80 



Dialogue hetweeji a Father and Son. 



Vol.. IV. 



they were reduced so much in size as to be 

 able to creep through, they at length passed 

 into your wheat, with the intention of return- 

 ing after they had tilled themselves, but this 

 they could not do then, and it is not probable 

 that tiiey have attempted it since, so you had 

 better look for them, ibr ere this, they have 

 cost you as much as they arc worth, in tlie 

 damage they have done to the wheat crop. 



Grabb. — Well, 'tis no use to try to do any 

 thing more, and so Fll go straiglit home — no, 

 not straight, for if I do, I shall get amongst 

 the porkers, and they are grumblers by pro- 

 fession. 



9. Pigs. — ParA:ers, did you call us? 'Twill 

 be long before we l:d*-e any pork about us. 

 with our present mode of living — call us 

 grunters, for so we are, and with reason ; we 

 wonder you are not afraid to meet us after 

 dark, for we are but the ghosts of things that 

 have been. There is this consolation in it, 

 however — our lives will be spared, for we 

 shall never be worth the trouble of killing ; 

 indeed, that in a little time would be " no 

 murder," as it would be lilce one of your neigh- 

 bors, who killed his pigs to save their lives! 



10. Grabb. — Ah ! well, here come the 

 Horses, tliey are the only generous animals 

 upon a farm : but where are ye all going, in 

 such a hurry 1 



Horses. — We have come at la,st to the 

 resolution of no longer starving quietly, so we 

 are gohng in a body to break over tlie fence 

 into Farmer Clement's clover ;. we know 

 whei-e the weak place is, for wo have heard 

 j'ou promise for the last three months to get 

 it mended, and of course it is not done yet. 

 We do not intend to break into your own 

 clover, as that would be punishing ourselves 

 the next winter, for we calculate there will 

 not be more food than enough for us all, if we 

 eat stock and block of the whole farm. 



By this time the farmer had reached his 

 house, and going in, said to himself, there is no 

 comfort out of doors, let us see if we can get a 

 little within — wife, bring the rum bottle and 

 a pipe. Talk of the independence of a farm- 

 er's life indeed ! 'tis all a hum — here am I, 

 with the beat intentions in the world — 



Wife. — Not the value of a cent ! all your 

 intentions never grow into actions ! Now 

 ju.-t sit down, and I'll sum up the thousand 

 and one promises that you have made me to 

 do the necessary repairs about the house — 

 and to begin withtlie roof of the dairy, which 

 was stripped oft' by that storm last autumn, 

 and there it remains in the same state to this 

 day — 



Grabb. — Take care, let me get to bed, out 

 of tlie way ! 



Frank. — Oh ! thank you ; but now, to make 

 a perfect picture, we should visit his fields 

 with a good farmer and husbandman. 



I Father. — That indeed would be much more 

 agreeable, and some day we may do so : but 

 it is now late — let lis get to bed, as Grabb said, 

 but not for the same reason, blessed be God ! 



I PART II. 



Frank. — Well, Father, you see the book is 

 right — " nothing is impossible." When shall 

 you be ready to give us the other side of that 

 picture which you yesterday drew for farmer 

 Grabb; 



Father. — The twin brother of the above 

 proverb is, " nothing like time present" — by 

 means of both, we may perform prodigies ; so 

 let us try at once. We will take our neigh- 

 bor Sykes for the converse of the picture, and 

 suppose him going into his fields to " meditate 

 at eventide." 



No. 1. Wheat. — Ah, Farmer, I am glad to 

 see you ; 'tis not often that you are absent for 

 two evenings, I was afi-aid you were sick. 



Sykes. — Why, you see I had promised my 

 wife to attend to some little alterations about 

 the house, and that has prevented me from 

 seeing you as usual — we must take care of 

 the women, you know ; or they will not care 

 for us — but 7/ou look well. 



Wheat. — Yes, thanks to your bounty. I 

 am now feeding on that magnificent coat of 

 manure which you gave to the young clover 

 last spring, and just at the time too, when it 

 is needed, for if you will examine the plants 

 on your left, you will find that the ear is al- 

 ready formed in the blade, and that they are 

 all^^re chest ers too. 



Sykes. — That's capital ! Now that comes 

 of being kind to the soil. 



Wheat. — And now, will you cast your eye 

 over the ridges, and say if you see any piece 

 of wheat in the county so uniform and regu- 

 lar in its growth 1 Tiie color of the plants 

 on tlie sides of the ridge, is, if any thmg, of 

 a deeper green than are those on the top or 

 crown of the ridge — a sure prognostic, at this 

 season of the year, of a heavy crop. The field 

 just below is wheat, sown after a wliole year's 

 fallow, with dung ; but there the order is re- 

 versed, for the plants which are near the fur- 

 rows on the sides of the ridges, are weak and 

 yellow. And only trace the rows of green 

 spots, in straight lines right across the fields ! 

 they were occasioned by the heaps of dung, 

 which remained unspread for weeks, until 

 they were overgrown with weeds, upon what 

 was termed a tallow ! The weeds now are 

 sturdy witnesses that the cultivation and dung 

 have done much more for them than for the 

 wheat, and yet it is probable that Farmer 

 Gnibb expects to reap a profit from his crop ! 



Sykrs. — I do not think that he will have 

 either a reap or a profit. Your present ap- 

 pearance warrants an early harvest, by the 

 blessing of a good season, and I am delighted 



