1855. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMEK. 



397 



through Europe, and finally buried her in Florida, 

 recently expressed to me his thorough conviction 

 that no region in the M'hole world affords at any 

 season a more beautiful and healtliful climate than 

 this part of New England in summer. "Iti^ly it- 

 self," said he, "has not a clearer sky nor a pm-er at- 

 mosjihere, and they who w;uider abroad in search 

 of health, at any season, find only suffering and dis- 

 appointment." 



How rational men and women from the cities 

 can be persuaded to pass the summer at the beach- 

 es and fasliionable watering-places, parachng round 

 on the sea-shore without shelter or shade of any 

 green thing, suffering the tortm-es of Kegulus, who 

 was exposed by his enemies to the noon-day sun 

 with his eyelids cut off — how they can endm-e the 

 glare of the ball-room in dog-days, and the crowd- 

 ed chambers of fashionable hotels, not to mention 

 the killing conclusion by way of paying the bills — 

 how all this can be translated into j)leasure by ra- 

 tional people, when the peaceful, quiet hills and 

 valleys of the country in\ite them to health and 

 freedom from restraints of flishion and artificial life, 

 passes comprehension. 



But to return to the Homestead. Fourteen 

 years almost have elapsed, since professional ambi- 

 tion, or, perhaps, rather, the necessity of earning 

 my living, called me from my native town, and this 

 is my first return except as a transient \isitor. 



If I could assemble all the boys of New England 

 together in this old Aalluge, and show them the 

 trees that my own hands have planted and assisted 

 others in planting, no doubt a score of years would 

 witness such an improvement in the streets of om- 

 towns as no mere t^llving or writing can accom- 

 pUsh. Twenty-five years ago or thereabouts, the 

 old Lombardy ])oplars which had been planted 

 about the paternal mansion when it was built, in the 

 fu-st years of the century, were decayed so as to be 

 no longer an ornament, and were cut down. There 

 stood the tall, white three-story house close to the 

 street, with only a few Hlacs and roses to shelter it. 

 Now, as you approach the mansion on either side, 

 no glimpse of it, except of a chimney-top, or of a 

 window or door, where the branches have been cut 

 away, can be seen. The rock maples and horse- 

 chestnuts and elms have mtcrlaced their boughs 

 and Ufted their heads so as completely to shelter 

 it. A quarter of a century has sufficed to uicrease 

 the trees which a boy could carry on his shoulder 

 to a foot or more in diameter. Yesterday I fixed a 

 suing for my children upon a chestnut which grew 

 from a nut which I saw my father plant in the gar- 

 den, and which I transplanted to its present ])lace 

 some twenty years ago. The street is lined for half 

 a mile with elms and maples which we boys of the 

 village with oiu* own hands dug from the rocky 

 soil of the forests and planted. Now they are 

 the beauty and glory of the place. 



No man ever yet I think repented that he plant- 

 ed a shade tree by the way-side. Nothing has so 

 civilizing an influence upon the habits of children, 

 as this taste for nature's products. I confess for 

 myself and the generation of boys of my time, that 

 though we were tolerably civilized in our notions 

 about trees, the flishion of the day paid little re- 

 spect to birds and beasts. With us, a squirrel was 

 made to be trapped and tlro\vncd, and a bird as a 

 general thing was made to be shot. Bounties on 

 crows and blackbirds were the only legislative aids 

 to agriculture, and box-traps and cross-bows were 

 good enough for chip-munks. But, perhaps it may 

 as Avell be confessed, without much encouragement 

 from the paternal side, we find a different spirit 

 among oiur children. The robin's nest, almost 

 within reach of their chamber window, has been 

 watched from day to day, and the number of eggs 

 reported to the family. The young have hatched 

 and grown up and floAvn away unmolested. Pieces of 

 thread and cotton have been himg on the fences for 

 the good robins to weave into theii- nests. A red 

 squirrel is seen hourly jumping from tree to tree, 

 or rumiing over the front-yard fence, and the chil- 

 dren have a hole m an apple tree, where they pkce 

 nuts and other luxmies for him to carry away. 



The kitten is a great pet, but yesterday she 

 caught a striped squirrel which has taken up his 

 abode in the wood-pile at the door. She marched 

 into the kitchen with a most triumphant air, with 

 her victim m her mouth, expecting, doubtless, 

 as much commendation as if she had taken the 

 largest rat in the cellar ; but alas, no administra- 

 tion, Avith a Nebraska bill in its teeth, ever met 

 more general reprobation. Brooms and chsh-cloths, 

 with an accompaniment of shouts, and a general 

 rush of the small folks upon the astonished flivor- 

 ite, soon convinced her that she had fallen into 

 some error of taste or judgment, and she was com- 

 pelled to seek safety in flight, droppmg the little 

 striper unhm-t by the way, and tiiking refuge for 

 herself under the wood-shed, till the wrath of the 

 people subsided. 



On the whole, this is the true education for chil- 

 dren. He who loves the works of God is near to 

 loving Him. 



"He prayeth best who lovcth best 



All thintrs both (.'roat and small, 

 For the dear God who loveth us, 



He made and lovelh all." 



Perhaps it is possible to rc;ir children m cities, 

 with pure tastes and healthful ideas of the duties 

 and objects of life. Perhai)s the boys may escape 

 the conviction that money is the one thing needful, 

 and the girls, that dress and the opera are above all 

 piice, and that the chief end of woman is to ex- 

 cite admiration in a waltz, but surely the country is 

 the true school for healthy development of body, 

 mind and heart, and let us who live on the farms, 



