416 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



SONNET. 

 I dreamed — I saw a little rosy child, 



With flaxen ringlets, in a garden playing ; 



Now stooping here, and then afar off straying, 

 As flower or butterfly his feet btgiiiPd. 



'Twas chang'd ; one summer's day I stepp'd aside, 

 To let him pass ; his face had manhood's seeming, 

 And that full eye of blue was fondly beaming 



On a fair maiden, whom he call'd " his bride P' 



Once more ; 'twas evening, and the cheerful fire 

 I saw a group of youthful forms surrounding, 

 The room with harmless pleasantry resounding ; 



And ID the midst I marked the smiling Sire. — 



The heavens were clouded I — and I heard the tone 

 Of a blow moving bell — the white hair'd man was gone I 



BERNARD BARTON, 



Alias the Quaker Poet, with whose charming 

 productions our columns have been freinicnt- 

 ly enriched, is not one who mcclianicaily strinsjs 

 verses togctiicr, but a writer of genuine poetry. 

 And hoivevcr paraiioxical it may appear to those 

 who can relish nothing but what savors of titled 

 rank, it is nevertiieless true that Barton lias pre- 

 sented the literary world with some getns from 

 Parnassus which sparkle with a brilliancy not 

 often surpassed. In speakins; of the poets of 

 the present day, in " A Sketch of Old England, 

 by a New England Man,"' the author of that 

 most excellent work, which ought to be read 

 by every American, says — 



"(There is one modest bard here, that de- 

 serves to be mentioned as a noveltv. I mean the 

 Quaker, Bernard Barton, who has been moved 

 lately by the spirit of poetry. As might be ex- 

 pected, he writes with sweetness, simplicity 

 and good sense ; the two latter very rare com- 

 modities at present in poetry, vrhen the bards of 

 England go abroad to write, and bring home all 

 the fervid heats of a tropical sun, backed by the 

 scorching sirocco of the desert, to excite us in- 

 to a proper degree of poetical enthusiasm, — 

 Friend Bernard's poetry is tender without ex-- 

 aggeration, and simple without childishness. 

 His Pegasus is neither an elephant, a camel, 

 nor a dromedary, but a horse of good prxe and 

 habits. In a better age of poetry he would be 

 more admired. As it is, his .^lusc wants a feiv 

 of the buttons of the honourable l>and of gen- 

 tlemen pensioners to make her shine, and is, 

 moreover, ralher drab-colurcd for the present 

 6usby taste." 



PUNCTUALITY. 

 President Washington was the most punctual 

 man in the observance of appointments, ever 

 known to the writer, lie delivered his commu- 

 nications to Congress, at the opening of each 

 session, in person, lie always a])pointed the 

 hour of twelve ;it noon for this purpose : and he 

 never failed to enter the hall ot (.'ongress whila. 

 the State-house clock was striking llie hour. 

 llis invitations- to dinner were ahvavs given ihr 

 four o'clock, i'. M. He allowed IJve minutes 

 for the variation of time-pieces ; and he waited 

 no longer for any one. Certain lagginsf mem- 

 bers of Congress sometimes come in when din- 

 ner was nearly half over. The writer has heanl 

 the President say to them, with a smile, "Clen- 

 tlemen, we are too punctual for yon — 1 have a 

 cook who never asks whether the company has 

 Gome, liut whether the hour has come."' 



From the N. York Medical and Physical Journal. 



PIGEONS. 



Extract from " Remarks on the Columba Migra- 



toria, or Passenger Pigeon,'''' by the Hon. De 



Witt Clinton. 



The Columba Migratoria, or Passenger Pi- 

 geon, is a bird peculiar to North America. It 

 extends its migrations from Hudson's bay to the 

 gulf of IMexico. and it occupies occasionally that 

 vast region which reaches from the gulf of St. 

 Lawrence to the Rocky Mountains. Its change 

 of residence is not owing to the influence of 

 heat or cold, of rain or drought, but is made 

 with a view to the acquisition of lood. The 

 vast flocks in which this bird congregates, are 

 unequalled as to extent. La Hontan says that 

 the bishop of Canada has been forced to exor- 

 cise them oftener than once, on account of the 

 damage they do to the products of the earth. — 

 Weld, an English traveller, speaks of a flock 

 eighty miles long, flying over lake Ontario ; 

 and Wilson, the great ornithologist, estimates 

 one seen in Kentucky 2 10 miles long, a mile 

 broad, and containing 2,2.30,272,000 pigeons, 

 which would consume on a moderate allowance 

 17,121,000 bushels of mast, [beech nuts and 

 acorns] a day. 



The gregarious habits and vast flocks of this 

 bird will of course occasion a correspondent 

 consumption of food ; and it is therefore com- 

 pelled to be constantly erratic, and to he among 

 the feathered race what the nomades [wander- 

 ing shepherds] are among mankind. The rapi- 

 dity of its flight is superior to that of the carrier 

 pigeon, which has been known to pass from St. 

 Edmundsbury to London in two hours and a halt". 

 At this rate, the Passenger Pigeon can travel 

 seven hundred miles in twenty-four hours ; and 

 at the rate of a mile a minute, the same distance 

 in less than twelve hours ; — and this velocity 

 may account for undigested rice being found in 

 its craw six hundred miles from the rice fields : 

 but as this has been observed in the spring of 

 the year, it must have been derived in that case 

 from the gleanings of a former season, or pro- 

 cured at a greater distance, or confounded with 

 the zizania aquatica of the western waters. — 

 The favorite ibod of this bird is the beech nut, 

 and it preiers to establish its roosting quarters 

 and its breeding place within the reach of this 

 aliment. It also subsists on the acorn, chesnut, 

 wild cherry, seeds of the red maple, and of 

 some weeds, poke, and other kinds of berry, 

 buckwheat, and the principal cerealia [grain.] 

 It resorts to the sea-shore and the salines of the 

 west for salt, and it is frequently seen at the 

 mineral springs of Saratoga enjoying the luxury 

 of the waters. 



MISAPPLICATION. 



The following very good advice is extracted 

 from Cicero's celebrated treatise De Officiis. 



Two faults are to be avoided in the truly 

 honorable and natural investigation of knowl- 

 edge and science. The first is, that we sliould 

 not take hypothesis for facts, and inconsiderate- 

 ly give them our assent. The other is, that 

 many bestow too great labor on points obscure 

 and (lifhcull, and at the same time unnecessary. 

 Which faults avoided, whatever diligence and 

 care may be bestowed on subjects honorable 

 and worth acquiring, will meet with just com- 

 mendation. 



RUINS OF BALBEC. 

 Dr. Richardson, who visited the ruins of the 

 magnificent temple at Balbec, in Syria, in his 

 late travels, is of opinion that this was first built 

 by Solomon, and rebuilt by the Romans. The 

 workmanship of the bottom stones is similar to 

 that of some that were cut at Jerusalem in the 

 time of ihat king. In the walls of this temple 

 are some of the heaviest stones that were ever 

 moved by human hands nr human machiner}'. — . 

 Dr. R. measured one stone which was G7 feet 

 long, 11 broad, and l' feet thick; two others 

 were nearly of the same dimensions, and the 

 three were placed more than 20 feet above 

 the t'oundation. In no other building on earth 

 can such ponderous masses be loiind. This 

 tem[de has been a place both of pagan and 

 christian worship. The ruins are about 40 

 miles north of Damascus. 



" I think there are two periods in the life of 

 man in which the evening hour is peculiarly in- 

 teresting — in youth and in old age. In youth 

 we love it for its mellow moonlight, its million 

 stars, its then rich and soothing shades, its still 

 serenity; amid these we can commune with our 

 loves, or twine the wreaths of friendship, while 

 there is none to bear us witness but the heavens 

 and the spirits that hold their endless sabbaths 

 there — or look into the deep bosom of creation, 

 spread abroad like a canopy above us, and look 

 and listen till we can almost see and hear the 

 waving wings and melting songs of other be- 

 ings in other worlds — to youth the evening is 

 delightful, it accords with the flow of his light 

 spirits, the fervor of his fancy, and the softness 

 of his heart. Evening is also the delight to 

 virtuous age — it aS"or(ls hours of undisturbed 

 contemplation — it seems an emblem of the calm 

 and tranquil close of busy life — serene, placid, 

 and mild, with the impress of its great Creator 

 stamped upon it; it spreads its quiet wings over 

 the grave, and seems to promise that all shall 

 be peace beyond it."' 



USEFUL INVENTION. 

 M. Farkas de Farkasalva, in Hungary, has in- 

 vented a machine by which a person may plunge 

 to the bottom of the sea, walk at the bottom, 

 work with hands and feet, ascend easily to the 

 surface, or stop in the middle, without any help; 

 and in this manner remain several days under 

 water, without intermission and without elTort. 

 It costs about £i)0, and only emfiloys two men. 



A GUN DI.SCHARGED. 

 We remember to have heard a good story 

 relating to one Alexander Gun, who belonged 

 to the Customs at Edinburg, and was dismissed 

 tor improper conduct. The entry opposite his 

 name in the books stood thus: '-A Gun discharg- 

 ed for making- a false report." 



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