1853. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



175 



tarian spirit of the age, and oblivion would soon 

 have rolled her waters over them all. But the 

 time so often gives what its necessities require. A 

 historian of a new stamp appears as he is wanted ; 

 not confining himself within the four walls of a li*[ 

 brary, nor satisfied with collating, in new forms, ' 

 the researches of others, he sallies forth to a per-! 

 sonal inspection of every scene of revolutionary in- 

 terest, he searches out the hoary actors that yet 

 remain ; he follows their tottering steps over fields 

 of slaughter; sketches the physical features that 

 were connected with the contest; and as his pen' 

 takes the narration from the trembling lips of these 

 venerable partakers and vdtnesses, and transcribes 

 their mouldy documents, his faithful and ready j 

 pencil transfers their features and figures to the' 

 enduring page. Thus we have fac-similes of the 

 autographs of Washington and Jefferson, of Co-' 

 Iambus and Cotton Mather, of Uncas and Brant,' 

 of Burgoyne and Gates, of Arnold and Andre, and ■ 

 of most of those stern men whose shoulders upheld : 

 the ark of our liberty. Thus, too, their lineaments ' 

 look out from these life-like pages, and even the ■ 

 deep wrinkles that a century had worn ia the 

 cheeks of old John Battin, and the frosts that time ; 

 had sprinkled on his locks, revealed the truthful-] 

 ness of the artist's skill. The I)enignant features 

 of Pocahontas beam with affection, and the coun- 

 tenance of Kosciuseo and Lafayette, of Montgome- 

 ry and Putnam, Stark, Wayne, Mercer, Marion, 

 Sumpter, and a host of others equally worthy of 

 preservation, show the reader what cast of men 

 led our armies to victory in the heroic days of the 

 republic. Accurate maps of battle-fields, the mon- 

 uments that gratitude has erected to the memory 

 of our heroes, the habitations that were the scenes 

 of stirring interest, are here truthfully depicted. 



But for this, all v.-ould soon become vague; im- 

 portant localities, intangible ; indefiniteness Vt^ould 

 conceal our consecrated places, and the roads en- 

 crimsoned by the bleeding feet of our warriors — 

 their long marches and frosty bivouacsr — would in 

 many instances, become indistinct and legondary. 

 Dates and localities are the eyes of history, through 

 which its truths are made manifest and steadfast. 

 As we read these clear and beautiful pages, we 

 feel a sentiment of nationality glow in our veins, 

 and look with honest pride upon those inflexible, 

 upright physiognomies, and with melancholy inter- 

 est upon those quaint old specimens of architec- 

 ture that held the living, and upon those tomb- 

 stones that protect and mark the sleeping-plaoes 

 of the illustrious dead. Our author does not be- 

 lieve that the antiquarian spirit should be devoted 

 only to unfolding the mysterious ciphers that dec- 

 orate the sarcophagus of an Egyptian princess, 

 but he would seize those hieroglyphics of our past 

 — these frail memorials, so swiftly crumbling into 

 dnst, and enshrine them on his ample leaves — the 

 record, the evidence, and the illustration of a great 

 and triumphant struggle. 



Accordingly we see our historic pilgrim travers- 

 ing and re-traversing the broad field of the revolu- 

 tion — touching at every memorable place — in 

 trackless forest — amid mountain ridges — over fruit- 

 ful plains — pursuing the devious windings of rivers 

 — in thronging cities tracing the revolutionary rel- 

 ics, around which the multitude heedlessly tramped 

 —in solitary walks hunting the footprints of our 

 armies— suddenly performing some distant journey 

 to save the impress of a fort or building about to'' 



be defaced by sacriligious hands, following wher- 

 ever the progress of American story Ijeckoned him 

 — till, compassing more than eight thousand miles, 

 and transferring from fading reality to perpetual 

 forms, many hundred cherished scenes and por- 

 traits, he consummates his interesting narrative of 

 more than fourteen hundred large and compact 

 pages, and gives the invalujjjle contribution to the 

 descendants of those Avhose deeds he thus nobly 

 commemorates and preserve-s. 



These volumes are, hereafter, to perform an im 

 portant part in educating the people in tlic details 

 of American history. Certainly no work is so well 

 calculated to lure the minds of the young through 

 the different stages of the great drama of our inde- 

 pendence. Uniting the two attractions of engag- 

 ing narrative and pictorial representation, it inter- 

 ests the reader in a double sense, and will tend, 

 we do not doubt, to imbue the generation now 

 rising to manliness, with a deeper and fuller 

 knowledge than it would else have had, of the la- 

 bors, hardships, dangers and triumphs of the first 

 sons of the republic. 



In the modesty of his preface, tlie autlior regrets 

 that others, more competent, had not gone lorth 

 to this undertaking. But he is the com[>etent man 

 who does the wuik; and surely no one could have 

 accomplished it with greater fidelity, truthfulness 

 or skill, infued more freshness and vivacity into 

 the current of his narrative, or poured out the en- 

 thusiastic devotion of a more thoroughly American 

 heart. It was a task that indifference could not 

 achieve. It required not merely the determination 

 to write a book, but also the promptings of an ar- 

 dent desire, a burning love of country, familiarity 

 with her history, and an irresistible impulse to 

 gather and preserve whatever might be the subject 

 to demolition or decay of all those things that 

 could throw light upon, or that became memora- 

 ble in the progress of this country from depend- 

 ence to freedom. The patriotism that thus sacred- 

 ly collects, guards and perpetuates the proof of 

 American valor, is of the stamp that would perform 

 deeds, themselves worthy of record, when the time 

 requires. — N. Y. Daily Times, 



TREATIS3E5 ON MILCH COWS. 



Some years ago a book on the subject of milch 

 cows afjpeared among us, written by a French- 

 man by the name of Guenon. It was translated, 

 we think, by Mr. Skinner, late editor of the Plow, 

 Loom and Anvil. This book proclaimed a the- 

 ory which was then new to most of us, and 

 to which JMr. Skinner assented. The theory brief- 

 ly is this ; that 



"The hair of the horned cattle, as is well known, 

 grows downwards, only in the milk mirror which 

 begins at the udder, the down-like, delicate, short 

 and lighler-coiorGA. hair grows upwards ; and where 

 the ascending and descending hair meet, they 

 form an elevated s/ripe, a vorlex or whirl. This 

 whirl is the real frame or border of the uiilk-mir- 

 ror, and gives it its shape. This shape is the prin- 

 cipal mark i)f the productiveness of the cow. One 

 shape shows a greater productiveness of milk than 

 another." 



The work has recently been examined and com- 

 piled in a condensed form by John Nefflin, a 



