RAIN IN SUMMER 
Written for Moore’s Kura] New-Yorker 
WARM WEATHER HYGIENE. 
Written for Moore's Rural New-Yorker. 
MY CHILDHOOD'S TEACHER. 
Tfce solo may b« sun* by a female voioe, if preferred; or it may bo suns in semi or full oborue, 
depending upon circumstance*;. 
How beautiful is the rain! 
After the dust, and heat, 
In the broad and fiery street, 
In the narrow lane, t 
How beautiful Is the rain ! 
How it clutters along the roofs 
Like tho tramp of hoofs I 
How it gushes and gurgles out 
From the throat of the overflowing spout. 
Across tho window pane 
It pour- and pours; 
And swift and wide, 
With a muddy tide, 
Like a river down the gutter roars, 
The rain, the welcome rain. 
Tho sick man from his chamber looks 
• At the twisted brooks; 
He can feel the cool 
Breath of each little pool; 
His fevered brain 
Grows calm again, 
And he breathes a blessing on the rain. 
LEAF FROM A MINISTER’S DIARY. 
Away back through a long vista of years, 
when I was an urchin of fivo, Memory wanders, 
this lair spring morning, as I sit by my study 
window. ’Twas just thirty years ago. and just 
=uch a blue sky overhead, just, such a breeze, 
fragrant with the blossoms of May—just such 
dim, shady woods, and just such bird-songs as 
float in through my window now. filled my heart 
with joy then; for l ever was in love with Na¬ 
ture. And was it a wonder that such a free, 
careless boy hated the thought of the first day of 
school, and dreaded the confinement? There¬ 
fore, it. was with a slow, reluctant step, that I 
loitered in and took my seat. But, as if by 
magic, my thoughts now centered on the teach¬ 
er's smiling face, and I tried to gain her appro¬ 
bation. 
At noon, however, one of the boy3 struck me, 
and I. enraged, fought with an energy worthy of 
a nobler cause. “ 'Twas to pay him," I muttered 
to the question of my teacher; but when her eye, 
so mild, caught mine, my face burned, and I 
could not answer that gentle rebuke, “Was it 
right? 1 ' With a tear trembling in her eye she 
taught me in a low, sweet voice, that never-to-be- 
forgotten lesson. “Never render evil for evil, but 
overcome evil with good," while all the time 
her soft hand lingered caressingly on my boyish 
locks. I had had no mother to teach it to tne, 
and I remembered it now, and since then have 
tried to practice that sacred truth. And when 
the hot blood of anger rises to my brow, and im¬ 
petuous words leap to my throat, au image of 
that dear, good teacher, who labored to instill 
good precepts by words and acts of love, rises 
before me, and 1 thank God for such ministry. 
May He bless earnest, devoted teachers! 
Groton, N, Y., June, 1S63. Hattib H. 
1 . When thy harvest yields thee pleasure, Thou the golden sheaf shalt bind;’ 
2. When thine olive-plants, increasing, Pour their plenty o’er the plain, 
3. When thy favored vintage, flowing, Gladdens thine autumnal scene, 
Longfellow. 
THE TONGUE. 
Children, when you are^sick, and the doctor 
comes to see you, one of the first things he says 
is, “let me see your tongue.” And from the 
looks of that little tongue he often tells just what 
the matter is. 
But while the tongue tells the state of the body, 
it also tells tho state of the heart. While walking 
along the street, tho other day, I heard a little 
boy’s tongue swearing. Then I knew that bo 
had a very bad heart, and didn't love tho Savior 
at all; for the third commandment Hays^Thou 
shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God In 
vain.” And tho Savior said, “ Swear not at all.” 
He never thought that his little tongue was tell¬ 
ing me all about, his heart; but it was. 
The little girl that was telling what a nice 
dress and bonnet she had, and how much prettier 
they were than the clothes of some ether girls, 
forgot that her tongue was, at iho saute time, 
showing how much pride there was iti her heart 
The Bible says, "Tho Lord shall cut off the 
tongue that speaketh proud things.” That does 
not mean that ho will take a knife and cut It off. 
But what does it mean ? Can you tell ? 
When you are telling how “mean” and “ hate¬ 
ful” some one else is, that tongue Is letting every¬ 
body that hears know of tho angry feelings hi 
your heart. J>o you like to have everybody about 
you know all your wicked feelings and desires ? 
Then take care of your tongue. 
Wo read in the Bible that, “ he that hath a per- 
; verse tongue falleth into mischief.” Do you want 
I to get into mischief and trouble ? If not, take 
care of your tongue. 
If you will got your Testament and read in the 
3d chapter of J anu-a, you will find it spoken of 
as something that cannot be tamed. That is, 
you cannot always control it and make it behave 
itself. Then you had better try and keep all 
wicked thoughts and feelings out of your heart; 
for if they are allowed to stay there, that unruly 
tongue will be telling of it before you know it. 
To the poor belongs the treasure Of the scattered ear3 behind: 
Grateful thou shall take the blessing, But not search the boughs again: 
Own the bounteous hand bestowing, But the vines the poor shall glean 
ORAL INSTRUCTION, 
Tue regular course of school studies, in most 
cities and towns, is already sufficiently extended, 
and yet it is notorious that pupils leave the 
Public Schools lamentably deficient on a great 
variety of subjects connected with a sound prac¬ 
tical education. 
It is found impracticable to introduce the study 
of physiology in the grammar divisions, with an 
additional text book and a course of daily recita¬ 
tions; and so most of tho pupils complete their 
course without any knowledge of the important, 
functions of tho heart and lungs, and the general 
laws of health. We cannot add the study of miu- 
eralogy and geology to tho course; and pupils go 
out lrotn the schools without any satisfactory 
knowledge of tho materials employed in con¬ 
structing the flag stones on which they walk. 
We cannot introduce natural philosophy; and 
most pupils leave without any definite knowl¬ 
edge of the principle involved in rowing a boat^ 
or even floating in it. We cannot add chemistry; 
and pupils leave without being able to explain 
the rising of a loaf of bread, or the burning of a 
common fire. 
And yet, a careful study of the philosophy of 
education will show that the schools are alt this 
time suffering for the want of the relaxation 
which would be afforded by a systematic course 
of oral instruction, exactly suited to Hupply 
these important deficiencies. 
A series of oral lessons, occupying fifteen 
minutes In a day, and continued through the 
entire course of the grammar department, would 
be sufficient to embrace a wide range of practical 
exercises in common philosophy and common 
things. Such u course of lessons would intro¬ 
duce an agreeable variety, without interfering 
with the successful prosecution of the other 
branches. If called up at the right time, it 
would infuse now life and vigor in the classes, 
and prepare them to do more in the time that 
remains than they would otherwise accomplish 
even with the additional fifteen minutes.—W. H. 
Wells on Graded Schools. 
are called in requisition. When the chemical 
forces have so far gained the ascendancy over 
the vital as to produce excessive acidification, 
new compounds are formed ami gases evolved 
which are as fatal to life, unless speedily removed 
or neutralized, as the poison of the puff adder. 
The most formidable tendency of hot weather is 
to promote the decomposition of all organic sub¬ 
stances. lienee, diarrhea, cholera, cholera mor¬ 
bus, billions and yellow fever, indicate the dis¬ 
organizing tendencies of the atmosphere. How 
important that all classes should comprehend 
these principles, and regulate their lives accord¬ 
ingly. IIow important for tho welfare of our 
vast army, that soldiers understand these laws of 
Nature, and live in harmony with their demands! 
While so many noble and heroic freemen have 
gone into Southern climes to figbtforlhe inalien¬ 
able rights of man, for our homes of peace,—that 
the invader come not upon us with fire and 
sword,—how essential that we do all we can to 
promote their health and comfort. 
I will now particularize some points, in order 
to be clearly comprehended: 
1. Maintain perfect digestion. Eat slowly, 
regularly, and never to full satiety. Preserve 
cheerfulness of mind and an abiding trust in 
God. 
2. Keep the skin active and heal thy, by frequent 
bathings and thorough friction with a coarse 
towel. Never go to sleep, or lie on the ground, 
in a state of perspiration. Move about slowly, 
until sweating abates. 
3. Avoid as much as possible severe labor and 
exhausting marches in the hot sun, and always 
under these circumstances wear fresh, green 
leaves, or a wet cloth, in the top of the cap. 
This last is important—cools the brain and pre¬ 
vents sunstroke. 
•L If lever, diarrhea, rheumatism, Ac., come 
on, abstain from food, bathe two or three times a 
day, followed by thorough friction with dry 
towel, until perspiration is free. Use nothing 
but toast water for drink, and take no food until 
himgry as a tiger, and until all fever is gone. 
5. Get from six to eight hours of sound 3leep 
daily. Drink only good well, sping, or filtered 
water, which should be boiled, until acclimated. 
Avoid liquor, except as a medicine, and cofl'ee is 
better. If the same kinds and amount of food 
are used in summer as in. winter, disease is 
almost inevitable. Keep the breath sweet and 
tongue clean. 
6. A very sultry summer, with frequent rains 
and a largo amount of lowering and stormy 
weather, is productive of the greatest depression 
of the vital forces and the greatest susceptibility 
to attacks of dangerous diseases. 
7. As colds are a very fruitful source of dis¬ 
ease, great care should be used to prevent them, 
and prompt, safe and efficient means used to 
speedily remove them; and right here I offer to 
the readers of the Rural the safest, surest, 
cheapest and most potential remedy known to 
man. Immediately on the approach of the cold, 
bathe the entire surface with tepid soft water, 
followed by heavy rubbing with coarse towel 
The widow and the fatherless 
The widow and the fatherless 
The widow and the fatherless 
This thy God ordains to bless 
This thy God ordains to bless 
So thy God ordains to bless 
ABOUT BROOMS, 
All over England Jgrowa a bushy shrub with 
pretty yellow flowers which make the sandy 
heaths look gay as a meadow. It is called 
broom, sometimes the bonny broom, for it Is 
very pretty; the children play among it and 
gather flowers, and wlum the twigs are dry, their 
mother* Lie them in bundles and use them for 
sweeping out those picturesque cottages of which 
we have read so often. Many years ago, even 
the queen had nothing better for sweeping her 
palace than a bunch of broom, and so, after¬ 
ward, when better materials were used for the 
same purpose, they were still called brooms. 
You have all seen broom-corn growing; there 
are large fluids of it in the valley of the Connec¬ 
ticut, for it likes to grow near a river, and when 
it is largo and thrifty, it is more beautiful than 
Indian corn. But do you know that it, is a native 
of India, quite on the other side of the world? 
It grows there much larger and more luxuriant 
than here, and the natives used to make brushes 
of it, just as they make mats of Manilla grass, 
and our people were glad to buy them. One 
sitting in a parlor, where a 
This thy God ordains to bless The widow and the fatherless 
This thy God ordains to bless The widow and the fatherless 
So tny God ordains to bless The widow and the fatherless 
the “ quir” or “ pue.” In 1608, galleries were 
introduced. 
As early as 1611, pews were arranged to afford 
comfort by being baized or cushioned ; while 
tho sides around were so high as to hide those 
within—a device of the Puritans to avoid being 
seen by the officers, who reported those who did 
not stand when the name of Jesus was pronoun- 
ed. The services were very much protracted, so 
that many would fall asleep. Hence Swift’s pithy 
allusion: 
A bedstead of the antiejufr mode 
Compact, of Umber many a load, 
Such as our ancestors did use, 
Was metamorphosed into pews, 
Which still their ancient nature keep 
By lodging folks disposed to sleep. 
With tho reign of Charles I., the reason for 
heightening the sides disappeared; and from the 
civil war they gradually declined to their present 
height. 
--♦»>---— 
Sleep Overcomes ali, Men.— The most 
violent passion and excitement cannot keep 
even powerful minds from sleep. Alexander 
the Great slept on the field of Arbela, and Na¬ 
poleon upon that of Austerlitz. Even stripes 
and torture Cannot keep off sleep, as criminals 
have been known to give way to it on tho rack. 
Noises, which at first serve to drive it away, soon 
become indispensable to its existence, thus a 
stage-coach stopping to change horses, wakes all 
the passengers. The proprietor of an iron forge, 
who slept clo.-:« to the din of hammers, forges and 
blast furnaces, would wake if there was any 
interruption to them during the night, and a 
sick miller, who had his mill stopped on that 
account, passed sleepless nights until the mill 
resumed its usual noise. Homer, in his Illiad, 
elegantly represents sleep as overcoming all 
men, and even the gods. 
until a free perspirationjis produced, say a half 
or whole hour, then dress warm and take brisk 
exercise. Abstain Bom food, but drink from one 
to four quarts of water in twenty-four hours. 
Bathe morning and night, and in twenty-four to 
forty-eight hours the cold is gone. The action of 
the pores fully restored and health re-uslablished, 
then eat. Yours for humanity, with tho perad- 
venture you may hear from me again. 
Daniel Higbie, M. D. 
Plainfield, Liv. Co., Mich., June, 1863. 
The School House. —It is the duty of teach¬ 
ers. as well as parents and school committees, to 
see that the circumstances under which children 
study are such as shall leave a happy impression 
upon their minds; fur whatever is brought under 
the frequent observation of the young must have 
its influence upon their susceptible uatures for 
good or evil. Shabby school houses induce 
slovenly habits. Ill-constructed benches may 
not only distort the body, but, by reflex influence, 
the mind as well. Conditions like these seldom 
fail to disgust the learner with his school, and 
neutralize the best efforts of his teachers. On 
the other hand, neat, comfortable places for study 
may help to awuken the associations enchaining 
the mind and the heart to learning and virtuous 
instruction with links of gold brightening 
forever. 
day a gentleman was 
lady hud just made the hearth tidy with a pretty 
foreign brush, no took it up to examine it and 
found a little, ripe seed upon it; ho planted the 
seed and it grew readily, and he soou had mate¬ 
rial to make brushes of his own. That man was 
Dr. Franklin, and from that one seed grew all 
the broom-corn that is raised in the United States. 
When that little seed was put in the ground, who 
would have thought it would be the means of 
raising so much dust? Every year our people 
raise enough broom-corn to make more than 
twenty-live millions of brooms. Some of them 
are seutlo England, and those that remain add 
a great deal to the happiness of home.— Spring- 
field Republican. 
The Child’s War Times.—A day or two ago, 
as little Annie was running at full speed on the 
side-walk, she had a serious fall. Knees and fore¬ 
head were very badly bruised, and the skin was 
grazed from the arm. That night, as she was be¬ 
ing undressed for bed, she looked pitifully at her 
numerous wounds, and sorrowfully exclaimed to 
her mother: “Oh, dear! what dreadful times 
these war times are. 
Youthful Love.— It Is only in early youth, in 
the first freshness of the spring of life, that, love 
can be tasted in its intensest rapture. Youth 
looks upon everything with fond and credulous 
eyes, and the air Beems one universal rainbow. 
The emotion will not bear analysis, and what is 
more, will not bear the test of time; it is but too 
i frequently its own suicide. 
In Anglo-Saxon and sumo Northern churches 
of early dale, a stone bench was made to project 
within the wall, running around the whole inter¬ 
ior except tho east end. 
In 1319 they are represented as sitting on the 
ground or standing. About this time the people 
introduced low, rude, three-legged stools promis¬ 
cuously over the church. 
Wooden seats were introduced soon after the 
Norman conquest Iu 1327 a decree was issued 
in regard to the wrangling for seats, so common 
that none could call any seat his own except 
noblemen and patrons, each entering and hold¬ 
ing the one he first occupied. 
As we approach the reformation, 1530 to 1510, 
seats were more appropriated, tho entrance be¬ 
ing guarded by cross bars and the initial letters 
engraven on them. 
Immediately after the reformation the pew sys¬ 
tem prevailed, as we learn from a complaint of 
the poor Commons addressed to Henry VIII., in 
1740, in reference to his decree that a Bible 
should bo in every church at liberty for all to 
read because they thought it might be taken into 
Public Education and Loyalty.— Mr. Rob¬ 
inson, the Superintendent of i’ublic Instruction 
in Kentucky, argues that ignorance was the tool 
of treason in the South. He produces statistics 
to show that the counties in Kentucky in which 
common schools have been most largely estab¬ 
lished and most liberally sustained, are those 
which have been most distinguished for a cordial, 
immovable and self-sacrificing attachment to 
the Union. 
The true teacher, forgetful of self, keeps the 
great work of education continually before the 
minds of his pupils; so quietly, with so little 
parade, does he aid his pupils to overcome their 
difficulties, that they are scarcely conscious of 
receiving any assistance. They are only con¬ 
scious of victory, of growth, of progress. 
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