504 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
pairing for t(?r fottitg. 
FAMOUS PRINTERS. 
In early books the printer comes berore us as 
an artist, and not as a craftsman. Ills work Is 
often more interesting than his author. He be¬ 
came, In effect, a patron of literature. He had to 
make a good and wise selection, for the printing 
of a volume was no trifling investment. Tbu3 
printer and author go side by side, as publisher 
and author have gone in later days. Oaxton and 
Chaucer are associated as indissolubly as Scott 
and Constable. Most of these old books were 
what we should call standard, and many of them 
were law books. Thus, William of Machllnla, Is 
chiefly kuown as the printer of the first edition 
of “ Littleton's Tenures.’' It Is a small folio vol¬ 
ume, printed in a coarse Gothic letter, without a 
date, but Issued from his office. 
But the most eminent of Caxton’s successors 
was Wyukyn de Worde. He was probably an ap¬ 
prentice, certainly an assistant, of our printer, 
worked with him at Westminster, and Issued 
books from the same office after his death. Like 
Caxton, he was a master In his craft, and Intro¬ 
duced many improvements In the new invention. 
His works aro admirable for their neatness and 
elegance. Ho designed and cut his own punches, 
sinking them into matrices and casting hla own 
letters. He was a man of enterprise as well as of 
taste and education. The catalogue of his Issues 
is known to have Included at least five hundred 
and eight examples, or which the most notable Is 
tbe “ Polycbronlcon.” As we have seen, William 
de Machllnla publishing the first edition or a law 
book, still quoted In our courts, so Wynkyn de 
Worde Is associated with a school-book of which 
all scholars and students have at least heard. 
This Is the raraouB “ LUye’s Grammar.” There Is 
now no extant, copy of the work with the printer's 
name to it, but a contemporary work of Whitting¬ 
ton was repeatedly printed by him. Indeed, 
most of his books are what we should call educa¬ 
tional. Books were then printed for scholars, 
not for the circulating library, and De Worde's 
catalogue Is largely made or “ Accldences,” 
“ Lucldarles,” “ Orchards of Words" and 
“ Promptuarles for Little Children.” 
The men of letters In those days were the 
bishops and ecclesiastics, and soon all the great 
cities set up tlielr printing-offices and published 
their issues. But It la notable how the muster- 
printer was generally a foreigner. One of the 
most eminent of them was Peter de Triers, a 
native of the town now generally known as Treves, 
who started his office at the south side of the 
Thames, where he published Latin works of Cato 
and Erasmus. From this time presses began to 
be freely set up. The universities— Canterbury, 
Norwich, Tavistock—became great centers of 
this kind of trade, and it Is recorded that in 1538, 
when Cardinal Wolsey visited his native town, 
he commemorated the visit by establishing a 
printing-office at Ipswich. 
Scotland soon followed In tlie wake of England, 
and Ireland came last. Ireland was In fact the 
last European country—unless we call Russia a 
European country In the sixteenth century— 
which received the art of printing. A volume of 
the Book of Common Prayer, printed in Dublin 
so late as 1551, is the flrst Irish book, and this 
was followed by a liturgy for the use of the 
Scotch Highlanders printed In the Irish charac¬ 
ter. The interest of these publications has been 
chiefly their antiquity. They are curious and ar¬ 
chaeological. Clearness and beauty of type came 
afterwards. In that department our printers 
have certainly been surpassed by foreigners— 
Aldus, Elzevir, and even Dldot being superior. 
One of our greatest names is John Buslcervllle, 
whose publications are still occasionally to be 
picked up cheap on the London bookstalls. He 
was no tradesman In his craft, but spared neither 
pains or money to moke his work worthy of his 
name. Printing with him was in fact what 
Walter Shandy would have called his hobby¬ 
horse. He Is said to have spent $3,000 oefore he 
could get a single letter which came up to his 
own standard of excellence, and he had Invested 
thousands in the business before he could make 
It pay. In fact, with him it was not a business, 
but an art. He did not adopt It to make, but to 
spend money already made. His Issues have 
very much the same kind or excellence as, com¬ 
pared with contemporary and subsequent prints, 
that Joslah Wedgwood’s plates and vases have 
with reference to their modern rivals. He saw 
to everything himself. He manufactured his 
own printing-ink, presses and molds. Though he 
was a wealthy man he was not ashamed of tbo 
trade which ho had adopted. In fact, It was not 
a trade for him, but an occupation. On the 
panels of his carriage he had caused to be painted 
a series of the different processes in printing. 
His chief excellence was in the construction of 
his Italic letters. They are thought by judges to 
stand unrivaled for freedom and symmetry. 
Many of his books were printed from sliver types, 
and thus gained a delicacy which makes the 
paper appear almost like vellum. We shall 
scarcely again have such a printer. The man 
was an eccentric; found his reward, not In what 
he made by his books, but In what he made them. 
He died at the begluulng of this century, and 
ordered that he should he burled in hls own gar¬ 
den, and his dying wish was respected. .Since 
hls day Bdence has been busy in invention and 
Its application to art, but hls work holds its place 
still. We have had greater printers, but we have 
scarcely had better-printed books. 
- »-» » - 
THE PHOSPHORESCENCE OF THE SEA. 
The Noctllucm are little crystal balls of about 
the size of a pin's head. The transparence of 
their structure permits an easy Investigation. Not 
a fiber is to be seen, unless, wl De Blalnvll, k 
we consider tbe transverse markings of tbe tall 
In the light of muscular fibers, a supposition 
which Is very questionable. In the neighbor¬ 
hood of this tall there is usually a mass of food 
or the Indigestible remains of food. Not that we 
are to look for a stomach In this animal,—noth¬ 
ing of the kind exists; but In lieu thereof we 
find, as In Infusoria, a number of vacuohe. or 
assimilating cavities, which appear and disap¬ 
pear, according to need, formed out of the con¬ 
tractile substance which Is seen radiating In 
filaments all through tbe substance of the ani¬ 
mal. In this curious animal, not a trace has 
been discovered of vessels, nerves, sense?, or 
indeed or any “ organs” whatever. It Is a mass 
of animated Jelly, with a mobile tall. Its mode 
of reproduction has been variously expounded, 
but the generally received theory is that they 
multiply by spontaneous sub-dlvlslon. No one 
has yet observed anything like reproduction by 
means of ova. _ 
To these Nectllucfe the sea owes much of that 
brilliant phosphorescence which at all times has 
beentUe marvel or travelers. Place your va3e 
In a darkened room, and Btrlke the glass, or agi¬ 
tate the water, and you will be delighted with 
the spectacle presented. From every part bril¬ 
liant sparks appear and disappear, until at 
length no agitation of the water will produce 
more; their power ts exhausted, as that of the 
electric eel Is exhausted, after a few shocks. 
You want to know the cause of this phosphor¬ 
escence? Unhappily tbe point Is still In doubt. 
Ttlsonly since the beginning of this century that 
the attention of naturalists has been fixed upon 
the NoctiiuciB as sources of tlie phosphorescence, 
In all times observed, and In former times at¬ 
tributed to the presence of decaying organic sub¬ 
stance, to electricity, to an absorption of solar 
light disengaged In the dark. 
There are two different kinds of phosphores¬ 
cence observed in the sea. The first is of very 
brilliant but Isolated sparks, and Is due princi¬ 
pally to Starfishes, Crustaceans, and Annelids. 
The second is of a general luminous tint, over 
which are strewed Isolated sparks, and Is due to 
the Noctlluea?, These Noctllucse have no special 
organ which produces the phosphorescence as 
the other animals have; but tbe light eman¬ 
ates from the whole substance ot their bodies. 
Every irritant, no matter or what nature, pro¬ 
duces this phosphorescence In them. The 
phenomenon Is not, as 1 nseots, one of combustion; 
but Is Intimately connected with the contraction, 
spontaneous or provoked, of their substance. It 
Is Independent, of all secretion, and It Is probable 
that the sparks aro due to the rupture and sud¬ 
den contraction of their sarcodlc filaments; 
while the steady light they emit In dying, re¬ 
sults from tho permanent contraction of this 
saroodlc substance. i„ 
-■ — — 
RADDLING ON A HOT DAY. 
BUSY BRAINS. 
This morning at ten o’clock, the mercury in 
the thermometer stood at ninety degrees In the 
shade. What It would reach before night was 
fearful to contemplate. The children, accustomed 
to out-or-door sports, were showing symptoms of 
restlessness, the boy was getting decidedly cross, 
lying on tbe lounge growling at the weather, 
teasing hls sisters and making blmself generally 
disagreeable, when one dear little philosopher 
unconsciously came to the rescue. Having gath- 
ered In my flock I was busy shutting up the 
house to keep as cool as possible. “ Mamma, what 
shall we do to forget that it’s hot ? ” said the 
little one. Kitty had just brought up a dish-pan 
of ice-cold water, the drippings from the re¬ 
frigerator. 
“Stop Kitty, do not throw that out. Now, 
children dip your hands In, way in. Does not 
that feel good ? Floy seat the baby on the table 
and let her have a share.” 
The little pearly teeth gleamed out In merry 
laughter as the dimpled arms, up to the elbows, 
were Immersed in the deliciously cool water and 
In less time than It takes to, write It, my kitchen 
table was surrounded by a pleased, chattering 
group. All thoughts of the weather were for¬ 
gotten In the novel delights of “ paddling.” 
Even mamma had to take a dip, and I did not won¬ 
der at the sudden chaDge of countenances when 
I experienced the delicious coolness slowly creep¬ 
ing up my arms and Imparting Its cooling Influ¬ 
ence over my whole body. “Children, let us 
wipe our hands and undress ourselves. The 
little ones can put on only a slip and the older 
ones a gown and you can play that you are 
Indians to-day, for there will be no company.” 
The undressing was expeditiously performed 
and the troop that filed past me a few moments 
after was certainly a good-natured one. But I 
had more noise and company than I had calcu¬ 
lated on, for tbe suggestion of Indians not only 
led to surprising embellishment but most hideous 
were tho dances and whoops which followed 
as a natural consequence, and the little neigh¬ 
bors opposite, hearing the fun and catching a 
glimpse of bare legs (for now and then one of the 
tribe would make a raid upon a harvest apple- 
tree which stood near the house), could not resist 
the fascination and tripped over bare-legged to 
join the happy hand of savages. 
At four o'clock, as a slight sUower had temper¬ 
ed the extreme heat, I had a tub brought Into 
the kitchen and the little ones were allowed to 
splash in a little while before being dressed, the 
older ones running up to their rooms to resume 
their civilized dress, all declaring this had been 
a Jolly day. So has passed our hottest day this 
summer, ldl.v, perhaps, but happily and not 
altogether unprofllably since we learned that 
troubles arc, after all, pretty much as we take 
them, and that even a hot clay can be made not 
only bearable but pleasant. We had no Are In 
the kitchen and made our dinner of cold roast- 
beef, bread and butter, blackberries and cream, 
and I am sure that Kitty welcomed the omission 
although she at flrst demurred about putting off 
“ Jtst the tall end of the iron! v.” 
Watching onk’s-ski,p.— “ When I was a boy,” 
said an old man, “we had a schoolmaster who 
had an odd way of catching Idle boys. One day 
he called out to us: 
‘ “ Boys, I must have closer attention to your 
books. Tbe first one that sees another Idle, I 
want him to Inform me, and I will attend to the 
case.” 
"Ah!”tliought 1 to myself, there Is “Joe Sim¬ 
mons that I don’t like. I’ll watch him, and If 1 see 
him look @IT hls book, I’ll tell.’’ It. was not long 
before I saw Joe look off bis book, and immedi¬ 
ately I lnromied the master. 
" Indeed J" said he; “ how do you know he was 
Idle?” 
“ l saw him" I said. 
“ You did? and were your eyes on your book 
when you saw him ?” 
1 was caught, and never watched for Idle boys 
again. 
If we are sufficiently watchful over our own 
conduct, we shall have no time to tiud fault wtth 
the conduct of others. 
^abktjj Xeabhtg, 
LIFE’S WEST WINDOW. 
We stand at life’s west windows, 
And think of the days that are gone; 
Remembering the coming sunset, 
We too must remember the morn; 
But the sun will set, the day will close, 
And an end will come to all our woes. 
As we watch from the western casemeuts, 
Reviewing our happy youth, 
Wo mourn for its vanished promise 
Of honor, ambition, and truth; 
But hopes will fall and pride decay. 
When we think how soon we must away. 
Wo stand at life’s west windows, 
And turn not sadly away. 
To watch our children’s faces 
The noontide of sp arlcling day; 
But our sun must set, our lips grow dumb, 
And to look from our windows our children oome. 
Stifi. looking from life’s west windows; 
And we know we would not again 
Look forth the eastern lattice. 
And live over all life's pain ; 
Though life’s sunlight bo brilliant, its sunset is sweet, 
Since It brings longed-for rest to our weary feet. 
[Household, 
THE FIRST PROPHECY. 
" Aud 1 will put enmity between thee and the woman, 
and between thy seed and her seed; it shall 
bruise thy head, and tliou sh.dt bruise hla heel." 
Genesis ill. 15. 
Sfch is the first prophecy which occurs in 
Scripture. Adam and Eve had transgressed the 
simple command of their Maker; they had heark¬ 
ened to the suggestions of the tempter, and eaten 
the forbidden fruit. Summoned Into the presence 
of God, each of the three parties is successively 
addressed; but the serpent., as having originated 
evil, receives flrst hls sentence. 
We have, of course, no power of ascertaining 
the external change which the curse brought 
upon the serpent. The terms, however, of the 
sentence, “Upon thy belly Bbalt thou go, and 
dust shalt thou eat all the dayB of thy life,” (Gen, 
111. 14), seem to imply that the serpent had not 
been created a reptile, but became classed with 
creeping thlDgs, as a consequence of the curse, if, 
is probable that heretofore the serpent had been 
remarkable for beauty and splendor, and that on 
this account, the tempter chose It as the vehicle 
of bis approaches. Eve, In all likelihood, was at¬ 
tracted towards the creature by Its loveliness: 
and when she found it endowed, like herself, 
with the power of speech, she possibly concluded 
that It had Itself eaten of the Trult, and acquired 
thereby a gift which she thought confined to her¬ 
self and husband. 
But we may he sure that, although, to mark hls 
hatred of sin, God pronounced a curse on the ser¬ 
pent, it was against the devil, who had actuated 
the serpent, that tbe curse was chiefly directed. 
It may be Bald that the serpent itself must have 
been luuocunt In the matter, and that the curse 
should have fallen on none but the tempter. But 
you are to remember that the serpent suffered 
not alone: every living thing had share In the 
consequences of disobedience. And although the 
effect of man's apostasy on the serpent, may have 
been more Blgnal and marked than on other crea¬ 
tures, we have no right to conclude that there 
was entailed so much greater suffering on this 
reptile as to distinguish it In misery from the rest 
of the animal creation. 
But undoubtedly it was the devil, more emphati¬ 
cally than the serpent, that God cursed for tho 
seduction of man. The words, indeed, of our text 
have a primary application to the serpent, it is 
most strictly true, that., ever since the fall, there 
has been enmity between man and the serpent. 
Everyman will lnstlncttlvely recoil at the sight 
of a serpent. We have a natural and unconquer¬ 
able aversion to this tribe of living things, which 
wo feel not in respect to others, even fiercer and 
more noxlons. Men, If they find a serpent, will 
always strive to destroy It, bruising the head In 
which the poison lies; whilst the serpent will 
often avenge Itself, wounding its assailant, If not 
mortally, yet so as to make It t rue that It bruises 
hls heel. 
But whilst the words have thus, undoubtedly, a 
fulfillment In respect of tbe serpent, we cannot 
question that their reference is chletly to the 
devil. It was the devil, and not the serpent, 
which had beguiled the woman ; and It Is only In 
a very limited sense that it could he said to the 
serpent, “ Because thou hast done this,” We are 
indeed so unacquainted with transactions In the 
world of spirits, that we cannot pretend to deter¬ 
mine what, or whether any, immediate change 
passed on the condition of Satan and hls associ¬ 
ates. If the curse upon the serpent took effect 
upon the devil, it would seem probable, that, ever 
since tbe fall, tbe power of Satan bas been spe¬ 
cially Umlled to this earth and its Inhabitants. 
We may gatber from the denunciation, “ Upon 
thy belly sbalt thou go, and dust slialt thou eat 
all tbe days of thy life,” that, in place or being 
allowed, as he might beforetlmo have been, to 
range through the universe, machinating against 
the peace of many orders of intelligence, he was 
confined to the arena of humanity, and forced to 
concent rate hls energies on the destruction of a 
solitary race, it would seem altogether possible, 
that, after hls ejectment from heaven, Satan had 
liberty to traverse the vast area of creation; and 
that, lar-off stars and planets were accessible to hls 
wandertngs. It Is to the full as possible, that, as 
soon as man apostatized, God confirmed In their 
allegiance other orders of beings, and shielded 
them from the assaults of tbe Evil Ono by chain¬ 
ing him to the earth on which he had Just won a 
victory. And If, as the result of hls having se¬ 
duced our firat parents, Satan were thus sen¬ 
tenced to confinement to this globe, we may 
readily understand how words, addressed to the 
serpent, dooming It to trail Itself along the ground, 
had distinct reference to the tempter by who m 
that serpent had been actuated. 
But, whatever be our opinion concerning this 
part of the curse, t here can be no doubt that our 
text must he explained of the devil, though, as 
we have shown you. It bas a partial fulfillment In 
respect of the serpent. We must here consider 
God as speaking to the tempter, and announcing 
war between Satan and man. We have called 
the words a prophecy; and, when considered as 
addressed to the devil, such Is properly their 
designation. But when we remember that they 
were spoken In the hearing of Adam and Eve, we 
must regard them also In the light of a promise. 
And it Is well worth remark, that, before God 
told the woman of her sorrow and her trouble, 
and before he told the man ot the thorn, and the 
thistle, and the dust to which he should return, 
he caused them to hear words which must have 
Inspired them with hope. Vanquished they were; 
and they might, have thought that, with an un¬ 
disputed supremacy, he who had prevailed .to 
their overthrow would ever after hold them In 
vassalage. Must, it not then have been cheering 
to them, whilst they stood as criminals before 
their God, expecting the sentence which diso¬ 
bedience had provoked, to hear that their con¬ 
queror should not. enjoy unassaultod hls conquest, 
but that there were yet undeveloped arrange¬ 
ments which would Insure to humanity flna 
mastery over the oppressor 7 And though, when 
God turned and spake to themselves, he gave no 
word of encouragement,, but dwelt only on the 
toll and the death which they had wrought into 
their portion, sttll the prophecy to which they 
had listened must have sunk into their hearts as 
a promise; and when, with lingering steps, and 
the first tears ever wept, they departed from the 
glorious precincts ot Eden, we may believe that 
one sustained the other by whispering the words, 
“ Though thou shalt bruise hls heel, It shall bruise 
thy head.” h. m. 
ST. JOHN AND THE PARTRIDGE. 
Dean Stanley tells the children a tradition of 
St. John the Evangelist, In a very charming way. 
The Dean must certainly be a good talker to 
children. 
It was whilst St. John was residing at Ephesus 
that various stories were told of him which we 
do not find In the Bible. We cannot be certain 
that these stories are quite correct, therefore, 
but they accord with all that was known of St. 
John, and they agree with the letters and epis¬ 
tles which ho wrote at that time, one of these 
stories la: 
There came one day to Ephesus a sportsman, 
who had heard so much of this wise old man that 
he went out of hls way to ace him, and hls sur¬ 
prise was great when he found St. John engaged 
In gently stroking a partridge which he held In 
hls hand. 
The sportsman could not help saying how sur¬ 
prised he was to see so great a man employed 
on anything so small. Then St. John said, 
“ What, have you In your hand ?” 
*• A how,” replied the sportsman. 
St.John asked, “ Why Is it not bent ?” 
The sportsman replied, “ Because, if always 
bent, it would lose Its strength.” 
“That 1b just the reason,” said St. John 11 why 
I play with the partridge. itlB that my mind may 
be kept stroug by not being always at work." 
What do we learn from this story, my dear 
children? We learn from it, that St. John, and 
great and good men like him, are glad now and 
then to see you at play, and to play with you. 
We learn that kindness to dumb animals is a 
thing that God expects of us. 
There was an aged lady, very excellent, wise, 
and wonderfully learned, who lived to he nearly 
as old as St. John was when he died ; she was 
the famous Mary Somerville, who died last year, 
tn her ninety-second year. A very short time be¬ 
fore her death she said, “ I hope that the time 
may come when children shall be taught that 
mercy to birds aud beasts Is part of religion!" 
Ves, It ought to be a part of our religion, and 
I trust that we shall make It so. Play, too, with 
your companions like St. John, remembering that 
all play and all holidays aro given by God, like 
tbe unbending of the bow In the story, to help 
people to work better for the future. 
— . > — 
When we consider that sin has slain our Lord 
Jesus Christ, O how should the thought provoke 
our hearts to be revenged on sin, for having mur¬ 
dered the Lord of Glory, and done more mls- 
ohlef than all the devils in hell could h ve done. 
