1858. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



495 



tific American (whose opinion we regard as 

 having great weight,) says : "We have seen char- 

 coal dust exposed for long periods of time to 

 moisture and the atmosphere, and never knew an 

 instance of spontaneous combustion caused there- 

 by." In conversation with several gentlemen 

 the other day, one of them observed, that char- 

 coal, long exposed to moisture, and suddenly 

 dried or heated, would ignite. He had known 

 well authenticated instances of fires from such a 

 cause, and of no article about his premises (he 

 was a manufacturer) was he more careful, than 

 of the disposition of charcoal. Now, this is a 

 question of no little importance, and we hope it 

 will be investisjated. 



EXTBAVAGANCE IN DKHSS. 



Rev. Dr. Cooke, one of the editors of the Pu- 

 ritan Recorder, who has been writing for his pa- 

 per a series of letters from Saratoga, winds up 

 his observations on life at the Springs with some 

 remarks that are of special interest to the ladies 

 He says : 



This is the last of my series from this place. 

 And there is but one topic more on which I care 

 to speak, and that is the idol of the place, to wit. 

 Dress. Those who have resided here even for 

 a short time, have had oj^portunities to see the 

 absurdities of fashion in this respect, in a strong 

 light. In a secular and moral aspect, they are a 

 fair match for the fashionable preaching of which 

 we have spoken. Indeed, the fashionable lady 

 at the Springs comes to a lask of dressing, which 

 is not to be envied. Most of her waking hours, 

 even if she have no hops nor balls to dress for, 

 are laborious hours. For dressing is her sub- 

 stantive employment ; it is for this that she has 

 come to the Springs. So she must on first waking 

 in the morning, dress for her walk to the Springs, 

 then she must come home and "jjut on another 

 harness for breakfast. Then she must unharness 

 and harness \i\) wholly anew for dinner ; then for 

 tea, all the labor of changing her cumberous har- 

 ness must be repeated. This often involves more 

 than she can do alone. The hair-dresser must be 

 called in, and there must be a toil of currying as 

 well as harnessing. This is an expensive as well 

 as laborious work. Judge of this from a single 

 case. A lady was here not long since, and when 

 about to leave, she told the landlady in all sober- 

 ness, as if it was a matter of course, that she had 

 been here thirty days, and that she had only thir- 

 ty changes of dress, and therefore she could stay 

 here no longer. For she could not wear the 

 same dress twice in the same place. She must 

 now, as a matter of economy, go to Newport, 

 where with the same dresses, she could spend 

 thirty days more. This is a fair sample of the 

 fashionables here. Every summer brings thous- 

 ands of just this class of miserable creatures, 

 slaves of absurd fashions, here. 



Think a moment of the expense of such an out- 

 fit for the Springs. The expense of her thirty 

 dresses, with all the laces and jewelry to match, 

 could not be less than three thousand dollars. 

 That is, her dress for thirty days must cost her 

 a hundred dollars a day. And among all the 

 visitors at the Springs, during the season, there 



cannot be less than three thousand women so ex- 

 pensively dressed. If so, the aggregate expense 

 of equipping these butterflies for one season, must 

 be nine millions of dollars, which is a very con- 

 siderable fraction of the revenue of the United 

 States Government. Is it a wonder, that so many 

 of our wealthy merchants fail ? True, many of 

 these women are the wives and daughters of 

 pill-pedlars and yeast-venders, and the like, who 

 can afford it. But many of them also are exhaust- 

 ing the capital of regular merchants. 



But the absurdity of this business more fully 

 appears, if we reflect how much of this extrava- 

 gance looks to marriage ; and how it defeats its 

 end. Daughters are put on this course of ex- 

 travagance to make them the more attractive 

 candidates for marriage ; and the effect is to ren- 

 der their marriage, to any young man of sense, 

 impossible. Young men, who have their fortunes 

 yet to make, cannot safely marry a woman who 

 has been trained to spend a fortune in a single 

 season. So that this process, instead of subserv- 

 ing marriage, serves to frighten away the very 

 young gentlemen whom it seeks to dazzle and 

 attract. The thing may be seen on the surface, 

 in the fact that at this watering-place there are 

 ten young ladies to one gentleman. Why is it ? 

 The young gentlemen are but beginning in life, 

 and if they are worth having, they have not the 

 means to face such an expensive life as the young 

 ladies are leading here. 



BE CONTENT. 



Mistaken mortal, ever fretting, 

 Grasping, grinding, groaning, getting, — 

 Be content ! 



If thou hast enough, be thankful, 

 Just as if thou hast a bankful — 



Be content ! 



If fortune cast thy lot but humble, 

 Earn thy bread and do not grumble — 

 Be content ! 



Have the rich, think'st thou, no trouble ? 

 Twice thy wealth ; their sorrow double — 

 Be content ! 



List the lore of learned sages, 

 Those wise men of the Grecian ages — 

 Be content ! 



Their reck'ning up of all earth's riches 

 Was compassed in one short phrase, which is- 

 Be content I 



The rich man gets with all his heaping 

 But dress, and drink, and food and sleeping — 

 Be content ! 



Though in the sleep the rich men gain not, 

 Poor men sleep when rich men may not — 

 Be content ! 



When winds about thy dust shall scatter, 

 Where goes thy gold — to thee what matter? 

 Be content ! 



Remember, thou for wealth who rakest, 

 "Naught thou broughtest, naught thou takest.' 

 Be content ! 



ly From a calculation carefully made by an 

 intelligent gentleman in Columbus, Ohio, v.-e learn 

 that the eggs annually produced by hens in that 

 State, would pay the yeai'ly interest on her public 

 debt. 



