1857. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



89 



over position (when secured by a cover) they may 

 be tumbled upon the ground, floor, or vehicle of 

 conveyance, the vessel, A, with its contents, is sup- 

 ported within the protector frame ; the frame, B, 

 being enough larger than A, to project on all sides, 

 so as to receive whatever shock, or jai", there may 

 be; and the elastic fastenings, C, prevent the shocks 

 or jars being transmitted to the vessel. A; these 

 elastic fastenings may be rubber bands, or of any 

 other convenient form, or material. 



The form which I suppose will be most conven- 

 ient is to have the vessel, A, cubical, or nearly so. 

 If the load to be transported is very easily bruised, 

 as strawberries, raspberries, and the like, — where 

 lower ones are liable to be crushed by the weight 

 of those above — they should be put in shallow boxes, 

 as shown by Fig. 2, which are made to fit into the 

 cubical one, and which will hold several of them ; 

 these shallow boxes may be of 1, 2, 3, 4 quarts each, 

 or any other convenient size. When the load to 

 be used does not require the shallow boxes, the 

 protector may be used without them. For boquets, 

 and other light articles, I propose to make paper 

 boxes with bands of tape looped at suitable places 

 to receive the elastic fastenings. 



Whitinsville, Worcester Co., 1856. 



AN EVENING WITH THE BOYS ! 



Mr. Webster, the great lexicographer, defines 

 the word civilization as the state of being refined 

 in manners from the grossness of savage life, and 

 improved in arts and learning. But the being re- 

 fined from the grossness of savage life, up to the 

 present condition of society in New England, in- 

 cludes a wide range of virtues, customs and conven- 

 tionalities, which we cannot now enumerate. Civ- 

 ilization is more than a change of manners, or an 

 improved condition of the arts and learning ; for 

 it changes the current of thought and the affections 

 of men, imparting higher views of life and duty, 

 and introducing Christianity itself. 



As true civilization advances, the world presents 

 new aspects. Nature yields to Art. Villages, towns 

 and cities spring up ; the lower animals, the tides, 

 winds, steam and machinery, perform the labor 

 once exacted of human muscles, leaving human 

 muscles and mind to search out new inventions, 

 gain new stores of knowledge, and gather around 

 the habitations of man new comforts, and elevate 

 his state of being. But no influence of civilization 

 is more striking than that which leads us to ameli- 



orate the condition of the unfortunate of the great 

 family, to feed the hungry, clothe the naked and 

 shelter the homeless; to whisper consolation to 

 the distressed, reclaim the erring, and give liberty 

 to the innocent when oppressed ; to love and ven- 

 erate the aged, to devise wholesome restraints and 

 comforts for those whose reason is dethroned, and 

 visit prisons, to call back the guilty to the world 

 and to moral health. 



Well conducted prisons and institutions of re- 

 formation are no less evidences of a high degree of 

 civilization than the school-house and the church, 

 though v.-e confess that the latter must greatly pre- 

 vail. For "ofl'ences will come." and society must 

 defend itself against offenders. So the school-house, 

 the lyceum, the work-shop, the church, the manu- 

 factory, the institution for restraint and reform, are 

 all evidences that the people are progressing ; that 

 they cry onward, higher, higher, — we cannot stop 

 here. 



One of the most munificent and noble evidences 

 of this feeling may be seen in the "Reform School 

 for Boys," at Westboro', in this State. It was 

 founded by the civilized and magnanimous heart of 

 the Hon, Theodore Lyman, whose name we love 

 to repeat, and whose memory it is pleasant to cher- 

 ish. A few days since it numbered within its walls 

 six hundred and one boys, between the ages of five 

 and twenty years. Alas ! for our civilized age, that 

 there should be so many! A large proportion of 

 these are sent there simply for the offence of ob- 

 stinacy and disobedience. 'f»j 



Last evening we had the pleasure — and the pain, 

 too — of being with them,^ye hundred and seventy- 

 four of them, and this is what we saw there. j 



In the ample and sweet kitchen were large ket- 

 tles heated by steam ; two of these contained about 

 four barrels of boiled rice. And now, at 4 o'clock, 

 P. M., comes a peal from the great bell in the bel- 

 frey of the east wing, and before its echoes have died 

 away over the adjacent hills, the merry peals of 

 hundreds of voices burst upon the ear. From the 

 shoe shop, and the chair shop, the laundry and the 

 sewing room ; from the farm, the barn and stables, 

 from kitchens, and bed-rooms, and galleries, with a 

 whoop and a call, come the juveniles into the great 

 central yard. And now see the gymnastics, the 

 ground and lofty tumbling, racing, wrestling, and 

 jumping. One prefers standing on his head awhile 

 and swinging his heels in the air, while another has 

 a Sinbad on his back whom he cannot well shake 

 off. They shout, leap, laugh, and rush to and fro, 

 just like a parcel of healthy boys who have been 

 restrained, and have got their legs and lungs again, 

 and then rush into two immense bathing-rooms for 

 a wash, where the water flew in jets, in spray, and 

 in dipper and buckets full, and presto, in a moment 

 they all stood in a line, like a flight of stairs, the 

 tallest at the top, before the great dining halL , 



