68 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Feb. 



find, and see what a magic power it possesses ! 

 Keep a winrow of it in the cellar in front of the 

 place where the droppings from the stall accumu- 

 late, and each day cover them so as to add as 

 much again muck as there is of the droppings, 

 and the whole mass shall be of as much value as 

 the same number of loads of pure droppings, left 



"To waste its sweetness on the desert air." 



No man in this State was better qualified, we 

 think, to pronounce an opinion upon this subject, 

 than the late Mr. Phinney, of Lexington ; no 

 other person, probably, had used so much muck, 

 or made so many careful experiments with it upon 

 almost all kinds of crops. AY e have often heard him 

 say that three loads of compost prepared as we 

 have described above, was fully equal to three 

 loads of the unmixed manure. 



resort, and his time spent (if there is nothing else 

 called for,) in reading interesting books to his 

 wife and children. 



There is much more which might properly be 

 said, but I trust " a word to the wise is suffi- 

 cient." A. Todd. 



Smithficld, R. I., 12th mo., 1853. 



For the New England Farmer. 



THE WAY TO MAKE A WIFE CHEER- 

 FUL. 



I am aware that many husbands feel inwardly 

 to complain because their wives do not always 

 wear cheerful countenances. Now I would say 

 to such that the fault is not in the wife, but in 

 the husband generally. So far as my observations 

 will prove, in nine cases out of ten, the husband 

 is in the fault when things do not go right in- 

 doors. I am well convinced that there are those 

 who have been husbands for years, who do not 

 know, or rather who do not seem to know, what 

 belongs to them as husbands. And for those of 

 this class I desire to impart a little information, 

 hoping that they and their wives may be bene- 

 fited thereljy ; for I deem it indispensable to the 

 happiness of a family to have the wife cheerful in 

 and around the house-fire-side. * 



Now it is well known that many husbands will 

 lie in bed in the morning, and allow their wives 

 to get up and build the fires. In my opinion this 

 does not belong to her to do, (unless her husband 

 is indisposed.) It comes under the head of the 

 husband's duties to build the fires, draw the wa- 

 ter, and put on the tea-kettle ; and further, when 

 there are children, he should assist in dressing 

 them ; for there is nothing that will put a smile 

 on the face of the wife like having a "good start" 

 in the morning. And at all times during the 

 day (whenever he is in the house) , the husband 

 should interest himself in the care and manage- 

 ment of the children. Anotlier thing will add 

 greatly to the cheerfulness of the \rife, and that 

 is, always enter the house with clean feet. Tracks 

 of muddy boots on a clean floor are very apt to 

 put an unpleasant look on the fiice of a tidy wife ; 

 and well it may, for there is no need of a husl>and 

 being so slovenly. No husband need be in so 

 much of a hurry, or so negligent, but that he can 

 clean his feet on the door scraper. Can not every 

 husl^and see that a little neatness on his part 

 eaves labor to the wife 1 One thing more I will 

 mention, which in my opinion tends very much 

 to the ol)ject in question ; and that is, for the 

 husband to spend as much time with his family 

 as possible, certiiinly his leisure hours. His 

 house should be made the place of his evening's 



THE COLD FRIDAY OF 1810. 



The 19th of Jan., 1810, was a day the intense 

 coldness of which will be long remembered by those 

 who experienced its rigor. Those who were not 

 out of doors, but had reached an age rendering 

 them capable of retaining impressions then received, 

 have doubtless a recollection of occurrences taking 

 place around them. The evening previous was as 

 mild as those we have been favored with in such 

 numbers this winter ; but in the night the wind 

 changed, the wind suddenly became cold, and the 

 mercury in less than 16 hours descended to 13 de- 

 grees below zero. A boisterous wind prevailed, by 

 which trees, and in some cases houses, were blown 

 down, and the day became memorable in New 

 England as "The Cold Friday. ' ' Here in Concord, 

 so near as recollection serves, there was very little 

 going ft-om place to place. Farmers piled on the 

 wood and attended to their cattle, and that was 

 about all for the day. In this village, such as 

 went to the neighbors or to a store, upon errands 

 which could not be deferred, sped over the ground 

 like squirrels, and were fortunate if they returned 

 with no flesh frozen by the intensity of the frost. 

 From vol. v. of the New Hampshire Historical 

 Society's Collections, the following account is 

 taken of an occurrence on that day in the town of 

 Sanbornton : 



'On Friday morning, the 19th of January, Mr. 

 Jeremiah Ellsworth, of Sanbornton, finding the 

 cold very severe, rose about an hour l:)efore sun- 

 rise. It was but a short time before some part of 

 his house was burst in by the wind. Being ap- 

 prehensive that the whole house would s(3on be de- 

 molished, and that the lives of the family were in 

 great jeopardy, ]Mrs. Ellsworth, with her youngest 

 child, whom she had dressed, went into tlie cellar, 

 leaving the other two children in bed. Her hus- 

 band undertook to go to the nearest neighbor, 

 which was in a north dii'ection, for assistance, but 

 the wind was so strong against him that he found 

 it impracticable. He then set out for Mr. David 

 Brown's, the nearest house in another direction, 

 at the distance of a quarter of a mile. He reached 

 there about sunrise, his feet being considerably 

 frozen, and ho was so overcome with the cold, that 

 both he and Mr. Brown thought it too hazardous 

 for him to return. But Mr. Brown went with 

 his horse and sleigh with all possible speed to save 

 the woman and her children from impending de- 

 struction. 



"When he arrived at the house, he found Mrs. 

 Ellsworth and one child in the cellar, and the 

 other children in ])ed, their clothes having been 

 blown away by the wind, so that they could not 

 be dressed. Mr. Brown put a bed into the sleigh, 

 and placed the three children upon it, and covered 

 them with the bedclothes. Mrs. E. also got into 

 the sleigh. They had proceeded only six or eight 

 rods beibre the sleigh was blown over, and the 

 cliildren, bed and covering, were scattered by the 

 wind. Mrs. Ellsworth held the horse, while Mr. 



