COMPENSATIONS IN LIFE. 281 



ments, and filled with mishaps, losses, perplexities, and trials 

 of all sorts and sizes, it will present my success in a more 

 practical way, and strengthen the bond of fraternity between 

 us, if I narrate in brief the darker side, drawbacks, and 

 hindrances, — things that none of us escape, though meted 

 to us in different measure. 



As I mentioned at the beginning, my reason for taking 

 a farm was extreme ill health, being told by an eminent 

 physician that my life could not be prolonged beyond a few 

 months. To this was added the embarrassments arising from 

 large dealings in real estate, that, by reason of the financial 

 panic of 1857, had proved unlucky investments. Beside 

 these things was my utter ignorance of farming. What to 

 do and how to do it, I had to learn. I bought an old run- 

 out farm because I could get it cheap, and that was the best 

 price I could pay. So shiftlessly had the farm been con- 

 ducted, that the thick stone walls, the loose stones, and the 

 rock that cropped above the ground, covered between four 

 and five acres, or an area equal to about an eighth of the 

 whole farm. The buildings were wholly out of repair. I had 

 not the necessary farming-implements, nor the means to get 

 them, only as the income from the farm enabled me to buy. 

 My help was ignorant or wilful, or both. Every thing' was 

 experimental ; and yet the family must be provided for. I 

 trust these things, dark and forbidding to think of, may, after 

 all, serve to stimulate others, as they do me, to patient, enter- 

 prising effort. Knowledge of soils, of seeds, and fertilizers, 

 of stock, utensils, and methods, I have had to acquire. These 

 things are invaluable knowledge, which has no price. The 

 value of intelligent help cannot be overestimated. One of 

 my chief hindrances, and most aggravating expenses, has 

 been ignorant, careless help, that were constantly breaking 

 machines, harness, or wagons, or in some way, alike discred- 

 itable to themselves and disastrous to me, drawing upon my 

 patience and income. 



.It is seldom that the sorrows outnumber the blessings. 

 It is not often, in New-England farming to-day, that the 

 crops entirely fail, or the fields are barren ; and I would not 

 be unmindful of the thousand-fold of good that I have 

 reaped from " my farm experience," — return of health and 

 strength, a happy and instructive communion with nature, 



