CHRONICLES OF A CLAY FARM. 



[FIRST SERIES,] , 



' '> , > i > * ^ ^ 



THE WASTE. 



MUCH as may be learnt, by a willing mind, from the 

 wisdom of others, the most practical, and (shame 

 upon us !) the most attractive lessons seem always to 

 be derived from their failures. It is too late, in the 

 natural history of the "biped without feathers that 

 laughs," to stop and inquire into this little item from 

 the list of his peculiarities ; so I shall take it for 

 granted in the most practical and amiable way in 

 which it can be at once assumed and applied ; and 

 like the self-devoted bird, that plucks its own breast 

 to feed the young brood, open up my early fanning 

 blunders to the instructive gaze of those young and 

 ardent agriculturists who are just beginning to rec- 

 ognize the last of human Sciences in the first of 

 human Arts, and to "only wish, like duteous sons, 

 their parents were more wise.'' 



