368 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



RURAL SCENES. 

 Now summer comes, with flowers aud verdure crown'd, 

 And hi»U luxuriant grass o'er spreads the ground, 

 The laboring; swain, with crooked scythe is seen, 

 Shaving the surface if the waving green ; 

 Of Flora's mantle he disrobes the land, 

 And strips the meadows with a sweeping hand ; 

 AVhile with the mounting sun the landscape glows, 

 The fading herbage round he loosely throws, 

 To catch the ardor of the scorching rays, 

 \Vhich Sol emits in fierce meridian blaze. 

 But, if some sign portends th' nntimely shower. 

 The rustic prophet sees the threat'ning hour ; 

 His sun-burnt hands the scythe and fork forsake. 

 And spotless nymphs may now embrace — a rake ! 

 In petty mounds the fragrant harvest grows. 

 And spreads along the fields ia ler.gthenM rows. 



Now when the Iieight of heav'n bright Phooebus gains, 



And pours a flood of glory oVr the plains ; 



TVhen patilirig cattle seek the cooling lake. 



And in the sultry pathway basks the snake ; 



O lead me, guard me from the burning hours, 



Hide me, ye forests, in your closest bowers. 



Where oaks majestic, branching arms entwine. 



With beech and birch and evergreens combine, — 



.Spread parasols betwixt the earth and heaven. 



And make at noon an artificial even — 



Where flows the brawling brooks, for poet's themes 



And waving ivies overhang the streams, 



Stretch'd on a mossy couch give me repose, 



Sweet sleep, which sloth or luxury never knows. 



From the Monthly Literary Journal, published at Con- 

 cord, (N. H.) by J. B. Moore. 



INSTANCE OF LONGEVITY. 



Communicated in a letter to one of the Editors b^ John 



M. Hunt, Esq. of Dunstable. 



Respecting old Mr. Lovewell, I have not been 

 able to procure much information relative to 

 his life and character; however, if we may re- 

 ly on tradition, the following succinct account 

 may be considered pretty correct. Zacciieus 

 LovEWF.LL, of Dunstable, who lived to the re- 

 markable age of one hundred and twenty years, 

 was a native of England. He had the honor of 

 serving as an Ensign in the army of Oliver 

 Cromwell, the Protector, and, upon the over- 

 throw of the Commonwealth, and the accession 

 of Charles II. to the throne of his unfortunate 

 father, he left his native country, emigrated to 

 New-England, and settled somewhere in this vi- 

 cinity, in the disturbances which so frequently 

 armed the early settlers of this country against 

 the savages of the wilderness, in which the off- 

 spring of Mr. Lovewell bore such honorable 

 parts and acquired so many laurels, he remained 

 an idle spectator, always maintaining the strict- 

 est neutrality. In his conversations with the 

 Indians, they frequently told him of the many 

 opportunities they had of taking his life, while 

 lying concealed in ambush, but on account of his 

 great friendship for them, together with the 

 circumstance of his having white hair (for which 

 scalps the French government paid no bounty) 

 they never molested him. Not much is known 

 respecting his family, excepting his three sons, 

 who were all distinguished men, and worthy the 

 remembrance of their countrymen. Zaccheus 

 was a colonel, and is mentioned by Dr. Belknap; 

 .lonathan was known as a minister, representa- 

 tive and judge ; and John was the celebrated 

 hero of I'equawkett. 



D:iiistablc, May 23, 1823. 



AUTHENTIC ANECDOTE. 

 Communicated by Dr. Isaac Stearns, of Dunbarton. 

 Capt. Caleb Page and Robert Hogg were 

 among the first inhabitants of Dunbarton, and 

 experienced all the privations, hardships, and 

 fears, attendant on settlers of a new country. — 

 Page removed from Atkinson ; was somewhat 

 above the generality of first settlers as to prop- 

 erty; and withal was a very liberal spirited 

 man, imparting his advice and assistance to his 

 neighbors on many occasions. Hogg came from 

 Ireland; was poor, ignorant of the customs of 

 the country, and of the art of husbandry ; but 

 he had a geod education for that time, and was 

 often employed to instruct the children of his 

 neighbors, by which means he obtained the ap- 

 pellation of master. An anecdote is related of 

 these two men characteristic of the cordiality 

 and friendship that subsisted among the early 

 settlers of our country, and which was not suf- 

 fered to be embittered by the most severe jests. 

 Hog'g, wishing to plant some potatoes, and hav- 

 ing understood that people used manure to in- 

 crease their growth, applied to Capt. Page to 

 know what he must use, as he had no manure. 

 Page told him that rotten hemlock would an- 

 swer every purpose as a substitute. He accor- 

 dingly applied a shovel full to each hill. The 

 heat and dryness of this substance ivas such that 

 it prevented the potatoes from vegetating. Be- 

 ing asked a few weeks after how his potatoes 

 looked, Hogg replied, " They have denied the 

 resurrection, for not one of them has come up." 

 Mr. Hogg, however, soon found out the joke 

 that had been put upon him, and without any 

 ill-will waited for an opportunity to retaliate in 

 his own way. Being sent to by Page for tobac- 

 co plants, he sent him a quantity of young mul- 

 lens, which, when young, bear a great resem- 

 blance to tobacco plants. Page had them very 

 carefully set out, when lo ! instead of tobacco, 

 he raised a fine crop of inutlens. At hBrvest- 

 time, Page ordered his men to fill a cart body 

 full of potatoes and take over to neighbor Hogg ; 

 this was accordingly done. Master Hogg like- 

 wise, sent Page a large roll of home raised to- 

 bacco. — ibid. 



ANIMAL INSTINCT. 



In the " Introduction to Entomology.'' by 

 Kirby &. Spence, vol. ii, p. 502, the following 

 very remarkable instance of the power of dis- 

 covering home, exhibited by an ass, is commu- 

 nicated on the authority of Lieut. Alderman, of 

 the royal engineers, who was personally ac- 

 quainted with the facts. 



"In March, 1816, an ass, the property of 

 Capt. Dundas, of the royal navy, then at Malta, 

 was shipped on board the Ister frigate, Capt. 

 Forl^st, bound from Gibraltar for that island. 

 The vessel having struck on some sands off 

 Point de Gat, at some distance from the shore, 

 the ass was thrown overboard to give it an op- 

 portunity of swimming to land ; a poor one, for, 

 the sea was running so high, that a boat which 

 left llie ship was lost. A few days afterwards, 

 however, when the gates of Gibraltar were 

 opened in the morning, the ass presented him- 

 self for admittance, and proceeded to the stable 

 of Mr. Weeks, a merchant, which he had for- 

 merly occupied, to the no small surprise oi this 

 gentlemen, who imagined that, from some acci- 

 dent, the animal had never been shipped on 

 board the Ister. On the return of this vessel 



I'l', 



to repair, the mastery was explained ; and 

 turned out, that V'aliante (as the ass was called 

 had not only swam safely to shore, but, withou 

 guide, compass, or travelling map, had foun 

 his way from Point de Gat to Gibraltar, a di^T* 

 tance of more than two hundred miles, throug 

 a mountainous and intricate country, intersecte 

 by streams, which he had never traversed be 

 fore, and in so short a period, that he coul 

 not have made one false turn. His not havin; 

 been stopped on the road, was attributed to th 

 circumstance of his having been formerly use 

 to whip criminals upon, which was indicated t 

 the peasants, who have a superstitious horro^, 

 uch asses, by the holes in his ears, to whic „„ 

 the persons tlogged were tied." 



CATERPILLARS. _ 



The following paragraph is from the Woo( '|° 

 stock (Vt.) Observer, of June 10th. 



"• Many of the orchards in this vicinity ar 

 suffering from the visitation of caterpillars 

 These vermin infest the apple, plum, cherrj 

 and other fruit trees, in some instances buildin 

 their nests upon them, and in others assailin 

 them in companies, devouring the leaves an 

 then quitting them. A similar species of won 

 preyed upon the trees on the west side of th 

 mountain last season. There it is said the 

 travelled in a direct line, destroying the o 

 chards that fell in their way. As a prevent; 

 live, it is recommended to put upon the tree 

 circle of tar, which will prevent the ascent i 

 the caterpillar, and preserve the foliage on tre* '*' 

 where the worm is not bred." , 



Bid 

 (Ijl 



Simplicittj and Integrity of the Swiss Mountaineer 

 A peasant name 1 Frantz, came one evenin 

 to look for Gasper who was mowing a meadov 

 and said, " My friend, this is my harvest ; the 

 knowest we have a dispute about this meadon 

 we know not to whom it properly belongs ; 

 decide this question, 1 have collected the judg< 

 at Schwitz; come then tomorrow with me bi 

 fore them." " Thou seest Frantz, that I ha\ 

 mowed the meadovv, I cannot be absent." ".^r 

 1 cannot send away the judges, who have fixt 

 on this day ; indeed we should have known I 

 whom it belonged before it was mown." The pm 

 had some little controversy on the subject ; bi 

 at last Gasper said, " I will tell thee what the 

 shall do. Go tomorrow to Schwitz ; give th 

 judges my reasons and thine ; and I shall sav Itlk 

 the trouble of going myself" On this agre« m 

 ment Frantz went to plead for and against bio ral 

 self, and threw out the reasons on both sides 

 well as he could. When the judges had deci( 

 ed, he went to Caspar : " The meadow is thin 

 — the sentence is in thy favor." 



People the earth with such men, and happ 

 ness will dwell there ! 





Pie' 

 «ie 



orii 



liiii 

 ifli 



THE MILLER AND PAINTER. 

 ' A miller at P — , who lately quitted his mi 

 to keep a public house, sent for a painter t 

 paint him a sign, which he would have the rail 

 '> 1 must have the miller looking out of the wirfis'i 

 dow." " It shall be done," said the painter.- 

 " But as 1 never seem to be idle, you must mak 

 him pop in his head if any one look at him. 

 This also the painter promised, and brougb 

 home the sign. " It is well done, but where i 

 the miller ?" " Oh," says the painter, " h 

 popped in his head when you looked." 



