Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Volume 1, No. 2, July, 1850.Various
General
Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Volume 1, No. 2, July, 1850.
Various
American literature -- Periodicals; Civilization -- Periodicals; Culture -- Periodicals
The artist who thus covers the globe, called a paster, is also a
colorer. This is, of necessity, a work which can not be carried on with
any division of labor. It is not so with the coloring of an atlas. A map
passes under many hands in the coloring. A series of children, each
using one color, produce in combination a map colored in all its parts,
with the rapidity and precision of a machine. But a globe must be
colored by one hand. It is curious to observe the colorer working
without a pattern. By long experience the artist knows how the various
boundaries are to be defined, with pink continents, and blue islands,
and the green oceans, connecting the most distant regions. To a
contemplative mind, how many thoughts must go along with the work, as he
covers Europe with indications of populous cities, and has little to do
with Africa and Australia but to mark the coast lines; as year after
year he has to make some variation in the features of the great
American continent, which indicates the march of the human family over
once trackless deserts, while the memorable places of the ancient world
undergo few changes but those of name. And then, as he is finishing a
globe for the cabin of some "great ammirall," may he not think that, in
some frozen nook of the Arctic Sea, the friendly Esquimaux may come to
gaze upon his work, and seeing how petty a spot England is upon the
ball, wonder what illimitable riches nature spontaneously produces in
that favored region, some of which is periodically scattered by her
ships through those dreary climes in the search for some unknown road
amidst everlasting icebergs, while he would gladly find a short track to
the sunny south. And then, perhaps, higher thoughts may come into his
mind; and as this toy of a world grows under his fingers, and as he
twists it around upon its material axis, he may think of the great
artificer of the universe, having the feeling, if not knowing the words
of the poet:
"In ambient air this ponderous ball HE hung."
Contemplative, or not, the colorer steadily pursues his uniform labor,
and the sphere is at length fully colored.
The globe has now to be varnished with a preparation technically known
as "white hard," to which some softening matter is added to prevent the
varnish cracking. This is a secret which globe-makers preserve. Four
coats of varnish complete the work.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account