his usual custom, into the occupations of his sons during his absence. He received a good account of all of them except Eli, who, the housekeeper reluctantly confessed, had been engaged in making a fiddle. "Alas!" said the father, with a sigh and ominous shake of the head, "I fear that Eli will have some day to take his portion out in fiddles." To have anything to do with a fiddle betokened, the father thought, a tendency to engage in mere trifles. How little aware was the father that this simple occupation, far from being altogether a mere fiddle-faddle, was the dawning forth of an inventive genius to be ranked among the most effective and useful in respect to arts and manufactures! It is related of Chantry, the celebrated sculptor, that, when a boy, he was observed by a gentleman at Sheffield very attentively engaged in cutting a stick with a penknife. He asked the lad what he was doing. "I am cutting old Fox's head." Fox was the schoolmaster of the village. On this the gentleman asked to see what he had done, pronounced it excellent, and presented the youth with sixpence. How many would have at once characterized the occupation of the boy as a mischievous or idle one, losing sight, for the time, of that lesson which every parent should remember—“ never despise small beginnings." The first panels on which the late Wm. Etty, the celebrated painter, drew, were the boards of his father's shop floor; and his first crayon a lump of white chalk-a substance considered now-a-days almost invariably ominous of mischief-doing in the hands of a boy, especially on the opening day of the month of April. Now, what does the mother of "little Willie " do on discovering the nicely swept floor disfigured with chalk lines? Of course she scolds, and calls him a mischievous little fellow? No; this is not the course the sensible mother pursues. In an autobiographical letter addressed to a relative, Etty, speaking of this circumstance in his youthful life, says "My pleasure amounted to ecstasy when my mother promised me next morning, if I were a good boy, I should use some colors, mixed with gumwater. I was so pleased I could scarcely sleep." When young West, the great American painter, first began to display skill in drawing, and learned from the roaming Indians the method of preparing colors, he was at a loss to conceive how to lay these colors skillfully on his canvas. A neighbor informed him that this was done with brushes formed of camel's hair. There were no camels in America, and he had recourse to the cat, whose back and tail supplied his wants. The cat was a favorite, and the altered condition of her fur was imputed to disease, till the boy's confession explained the cause, much to the amusement of his father, who rebuked him not rashly, but as becometh a wise parent, more in affection than in anger. To rebuke such an act wisely, required on the part of the parent a discrimination sufficiently clear to discern that mischiefdoing had nothing to do with the affair. It was of no small importance that the correction employed should be adapted to the circumstance of the case. Of Edward Malbone, another American painter, it is said the "intervals of his school hours were filled by indefatigable industry in making experiments, and endeavoring to make discoveries. One of his greatest delights was found in blowing bubbles, for the pleasure of admiring the fine colors they displayed." appears, that even the blowing of soapbubbles, idle as most of us think such an amusement, may have not a little to do toward leading the young artistic mind to discriminate nicely between delicate shades of color. Thus, it It is said that the artist Copley, when seven or eight years old, on being observed to absent himself from the family for several hours at a time, was at length traced to a lonely room, on whose bare walls he had drawn, in charcoal, a group of martial figures engaged in some nameless adventure. The artistic tendency, in such a case, needs a treatment far different from that which would attribute it to the love of mere sportive trick-practicing. The maneuvers of a boy should be thoroughly studied to their real motive before recourse is had to correction. Rashness on the part of parent or teacher is never excusable. It should be remembered that, in the plays and pursuits of the boy, the future man is sometimes seen; and, therefore, it becomes of importance to know how the amusements and games of children may be improved for directing their inclination to employments in which they may hereafter excel. [For the National Magazine.] METHODIST CHURCH ARCHITECTURE. SECOND ARTICLE in the U of drawings from different parts of the country make it necessary, if we continue our articles at all in the present number, to introduce thus early to our readers a view of The corbels, hood-moldings, and sills for the doors and windows, as also the base course, moldings under the gutters, offsets and hoods to buttresses, turrets, &c., are of Connecticut freestone. And the same stone is used with the blue, in alternate courses, in the construction of the buttresses. This is one of the most pleasant combinations of color in the whole exterior of the edifice. The tower is ninety feet high from the TRINITY METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH, water-table, and the spire one hundred and ten feet higher to the top of the finial, making two hundred feet in all. The spire is to be of wood, and covered with slate. In the midst of five-story dwellings it would scarcely be ranked among the NEW-YORK. The blue stone of the walls is rough THIS church is situated upon Thirtyfourth-street, between the Seventh and Eighth Avenues, in the city of New-York. Thirty-fourth-street is one hundred feet wide, extending east and west directly" tall steeples." across the city, from the Hudson to the East River. It is one of the finest cross-tooled, and laid up in rubble work, (i. e., not streets in the city. The Eighth Avenue, in regular courses,) and being pointed up near which it is located, is a fine avenue, and the joints painted white, the effect is mostly devoted to retail stores, and run- exceedingly fine. ning parallel with the Hudson, about six blocks from its shore. We are consequently pretty well "up town," and near the western border of the city. We are thus particular that the friends of "Trinity" may know where to find her when they visit the city, and may thus return the "New Year's call " now made through the pages of the NATIONAL. The sides and front are alike, and being surrounded by high buildings with brown stone fronts, the appearance of the church is every way becoming. There is an air of durability and honesty about the structure that at once prepossesses the beholder in its favor; and at the same time it is sufficiently ornate to satisfy the demands of a genuine good taste. At least so thinks one man, most decidedly; and he has not yet seen or heard of the first person who dissented from his opinion. The site of this church and parsonage is ninety-six feet front by ninety-nine in depth, and cost fourteen thousand dollars. It is upon the south side of the street, (so that the church fronts to the north), and is far enough from the Eighth Avenue to be beyond the noise of the horse-cars, that run Sundays and week-days. Moreover, it is in a growing part of the city-in the midst of a good English, or rather American population-and is surrounded by first-class dwelling-houses. S. P. Townsend's "palace" is a little to the east of us, upon the same street. Indeed, it is not only "beautiful for situation," but we think it will be agreed on all hands that no other Methodist church in the city is quite as well located. And we know not where a better location could be selected between King's Bridge and the Battery. Now look at the engraving. You cannot see the brown stone in the buttresses, nor the beautiful rich blue of the walls, nor the distinct and clearly-penciled joints, nor the base course. All these are necessarily confounded in the engraving. Indeed, the original is far more comely in all respects than the picture. The writer imagines he can almost see all these, especially the rich blue slate of the roof; but the reader may not be blessed with so keen a vision. Not being able to procure ground in the rear for a lecture-room and class-rooms under the same roof, and preferring not to enter the main audience-room by flights of stairs, the only alternative was to build a depressed basement. To prevent damp The building is sixty-five by ninety-ness, and allow a free circulation of light nine feet, with a basement under the whole, and a gallery on three sides. It is built mainly of superior blue building stone, obtained upon New-York Island. and air, the earth is dug away on each side, and a strong wall built about six feet from the basement walls, like Grace Church, Buffalo. These areas are flagged, of ventilation. Each small room has at least two flues, carried up in the wall; one for a stove or heater of some sort, and the other for ventilation. The lecture-room has flues on each side in every buttress. The plastering in the basement is all furred off from the wall, to prevent the possibility of dampness. The windows of the basement have mullions in the center, and are finished with Gothic tops. They are glazed with good plate-glass. The seats are cushioned uniformly, every alternate one having a "rail-road back," for the convenience of the Sabbath school. The arrangement of the aisles, and desk, and altar, will be readily understood by the plan, except that the desk is shown beyond the altar railing, whereas it is within, and is movable. The lecture-room is fortyeight by sixty feet, and seats four hundred and twenty persons. In height it is eleven feet in the clear. The main audience-room is sixty feet wide by seventyeight long. The aisles are and between each buttress a grated open- | arranged as in the basement, except that ing is left, into a kind of cellar under the basement floor, to admit of a free circulation of air, and keep the basement floor dry. they run the whole length of the room, and the seats come much nearer to the vestibule wall than in the basement. The pews are to be upholstered uniformly, and furnished with doors. The aisles are depressed about three inches below the floor of the pews, for the better security of the ends of the pews, for convenience in sweeping, and to allow the pew-doors to swing clear. The main floor will seat about eight hundred persons. 48'-0" INFANT CLASS ROOM LIBRARY 7'6" X 20,6" FURNACE CLASS ROOM CLASS ROOM FURNACE 9'-6" นไชไป 5-2" 13-6°1 SEXTON'S CLOSET OR BIBLE CLASS ROOM PRAYER MEETING FURNACE PLAN OF BASEMENT. CLASS ROOM The basement is entered by stone steps on each side leading to the areas, and from thence by three doors, one on the right and two on the left. The first two doors lead directly into the lecture-room; and the third, which is on the left, near the rear, opens into a hall leading into the infant-class room, a class-room, and a large Bible-class room. The latter is also entered from the right-hand - wall aisle. The outside doors are all sash-doors, to admit as much light as possible, and the door into the library is also a sash-door for the same reason. Large windows are also placed on each side of the class-room in the center, to admit light from the outside windows opposite, and also for purposes 48-0 DOUR The gallery extends around three sides, and has four rows of seats. These are to be finished precisely like those in the body of the house. The fronts of the side galleries rest on iron columns only eleven feet in height, and the ascent is rapid back to the walls. Every person in the house will thus be brought into full view from a pulpit platform four feet high. The recesses over the vestibule are cut off from the gallery by a brick wall, form- | to be unnecessary and undesirable in the ing two beautiful class-rooms, like those neighborhood. But a superior clock is to each side of the tower in the basement. be placed in the tower, with three faces at The gallery is entered by flights of stairs least, and connections with a dial and from the vestibule next to the side walls, hands on the front of the gallery. This and landing on the sides of the gallery. is to cost some $500, and will be located The front of the gallery is trussed up, so but little above the organ, if not in the as to require no columns; and the space to rear of it, in the tower, with tractors be occupied by the choir is level, and to running up to the dials above, and out to be supplied with chairs instead of station- the gallery front. The clock will thus be ary seats. in a warm and steady place, easy of access, and can be made perfectly reliable. The organ is to occupy the space in the tower. A Gothic arch, answering to the main front window, will be mostly filled by the organ case, though the top of the window will be visible over the top of the organ. The other two front wi dows and two of the side windows are invisible from the audience-room, being cut off by the vestibule below and the two class-rooms above. The organ is to be built by Mr. GEORGE JARDIN, of NewYork, under the direction of Dr. LOWELL MASON, and is to cost $2,500. The ceiling is forty feet high on the sides by fifty in the center. A half circle is thrown in on the sides, and large ribs, rising from corbels, run up and intersect at the center. The other details of finish are to be in keeping with the style of architecture and the exterior finish of the building. The windows are to be of light stained glass, of a quality and style to correspond with the general design. The pews are to be sold (excepting, perhaps, the gallery) at an estimated valuation sufficient to cover the entire cost of the site, church edifice, parsonage, and fixtures. The church and furniture will cost $45,000, and the parsonage $6,000 more, which, together with $14,000 for the site, will carry the entire cost to $65,000. A large portion of the pews are already subscribed for, and indeed mostly paid for, and are expected to sell for from $100 to $800 each. They are to be subject to an annual assessment on the valuation sufficient to pay all current expenses. The main room and gallery will seat twelve hundred persons. Let us now sum up the whole a good stone church, slate roof, and fire-proof; a dry, light, and spacious basement; an ample lecture-room; a large Bible-class room and an infant-class room; three classrooms below and two above, and a good fix-library-room; a fine audience-room, well lighted, warmed, and ventilated; a good pulpit, organ, and clock; and all plain, substantial, and yet tasteful, like the preceding engraving. The audience-room is lighted by gas tures upon the walls and gallery front, and ventilated by revolving sash in the bottom and tops of the windows, and by registers in the peak of the ceiling, opening into the garret, from which the vitiated air passes into the tower. There are also | FORGIVENESS.—The pardon of sin has registers on the sides, near the ceiling, opening into the flues in the buttresses. The church is warmed mainly by two of Harvey & Co.'s No. 5 furnaces, in the basement, placed against the wall, near where the circular heaters are shown in the plan, and well bricked in. A portable furnace is placed in the hall, back of the basement pulpit, and discharges its heated air in the two middle aisles in front of the pulpit above. Pure cold air is brought in from without to supply all these heaters. The class-rooms, infant-class, and Bibleclass rooms are warmed by small wood been justly called "the life-blood of religion." It is this which runs through all parts of the Scripture, like the blood in our veins, and is the foremost object in the glorious Gospel. No man is happy in religion till he has reason to conclude that his sins are pardoned. Gratitude for this blessing is the grand incentive to holy obedience, and triumph on account of it forms a principal part of the bliss of glorified saints. How worthy, then, is this subject of our most serious regard! How unspeakably desirable to be able to say, "Being justified by faith, we have peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ." stoves. The tower has no bell, as it was thought | Dr. Kitto. |