144 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



Nov. 21, li-28. 



MISCELLANIES. 



Truth and falsehood. It is most dangerous to 

 deviate from tnitli, even on the most trifling oc- 

 rasion. However gi/.Ieleas may be our intentions, 

 llie habit (if indulged) may take root, and gain 

 on us under tlie cover of vario!<s pretences till it 

 usurps a leading influence on our conduct. Truth 

 is born with us ; and we must do violence to na- 

 ture to shake oft' our veracity. Plutarch calls ly- 

 ing the vice of a slave. Flatterers— those who 

 continually ])raise themselves, and speak ill of 

 others; and those who afl;ect to depreciate the 

 advantages they enjoy, and to exaggerate those 

 of others, ought never to be believed on their 

 word. We gain nothing by falsehood hut the dis- 

 advantage of not being credited when we speak 

 the truth. 



Spend prudently. What folly lays out in kid- 

 jkin gloves in ten years, managed by prudence 

 might till a small purse. Are not white dollars 

 worth more to a farmer than white hands ? If 

 your finances are small be not ambitious of own- 

 ing a three story house. A humble cottage is a i 

 good beginning. Enter at the "KH.'e end of the j 

 horn," and you may see at the other an elegant ; 

 house large enough for the thrifty farmer. 



Lying. Lying is so infamous a vice, that we 

 should avoid it even in jest. E.xaggeration is a 

 species of falsehood. In whatt ver words you ex- 

 press your meaning, if they convey not to others 

 the sense in which you understand them yourself, 

 you are a deceiver, and speak not the truth from 

 your heart. 



Solicitation. In soliciting any thing, it is bet- 

 ter to move by speech, than by letter ; your per- 

 son, expression, and delivery may claim regard, 

 and the person sohcited may not have confidence 

 to give a denial— but at a distance he may write 

 a letter without blushing. 



Goodness. To be virtuous, you must be some- 

 thiu"- more than merely innocent. A man to he 

 wood must do good, that is, he must be actively 

 engaged in pursuits, which have a tendency to \ 

 benefit himself, or his fellow creatures. j 



Mversity borrows its sharpest sting from our j 

 impatience. Our good and evil proceed from our- 1 

 selves. Death appeared terrible to Cicero, indif- 1 

 ferent to Socrates, desirable to Cato. 



;i/f)i in office should be men of business. He who 

 is too indolent or too careless to attend properly 

 o his own business, ought not to be entrusted with 

 that of the public. 



Punctuality. Be punctual even in trifling mat- 

 ters ; for ftiiling in little things will cause you to 

 fail in a greater, and render you suspected. 



Justice. Though justice be not commonly sold, 

 yet it costs much, and it is necessary to be very 

 rich to obtain it. 



Prosperity. He who is pufled up with the first 

 gale of prosperity, will bend beneath the first blast 

 of adversity. 



1639. A summary act of the General Court 

 prohibiting short sleeves, and requiring the gar- 

 ments to be lengthened so as to cover the arms to 

 the wrists, and required reformation in "immode- 

 rate great breeches, knots of ribbon, broad shoul- 

 der bands and tayles, silk rases, double cufts and 

 ruffs."' 



1639. "For preventing the miscarriage of let- 

 ters, it is ordered that notice be given, that Rich- 

 ard Fairbanks, his house in Boston, is the place 



and is so angry as to bewitch your mare ?" " Ye? 

 tliat's it, and I want you to go and lay the devil." 

 " Why, if you have raised the devil by cheating iu 

 the corn, you had better lay him yourself" " Yes, 

 but I don't know how." " Go, then, directly, ami 

 carry the balance of the corn, and take good can- 

 never to commit such an act again : the devil is 

 always busy v/ith people who do not perform all 

 their duties honestly." 



The man shmk away home at this unexpected 



corn 



appointed for all letters, which are brouglit from rebuke, and failed not to carry corn enough to 

 beyond the seas or are to be sent thither, are to I make full measure, which, however, he feared to 

 be brou-ht unto him and he is allowed for every ; carry into the house to the old woman, but emp- 

 such letter Id., and must answer all miscarriages tied it down upon the door stone. But the marc 



through his own neglect in this kind, provided 

 that no man shall be obliged to bring 

 thither, unless he please 



ceased not to kick as usual ; whereupon Mr. C. 



his letters came to the minister, told him what he had done, 



i and begged for holy assistance. " Go home," said 



1643. Thb Court order, that in the election of the parson, with all that energy for which he was 

 assistants, Indian beans should be used instead of so remarkable, " go home,— you need not trouble 



whhe to be afiirmative and the black yourself about witches ; I'll not allow them to do 



I any mischief, I assure you— do your duty, so as to 



The Court order, that if any young man , escape a guilty coi^cience, and if your mare is re- 



„,,^ address a young woman, without con- 1 fractory, whip l3|^sB'l-do mine— go and let me 



sent of her parents, or in case of their absence, of; hear no more about^vitches." Mr. C. obeyed, but 



paper, tne 

 negative. 

 1647. 

 attemiJt to 



the County Court, he shall be fined 41. for the first 

 offence, 10/. for the second, and be imprisoned for 

 the third. 



1649. Matthew Stanley was tried for drawing 

 the affections of John Tarbox's daughter without 

 the consent of her parents, convicted and fined 



51 fees 2s. Gd. Three married women were fined 



5s. each, for scolding. 



1653. Jonas Fairbanks was tried for wearing 

 great boots. 



OLDEN TIME. 



In 1637, there were but thirty-seven ploughs 

 in all Massachusetts, and the use of these agricul 

 tural implements was not familiar to all the plant 

 ers. From the annals of Salem it appears, in 

 that year, it was agreed by the town to grant tx) 

 Richard Hutchinson twenty acres of land in addi- 



WITCHCRAFT. 



The New England Galaxy, after a quotation 

 from Judge Story's address, relating to the sub- 

 ject of witchcrafl, introduces the following anec- 

 dote : 



About the year 1760, the fury of the inhabitants 

 I of New England had dechned towards suspected 

 ! old women, but their believing fear was not alto- 

 i o-ether quelled. At this time a case of witchcraft 

 ! occurred in Billerica imder the ministry of the 

 j Rev. Dr. Cummings, who related the story with 

 much satisfaction, as the last, which came within 

 j his precincts. 



An old woman of very peaceable character liv- 

 ed pretty much alone in a shell of a house near 

 I the meeting-house and the clergyman's dwelling. 

 She was suspected of witchcrafl, by a family who 

 lived at two miles distance in the west part of the 

 town, and they brought accusation immediately 

 to the parson ; who in those early times, exercis- 

 ed not only the spiritual, but the temporal power 

 of the parish ; he was often council for both par- 

 ties, and was judge and jury, without subjection 

 to appeal — he was moreover a peacemaker — ftlr. 

 C. accused Mrs. D. of witchcraft. " How do you 

 know she is a witch ?" — " Because she has be- 

 witched my mare." " How do you know that 

 your mare is bewitched ?" " Because she won't 

 stand still to be saddled, and the minute I get on, 

 she kicks up and throws me oft'." " But what 

 makes you think that Mrs. D. has bewitched her?" 

 No answer. " Have you had a quarrel with her?" 

 " Oh no ! I han't had no quarrel." " But what 

 is the matter ? surely she would not bewhch her 



he was far from convinced, that Mrs. D. was not 

 a witch, and he determined to put it to the proof. 

 For this purpose, he boiled a large potatoe, which 

 he put directly from the boiling water, under the 

 bewitched mare's saddle. The caperings and 

 kickings of the poor beast were excusable this 

 time, at least, for when after some hours the sad- 

 dle was got off it was found that a severe mark 

 was left behind it. The proof of the matter was ; 

 to be in this ; if the old woman had bewitched the 

 mare, she would have the same mark of a burn 

 on her back. Two old women were prevailed 

 on to be of an examining committee. Dr. Cum- 

 mings was requested to be of the party, with his 

 Bible at hand, to prevent any fatal explosion from 

 Satan's nostrils. This office he prudently declin- 

 ed. His place was filled with another old wom- 

 an, and Saturday night was appointed for this e.x- 

 amination. This time was chosen because the. 

 good people thought that Satan would not visit 

 in holy hours. In the mean time the good wom- 

 an got an inkling of what was going on ; and as 

 they entered a long dark entry they were saluted 

 with a stupendous flash of powder and tow, and a 

 glorious clatter of tin pans. The committee were 

 scattered of course— and before church the next 

 morning every body iu the town knew, that the 

 devil came, all covered whh blue brunstone, to 

 save his disciple, the wicked Mrs. D. This would 

 have made a new era in witchcraft in the town, 

 but for the pertinent remarks of the parson touch- 

 ing the matter ; for he was enabled to dispense a 

 word in season. 



for nothing." " Why I carried her some corn on 

 tlie mare about a week ago, and I didn't know but 

 I ininht have made a mistake in the measure so 



and so" — " And because your 



tiontohisshare, on condition "he set up plough- i that it fell short, , , a : , 



iwnw Ills , , 1^^^^^ ^^Ij ^j^^^^^ ^.^^ suspect that she found it out, 



Box. 



For sale a quantilv of superior Box. Any person wishing for . 

 a small ciuaniity, or sufficient to edge extensive walks or ave- 

 nues, niav at the present time, procure it on the most reasonable 

 terms, bv applying to Messrs. Winships' >urserv, Brighton. 



Nov. r 1828. 3U 



Great sale of Wool. 



ON THURSP.U-, DECEMBER 18, AT 10 O'cLOCI, 



4( tlie Hall over thi New Market. 

 "19 hales ?a.vony WOOL, consisliug of first and second Elec- 

 toral— first and second Piima, feecunda, and Tenia. 

 246 bags Leoncssa Sorianna Segoviana Spanish U ool. 

 130 bags Portuguese Wool. . 



480 bags (about 76,000 pounds) American Fleece W ool, amoBg 



which ate some choice lots of selected !sa.\ony and full 



blood Merino lleeces. , , „, , k-. 



Catalogues will be ready for delivery and tli* Wool may be 



exaniined'ihree days before the sale. 



• Coolidje, Poor & Head— A<d»ne«-s. 



