APRIL 0 
THE RURAL fJEW-YORKER. 
24S 
f itcrarn IjUstfllang. 
LEISURE HOURS. 
Whebk seek we first, the ruddy bloom of health ? 
A boon, without which none can boast of wealth. 
Where, but amunif the happy, free and gay. 
Where honest labor rules the livelong day. 
Go, visit yonder farm-house on the Breen, 
If It so happen yon have never been, 
To him whose pride is to hold the plow. 
Go, in a Summer ove, near set of snn, 
And wbeu tbe well-planned, hard day’B work is done, 
Bee how the farmer and bis ruipred boys, 
The wire and daughters, cherish life’s rich Joys, 
Free from the cares that hinder or destroy 
The calm delight of those who shun employ: 
Behold his fields of richly.waving grain, 
Moved by the breeze that sweeps along the plain, 
See how they smile, kiss’d by the rosy lips 
Of mellow sunbeams, ere the night’s eclipse. 
In shade Just changing to a golden hue. 
In every aspect beautiful to view. 
ADVENTURES OF AN ANTEDILUVIAN 
In The Land of Promise, 
BT JAMES M’NKILL. 
(Continued from page 230.) 
CHAPTER XI. 
SOCIETY WITHOUT SOCIAL DISTINCTIONS. 
In the tower of every church throughout the 
city a wonderful clock was placed, which not 
only struck the hours of the day but indicated to 
the Inhabitants the time of every duty. Thus, at 
half-past five In the morning the clock set a bell 
ringing, which was intended to rouse the people 
from their slumbers. At Beven o'clock anoiher 
bell Indicated the hour for breakfast. At eight 
o’clock the business bell proclaimed the lime for 
opening stores, and entering on the various pur¬ 
suits of the day. At twelve o’clock the lunch 
beli rang, which also marked the hour for closing 
business. Alter lunch the people devoted them¬ 
selves to various intellectual occupations. The gym¬ 
nasium beli sounded at four o'clock, which called 
the people of both sexes and nearly all agQ 3 to the 
several gymnasia connected with every park. 
At five o'clock the bell which announced the hour 
for dinner rang. And at six another announced the 
evening business hour, when the stores were opened 
till seven for the accommodation of the pu bile. 
The bell which called the people together for two 
hours of aoclal enjoyment at th9 parks was rung 
at.seven. And, finally, at ntno those delightful 
chimes sounded, 
which, with the 
hymn of praise 
thit rose simul¬ 
taneously from 
every quarter or 
the city, fittingly 
announced the 
fact that the la¬ 
bors and pleasures 
or the day weie 
ended. 
There were, of 
course, occupa¬ 
tions In which it 
was necessary to 
vary this routine. 
CHAPTER XII. 
HOMES OF STONE 
AND ART. 
As I spoke In 
the last chapter 
of my needless 
alarm over what I 
took to be a sum¬ 
mons to a fire, I 
may say here that 
the destruction of 
property by fire 
was a thing quite 
unknown In tills 
country. Not only 
were the houses 
completely nre- 
proof, but the 
conveniences of 
lire among this 
people were so 
perieet, and they 
theinseivea were 
bo habitually pru¬ 
dent and cautious 
that danger from 
fire was entirely 
precluded. 
The sione-ilke 
appearance of the 
ouses which I 
have spoken ol as 
rep resen ting 
buildings chiseled 
from the solid 
rock, waa not 
confined to the 
outside, but ex¬ 
tended through¬ 
out the Interior. 
The floors, ceil¬ 
ings, walls, balus¬ 
trades and even the doors and windows had the 
appearance of being the laborious work of the 
skillful sculptor. 
This stone-like material which if I remember 
rightly, was called bllsten, was of the consistency 
of mortar or oement when applied, but much ) 
tougher aud more ooheslve. 11 was capable of be- I 
ing pressed Into moulds, and at a certain stage of Its 
hardening It could be cut like oh ilk. so it was an 
easy matter to faBhlon It into any desired form, 
and when once hardened It was even more dur¬ 
able than marble Itself, Its nature 111 ado destruc¬ 
tion by flre Impossible, 
The houses were built most substantially of a 
sort of oorrugated brick, two feet long and a foot 
square, which were laid in this substance, and 
which it bound together with a tenacity that was 
even greater than the cohesion of their own parti¬ 
cles ; for It was easier to break them In pieces than 
to separate them from one another when once tbe 
bllsten had become thoroughly hardened. When 
the wall was built up, it was faced with the blls¬ 
ten after the manner that our houses are plastered, 
but with machinery which accomplished the work 
m a much more rapid and artistic manner. The 
coloring of the particular stone which It was de¬ 
sired to simulate was transferred Instantaneously 
to the whole side of the building before the bllsten 
became dry, by an instrument which resembled 
the camera obscura. A chemical substance was 
then cast over the building in aline spray, which 
seemed to burn in, as it were, the coloring which 
had been transferred to the bllsten so as to make 
it appear a part of Us very nature, giving to it at 
the same time a hardness and polish which made 
it resemble the laborious work of the lapidary. 
The Interior of the houses, the floors, etc., were 
constructed out of a porous sort of wood, over 
which was spread a coating of bllsten, prepared 
somewhat different!} from that upon the outside, 
which sank into the pores of the wood, and almost 
completely changed it to stone. At least it be¬ 
came incorporated with Its substance to such an 
extent that it never cracked or broke off without 
the wood cracking or breaking with It. 
'J’ne decorations of this material In the Interior 
or the houses were wondrousiy varied and beau¬ 
tiful. The floors were uncarpeted and were'made 
to resemble mosaic work of the highest order or 
richness and beauty. The ceilings of the more 
Important rooms were elegantly frescoed, and the 
walls were covered with portraits and paintings 
executed in the highest style of art. Being very 
practical In their habits, I wondered where these 
people round time to execute such marvelous 
works of art; for not only was every house pro¬ 
fusely adorned, but the excellence of the work 
seemed to indicate that time and faithful labor 
were essential elements in its execution. I was 
told In reply that houses in this country were 
built to withstand the power of time for a thou¬ 
sand years or more. The decorations In the older 
houses, therefore, represented the accumulated 
work of centuries. One member or more In nearly 
every family possessed artistic talent, and devo¬ 
ted much time to art; thus, in the course of time 
the home became a storehouse of most excellent 
works. 
The character of these art productions was va¬ 
rious, and they were adapted with rare skill to 
their surroundings so as to produce the highest 
was a picture gallery of the most varied and well- 
executed works of the painter’s art. 
In Mr. Flyter’s dining-room there was a picture 
of a feast which occupied the whole wall at one 
side of the room. It was an exact representation 
of the members of the household when his great- 
great-grandfather was at the head of the family, 
and he himself was yet uu'oom. 1 expressed my 
surprise that there should he so little change In 
the style of dress and the general appearance of 
the people since the remote day when the picture 
was painted. I was told in reply that styles of 
dress bad not changed materially for hundreds of 
years, and that I would have to consult pictures 
or a thousand years or age to find much of the 
antique. The people of that day were regarded 
as only In the dawn of the higher civilization of 
the present. They were puny and sickly In ap¬ 
pearance as compared with their descendants, and 
there was a want of intellectuality, and a hard, 
narrow, shrewd, and selfish look about them 
which contrasted most uotavorabiy with the 
splendid physical, moral, and Intellectual man¬ 
hood of the people of the present. 
This progress from a lower to a'higher type of 
manhood was well indicated in the family por¬ 
traits to which a room in every house was de¬ 
voted, and which extended back in an unbroken 
line in some Instances tor thirty generations. An 
interval of ten generations gave a very percepti¬ 
ble Increase In physical vigor, manliness, intel¬ 
lectuality, and refinement of expression. But 
when one came to compare the first portrait with 
the last In the tine; every feature and expression 
which is noble, grand, and exalted In our nature 
seemed to have pushed Itself into prominence m 
the last, and to have crowded completely out of 
sight those marks of littleness and incomplete¬ 
ness In their physical and mental natures which 
were a prominent, characteristic of the first. 
The names, and the dates of birth and death 
of the original or each porrralt were placed be¬ 
neath it. And it n as not the least instructive of the 
lessons which I drew from my study of these an¬ 
cestral pictures that there was a general Increase 
In the age to which these worthies lived as they 
advanced toward a more perfect type of manhood. 
Mr. Flyter’s portrait gallery contained i he pic¬ 
tures of his ancestors for 950 years. That of his 
brother-in-law, Mr. Gllnden, represented his an¬ 
cestry for over a thousand. Mr. Gllnden, by the 
way, was one of i he few antiquaries which could 
be found among this people. And he was accus¬ 
tomed to say that he owed his taste tor the study 
of the ancients to the picture cf a battle-scene 
copied by one of his ancestors many hundred 
years before from a masterpiece which was then 
regarded as very ancient.” 
KOCKBKIBS—AFTEH THE LONDON GARDENERS’ CHHONfCLE—SEE PAGE 241.— FIG. 196. 
artistic effect. Thus twining around a pillar, 
there would be a skilful representation of a species 
of clematis, or on each side of & door a flower-pot 
would seem to he placed, from which an Ivy would 
appear to grow up the posts, In a most naturally 
graceful manner. Above the center of a rlchly- 
j carved mantel, a dish or basket Of fruit would be 
placed, and at either end a rare plant would grow 
from a richly-gilded or carved pot so naturally as 
to appear to give ns very aroma to the air. Nearly 
every available space was occupied by some work 
of art whose character made it appropriate to the 
position which it occupied, and thus every house 
This battle scene was the only one In existence 
In the country, and, though so rare, It was little 
prized, in fact, his neighbors were accustomed 
to remark good-humoredly that It was an evidence 
of a perverted taste in Mr. Gllnden to harbor such 
a useless aud even degrading work of art. But 
he was an ant iquary, and prized It for Its antiquity 
and tor the vivid representation which it gave or a 
feature of Life among Me ancients. 
I was surprised to learn that there were so few 
students of ancient history among this people; for 
Mr. Gllnden Informed me that there were but 
three beside himself in that great city of ten mil¬ 
lion souls who were at all familiar with the his¬ 
tory of their early ancestors. 
“Our people.”said he, “are so immeasurably 
In advance of the nations from which they sprang 
that they can learn nothing from their history 
which Is profitable; and their minds are so com¬ 
pletely occupied In keeping pace with the rapid 
Strides of Bdence, and the continual advancement 
in art and literature that they have no time to de¬ 
vote to studies which they think merely gratify 
an Idle curiosity.'' 
This view appeared to mo rather novel, for 
among us the study of history Is considered no less 
profitable than entertaining. But when I came to 
think It over I could not but regard It as Just; for 
wherein could the records of wars, carnage, pil¬ 
lage and devastation prove useful or even enter¬ 
taining reading to a people who loathed all vio¬ 
lence with a deep abhorrence. Or of what advan¬ 
tage oould the study of the manners, customs ana 
institutions of an age whose history was stained 
with every species of crime and fraud, and which 
was a record of selfish and narrow-minded conten¬ 
tion over questions of religion, science and govern¬ 
ment be to a people among whom crime and de¬ 
ception of every sort were unknown, and every 
social problem had been as satisfactorily demon¬ 
strated as the rudiments of mathematics. Such 
studies could be profitable to this people only as 
they taught them humility by reminding them 
that even In their exalted natures the germs of a 
depraved humanity existed. 
But to return to the art decorations. In Mr. 
Gllnden’s house there were several rooms devoted 
to the pictures of extinct species of animals. 
This was a very rare collection because of Its ex¬ 
tent, its character, and the skill with which the 
work was executed. I returned to it and studied 
it over again, and not a little of the interest with 
which it was invested to my mind was due to the 
fact that It contained many animals which stiu 
flourish among us in pristine vigor-, such, for In¬ 
stance, as the bear, the wolf, the deer, the tox, the 
lion, the tiger, the elephant, and, strange to say, 
even the pig figured among them in all the glory 
of hts many generations of development. 
But by far the grandest pictures which I saw 
among this people were those or their churches. 
Here the best artists seemed to have combined 
their efforts on works whose magnitude would 
seem to have required the patient labor of many 
generations. 
The churches were all Immense and elegant 
structures capable of seating from seven to ten 
thousand people. Their auditoriums were invar¬ 
iably spanned by a great dome whose magnificent 
sweep afforded a surface for the grandest concep¬ 
tions of the artist’s ge us. Lighted from above 
and at each end, 
the side walla 
were left unbrok¬ 
en for magnificent 
landscapes exe¬ 
cuted with such a 
realistic effect 
that one was dis¬ 
posed to wonder 
why he could not 
hear the sound of 
the waterfalls or 
see the boats mov¬ 
ing along i he 
streams, or the 
anlmsls disport¬ 
ing ihemseh es on 
the hillsides. And 
he was inclined to 
long for the con¬ 
clusion of the ser¬ 
vices that he 
might walk 
abroad in the 
green fields and 
enjoy the peace 
and quiet of the 
rustic scene which 
seemed lo stretch 
away from his 
very presence. 
There were many 
other decorative 
arts which flour¬ 
ished among this 
people, some of 
them entirely un¬ 
known to us, in 
as advanced a 
stage as the art 
(f which I have 
spoken, but l will 
not dwell upon 
them lest the 
many other things 
which I wish to 
speak of may b6 
more than enough 
for the readers 
patience. 
To be continued. 
MAGAZINES 
POR APRIL. 
The American 
Naturalist. -Con- 
tents: The Ferti¬ 
lization cf Salvia 
aplendens by 
Birds; On the 
Origin of the Foot Structures of the Ungulates; 
Progress of Invertebrate Paleontology m the 
United States for the Year isso; Evidences of the 
Effect of Chemlco-Physical Influences in the Evo¬ 
lution of Branoldopod Crustaceans: Notes ou a few 
of the Diseases and Injuries in Birds; The Brain 
of the Locust; Recent Literature; General Notes; 
Botany; Zoology; Entomology; Anthropology; 
Geology iuul Palaeontology: Geography and Trav¬ 
els ; Microscopy; Scientific News; Proceedings of 
Scientific Societies; Selected Articles in Scientific 
Serials. 
Value of the House Wren as an Insect Da- 
