AN EVENING SCENE-BOSTON FLAT, CALAVERAS COUNTY. This picture is intended to represent the Miner at home, after his day's work is done. To the man who rises early, that he may cook his breakfast and be at work by sunrise; and sits down by his claim, or upon his cabin threshhold to rest his body, while he eats his mid-day meal; or when the sun has sunk beyond the distant hill, hies him to his cabin to chop his wood, kindle his fire, and prepare his food; there is a luxury in taking a seat outside the door, while TO A. W. Ah! well do I remember A score of months, so fleeting, I have met thee in the morning And when the moon, adorning his supper is cooking; and in the cool and quiet of the evening, with his favorite dog by his side, to take his flute, or violin, and play any favorite air, especially that of the civilized, in every land, "Home, Sweet Home ;" and while his faithful guardian keeps watch that no "evil thing" comes nigh his master's dwelling; his thoughts turn naturally upon the theme and burden of the song which is still lingering upon his lips and in his heart. The hills like some fair bride, We have wandered by the brookside - Now they tell me thou'rt another's For a moment by thy side? Wouldst thou cause me all this sadness But return this love of mine. J. THE FIRST EGG. How a hen exults in her maternity! When she comes off her nest with a troop of chickens about her heels, she erects her feathers and elevates her wings; she whirls in circles and semi-circles; and she clucks vigorously, just as if there was not another maternal hen on the premises. She rejoices just as much over her first egg, though the manifestation is somewhat different. There had been a considerable time of barrenness among our hens, so that we could scarce remeraber the date of the last egg; but one morning the sudden excite ment that was manifested among the poultry, with one clear voice that sounded above all the others, was an unmistakable indication that an egg had been laid. The hen cackled most earnestly; and immediate and rapid responses were made by every rooster in the vicinity. The younger members of the flock, not yet accustomed to this family demonstration, took immediate refuge in the poultry-house, where they stood in great consternation. Still the hen cackled, and still the roosters crowed; and the flock peered about and gazed at each other, greatly bewildered. It was a spruce, sleek little black hen that had originated all this excitement. There she stood, right over her nest, elevated above all the others, now looking down at the hens, and now upon the egg she had deposited there. It was a small egg; but, under the circumstances, this was quite excusable. She had set the example, and inaugurated the laying season. Corpulent old speckled hen stalked about with considerable gravity, and a look that said, "I can do that." Another chubby little black hen seemed somewhat disconcerted. She moved about with her head down, as if looking for a speck of something to eat; but her efforts were without success. She did now and then pick at some little things, but she could make nothing out of them. Several others of smaller pattern held their heads erect with a very evident effort to appear calm, while they were almost stifled with anger. Theirs was a conflict with wounded pride, without sufficient self-command to conceal it. In about a quarter of an hour the excitement passed away; and, soon after, the flock were picking about as if nothing had happened-but, we had no scarcity of eggs afterwards—so much for a good example! N. K. THE PATTER OF THE RAIN. BY ANNA M. BATES. Sweet is a fountain's silver chime, Long ago, when I was a child, Falling as now on the moss-tufts wild, Thus when the light of day grows dim, Where the oriole's nest is made; Not that it kisseth the roses red, Or the violets blue and white, Such a spell to my heart is wed As I list its voice at night: But it weeps o'er many a buried head, On the bright green turf that hides the dead, Unchanged through the lonesome years It falls like an angel's tears! Oh, soft the light of a summer night, When stars smile through the bush, And sweet to wake at the young day-break, When the early sunbeams blush; But dearest, when I have weary grown, And the night shuts over all, To list in my quiet room above, To the rain-drops as they fall. Or the rose's robe of fire, That the rain spirits weave at night, In the perfumed, star-lit night There wakeneth many a strain, (1)The Miner which earries the matter to be washed in the Rattar. (2) The parts of the Rattar more visible than in the other sculpture. (3) Washer that governs the Rattar. (4) The up per & lower falls of the Rattar. (5) The plain boards (or hearth) од which they fall. (6) He that stirs the muddy water from both fallings. (7) The tub wherein that which falleth from the hearth is to be washed." PLACER MINING TWO HUNDRED YEARS AGO. NO. 1. Having been favored by Mr. Capp with tracings of engravings from an old book, illustrative and descriptive of the method of mining two hundred years ago, we are enabled to give them to our readers-the following account of which appeared in the columns of the Evening Bulletin: As a matter of curiosity to our readers, and as showing how few real advances have been made in the art of gold-washing, not only since the discovery of the precious metal in this State, but within the past two centuries, and notwithstanding the many "improvements" adopted, and the "new inventions" for the purpose made in California and elsewhere, we publish the extracts given below from a very old work on the subject. By the politeness of Mr. Atwood, of Grass Valley, our traveling correspondent was allowed to copy the descriptions of the processes used in Hungary two hundred years ago, together with two roughly etched illustrations, given in the work, and exhibiting the machinery mentioned and the mode of using it. The work was published in England in 1683, and was merely a translation of five volumes on the subject of mining, written a number of years before. The title of the work is as follows: "The Laws of Art and Nature, in | little wooden pieces fastened to it, by Knowing, Judging, Assaying, Fining, Refining, and Enlarging the Bodies of confined Metals: In two parts. The first contains Assays of Lazarus Erkern, Chief Prover (or Assay Master General) of the Empire of Germany: In five books: Originally written by him in the Teutonic Language and now translated into English. The second contains Essays on Metallic Words, as a Dictionary to many pleasing Discourses, by Sir John Pettus, of Suffolk, Kt. of the Society for the Royal Mines, 1683." From Book 2, page 104:-"If upon search he doth find by such proof that the wash work will recompense his labor, pains and charges, then each one, according as he is best instructed doth wash the same, and make his profit thereby, among which there are some who do wash that which doth lye in the Fields under the moist earth, and also the sand out of the flowing Rivers or Channels, and do wash it over a board in which are cut little gutters and wrinkles, here and there, into which the heavy Gold will descend and remaineth; but part of it will wash over, especially if the work be rich and hath grain Gold; but if he doth go slow, it requires more pains. "Some years past there was found upon such Work and Sand, by the water side, a special Work by which in one day near 300 weight of rubbish have been washed away and the Gold saved: which is done thus. There must first be made of Brass Wire a Rattar or Sieve as wide or narrow as the work requireth and it is to be tyed, from above downward, with Brass Wire, and it must be stretched fast upon Iron Stays that it may not bend or rise; the bigness of the Rattar is to be seven spans long, and five wide, and in depth a good span, with a bottom that doth enter twothirds into the Rattar, and with one-third part to be extended for carrying the matter out (which is to be done over with Tin.) The Rattar must also have, on each side, which he may reach to the foremost Instruments that the gross matter that doth not go through may easily be emptyed. As also the lower bottom under the Rattar must have on each side Boards fastened to it, that nothing may fall from the Rattar, for from that place the Work passeth from the Rattar, upon the flat hearth (which is to be thirty spans in length and four broad) and the channel through which the water doth run out must be wider than above, and also covered over with Tin. To this there is also Water used more or less according as the work is foul and sandy. This Wash-Work serveth only for Sandyworks, but not at all for the clean and deft; yet because this work is not common to this day, therefore I have delineated it in the following Sculpture. "Then some of the gold-washers use upon their hearths the strong Timode black and russet woolen cloth, over which they do drive their works, because the woolen cloth is rough and hairy, so that the small and round grains of gold will remain, and not run forth (as it will from the Timode,) whereby the gold (upon the black cloth) may apparently be known, though it be small and little. "Others use, instead of the Timode, or black woolen cloth's linsy woolsy (half linen and half woolen, wrought in the manner the Timode is,) upon which the gold doth stick better, and such cloths do last longer, because of the linen there is among the woolen, which doth strengthen it, therefore it is better for this work. "But there is another way of washing (not much in use) which is called driving and washing through the long Rattar; but according to my mind it is not so convenient a way for small works, which have great and small gold and are both sand and clay together, yet I do not much decline from the before described Rattar work. For in this labor and washing, because of the turning in the upper and lower falls, the running gold is preserved PLACER MINING TWO HUNDRED YEARS AGO. better, and the gold goeth with the small common work over the plain hearth upon which it is driven." NO. 2. suffered this loss, because when "he [the miner], doth go slow it requireth much pains." This and the high cost of labor here led to the disuse of the sieve in CaliThe "proff" referred to is the trial fornia, and the introduction of sluices to washing for a "color" or a "good pros- wash larger quantities of dirt and more pect.""That which doth lye in the fields rapidly, and which is, in all probability, under the moist earth," is nothing more or the same as the "driving through the long less than the "pay gravel," which the old rattar" referred to, but to which the writer, miners knew as well how to search for as who evidently understood the business, obourselves. River and gulch ["channels"]jects where claims [works] are small, and diggings were the same as in California. The "board" was the bottom of a "long tom" or "sluice box"-" in which were cut little gutters or wrinkles here and there, in which the heavy gold will descend and remaineth"-precisely the same as the "riffles" and "cleets" now used. Then, as now, they found that "part of it will wash over, especially if the work [claim or earth] be rich, and hath grain [or fine] gold" and they also probably "have great and small gold, and are both sand and clay together." By the machinery described, the washing of three hundred weight of dirt could be washed in a day, and the gold saved, which was considered by the writer "a big day's work." The drawings above alluded to represent the sieve hung up by heavy chains to a frame. The dirt is thrown on it from a wheelbarrow. A stream of water pours on it, and a man shakes the sieve and throws |