aught the
first box he could lay hold of, and screwed the tube upon one of its
sides, just tight enough to hold it snug, yet let it move up or down.
Then he called for a light stand, and case knives to make it and the box
stand perfectly _still_. He took his place on the portico, got
everything ready, and said he was "afraid to look for fear the boys
would be disappointed." Frank said he "would like to look," and so, as
he had been the most anxious to have the telescope made, his father gave
him the first chance to be glad or sorry. After moving the box and the
tube a little all kept silent, but soon Frank began a louder "Oo-oo-oo!"
than before, and, much excited, exclaimed: "I see 'em: four red bright
little fellows, all in a straight line," and then he ran as if half
crazy, shouting, to his mother: "We got 'em, mother, all four of 'em! I
wouldn't swap our telescope for any other. Come and see!"

The parson too was much delighted. As he happened to look at the other
side of the box, he was amused to find that he had mounted his telescope
on a "Eureka Soap" box. In a few days he made an upright standard, into
which he bolted the telescope just tight enough to hold it, but let it
move freely. A common screw becomes too loose in a little while. The
instrument cost the parson only forty cents for the tubes; the glasses
were given, but ought not to cost more than a dollar or two. If a
one-inch eyeglass can not be had, a two-inch eyeglass will answer quite
well. The reason for having two tubes is that eyes differ, and that what
is bought for a thirty-six inch glass may be an inch or two more or less
than that, so that the smaller tube must be moved back and forth till
the eye finds where the view is plainest. This instrument shows the moon
beautifully. You read of the circular mountains and the extinct
volcanoes; here you see them. It is especially delightful to see in the
new moon the light breaking over the mountain-tops and through the
notches while all the plain behind is yet in the dark. Though it is now
a good while since the parson made the telescope, he waits impatiently
every month for the new moon to come again.

THE MAGIC BOTTLE.

There are few persons who have not been puzzled, when witnessing the
exhibitions of conjurers and performers of feats of legerdemain, by the
_magic bottle_, out of the neck of which the exhibitor can pour any one
of quite a number of liquids at his will. It may interest the rea