EDITOR'S TABLK 



was ill his nioin-y «lrii\vor itml leilgcrs, nn.l wlio would l>y his Lick of synipntliy Buiolhcr up my 

 little hit uf fain-y. An>l i»o the first lisjiiugs of our little ones wore of lhiii{^s we hiiJ lauglit Iheiii 

 to love. We gave them all the lessons on nature we could ; and when the reality was not at 

 liaii>l, n)ade u^e of tliose next hest things, dcsciijitions and jiietuiings of her workc. And so at 

 three yeai*s old they knew more of natin-c than many who live all their lives amid her haunts. 

 Our sweet morninj^ naps about four o'eloek were disturlied l)y one cr two cherulis climbing up 

 and nestling be?ide us with — "Now, i>a])a, mamma, talk 'buut our farm;" or, "talk poetry." 



In the eourse of time our furin was no idle figment of the biain, but a living, broad reality. 

 And such a farm! — just what a jioetical, romantic woman might crave. It was as the red man 

 left it, in all its ]>ristine beauty. Wiiat happiness to j^ossess those broad acres unraarred by the 

 hands of verdant, uncultivated rusticity, with their obsolete notions! What pleasure to aj)|ior- 

 tion and adorn it to our own minds! We erected a settler's cottage away back from the road, 

 and left a choice spot for our future home. Three years have rajiidly flown in this delectable 

 employment. Orchard-s and gnrdens and nurseries and fields have stretched themselves out ait hy 

 tnagic, say those who have not been witness to the sinewy strength and the sweating brow that 

 have overcome ditliculties and produced results; and one who possessed a little corner of 

 romance in her eotnposition, which attracted me instinctively', likens it to the wonders of Al.\d- 

 din's lamp. Dear Aladdin, your lamp must have burned slowly if it revealed not things with 

 greater celerity than do we witli axes and bush-scythes and plows and spades. But could yovi 

 eat of the delicious Apples and Pears (thanks to the dwarfing sj'stem) and Plums and Cherries 

 and Grapes and berries ali'cady here produced in the excellence of thtir most approved varieties, 

 you would deem it something more than a dream. During this time we have been so intensely 

 occupied in bringing about necessary improvements, that we have neither time nor means to 

 devote to beauty. We live on hope — hope. At even we sit by the home fire, and talk of what 

 we may sometime have and enjoy, as we picture our future home. We rest in sleep, and dream 

 we arc enjoying these comforts in full fruition ; we rise in the morning, and the early dawn 

 reveah a humble home, with stumps and rail fences all around. Then we go to work with fresh 

 vigor — another home in our eye encouraging us onward. Just such things as you talk about 

 possesxing, we plan — and enjoy, day after daj', in anticipation. But we don't waste time in idle 

 dreaming, — oh, no; we work away, early and late — "still pursuing, still achieving:" and we 

 have "learned to labor and to wait." 



Some people might think there were inconveniences, discomforts, and trials, attending tiiis life 

 — such as living in a settler's home with not very extensive accommodations, and the brusque 

 ap]>earance of the grounds immediately surrounding — the very part that comes oftenest in con- 

 tact with the visual organs of we whose sphere of duty doesn't compas? many acres. Time does 

 not permit us to arrange this spot, which we only look at as a temporary locality; for the sternly 

 useful and actually necessary are all the time pressing — pressing. They who would think thus 

 might fraternize with that sordid class with whom I have proven you, sir, could never affiliate. 

 For here, hope, imagination, antici[>ation, and invention, with executicm, may be brought into 

 active exercise. And are they not among our highest attributes — productive of some of our 

 purest pleasures ? 



While I busied myself this eve, inserting ingenious patches in the knees and elbows of sundry 

 juvenile garments, husband read me ihe Horticulturist ; and among other things, your ai tide. 

 So absorbed was I in the repairing of dilapidated wardrobes, that at the time I did not enter into 

 the full spirit of it. My agrestical occupation seemed to earth-bind my fancy. By-and-by hus- 

 band, who was unusually tired and sleepy, had sought his pillow; and while I went from room 

 to room, tucking in the inmates of the different beds, he was fairly napping. I sat down by our 

 low window, to indulge a little ruminating. Without was spread a scene of varied natural 

 beauty, and all about was bathed in moonlight of true western brilliance. With the spec 

 thought I sought that fair Attical home, and reveled in its classic beauty. Then I plumed 



