320 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Oct. 



and offers to take in payment for subscriptions : 

 "Wool Rolls, in order, $1 per lb. ; raw cotton, 

 clean, 50c per lb. ; good, yard-wide Jeans and 

 flannel $1,50 per yard ; Wheat $1 per bushel." 

 "Bishops and postmasters are requested to act as 

 agents." 



We infer there is some trouble in raising sheep 

 in that section, as the editor says, "Herd the flock 

 on bench land — the more rocks the better. Cover 

 the bottom of your kraal with rock or gravel, or 

 what is better, select a spot covered with rocks. 

 Keep them from the bare ranges, damp bottoms 

 and saleratus beds. Give them a dry, open shed 

 to protect them from storms of rain and snow, and 

 as far as possible, keep the skin fi'om dampness 

 or wet, and then wash well before shearing, and 

 you will have healthy sheep." 



Our readers may be interested in the following 

 summary of editorial correspondence : 



James A. Martineau writes from Logan, Cache 

 county, under date of June 7th, and says that 

 crops will be short in Cache county, on account 

 of the drought and grasshoppers. Two mountain 

 lions have lately been killing young stock in that 

 vicinity, and the boys had the fun of chasing them 

 into the mountains. No farther trouble with In- 

 dians. The man who was shot near Franklin, is 

 recovering. 



W. H. Crawford writes from Washington, U., 

 under date of June 1st, and says that the crops 

 are all in and prospect is good for a fine crop of 

 cotton, as well as for fruit. The people are pre- 

 paring to build good houses and substantial fences. 

 He has fine plants of the cotton tree, looking well. 

 They are also growing, successfully, the bamboo 

 cane — the right article for making reeds. There 

 will be nice crop of grapes, considering the age 

 of their vines. Quite a show of flowers will also 

 be made this season. 



SPEAK KINDLY TO CHILDBEN AT 



NIGHT. 

 Parents should always speak kindly to their 

 children when retiring or going to bed. Then, 

 more than any other time, is it important that 

 children should have their hearts softened by 

 voices and looks of tenderness and kindness. 

 They should go to rest with thoughts of love and 

 affection for their parents, and gratitude and love 

 to their Heavenly Father for His goodness to 

 them. How can we expect children to say their 

 evening prayer acceptably and with a blessing to 

 themselves, if they are required or permitted to 

 retire to bed ill-humored or vexed by a frown or 

 unkind words from their parents ? And yet many 

 parents send their children to bed, not only in bad 

 feeling but often hungry, as punishment for some 

 offense. No course can possibly be more objec- 

 tionable. Not long since, I spent an evening at 

 the ho'ise of a friend, with several other friends 

 and acquaintances. This friend had two interest- 

 ing and lovely boys, about ten and twelve years 

 of age, who very much enlivened the company 

 with their innocent prattle and childlike hilarity. 

 About half-past eight o'clock the father called his 

 little boys to him, near where I was sitting, and 

 taking each one by the hand, he said, very kindly 

 and pleasantly to them : "My children, it is time 



for you to retire. You will feel dull and heavy at 

 school to-morrow, if you sit up any longer." They 

 both hung their heads for a moment ; then, both 

 with a pleasant smile, kissed their father, then 

 their mother, and then took leave of the company. 

 A lady, one of the company, who sat near us, ex- 

 pressed great surprise that "the little boys should 

 retire so willingly, when they appeared so happy 

 with the company and the musis." The gentle- 

 man replied: "I always speak kindly to my chil- 

 dren, and they never disobey. To-morrow morn- 

 ing I shall say to them, my children, I was much 

 pleased that you retired so willingly last evening ; 

 and your conduct was very highly approved by 



Mrs. , who saw you retire so pleasantly and 



quietly. This," said he, "is their reward, my ap- 

 probation, and the approbation of their friends." 



SMALL TALK. 



But of all the expedients to make the head 

 weak, the brain gauzy, and to bring life down into 

 the consistency of a cambric handkerchief, the 

 most successful is the little talk and tattle which, 

 in some charmed circles, is courteously styled con- 

 versation. How human beings can live on such 

 meagre fare — how continue existence in such a 

 famine of topics, and on such short allowance of 

 sense — is a great question, if philosophy could 

 only search it out. All we know is, that such men 

 and women there are, Avho will go on dawdling in 

 this way, from fifteen to four- score, and never a 

 hint on their tomb-stones that they died at last of 

 consumption of the head and marasmus of the 

 heart ! The whole universe of God, spreading out 

 its splendors and terrors, pleading for their atten- 

 tion, and they wondering "where Mrs. somebody 

 got that divine ribbon to her bonnet !" The whole 

 world of literature, through its thousand trumps 

 of fame, abjuring them to regard its garnered 

 stores both of emotion and thought, and they 

 think, "it's high time, if John intends to marry 

 our Sarah, for him to pop the question !" When, 

 to be sure, this frippery is spiced with a little en- 

 vy and malice, and prepares its small dishes of 

 scandal with nice bits of detraction, it becomes en- 

 dowed with a slight venomous vitality which does 

 pretty well, in the absence of soul, to carry on the 

 machinery of living, if not the reality of life. — E. 

 P. W/dpjile. 



Pictures. — A room with pictures in it and a 

 room without pictures, differ about as much as a 

 room with windows and a room without windows. 

 Nothing is more melancholy, particularly to a per- 

 son who has to pass much time in his room, than 

 bleak walls with nothing on them, for pictures are 

 loop holes of escape to the soul, leading to other 

 scenes and other spheres. It is such an inexpres- 

 sible relief to a person engaged in writing or even 

 reading, on looking up, not to have his line of vis- 

 ion chopped oft' by an odious white wall, but to 

 find his soul escaping, as it were, through the 

 frame of an exquisite picture, to other beautiful 

 and perhaps heavenly scenes, when the fancy for 

 a moment may revel, refreshed and delighted. 

 Thus pictures are consolers of loneliness ; they are 

 a relief to a jaded mind ; they are windows to the 

 imprisoned thought ; they are books, they are his- 

 tories and sermons, which we can read without 

 the trouble of turning over the leaves. — Downing. 



