Dec. 



THE ILLINOIS FAEMER. 



. 367 



to die surfeited of, it has successively descended 

 to 'do duty at the tables of the aristocracy, and 

 at the humbler boards of American soverfcigns, 

 till he who does not aflFovd the family he governs 

 at least one good strawberry festival in the sea 

 son, is not worthy even of a reputation, and is 

 ♦ very poor indeed.' " 



The same periodical says : " August and Sep- 

 tember are favorite months to plant out straw- 

 berries with those who desire a crop of fruit next 

 season." 



On the basis of our own experience, we should 

 rather recommend planting in the spring, at least 

 for large quantities. Bat in private gardens, 

 where full care can be given till the plants are 

 well rooted, and a light winter covering supplied, 

 they may be made to do well — Chi. Chris. Adv. 



" No Tools to Lend." 



These words inscribed on the door of a farm- 

 er's tool house, recently caught our eye, and fur- 

 nished a ready theme for meditation- Borrowing 

 is an ancient and evil custom, the fruitful source 

 of many troubles. In the ruder stages of civili- 

 zation there might have been greater necessity 

 for borrowing than now ; but as the world pro- 

 gresses there can be less and less need of it. The 

 tendency of cultivated humanity is to independ- 

 ent action — the tendency of barbarism is to ser- 

 vile obligation. The more educated a couimunity 

 the lefs they borrow, and consequently the more 

 the borrowing element predominates, tbe greater 

 their degradation. There are several kinds of 

 borrowers at the present day. There are careful 

 and careless — the slack and the prompt — those 

 who expect to pay for the privilege, and those 

 who don't — those who help themselves without 

 per^T'ission, and those who forget to return. The 

 careful, prompt-p/iying borrower is usually a 

 welcome visitor. It is a pleasure to lend to such 

 a man. This class know how to appreciate a 

 favor, and it is of those that Solomon spoke 

 when he said " the borrower is a servant to the 

 lender." But (here is a class to whom the lender 

 is a servant, a degenerate class of borrowers, al- 

 ways to be dreaded. They wear a fair, smooth 

 face to begin with, and a mean, sneaking face at 

 the end. They take the precious property of 

 another, and subject it to rougher usage and se- 

 verer strain than does the owner. The chances 

 are that the article is returned in a broken or 

 damaged condition. A man who can misuse a 

 borrowed thing, seldom has delicacy enough to 

 make amends for an injury. Thus insult is added 

 to injury, a id if complaint arises, neighbors 

 often become enemies. That such are frequent, 

 final results of borrowing, any one familiar with 

 social life knows. 



At the farm house where the above inscription 

 referred to was limned, there may have been pe- 

 culiar reasons for it. Of these reasons we know 

 nothing, and have no desire to. But our sym- 

 pathies, quickened by trials in this lending line, 

 have led us to recall cases that may have been 

 real. For example, farmer A keeps all sorts of 

 tools neat, bright, and in perfect order. He 

 prides himself on having tools, and sacrifices 



other pleasures to save money enouch to buy and 

 pay for them. He has neighbors wlio are unable 

 or too stingy to buy, and so they live by borrow- 

 ing, and making old apologies for tools answer 

 instead. They can appreciate good tools, and 

 are willing to save time in using ttiem as Well as 

 anybody, and they never think about the propri- 

 ety of remuneration. 



Farmer A buys a new corn planter, and the 

 season being backward, several neighbors are 

 behind hand in planting, and apply for the use 

 of the machine. The implement cost money ; 

 the owner never expected to buy another, han- 

 dles it himself carefully, and reluctantly loans it. 

 Some days af er, when farmer A wants to use his 

 machine, he has to hunt it up among his neigh- 

 bors, and finds it dirty, unhoused, a nut lost ofi", 

 and a wooden linchpin supplying the place of the 

 appropriate iron one. As it has been used by 

 several indi\iduals, each throws the blame of 

 damage upon the other, coolly leaving the owner 

 to pocket the loss and its injury. 



Again, farmer A gets a mowing machine, and 

 puts it in running order some rainy day before 

 the time of using. Soon after a teighboriug far- 

 mer comes all prepared with his team, and wants 

 to try it in his home lot, intimating that he thinks 

 of buying when he can decide upon its merits. 

 The machine is allowed to depart, and anal'y re- 

 turned hy the borrower without thanks or offer- 

 ing, but with the cool impudence that it wouldn't 

 do its work. On examination the kiiivcs are 

 found gapped and marked by the sticks and 

 bricks through which it has run, and the loss of 

 an important screw is the key to the mystery. 

 Other cases might be enumerated. Sufiice it to 

 say that there are well oflf farmers in almost 

 every town, who for years have depended upon 

 less opulent neighbors for plows, rakes, forks and 

 stones. These things ought not to be. Every 

 tub should standor fall upon its own bottom. It 

 is neither charity or religion to ]end to rich men 

 without remuneration. A man's tools Ere prop- 

 erty, and like money are entitled to security and 

 pay. We believe more and more in the sage ad- 

 vica to young men that Shakespeare put into the 

 mouth of Polonious in the play of Hamlet: 



"Neither a borrower nor a lender be. 

 For loan oft loses both itself an ' friend. 

 And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry." 

 \_Country Gentleman. 



«•> 



A New "Way of Fubnishing a Hotkl. — A 

 fellow about to start a hotel in New York hired 

 a thief to steal bedding for him from other ho- 

 tels. The thief would pay for his lodging, reg- 

 ister his name, and request to be called very 

 early, taking when he went s'neets, pillow-cases, 

 &c. He had visited all the large inns of the 

 city and accumulated several dozen pieces when 

 he was nabbed. 



— «•» 



SiNGtJLAE AcciDEKT. — An Old man in Yar- 

 mouth had his leg broken in two places by be- 

 ing tripped and thrown down by a lady's cri- 

 noline. 



