421] 



GLfeAXi^'GS In in:l-: cULI'uUe. 



Jui^E 



nest after she had been sitting a few days, 

 and I did not know but she would succeed 

 in hatching a few of them. Will it be safe 

 to say she had mon' good sense in regard to 

 the matter of eontinuingilonger than I had V 

 In going over to the house one day I passed 

 Iter as she stood among tlie otlier fowls. 

 Slie gave her tail a sort of wiggle, with a 

 kind of self-satislled air. as mucli as to im- 

 ply, even if she did not say it, " I have done 

 my duty as well as I knew liow. In fact. I 

 liave done all that anybody could expect^any 

 honest, sober-minded" hen" to do. It is true. 

 I did not succeed in getting any chickens; 

 but I'm not going to worry about it. neitlier 

 am 1 going to be so silly as to keep on cluck- 

 ing in a stubborn sort of way. I suppose the 

 next thing to do is to lay s"ome more eggs. 

 and try it again, and 1 do not know why 1 

 should not be just as happy aboutit as if I 

 had just succeeded in weaning a great brood 

 of chickens, instead of having accomplished 

 nothing at all.'' 



An old horse oftentimes exhibits a good 

 deal of judgment and wisdom. They have 

 learned by many years of experience, liovv to 

 do almost all kinds of work that horses 

 usually do. There is a sort of dignity about 

 them that 1 can^not help admiring. * Home- 

 times I feel like raising my hat. out of re- 

 spect to an aged family horse. Yes, some- 

 times I feel more respect for him than I do 

 for the man who drives him. Yesterday a 

 friend was telling me of a horse they^owned, 

 who M^ould cultivate corn all day, and not 

 step on a hill, providing he was used well. 

 He thoroughly understood his work, knew 

 what was wanted, and seemed to'take a de- 

 gree of pride in doing it ; but if some un- 

 trained boy undertook to jerk 'him around, 

 and " holler " at him, he would get off his 

 •• hooks," as the saying is, and he would 

 step on more corn in a little while than any 

 horse you ever heard of. His dignity was 

 offended . and his— I was going to say man- 

 hood, but I suppose it will have to be 

 '• horsehood," was outraged by setting some- 

 body to manage him who had not as much 

 good sense and understanding as the horse 

 liimself. 



My friend, do you ever gel angry at your 

 horsey Within a few weeks we have been 

 having a very bad piece of ground indeed 

 down in the creek bottom and in tiie woods 

 plowed up for the first time. I was afraid 

 to set some of the hands about it, because 

 they would get angry. Of course, the work 

 was very perplexing, and it was pretty hard 

 work to get the plow out of the roots, cut 

 the roots off, and start in again, etc. I am 

 glad to be able to say. however, that we 

 have men here, good Christian men. who 

 will take hold of almost anv sort of a job of 

 that kind, and 1 shall not be"a bit afraid that 

 they will lose their temper, jerk or scold 

 the horses, or feel luu-t toward me because I 

 gave them such an unpleasant task. These 

 men have wisdom and understanding. They 

 have this rare quality of discretion. I com- 

 plimented one of them on the'patience and 

 quietness which he showed in doing this 

 hard work that I wanted done. He replied 

 something like this: " Why, Mr. Boot, it 

 would not help things any to get out of pa- 



! tience. When one gets out of patience he 

 I does not get along as fast, nor do the work 

 nearly as well." If the poor horses could 

 I talk, what do you think they would say 

 about it? Did you ever see a bright, in- 

 telligent-lookingi noble horse made misera- 

 ble because some untrained, vicious man 

 would swear and yell at him, and whip hiraV 

 i Mrs. Root says the greatest trial she has in 

 1 this world, almost, is to see an angry or 

 ^ drunken man whip a horse. Slie says the 

 ! only time she would like to fight is at such 

 times as this. She would fight for the poor 

 ! defenseless horses. I often tell her she 

 ought to hire out to Mr. Ueigh. Horses 

 sometimes need whipping; but the ("hris- 

 j tian man. when he whips liis horse, whips 

 1 him with love in his heart— whips him not 

 only to get the work along, but to make the 

 I horse better and happier. A horse that is 

 ; made to mind, and that is made to under- 

 [ stand fully icho is master, is a happier horse 

 than one that is not taught obeilience. 

 Now, friends. I did not start out to write 

 I about horses, uov hens either, for that mat- 

 I ter ; but I started out to write about human 

 beings ; and as this ])aper is about as long 

 as I usually make it. I think I shall have to 

 ! take up the subject again in one of mv Home 

 [ talks. 



I Discretion shall i)i-eservt' thcc, iindeistundiiifr 

 sliall lieep thee. 



EPIPHYTING. 



MRS. CHADltOCK TELLS US WHAT THK WORD 

 MEANS. 



/ / T^ PIPHYTING, epiphyting, • I think I hear 



Pl) •**^'^' ^^^' ^^hatis epiphyting, any wayV 



|*'j' Well, an epiphyte is a kind of air-plant 



•^" that grows on other plauts, but does not 



derive its subsistence from them; and 



when we take baskets and bo.\es and old case-knives 



and go off to the woods to gather these air-plants 



we call it "going epiphyting.'-' 



Harry— did I ever tell you any thing about oui- 

 Harryy I've been trying to ever since Mr. Hoot be- 

 gan to talk about Huber; but I don't believe there 

 has been a word printed about him yet. 



Well, last Sunday afternoon, after we had been to 

 Sabbath-school and church in the foi-enoon— had 

 driven home (five miles) and had our dinners and 

 rested awhile, then tht' restless tit began to seize 

 the children, to take a walk, to go somewhere, or do 

 something; and Harry said, " Let's go epiphyting;" 

 and we were so pleased with his use of the big word 

 that we gathered the baskets and knives, and 

 went. Harry will be five years old in eight days 

 from now; and when 1 objected to the long walk on 

 tne plea of being tired, Hari-y said, " Oh, yes! do go, 

 mamma; please do; you can lean on tne." 



After we started we found tluit the wind had 

 changed, and we had to send back to the house for 

 more wraps, while we sat on the fence and waited. 

 Then we tramped through wet spongy fields of 

 grass till we reached the timber and the epiphytes, 

 and then such running and calling to each other! 

 "Here's red ones! come quick;" "oh do come 

 here! see this; it is the very prettiest one yet," and 

 they ran from one old rotten stump to another, and 

 some of the trees in the thick woods had them on 

 the north side, away up to the branches. These 



