking effects. It is a much larger instrument than the other, and when
it is exhibited a screen is placed between it and the spectators, so that
they do not see how the pictures are produced. It is mounted on castors,
so that at times it can be brought nearer and nearer to the screen, until
the picture seems to enlarge and grow in a wonderful manner. Then,
when it is drawn back, the image diminishes and recedes far into the
distance. The lenses and other mechanism of the phantasmagoria can
also be moved in various directions, making the action of the pictures
still more wonderful. Sometimes, when the instrument is exhibited in
public, the screen is not used, but the pictures are thrown upon a cloud

of smoke, which is itself almost invisible in the dim light of the room.
In such a case the figures seem as if they were floating in the air.
A man, named Robertson, once gave exhibitions in Paris, in an old
chapel, and at the close of his performances he generally caused a great
skeleton figure of Death to appear among the pillars and arches. Many
of the audience were often nearly scared to death by this apparition.
The more ignorant people of Paris who attended these exhibitions,
could not be persuaded, when they saw men, women, and animals
walking about in the air between the arches of the chapel, that
Robertson was not a magician, although he explained to them that the
images were nothing but the effect of a lantern and some glass lenses.
When these people could see that the figures were produced on a
volume of smoke, they were still more astonished and awed, for they
thought that the spirits arose from the fire which caused the smoke.
But Robertson had still other means of exhibiting the tricks of light.
Opposite is a picture of the "Dance of Demons."
This delusion is very simple indeed, and is produced by placing a
card-figure on a screen, and throwing shadows from