THE FARMER. 51 



inviting martins and blue-birds to housekeeping and bug-break- 

 fasts off bis vines. 



The interior arrangements of his household wear the same 

 look toward per foe t ion. The modern appliances in aid of dairy 

 labor and women's work in general, are being introduced. 

 Well and cistern water and fuel arc reached under cover, and 

 the whole establishment, within and without, for convenience, 

 adaptation and completeness, answers well the idea conveyed in 

 the good old Saxon words, snug and home-like. While greater 

 attention is paid to the comfortable quarters of the stock in the 

 stalls, the necessity of enlarged education is acknowledged and 

 honored in the mansion, and book-case and parlor bear witness 

 that the ornamental as well as useful branches of study are not 

 unknown in the family. 



But in one respect, the survivor of a former generation, who 

 should call at our present homes, might sigh over the change 

 from olden time. That air-tight stove, those carpeted rooms, 

 those prim young men and maidens, and that sedate game of 

 whist, would, in the aged visitors' estimation, by no means 

 recompense the scenes of Thanksgiving eve in the old home- 

 stead ; when the blazing logs in the ample chimney shone rud- 

 dily upon the scrubbed floor, and crackled joyously in unison 

 with the laugh of a score of kindred and friends, young and 

 old, who rationally- rioted with the old fashioned games of 

 "Bfind man's buff" and " Hunt the slipper." The sweetest 

 airs from "Norma" upon the piano might only awaken regret 

 that the days " lang syne," when with joined hands the merry 

 circle sang — " We won't go home till morning," have passed 

 away ; and that choice refection of sherbet and scolloped oysters 

 but revive the longing remembrance of home-brew and cider 

 which washed down the nuts and cider of long ago. Ah! 

 there were " creature comforts " then, too ; — have modern bees 

 made sweeter honey than stored the hives of former time ? 



To conclude this topic of our general subject, a Rip Van 

 Winkle view of the farmer of fifty years since and him of the 

 present day, would indorse such progress, both in appearance 

 and reality, that, with all our predilections for antiquity, and 

 our ideal picture of its Utopian simplicity and comfort, we 

 should be loath to make the retrograde exchange. 



