220 



Law. 



Vol. IV^ 



no matter how great the storm, or deep the 

 mud or tilth of the path, or barn yard, or sta- 

 ble ; try to help us along a little in this im- 

 portant matter; the path miglit be paved or 

 gravelled, one v/ould think, without much 

 expense or labour ; and the stables, can't you 

 teach our dear musters how they, as well as 

 the cows, can be kept clean during the win- 

 ter season. It is said cows give much more 

 milk when they are kept tidy and clean, and 

 I think it stands to reason that they sliould. 

 If I was a cow I would'nt give a drop of milk 

 unless 1 was kept neat and clean, and well 

 fed in the bargain, for I hate these lazy, 

 stingy fellows, that are always trying to cheat 

 and get something for nothing; do give them 

 a touch on tliese subjects, and if you do it 

 handsomely, I will write to you again, and 

 tell you a \e\\ more of our grievances, under 

 which we have been long labouring to our 

 great discomfiort, and the great injury of our 

 constitutions. Susan. 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 



Good lawyers are seldom engaged in litigation on their 

 own account, and good doctors take but little niedi 

 cine. 



All farmers should know enough about 

 law to keep out of it, or if they should be- 

 come involved in it, to act understandingly 

 and rationally, under the circumstances in 

 which they may find themselves placed. 



The principles of what is called common 

 law always conform to sound reason and com- 

 mon sense, but statute law is often arbitrary 

 in its provisions. Every intelligent agri- 

 culturist should become acquainted with the 

 laws of the State in which he is located, so 

 far as they have a bearing on his immediate 

 interests or duties, not to enable him to be- 

 come a competitor in litigation, but to instruct 

 him in the means of performing his duties to 

 his friends and neighbours, by giving his ad- 

 vice and assistance in cases that unavoidably 

 arise in all communities. The laws whicli 

 have relation to the poor, the roads, partition 

 fences, county rates and levies, apprentices 

 and strays, should be familiar to, and well un- 

 derstood by every landholder in the state. 

 Those that have relation to the duties of exe- 

 cutor, administrator, guardian and trustee, 

 are of vast importance, and there are few 

 persons of property or respectability but what 

 are called upon at some period or other of 

 their lives to act in some of these capacities; 

 it is therefore of much consequence that some 

 general knowledge at least of the laws on 

 these subjects should be possessed by tiirmers 

 generally; there will always be points of 

 dithculty or intricacy arising where legal 

 counsel will be indispensable, but still a 

 knowledge of the general duties which are 



j so easily acquired, should be possessed more 

 I generally than is at present the case. Every 

 I respectable farmer should be the proprietor 

 I of a digested copy of the laws of the State; 

 it will add to his knowledge, and enable him 

 (to extend his usefulness, and it will be of in- 

 calculable advantage to liis children, who as 

 they grow up to manhood will be gradually 

 acquiring a knowledge of tlie laws by which 

 they are to be governed, without any severe 

 study or loss of time from other occupations. 

 If farmers generally possessed more know- 

 ledge of the laws on subjects of general inter- 

 est, pettifogging lawyers would soon become 

 a scarce article in the community ; their food 

 would be gone, and they would be obliged to 

 seek some more iionest calling for subsist- 

 ence. This would be a great blessing to 

 those on whom they at present prey, and 

 would tend to promote the tranquillity and 

 harmony of society. 



The copying of deeds, mortgages, bonds, 

 notes, leases and other legal forms as exer- 

 cises when learning to write, would give 

 boys much valuable information, and be as 

 efficient in instructing them in the mechani- 

 cal exercise of writing, as copying short sen- 

 tences which give but little general informa- 

 tion. The copying off of whole laws on im- 

 portant subjects would impress their provi- 

 sions on the minds of school boys, so as to 

 render them indelible, and might be of much 

 service to them in after life. 



If the efiect of these suggestions should 

 tend in the least degree to lead more of the 

 youth of our country to aim at studying a 

 profession, the writer would fi-eely recall 

 them, tor crowflinff what are called " the 

 learned professions," is an evil of great mag- 

 nitude, which has ro^irf/ agriculture of many 

 promising subjects, without adding any thing 

 to the reputation of the bar. 



A large proportionof the suits at law which 

 crowd our courts of justice arise from un- 

 bridled passions, by which reason becomes un- 

 seated until the party is fairly embarked in a 

 legal contest, and then pride comes in to per- 

 suade that to retreat is to be conquered : an- 

 other most fertile source .vf litigation is ignor- 

 ance, which costs much time, money, and 

 vexation before it is rubbed off; full ninety 

 per cent, of all the legal contests which arise 

 in our country have their origin in these two 

 causes. 



Curb your pa.ssions, let reason govern, and 

 rub off your ignorance, and my word for it, 

 the lawyers will have a short pasture in your 

 county. T. 



Avoid a slanderer as you would a scorpion. 

 Never pretend to tell what you do not 

 know. 

 Trust not a profane person. 



