192 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



DKC. aO, 18^T. 



S!SIS^<S31I£>3&^^^8 



THE COUNTRY GIRLS. 



I love the " country spinster," 



Who turns the buzzing wheel, 

 Wlio plies, with busy hands, the card. 



With merry hum, the reel. 



1 love the " country seamster" 



Who makes the hotisehold gear, 

 And who, with industry and art. 

 Prepares the homespun wear. 



I love the "country milkmaid," 



Whose daily task supplies 

 A wholesome food and beverage 



For country families. 



Her neat and ample dairy. 



Her industry attests. 

 And when night finds her weary 



in innocence she rests. 



I love the country housewife, 



Her neat swept rural dome, 

 Where love, and truth, and kindness dwell, 



The ploughman's happy home. 



They wear their healthful blushes, 



They walk with form ereot. 

 They wear their own wrought homespun,- 



And gew-gaw show reject. 



" No " Grecian bend" affected, 



No ambling, mincing pace, 

 No scornful tossing of the head, 



No modish, wry grimace. 



No sallow, pale complexion. 



No court spots speck the lips, 

 No camel hump deforms the back 



No bishops eke the hips : 



No " come and see my shoulders !" 



No studied vicious taste, 

 No whalebone frame to choke the breath, 



No corsets cut the waist : 



No dark midnight carousals 



Corrupt their purity. 

 No treacherous espousals 



Convict of coquetry. 



Faithful to all relations. 



As mothers, daughters, wives — 

 As sisters kind, as lovers true, 



And virtuous their lives. 



Ohio Statrsman. 



HUSKING PARTY. 



" Farewell the pleasant husking night — its merry after 



scenes. 

 When Indian pudding sraok'd beside the giant pot of 



beans ; 

 When ladies joined the social band, nor once affected 



fear. 

 But gave a pretty cheek to kiss for every crimson 



ear ! " 



We like to fecnr occasionally to the cii.stoms 

 and pastimes of out ancestors. Talk as we may 

 of tlie (Jiy iiiasqucr.icle, and tin; fasliionalile hall 

 wliere beauty, and elej^aiice, anil refinement float 

 down the dance, to the soft music, like the lovely 

 creations of a dream — the embodied spirits of 

 joy anil ligl'') ""d nuisic, — who ia there that will 



not turn a longing and a lingering glance upon 

 the simple amnsement of other times — when 

 pnstime went hand in hand with usefulness. 

 We know that thesi- may, at first view, appear 

 rude and forbidding — that the sensibilities of the 

 fashionables of the presi^nt generation would be 

 slioi-ked at the bare idea of a Quiltinir Frolic — 

 an Apple Paring, or a Husking Party. 



The Husking Party takes place in tho.se long, 

 bright evenings of autunu), when the harvest 

 moon is up among the stars, and the streams and 

 the hills, and the old forest trees are briglilening 

 in its beautiful ilhimination. A group of happy 

 and kind-hearted beings, of all ages and sexes, 

 from the fair young girl to the grey-haired old 

 man are assembled around the fruits of their 

 neiglibor's industry — the long and heavy pile of 

 inilian corn, gathered from the field with its 

 covering of husks. The whole length of the 

 ample b.irn floor is lined with hiiskers, who, after 

 a few preliminary jokes,betuke themselves zealous- 

 ly to their task. 



The |)res-ence of females in such a group will 

 no doubt be objected to. Hut wherefore ? Ask 

 the grey-haired yeoman, if, in the days of bis 

 boyhood, it was deemeil improper, or inconsis- 

 tent with the dignity and delicacy of their char- 

 acter, for his female companions to join their 

 brothers and their neighbors, in an evening's a- 

 ninsement of this nature. They would smile at 

 the idea of itnpropriety. The assembly is not 

 one of strangers, where doubt and apprehension 

 must seal every lip and fetter every movement, 

 lint of those who have lived together as chihlren 

 of one family, and have met each other, at all 

 times, and at all places — in the kitchen or in the 

 parlor — the field or the workshop, with the same 

 frank smile of welcome. And pray where is the 

 harm of mirth and pleasantry, tempered as they 

 are here with pure, unstudied natural tnodesty ? 

 Tlrere can he none. Tlie parties are not min- 

 gled iti the hollow world, and learned to tamper 

 with the heart's best feelings, to curl the lip at 

 sincerity, and betray without a scruple the confi- 

 dence of the artless and unsuspecting. The girl 

 who seats herself at the husking, and the lively, 

 frank-heaited youth beside her, have no senti- 

 mental and novel-borrowed nonsense to exchange 

 — they have never read and sighed over the per- 

 nicious pages of Moore and Byron, or looked on 

 iinblushingly at an immodest theatrical ripresen- 

 tation. On the contrary they have drawn their 

 lieaiitiful ideas of love and friendship from the 

 praiseworthy examples and maxims of their an- 

 cestors; and consequently, the vicissitudes of life, 

 its alternate light and shadow, are met without 

 that bitter disappointment which follows so close- 

 ly u()OH the dreams of the romantic and idle 

 visionary. 



Ah — there is mirth, life and jollity in otir 

 genuine husking party. The buskers ply their 

 their tongues a« busily as their hands, while en- 

 gaged in their pleasant task. Stories are related — 

 songs are sung — ^jokes are passed — and soft words 

 spoken. Imagine to yourself, reader, the sight of 

 a long row of fine, healthy looking girls, with 

 glowing coiuitcnances and bright eyes attd sweet 

 smiles. Depend upon it, there is nothing like a 

 sensible, good-natured romp of a country girl — 

 one who will play " hide and seek" and " blind 

 man's huff" with yon, but who would culf your 

 ears in indignation should you address her in 

 language which more refined and fashionable 



ladies would listen to with com|ilacence. During] 

 the |iroeess of husking, if a red ear of corn i$ 

 found by any one cf the ladies, she is liable tat 

 receive a kiss from some of the company. Shut 

 of course hands the ear to her favorite beau, whoi: 

 readily understands the signal and acts accord- 

 ingly. The red cheek is sure to be redder before 

 lie leaves it. 



After the task is finished, the company adjourn 

 to the house — a supper is [iroviited — ^^and after 

 partaking of it, the parties separate for their res- 

 pective homes — the girls being all provided 

 with " fellows" to accompany them. But the 

 genuine Husking Parties, we grieve to say it, are 

 now rarely heard of. They liave lost the spirit 

 which enlivened them — a false refinement has 

 broken in upon their pleasant amusetiient ; and 

 bright eyes and fair hands no longer figu-re at a 

 Husking. — JVorthcni Star. 



THE EVENING PRAYER, 



BY X.. E. L. 



Ai.oNE, alone ! — no other face 



Wears kindred smile, or kindred line ; 

 And yet they say my mother's eyes — ''' 



They say my father's brow is mine : 

 And either had rejoiced to see 



The other's likeness in my face, 

 But now it is a stranger's eye 



That finds some long-forgotlen trace. 



I heard them name my father's death. 



His home and tomb alike the wave ; 

 And I was early taught to weep 



Beside my youthful mother's grave. 

 X-wish I could recall one look — 



But only one familiar tone : 

 If I* had aught of memory 



I should not feel so all alone. 



My heart is gone beyond the grave. 



In search of love i cannot find, 

 Till I could fancy soothinij words 



Are whispered by the eveuing wind ; 

 I gaze upon the watching stars. 



So clear, so beautiful aliove. 

 Till I could dream they look on me 



With something of an answering love. 



My mother, does thv gentle eye 



Look from those distant stars on me ? 

 Or does the wind at evening bear 



A iiiessage to thy child from thee ? 

 Dost thou pine for me, as I pine 



Again a parent's love to share 1 

 I often kneel beside thy grave 



And pray to be a sleeper there. 



The vesper bell ! — 't is eventide; 



I will not weep, but I will pray: 

 God of the fatherless, 't is Thou 



Alone cau'st be the orphan's stay ! 

 Earth's meanest flower, Heaven's mightiest star, 



Are equal in their IMaker's love, 

 And I can say. Thy will be done, 



With eyes that h,\ their hope above. 





THJB NEW KaVal^AKD PARJIER 



Is published every Wednesday Evening, at ^3 per aiinrni 

 payalile nl Ihe pud .)f Ihe year — but those wlio pay williii 

 ■ixly ays from llie lime ol suliscrihing, are ett'ltiiil' lo a (le 

 duclioii nfoO cents. 



[nT-No paper a ill lie sent to a distance, without pn^num 

 eiiig made in ail\ iu.iice. 



AGENTS. ' 



AVw York — G C Thorbckn, 1 1 John -street 

 FlusUiiig, N. y. — Wm . FiiiM i: Sf Sons, Prop. Lin B<' 

 Album/ — W.M . Thokbuhn, 347 .Market-stieot. 

 Pln/ailelvhia — I), cV C. Lanubkth.HS Clicsniit-slrepl. i 

 fi,t/'i/rHtrc — PuldisliiT o( Aiiifriraii Farmer. M 



Cincinnati — S.C. rAHKHURST,23 Lower Market slrfot, fl 

 MiilJteliury. Vl. — WiCMT Cha PMA N Alercliani 

 Taunton. Mass. — S.am'l O. Dunrar, Bookseller. ''■ 



lUirtfortl — (lOOiiwiN Jj' Co. lionksi-hers. 

 Neii'bunipnrt — K iiKN i:/. KR .Srb:i>MA.\, BooKsellT. 

 Portsmonlh,N. H. — John W. Fostkk, Bo.iksellet. 

 W'ooilstock, Vl. — J. A. I'katt. 

 liraltiebtiro' — Jos Stkkn. Bookseller. 



li<imnr,Me. — Wm.AIann, Druijgisl , and Wbi, H. Hahiow 

 H.ilipi.T. N. i>.—V,. liKowN. Esq. 

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