192 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
LMay, 
A GREAT NOISE IN 
[copthight secured.] 
THE BARN. 
• Drawn and Engraved for the American Agriculturist 
What this cat has to complain of, wo do not know. It 
■will be pleasant for onr young friends to discuss the mat- 
ter in the home circle. Perhaps rats are scarce in the 
barn where this singular meeting is held, and the chief of 
the family is advising some of the younger ones to emi- 
grate. Perhaps he has found some good text in the Agri- 
adtur/M,nn<l is cx-jmmding upon it. More likely he is 
a restless, hungry wanderer, who wants to stir up conten- 
tion among the sleek, well-fed community, that he may 
profit by their quarrels: two of his audience are already 
snarling over their supper. If this be the case, he was 
probably brought up by some low politician, and 
learned from him one of the common tricks of the trade. 
We cannot tell from his looks whether he is a Republican, 
a Democratic, or a Woman's Rights cat. We leave our 
readers to make their own guesses on these and all other 
points, and thus have their own fun over the picture. 
Only a. lafitle Sunbeam. 
Abeam from the sotting snu darted swiftly through the 
air, glanced through the window pane, and made a golden 
epot upon the carpet where a child was sitting. The lit- 
tle one had been peevish and fretful, and his mother was 
weary with trying to soothe him. But as he saw the 
bright sunbeam and strove to grasp it with tiny fingers, 
he looked up with a smile, as though the light had enter- 
ed his own heart and shone forth from his face. In an 
instant the mother 1 * heart responded with gladness, and, 
pressing the babe to her breast, she covered it with kiss- 
cb. Just then the father looked in. All day he had been 
harassed by business cares ; many things had gone wrong, 
debtors had disappointed him, some of his workmen had 
been unfaithful, and a gloomy frown rested upon his 
brow. But the light of the sunbeam which had cheered 
the mother, now chased the clouds from his sad faco, and 
a happily spent evening followed by refreshing sleep gave 
him new vigor and a kinder heart for his work on the 
following day. The poor newsboy to whom he gave an 
extra price for his morning paper felt some of the warmth 
which the sunbeam had imparted ; an unfortunate debtor 
wondered at the change which a single night had made, 
when his account was so arranged that it should not crush 
him; and the clerks declared it a pleasure to work when 
their employer was so cheerful. So the little sunbeam 
was not lost, although it shone but for a moment. 
Poor Taste. 
" What's the price of butter?"— We overheard this in- 
quiry a few days ago at one of our city markets, and 
turned to look at the speaker. She was expensively 
dressed, and took no pains to conceal half a dozen showy 
and probably expensive rings upon her fingers. The 
dealer of course showed her a good article, at sixty cents 
per pound. " Got any cheaper ?" asked the woman. (A 
lady would have said "Have you," instead of got.) Sam- 
ples were shown at fifty-five cents, then at forty-five, and 
finally the lowest priced article at forty cents. It was very 
powerful butter— a sniff of it left an unpleasant memory 
for a week— but it suited the customer, and she purchased 
several pounds — perhaps to feed the sufferers at a cheap 
boarding house, perhaps for the servants in her kitchen. 
We couldn't help thinking of those rings and that butter. 
A few days ago, the agent of an accident insur- 
ance company entered a smoking-car on a Western rail- 
road-train, and approaching an exceedingly gruff old man, 
asked him if he did not want to "take out a policy. 1 ' 
He was told to get out with bis policy, and passed on. 
After riding about half an hour, an accident occurred to> 
the train, and the smoking-car ran over the sleepers, 
causing much consternation among the passengers. The? 
old man jumped up, and, seizing a hook at the side of the 
car to steady himself, called out, "Where is that insur- 
ance-man?" The question caused a roar of laughter 
among the passengers, who for the time forgot the danger. 
What it Cost. 
A gentleman in business in this city has for years made 
a practice, which is common with many, of inviting his 
customers and friends out to "take a drink" or a cigar, 
A friend endeavored to convince him that he was spend- 
ing too much in this way, aside from other and stronger 
objections to the practice. The gentleman insisted that 
the cost was a mere trifle, but to make sure of it he 
adopted the following plan: Each time he spent any 
thing for this purpose, he deposited an equal amount in 
a box in his safe, keeping no account of it. At the end 
of three months he counted this deposit, and found there* 
to his astonishment, over three hundred dollars. The 
friend who related the incident to us said he had just left 
the surprised man, who was still looking at the pile of 
bills and thinking deeply. Perhaps he was reckoning 
the amount of comfort and pleasure the sum would have 
brought to the home circle, if properly used, or how it 
would have helped in taking np some note when he was 
" short." Probably he has received some new ideas which 
will do him much good, and not injure his customers. 
Wear your learning, like your watch, in a private 
pocket, and don't pull it out to show that you have one ; 
but if yon are asked what o'clock it is, be ready to tell it. 
