3G8 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[December, 
A SLEIGH RIDE IN THE COUNTRY 
A sleigh-ride ! Not a city affair, where a splen- 
did turn-out is hired from the livery stable at 
five to ten dollars an hour (no uncommon price 
here), and where you are driven over a mix- 
ture of snow and mud, between interminable 
rows of brick buildings, subject perhaps to the 
envy of a few who can not afford such a dis- 
play, and also to the snow-ball peltings of grace- 
less urchins who consider the perpetrators of 
such absurdity fair game. Nothing of this 
kind, but a genuine jolly country sleigh-ride, sug- 
gestive of sleek horses full of mettle, of happy 
hearts, sparkling eyes, cheeks rosy with an added 
glow from the bracing air, of inspiring songs and 
innocent glee, of social visits, renewed friend- 
ships, and the twining of yet more tender ties. 
Such experiences banish dreariness from Win- 
ter, and compensate for the absence of the out- 
ward glow of the more inviting summer season. 
By nature, Americans seem eminently fitted 
for the highest social enjoyment; they are im- 
pulsive, frank, and generous, yet as a Nation, 
they are far behind some others in realizing the 
full pleasures of intercommunion. This may 
be because earnest devotion to business monopo- 
lizes attention, and also begets cautiousness, and, 
if not carefully guarded, jealousy between those 
who should be neighbors in more than mere 
nearness of habitation. Winter, with its great- 
er exemption from imperative calls to constant 
labor, is every way favorable to the cultivation 
of the social nature. Neighborhood gatherings 
should be everywhere encouraged, and at the 
North, the season which makes all the highways 
smooth, should be prolific in growth of social 
communion. Let the old, then, as well as the 
young, hail the return of the sleighing season, 
and realize the advantages it brings ; let the 
good fathers and careful mothers remember 
that their children will be all the more affection- 
ate and teachable, if they enjoy the sympathies 
of their elders, and that they can be the more 
surely guided aright by those who preserve the 
freshness of their own social natures. Bring 
out the family sleigh, grow young in the re- 
vival of old times, and make bleak Winter 
green with the joyousness of your own hearts. 
» ■ «t » i «■ i 
Some More Humbugs. 
— . — 
A Bin One. — Just as our last number was be- 
ing mailed, we began to receive from various 
parts of the country, and especially from the 
distant West, numerous copies of a sheet sent 
out from N. Y. City, called the " Freeman's Jour- 
nal of Science and Medicine" " Vol. 37, No. 12," 
(probably the only number ever issued, as it cer- 
tainly ought to be). This sheet contains a mul- 
titude of prescriptions, letters, etc., etc., admira- 
bly arranged to deceive the ignorant and unwa- 
ry, and filch their dollars. It promises untold 
wealth to those who for two dollars " initiation 
fee " become members of the " British Metalic 
Mutual Association." That the scheme takes 
with a certain class, w r e have abundant evidence 
in the letters received, making serious inquiries. 
They ought to have been able to see the nature 
of the animal, when " Dr. William Freeman " 
offers, for $3, to tell them how to make for $8 a 
pound, " a metal that can not be distinguished 
from California Gold," which will "sell in New- 
York, London, and Paris, for $150 a pound ;" \ 
and moreover he 
agrees " to pay 
$120 per pound 
for all that can be 
made." Of course 
he would prefer 
to pay $120 per 
pound.ratherthan 
to make it himself 
(" easily " as he 
says) at a cost of 
only $8. The pa- 
per is ingeniously 
got up, but it is 
all humbug. If 
Dr. Freeman 
would only tell 
people, or tell us, 
where he might 
be found, we 
would straight- 
way call upon 
him. We should 
like a hand in 
some of his enter- 
prises, if the hun- 
dredth part he 
says is true, for 
we could make 
money ten thou- 
sand times faster 
than in publishing 
the American Ag- 
riculturist at $1 a 
year, with print- 
ing paper getting 
towards a quarter 
of a dollar a 
pound. But his 
only advertised 
place of business 
in New- York City 
is just 4 by 6 by 
10 inches — a large establishment, viz. : " No. 
5153 Post Office " Street. The above is all the 
room we have for you, Mr. " Dr. Wm. Freeman," 
of the " Britith Metalic Mutual Ass ociation," 
and we hand you over to Mayor Opdyke. 
The Good Salary Humbug. — Our country 
friends will very often see fine openings for 
young men in the city, especially those who 
have a few hundred dollars to invest. Let us 
tell them, once for all, that 999 in every 1000 of 
these offers are humbugs. We give two illus- 
trations : A few days ago an " Employment 
Agency" advertised for a clerk in an oil com- 
pany in Pa., at $800 a year, etc. A young man 
just over from England applied, and was told 
that for $6 he could secure the place. He paid 
the money, or so much as he had, and was told 
that the President of the Company was coming 
to the city on the following Monday, and would 
call for him. The young man called on Mon- 
day, but found no one in (probably fifty others 
had paid for the same place and were told to' 
call in the same way, but on some other day or 
hour.) The young man called again and again, 
and finally watched the door all one day, and 
at last caught the swindler in. He plead ab- 
sence from sickness, and showed a (bogus) let- 
ter from the " President," saying lie had been 
detained by important business but would come 
soon. The young man called day after day with 
the same result, and finally becoming impatient, 
used some harsh words, when the man ordered 
him out, threatening that if one word more was 
said he would have him arrested for assault, and 
swear him into prison. The swindler had found 
that his victim was a timid stranger, and got rid 
