NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



To Make Preserves Keep. — Thesecret of pre- 

 serving them from change is to exclude the air. 

 The easiest way to do this is, to brush over a sheet 

 of paper with the white of an egg, and cover the 

 jar, pressing it down around theedges whilemoist, 

 and it will cement perfectly tight. It is cheaper, 

 neater and better than sealing up the mouth of the 

 jar with wax or covering it with bladder. 



Bern's Department. 



A JOVIAL PARMER'S BOY. 



O, a jovial farmer's boy I'll be, 



As fresh as the birds that sing, 

 Ami carrol my merry song of glee 



Among the flowers of spring. 



O, I would not live in the crowded town, 

 With its pavement hard and gray, 



With its lengthy streets of dusty brown, 

 And its painted houses gay — 



Where every boy his ball may bound 



Upon his neighbor's dome, 

 And every shout and every sound , 



Disturb some other's home. 



The squirrel that leaps from limb to limb, 



In the forest waving high, 

 Or the lark that soars with his matin hymn, 



Is not more free than I. 



Then give me the trade of a farmer boy, 



From city trammels free, 

 And I'll crack my whip, and cry "Who hoy!' 



O, a farmer's boy I'll be ! 



ns the heart, and opens the door for every tempta- 

 tion and sin, which if not dosed must bring the 

 poor victim to ruin. These arc what constitute its 

 " ungers." 



These words, written byalearnedandgoodman, 

 it would be wise for every child to ponder well. 

 The fairest day would not then entice them, the 

 merriest companion persuade them, nor the hard- 

 est lesson affright them from this path of duty. — 

 ( 'arnbridge Chronicle. 



A CAUTION TO BOYS. 



To continue the war against the tobacco-using 

 propensity observed to be very strong of late among 

 boys, we offer an additional fact. A few weeks 

 ago, a youth of sixteen arrived in this city to prose- 

 cute his studies with a view to professional life. 

 He came from a distant State, and was to remain 

 here for some years. A week or two after his ar- 

 rival, he was seized with a paralysis in both legs, 

 which advanced upward till nearly the lower half 

 of his body was benumbed and apparently lifeless. 

 The most distinguished physicians in New York 

 attended the case, but no relief being afforded, the 

 unfortunate young man has been taken on his way 

 home, and there is but little hope of his recovery. 

 The cause of his disease is stated by the physicians 

 to be tobacco-chewing — a habit which he early ac- 

 quired, and persisted in to the time of his attack. 

 — Home Journal. 



PLAYING TRUANT. 



"We never knew a boy who was in the habit of 

 playing truant, and wasting the golden hours of 

 youth, to become a great and distinguished man. 

 Most often the idler of early life is the laggard in 

 the world's race. Happy the boy whom parental 

 or friendly care saves from this danger of youth- 

 ful days. 



"The reason why truancy is so serious an evil, 

 is not the loss of a day or two at school now and 

 then, — or any other immediate and direct conse- 

 quence of it. It is because it is the beginning of a 

 long course of sin ; it leads to bad company and to 

 deception, and to vicious habits ; it stops the pro- 

 gress of preparation for the duties of life, and hard 



CATECHISM OP FAMILIAR THINGS. 



What is Iron? 



One of the most useful and abundant metals ; 

 being found in all mineral earths, and stones ; in 

 plants, and animal fluids; and is the chief cause of 

 the varieties of coler in all. Iron in found in great 

 masses, in various states, in the bowels of the 

 earth ; it is usually, however, compounded with 

 slone, from which it is separated by the action of 

 fire. In some parts of the world, whole mountains 

 are formed of iron ; among these maybe mentioned 

 the Pilot Knob and the Iron Mountain, in Missouri, 

 being unsurpassed by anything of the kind found 

 elsewhere. 



What are its characteristics 1 



It is hard, fusible, not very malleable, but ex- 

 tremely ductile, and very tenacious ; it is of a 

 greyish color, and nearly eight times heavier than 

 water. Without iron, society could make no pro- 

 gress in the cultivation of the ground, in mechan- 

 ical arts or trades, in architecture or navigation ; it 

 is therefore of the greatest use to man. Iron tools 

 have been used in all European countries as long 

 as their histories have existed ; this metal appears 

 likewise to have been known and used by ihe in- 

 habitants of the world in the earliest ages, being 

 frequently mentioned in the Holy Scriptures. In 

 the fourth chapter of Genesis, Tubal-cain is spoken 

 of as the "instructor of every artificer in brass and 

 iron," and thus their existence was evidently 

 known at that early period of the world. 



Infantine Courage and Generosity. — Two 

 bulls of equal bravery, although by no means 

 equally matched in size and strength, happening 

 to meet near the front of a laird's house in the 

 Highlands of Scotland, began a fierce battle, the 

 noise of which soon drew to one of the windows 

 the lady of the mansion. To her infinite terror, 

 she beheld her only son — a boy between five and 

 six years of age — belaboring with a stiff cudgel 

 the stouter of the belligerents. "Dougald, Dou- 

 gald, what are you about?" exclaimed the affright- 

 ed mother. "Helping the little bull," was the 

 gallant reply. 



Lying. — Lying supplies those who are addicted 

 to it with a plausible apology for every crime and 

 with a supposed shelter from punishment. It 

 tempts them to run into danger from the mere ex- 

 pectation of impunity; and when it is practised 

 with frequent success, it teaches them to confound 

 the. gradations of guilt, from the effect of which, 

 there is, in their imaginations at least, a sure and 

 common protection. It corrupts the early sim- 

 plicity of youth ; it blasts the fairest blossoms of 

 genius, and will, most assuredly, concentrate every 

 effort by which we may hope to improve the 

 talents and mature the virtues of those whom it 

 infests. 



