72 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



ON I'OOR CHEESE. 

 Hence 'VVoburn dairy-wives run mad for cream, 

 And leave their millc with nothing; but its name ; 

 Its name derision and reproach pursue, 

 And strangers tell of " three times skimmM sky-blue." 

 To cheese converted what can be its boast ? 

 What but the common virtues of a post ! 

 If drought o'ertake it faster than the knife, 

 Most fair it bids for stubborn length of life, 

 And like the oaken shelf whereon 'lis laid, 

 Mocks the weak efforts of the bending- blade ; 

 Or in the hog-trough rests in perfect spite. 

 Too big to swallow, and too bard to bite. 

 Inglorious victory ! ye Cheshire meads. 

 Or Severns flow'ry dales, where plenty treads. 

 Was your rich milk to suffer wrongs like thest ? 

 Farewell your pride 1 farewell renowned cheese ! 

 The skimmer dread, whose ravages aloue 

 Thus turns the mead's sweet nectar into stone. 



Bloomfield. 



From tlie Bath Society Papers. 

 The Popbain family were lords of Bnrnhnm, 

 in -Somersetshire, Eng. in the last century, and 

 we have a tradition amongst us, that an ances- 

 tor of this family', when a young nnivorsify 

 blood, in company with two jovial companions, 

 made too free with a gentleman's purse on the 

 road. Soon after Popham repented, and his 

 Companions thought nothing less than a discov- 

 ery would follow, which in order to prevent 

 they led him into a wood, fastened his hands 

 behind him, fixed one end of a halter round his 

 neck, the other end to a limb of a tree, and in 

 this situation left him seated upon his horse. 

 Popham was under dreadful apprehensions ol 

 his approaching late, and so much the more as 

 the grass grew short on which the horse had 

 for a time quietly fed ; but he now began to 

 Stretch the rope by extending his circuit, and 

 Popham, who had been humoring him with a 

 jockey whistle, began to cry out in great agony 

 of soul, llo '. Ball : Ho Ball ! but at the very 

 instant he was about to swing olT, he was re- 

 lieved by one of his companions, who had di- 

 vided from the other and had returned back 

 for that purpose. It happened that in a series 

 of years Popham became a judge, before whom 

 his companion who had saved his life was con- 

 victed for a capital offence, and being asked 

 why judgment of death should not pass, he mim- 

 icked the judge's former tone of voice, and cried 

 out Ho ! Ball ! Ho Bait ! The judge, who now 

 recollected his face, told the Court that the 

 prisoner appeared to be insane, and that he 

 would respite sentence till next assizes, before 

 which he found means to get the culprit par- 

 doned and provided for. 



•fidvaniagcs of an Empti/ Purse. — People may 

 laljj as they please about independence. Your 

 opiy real independent man is he of the empty 

 purse. What is the rise or fall of stocks to 

 him? What cares he for commercial failures ? 

 What for high or low prices ? What for ta.va- 

 lio.n or national debt? What for commotions, 

 revolutions, the decline and fall of empires ? 

 JN^othiog. lie smiles at the robber by night and 

 the tax gatherer by day, and regards the ex- 

 ciseman and pickpocket with equal indifference. 

 He is your free philosopher, worthy of the eye 

 of Jove — one, who stands 



" Uiiiljurt anyd the war of elejne.nt j, 

 IJieyreek afinalte^'and tl?e crush of worlds.'.' 



The following curious passage occurs in 

 Capt Franklin's Journey to the Polar Sea. 

 The Quarterly Reviewer says that he " recol- 

 lects a case stated by Humboldt, in South Amer^ 

 ica, perfectly well authenticated, and almost 

 precisely similar to it." 



" A young Chipewyan, had separated from 

 the rest of his band for the purpose of trenching 

 heaver, when his wife, who was his sole com- 

 |)anion, and in her first pregnancy, was seized 

 with pains of labor. She died on the third day 

 after she had given birth to a boy. The hus- 

 band was inconsolable, and vowed in his anguish 

 never to take another woman to wile, but his 

 grief was soon in some degree absorbed in anx- 

 iety lor the fate of his infant son. To preserve 

 its life he d(.'scended to the office of nurse, so 

 degrading in the eyes of a Chipewyan, as par-" 

 taking of the duties of a woman. He swaddled 

 it in soft moss, fed it with broth from the flesh 

 of the deer, and to still its cries applied it to 

 his breast, praying earnestly to the great Master 

 of life to assist his endeavours. The force of 

 the powerful passion by which he was actuated, 

 produced the same effect in his case, as it has 

 done in some others which are recorded, a flow 

 of milk actually took place from his breast. 

 Me succeeded in rearing his child, taught him 

 to be a hunter, and when he attained manhood, 

 chose him a wife from the tribe. The old man 

 kept his vow in never taking a second wife him- 

 self, but he delighted in lending his son's child- 

 ren, and when his daughter-in-law used to inter- 

 fere, saying that it was not the occupation of a 

 man, he was wont to reply, that he had promis- 

 ed to the great Master of life, if his child was 

 spared never to be proud, like the other Indians. 

 He used to mention too, as a certain proof of 

 ihe approbation of Providence, that although he 

 was always obliged to carry his child on his 

 back while hunting, yet that it never roused a 

 moose by its cries, being always particularly 

 still at those times. Our informant added that 

 he had often seen this Indian in his old age, and 

 that his left breast, even then, retained Ihe un- 

 usual size it had acquired in his occupation of 

 nurse." 



From a Manchester (F.ng.-) paper of May 6. 



On Thursday last, Mr. Francis Wooton, the 

 person who has contracted to remove the ball 

 and cross of St. Mary's spire, by means of ladders 

 only, arrived in this town, accompanied by his 

 son and an assistant, in order to take advantage 

 of the first favorable weather to carry his won- 

 derful project into effect. 



After making the necessary preparations he 

 commenced the erection of his chain of ladders 

 against the spire on Friday morning, and bel'ore 

 the close of that day he had succeeded in reach- 

 ing within a few yards of the ball, in a manner 

 the expedition and ingenuit}' of which were in 

 llie highest degree admirable. The method by 

 which he contrived to erect ladder upon ladder, 

 in a way sufficiently secure, was as follows :— 

 .\fler having placed one of the longest against 

 the base of the spire, he fastened the top of it 

 to the masonry by new clamps ; then by means 

 ol'a block and pulleys, attached to the upper 

 pari of this ladder. Ills assistants below were 

 enabled to raise another one, whilst Mr. Wooton 

 followed and guided it in the proper direction : 

 thus making it appear to the spectators below 

 us if he were pushing the ladder before him, 



'lA 



witii the mere force of his arms. Wh 

 ladder was elevated to the requisite height, hi 

 proceeded, by means of cords, to secure th( 

 bottom part of it firmly to the lop part of tl) 

 lower one, and then ascended the one last rai 

 ed, and fastened the end of it also by means 

 clamps — thus proceeded, by alternately rem 

 ing the pulleys, a ladder higher each time. 

 he ascended, and his situation became con 

 quently more perilous, the anxiety evinced 

 the crowds of spectators collected below beca 

 intense, being careful to avoid makin 

 noise for fear the sound should distract his attel 

 tion, and endanger him to be precipitated he 

 long. 



On Saturday morning, we arrived in 

 church-yard as Mr. W. was raising the last li 

 der, by far the most perilous of the whole, 

 had an opportunity of surveying him throng 

 powerful telescope, and to see the composuti 

 and confidence he proceeded with his \\ 

 when the least slip would have hurled hir 

 destruction, was truly astonishing. When 

 had fastened the bottom of this ladder, wh; 

 was placed against the ball in a nearly perpel 

 dicular direction, he had to ascend it lliougl 

 unfastened at the top; and in this dangeroj 

 situation he contrived to throw a rope tvv 

 round the spire, and succeeded at last in 

 ing il perfectly secure ; after which he moiii 

 ed to the top, stood on the very pinnacle of il 

 spire, and pulling off his hat, gave three cheej 

 which were heartily echoed from the cro 

 below, who had for a long time been loo 

 up with breathless astonishment and fear 

 his descent, he was again hailed by the ch 

 and congratulations of the bystanders. Du 

 the remainder of that day he was not abli 

 proceed much farther in his undertakins 

 consequence of the wind being too high to 

 der it practicable. By means of a hook fasti 

 ed to his belt, he was enabled to attach hinti 

 to the ladder when at work, but this not b^ 

 visible to the spectators, his situation at ti 

 seemed hazardous in the extreme, when bi 

 his hands were engaged, and there appeared- 

 other slay between him and destruction tHli 

 the uncertain footing of the ladder. 



Of the undertaker and his project we 

 scarcely speak in terms loo high ; and we 

 lieve it equals, if not exceeds, any thing i 

 records of human daring and enterprise, 

 the time of our paper going to press, the 

 ther had continued too unfavorable to rcni 

 further proceeding in the nudertaking, upll 

 that period, practicable. 



- i 



Counsellor Lamb, an old man, when the pill 

 cut Lord Erskine was in the heighlh of repal 

 tion, was a man of limid manners, and nervl 

 disposition, and usually prefaced hispleadinc' 

 wiih an apology to that effect, and on one occ; 

 sion, when op|<osed in some cause to Erskine,h 

 happened to remark ihat '' he felt himself grO» 

 ing more and more timid as be grew older 

 " No wonder," replied Ihe witty but relenlle: 

 barrister, "..every one knows Ihe older a Im 

 grows Ihe more shecjjuh he becomes." 



TERMS OF THE FAUMER. 

 Q:^ Published every Saturday, at Three Dol 

 per annum, payable at Hie end of the year — but! 

 who pay within sixly days from the time of subscrS 

 will be entitled to a deduction of FifT* CfiJiTS. 



