NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



n 



^taitl) Ptpartmeut. 



To KEEP THE Feet warm. — " Being told by an 

 experienced bush fanner of the effectual method he 

 used to keep his feet warm on the coldest days in the 

 vinter, I have tried it with success ; and I think the 

 same means have the most beneficial effect in com- 

 plaints of the bowels, when resorted to on the Jirst 

 approach of pain, and, what is of the greatest impor- 

 tance, the remedy is always at hand, and may be 

 applied instantaneously, either up, or in bed, or in 

 the dark. In short, it is obtaining heat in tlic feet by 

 friction. The farmer's mode : ' I,' said he, ' stand 

 upon one foot on a log, and throw out my other as 

 far as I can, and in drawing it back I let the bottom 

 of my foot strike the log upon which I stand. Thus 

 I continue, swinging it off and on S23ecdily as far as I 

 can reach, and striking the log on every return with 

 the fore part of the bottom of my foot, till it feels 

 quite hot ; this will be done in general with eight or 

 ten swings and strokes. Having thus warmed one 

 foot, I proceed in the same way to warm the other.' 

 Now, sir, experience has taught me, that the same 

 effect will be produced, (viz., heat in the feet obtained,) 

 by swinging out the leg and thigh, and striking the 

 foot in the manner described upon any hard sub- 

 stance, when a person is up ; and when in bed, upon 

 being attacked suddenly by pain in the bowels, I 

 have found immediate relief hy subjecting the bottoms 

 of m}- feet to friction, rubbing them up and down 

 alternately upon ilie clothes, thus obtaining extra- 

 ordinary heat in them. I am fully persuaded that, in 

 the summer of 1832, when the cholera was raging, 

 I was saved of an attack thereof by this simple 

 means, being on a journey, in bed, at a tavern." — 

 Selected. 



iUccljamcs' Department, ;^rt3, $Ci. 



For tlie 'New Eiigkuid Farmer. 



Thoughts on Mechanics. — I am a mechanic ; but 

 consider it no cause for pride or mortification. My 

 own choice, partly modified by circumstances, mad.c 

 me one ; and so I shall probably continue, till I can 

 better my condition. Ilencc it cannot be entertained 

 that I am an enemy to the working classes, that I 

 flatter them for favors, or despise them through pride. 

 It is much the fashion, at the present age, for men cov- 

 eting power and popidarity — men who secretly fancy 

 themselves above manual labor, and who in fact 

 despise the laborer and his employment — to expatiate 

 eloquently on the dignity of toil; to sit in their 

 closets and invent schemes for the elevation of the 

 hard-working ]K)or ; and to make speeches at their 

 gatherings, and encourage tliem in their "strikes." 

 And it is remarkable how many simple mechanics, 

 who fancy that all change is reform, arc caught in 

 their nets. Is there not intelligence enough among 

 the mechanics to manage and improve their own 

 affairs r If the clergymen, lawyers, and doctors 

 should strike for greater pay, and should meet in 

 solemn assembly to consider their present and pro- 

 spective condition, is it to be supposed that they would 

 listen to the speeches and theories of mechanics ? 



liut I propose a word to my fellow-laborers. That 

 mechanics have grievances to contend with — such 

 as inadefjuate labor, insufficient pay, humble social 

 position, &;c. — is not denied. That tliis is true is 

 partly their own fault, partly that of their employers, 

 and still further incident to the unavoidable muta- 

 tioiLs in the march of civilization. If most of these 



evils were not a standing complaint among all classes, 

 there would be more hope of a speedy reform. What 

 are they but the general evils of life, which must be 

 encountered by individual intelligence, temperance, 

 virtue, industry, economy, &c. ? No " strikes," 

 " mass meetings," and conventional decisions wUl 

 prove a remedy for them, for it lies in a great 

 measure in the individual sufferers. Some of Frank- 

 lin's old maxims, such as, " What maintains one vice 

 would bring up two children ; " " Spend one penny 

 less than thy clear gains;" "At the workingraan's 

 house hunger looks in, but does not enter ; " — these 

 common-sense sayings wUl weigh down a thousand 

 " Resolutions " passed for the special benefit of 

 laborers, with a score of new "Theories" thrown in. 



Insufficient pay among mechanics is a standing 

 complaint. There may be at times cause for it. 

 Clerks make the same complaint ; so do the mcmbei-s 

 of the learned professions. In fact, there is not a 

 calling exempt from it. Each vocation thinks all 

 others better paid than its own — which shows the 

 bias of partiality. But are not all of us as well paid, 

 if not better, than our fathers were ? and are not 

 many of the necessaries of life cheaper than they 

 were fifty j'cars ago ? Besides, how can the price of 

 labor be regulated for any length of time ■ Labor, 

 like a commodity in market, will bring what it is 

 worth at the time ; and its worth is regulated by the 

 kind, (or quality,) the supply and demand. Ilence 

 good, steady, and active workmen will procure higher 

 wages than those of an opposite character ; and it is 

 just they should. If a certain price is given for 

 making an article, (a coat, for instance,) the man who 

 can be relied iijion to make it, not only well, but 

 promptly, will receive the better wages and more 

 steady employment. 



Intemperance has had a more baneful influence 

 upon mechanics than upon any other class — if, 

 rndeod, it will admit of any comparison, Numerous 

 instances have come under the writer's observation, 

 where competent workmen haA-e suddenh' disap- 

 peared for a few days, or a Aveek, in the midst of a 

 busy time, and return with excuses of sickness, or of 

 being unexpectedly called away — when in fact they 

 have been on a pilgrimage to Bacchus, and spent their 

 last dollar, perhaps cent. In a short time the mission 

 is repeated ; the employers ascertain the cause of 

 absence, and discharge them for more steady work- 

 men, 'ihcir reputations being hurt, to procure em- 

 ployment they are obliged to come down in prices. 

 The consequence is, they get some emploAmient ; but 

 continuing to spend for that vice enough to " bring 

 up two children," their families necessarily sufl'er. 

 Added to this vice is very frequently laziness, or ex- 

 travagance ; sometimes the latter may exist without 

 much of the former. Men in these desperate cu'cum- 

 stances are always ready for a " strike," when some 

 bold spirit, with more influence than themselves, 

 presents himself as a leader. The consetinencc is, a 

 temporary noise and bluster, and all settles down into 

 the quiet old shape — the most competent and indus- 

 trious receiving the greatest wages, who flourish and 

 frequently rise to the means of competence upon it, 

 while those discontented spirits, who arc continually 

 exciting rebellion against their employers, and for- 

 getting that a trade, to be good for any tiling, must 

 be constantly worked, continue in poverty, repining 

 at their lot, till the day of their death. 



Mechanics fretiuently complain that they cannot 

 rise in the world. If the complaint is well founded, 

 may not others make it ? No man can rise ^^•ithout 

 the necessary virtues ; and is not, generally speaking, 

 the mechanic's lot (in his own vocation) as good as 

 the merchant's or ])rofes;donal man's ? If the former 

 frequently fails, does not also the latter ? Mechanics 

 ought not to expect to rise to eminence as statesmen, 

 any more than lawyers expect to be famous as 



