THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 



61 



O^An accident has deprived this number of the 

 usual pictorial representations, which will be made 

 up assuredly hereafter. On the way to the engrav- 

 er, the packet containing a beautiful likeness of the 

 great Calf now weighing more than twelve hun- 

 dred pounds, with its dam of equal size, belonging 

 to Ijcvi Bryant, Esq. of Piainfield, was lost or mis- 

 laid, of wliicli fact we received information only at 

 tile time we expected the plates. If the jiacket 

 shall not be recovered, the animal likenesses will 

 be taken again, so tliat our readers shall not be dis- 

 appointed. 



The "Brown Corn," in small quantities, may be 

 had at the store of Perkins Gale & Co. Concord. 



AVhat a Farmer wants. 



The Farmer wants a stalde mind, 

 A purpose sure and steady, 

 To patient industry inclined — 

 For business always ready. 



Good careful habits well infixed. 

 And judgment acting clearly. 

 To sift out truths with error mixed, 

 Though it should cost him dearly. 



He wants a neat and prudent wife. 

 Who when iie earns, can save it; 

 Who kindly soothes the cares of life, 

 (Best gift of him who gave it.) 



He wants a snug and tidy farm, 

 And health and strength together ; 

 A house and barn to keep all warm 

 In cold and rainy weather. 



Heaven's blessing then must crown the whole, 

 Or all his hopes are blasted ; 

 But with this resting on his soul. 

 The purest joys are tested. 



He then enjoys a bliss, unknown 

 To those the world calli greatest ; 

 Known only to the good alone. 

 The earliest and the latest. 



The Old School-house. 



BY r.VDI.\ H.SIGOURNEV. 



Once, in travelling, I observed an old building, 

 which appeared to be falling into ruins. No smoke 

 issued from its broken cliimney. No foot crossed 

 its grass-growing threshold. The casements were 

 gone, and through tlieir vacant places, the winds 

 whistled, and the rains fell. 



I asked, " what is this building, which is thus 

 suffered to decay?" They answered, "a school- 

 house. But a part of its materials have been used 

 to build a better one, in a more convenient spot, for 

 the village children." 



So I passed there, a little time, to meditate. And 

 I said to myself, — what a variety of scenes may 

 have passed witliin these tottering walls. Where 

 are the teachers, who in years gone by, sat in the 

 chair of state, and ruled, and gave instructions. 



In yonder corner, perhaps, was a low bench, for 

 the little ones coniiing their alphabet. Those little 

 ones have grown up, grown gray, and died. The 

 babes whom the}' rocked in the cradle, have shown 

 the same tenderness to their own babes. "One gen- 

 eration passeth away and another cometh." 



Beneath these windows where that trim old syc- 

 amore looked in with all its show of green leaves, 

 waving and gossiping in the breeze of summer, — I 

 imagine a row of young girls, with ther sunny 

 locks, knitting, sowing, — or listening with serious 

 faces, while the mistress taught them what it was 

 necessary for them to know, when they became 

 women. 



The snows of winter seem to spread around. The 

 frozen pond, in the rear of the school house, is cov- 

 ered with boys. The cU)ek strikes nine. They 

 hasten to tlieu" school. The narrow entry rings 

 with the jingle of their skates, as they throw them 

 down. One or two, who love play better than 

 Btudy, ajijiroach with more lingering steps. 



Methinks, I sec their ruddy faces, as they take 

 their seats. The nnister raises a stern eye at their 

 clamor, or stifled laughter, and c^tmmands them t,o | 

 write their copies, and attend to their sums, But | 

 the treatise of .Arithmetic is tliumbled, — and tlie 

 Grammar lessons curled into dog's ears by tixosc 

 whose roving thoughts are among tlieir winter 

 sports. 



Then there was the long sigh of indolence, and 

 the tears of such as were punished. And there was 

 impatience there, and ambition, and the kiudliitgs 

 ef intellect, and the delights of knowledge. The 

 master endeavors to rule each for their good, as 

 the wise m.^gistrale restrains the people by laws. 



I fancy that I behold that teacher walking hojne- 

 ward, weary and thoughtful, when the day was 

 done. He felt sadness for those who did, not im- 

 prove, and over others that did, he rejoiced with a 

 peculiar love. 



Perhaps he repeated morirnfully the words of the 

 prophet, "I have labored in vain ; I have spent my 

 strength for naught." And a voice from Heaven 

 answered in his heart — "Yet surely thy judgment 

 is with tiie Lord — and thy work with tliy God." 



Old school liouse ! Couldst thou spvak, I doubt 

 not thou wouldst tell me, that eminent men have 

 been nurtured in thee ; ingenious mechanics, on 

 whom the comfort of the community ilepends ■.ath- 

 letic farmers, having the forest low, and forcing 

 earth to yield her increas's ; physicians wlio the sick 

 sull'erer blesses; eloquent lawyers, wise statesmen, 

 holy priests who interpret the word of the Almighty. 



I wish that tlie school houses in our country were 

 more commodious and tasteful in their construction, 

 more spacious and airy— surrounded with trees, or 

 beautiful with shrubbery. 



There was once a benevolent man who went to 

 the continent of New Holland. He found multi- 

 tudes of children growing up, neglected and igno- 

 rant. He wished much to have them taught. But 

 there was no schowl house. 



So he collected them under a spreading tree, 

 whose branches could shelter at least one hundred 

 from the heat of the sun. He hung cards with 

 painted lessons anions the boughs. And there, 

 taught the poor colonists to read, and to spell, and 

 to sing. 



There are very beautiful birds in that country. 

 Many of them had nests in this large tree. So there 

 they were flying about and tending their young, 

 while the children were learning below, — and the 

 chirrupping of the new fledged birds, — and the 

 warbling of tiii-ir parent." — and the busy voices of 

 the children, learning to be good — made sweet mu- 

 sic in the heart of that benevolent man. 



Did they not ascend, and mingle with the praises 

 of angels, around the 'Throne .' 



From Dr. Hninplirev's Tmir. 



Tii.vMEs Tl'.vsel. Tile great want of a thor- 

 oughfare across the Thames, 'somewhere between 

 London Bridge and Greenwich Hospital, suggest- 

 ed the idea of a Tunnel, under the bed of the river, 

 which was commenced sfryeral years ago, about 

 midway between the two. From various adverse 

 causes it has advanced but slowly and irregularly ; 

 and it was nr.l when I visited it, more than half 

 completed. Two or three times, the sui)erincunibcnt 

 waters have broken through, to the great discour- 

 agement of the company, and even threatening to 

 put a final stop to the enterprise. But by great la- 

 bor and expense, the breaches were stopped, and 

 the water was pumped out. 



It is agreed on all hands, that if this immense 

 work could bi' finished and secured against the ir- 

 ruptions of the river, it would be a great conven- 

 ience, as the navigation of the Thames will not per- 

 mit the erection of'a bridge in that part of the city; 

 and the river is so constantly choaked up with all 

 kinds of v.'ater craft, that to keep a ferry open 

 w'ould be quite impossible. When the work was 

 first undertaken, it was regarded by many as vis- 

 ionar}' and impracticable ; and the hopes of the 

 most sanguine were nearly annihilated by the first 

 cataract, which drove out the terrified workmen, 

 and in a few minutes filled up the vast excavation. 

 The undertaking has proved much more costly 

 than was anticipated, and for a very considerable 

 time the work v.'as suspended entirely for want of 

 funds. But at the last session of Parliament, a 

 handsome grant was niatle to help carry it forward, 

 and when 1 was there, the long archesagain resound- 

 ed with the heavy blows, and busy hum of the 

 w^orkmen. 



You can see the Tunnrl as you see every thing 

 else in FiUgland, udiether finished, unfinished or in 

 ruins, by paying your shilling, more or less, at the 

 gate, and buying a jruide book at twice its value — 

 though the latter condition is not quite imperative. 

 A shaft is sunk to the rlepth of fifty or si.xty feet, 

 on the south bank of the river, over which a tem- 

 porary building has been erected, and you descend 

 into the Tunnel by a winding staircase. Befitre it 

 call be opened, llie excavation must of course, be 

 carried out a great deal f'urther from the river, to 

 get a convenient slope for heavy transportation. At 

 the bottom of the stairs the Tunnel commences. It 

 is ten or twelve feet in height, and wide enough 

 for two carriage ways, and side walks, and separa'. 

 ed by a row of iiiassive pillars and arches. T'he 

 bides and transver.se arches, as you stand at tlieen- 

 trance, and by the help of lamp.s, look down these 

 subterranean galleries, being built of the most sub- 

 stantial masonry, have every apjrearaijce of being 



perfectly secure, as far as they are finished, wdiich 

 IS about G'JO feet, nearly or quite to the middle of 

 the river. Some even now doubt, whether this 

 Tunnel will ever be finlslied ; but I can sec no in- 

 superable difficulty in the w,ay. As I have else- 

 where remarked, our Engl Ishkinsfelk are common- 

 ly much less in a liurrij XUxn we arc; but they pos- 

 sess the virtue of perseverance in an eminent de- 

 gree ; and I have little doubt that some half a doz- 

 en years hence, they will be passing under the bed 

 of their largest river with as much composure and 

 safety as they now pass over London bridge. 

 Whenever that arrives, the Tunnel will be of im- 

 mense value to the lower part of the Metropolis. 



It does not follow, as I am quite well advised, 

 that, because every Americ in who visits London 

 finds a great many tilings to admire, or to marvel 

 at, he can put them down upon paper so as to m.ako 

 them equally interesting to his countrymen at home. 

 But I have ventured just to mention some half doz- 

 en of tliese trifles as speciinens of the thousand 

 nugae which arrest your attention in your daily per- 

 ambulations of that vast Metropolis. 



The Police of London ii very numerous and 

 extremely well organized. This useful corps, a- 

 mounting, if I was rightly informed, to fi)ur thou 

 sand or more, are found in the streets at all hours 

 of the day, as well as the night. They are distin- 

 guished by a plain blue uniform, with a little 

 trimming upon the collar. You meet them at ev- 

 ery turn, and judging from my own experience, 

 they are very civil to strangers. As I often found it 

 dlfiicult to make my way from one part of this vast 

 city to another, I soon learned to inquire of the first 

 police man I met, as I was quite sure he would be 

 both able and willing to direct me. If you speak 

 to any other person whom you happen to meet, he 

 may be as much of a stranger as youiself. And if 

 you step into the nearest sliop you may, or may 

 not, obtain the information you want. I oucrlit to 

 say, however, that if those whom you address, can 

 address you, they will. I very rarely received a 

 short and grufi' answer — and not unfrequently 

 would the person spoken to, insist upon going with 

 mi; into the street, or to the next corner, to make 

 his directions more definite. Such attentions in the 

 midst of an immense and bewildering city you can- 

 not but appreciate and reiucmbcr. You have a 

 map, it is true, and j'ou can, if you will, study it so 

 as to get a tolerably correct notion of all the prin- 

 cipal streets and squares of the town, — but I never 

 could have patience to sit down and find the place 

 wanted, just as I was going out to meet an engage- 

 ment — and then, one half the courts and cross 

 streets are not to be found upon the map at all. There 

 is nothing which coois the wrath of coachmen, car- 

 man, and omnibus drivers, so eft'ectually, when 

 they find themselves jammed together, pell-mell, in 

 Cheap-side, or Black-friars, and begin to vociferate 

 and brandish their long whips, nothing brings 

 down their temper, like the appearance of a police 

 man : "Do you stop there, and do you turn a little 

 to the right, and ijou a little to the left, and ijnu, sir, 

 go with me to the offiee yonder." Thus he clears 

 away every obstruction almost in a moment, and 

 the waves roll on as before. 



Rtissi.iN Empire. — The Russian Empire in Eu- 

 rope has been nearly doubled in little more than 

 half a century. In sixty. four years she has ad- 

 vanced her frontier eight hundred and fifty miles 

 towards Vienna, Berlin, Dresden, Munich and Par- 

 is ; she has approached four hundred and fifty miles 

 nearer to Constantinople ; she has possessed her- 

 self of the capital of Poland, and has advanced to 

 within a few miles of Ihe capital of Sweden, from 

 which, when Peter tlie First mounted the throne, 

 her frontier was distant three hundred miles. Since 

 that time she has streiehed herself forward about 

 one thousand iiiiles toward India, and the same dis- 

 tance towards the cap:t:il of Persia. The renriment 

 that is now stationed al her furthest frontier post, 

 OH the western shore of the Caspian, has as threat a 

 distance to inarch back to Moscow as onward to 

 Attoek on t!ie Indus, and is actmlly further from 

 St. Petersburgh, than t'rom Lahore, the eapitol of 

 the Seiks. The battalions of the Russian Imperial 

 Guard, that invaded Persia, found at the termina- 

 tion of the war, that they were as near to Herat as 

 to the banks of the Don ; that they had already ac- 

 complished half the distance froii'i their capital to 

 Delhi ; and that, therefore, from their camp in Per- 

 sia they had as great distance to inarch back to St. 

 Petersburgh as onward to th" capital of llmdostan. 

 Progress of Russia in the East. 



Stock, -=A cow belonging to Mr. Abner Worm- 

 wood, Jr. of Kenncbunk, Maine, had three full 

 grown heifer calves on the llh instant. 



Apni 6, 1830. 



