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FARMERS^ MISCELLANY. 



RURAL LIFE. 



BY C. N. BEMENT. 



The first wish of childhood is rural happiness; nor is that ever 

 lost sight of, except where some turbulent and restless passion 

 depraves and hurries away the soul. In every period of life it 

 animates virtuous and ingenuous minds. The idea of a rural 

 retreat in the evening of his days, accompanies the mechanic to 

 his shop, the merchant to his counting-room, the lawyer to the 

 bar, the physician to the sick bed, and the divine to the pulpit, 

 who sees, even there, his earthly paradise upon the confines of 

 heaven, and hardly wishes to enter the celestial mansions by any 

 other path. 



The middle age, when the effervescence of youth is over, when 

 the body retains its strength, and the mind enjoys its greatest 

 vigor, is the period best adapted to the useful labors of agricul- 

 ture; but unfortunately this is also the age of ambition, which 

 hurries us away from the peaceful path, where every step is 

 strewed with flowers, to lose ourselves in the endless mazes of 

 politics. But the intriguing politician and the wordy orators of 

 the present day will be buried with their principles and their par- 

 ties in eternal oblivion, when the man who has introduced a new 

 plant, or eradicated a destructive w^eed, who has taught us to im- 

 prove our domestic animals, or to guard against the ravages of 

 noxious insects; who has invented a new implement of husband- 

 ry, or simply determined the angle the mould-board should make 

 with the plowshare, will be remembered with gratitude, as the 

 benefactor of society. 



In almost all professions and pursuits of city life, the majority 

 are looking forward to the day when they shall have acquired 



