1863. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



51 



OLD "WINTER IS COMING, 



B7 MISS UAXNAH F. GODLD. 



Old Winter is comini; again, alack ! 



How icy anJ cold is he ! 

 He cares not a pin for a shivering back, 

 He's a saucy old chap to white and to black ; 

 He whistles his chills with a wonderful knack, 



For he comes from a cold country. 



A witty old fellow this Winter is j 



A mighty old fellow for glee j 

 He cracks his jokes on the pretty sweet miss, 

 The wrinkly old maid unfit to kiss, 

 And freezes the dew of their lips, — for this 



Is the way with such fellows as he. 



Old Winter's a frolicsome blade, I wot ; 



He is wild in his humor, and free ; 

 He'M whistle along for the "want of his thought," 

 And set all the warmth of our furs at naught, 

 And ruffle the laces the pretty girls bought, 



For a frolicsome old fellow is he. 



Old Winter is blowing his gusts along. 



And merrily shaking the tree ! 

 From morning to night he will sing his song ; 

 How moaning and short, how howling and long ! 

 His voice is loud, for his lungs are strong, — 



A merry old fellow is he. 



Old Winter's a wicked old chap, I ween, 



As wicked as ever you'll see ! 

 He withers the flowers, so fresh and green, 

 And bites the pert nose of the miss of sixteen. 

 As she triumphantly walks in maidenly sheen — 



A wicked old fellow is he. 



Old Winter's a tough old fellow for blows. 



As tough as ever you'll see ; 

 He'll trip up our trotters, and rend our clothes, 

 And stiffen our limbs from fingers to toes ; 

 He minds not the cry of his friends or his foes ; 



A tough old fellow is he. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 AGRICULTURE IN" COMMON SCHOOLS. 



!Mr. Editor : — There are a few individuals who : 

 seem determined to have a real "wild goose chase" 

 on the subject of introducing the study of agricul- 1 

 ture into our common schools. Well, be it so. j 

 Let them have their way. They will never know ' 

 their skill in gunning, until they try their hand at 

 the business. It can do no harm. It may do 

 some good. It will, at least, afford some amuse- 

 ment for others, if it do not throw any light on 

 the subject. 



The last time the wild geese were seen or heard 

 from, they were at Richmond, Mass., where Mr. 

 William Bacon, of that town, blazed away at them 

 with all his might. But the poor geese did not 

 heed his "dunder and blixum," but kept on the 

 even tenor of their way, without being greatly 

 alarmed at the explosion. Mr. Bacon, if be has 

 not already, will soon find out, that it is a difficult 

 thing to kill a wild goose Avith a potato popgun ! 



But to the point at issue : "For more than 

 twenty years" ^Ir. Bacon claims to have been an 

 advocate for introducing the study of agricultui-e 

 into common schools. And yet, strange to say, 

 in all this time, he has not seen fit to open his 

 mouth upon the subject, but has been as silent as 

 a mouse in a cheese. And after twenty years of 

 study and thinking, the strongest argument he 



has been able to find, is an ancient proverb in an- 

 swer to the question "what are the most proper 

 things for boys to learn ?" "Those thiixjs they are 

 to practice wlieii they become men." Ergo, (there- 

 fore,) if a boy is going to become a goldsmith, a 

 silversmith, a coppersmith, a blacksmith, a tin- 

 man, a cooper, a wheelwright, a shoemaker, a 

 drummer, or any thing else, he must be allowed 

 to study and practice any one or all of these in 

 the common schools. Such is the logic put forth 

 by your gentlemanly correspondent frcnn Rich- 

 mond, a worthy man and able scholar, no doubt, 

 but not a very close thinker or logical reasoner. 

 It is needless further to point out the absurdity of 

 his reasoning. 



Mr. Bacon is equally unfortunate and illogical 

 in his attempt to answer my three o1)joctions to 

 the study of agriculture in common schools. He 

 first pretends, that he does not understand what 

 I mean by common school studies ; and yet he 

 afterward shows, that he is not so ignorant as he 

 pretends to be, by mentioning with api)robation 

 all the common school studies except one, that of 

 geography, which he does not hold in any higher 

 esteem than did Lord Timothy Dexter, of New- 

 bury]iort, who sent a cargo of warming-i)ans to 

 the West Indies. And then, after expressing his 

 regret at the gross neglect of these common 

 school studies which, he frankly acknowledges, 

 are not so thoroughly taught, nor so well under- 

 stood, as in the days of our forefathers, he more 

 than intimates that "there will be an elbowing 

 for room to introduce" his favorate hobl)y of 

 "more than twenty years" standing. By his lan- 

 guage, one would think, that he had been trying 

 his skill of shooting at "game in the dark," a;^ he 

 says I have tried to make "More Anon" do. 



My second objection, that "our teachers are 

 not qualified to teach it, and have no means of ex- 

 plaining it," is virtually admitted to be true ; and 

 yet it is treated very cavalierly and unfairly. "If 

 we have not teachers," says he, "it is no fault of 

 the cause. Let them be called for, and they will 

 come up, a host innumerable." It is an easy mat- 

 ter to call for them, 1 know ; but the question is, 

 will they come, at any man's beck or call? It is 

 an easy matter to call upon "the misty sjjirits of 

 the vast deep," but they do not often show their 

 sleek heads above the smooth surface of the ocean. 

 It is an easy matter to call for well-qualified 

 school-teachers, but it is not often, even in our 

 day, that we obtain those who are qualified to 

 teach thoroughly and well all the branches of 

 common school education. 



My third objection, that "the scholars are too 

 young and too ignorant to study agriculture lo 

 advantage," he disposes of in a more summary 

 way, and in a more magisterial and iin])crial man- 

 ner. "It is a gross libel upon the boys," says he, 

 "to say that they are not old enough to under- 

 stand the science of farming." Now this ends the 

 whole argument, and puts to silence tdl gainsay- 

 ers. Who will dare, any longer, to speak of chil- 

 dren in our common schools, as young and igno- 

 rant, and openly incur the appellation of libeller? 

 The tender age and ignorance of the ciiildron were 

 not pointed out by me as their crime or fiult. l)ut 

 rattier as their misfortune, tending to disqualify 

 them for entering upon studies bevond their ca- 

 pacity and years. John Golushlky. 



Warwick, Mass., Nov. 2o, 1862. 



