order to place it between the eye and the light, when required. After
tracing the design, the colours must be laid on, in the usual method of
stained drawings. When the tints are got in, place the picture against
the window, on a pane of glass framed for the purpose, and begin to
strengthen the shadows with Indian ink, or with colours, according as
the effect requires; laying the colours sometimes on both sides of the
paper, to give greater force and depth of colour. The last touches for
giving final strength to shadows and forms, are to be done with ivory
black or lamp black, prepared with gum water; as there is no pigment so
opaque, and capable of giving strength and decision. When the drawing is
finished, and every part has got its depth of colour and brilliancy,
being perfectly dry, touch very carefully with spirits of turpentine, on
both sides, those parts which are to be the brightest, such as the moon
and fire; and those parts requiring less brightness, only on one side.
Then lay on immediately with a pencil, a varnish made by dissolving one
ounce of Canada balsam in an equal quantity of spirit of turpentine. Be
cautious with the varnish, as it is apt to spread. When the varnish is
dry, tinge the flame with red lead and gamboge, slightly touching the
smoke next the flame. The moon must not be tinted with colour. Much
depends on the choice of the subject, and none is so admirably adapted
to this species of effect, as the gloomy Gothic ruin, whose antique
towers and pointed turrets finely contrast their dark battlements with
the pale yet brilliant moon. The effect of rays passing through the
ruined windows, half choked with ivy; or of a fire among the clustering
pillars and broken monuments of the choir, round which are figures of
banditti, or others, whose haggard faces catch the reflecting light;
afford a peculiarity of effect not to be equaled in any other species of
painting. Internal views of cathedrals also, where windows of stained
glass are introduced, have a beautiful effect. The great point to be
attained is, a happy coincidence between the subject and the effect
produced. The fine light should not be too near the moon, as its glare
would tend to injure her pale silver light. Those parts which are not
interesting, should be kept in an undistinguishing gloom; and where the
principal light is, they should be marked with precision. Groups of
figures should be well contrasted; those in shadow crossing those that
are in light, by which means the opposition of light against shade is
effected.
TRANSPARENT PUDDING. Beat up eight eggs, put them into a stewpan, with
half a pound of sugar finely pounded, the same quantity of butter, and
some grated nutmeg. Set it on the fire, and keep it stirring till it
thickens. Then set it into a basin to cool, put a rich puff paste round
the dish, pour in the pudding, and bake it in a moderate oven. It will
cut light and clear. Candied orange and citron may be added if
approved.
TRANSPLANTING OF FLOWERS. Annuals and perennials, sown in March or
April, may be transplanted about the end of May. A showery season is
preferable, or they must frequently be watered till they have taken
root. In the summer time the evening is the proper season, and care
should be taken not to break the fibres in digging up the root.
Chinasters, columbines, marigolds, pinks, stocks, hollyhocks, mallows,
sweetwilliams, wallflowers, and various others, may be sown and
transplanted in this manner.
TRAPS. Garden traps, such as are contrived for the purpose of destroying
mice and other vermin; which are often conveyed into such places with
the straw, litter, and other matters that are made use of in them; and
which are extremely hurtful and troublesome in the spring season, in
destroying peas and beans, as well as lettuces, melons, and cucumbers in
frames. Traps for this purpose are contrived in a great many ways; but
as field vermin are very shy, and will rarely enter traps which are
close, the following simple cheap form has been advised, though it has
nothing of novelty in it. These traps may be made by stringing garden
beans on a piece of fine pack-thread, in the manner of beads, and then
driving two small stake-like pieces of wood into the ground at the
breadth of a brick from each other, and setting up a brick, flat stone,
or board with a weight on it, inclining to an angle of about forty-five
degrees; tying the string, with the beans on it, round the brick or
other substances and stakes, to support them in their inclining
position, being careful to place all the beans on the under sides of the
bricks or other matters. The mice in eating the beans, in such cases,
will also destroy the pack-thread, and by such means disengage the brick
or other weighty body, which by falling on them readily destroys them.
Mice are always best got rid of by some sort of simple open traps of
this nature.
TREACLE BEER. Pour two quarts of boiling water on a pound of treacle,
and stir them together. Add six quarts of cold water, and a tea-cupful
of yeast. Tun it into a cask, cover it close down, and it will be fit to
drink in two or three days. If made in large quantities, or intended to
keep, put in a handful of malt and hops, and when the fermentation is
over, stop it up close.
TREACLE POSSET. Add two table-spoonfuls of treacle to a pint of milk,
and when ready to boil, stir it briskly over the fire till it curdles.
Strain it off after standing covered a few minutes. This whey promotes
perspiration, is suitable for a cold, and children will take it very
freely.
TREATMENT OF CHILDREN. It ought to be an invariable rule with all who
have the care of children, to give them food only when it is needful.
Instead of observing this simple and obvious rule, it is too common,
throughout every period of childhood, to pervert the use of food by
giving it when it is not wanted, and consequently when it does mischief,
not only in a physical but in a moral point of view. To give food as an
indulgence, or in a way of reward, or to withhold it as a matter of
punishment, are alike injurious. A proper quantity of food is necessary
in all cases, to sustain their health and growth; and their faults ought
to be corrected by more rational means. The idea of making them suffer
in their health and growth on account of their behaviour, is sufficient
to fill every considerate mind with horror. It is the project only of
extreme weakness, to attempt to correct the disposition by creating
bodily sufferings, which are so prone to hurt the temper, even at an age
when reason has gained a more powerful ascendancy. Eatables usually
given to children by well-meaning but injudicious persons, in order to
pacify or conciliate, are still worse than the privations inflicted by
way of punishment. Sugar plums, sugar candy, barley sugar, sweetmeats,
and most kinds of cakes, are unwholesome, and cloying to the appetite.
Till children begin to run about, the uniformity of their lives makes it
probable that the quantity of food they require in the day is nearly the
same, and that it may be given to them statedly at the same time. By
establishing a judicious regularity with regard to both, much benefit
will accrue to their health and comfort. The same rule should be applied
to infants at the breast, as well as after they are weaned. By allowing
proper intervals between the times of giving children suck, the breast
of the mother becomes duly replenished with milk, and the stomach of the
infant properly emptied to receive a fresh supply. The supposition that
an infant wants food every time it cries, is highly fanciful; and it is
perfectly ridiculous to see the poor squalling thing thrown on its back,
and nearly suffocated with food to prevent its crying, when it is more
likely that the previous uneasiness arises from an overloaded stomach.
Even the mother's milk, the lightest of all food, will disagree with the
child, if the administration of it is improperly repeated. A very
injurious practice is sometimes adopted, in suckling a child beyond the
proper period, which ought by all means to be discountenanced, as
evidently unnatural, and tending to produce weakness both in body and
mind. Suckling should not be continued after the cutting of the first
teeth, when the clearest indication is given, that the food which was
adapted to the earliest stage of infancy ceases to be proper. Attention
should also be paid to the quantity as well as to quality of the food
given, for though a child will sleep with an overloaded stomach, it will
not be the refreshing sleep of health. When the stomach is filled beyond
the proper medium, it induces a similar kind of heaviness to that
arising from opiates and intoxicating liquors; and instead of awakening
refreshed and lively, the child will be heavy and fretful. By the time
that children begin to run about, the increase of their exercise will
require an increase of nourishment: but those who overload them with
food at any time, in hopes of strengthening them, are very much
deceived. No prejudice is equally fatal to such numbers of children.
Whatever unnecessary food a child receives, weakens instead of
strengthening it: for when the stomach is overfilled, its power of
digestion is impaired, and food undigested is so far from yielding
nourishment, that it only serves to debilitate the whole system, and to
occasion a variety of diseases. Amongst these are obstructions,
distention of the body, rickets, scrophula, slow fevers, consumptions,
and convulsion fits. Another pernicious custom prevails with regard to
the diet of children, when they begin to take other nourishment besides
their mother's milk, and that is by giving them such as their stomachs
are unable to digest, and indulging them also in a mixture of such
things at their meals as are hurtful to every body, and more especially
to children, considering the feeble and delicate state of their organs.
This injudicious indulgence is sometimes defended on the plea of its
being necessary to accustom them to all kinds of food; but this idea is
highly erroneous. Their stomachs must have time to acquire strength
sufficient to enable them to digest varieties of food; and the filling
them with indigestible things is not the way to give them strength.
Children can only acquire strength gradually with their proper growth,
which will always be impeded if the stomach is disordered. Food for
infants should be very simple, and easy of digestion. When they require
something more solid than spoonmeats alone, they should have bread with
them. Plain puddings, mild vegetables, and wholesome ripe fruits, eaten
with bread, are also good for them. Animal food is better deferred till
their increased capacity for exercise will permit it with greater
safety, and then care must be taken that the exercise be proportioned to
this kind of food. The first use of it should be gradual, not exceeding
two or three times in a week. An exception should be made to these rules
in the instances of scrophulous and rickety children, as much bread is
always hurtful in these cases, and fruits are particularly pernicious.
Plain animal food is found to be the most suitable to their state. The
utmost care should be taken under all circumstances to procure genuine
unadulterated bread for children, as the great support of life. If the
perverted habits of the present generation give them an indifference as
to what bread they eat, or a vitiated taste for adulterated bread, they
still owe it to their children as a sacred duty, not to undermine their
constitution by this injurious composition. The poor, and many also of
the middling ranks of society are unhappily compelled to this species of
infanticide, as it may almost be called, by being driven into large
towns to gain a subsistence, and thus, from the difficulty of doing
otherwise, being obliged to take their bread of bakers, instead of
making wholesome bread at home, as in former times, in more favourable
situations. While these are to be pitied, what shall be said of those
whose fortunes place them above this painful necessity. Let them at at
least rear their children on wholesome food, and with unsophisticated
habits, as the most unequivocal testimony of parental affection
performing its duty towards its offspring. It is proper also to observe,
that children ought not to be hurried in their eating, as it is of great
importance that they should acquire a habit of chewing their food well.
They will derive from it the various advantages of being less likely to
eat their food hot, of thus preparing what they eat properly for the
stomach, instead of imposing upon it what is the real office of the
teeth; and also that of checking them from eating too much. When food is
not properly masticated, the stomach is longer before it feels
satisfied; which is perhaps the most frequent, and certainly the most
excusable cause of eating more than is fairly sufficient. Thoughtless
people will often, for their own amusement, give children morsels of
high dishes, and sips of spirituous or fermented liquors, to see whether
they will relish them, or make faces at them. But trifling as this may
seem, it would be better that it were never practised, for the sake of
preserving the natural purity of their tastes as long as possible.