Page:Round-about Rambles in Lands of Fact and Fancy, Stockton, 1872.djvu/20

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10
ROUNDABOUT RAMBLES.

The Minstrel on the Wall

TRICKS OF LIGHT.

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.

For instance, what a delight to any company, be it composed of