130 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Maech 



ly darn the heel of their father's stockings, or sew 

 a patch upon his homespun pantaloons. The ex- 

 ample of Mr. Whiton, in offering a premium for 

 patching and darning is worthy of imitation by all 

 our agricultural societies. — Boston Journal. 



GOOD 



For the New England Farmer. 

 MANAGEMENT VS. BAD MAN- 

 AGEMENT. 



The last garment was mended, neatly folded, 

 and placed in the drawer on Saturday afternoon, 

 when Mrs. Lee took her knitting, for there were a 

 few spare moments just now. 



Mr. Lee enters, and is speaking of his new 

 neighbor, Mr. Prentice. 



"Ah! Stranger things have happened, Ellen. 

 Why, don't you remember how, through bad man- 

 agement, Major Simes lost his farm and all his 

 property. Prentice has bought another plow, a 

 subsoil, they call it, that's the third he has bought 

 since he came here. I rather think he will 'im- 

 prove himself out of doors' one of these days, as 

 old Col. Durgin used to say, when people talked 

 to him about improvements on a farm. Why, 

 Ellen, Prentioe spends more for tools in a year, 

 than you and I do for clothes in twice that time ! 



"But, as I said before, I really think he is a fine 

 man and means well ; but you see he has begun 

 at the *big end of the horn,' and if he is not amaz 

 ing careful, he will come out at the 'little end 

 This being 'more nice than wise' on a farm, don't 



pay. That farm will have to be sold again, and if are talking so fast, I cannot 

 wc should have it, why, as I said before, 'twould wise,' Now, boys, out and see if you cannot help 



But we have wandered from our story — and 

 now the sound of merry voices upon the bridge 

 tells us that school is out ; and now the boys come 

 rushing in, and with their voices raised to th? 

 highest pitch, one exclaims — 



"^lother, there is going to be a great thunder 

 shower, wont father's hay all get wet V 



"0, mother, why didnH ftither buy that 'horse 

 raker Mr. Prentice has bought it and is raking 

 now with it ; his black horse goes complete in it — 

 there, hark ! don't you hear it, mother? don't it 

 make a queer noise? Mother, what teas the rea- 

 son father didn't buy it ? I wish he had — George 

 Prentice said father engaged it a week ago, and 

 the man brought it for hira, but he concluded not 

 to have it, this afternoon ; so INIr. Prentice has 

 taken it on trial. I think his old one might have 

 done for him. See, they have finished, and it will 

 be in before the rain comes." 



"Wouldn't I like to see our Nelly harnessed in 

 that rake, making such nice rolls of hay in our 

 smooth field !" 



"Here comes sis, — she is always behind us boys 

 — she has so many last words for the girls, that 

 one would think every Saturday was the last day 

 of school." 



"Yes, but I guess you don't know that father has 

 sold Nell, and got a strange horse ! Look quick, 

 pa is leading him into the stable now." 



"Nell, gone — gone — she was the kindest crea- 

 ture in the world ! 'Tis too bad — I declare it is ! " 



"Children, you have said enough; why, you 

 get a word in edge- 



be no stranger than many things we have known 



"Well, Jerry, I don't know what we should do 

 with it, for don't we have as much as we can do 

 now?" 



"Yes, but if It has to be sold, it's handy to us, 

 and if we have good luck, I mean to show you a 

 'pocket full of rocks,' half-a-dozen years hence, 

 without going to California, either. One must in- 

 vest money somewhere, and I believe land is as 

 safe as any thing." 



Mr. and Mrs. Lee were, in "Yankee parlance," 

 very ^'clever folks.'" At the death of his father, 

 Jerry being an only son, inherited the homestead ; 

 and now, a dozen years from that time, we find 

 him comfortably settled, with four bright-eyed 

 boys, and little Ellen, the much-loved pet of the 

 whole household. 



Was INIr. Lee a stingy, crabbed man ? By no 

 means; was he cross to the children? Ah, no — a 

 kinder father, you nor I don't often see. 



And now, with this farm productive, easily- 

 worked, and everything apparently favorable for 

 success, what is to hinder Mr. Lee from having 

 that "pocket full of rocks," to pay for that farm 

 if it is sold? AVe mean the "Nelson form," that 

 Mr. Prentice bought last spring. 



Mr. Prentice was not "brought up" on a farm,but 

 in the city ; and having acquired a snug little for 

 tune, he chose to buy a small place where he could 

 "sit under his own vine and fig tree ;" and then 

 he never found it easy to banish from his mind the 

 few happy days of his boyhood, which were spent 

 on his grandfather's farm. That dear old man — 

 "peace to his ashes," how kindly he smiled as he 

 patted the curly-headed boy, and said, — 



"If Billy lives, he must have a farm, and not 

 always live with brick and mortar, dust and 

 heat." 



father rake up his hay, for the shower will soon be 

 here." 



And now as the three boys, rake in hand, are 

 scampering for the hay field, let us sit down qui- 

 etly with little Ellen, the pet of the household, 

 and after mother, we mean INIrs. Lee, has closed 

 the windows so that the rain may not come in, she 

 will join us. 



It was a hot day in August, the thermometer 

 at ninety degrees ; but as Mr. Lee remarked in 

 the morning, "a capital hay day." 



"Now, Ellen," said Mr. Lee to his wife, on the 

 Monday previous, "I am going to, (by the way, 

 'I'm going to,' was a very frequent expression of 

 Mr. Lee's, a sort of watchword, that begun and 

 ended many excellent plans,) I am going to get 

 additional help and finish our haying in short me- 

 ter. If we have fine weather, I wont be behind- 

 hand this season. And then I'm tired seeing you 

 work so hard. I suppose Prentice will finish Sat- 

 urday night ; I will be up'with him, and Ellen, I 

 believe I shall buy a horse rake, although I do not 

 think much of new-fangled notions about farming ; 

 yet ril venture to buy this and see how it works ; 

 so if it holds fair by Saturday night, you may ex- 

 pect to see my hay in the barn." 



" Well, it's just my luck, Ellen," exclaimed Mr. 

 Lee, as after changing his wet garments and tak- 

 ing little Ellen upon his knee, he seated himself 

 with the rest of the family in the front room. — 

 "How it pours — it is all for the best, I know, but 

 I can't help thinking, if Prentice had half a dozen 

 tons of hay out just fit for the barn, it would not 

 have rained so. Well, he has been a lucky dog 

 about his hay, this season, if he don't manage so 

 saving as some. Scarcely a load wet any — none 

 to do any injury, and here I've had two-thirds of 



