?"OCTOBEE 



OLD AND NEW HOMES. 



CHAPTER I. 



I HAD always been a cos f/e-huilder, — I, the daughter of a plain farmw, 

 with pretensions very moderate, and experiences, thus far, not particularly 

 interesting, yet not actually wearisome ; accustomed to all the variety of 

 occupation with which a New-England farmer's daughter is supposed to be 

 familiar, — the inevitable, never-ending butter-making ; the constant, daily 

 milking of cows ; the looking after churns, cheese-press, milk-pans, and the 

 like ; the spring work of watching the young poultry ; the summer work 

 of all kinds, with the large family of harvesters to provide for ; and the 

 autumn and winter employments of apple-gathering, cider-making, paring 

 and drying, hog -killing, and sausage - stuffing. This routine generally 

 brought us within sight of the new year. The men of the family then 

 seemed to have a season of leisure, in which they might read, or improve 

 themselves ; and, except the daily feeding and watering of the stock, then 

 had rest from the toils of a farmer's life. 



But not so with the women. If the family was smaller, and if certain 

 of the summer duties were no longer to be performed, there were others to 



