16 



Dlaloi^ue between a Fuihcr and Son. 



Vol. IV. 



gion, for the purpose of meeting the falling 

 shower, and both descend together. 



Frank. — I wonder why farmers are account- 

 ed an uninformed class ? It certainly is not 

 for want of opportunity to exercise their mind 

 and judgment. They are surrounded with 

 wonders, and I begin to hope that every thing 

 will not be discovered before I become a man, 

 as I once feared would be the case. 



Father. — Witli many persons, agriculture 

 is a subject whicli must not be reasoned upon 

 or inquired into, and this is no doubt the cause 

 why farmers are generally considered the 

 least cultivated class of society: but I see not 

 why this should be — with us, it ought not to be. 

 Another observation is, that it is colder just 

 before sunrise, in the morning, than it has 

 been during the night, even in the severest 

 weather; and I have had opportunities of ve- 

 rifying the truth of the remark. 1 was once 

 folding sheep before sunrise in the month of 

 January; it was sufficiently light for me to 

 see the sheep as they were lying around me, 

 and there was nothing remarkable to call my 

 attention ; in an instant, however, and just 

 before the rising of the sun, they became co- 

 vered with hoar frost! I thought of what I 

 had so often heard, and was certain that I felt 

 as well as saw the truth of the observation. 



Frank. — And did you endeavor to account 

 for, what I suppose it may be called, this phe- 

 nomenon] 



Father. — Yes I did, at the time it was be- 

 fore me. At the rising of the sun, or more 

 properly before that takes place with us, the 

 upper region of the atmosphere becomes sud- 

 denly illuminated and warmed, which causes 

 an immediate expansion ; the lower region is 

 thus, as it were, pressed downwards, and be- 

 comes condensed into water or hoar frost, the 

 effect of which is sensibly felt by all who are 

 exposed to it. The remark has often been 

 made by the night coachmen, particularly by 

 the driver of the Norwich mail into London, 

 by the way of Hackney, who describes the 

 latter part of the journey, about Cambridge 

 Heath, as far colder than what is felt on any 

 other part of the road ; there he passes, in the 

 coldest and shortest days, before the time of 

 sunrise. It is also said, that on every calm 

 morning the wind blows towards the cast just 

 at the time of simrise, although it has blown 

 before, and might blow afterwards, from some 

 flther point of the compass: this too I have 

 observed, but never without emotion — it ap- 

 pears a sort of devotion, which creation is 

 paying to the rising sun ; and on a fine spring 

 morning, when accompanied by the voices of 

 animated nature, the effect is truly indescrib- 

 able ! This is causfd by the rarefaction of 

 the upper regions of the air, occasioned by 

 the heat of the sun, which creates as it were 

 a vacuum, to which the surrounding atmos- 



phere rushes for the purpose of supplying the 

 void; and at this moment might often be 

 heard, what is generally considered a creation. 

 of the f line fj — "<^e music of the spherea." — 

 This rushing sound, fabulously supposed to 

 proceed from the chariot wheels of the " car 

 of Phcebns,''^ I Iiave often witnessed. The 

 same effect, arising from the same cause, 

 namely, the rarefaction or expansion of 

 air, when coming in contact with heat, 

 might be noticed while sitting around the tire 

 on a quiet evening, when the rushing of air 

 towards the lire, causes a sound distinctly au- 

 dible. 



Frank. — I shall never see the sun riseaga'n 

 without feeling much more interest about it 

 than I have hitherto done. 1 do not wonder 

 that many of the Heathen nations pay their 

 adorations to the rising sun; I am sure it is, 

 in the absence of the knowledge o^ Him who 

 made the sun, the first object worthy their 

 regard. 



Father. — There is just one more observation 

 whjch I have to make. I had often heard it 

 said, when in England, that there was but 

 little evening twilight in America; that the 

 day closes almost suddenly on the departure 

 of the sun, and thus the inhabitants are de- 

 prived of the most pleasurable part of the 

 day : now this, it must be acknowledged is the 

 fact; and although I have never heard the 

 circumstance accounted for, it must be occa- 

 sioned by the different circumstances and 

 situations of the two countries. In England, 

 the great ocean lies to the westward; the 

 sun, sitting over it, its rays are reflected by 

 the surfiice of the waters and the air is illu- 

 minated long after the sun has sunk below 

 the horizon ; while here, on the seaboard of 

 America, the great ocean lies to the eastward, 

 and the sun sets amidst the dense woods of 

 the forest in the west, from whence no rays 

 can be reflected. Now if this one theory be 

 correct,, we ought to find the difference in the 

 twilight of the morning in both countries ex- 

 actly to correspond; the morning twiligiit in 

 America should be the longest and bright- 

 est. 



Frank. — And so, I am sure it is ! thafsfact. 

 Now I gue.ss tliat is something new. 



Father. — We shall find it necessary to take 

 advantage of this circumstance for a few days 

 to come, and take the top of the morning; for 

 as we mean to plough up the four acre field 

 while the weather is open and the land free 

 from frost, and as the ridges of that piece are 

 very short, in consequence of its triangular 

 shape, we shall find a .sensible difference in 

 the length of our day's work — those length- 

 eniw^, in proportion to the shortening of the 

 lanfi. 



Frank. — But is not an acre of land an ocre, 

 wherever it is"? 



