66 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Feb. 



at five cents a glass ; and at the same time showed 

 hifl machine to the best advantage. 



FARMERS IN PUBLIC PLACES. 



The presa has been burdened of late years 

 with lofturos and sermons and satires, addressed 

 to agriculturists, reprobating the fact that, on 

 public occasions, as cattle shows, &c., when 

 speeches are to be made, they fall into the rear, 

 and speak only by proxy. Facts are as stated. AVe 

 have a word or two to say as to their propriety. 



We remember that Lord ^lansfield is reported 

 to have said that he should be as much ashamed 

 to know statute law as not to know common law. 

 The reason is obvious. Statutes are constantly 

 changing, and not one in a hundred is ever called 

 to the notice of a lawyer. Hence, to study them 

 so as thoroughly to understand them in all their 

 relations, would be time thrown away, and labor 

 without profit. 



It is so, in our opinion, with the entire catalogue 

 of working-men. If any one has the "gift" of 

 public speaking without study, or experience, or 

 science, we know not why he may not show it up. 

 For the sake of the bar and the pulpit, and for 

 their clients' and hearecg' sake, we vdsh this 

 faculty did " come by nature." But we are per- 

 suaded that it is not thus that men become elo- 

 quent, or persuasive, or instructive. Such quali- 

 ties are only the result of much reading, of careful 

 and close study, and no little experience. Hence, 

 if farmers do make speeches, the presumption is, 

 that the result Avill be about as if a lawyer were 

 to undertake some of tlie most difficult and intri- 

 cate of farmers' work, or a clergyman were to 

 undertake to play the mechanic. 



True, we have some lawyers and some doctors, 

 and some men of leisure, who enrol themselves on 

 the list of farmers. Some are educated at college, 

 or other equally useful institutions, so as to make 

 them conversant with languages and with science ; 

 and thus, and thus only, are competent to acquit 

 themselves handsomely in public speaking. 



But not one half the lawyers, nor one half the 

 ministers, nor one half the doctors, can make a 

 good speech at a dinner- table, or at a public an- 

 niversary. Our Benevolent Societies, annually 

 meeting in New York and Boston, are obliged to] 

 use over their old stock, and that, too, several 

 times within our own recollection, and even then 

 fail to sustain the interest with which they first 

 began. This is a matter of notoriety. Under 

 such circumstances, to laugh at farmers for not 

 exposing themselves as volunteer bores, is far from 

 being judicious or in good taste. 



The farmer who toils all day, and at night makes 

 plans for to-morrow, how can ho be expected 

 to liecome a good and acceptable speaker? If he 

 has acquired the art before he becomes a fixrmcr, 

 or the mechanic before ho becomes a working 

 mechanic, it is all well. We wish many, a multi- 

 tude, might thus qualify themselves before they 

 commence these arduous pursuits. 



Besidiis, our farmers arc proverbially modest 

 men. Dilfurent causes conspire to make them so 

 We shoald regret a eliange, and nothing would so 

 thoroughly effect this change as frccjueut public 

 debate. We have known a few absolutely ruined 

 by this very process. They "outgrcAV their shoes." 

 They substantially outgrew their dresses and their 



entire habits, and, like some of old, did nothing 

 but hear or tell some new, and yet some thrice 

 told story. 



We commend these considerations to our agri- 

 cultural friends, and to the press. It is not nec- 

 essary to be a good public speaker in order to be a 

 MAN. At the same time, some of our most fluent 

 "orators" are, and are regarded as, very small 

 men, while those who are always speaking in 

 public are always lauglied at. Of this, the last, 

 we never knew an exception. — Plough, Loom and 

 Anvil. 



THE OLD CORDWAINER. 



One moon-shiny night, Thanksgiving was coming, 



I mounted in haste Uncle Jeremy's marc ; 

 0£f, Dobbin, said I, let your trotters be drumming', 

 Down towards Uncle Lot's, and she soon had me there. 



O, good Uncle Lot, 



I remember the spot, 



And the bench where he sat, 



With his strap o'er his knee ; 



Our shoes were all ready. 



For me, and for Neddy, 



For Dolly, and Betty, 



For Sally, and Hetty; 

 What a faithful old cordwaiuer was he. 



Then there was the stitching so strong and so nice, 



Why, the threads held the leather, as strong as a vicej 

 There was none of your pegging, nor none of your nailing. 

 No fretting, no scolding, no jarring, no railing. 



When shoemaker Lot, 



He worked on the spot, 



Which I've not forgot, 



With his strap o'er his knee ; 



He was honest and fair, 



And exact to a hair, 

 WTiat a useful old cordwainer was he. 



But alas ! now-a-days, how changed is this matter, — 



Now honesty seems to go begging about ; 

 One scarce has a shoe, or a coat, or a garter. 

 That lasts more than three weeks, before 'tis worn out. 



O that some Uncle Lot 



Would again take the spot, 



And the bench where he sat, 



With his strap o'er his knee ; 



And would work at the trade, 



And have shoes faithfully made, 



No cheating, no cozen. 



No rips by the dozen. 

 What a useful old cordwainer he'd be. 



BUFFALOES. 



A member of Gov. Stevens' northern route ex- 

 ploring party, in a long communication to the 

 St. Louis Republican, written from the head of 

 Yellow Stone, relates the following among many 

 other "sights and incidents" of the party thus 

 f\%r:— 



On Sunday, after a march of some ten miles, 

 the buffaloes were reached. They were before 

 and on each side of the train. For miles ahead 

 it seemed one vast drove yard. They were estima- 

 ted by some as high as 500,000— ,200,000 is con- 

 sidered a very low estimate. Drawing up the 

 train at our usual lialt at noon, a large nerd were 

 about half a mile aliead. The hunters, six in 

 number, were immediately dispatched, well 

 mounted on spare horses reserved for that especial 

 purpose, and the whole train had an opportunity 

 of witnessing a buffalo hunt. The hunters dashed 

 in among the herd, picked out the fattest of the 



