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Mrs. Stowe did much for the advancement of American letters.  Before she wrote “Uncle Tom’s Cabin,” story-writing was in its infancy in America.  It is hard for young people to realize how the times have changed with the coming of the many magazines and papers that we have to-day.  Balzac, Thackeray, Dickens, Dumas, and Hawthorne were publishing their wonderful romances at the time Mrs. Stowe appeared as an authoress.  She wrote many other stories during her long life, although her fame rests very largely upon the one book, “Uncle Tom’s Cabin,” of which many hundreds of thousands of copies have been sold.

GenieH. Rosenfeld.

INVENTIONS AND DISCOVERIES.

Pneumatic tire.—­It is hard upon bicyclists that the early summer season, when everything should be most favorable for cycling, is just the time chosen to mend the country roads.

Woe to the tires of the unwary cycler who comes suddenly upon such a mended road!  There was one the other day, a lady, coming home hot and tired after a long run.  She slackened her speed, gazed in despair at the wicked little sharp-pointed stones which lined her path for many yards to come, and finally, hot and tired as she was, she dismounted and carried her bicycle to a spot where the road was again worn to a comfortable smoothness.

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All cyclists meet with the same experience, and it has set the clever heads among tire-makers thinking how the inconvenience can be remedied.  There are several new kinds of tires suggested, and one seems to be quite a good idea.  It is to be composed of a series of inflated balls, with an outer rim to protect them from the stones, nails, etc., which are the nightmare of the bicycle-rider.  In this way, should an accident happen to one ball, the others need not be in any way injured, and the horror of a punctured tire would be greatly lessened.

Sewing-machine that will cut and make button-holes.—­Here is an invention that will delight the girls.

Our sewing-machines do so much of the work for us nowadays that one quite resents the idea, after a garment is otherwise completed, of sitting patiently down to make button-holes, just as our grandmothers used to do, and their grandmothers before them.  Some one has come to the help of busy workers with a machine that has a double action.  It not only sews button-holes but cuts them.  It is provided with an appliance which stops the sewing while the hole is being cut, and again stops the cutting movement to give place to the sewing.

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This ought to be a great and successful invention.

Silk made from Wood-fibre.—­A new process of making silk has just been put on the market, and if it is as successful as is claimed for it, silk may soon be as cheap as cotton.