192 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



FOR THE NEW ENGLAXD FARMER. 



Tht Pig and the Connoisseurs ; or A'alure out-acted. 

 »4n Apologut for Criticks. 



[Altered from Smart, a British Poet.] 

 A wealthy cit, the other day, 

 Having a notion for display, 

 Built him a large, commodious stajf 

 To show the mirror of the age, 

 Inviited all of Thespian fame 

 All critics too of any name. 

 The chiefs and followers of the ton 

 For actors, or for lookers-on. 

 To this assemblage with the rest 

 There came a genius who professM 

 To have a curious trick in store 

 To set an audience in a roar. 

 Throughout the city this got air, 

 And every body came to stare. 

 The actor soon his entry made 

 With neither prompter nor parade ; 

 'Twas all attention, all suspense, 

 And silence gagg'd the audience, 

 lie hid his head behind his wig, 

 And with such truth took off a pig. 

 All swore 'twas serious and no joke, 

 And doubtless underneath his cloak 

 — The man had hid a grunting elf, 

 Or was a real hog himself. 

 A search was made, no pig was found. 

 With thundering claps the walls resound — 

 Box, pit and galleries jointly roar, 

 " O rare .' brave ! encore ! encore I" 

 Old Roger Grouse, a country clown, 

 Who yet knew something of the town, 

 And like some other countrymen 

 Would have his notions now and then, 

 Thought it not fair that our metropolis 

 tiuch genuine humor should monopolize — 

 Beheld the mimic, and his whim. 

 And on the morrow challeng'd him, 

 Declar'd 'twas true, as scale of Gunter, 

 He could out-grunt the famous grunter. 

 The trial came, but each spectator 

 Was prejudic'd, and rank ill nature 

 Usurp'd the minds of men and wenches. 

 All came to hiss, and break the benclies. 

 The mimic took his usual station. 

 And squeak'd to gentral approbation. 

 Again " encore I encore 1" tin y cry, 

 " This beats the Old Nick, high and drj-."' 

 Hut Hodge conceai'd, amid the racket, 

 A real pig beneath his jacket — 

 Then forth he came, and with his nail 

 I'inch'd the poor noisy urchin's tail, 

 'i'he tortur'd pig, from vocal throat 

 Four'd forth the natural swinish note ; 

 I'it, box and gallery bawl'd " egad, 

 '■• Sure never stuff was half so bad, 

 " Was never actor made a greater 

 " Departure from the line of nature — 

 " That like a pig?" each cried in scoff, 

 " Pshaw! nonsense! bockhead ! off! off! off!'' 

 The mimic was extol I'd, but Grouse 

 Was liiss'd and hustled from the house. 

 " Hearken — one word before 1 go," 

 Cried honest Grouse, and stooping low 

 Troduc'd the pig, and thus aloud 

 Address'd the stupid, partial crowd : 

 " Behold and learn from this poor creature, 

 " How much you critics know of nature ; 

 " Fools will be fools in spite of art, 

 '• While nalurt acts a natural part," 



From Silliman's Journal of Science. 



LEGHORN HATS. 



On the Material and Manufacture of the Italian 



Bonnets, and the Habits and State of Societi/ of 



the Manufacturers. 



Chateauvieux, in his ag^reeable and instruc- 

 tive loiters, written from Italy, to Pictet, in 1812 

 and 1813, describes tlie persons who manufac- 

 ture the Tiifcan bonnets, and their state of so- 

 ciety. In his sixth letter, which is dated at 

 Florence, are the following observations : 



" The road I travelled, was bordered on both 

 sides with village houses, whose distance from 

 each other did not exceed one hundred paces. 

 They are all built of brick ; and the architect 

 has bestowed upon them a justness of propor- 

 tion, and an elegance of form, unknown in our 

 climates. They consist of a single pavilion, 

 that has often but one door and two windows in 

 front. These houses are always situated along 

 the road, and separated from it by a terrace and 

 supporting wall, some feet in breadth. Upon 

 this wall usually stand several vases of the an- 

 tique shape, containing aloe plants, flowers and 

 young orange trees. The house itself is entire- 

 ly covered with vine branches ; so that, during 

 summer, one knows not whether they are so ma- 

 ny pavilions of verdure, or dwellings prepared 

 for winter. 



" hi the front of these houses, swarms of 

 young country girls are seen, dressed in white 

 linen, with corsets of silk, and straw hats, 

 adorned with flowers, inclining to one side of 

 the head. They are constantly occupied: in 

 braiding the fine plait, the treasures of this val- 

 ley, from which the straw hats of Florence are 

 made. 



" This branch of industry has becoQie the 

 source of the prosperity of the valley of the Ar- 

 no. It produces, yearly, three millions of livres ; 

 which are distributed exclusively among the 

 women ; for the men never engage in this occu 

 pation. Each young girl buys for a few pence 

 the straw she wants : she then exerts her skill 

 to braid it as fine as possible ; and she herself 

 sells, and for her own profit, the hats she has 

 ■prepared. The money she thus earns consti 

 tutes her portion. The father of the family has 

 nevertheless the right to require of the women 

 belonging to his house, a certain amount of rus- 

 tic labor on the farm He receives this labor 

 from the females of the mount;uns (the Appe- 

 nines,) whom the girls of the plains pay, out of 

 the produce of their hats, for performing the 

 task in their stead. One of them can earn from 

 thirty to forty sous a day in braiding her straw, 

 while she cap hire a poor Appenine woman to 

 do her field labor for eight or ten ; and they se- 

 cure, by this commutation of service, the delica- 

 cy and flexibility of their fingers necessary for 

 their nice and fine work, and which would be 

 spoiled by such exercises as harden and stifleu 

 the hands. 



" Such, Sir, are the female peasants of the 

 vale of the Arno ; whose grace and beauty are 

 so celebrated by travellers ; whose language, 

 Allieri went there to study ; and who seem, in 

 tiict, born to embellish the arts, and lo furnish 

 them models. They are shepherdesses of Ar- 

 cadia, but they are not peasants — they possess 

 only the health and freedom from care of that 

 state, and never know its anxieties, its suu-burii- 

 ings, and its laligues. 



" I have been informed, that a crop of ti 

 acres is sufficient for all the straw of the h'<f 

 manufacture of Tuscany. This straw is 

 product of a headless wheat, harvested bei 

 it is quite ripe, and whose vegetation is w. 

 tened by the sterility of the soil. This .H-* 

 is selected among the calcareous hills; it. 

 never manured, and the seed is sown V( 

 thick. These habitations, so near to each otl 

 show of themselves that the domains to wh,' 

 they belong are very limited, and that prope 

 is remarkably subdivided in these valleys, 

 fact, the extent of these little plantationsis oi'| 

 from three to ten acres. They lie around t:j 

 dwelling, and separated into lots by small can| 

 and rows of trees. These trees are sometind 

 mulberries, almost always poplars, whose leaijj 

 serve to feed their animals. Each of them si 

 tains a vine, whose branches the cultivator 

 twines in a thousand directions. 



" These lots laid out in long squares, are ti ■ 

 tensive enough to be cultivated by a ploui ' 

 without wheels drawn by two oxen. The' 

 Is one pair of these creatures among ten o ■■ 

 dozen of these tenants; and they are emploji * 

 in succession, for working all the farms in '' ' 

 connexion. These oxen came from the sta ■' 

 of Rome and Marerames ; they are of the H ■' 

 garian breed, and are exceedingly well ke ■ 

 being covered with white clothes, decora 

 with a great deal of embroidery, and with sc 

 let tassels. i 



" Most of these land laborers keep a horse' 

 a fine and elegant form. He is harnessed t 

 small two wheeled cart, neatly constructed, i 

 painted red. It serves for all the purposes 

 transportation on the farm, and more especii 

 to convey the good man's daughters to the a 

 and the bail. Accordingly, on holidays, 

 roads are filled with hundreds of these li 

 carts, moving in all directions, and carrying 

 young girls, adorned with flowers and ribbai | 



"The farms of the valley of the Arno h; T 

 not forage enough to support cows : the ci 

 vators, therefore, feed heifers only. Th 

 they buy at the age of three months, and k( 

 them until eighteen, when they are sold to 

 butcher, and young ones bought in their plac 

 It is frem the pastures of Maremmes that : 

 drovers bring the heifers to the fair in the ^ 

 ley of Arno. 



" You will comprehend the motive for t 

 practice, when I shall have explained to you I 

 feeding systems adopted in these valleys. Th( 

 is no natural meadow. The leaves of the tre 

 the trash of the legumes, and a little clov 

 are the only feed tor the animals. In this co< 

 try, every thing is reserved for men, wh< 

 numbers have angmented beyond measure, i 

 der the most ancient civilization, &c. &,c. 



The plant it will be remembered, of wlii 

 the finest Leghorn bonnets are made, is a win 

 — varieties of the summer and winter whi 

 of the Arno. 



Covmsellor Litlienstern, of Frankfort on t' 

 Maine, has published a very singular work,! 

 which he attempts to prove, argumentativt 

 and methodically, that the predictions respC' 

 ing Anti Christ are now on the eve of being: 

 complished. Anli Christ, he asserts, will appe 

 in 1823; his arrival will he succeeded by t 

 years religious wars; after which the Milleni 

 um, as he assures us, will commence ia 1836 ' 



I 



