322 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Oct. 



estimable member of society. Of an old New York 

 family, he was brought up to the book trade, I 

 think, by one of the Quaker fraternity — the Col- 

 lins' — and it was only in middle life, after various 

 experiments in business, that he became an auc- 

 tioneer. He beo;an, if I mistake not, somewhere 

 about the year 1845, with a sale to the trade in a 

 large back buildins? in Broadway, near Courtland 

 Street. He certainly opened proceedings with an 

 excellent entertainment of oysters and champagne. 

 He was the life of the company, and was called 

 upon of course, for a speech — probably for half a 

 dozen. One of his good things, toward the close, 

 is worth remembering. It particularly pleased the 

 trade at the time. 'Gentlemen,' said he, in allu- 

 sion to the entertainment, 'we are scattering our 

 bread upon the waters, and we expect to find it 

 after many days — buttered !' 



It was in retail sales, however, in the small 

 change of the auction room, that his wit ai)peared 

 to the most advantage. No catalogue could be too 

 dull for his vivacity. He was always rapid, and 

 an unwary customer would be decapitated by his 

 quick electric jest before he felt the stroke. The 

 following, among other things of the kind attrib- 

 uted to him, will give some notion of his pleasant- 

 ries: 



'Is that binding calf?' asked a suspicious pur- 

 chaser. 'Come up, my good sir, put your hand 

 on it, and see if there is any fellow feeling,' was 

 the ready reply. A person one evening had a 

 copy of 'Watts' Hamns' knocked down to him for 

 a trifle, and interrupted the business of the clerk 

 by calling for its 'delivery.' Keese, finding out 

 the cause of the interference, exclaimed, 'O, give 

 the gentleman the book. He wants to learn and 

 sing one of the hymns before he goes to bed to- 

 night.' Apropos of this time -honored book, in 

 selling a copy on another occasion, Mhen there 

 was some rivalry in the profession, he turned ofi' 

 a parody as he knocked it down : 



'Blest is the man who shuns the place 

 Where othtr auctions bo ; 



And has his money in the fist. 

 And buys lus bi-joks of me.' 



His puns were usually happy, and slipped in 

 adroitly. Offering one of the Rev. Dr. Hawks' 

 books, he added, in an explanatory way: 'A bird 

 of pray.' 'Going — going — gentlemen — one shil- 

 ling for Caroline Fry — why, it isn't the price of a 

 stew.' Akin to this was his ol)servation to a pur- 

 chaser who had secured a copy of 'Bacon's Essays' 

 for twelve and a half cents : 'That's too much pork 

 for a shilling!' 



Selling a book labelled 'History of the Taters,' 

 he was asked : 'Isn't that Tarters ?' 'No !' he re- 

 plied, 'their wives Mere the Tartars !' 



'This,' said he, holding up a volume of a well- 

 known type to critics, 'is a book by a poor and 

 pious girl, of poor and pious poems.' 



No one could better introduce a quotation. 

 Some women one day found their Avay into the 

 auction room, to a miscellaneous sale of furniture. 

 They were excited to an emulous contention for a 

 saucepan, or something of the sort. Keese gave 

 them a fair chance Wi.n a final a])peal : 'Going — 

 going — the woman who deliberates is lost — gone !' " 



^^ A certain gentleman in Southhridge who was 

 curious to know how much a pumpkin grew in 

 twenty-four hours, found by actual measuring that 

 it enlarged just 3 3-4 inches in that tiiue. 



OUR VILLAGE AT DAYBREAK. 



'Tis daybreak over the village ; I look from the rustic inn, 

 And watch the widening sunshine its day's bright march begin, 

 As the burnished clouds turn fiery red, and the lark awakes his 



kiu. 

 !n the very heart of the villfifre, where the double hammer rings, 

 You hear the joyful blackbird in the irirson's croft that sings" 

 Where the thankless wasp sucks at the grapes, yet while they 



feed him, stings. 



The cobbler, up an hour ere dawn, carols long psalms all through, 

 Stitching away with prying eyes at the miller's daughter's shoe ; 

 She's the deftest foot in the country-side, and beauty enough for 



two. 

 The wagon-team went jingling out a good half-hour ago ; 

 The sturdy lad, who smacked the whip, seemed to be all of a 



glow ; 

 The ploughman's horses stride along, broad-chested, in a row. 



The cocks crow shrill ; the lark is up, the rooks are loud on the 

 tree ; 



The flowers are out ; the brook chirps on, each happy in its de- 

 gree , 



And the ripples of red run over the sky as the wind shouts in 

 its glee. 



Now the doors slip back their trusty bolts, and the shutters rat- 

 tle down ; 

 Glad faces look up at the morning sky, and voices fill the town, 

 While drowsy girls at the village pump brim up the pitcher 

 brown. 



Day's up ; and I must sally out for many a happy mile. 

 Through flowery lanes, by river sides, resting at many a stile, 

 (A vagrant arUst, on the tramp,) and singing all the while. 



— C/iamber's Journcd. 



CHILDREN AND THEIR MEMORIES. 



It seems to me that nothing could have pre- 

 served our nursery rhymes and legends, even in 

 their present comparative purity, but an intuitive 

 sense of literary justice in children and a peculiar 

 tenacity of accuracy lost at a later age. A lady 

 who teaches a number of very little boys and girls 

 in a Sunday school has told me that one Sunday, 

 to the unbounded delight of her children, she ex- 

 plained to them a colored print of the sale of Jo- 

 se])h by his brethren. Of course the brethren had 

 to be named ; but on that day week, when the 

 picture was called for ag'nn, she was so unfortu- 

 nate as to transfer one of the names of the previ- 

 ous Sundaj' — the Issaciiar of last week was now 

 Zebidon. To her the brethren resembled each 

 other much as one ninepin does another; but for 

 them the personality of each was strongly marked. 

 Her error was very quickly perceived ; she was 

 corrected, and wisely admitted the mistake. The 

 sense of truth, however, of her class was wounded, 

 and it was some time before she regained the full 

 confidence which she possesed before. I have 

 seen a very serious difTerence respecting the per- 

 sonality of Noah's sons in a small ark ; and when 

 the case was referred to me I did not hastily de- 

 cide, but deliberately examined Shem and Japhet, 

 and then without lightness or hesitation, pro- 

 nounced a final judgment, and both ])arties were 

 pleased and thanked me. That was a cruel and 

 thoughtless answer of a showman, when he was 

 asked which was Wellington and which was Na- 

 poleon : "Whichever you like !" as if one were not 

 really and immutably the English, and one the 

 French General. I am sure the little girl was 

 deeply hurt — not because a rude return was made 

 to her innocent question, but to think that there 

 could be such, a disregard of right and wrong, such 

 an utter carelessness of truth. — Temple Bar. 



^W Emancipation in Russia proceeds peacefully 

 and successfully, in spite of all op^iosition. Schools 

 are opening everywhere for the children of the 

 peasants, and Russia will soon have an educated 

 population. 



