OUT-OF-TOWN PLACES 



common sense of the country is largely dis- 

 posed to ask of the scientific gentlemen who 

 have been so largely the recipients of this con- 

 gressional bounty some practical demonstration 

 upon the land, of the faith they hold and teach, 



I come back to the old farm, with its meagre 

 stock and its wide acres. Of course there was 

 something to be sold. Farmers never get on 

 without that. First of all, came the "veals" 

 — selling in that day for some two cents a 

 pound, live weight. (They now sell in the 

 New York market for ten.) This bridged 

 over the spring costs, until the butter came 

 from the first growth of the pastures. 



— How well I remember tossing myself 

 from bed at an hour before sunrise (Seth by 

 previous orders having the horse and wagon 

 ready), and by candle-light seeing to the pack- 

 ing of the spring butter — the firkins being en- 

 wrapped in dewy grass, fresh cut — and then 

 setting forth upon the long drive (twelve 

 miles) to the nearest market town. What a 

 drive it was! Five miles on, I saw the early 

 people stirring and staring at me, as they 

 washed their faces in the basin at the well. 

 Then came woods, and silence, but a strange 

 odorous freshness in the air — possibly some 

 near coal-pit gave its creosotic fumes, not 



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