2«8 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER 



JAN. 1, 1840. 



MISCELLANEOUS 



From the Chicago American. 



TH,E F A RM ERS CHOICE. 



"A little house well filled, 

 A little wife well willed, 

 A little land well tilled." 



Our ancettors were Ted on bread and broth, 

 And woo'd their healthy wives in home-spun cloih, 

 Our mothers, nurtur'd at the nodding reel, 

 Gave all their daughters lessons on tlie wheel. 

 Though spinning did not much reduce the waist. 

 It made the food much sweeter to the taste. 

 They plied with honest zeal the mop and broom, 

 And drove the shuttle through ihe noisy loom. 

 They never once complained as we do now, 

 *' We have no girl to cook and milk the cow." 

 Each mother taught her red-cheek'd son and daughter 

 To bake, to brew, and draw a pail of water ; 

 No damsel shunn'd the wash-tub, broom, or pail, 

 To keep unsoil'd a long grown finger nail. 

 They sought no gaudy dress, no wdsp-like form. 

 But ate to live, and work'd to keep them warm. 

 No idle youth, no tight-laced, mincing fair, 

 Became a living corpse for want of air ; 

 No fidgets, faintings, fi'.s or frightful blues ; 

 No painful corns from wearing Chinese shoes. 



A HoosiEK. 



ARNOLD'S ESCAPE. 

 A correspondent of the Farmer's Montlily Visit- 

 or gives the following particulars respecting the 

 escape of the infamous traitnr Arnold, which we 

 do not recollect of having before seen ; — 



Mr Ebenezer Chase was a private in the New 

 Hampshire militia, which relieved thp Pennsylva- 

 nia line at West Point in 1780, when those troops, 

 being veteran, were wanted elsewhere, ftir C. 

 with several others, being off duty, was on the 

 shore of the Hudson when Arnold deserted. When 

 Gen. Washington assigned him the command of 

 West Point, he left his own barge in his posses- 

 sion. A temporary hut was erected on llie east 

 shore for the accommodation of the four oarsmen 

 ^who managed the bart^e. On the morning of his 

 pdesertion, Gen. Arnold rode down to the shore, 

 from his head quarters at Robinson's farm, very fast, 

 as was his custom- — threw the reins to his attend- 

 ant, and ordered llit barge to be manned. He then 

 directed his coiirse towards the Point ; but on 

 reaching the middle of the river, the boat was ob- 

 .served to take a course down stream, and move 

 very swiftly through the water. 



The explanation was afterwards made by the 

 boatmen. He hoisted a flag of truce, and told them 

 to pull for the Vulture sloop of war, which lay be- 

 low, saying that he had some business with her 

 captain, and promised if they would row him down 

 to her as soon as possible, to give them a guinea 

 and a gallon of rum each. On nearing the Vulture, 

 and being within range of her guns, Arnold opened 

 his plan, saying, "I have served the ungrateful 

 scoundrels long enough," and declared if they 

 would go with him they should have double pay, 

 and be made sergeants in the British service. Oue 

 of the men replied that "he did not understand 

 fighting on both sides." " Then," said the Gener- 

 al, " you are prisoners." 



When they came along side the sloop of war, 



ArilbJ' 'j'cended the deck, and was received by the 

 mariiRs with presented arms. He then ordered his 

 men t(i come on board as prisoners of war. One of 

 them who had been their spokesman just before, 

 said "it was a shabby trick, as they had toiled to 

 their utmost strength to get the boat along, now to 

 refuse the promised reward, and make tliem prison- 

 ers to boot." The English captain heard their mur- 

 murs, and stepping forward, observed — " Gen. Ar- 

 nold, I command this ship, and while I walk the 

 quarter deck, no such transaction shall take place. 

 I know the meaning of my words, sir, and will 

 meet their comment." Then addressing the men, 

 he continue'd — "My good fellows, I respect your 

 principles and fidelity to your country, although 

 you are enemies to your King. You shall have lib- 

 erty to go or stay as you please. — "Here," taking 

 them from his piirse, " ari; your guineas : steward 

 put up four gallons of rum for these men." The 

 boatmen thanked the gallant and generous sailor, 

 and returned in safety to head quarters to report 

 their proceedings to Gen. Washington, who had 

 just arrived in camp. Arnold, chagrined and en- 

 raged, retired without uttering a word, to the cabin 

 of the sloop of war. 



This statement was made by Mr Chase about a 

 fortnight before his deatli, in 1831. 



Arnold, before his escape, had received informa- 

 tion that "John Anderson." the naine with which 

 he had filled Andre's pass, was taken. The infor- 

 mation was sent him by the unfortunate person 

 liimself. This determined his purpose for sudden 

 flight. He was afterwards distinguished for the in- 

 veteracy with which he carried on his predatory 

 warfare against the property of his fellow country- 

 men. After the war he went to England, where, 

 although he received the countenance of the British 

 government, his ^ood intentions in his unsuccessful 

 plot against the liberty of his country were despised 

 by the British officers. The unfeeling wretch cal- 

 led upon the widowed mother and sister of his un- 

 fortunate victim (Andre.) The servant announced 

 to them the name of Gen. Arnold ; and they im- 

 mediately returned a message that they did not 

 desire to see him. V. 



Affection for a Mciher Round theidea of 



one's mother the mind of a man clings with a fond 

 affection. It is the first deep thought stamped up- 

 on our infant heart when yet soft and capable of 

 receiving the most profound impressions, and all 

 the after feelings of the world are more or less light 

 in comparison. I do not know that even in our 

 old age we do not look back to that feeling as the 

 sweetest we have through life. Our passions and 

 our wilfulness may lead ns far from the object of 

 our filial love ; we learn to pain her heart, to op- 

 pose her wishes, to violate her commands : we 

 may become wild, headstrong, and angry 5.t her 

 counsels or opposition ; but when death has stilled 

 her monitory voice, and nothing but calm memory 

 remains to recapitulate her virtues and good deeds, 

 affViction, like a flower beaten to the ground by a 

 past storm, raises up her head and smiles among 

 her tears: — Round the idea, as we have said, the 

 mind clings with fond affection : and even when 

 the earlier period of our loss forces memory to be 

 silent, fancy takes the place of remembrance, and 

 twines the image of our dead parent, with a gar- 

 land of graces, and beauties, and virtues, which we 

 doubt not she possesses. 



A gentleman e.xpatiated on the justice and pro- 

 priety of an hereditary nobility. " Is it not right," 

 said he, " in order to hand down to posterity the 

 virtues of those who have been eminent for their 

 services to the country, that their posterity should 

 enjoy the honors conferred on them ns a reward for 

 such services ?" " By the same rule," said a lady, 

 " if a man is hanged for his misdeeds, all his pos- 

 terity sliould be hanged too !" 



HousF.HOLD SERVICE OF A DoG. — " I Say, Stran- 

 ger," said a cottage urchin to a Yankee pedlar, — - 

 " don't you whistle that ere dog away." " Why, 

 he aint no use no how, he's so ugly." " Oh, but 

 ho saves heaps of work.'' "How?" "Why, he 

 always licks the plates and dishes so clean, that 

 they never want washing ; and mammy says she 

 wouldn't part with him no how, for our new dog 

 aint got used to mustard yet." 



The retort courteous. — As a waiter was one 

 day igniting a huge pile of pitch pine, in the capa- 

 ciou.^ fire place of the village inn, a gentleman re- 

 marked to him, — "Jerry, they say iha.t fools make 

 the best fire !" Jerry, with the purest arch respect, 

 turned round to him, and said, — " Will you take 

 the tongs. Sir ?" 



America and Russia M. De Tocqueville, in 



his " Democracy in America," speaks of the destiny 

 of the East and the West in the following manner : 



" There are, at the present time, two great na- 

 tions in the world, which seem to tend towards the 

 same end, although they started from different points. 

 I allude to the Russians and Americans. Both of 

 them have grown up unnoticed ; and while the at- 

 tention of mankind was directed elsewhere, they 

 have suddenly assumed a most prominent place 

 among tlie nations ; and the world learned their 

 existence at almost the same time. 



All other nations seem to have nearly reached 

 their natural limits, and only to be charged with the 

 maintenance of their power ; but these are still in 

 the act of growth : all tlio others are stopped, or 

 continue to advance with extreme difficulty; these 

 are proceeding with ease and with celerity along a 

 path to which the human eye can assign no ter- 

 minus. The American struggles qgainst the natu- 

 ral obstacles which oppose him, — the adversaries 

 of the Russian are men ; — the former combats the 

 wilderness and savage life — the latter, civilization 

 with all its weapons and its arts ; the conquests of 

 the one are, therefore, gained by the ploughshare ; 

 those of tlie other by the sword. The anglo-Amer- 

 ican relies upon peigonal interest to accomplish his 

 ends, and, gives J^Hscopc to the unguided exer- 

 tions and comg^^Pense of tiie citizens ; the Rus- 

 sian centres ^^Ve authority of society in a single 

 arm : — the t^^PP^' instrument of the former is 

 freedom — of^ne latter, servitude. Their starting 

 point is different, and their courses are not the 

 same; yet each of them seems to be marked out by 

 the will of Heaven to sway the destinies of half 

 the globe." 



THE KEW ENGL,A.\D PARMER 



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TUTTLE, BENNETT AKD CHISHOLAI, PKINTERS, 



17 seUOOL STRBET BOSTON 



