WATCHES.



WATCHES were originally made of steel and iron. No glasses were used until about 1615, the cases being wholly of metal; and to admit of readily seeing the time, the cover of the face was sometimes perforated in elegant designs.

Instead of the form now universally adopted, various styles of casing were employed, such as globular, octangular, cruciform, skull, acorn, pear, lemon, tulip, bird, and in fact, nearly every imaginable shape that ingenuity could invent or caprice suggest; and as a consequence of this, and the fact that many of those watches were provided with striking movements, they were so bulky that it was inconvenient to carry them in the pocket, and they were hung at the girdle with swivels, SO that their faces could be readily turned for observation without being removed from their position.

The hairspring was not introduced until about 1658, and was a great improvement on the early watches. About a century later, the smallest repeating watch ever made was presented to George III. of England. It was smaller than our silver half dime, and weighed only five pennyweights, and one-eighth of a grain. It was necessary to make a set of minute tools for its construction. For this watch the manufacturer received a present from the king of five hundred guineas (about $2,500), and it is reported that he was afterward offered a thousand guineas to duplicate it for the emperor of Russia, but he refused it, so that his gift to the king might remain unique. A smaller watch than this, however, formed a part of the Swiss exhibit in the World's Fair of 1851, but this was not a repeater. It was only three-sixteenths of an inch in diameter, and was set in the end of a pencil-case. It not only gave the hours, minutes, and seconds, but the days of the month also.







ICELANDIC COSTUMES.



THE full dress consists of a helmet-shaped head-dress of some stiff white stuff, with a golden tiara around the front of it, and a large lace veil over all; a black cloth jacket partly open in front, trimmed with velvet and gold embroidery; a black cloth skirt of medium length, and pretty full, embroidered with yellow silk. The belt is very handsome, being covered with gold ornaments. For out-of-doors, they have a long, round, black velvet cloak, trimmed with white fur and lined with green cloth.

The every-day dress is a black cloth jacket trimmed with velvet, but not embroidered; a dark shirt, and a large apron of some bright color. A silk necktie is also worn, the color of which ought to match that of the apron. Diversity of taste is exhibited both in the color of these parts of the dress, and in the fineness of the work on the chemisette and cuffs. The head-dress is a small, black worsted cap, with a long, black silk tassel, and it is worn by all classes, the only difference being in the gold, silver, or tinsel ornament on the tassel, and the slightly large size of the caps worn by the old women. 




Good Words.