236 CABBAGES. [PART II. 



complied, and had the pleasure to see, that 

 every pig and lamb did well. He was sur 

 prized when 1 told him, that this mysterious 

 matter was not only a bit of priest-craft, but of 

 heathen priest-craft, cherished by priests of a 

 more modern date, because it tended to be 

 wilder the senses and to keep the human mind 

 in subjection. ". What a thing it is, Mr. 

 " Wiggins," said I, " that a cheat practised upon 

 " the pagans of Italy, two or three thousand 

 " years ago, should, by almanac-makers, be 

 " practised on a sensible farmer in America !" 

 If priests, instead of preaching so much about 

 mysteries, were to explain to their hearers the 

 origin of cheats like this, one might be ready 

 to allow, that the wages paid to them were not 

 wholly thrown away. 



202. 1 make no apology for this digression ; 

 for, if it have a tendency to set the minds of 

 only a few persons on the track of detecting 

 the cheatery of priests, the room which it oc 

 cupies will have been well bestowed. 



203. To return to paring and burning- ; the 

 reader will see with what ease it might be 

 done in America, where the sun would do 

 more than half the work. Besides the paring 

 might be done with the plough. A sharp 

 shear, going shallow, could do the thing per 

 fectly well. Cutting across would make the 

 sward into turfs. 



