structed by the timber being raised on its and varnished; wainscoting is arranged ends; the outside was covered with deals in the best rooms, and the walls are cov. to protect the inmates against the great ered with deals, which are painted or cold. The nave was supported by wood- covered with painted canvas. The ornaen pillars, and rose considerably above the mentation and decoration of the houses side aisles. Of these ancient and inter- outside are obtained through the projectesting structures there are still a few ing head-pieces of beams, the projecting preserved, of which the churches in Bor- roofs, and the elegant open verandahs. gund and Hitterdal are well known to The present design of a Norwegian modtourists in Norway. At the same time ern timber house presents a large and considerable progress was made in the more than usually comfortably arranged architecture of dwelling-houses, etc. Each residence in the country. One now in building had its separate use. The num- course of erection at Osterdalen will form ber of rooms increased, and they were the main building in a large group_of now provided with wooden floors.. It is houses. The floor will be fitted with Enonly within the last century or two that glish tiles to harmonize with the high two-storied houses have come into use, wainscoting and the painted ceiling. In and are now rapidly supplanting the old or.e of the broken corners of the large ones. During the last centuries little or parlor is an open fireplace for use in the no attention has been paid to the ancient mild weather in the spring, and in the Norwegian architecture in the construc- other a stove for the severe cold in the tion of new houses; but it is a pleasure winter. Wainscoting of wood is arranged to report that during the last thirty or here as in the other rooms, and the ceil forty years a great revival has taken ings are of ornamental woodwork. In the place. Many Norwegian architects have dining-room the sideboard is constructed done great service by re-introducing the in the wall, which has a small opening old Norwegian style, in which many new through which the dishes are passed dibuildings have now been built and deco-rect from the kitchen. The house is enrated, and Norway will again respect and appreciate its old timber architecture. In considering the later and more modern architecture, we must strictly distinguish between the town and the country. In the town the houses are built on the system of flats, and are usually either three or four stories high. Brick is now by law the material for building in town, and nearly all the houses are plastered with cement as a protection against cold and rain. The last fifty years have also developed a stucco architecture, which gives the broad streets and the houses a bright and clean appearance. But in the country timber architecture is still used for churches and dwelling-houses. The plan of the residence is, as a rule, simple. In the middle of the house a lobby or small hall is arranged, which forms the means of communication between the rooms arranged around this. As the price of timber is cheap, and rates of wages are low, we find, as a rule, that the houses are built larger than required for actual use. Easy access is obtained between the different rooms through doors leading direct from one room to another to avoid the cold air in the lobby. Thus a suite of rooms is obtained, which is found to be very convenient and comfortable. Carpets are seldom used, but the floors are painted

tirely built of seven-inch timber, outside and inside, covered by deals to resist the cold, which a well-built timber house fully does. The floor-beams of the first floor project, after old Norwegian custom, twelve inches out over the ground floor, and support the upper walls. Through this, variation and ornamentation are produced in the elevation, giving the exte rior a striking appearance. The high pointed arches of the verandahs under the projecting roofs assist also in this, and thus depth and a fine variety of light and shade are obtained. As a rule, the Norwegian timber houses are light and elegant, and produce by their warm and bright color an attractive appearance. At the same time, they are strong and cheap. The price of the timber is low, and the rates of wages are low, so it is possible even for people not so well off to inhabit a good and handsome house. "For this reason," says Mr. Lowzow, "I recommend these timber houses for use in England, to have the houses built in Norway and sent here by steamer, where they can easily be re-erected. The total cost of a timber house will favorably compare with the cost of a brick house, besides being a much more healthy and comfortable abode."

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From The Contemporary Review.
COUNT RUMFORD.

American trees, is nine miles distant from the city of Boston. In North Woburn, a ON a bright, calm day in the autumn of little way off, on March 26, 1753, Rum1872 that portion of the year called, I ford was born. He came of people who believe, in America the Indian summer had to labor for their livelihood, who I made a pilgrimage to the modest birth- tilled their own fields, cut their own timplace of Count Rumford, the originator ber and fuel, worked at their varied trades, of the Royal Institution. My guide on and thus maintained the independence of the occasion was Dr. George Ellis of New England yeomen. Thompson's faBoston, and a more competent guide Ither died before he was two years old. could not have had. To Dr. Ellis the His mother married again, changing her American Academy of Arts and Sciences name to Pierce, and had children by her had committed the task of writing a life second husband; but the affection beof Rumford, and this labor of love had tween her and her firstborn remained been accomplished in 1871, a year prior strong and unbroken to the end of her to my visit to the United States. The life. The boy was placed under the care name of Rumford was Benjamin Thomp- of guardians, from whom his stepfather, son. For thirty years he was the contem-Josiah Pierce, received a weekly allowporary of another Benjamin, who reached ance of two shillings and fivepence for a level of fame as high as his own. Ben- the child's maintenance. Young Thompjamin Franklin and Benjamin Thompson son received his first education from Mr. were born within twelve miles of each John Fowle, graduate of Harvard college, other, and for six of the thirty years just "an accomplished and faithful man." He referred to, the one lived in England and also went to a school at Byfield, kept by the other in France. Yet, Dr. Ellis in- a relation of his own. At the age of forms us, there is nothing to show that eleven, he was placed for a time under the they ever saw each other, or were in any tuition of Mr. Hill, an able teacher in way acquainted with each other, or, in Medford," adjoining Woburn. The lad's deed, felt the least interest in each other. mind was ever active, and his invention The name and fame of Rumford, which incessantly exercised, but for the most were resonant in Europe at the beginning part on subjects beside his daily work. of this century, have fallen in England into In relation to that work, he came to be general oblivion. To scientific men, how-regarded as "indolent, flighty, and unever, his figure presents itself with singu- promising." His guardians, at length lar impressiveness at the present day. thinking it advisable to change his vocaThis result is mainly due to the establish- tion, apprenticed him in October, 1776, to ment, in recent times, of the grand scien- | Mr. John Appleton, of Salem, an importer tific generalization known as the mechan- of British goods. Here, however, instead ical theory of heat. Boyle, and Hooke, of wooing customers to his master's and Locke, and Leibnitz, had already counter, he occupied himself with tools ranged themselves on the side of this and implements hidden beneath it. He theory. But by experiments conducted is reported to have been a skilful musion a scale unexampled at the time, and cian, passionately fond of music of every by reasonings, founded on these experi- kind; and during his stay with Mr. Apments, of singular force and penetration, pleton, whenever he could do so without Rumford has made himself a conspicuous being heard, he solaced his leisure by landmark in the history of the theory. performances on the violin. His inference from his experiments was scored in favor of those philosophers who held that heat is a form of motion.

The town of Woburn, connected in my memory with a cultivated companion, with genial sunshine and the bright coloring of

66

By the Rev. Thomas Barnard, minister of Salem, and his son, young Thompson was taught algebra, geometry, and astronomy. By self-practice, he became an able and accurate draughtsman. He did not escape that last infirmity of ingenious minds, the desire to construct a perpetual

motion. He breaks ground in physics, | leads me to; whether it be to go abroad, by questioning his friend Mr. Baldwin as or stay at home and read either anatomy, to the direction pursued by rays of light | physic, or chemistry, or any other book I under certain conditions; he desires to want to peruse." know the cause of the change of color which fire produces in clay. "Please," he adds, "to give the nature, essence, beginning of existence, and rise of the wind in general, with the whole theory thereof, so as to be able to answer all questions relative thereto." One might suppose him to be preparing for a competitive examination. He grew expert in drawing caricatures, a spirited group of which has been reproduced by Dr. Ellis. It is called "A Council of State," and embraces a jackass with twelve human heads. In 1769, he changed his place in Salem for a situation in a dry-goods store in Boston, and soon afterwards began the study of medicine under Dr. John Hay, of Woburn.

Thompson keeps a strict account of his debts to Dr. Hay; credits him with a pair of leather gloves; credits Mrs. Hay with knitting him a pair of stockings. These items he tacks on to the more serious cost of his board from December, 1770, to June, 1772, at forty shillings, old currency, per week, amounting to £156. The specie payments of Thompson were infinitesimal, eight of them amounting in the aggregate to £2. His further forms of payment illustrate the habits of the community in which he dwelt. Want of money caused them to fall back upon barter. He debits Dr. Hay with an amusing and diversified list of articles the value of which no doubt had been previously agreed upon between them. The love of order which afterwards ruled the actions of the man, was incipient in the boy. At seventeen, he thus spaced out the four and twenty hours of a single day: "From eleven to six, sleep. Get up at six o'clock and wash my hands and face. From six to eight, exercise one-half, and study one-half. From eight to ten, breakfast, attend prayers, etc. From ten to twelve, study all the time. From twelve to one, dine, etc. From one to four, study constantly. From four to five, relieve my mind by some diversion or exercise. From five till bedtime, follow what my inclination

In 1771 he managed, by walking daily from Woburn to Cambridge, and back, a distance of some sixteen miles, to attend the lectures on natural philosophy, delivered by Professor Winthrop in Harvard College. He taught school for a short time at Wilmington, and afterwards for six weeks and three days at Bradford, where his repute rose so high that he received a call to Concord, a town of New Hampshire, situated higher up than Bradford on the river Merrimac. The Indian name of Concord was, according to Dr. Ellis, Penacook, but Appleton's "Cyclopædia" states it to have been Musquetaquid. Emerson's poem of this title is in harmony with the "Cyclopædia." In 1733 it had been incorporated as a town in Essex County, Massachusetts. Some of the early settlers in that county had come from our own Essex; and, as regards pronunciation, they carried with them the name of the English Essex town, Romford, of brewery celebrity. They, however, changed the first o into, calling the American town Rumford. Strife had occurred as to the county or state to which Rumford belonged. But the matter was amicably settled at last; and to denote the subsequent harmony, the name was changed from Rumford to Concord. This sweetly quiet spot is historically famous from its being the place where British soldiers first fell in the American War; and within the present century its fame has been enhanced by the life and death of Ralph Waldo Emerson. In later years, when honors fell thick upon him, Thompson was made a count of the Holy Roman Empire. He chose for his title Count Rumford, in memory of his early association with Concord.*

In the autumn of 1872, accompanied by my highminded friend and relative, General Hector Tyndale, I time previously his house had been destroyed by fire, and while it was rebuilding he occupied the old Manse He showed us the rendered famous by Hawthorne. soldiers fell, on the 9th of April, 1775. We also saw spot beside the Merrimac, where the first two English there the Concord obelisk, marking the ground

spent a charming day with Emerson at Concord. Some