194 Old and New Homes. 



take their places. There was less butter to be made, but it was churned 

 with more difficulty ; and the sewing was all to be done by hand, enough to 

 last the family for a year. 



Oh ! those were toilsome days ; yet now I look back to them with a few 

 feelings of tender regret. It was then that my air-castles were reared, as 

 I sat wearily at my needle, plodding towards the conclusion of some long 

 task, which, when ended, would only be followed by another equally unin- 

 teresting. It was then I pictured to myself some quiet, less toilsome mode 

 of life, both for myself and parents, in which our labor would be better 

 compensated. Nay, more than that : I even dreamed of some far-future 

 day, when, after some intervening years of industry and frugal management, 

 we might cease from toil, and live on the income of our savings. These 

 were my castles, upon whose building I expended so many happy thoughts : 

 whether they were ever to be realized, or would vanish into thin air like 

 many other visionary schemes, remained to be seen. Yet I kept the notion 

 in my heart, and to me my castles were very real and practical things. 



My father was a man of considerable intelligence, and fond of reading. 

 It had long been customary among the farmers around us to subscribe for 

 sundry agricultural papers ; and he, like his neighbors, took his favorite 

 weekly journal, in which were sure to be discussed the comparative merits 

 of this or that mode of ploughing or planting, or breeding stock. A sys- 

 tem of exchange brought many of these different agricultural publications 

 into our house, and many a hint was thus gained which afterwards proved 

 useful. There were various theories just starting into vogue, and some 

 practical experiences given, whose timely warnings were calculated to pre- 

 vent the waste of at least a season or two in needless or unprofitable labor. 

 Farming was evidently becoming a science, not a mere drudgeiy of plough- 

 ing, planting, and reaping. Men's minds were being diverted somewhat 

 from the whirlpool of mercantile affairs to the more certain and less fluc- 

 tuating business of tilling the soil. Thousands were leaving the crowded 

 streets of the cities, the turmoils and discouragements of the money-marts 

 and the stock-exchange, where, in these times, fortunes were made and lost 

 in a single day. These were the days of scarcity of dwellings, and of high 

 rents. One might well wish to escape from the caprice of landlords to 

 repose beneath the cool shade of his own grape-vine, whose fruit would be 



