iiiikiiown to him (iiid to each other, hnd nlso Cortn 

 ed the same lesnhition for (he sake of their dv 

 ing inothor. It was a daring er.lerprise, and one 

 lliat under comniOM cnciimstances would hive 

 been vi-^iied with severity, but so pleased was the 

 pentleman wrth (he attaeliment of ihe "ipsies for 

 then- asedat.d dyin,!; relation that, after a suitable 

 refuoot, in uhieh he pomtod out to iheni how 

 mu.-h better it would have been to have made 

 known to hun the ohject they had in view, than 

 o break the laws of God an.l man, he pardoned 



llien- crimes Ml admiration of their atfeelion, seml- 

 in;; them away la.lcn with the best grapes his 

 hot-house would afford.— /f»,,r/ Pidii„%s 



^i)l^trmcr^ iHontl)Ii) btsifor. 



85 



Anxieties of the Sailor's Life. 



BT REV. MR. ABBOTT, OF NANTUCKET. 



A iiiaii wa.s speaking a kw days ago of the emo- 

 lons with which he was overwhelme.l, when he 

 l>ade adieu to his (amily on his last voya-e. The 



oi"u,',',',r "'v'"' "T "Jp"'" ""^ '" K'fl'ar.own 

 01 MullasVine.vard. The packet was at the 



to the ,1 ip. He went down in the morning and 

 saw all |„s private sea stores stowed away in le 

 ^loop, and then returned to his home to take 

 leave ot his wile and children. His wife was ^it 

 ting at the fireside struggling in vaiti to restrain 

 he tears. She had an infant, a few months ohi 

 >n heraruLs and with her foot was rockin.^ the 

 cradle i„ which lay another little daughter, abom 

 three years of age, wi.h hvr cheeks Hushe Iwi 

 n burn.ug fever. No pen can describe the „ ' 

 g.nsh o/ such a parting. Jc i» almost like the bit- 

 terness of death. The departing Ihther impd ts 

 a k;ss upon the cheek of his chFld. Four 'ye s 

 w, I pass away ere he will again take that diild 

 n his arms. Leaving Ids wife sobbing in anguish, 

 he closes the door of his house behind him. Four 

 jears must elapse ere he can cross that ihreshoM 



"'IT',, I '""' '■"'""'" ">'"" "''•'' 'sland, had 



IM but seven years out of forty-one upon the 



A lady said to me a few evenings ago, I have 

 been marned eleven year.., and counting all the 

 days my husband has been at home since our 

 marriage, i, amounts lo but three hnn.lred and 

 suty days. He is now absent, having been gone 

 10 months ; and two years more must uudoubtediv 

 elapse beloie his wile can see his face, and when 

 he shall remrn, it will he merely a visit to his 

 (miuly lor a lew months, when he will again bid 

 them a.heii tor another fbur years' absence. 



I asked the lady the other day how many let- 

 ters she wrote to her husband during his last vov- 

 «ge. "One himdred," was the answer. "And 

 how many did he receive .'" '• Six." The iiiey 

 liable rule is to write by every ship that leaves 

 this |,ort or New IJe.lford, or auv other port that 

 ■ ,. may be heard of lor the Pacific Ocean. And yet 

 the chances are very small that any two ships will 

 meet on i us boundless expanse." It sometimes 

 happens that a ship returns, when those on hoard 

 have not heard one word from their families dn- 

 i-ing the vyhole perio.l of theirabseure. Inia-iue 

 then the feelings of a husband and father, who 

 returns lo the harbor of Nantucket, after the sep- 

 aration of forty-eight monih.s, during which' time 

 be has heard no tidings whatever from his home 

 He sees the hoat pushing off from the wharves 

 «lucli IS to bring him the tidings of weal or wo 

 He stands pale and treuihling, pacing the deck 

 v.th e^motious which he in vain endeavors to con- 



J teal. A liiend m the boat greets him with a smile 

 >nd says " Captain, your Ikmily are all well." Or 

 ■erhaps he .says, "Captain, I have heavy news 

 |Or you ; your wife died two years and a half n-o " 

 A young man left this island last summer leav- 

 ng m his qiiiet home a young and beautiful wife 

 nd an infant child. The wife an.l child are tiow 

 loth m the grave. But the husband knows not 

 nd probably will not know of it for some months 

 » con.e. He perhaps falls asleep every „ight 

 i.tiking of the loved ones left at his fire.^ide lit- 

 e imagining that they are both cold in death. 

 On a bright summer afternoon, the telegraph 

 nnounces that a Cape Horn ship' has appeared 

 he horizon, and immediately the stars and 



l,JT T" """.""'*' ^'"'"" "'■« "'nliirled from 

 «n Hag staff; sending a Wave of emotion through 

 he town Many fimilie., are hoping that this^is 

 e «h,p in which their friends ai'-e to return ^nd 

 I . le hoping for t.dtngs from the absent. Soon 

 I'c name of the ship is announced. And then 



the first bearer of the joyful tidings lo the wUe 

 of the «-n|.tain for which servxe ,i silver dollar is 

 the established and invariable fee. An<l who can 

 describe the feelings which must then agitate the 

 boso.n of the wife.' Perhaps she has heard of 

 no tid igs from the ship for more than a year, 

 rremb bug with excitement she dresses he.'self 

 to nee, her hnshand." Is he alive," she says to 



Plmns.' fehe walks about the room, unable to 



conipose herself sufficiently to sit tlow'n ; eager y 



Is she looking out of the window and dowif the 



^tieet. She sees a man wi.h hurried steps turn 



ie cor.ier and a little boy hold of his hand. Ves, 



.s he. An.l her little sou has gone down to the 



boa and fou.id his father. Or, 'perhaps, instead 



°low :' f '1,^ '"o other neighbors returnius 



slowly and .sadly, and .luecting their steps to her 



; loor. The blood flows l,ack upon her heart - 



1 hoy rap at the door. It is the knell of her hiis- 



">^">|l « .Icath And she falls senseless to the floor, 



.s they tell he,- that her husband has long si.ice 



been entombed in the falhoniless ocean. 



1 his IS not fiction. These are not extreme cases 

 "Imh the itiiagmation create... They are facts 

 of continued occiirrence-liicts which awaken 

 emotions lo which no pen can do justice. 



A lew weeks ago, a ship returned to this island, 

 Iv «i1"'.^ ■ '"r,*^«o'^""otl'«i-sliip that was neai- 

 y hlled wuh 0,1, that all on board were well, and 

 that she might be expected in a neighboring port 

 .n .uch a month. The wife of the^aptaiir/esi- 

 dedmNa„,ucket,and early in the tnonth, with 

 a heart throbbing with affection and hope, she 

 went to greet her husband on his return. At 

 eiigtii the ship appeared, dropped her anchor in 

 he harbor, an<l the friends of the lady went to 

 the ship to escort the husband to the wife from 

 Whom he had been so long se(.arated. Soon tliey 

 sadly returned with the tidings that her husband 

 had been seized with the coast fever, upon the 

 islan.l of Madagascar, and when about n week 

 out, on his return home, he died and was com- 

 mitted to his ocean burial. A few <lays after, I 

 called upon the weeping widow and the little 

 daughter, in their <lestined home of bereavement 

 and anguish. 



flowe^rimn::^'""",''""'" ""'produce their 



li::^^::verij^^ru;rrSs'"'^,:^'^v"'''"'^^ 



Stocks, Hoiry hocks,'' Watlll'tisf'l.ia'^X^r 

 H.;d Canteidiury-bells, are bien.iia'ls, houg.?Z 

 alter o.>r fre.,nenily live three or four ye is - 

 Biennials should be sown in March or ApHI hi^: 

 -ted out in May, and transplanted i„ sip , , her 

 lo the place where they are to flower the ensuing 

 year. A httle earth should be taken up with thf 

 roots, when they are transplanted, and they should 

 be well watered, and shaded for a day or two M 

 Ifie roots are established. Those kinds which re- 

 quire a ,,eculi,-.r soil, should have pits prepared 

 tor them about a week before they are transplant- 

 ed, that the earih may have time lo settle. 





Flowers.- I he return of June brings over lis 

 a living sense of the loveliness and delightfulness 

 of flowers. Of all the minor creations" o( God 

 they seeni to be most completely the effusions 

 of Ins ove of beauty, grace and joy. Of all the 

 -latural objects which surround us they are I e 

 ^..st connecteil with our absolute necessities 

 Vegetation might proceed, the earth .night he 

 cl thed with a sober green ; all the processes of 

 I ictihcation might he perfected without being 

 atten.led by the glory with which the Howei U 

 crowned ; but beauty and fragrance are poured 

 abroad over the earth in blossoms of endless va- 

 rieties, radiant evidences of the boundless beiiev- 

 oeiice of the Deity. They are made solely to 

 gladden the heart of man, for a light lo his eyes 

 lor a living inspiration of arace lo his spirit, for 

 a perpetual admiration. And accordinylv they 

 seize on our affections the first moment that we 

 behold them. With what eagerness do very in- 

 anls grasp at flowers ? As they become older 

 bey would live forever amongst them. They 

 bound about in the flowery meadows like youn- 

 awns ; they gather all they come near; they coU 

 Icct heaps; they sit among them, and sort them, 

 aiid sing over them and caress them, till they per 

 ish in their grasp. 



This Eweet May morning 



The children are pulling 



On every side, 



In a thousand valleys far and wide 



Fresh n.iwers. VVouusworth. 



-e i« -n eager contention .i.h the h;^:.o be y"^ ^Z t::Z:l ali^i'^l^Hl^^;;!^; 



VVe see them coining wearily into the towns 

 and villages with their pinafores full, and posies 

 half as huge as themselves. VVe trace them in 

 shady lanes, in the grass of far-off fields, by the 

 treasures they have gathered, and have left be- 

 bmd, lured on by others still brighter. As they 

 grow up to maturity, they assume, in their eyes 

 new characlers and beauties. Then they are 

 strewii around them, the poetry of the earth. 

 Uiey hecome investeil by a multitude of associa- 

 tions with innumerable spells of (lower over the 

 buman heart ; they are to us the memorials of the 

 joys, sorrows, hopes and triumphs of our forefa- 

 thers : they are, to all nations, the emhlems of 



New Bottoming Fruit Trees.— The follow- 

 ing account of the successful operation of a very 

 curious process in the .'ulture of fruit is from the 

 New Lngland Farmer; 



yVe had on our grounds several pear trees, upon 

 quince Slocks, which had leased to mak^ any 

 growth, and put on the appearance of a piema- 

 tme age, with indications o.f early approaching 

 decay. Phey were valuable trees, comparatively 

 young, and in the height of beariiig, and we could 

 not feel reconciled to the prospect oflosing them. 

 I hey were the first we had upon quince Slocks, 

 aiid we supposed they had reached the age nt 

 whieh such trees, from the course of nature, must 

 cleclme and die, and made up our mind, that if 

 that were the case, we would cultivate no more 

 pears ou quince. Still, being desirous to save 

 these the idea suggested itself; whether, if we 

 could substitute a pear root for that of the quince 

 we might not effect the object. ' 



Acting tjpon this suggestion, in the spring of 

 1S4(5, we procured from a nurseryman a dozeti 

 of pear stocks-young trees of two years growth, 

 and proceeded to put our plan into execution.-^ 

 We first removed the earth partially from about 

 I be roots of tour of these trees which were in 

 the worst condition, so as to make a place for the 

 roots of the young pear trees, preferring to place 

 one on each of two o[iposite sides of the old 

 trees, where circumstances were such as to favor 

 tliat arrangement. We then, by a drawing stroke 

 of the knife, cut the tops of the young stocks 

 fioni the roots, making the taper about two inch- 

 es in length, as for splice grafting. Then, se- 

 lecting a suitable place for the operation, on the 

 tree to be experimented upon, just above the 

 junction of the quince with the pear, we first 

 make a horizontal cut through the bark to the 

 wood. We then make an upward incision in the 

 bark, of^ the desired length. Enough of the bark 

 lielow the horizontal cut is then removed, to pre- 

 vent Its offering any obstruction to the operation. 

 I lie liark is then raised from the wood, by care- 

 fully pa.«sing a small three cornered wedge up- 

 ward in the incision. The root already prepared 

 lor the purpose, as above stated, is then inserted 

 under the bark, and gently crowde.1 upward till 

 it feels firm in its [ilace. The operation is com- 

 pleted by binding it around firmly with bass mat- 

 ling or other suitable strings. The earth is then 

 carefully put in about the root, and heaped up to 

 the height of some four or five inches above the 

 place of operation, so as to exclude the air there- 

 from. We have found this sufficient without the 

 use of grafting wax or other compositions, and 

 111 due time the moisture of the earth rots the 

 matting so that we have no occasion for remov- 

 iiig it. 



The result of these experiments has been much 

 more satisfactory than we liad expected, and we 

 consider the success complete. The roots grew 

 m beautifully, and the trees are entirely renova- 

 ted. Where for two years previously the trees 

 had merely leaved out and stood the whole sea- 

 son without making any perceptible growth, they, 

 last year— the same season that the new ropts 

 were grafted in— sent forth strong vigorous shoots 

 eighteen inches in length. They are making a 

 free growth this spring, and are, besides, well set 

 with fruit. One of them presents a striking con- 

 trast between the clean vigorous new growth of 

 the top made the last year, and that portion 

 of it which was of previous growth and has all 

 the indications of extreme age. 



We should add, that subsequent developements 

 have shown, what we did not suspect at the time, 

 that the difficulty with these trees, was, the borer 

 111 the quince root. Several others, on which we 



