BERKSHIRE SOCIETY. 155 



And sober Autumn, urging the sweating reaper to take from his 

 tillage the yellow sheaf, the golden pumpkin, the ripened corn, 

 and prepare for the " day of thanksgiving," claims from all 

 fresh plaudits for the plough. Nor doth Winter, with his winds, 

 and storms, and snows, withhold homage from the plough. 

 While the ' ( ruler of the inverted year" sends his blasts over our 

 hills, the citizen, amidst the luxuries of his mansion, and the 

 rustic, surrounded by the comforts of a happy home, partake of 

 the treasured bounties of the year, secured under the auspices 

 of the plough. Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter, as they 

 succeed each other in the cycle of months, send forth a chorus 

 of blessings upon the labor of the plough. 



The plough is an appropriate symbol of progress. When the 

 world shall succeed in bringing to completeness, means for man's 

 freedom and happiness, swords will be beaten into ploughshares, 

 and the ploughshare will not be an unapt emblem of that great 

 moral triumph. Not unapt is it, as a symbol of that sympathy 

 which nations at times, when the famine is sore in the lands, 

 are constrained to call forth from sister-nations. Of this, the 

 passing year has given impressive illustration. While our 

 mariners, and artisans, and merchants, have opened wide the 

 palm of charity, and deserve the meed of praise, long, long may 

 the harp of Ireland ring forth its symphonies in grateful tribute 

 to the American ploughman. Ireland uplifted her famished 

 hands, and her sunken eyes looked imploringly across the 

 waters. Her woes touched the heart of the American hus- 

 bandman, and he brought forth from his garners, the product of 

 his rich furrows, and filled her hands with bread, and caused her 

 eyes to rekindle with the radiance of life. Lo ! 



" Peace hath her victories 

 No less renowned than war." 



A new age of chivalry has arisen. Such scenes as those rep- 

 resented at Ashby-de-la-Zouche, in the days of Cedric, the 

 Saxon, are indeed passed away. Better fields are substituted — 

 the field for the ploughing match. The chivalrous days of Ivan- 

 hoe, and of Richard the Lion-hearted, are indeed gone ; better 

 days of chivalry are come. The valor of knights, in coats of 



