I 
live fUrinrrr 
Written for Moore’s Rural New-Yorker, 
HARRY’S LESSON. 
Lectures on Ventilation! 1 Ilein? a Course delivered 
in the Franklin Institute of Philadelphia. During 
the Winter of 1866-7, By Lewis W, Leeds, Special 
A ire nt of the Quartermaster-General for the Ven¬ 
tilation of Government Hospitals during the War; - 
and Consulting Engineer of Ventilation and Heat¬ 
ing for the U. 8. Treasury Department. [8vo.— 
pp. 60.] New York; John Wiley & Son. 
The author of this handsome pamphlet states, in 
bis preface, that the Lectures here given were not orig¬ 
inally written with any view to publication. We are 
glad, however, that he was induced to put them in 
such shape as to be generally available. The public 
ought t.o be more thoroughly informed upon the very / M 
important subject of ventilation, and these three Lee- 
tores, finely illustrated as they are, will impart much ’ 
information, and will also stimulate the reader to fur- i /So 
ther inquiry. “ Twenty times every minute of our en¬ 
tire life, from the cradle to the grave, do we breathe 
what ought to be pure air,’’ says Mr. Leeds in Lec¬ 
ture III.; aud the interrogatory he puts, in view of this _V 
fact. — “ Is it always pure 5 ” — is one we cannot inno- , --jr 
cently ignore. i 
The effects of impure air are more fearful than peo- f—C 1 — 
pic apprehend. This statement in the opening Lec¬ 
ture is worthy grave consideration From the very 
best information we can command, and with the most 
accurate statistics at our disposal, we are forced to the fg- 
conclusion that about forty per cent, of all the deathB 
that are constantly occurring are due to the influence , UlT 
of fonl air." Nearly half the deaths in New York, if 
we may credit the Registrar of Records of that city, 
result from that cause. The efl'ects of foul air in cities v 
may be more marked than in the country, but let none ly - 
of our Rural readers imagine that ventilation is with 
them wholly unnecessary. Yon who shut yourselves 
up in close rooms, breathing the air which they contain 
over and over again, and taking its poison into your 
systems day after day, are being physically weakened rvjSj jS 
just as surely as though without and all around your 
domiciles the pure at mosphere were contaminated with 
the pestiferous odors of the town. The many excel¬ 
lent hints thrown out by Mr. L. will, if properly attend 
ed to, benefit people everywhere. Wo should like to 
make several extracts, but have room for only one, 
at present, touching upon the use of a fire-place: 
“ Never stop up a fire-place in winter or summer, where 
any living being stays night, or day. Tt would be about 
as absurd to take a piece of elegantly tinted court plaster 
and stop up the nose, trusting to the accidental open¬ 
ing and shutting of the mouth for fresh air. because yon 
thought it spoiled the looks of your face so to have two 
great, ugly-looking holes in it, as it is to stop your fire¬ 
place with elegantly tinted paper because you think it 
looks better.” 
vexed expression on his face. He had been trying 
all the morning to learn Ins l^son ; he had stud¬ 
ied it over very carefully a dozen times or more, 
and when he closed the book to see if he could 
recite, not one word could he repeat. 
“ Such a hard lesson I never saw before. I can’t 
learn it, and there’s no use in trying any longer. 
I’ve been at it an hour, now.” 
“Never say fail,’ 1 said his uncle John, who had 
been sittiug in the screen of the window curtains, 
reading the morning paper. “ What have you 
there, Harry, that is so very hard to learn V” 
“ My lesson in arithmetic,” auswered Harry. 
“Can’t you remember it ?” asked his uncle. 
“No,” replied Harry; “I've tried and tried, 
but it’s of no use whatever,” 
“ Keep on trying,” answered uncle John, “and 
you’ll be apt to overcome the dilllculty at last,” 
“What's the use?” asked Harry. “I have 
tried, and I can’t remember it, for all that! ” 
“ Once when I was at school, preparing for col¬ 
lege,” said uncle JonN, “ there was to be a large 
exhibition aud an examination of the classes in 
the different branches of study. The one who 
passed the examination satisfactorily, and answer¬ 
ed the most questions, was to receive a large sil¬ 
ver medal. Now you may well believe that there 
was a good deal of strife in the different classes. 
Each scholar resolvod to do his best and gain it if 
possible, All applied themselves closely to their 
studies. Many of the scholars have cause to thank 
the giver of that medal for an education that they 
might not have had, if it had not been in view, 
to urge them on to diligent study and an im- 
piovement of their time. As the announcement 
was made at the commencement of the term that 
the medal was to be given at the close, we all 
worked for those three months as we never work¬ 
ed before, and in three months of as hard sturiv 
mm 
Ascending by the elevator to another story the 
rattle of a steam chopper is heard, which is found 
to be engaged in cutting paste board for book cov¬ 
ers—turning out 8,000 pairs an hour, of any re¬ 
quired size. About 100 persons are employed in 
this department. Looking, for a moment, at the 
quick motions of all these experts, it occasions no 
surprise to learn that 3,000 “ Cyclopedias,” 6,000 
“Maria Antoinettes,” 10,000 “ Copperiields,” and 
15,000 or 20,000 small school-books can be delivered 
from this department daily. Great as is the capacity 
of production it seems to be fully tasked. Another 
hoist on the elevator takes the visitor to the gild¬ 
ing, marbling and finishing room, where the finest 
touches are made to the numerous volumes sent 
forth by the establishment in the tine of the classics 
and more important standard educational compila¬ 
tions. 
From this floor the visitor takes one more ascent, 
the last in the series, and lands in the packing room, 
where all kinds of books are being prepared for the 
several destinations marked in the orders of ship¬ 
ment. These embrace everything connected with 
the, publishing department, aud bound to all points 
in the United States. As an aid in the transaction 
of the immense business connected with this pub¬ 
lishing house, the buildings in New York and Brook¬ 
lyn are connected by a private telegraphic line, con 
verting the two points, in effect, into one, and pro¬ 
ducing a clock-like regularity in all—as though the 
whole machinery of the establishment was at one 
point and under one roof. The type setting aud 
stereotyping arc at present done, in Green street, 
New York, but when the plans of the firm are fully 
carried out these departments will comprise a por¬ 
tion of the Brooklyn establishment. 
pressing paper, employing live hydraulic presses of 
great power. The wetting room succeeds, in which 
machinery performs the. damping to the precise de¬ 
gree necessary for fine press work on nineteen pow¬ 
erful steam printing presses, which are constantly 
clicking in an adjoining room. This apartment is 
150 feet long and.OO wide, very' high, and a mass of 
windows on two sides. The presses are fed by a 
strong array of females uuder the general supervision 
of Mr. Dunne, who has long presided over this de¬ 
partment. A drying room connects with the print¬ 
ing one, whence the damp sheets are borne into a 
temperature of about 70 degrees, rendered equable 
by steam pipes. 
Following in the wake of piles of Muhlbachs 
and Dickens in sheets, the visitor finds himself in 
the Bindery, under the control of Mr. Matthews, 
who may be regarded as an important feature iu this 
mammoth book factory. Under this department, 
iu the basemeut, are large piles of board and sheet 
stock and other materials for covers, and next to this 
again are piles of odd lots of books—candidates for 
the paper mill when the time comes to work them 
over attain. From this deposit of dead printed mat¬ 
ter the visitor steps npon a steam elevator and lands 
on the first floor again, where he is confronted with 
a room full of prints, many from the latest designs 
of the best artists of the old and new worlds, to be 
used in the illustrated works of tin Publishing 
House. Passing hence through l door the visitor 
enters a room so loug that the other extremity is 
scarcely discernible, where he beholds a score or 
more of steam folders busily putting^ the printed 
sheets into shape for binding. In this room are em¬ 
ployed 175 girls, who feed the folders or stitch the 
sheets when folded. 
Among the most extensive and complete Book 
Publishing Houses in the United States may be 
numbered that of the Apfletons, whose operations, 
until quite recently, were carried on solely in New 
York City. Owing, however, to the rapid increase 
of their publishing business, tbeir space became so 
inadequate to the wants of the firm as to necessitate 
a change of base to a plat of ground just in the rear 
of the Naval Hospital, about midway between the 
center of Brooklyn proper and old Wllliarasburgh. 
Our engraviug gives a view of this new and immense 
Book Factory’. One face of the building is ou Kent 
Avenue—a wide thoroughfare through which runs 
the street railroad connecting the two sections of 
what now constitutes Brooklyn. It has a castel¬ 
lated appearance, with tower-iike structures at each 
end of a building 200 feet long on this face, bisected 
by r an imposing gate of oak and iron. On Penn 
street, Running south, it extends 198 feet, one story 
high, and on llewes street, north, it is four stories 
high aud 252 feet iu length. Additions iuclosing the 
entire area of the square are soon to be made, em¬ 
bracing an acre and a quarter, or 55,100 square feet. 
The buildings will cover about two-tliirds of the 
area, thus leaving in the center an excellent breath¬ 
ing space. 
To obtain a proper understanding of this Book 
Factory or Printing House, the visitor should com¬ 
mence with the printing department to the right of 
the central gateway on Kent Avenue. Here is the 
white stock room in a part of the basemeut, where 
tons ou tons of paper are deposited; beyond oud ad¬ 
joining is a long stretch of vaults where repose over 
10,000 boxes of stereotype plates, all labeled and ac¬ 
cessible whenever wauted. These vaults are dry and 
fire-proof. Directly over the stock room is one for 
The Massacre op St. Bartholomew. Preceded by a His¬ 
tory of the Relisrioun Wars in I lie Rei?n of Charles IX. 
By Henry White. With Illustrations.,^ [8vo, — pp. 
497.] New York: Harper & Brothers. 
Wb have here a very candid and impartial work, its 
subject being among the most noteworthy in the whole 
range or modem history. The Sixteenth Century was an 
era of persecutions. Its entire record savors of blood. 
In nearly every chapter of that record are to be found 
atrocities so inhuman as to make one’s humanity shud¬ 
der. The Reformation, then spreading throughout Eu¬ 
rope, deepened and grew strong’only through the fiercest 
ordeals. The struggle which it gave rise to in France, 
culminated, finally, in the fearful tragedy of St. Bar¬ 
tholomew's Day, when the stratus of Paris were laved 
with the blood of the Huguenots, basely murdered by the 
decree of Charles IX. 
Mr. White has depicted the causes which led to the 
massacre, in a very clear light. He treats his subject not 
as a partisan, or au ecclesiastic, but as an historical 
scholar, well informed upon all points bearing on the 
genernt theme, and disposed to give credence to no state¬ 
ments nor. substantiated by patient research. The result 
is a valuable addition to historical literature. We can 
learn many of the horrible particulars of the St. Bar 
tholomew massacre, in the general histories of the time, 
but can hardly conceive how such a crime as that were 
possible without understanding the conditions under 
which it took place. For his lucid grouping of those con¬ 
ditions, Mr. White deserves much praise. For sale by 
Dewey. 
Life. Letters and Posthumous Works of Fuedrtka 
Bremer. Edited by her .Sister, Charlotte Bremer. 
Translated from the Swedish by Fiiedr. Milow. The 
Poetry marked with au asterisk translated by Emily 
Nonnen. lliimo. — pp, 489.] New York: Hurd & 
Houghton. 
In this handsome volume we have a fitting memorial 
of one of Sweden's most gifted writers, — a woman who 
labored Tor many years to Improve the condition of her 
sex in Europe. MIbs Bremer’s character, as shown in 
her sketch of her own life, and in the interesting biogra¬ 
phy written by her sister, ie one which womankind 
everywhere will do well to study. It is not without an¬ 
gularities; hut it is an admirable illustration of steady 
working for a certain result, and that result—good to its 
kind. Her letters, which fill 151 pages of the volume, 
are replete with rich thought, and should be read by all 
mothers and daughters. It is through them that we get 
the best insight, into the Swedish authoress’ life, for they 
are what letters between friends always ought to be — 
transcripts of the life aud thought. Her sketches are in¬ 
structive as well as pleasing; and the book, as a whole, 
is a very acceptable addition to our memorial literature. 
Sold by Skeele & A very. 
a anoits tt opus 
You hear of people dying of this disease, or of that 
disease, but what they really do die of, is of ques¬ 
tions. I believe I have a pretty strong will—some 
people would say it amounts to willfulness ; but 
when I am unwell I lose all strength of will, and 
cannot bear to be bothered with questions. “ Will 
you have your gruel made of grits or of barley ? 
Will you have your vapor hath now? When will 
you take your medicine?” These weighty ques¬ 
tions—and they are weighty to the poor sick man 
—thoroughly overcome me. Now I am quite seri¬ 
ous. Au invalid ought to be treated moutally aud 
morally as he is physically, namely, with gentle¬ 
ness, yet with perfect firmness. Don't give him 
any choice about anything; don't burden his mind 
with decision; remove from him all responsibility, 
which is so fatiguing a thing. I have no doubt that 
the excellent Miss Nightingale has said all this in 
her way, but I venture to say it iu mine. A person 
in health can hardly have a conception of the help¬ 
less irritability of a real invalid. The most difficult 
case does not disturb my equanimity when I am 
well; but when I am ill, the question of grits or 
barley is an overpowering one, aud raises the pulse 
seven beats at least.— Macmillan'$ Magazine, 
A writer in Putnam’s Monthly Magazine thus 
sums up the happy lot of the Japanese: 
“Take the Japanese as a whole, high and low, 
rich and poor, they are the best fed, best clad, best 
lodged, least overworked, and most genial and bappy 
people upon the face of the earth. 
“ Food is abundant aud cheap — imaginary wants 
rare; and thu3 temptations to crime are less than 
with us, though the laud is no Utopia. 
“ There is no such thing as squalor to he seen in 
Japan. In the house of the very poorest, a Fifth 
Avenue belle might sit upon the matted floor with¬ 
out soiling her dress. The streets are admirably sew¬ 
ered , all offal aud garbage are removed for manure. 
“ There is no bigotry. Tbc people are wonder¬ 
fully open-minded. There is uo hatred of Chris¬ 
tianity as such; only it is feared as au engine to 
cause political changes, as in the past. The Roman 
Catholic forms of worship in many tilings are so 
like the Buddhist, that vt might be easily substh 
tuted, if the people were once to know they had 
nothing to fear from it.” 
Some wound-be wise ones down East have grown 
grave of late lest the old Yankee stock in Massa¬ 
chusetts should die out. It seems that the foreign 
population lias become eo large, aud the families 
of these emigrants are so numerous, that, in 1865, 
the births among the foreigu born exceeded those 
among natives by 1,851. A small beginning in the 
way of majority, hut what great and fearful end 
might come therefrom! However, it appears that 
the tougher grain and better nurture of the Yankee 
children comes in on the other side, aud more of 
them grow up to maturity, the mortality among 
foreigners being largely In excess. 
There are a good many people in the world who 
have a kind of chronic ague, shaking with fear lest 
civilization is somehow to fail, and picking up all 
sorts of disconnected facts, which they press into 
service to show how much ahead in some vital par¬ 
ticular the savage i6 of the civilized. The old say¬ 
ing that “facts cannot lie” is about the largest Jib 
on record,—for facts, cut adrift from their relations 
with other facts, can be made to tell all sorts of 
naughty stories, while, if we see them in those re¬ 
lations they are then, aud then only, safe guides. 
These same fearful people, of course, hold also that 
the ivorld is moving, if at all, into the shadows, and 
the light and life is in the Past,—as though the Infi¬ 
nite plan were to end in darkness and decrepitude! 
But we find that modern civilization, Imperfect as 
it may lie, has more power, light, joy and life than 
any thing in that Past, and that the civilized beats 
the savage iu his own wilds, as hunter, fighter, or 
traveler. Not alone has he the trained skill of 
muscle, but a power of will, a steadiness of aim, a 
persistence and loftiness of purpose, horn of a de¬ 
veloped nature such as the savage has not reached. 
The vital power of a race is in proportion to its cul¬ 
ture of mind and body together, and that culture is 
best iu the most civilized communities. Exceptions 
there are, doubtless; evils, aud weakness, and vice, 
we know there are iu what we call civilization; but 
virtue, and health, and strength excel on the other 
side, or we should sink to the dead level of barbar¬ 
ism at once. 
The wondrous vitality of the old Saxon race is 
not to be easily paralyzed, but has its great part yet to 
act ia the world’s drama, along with other races. 
Close up, workers all, in solid column, forward, on 
and up, to conquer a still better Future! 
THE LIONJAT NIGHT, 
The Brownlows. By Mrs. Olipuant. [Svo.— paper, pp. 
206.] Boetou : LUtcil & Gay. 
Many of the very best of English Serials have been 
given to our reading public through that excellent maga¬ 
zine, Littell’s Living Age. “ The Brownlows " is one of 
these, and the publishers nave done well in rc-issning it 
in this well-printed pamphlet, thus affording a very enter¬ 
taining story for only 37 cents. Mrs. Olifuant justly 
ranks among the beet English writers. Her present effort 
is of that quiet, subdued tone which is quite refreshing, 
albeit it is full of well-Bustained interest. Sent postpaid 
by the Publishers. 
in the dark there is no animal so invisible as a 
lion. Almost every hunter lias told a similar story 
—of the lion’s approach at night, of the terror dis¬ 
played by dogs and cattle as he drew near, and of 
the utter inability to sec him, though he was so 
close that they could hear his breathing. Some¬ 
times, when he has crept near an encampment, or 
close to a cattle enclosure, he does not proceed any 
further, lest ho should venture within the radius 
illumined by the rays of the lire. So lie crouches 
closely to the ground, and, in the semi-darkness, 
looks so like a large stone, or u little hillock, that 
any one might pass close to it without perceiving 
its real nature. This gives the. opportunity for 
An Elegant Toy.— There was entered at the 
Boston custom-house, a few days ago, a little musi¬ 
cal instrument, which deserves a word of notice. 
The case, in shape like a small music-box, is of gold, 
enameled; on the lid is set in an oval strip of porce¬ 
lain ; having wound the works and pressed a spring, 
this oval Hies up, a tiny nest is disclosed, and from 
it leaps a beautiful bird, which, perching upon a 
rest, begins to sing like a canary, opening its bill 
aud fluttering its wings and body in the most life¬ 
like manner; when its song is done it hops back to 
its nest and the oval closes. This beautiful toy was 
imported some years ago at a cost of §1,200, was sent 
back recently for repairs, and is now returned. 
Theory of Prairies. — Col. Foster of Chicago 
has submitted to the Academy of Natural Sciences 
of that city a new theory of the formation of the 
great western prairies. It has been supposed that 
these immense plains were once the beds of lakes, 
or at least swamps or marshy land, and that the ab¬ 
sence of trees was caused by the prairie fires; but 
Col. Foster undertakes to show that i; is rather the 
want of moisture which has prevented the trees 
from growing. The northern portion of the basin 
of the Mississippi, according to him, is deprived of 
the rain which arises from the oceans on each side 
of the continent, by the interposition of the Alle- 
gauy and Rocky Mountain ranges, and thus the tree¬ 
less prairies of Illinois degenerate as we go still far¬ 
ther west into desert plains. 
Five Hundred Pounds Reward. A Novel. By a Bar¬ 
rister. [8vo.—pp. 131.] New York: Harper & Bros. 
The Harpers seem to be quite rapidly adding to their 
Library of Select Novels, this being No. 309 of that series. 
We cauuot help thinking that some of the later issues 
have been selected with less eare than was formerly ex¬ 
ercised, and that the standard of the series is scarcely 
maintained. The 9tovy before us is quite original. a. j to 
plot, and ie cleverly told. But it poBBesBOB no decided 
literary merit, aud is open to criticism in many minor 
particulars. For sale by Dewey. 
Kenilworth. A Romance. By Sir Walter Scott, 
Bart. [pp. 192.] New York: Appleton & Co. 
An excellent opportunity is now offered to the public 
for perusing the works of the standard novelists at a 
very small cost. The edition of Scott's novels, in which 
the above named oue is numbered three, ig sold at the 
low price of twenty-five cents a number. The publish¬ 
ing of these cheap editions will tend to elevate the here¬ 
tofore low character of our yellow-covered fiction. A dams 
& Ellis have these works for sate. 
Dickens on Physiognomy. —in his Ledger story, 
Dickens assumes the position that first impressions, 
based on first sight of a face, usually prove correct, 
though they may for a time be explained away, if 
unfavorable, by the tact of the person so judged. 
He also says in relation to uuother kindred matter: 
“ I have known a vast quantity of nonsense talked 
about bad men not looking you in the face. Don’t 
trust that conventional idea. Dishonesty will stare 
honesty out of countenance, any day in the week, if 
there is anything to be got by it.” 
Water-Proof English Patent Harness Black¬ 
ing.— Mr. George Dobson furnishes us the recipe for 
this well-known blacking. It will keep the leather 
soft, and, properly applied, gives a good polish. It 
i3 excellent for buggy-tops, harness, etc. Old har¬ 
ness, if hard, may be washed In warm water, and 
when nearly dry, grease it with neatsfoot oil The 
ingredients are three ounces turpentine, two ounces 
white wax, to be dissolved together over a slow fire; 
then add one ounce of ivory-black and one dram of 
indigo, to be well pulverized aud mixed together. 
When the wax and the turpentine are dissolved, add 
the ivory-black and the indigo, and stir till cold. 
Apply very thin; brush afterward, and it will give a 
beautiful polish .—Western Vhridain Advocate. 
Anna Cora Mowatt Ritchie is in England, and 
has recently refused an offer of §30,000 to go on the 
stage again. 
The lady-in-waiting to Carlotta, Countess Paula 
Von Kollowitz, is preparing a book upon the “ Court 
of Mexico.” 
A London letter says that Mrs. Norton, the poet¬ 
ess, recently fell heir to §250,000, left her by a rela¬ 
tive in the East India service. 
A BOOK is about to be published iu Paris entitled 
“ One Hundred American Living Men of Letters.” 
It will give brief biographies of, and translations 
from the works of our principal writers. 
Lazy Boys.—A lazy boy makes a lazy man, just as 
sure as a crooked sapling makes a crooked tree. 
Who ever saw a boy grow up iu idleness that did not 
make a shiftless vagabond when he became a man, 
unless he had a fortune left him to keep up appear¬ 
ances? The great mass of thieves, criminals and 
paupers have come to what they are, by being 
brought up in idleness. Those who constitute the 
business part of the community—those who make 
our great and useful men, were taught'in their boy¬ 
hood to be industrious. 
Russian Horse Fairs.— According to official re¬ 
turns for 1867, there were held in Russia 458 horse 
faire in 240 localities, mostly in the Provinces of 
Tchemigot, Khurkgof, Poltawa, Toulu, Livonia, 
Kowno, and in the territories of the Cossacks of 
the Don. The number of animals brought, to those 
markets in 1867 was about 261,000. Supposing two- 
thirds only to be sold at an average price of 60 
roubles (§77.66) each, the amount of money put 
in circulation annually by this branch of industry 
would be equal to 10,500,000 roubles (§8,341,200.) 
A Great Man. —There is a kernel worth picking 
in the following:—We commend to all aspirants for 
greatness the estimate of the old lady of whom 60 me 
of the papers tell. Her idea of a great man, she 6aid, 
was “aman who was keerful of his clothes; didn’t 
drink spirits; kill read the Bible without spellin' the 
words, aud kin eat a cold dinner on washing day, to 
save the women folks the trouble of cooking.” 
Advertising lor a wile, says a contemporary, is 
as absurd as to get measured for an umbrella. 
