a gentleman; nor nag me as mamma does, for lie 
Is too manly; and the long and short of It is,” 
Irene added, with a very passionate stamp of her 
foot, “ I am determined not to be put out of con¬ 
ceit of my engagement. If Clement Dunfortli had 
not loved me—really loved me, would he have 
chosen an Ill-dressed, hair-educated girl like myself 
for Ills wife 7” 
Noel was silenced. It not convinced, for Irene’s 
argument sounded unanswerable, backed, as It 
was, by Clement Dunforth’B assurance that he was 
aware of her poverty when he wooed her. lie 
could only suppose that the distrust he still felt It. 
Impossible to overcome, was engendered by his 
own Irritable nerves; and, drawing his half-sister 
to him, he kissed her tenderly, and uttered such a. 
fervent prayer for her happiness, that Irene wept 
while she hung about his neck, and relieved her 
warm heart by waking all kinds of extravagant 
promises. 
“ I shall never forget you, my own dear brother, 
never be ungrateful to you. As soon as we are 
rich enough, Clement shall help you to get rich 
too; aud there shall always be a home for you at 
our house; and 1 shall go to mamma’s once every 
week to put your clothes in order, and, If you very 
much wish It, I’ll take one of the children off ma’s 
hands.” 
She was affectionately kissed, and assured that 
her brother had the greatest faith In the excel¬ 
lence of her intentloas, but Noel could say no 
more. He could not but sympathize with the poor 
girl, In her unwillingness to return to a life to 
which Mrs. Estcourt never did anything to recon¬ 
cile her,- yet neither could he look forward to her 
marriage with any genuine satisfaction. Why had 
not Clement Dunforth explained to her that it was 
impossible tor It to take place at present 7 lie had 
been succinct enough with her brother, yet he was 
permitting her to believe that It only awaited 
Noel’s recovery. 
<• Perhaps he thinks to break the truth to her by 
degrees,” was the only conclusion at which the 
anxious Invalid could arrive, and, bidding her go 
and bathe her eyes before her lover’s arrival, he 
was dismissing her, when she surprised him by 
saying: 
“ Yes, I’ll go and wash away these tears. Has 
crying reddened my nose 7 But Clem is here al¬ 
ready ; he breakfasted with us by Mrs. Burst's in¬ 
vitation. lie Is at leisure to-day, so we are going 
to picnic on the summit of yonder hill, under the 
clump of flr-irees that crown it. I wish you could 
go with us.” 
“ Mr. Dunforth appears to be making himself 
quite at home here." Noel exclaimed. 
“He does not come without being Invited,” re¬ 
torted Irene. “I told you that Mrs. Hurst Is 
charmed with him. What ungracious speeches 
you do make!” 
Noel, ashamed of his lll-limnor, once more beg¬ 
ged her pardon, and bade ber go and enjoy her¬ 
self. She was nothing loth to obey, but re¬ 
turned ere she reached the door to say, In a cau¬ 
tious whlBper: 
“ Brother mine, do you think Miss Gray Is quite 
truthful?” 
“ Has Dunforth been poisoning your mind against, 
her already V” he asked, angrily. 
“Clemv Why he hasn’t mentioned her name 
to me ! It’s very odd that you will persist In turn¬ 
ing everything to his disadvantage.” 
“ Then, why do you malign MtssGray ?” she was 
sternly asked. 
“ Oh, brother 1 I declare you are growing quite 
ill-tempered!” Irene complained. “I simply 
asked If you consider her quite truthful. If she Is, 
why did she speak in such slighting tones of Clem, 
and yet walk In the shrubbery with him for an 
hour before breakrast, and let him take her hand7 
I’ll not be sure that he didn’t kiss It. before they 
separated.” 
And then Irene ran away leaving her brother 
to solve tins new riddle, if he could.—To be con¬ 
tinued. 
COUNTRY SCHOOL-HOUSES AND GROUNDS. 
Professor Beau’s description of these (Feb. 4) 
shows them unattractive, uncomfortable and for¬ 
lorn, as they usually are. In the voluminous re¬ 
port of the French Commission appointed to visit 
the Philadelphia Exposition and to render a de¬ 
description of American schools and school proced¬ 
ures, M. Bulssou speaks with apparent surprise ol 
the loneliness of the American school-house. In 
France, Belgium, Germany, etc., the teacher lives 
either In the same building or within the same in¬ 
closure, and Is responsible for the “ keeping ” of the 
whole; and this “ keeping ” is held to Include not 
only external as well as Internal tidiness, but some 
degree of ornamentation; and there Is always a 
garden attached. In which it Is becoming more 
and more the practice to give out door lessons In 
plant culture. 
This sort of arrangement, however desirable, 
seems beyond our reach, while teaching Is, as at 
present, a merely temporary occupation—a second 
stepping-stone toward something else, the first be¬ 
ing “ going to school." But as the population in¬ 
creases, and as the necessity for general and ade¬ 
quate education becomes more and more pressing, 
the office of the teacher who builds and strengthens 
those pillars of the republtc—“ men, hlgb-aouled 
men”—will rise In estimation, and will certainly 
stand as high as that of the professions of law or 
physic which may be called tn comparison de¬ 
structive. Then, a teacher who finds congenial 
occupation In guiding young minds and hearts, 
will decide to be a teacher ./hr v.tv, and will feel 
safe m making the decision, because then, if old 
age or disability puts a stop to his work, he will 
have pensioned support here, as In the older na¬ 
tions of Europe. 
Another point of school economy, as to which M, 
Bulsson’s report shows equal surprise, Is the ab¬ 
sence of exercises In what, the French call dictee, 
that Is In writing (spelling) dictated sentence In 
which the words show their meanings and the man¬ 
ner of use, changes or endings, to suit grammati¬ 
cal concords, and changes of position to best pre¬ 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
a 
sent the sense. Thus the rhetorical and grammat¬ 
ical dispositions or the living words are rendered 
familiar by the only means of doing so—that Is. by 
practice—and the art of punctuation and the cor¬ 
rect use ot capitals, etc., are similarly familiarized. 
Besides these advantages, the main objeet-that of 
acquiring expertness and precision in spelling—is 
thereby vastly promoted. What is with us gener¬ 
ally the dally toll—the dull, dreary, senseless and 
stupffylng reiteration ol the letter-names ot, col¬ 
umns ol (lead, isolated, contextless words In the 
spelling books—becomes not only a comparatively 
brief, but. a. lively, stimulating and cheerful exer¬ 
cise-pleasant because It exercises In turn all the 
faculties of the little learner; all but that ol “ mak¬ 
ing a noise.” IV hole months ol time are saved lor 
the acquisition ot really useful, mlnd-expandtug 
and hand-employing practical knowledge, such as 
cannot be reached at all in our old grandame way 
of teaching. 
The Lngenlous French have made as great an Im¬ 
provement In the mode of dictation as In the dicta¬ 
tion Itself. By an Ingenious device, which will be 
described In another paper, they present the pro¬ 
nunciation of the words to the eye without at the 
same time showing the spelling. Neither do they 
show any mis-speUlngs, to confuse the learner by 
presenting spurious Images to his "Inner vision” 
Instead of the true forms. Thus all the disadvan¬ 
tages, the noise, the faulty rendering, the waste of 
time that attends oral dictation are avoided, and 
the teacher Is left free to attend to other classes 
while the spellers are quietly busy. w. 
Purifying Water.— Different waters, like dif¬ 
ferent diseases, require different, treatment to pur¬ 
ify them; and all waters, no matter how Impure 
they may be, can be made quite pure for drinking 
or other domestic purposes without distillation, 
providing the proper materials be used, and suffi¬ 
cient time allowed the reagents to act; but In 
many samples of water 1 have found distillation t o 
be the cheapest and quickest mode ol purifying 
them. All filters In use that 1 am aware ol only 
purity the water from solid Impurities mechani¬ 
cally suspended In the water. The following Is a 
description of a filter Hull-1 ha ve often used, which 
purifies foul water from organic Impurities as well 
its from suspended solids, lake any suitable ves¬ 
sel with a perforated false bottom, and cover It 
with a layer of animal charcoal; on the top ol that 
spread a layer of iron filings, borings or turnings, 
the finer the better, mixed with charcoal dust; on 
the top ol the filings spread a layer ol fine clean 
siliceous sand, and you will have a perfect filter. 
Allow the foul water to filter slow ly through the 
above filter, and you will produce a remarkably 
pure drinking water. Before placing the iron fil¬ 
ings in the filter t^iey must be w ell washed in a 
hotsolutlonorsodaor potash, to remove oil and 
other Impurities, then rinse them with clean water; 
the filings should be mixed with an equal measure 
of fine charcoal. If the water Is very foul It must 
be allowed to filter very slowly. The deeper the 
bed of Iron filings Is the quicker they will act. 
The above Is a simple, cheap, aud very efficient 
filter, superior to any other that 1 know of, and It 
has the advantage of being free to every one who 
chooses to make It. 1 have not taken out a patent 
for It, aud 1 am not aware of any other person 
having done so; 1 think I am the only person who 
has ever used It, A very good test for the effi¬ 
ciency of any filter Is to add some urine to the 
water before passing It through the filter, 
and then testing the filtered water to see if the 
urine passes through unchanged; it It does, then 
the filter only acts mechanically. The addition of 
permanganates to water will not destroy Bacteria, 
but tne addition of hydrochloric acid will. If you 
have to purify water containing Bacteria, you 
must first add hydrochlorlo acid to the water 
till It is slightly acid to test paper; that will 
destroy the whole of the animalcuhe; then add 
sufficient lime-water to neutralize the acid, then 
precipitate the lime with oxalate of ammonia, 
and filter through the Iron filter described above. 
The foulest ditch water, treated as above, is ren¬ 
dered quite pure and fit for drinking. I may 
mention that I have made it a practice during 
the last, twenty-seven years to boll all my drinking 
water, it Is the safest plan for a man moving 
from place to place. You cannot always carry a 
filter and chemicals about with you, but you can 
always manage to get boiled water; people talk 
about, tt being vapid and tasteless, but I am used 
to It, aud like It. —English Mechanic. 
-♦ ♦♦ - 
AN ORIENTAL NOVELETTE. 
Under the reign of the first Caliph, there was 
a merchant in Bagdad equally rich and avaricious. 
One day he had bargained with a porter to carry 
home for him a large basket of porcelain vases for 
ten paras. As they went along he said to the 
man: 
“My friend, you are young and I am old ; you 
can earn plenty. Strike off, I beseech you, a para 
from your hire.” 
** Willingly,” replied tbe porter. 
This request was repeated again and again, un¬ 
til, when they reached the house, the porter had 
only a single para to receive. As they went up 
stairs the merchant said : 
“ H you will resign the last para I will give you 
three pieces of advice.” 
“ Be it so," said the porter. 
“ Well then,” said the merchant, “ if any one 
tells you It Is better to be fasting than feasting, do 
not believe turn. If any one tells you it is better to 
be poor than rich, do not believe him. If any one 
tells you It Is better to walk than to ride, don’t you 
believe him.” 
“ My good sir,” replied the astonished porter, 
“ 1 knew these things before; but ir you will listen 
to me I will give you such advice as you never 
heard.” 
The merchant turned round, and the porter 
throwing the basket down the staircase, said : 
“ If any one tells you that one of your vases ig 
unbroken, do not believe him.” 
Before the merchant could reply the porter made 
his escape, thus punishing his employer for his 
miserly greediness. 
The man who “ stuck to his colors ” was a paint¬ 
er who sat down in one of his paint pots. 
Shakespeare probably had the present style of 
female htilr-drrsslng In mind when he said, “ Hang 
Out your banggers.” 
A Nevada tramp applied to a doctor for some 
work, anti the doctor asked him what he could do. 
“ Well,” said he, “ I could dig graves.” 
- +~*~* - 
RECENT LITERATURE. 
The Lady ol the Aroostook. By W. D. Howells. 
12mo, cloth, $ 2 . BostonHoughton, Osgood & Co. 
One who reads a book merely for Its startling 
Incidents, extraordinary characters or curiously- 
contrived plot will be likely to turn these pages 
hastily and conclude there Is little In them, on 
the other hand, those who delight in seeing pen 
portraitures of common lives drawn with a master 
hand; to read recorded conversations with a feel¬ 
ing that the parties thereto, under the circum¬ 
stances, could have said nothing else; that de¬ 
scribes people so fully and clearly we can hardly 
feel they are creatures of the Imagination, will 
read It carefully and wondeilngly reverence the 
genius that created It. The story is a simple one 
of a New England girl who, going to meet friends 
in Italy took passage on a ship, where three young 
rnen were the other passengers. The characters 
are not overdrawn nor the situations Improbable. 
It shows the difference In the situations, manners 
and morals of the old and new worlds, and that, in¬ 
timate acquaintance may exist between young 
people ol different sexes without resulting In in¬ 
jury to themselves or society. There are hundreds 
of New England girls who, under (lie same circum¬ 
stances, would be as uususpectingly Innocent, and 
as self-protecting by virtue of true womanhood as 
was Lydia Blood, and or young gentlemen whose 
true manhood would insure to any lady the same 
delicate attention she received from Stamford and 
Dunluun. We are sorry to say that Hicks, poor 
fellow, is not without his counterpart. In New 
Euglaud, as elsewhere, are sometimes found men, 
genial, kind, whole souled, who want to be gentle¬ 
men, but of whom the demon Alcohol has posses¬ 
sion, and for whom there Is scarcely a hope left. 
We have seldom read a story we more thorough¬ 
ly enjoyed, and know Its other readers will Join us 
tn thanks to Mr. Howell for this Ills last and best 
contribution. _ 
Practical Instruction in Animal Mucnetism. 
By .1. I’. F. Dkzule. Revised Edition, l2mo, pp. 524. 
Cloth, $2. New York . S. It. Wells & Co, 
In the early partol the present century the sci¬ 
entific world was much Interested in a subject then 
new and known variously as Animal Magnetism, 
Mesmerism, vital Magnetism. It was found that 
certain persons had the power of relieving pain 
and curing diseases by making passes with the 
hands over the parts affected, and not only this, 
but patients could be put Into a sleep during which 
they were subject to the severest surgical opera¬ 
tions without their consciousness. 
The discovery of anaesthetics and their Introduc¬ 
tion to general use seems to have checked Investi¬ 
gation In Animal Magnetism, but within a few 
years past, more attention has been paid to it, and 
it now seems likely to receive t he attention It de¬ 
serves. The republlcatlon of the book above nam¬ 
ed gives an opportunity for those who choose to 
learn much of this neglected subject. In It the au¬ 
thor considers the principles of Magnetism and 
gives the processes employed In magnetising, treats 
of Somnambulism, or Clairvoyance; of the appli¬ 
cation of magnetism for healing purposes, and 
gives many cases of remarkable cures. The re¬ 
sults ot the examination of the subject by eminent 
scientists are sueli as to leave no doubt os to the 
value of mesmerism properly applied to many of 
the conditions of human life. 
MAGAZINES. 
Contents of St. Nicholas for June.— Frontis¬ 
piece, “Summer has ComeA Second Trial, Sarah 
Winter Kellogg; Mignonette, Poem, Susan Cool- 
ldge, (inustra tlon by Helena De Kay); Bossy Ana¬ 
nias, Louise Seymour Houghton (Illustration by 
Mrs. J. S. S. Daniel!; Chub and Hoppergrass, 
Charles Stuart Pratt (Five Illustrations by the au¬ 
thor) ; Anna Letltia Barbauld, Kate Brownlee Hor¬ 
ton (Illustration—Portrait of Mrs. Barbauld); A 
Jolly Fellowship, Chaps. XV. XVI, Frank K. Stock- 
ton (Three Illustrations by James E. Kelly); How 
the Lambkins went South, Mrs. E. T. Corbett (illus¬ 
tration by L. Hopkins); Longitude Naugnt, W. L. 
Sheppard (Seven Illustrations hy the author); The 
FalriesGift, verses. Palmer Cox (Illustrationby the 
author); A Curious Box of Books, H. D. M.; The 
Schnltzen, M. A. Edwards (Illustration by James 
E. Kelly); The shower, Poem, Anna Boynton Av- 
ertU; A Puzzling Picture, C. B. (Illustration by J. 
F. Runge); Kobln Goodtellow and his Friend Blue- 
tree, Howard Pyle (Three Illustrations by the au¬ 
thor) ; Eyebright, Chapter VI, Susan Coolldge (Il¬ 
lustration by Frederick Dellman); The Boy and 
the Brook, Verses, L. C. R. (Illustration by J. A. 
Mitchell); A Fish that Catches Fish for Its Master, 
John Lewees (Three niustratlons by Daniel c. 
Beard); The Royal Bonbon, Nora Perry (Illustra¬ 
tion by Walter Shlrlawj; Two Little Travelers, 
Louisa M. Alcott; How a Comet Struck the Earth, 
Edward C. Kemble (Two Illustrations—one by 
George Bell, one by Howard Pyle; For Very Little 
Folk—the Little Mothers, J. L. (Seven Illustrations 
by Miss Mary A Lutilbury); Jaclc-ln-thc-Pulplt (Il¬ 
lustrated); The Letter-Box (illustration—“just 
You Dare!”—by a Young contributor); The Kld- 
dle-Box (Two illustrations). 
A Peripatetic Professor.— Writing of the Uni¬ 
versity of Berlin in Scribner for J une, aud espe¬ 
cially of Ernst Cunlus, Mr. H. H. Boyesen thus de¬ 
scribes his interesting method of teaching history: 
“Professor Cur tins has a very agreeable voice 
and a clear and lucid manner of lecturing; he is 
frequently in the habit of conducting his auditors 
through the Greek division of the Royal Museum, 
and Illustrating by the veritable objects many of 
which be has himself excavated at Olympia, the 
manner of life and thought among the ancients. 
It Is needless to add (hat, these peripatetic lectures 
are very popular, iw-lng really themselves a vener¬ 
able tradition from the days of Plato and Socrates. 
You seem to breathe the breath of Greece. These 
objects^ some of them two or th ree thousand years 
old—may have been touched by the heroes who 
came to participate In the Olympian games. Here, 
for Distance, Is an urn or pitcher of burnt clay, or 
terra cotta, the fragments of which Professor Cur- 
tius discovered In an Olympian tomb. It has now 
been carefully Joined together, and no piece was 
found lacking. The form Is light and graceful, 
and the sides decorated with hasty-colored sketch¬ 
es, representing scenes of every-day life. There Is 
the picture clearly" drawn, and the colors yet 
bright aud warm. Notice the wonderful grace and 
the soft distinctness of the few simple lines which 
go to make up this figure; and these pitchers were 
made and decorated by common artisans, not by 
men who laid claim to the title ot artists. Imagine, 
then, what the average artistic culture must have 
been among a people whose artisans could draw 
lines like these. The fact t hat they are not the 
work of educated artists is proved by various cir¬ 
cumstances: In the first place, the material is very 
cheap; and, secondly, the pitchers are found In 
great abundance In the tombs or a certain period. 
They are a kind of mortuary vessels, which were 
thrown Into tbe grave, and thus purposely broken; 
the breaking having some symbolism, and being a 
part of the burial ceremony. In these lectures, 
whatever Professor Curtins touoheB is made to tell, 
not only Its own history, but the history of the 
people, who fashioned and used It, Antiquity re¬ 
vives under his hands, and begins to breathe and 
move In a human and Intelligible manner. We feel 
our own blood pulsing In Us veins, our own emo¬ 
tions and passions animating its actions. 
The voice.—A Monthly devoted to Voice Culture, 
with special attention to Stuttering and Stammer¬ 
ing. one dollar a year. Published at 161 Broad¬ 
way, Albany. N. Y. 
This is a venture In a hitherto untried field. The 
publishers Intend to give prominence to the severer 
forms of speech defects, and besides will treat of 
voice culture In an elocutionary aud musical 
aspect. Their aim being to include everything 
pertaining to the voice, In Its perfections as well 
as Imperfections. 
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN STUTTERING AND 
STAMMERING. 
Most English and American writers use the 
terms stuttering and stammering synonymously. 
We, however, tliluk that there Is a great difference 
between them, and give Prof. Klencke’s definitions 
as those by which we shall be governed. The 
professor draws the parallel as follows: 
STUTTERING. j STAMMERING. 
I. The stutterer hutne- i. The stammerer usu- 
diately begins to stutter ally speaks better when 
violently when be is ob- he Is observed and thus 
served, and shows a forced to pay attention 
spasmodic fear and op- to Himself, and only 
presslon. under peculiar eircum- 
II. The stutterer does stances does he show 
not betray his defect, in four and oppression, 
slow, measured decla- II. The stammerer be- 
matloti and singing, and trays Ills defect when 
In talking In syllabic careless, In singing, dec- 
measure. luiuatlou and measured 
III. The stutterer ex- miking. 
hlblts an agitation of hi. The stammerer 
his respiratory organs, never exhibits an aglta- 
and congestion of the tlon of his respiratory 
blood in tlie chest, and and blood - circulating 
head, which Is Increased organs; neither nervous 
In proportion to his nor convulsive action, 
efforts te overcome the and by the exercise or 
difficulty; and there his will lie can partly or 
appears a convulsive wholly overcome his de- 
actlon ot tbe chest, feet, 
throat nnd head. IV. The stammerer 
IV. The stutterer can does not have the silght- 
aceurately form all est difficulty In thefor- 
corisoiiants as separate niation of his voice. He 
sounds without a loud betrays his defect as 
tone, or In a whisper; much in loud talking as 
but begins at, once to in whispering, aud the 
stutter If he. attempts to combinat ion of ids de- 
joln certain consonants fectlve. consonants with 
with voice, or with a a vowel meets with no 
vowel. His voice evt- hlnderance .—The Voice. 
dentiy falls by the 
wrong action of the 
mechanism of the mus¬ 
cles, respiration and 
voice-formation. 
Sunday Afternoon (Sfringfield Mass.,) for 
Junk has several seasouable articles; How Civ¬ 
ilization Benefits our Birds, which is one of the 
papers for which that bird lover Ernest Ingersoll 
Is becoming so widely known; a story of the war 
appropriate to Decoration Day entitled Was He a 
Traitor; a poem by Thomas L. Collier entitled Deco¬ 
ration Day; and some timely vereesby Sarah O. 
Jewett, author of Deephaven. There Ls a story. 
The New Minister at Bray ton; a sketch. Letters 
from Cape Cod; and a somewhat tragic Install¬ 
ment of Calvin the Sinner. Mrs. Helen Campbell 
gives another chapter from her experiences 
among the New York tenement houses. 
Of the more solid articles the longest, from the 
Journal nes Econom istes, relates to conflicts ot 
Labor and Capital in England. It traces t he his¬ 
tory of the English Trades-unions from their be¬ 
ginning to the present time; tells of their organiza¬ 
tion and numbers, of co-operative societies, of 
strikes, and discusses these various points at some 
length. George M, Towle ha9 Republic and Church 
In France; there are suggestions as to how the 
Old Catholic movement should be Judged by Rev. 
Dr. Wm. chauuoy Langdon, and Four Elements of 
a Great Art, the art of Imparting Ideas as to re¬ 
ligion, by Rev. Geo. T. Ladd. 
Thousual departments conclude the number, 
the Editor’s Table containing: Murder as a means 
of grace; Materialism in Reform; Is Faith Blind ? 
and American Art. 
How Civilization Benefits our Birds.— The 
result of all this ls that the aggregate army of 
