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And John Smith's life was easily found out . He had a small though rising salary-, and lived in a small house—No . 3 , Roncesvalles Cottages . With him lived two sisters , oneun-married , one dis-married by the death of her husband , and so brought back to John , " by Providence , " sneered Dutton . That was not all . John , who was growing slightly grey , ought to have married , for he had a taste for literature , and art , and could sing an under part in any simple piece of music ; could read French , was up in a quaint style of romantic literature ; had dabbled in gymnastics , could pull an oar in a gentlemanly way ; and , in short , was just the kind of man to commit a boyish imprudence . Nay , he had done so—he had made a proposal ; but it was addressed to Prudence , personified in a gentle young lady , who bad been courted before by a very old gentleman , and had been
left with a small income by her devoted lover , to continue so long as she should continue un-married . ITow the gentle Amy had a mother dependent on her , and Amy resolved to marry when her mother died . Everybody admired her self-sacrifice , even John did ; she grew older , and so did he ; the mother grew less locomotive , but could still come to dinner every Sunday ; and John was permitted to pay those chaste attentions which Amy expected , and on which the grateful mother periodically pronounced a benediction . A placid quiet life—for the word life is very loosely used in England ; adorned by the gentle Amy , placid as a favourite lamb of fourteen years standing : and if ever the shepherd groaned in his heart , or turned his weary eyes out of bounds , no one ever knew it . But was that life , asked Dutton , satirical by force of envy , a success , or the way to one ?
Xet Jarrett had said it , and so did Smith—for lately his voice had been brisk and clearer , his eye bright , his step as ready and firm as that of a new made Serjeant of marines . Dutton could not solve it . One day Smith laid before him a bundle of papers , and he noticed what he knew was a recent addition to John ' s plain costume—a ring . It was peculiar too—a plain gold ring , knotted like a piece of cane , with a plain black shield upon it , and on the shield a plain gold cross . . " Was the man turned Catholic ? " inwardly asked the startled and interested Dutton . "Oh , no ; that is not 'a success . '" But tlie Jesuitical character of the symbol—Dutton could see nothing in the cross but Jesuitism—enhanced his suspicions , gave them force , interest , piquancy . He began to relish his quest . He already . ruminated on the delight of ' * exposing" Smith . The cross haunted him . It was his secret as well as Dutton's . It inflamed him .
Mr . Jarrett , always afiable to his dependents * esteemed Smith ; and occasionally invited him , and his sisters , and Miss Turner whom the sisters had mentioned—not Mrs . Turner , Mr . Jarrett disliked infirm people , and thought them best at home . Dutton always went , pleased to procure a change and a flattery for " the girls , " as he called them ; for he was a gentlemen to the Back bone , and declined any cognizance of time in reference to Amy or Amy ' s companions . They were all sitting round Jarrett ' s pleasant dinner-table , with dear Mrs . Jarrett ; after the upper cloth had gone , and before the ladies had followed . Jarrett had asked Dutton " to meet Smith "—it helped to make the Co . know his place ; and there-were some other men of standing . Dutton saw the supplanting process at work . Smith was virtually put on the level of a partner—he was already a brevet partner . The wine made his spiteful temples throb . He forgot what kind Mrs . Jarrett was saying so cheerfully . He could see only tie ring- —the cross .
There was a pause in the conversation—the ladies looked about to gowhen Dutton , his thin voice preternaturally distinct , cried— " What a strange ring that is , Mr . Smith ! How did you come by it ?" Dutton turned as pale as -wood ashes . Amy looked at his finger : her placid eye had never noticed it before : she turned white , red ; looked at him , at Dutton , at " Eliza !" __ " Must you not tell ? " persisted Dutton , with a sneering tone of insinuation . After a moment ' s consideration , Smith replied , in a calm voice , " With pleasure . " " Conticuere omnes . "
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kind down at Chatsworth , to make a house for the great water-lily and Messrs . Fox and Henderson will tell you they can make a house ' from London to John-O'Groat ' s upon this plan . " The gardener ' s plan was seen at once to be the only one adapted to the general purpose in -view , and it was carried out with some trifling modifications in the details of construction suggested b y Mr . Fox , and some elegancies by Mr . Barry . The chief excellence of t he plan lay in the employment of the same simple means of support and stability—viz . a column and a girder throughout the immense structure ; as these , were made of cast-iron , and after precisely the same mould , they could be used as fast as they were made , and supplied with equal rapidity . Every column fitted every girder , so that though the building looked like a puzzle when it was put together , it was 5 n reality an extremely simple affair . Where the arched work was employedas at the
, great transept , and across the nave , wrought iron had to be used on account of the length of strain upon the girders ; in the nave these were 72 feet long , made of longitudinal and diagonal pieces rivetted together . The grand thing in this kind of building is evidently to keep every part upright so as to maintain the proper vertical bearing ; for the moment a column gets out of the perpendicular , as has more than once been proved at Sydenham , the surrounding parts are seriously damaged . To ensure this there is an extensive system of wrought-iron tie-bars employed in the new building , between the columns , as well as between the ribs of the arched roof . In case of ft column cracking across , which is not a very uncommon occurrence , it is easily removed by shoring up the g irders and supplying a new one . This is an accident , however , which is liable to all buildings of cast-iron , and demands the most stringent and vigilant inspection of every part . The
roofing of the Crystal Palace is as ingenious and simple a contrivance as any connected with the structure : it is known as the Paxton ridge and furrow principle , which will be better understood if we liken it to the xoof a a child puts upon his house of cards . Thousands of strips of glass , about four feet long and one broad , are placed on wooden sash bars and tilted on end one against the other in long ranges . This plan gives the greatest strength , and at the same time the requisite slope for drainage . Sorne notion of the multiplication of this simple apparatus may be got from the dry fact that 202 miles of sash bars supported 900 , 000 superficial feet of glass in the old building ; they were made by machinery on the spot , and during the work you saw immense stacks of them standing about / The glass of the new building measures 25 acres , and all the old sash bars are used with it ; but the glass of the roof is new , being thicker ( one-thirteenth of an inch ) than in the old building . There have been various alterations
made in the New Crystal Palace which will be noticed , but the construction of both is the same . Having rescued the building , the next question was , what to do with it , and where to put it . As one of the most astute of the men of business said so naively to his brother directors , " Gentlemen , we have bought an elephant !"—Assuredly the little wants of a proprietary of 100 , 000 shares are no trifle , and they must be attended to—interest of money is one of the necessaries of commercial life . _ Hyde-park was an extremely convenient situation for a temporary exhibition , and it would have been very delightful to have had a permanent winter-garden , with a portion , of the park enclosed for statues , terraces , and fountains ; * but the great requisite " fresh air " would ever have been sighed for by the jaded towns-folk . Sydenham is a glorious place when 3 ou ' rc
there—so is Mont Blanc—but the difficulties of access have been terribly overlooked in the delight at the splendid view from the terraces , which is beyond compare the finest prospect within six miles of town on any side , Yet one would have thought some better place than the top of a clay hill , with roads that in winter drive coachmen mad , 'might have been found ; but stay , we forget ; there was " The Elephant" to be fed ; the Brighton line was made a contingency , and so probably were Penge-park and the 300 acres . Well then , we yield to contingencies and leave off" grumbling at the distance , and the struggle through the City , and over London-bridge , and the crowds at the station , and the " no change " grievance , with a hope that things will bo made pleasant , and all petty annoyances , which are always the most teasing , softened down and done away with as much as possible . The site fixed upon , the next thing was to make the new building
sufficiently strong to be lasting , and to improve the general form , for the shape of the old one was not remarkable for beauty . Indeed , if it was wanted now to design another Crystal Palace , probably past experience would load our engineers and architects to something far more suitable and ornamental ; not , by the way , that the building at Munich is any improvement , neither , from all we can sec at present , dous the Paris structure seem likely to surpass our own in elegance or grandeur . The most obvious improvement upon the old form , was to got rid of the flat roof . This it was at once decided to do in thu new palace . The entire nave , which was flat , is now arched over at the sumo height as the great centre transept was in the old building , which makes it 44 feet higher ; besides thin , there are the two end transepts of tho same height .
SYDENHAM PAPERS . No . III . Having compared the intentions of the old and new Exhibitions , let us now see how the two buildings differ . It was no easy matter , even for Englishmen , to build a place like tho old Crystal Palace , covering 19 acres of ground , and completed in less than nine months 5 in fact it may bo said fairly that tho whole world of architects was challenged to undertake it and failed . A _ month ' s consideration was given to the architects ot all nations : 233 sent in designs , of which number £ 18 were from foreigners 128 from
, London , and 51 from the provinces . As may be supposed , every kind of form , and all kinds of materinls were concerned in the construction of these proposed buildings : stone , bricks , wood , and iron , arranged in solid side walls , columns , arches , and domes of enormous magnitude . Those various plans were submitted to the digestiqn of Mr . DigVy Wyatt , the energetic working secretary of the commission , and himself an ablu architect . They were universally condemned 5 some wore not practicable and safe , and of those that wore so it was , after mature counsel , decided they could not possibly bo built in tho time , even if the necessary materials could bo got
CLT This decision of the building committee created no small sensation 5 whether it was honest or whether the committee had a mcntnl reservation to keep the honour for themsolvcs , we cannot Btop now to inquire- ; but the upshot of it all waB , that thoy had a scheme of their own ; —tUo mountain was parturient , but when tho offspring saw tho light it was condemned as am abortion of extraordinary ugliness , in spite of tho united praises amd elaborate defence of its many futhora . Mutters wore thus brought to u dead wok—ail the bigwigs of architectures in tho world at loggorhoiula , when up steps Joseph Paxton , tho D ,, kQ of Devonshire ' s gnrdeno ? , of all persona in tho world , and Say 9 , " I'll toll you how to mate the building horo ' a a sketch X just made on my blotting-paper—wo'ro doing something of the
At the points -of junction with tho nave , low square towers of wood have been introduced , which' give variety to tho form . It was proposed by Sir C . Barry to build a centre dome o ( " unprecedented magnitude , b ut this w < 13 given up on account of tho great difficulties of construction , although it was allowed by all that such a feature would be a most dqsirablo one . The groat centre transept was eventually chosen , tho building of which proved sufficiently arduous . The erection of tho iron ribs which spaai across tho nave and transepts , wns managed by a travelling scaffold made 0 / wood mid iron , its two en da or abutments being furnitthod with wheels which ran on 11 kind of railway along the tops of the columns ; thus nftor each rib wns fl . xou , the Bcnflbld was pushed on for the next . It was thought that a similar plan miht bo used for tho grout transept which is nearly twice us wido us the
g others ; and a scaffold was constructed , or rut hoi-attemp ted to bo , ol a series 01 wooden truss-girdors joined togethur in triangles , and braced longitudinally , tho difforont sets of which wore supported by two wrougl » t-iron tic-imrs , stretched like a bow-string across the opening from column to column . ii » o
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* Wh y something ofthia sort should not l > o had now , wo < 0 nol « oo , il would be r « orc nooopublo than tho uoros of fri »« l « U firo- « " < 1 dirty « l « b » llt « toU n 0 ttt lJ * p f ^ n ^ u " him Sunday crowds now U » ko tholr idoa » of tli « rural , I ' orluii * after the war , whm oui ohijw coino over wilh tho " mutoriul ( nuii-untoo , " «' u *» " . '" flOt > 1
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September 16 , 1854 . T . HE LEADE R . § 85
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 16, 1854, page 885, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2056/page/21/
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