520 Ladies and Agriculture. [November, 



of cows for the pail — Ayrsliires and Devons ; told me where the 

 best cheese was made — Cheshire ; the best butter — Ireland ; where 

 the best milk-maids were to be found — Wales. 



" Oh ! " thought I, "I was mistaken ; this charming, intelligent 

 woman, acting so natural and unaffected, dressed so neat and so very- 

 plain, must be a farmer's wife ; and what a helpmate he has in her ! 

 yes, a single bracelet clasps a fair rounded arm — that's all." 



The train stopped at York. No sooner had my traveling compan- 

 ions stepped upon the platform, than I noticed they were surrounded 

 by half a dozen servants — men and women — the men in full livery. 

 It turned out to be Sir John and Lady 11. This gentleman I learned 

 was one of the largest land-proprietors in Berkshire, and his lady 

 the daughter of a nobleman, a peeress in her own right ; but her 

 title added nothing to her — she was a noble woman without it. 



It is a part of our task to excel in horticulture, in which female 

 taste and skill must aid us. We must embellish our homes ; we 

 must make them sweet and pleasant homes. The. brave old oaks 

 must be there, the spadious lawn with its green sward, and the fruit 

 orchard, and the shrubbery, and the roses, and the vines festooned 

 and trained about the balconies. Even the birds will think that a 

 sweet home, and will come and sing and make melody, as though 

 they would " teach the art to imitative man." 



Such a home will be entailed to our children, and to their children 

 • — not by statute laws of entail, but by a higher law, the law of nature 

 — through the force of sympathy — the associations of childhood. 



" The orcliard, the meadow, the deep tangled wildvvood, 

 And every loved spot which our infancy knew." 



These will hold them to it — these early memories — which we 

 should take care to deepen with a binding and indissoluble tie. 



Talk not, then, you fathers and mothers! to your sons, of 

 forensic fame — of senatorial halls — of the distinction of professional 

 life — or the gains and emoluments of commerce. It is not for our 

 class, surely, to furnish more recruits to this hazardous service in 

 which so many of our country have already been lost — lost to any 

 useful purpose of living — themselves miserable from hope deferred 

 that makes the heart sick — or disappointed of the objects of life, 

 have become overwhelmed with bankruptcy and ruin. Give to 

 your sons the pursuit of WASHINGTON, who gloried in being a Farmer. 



