

DI3VOT3D TO v^GRIOULTUSB AND ITS KINDRSD AT^T3 AND SCIENCSS. 



VOL. IX. 



BOSTON, FEBRUARY, 1857. 



NO. 2. 



JOEL NOURSE, Proprietor. 

 Office.. .13 CoMMERCiii. St. 



SIMON BROWH, EDITOR. 



FRED'K IIOLBROOK, ? Associate 



HEKRY F. FIIENCH, i Editors 



:i 



FEBEHAEY— FIEESIDE PIEASUEES. 



"Season of social mirth ! of firesice joys ! 

 I love thy shortened day, when at its close, 

 The blazing tapers, on the jovial board, 

 Dispense o'er every care-forgetting face 

 Their cheering light, and gladdening influence." 



Graliame. 



IRESIDE amusements 

 are the peculiar 

 blessing of Provi- 

 dence, to compen- 

 sate us for the de- 

 privations of w'in- 

 ' ter ; and there is 

 probably more po- 

 etry, as well as 

 more good practi- 

 cal philosophy, en- 

 gendered in the 

 family circle, 

 around the winter 

 evening fire,than in 

 the field, or in the 

 closet. Here eve- 

 ry topic is discuss- 

 ed that is interesting to 

 civilized man, and old and 

 young, ignorant and learned, 

 all take their part in the con- 

 versation, and contribute their mite to the great 

 fund of human knowledge. 



Did the reader never consider that the pleasures 

 of the evening fireside can be experienced only by 

 the inhabitants of cold climates ? In southern coun- 

 tries, the people sometimes build a fire for comfort 

 in rainy seasons, and huddle round it for an hour 

 or two ; but such occasions are always a breaking 

 up of their usual habits. No enduring necessity for 

 evening fires gives origin to a regular assembling 

 of a family circle around the hearth, nor to the in- 

 finite variety of pleasing tastes and amusements 

 which are thus participated. 

 The poet of a northern clime alone could have writ- 



ten thus feelingly of the pleasures of an evening as- 

 sembly of the family group, as in the following lines 

 by Cowper : — 



"Now stir the fire, and close the shutters fast, 

 Let fall the curtains, wheel the sofa round ; 

 And while the bubbling and loud hissing urn 

 Throws up a steamy column, and the cups 

 Which cheer but not inebriate, wait on each. 

 So let us welcome peaceful evening in." 



Not only does the fireside give origin to a multi- 

 tude of interesting amusements, and a fund of ra- 

 tional conversaticn, but it leads us to reflect with 

 peculiar sensibility upon the sufferings of those 

 whose poverty deprives them of these enjoyments. 

 It is in these little assemblies therefore, that many 

 of those schemes of benevolence originate, for which 

 the people of northern countries have always been 

 distinguished. As there is a greater variety of pleas- 

 ures, so there is a greater liability to suffering, in a 

 cold country ; and hence there is a constant appeal 

 to our sympathies from sufferers in our neighbor- 

 hood, especially on winter evening's when their ne- 

 cessities become the subjects of discourse, and when 

 the cold and the tempest without, place their suf- 

 ferings vividly before the imagination. If it be our 

 duty to thank God for the gifts which contribute 

 to promote our physical well-being, — we have no 

 less reason for gratitude on account of the influ- 

 ences that serve to cherish in our hearts those ami- 

 able and benevolent virtues, from the exercise of 

 which the greater part of our moral happiness is 

 derived. 



William Howitt draws a beautiful picture of the 

 cheerful emotions which are awakened by the scenes 

 of a British fireside. "How delightful,"- he ex- 

 claims, "while sitting in the midst of our family, or 

 friendly group, not only to contemplate our own 

 happiness, but to send our thoughts abroad over 

 the whole land ! To think what thousands of fami- 

 lies in this noble country, are at the same moment, 

 thus blessedly collected around the social flame! 

 What hearths are lit up with all the charms of kin- 

 dred affection, of mature wisdom and parental pride ; 



