256 
AMERICAN AQRIGULTURIST, 
[August, 
Wlio are the IBeueTOlent ? 
"What a chaiitable little girl,'* sriy you, on looking at 
this picture. Perhaps so ; may be not— though on a sec- 
ond look at her kind, pitying face, we judge she is ben- 
evolent. A lad we once knew was very fond of giving to 
the poor, and to every good object, provided his father 
eupplied him with the money. Of course every body who 
saw him frequently contributing, thought him a very lov- 
ing, kind-hearted boy. But when his father suggested 
that he should save part of the money he had earned by 
weeding in the garden, to give it to a poor boy to buy 
shoes, so that he miciht go to school, this charitable 
appearing boy was unwilling to part with a single penny 
for that purpose. He wanted his money to spend for 
himself. We have ofien seen men subscribe liberally 
for public objects, where all their neighbors would know 
it and praise them for it, who would never have given a 
dime to the most worthy charily but for the praise they 
expected to receive. So you see a person may give much 
and often, and at the same time be very selfish. Now, 
suppose the little giii in the picture to have been eating 
some Very nice cake, made for her by her mother, and 
the poor homeless, ragged boy wandering away from the 
city to seek a living among kind hearted farmers, to have 
passed along just then, and the little girl pitying him to 
have given up part of her own sweet morsel, that would 
surely be charity. Whoever is witling to deny kirns*!/ 
lor the sake of bestowing good upon others, is truly bar 
nevolent. And it is most true, as we wish all our young 
readers to experience for themselves, that there is great- 
er and more lasting happiness in pleasing and benefiting 
others, than in enjoying good things by ourselves. This 
lesson most of all others needs to be learned, for the 
world is full of selfishness and its fruits of suffering. 
When all have learned it by heart, and practise it, this 
world will be very much like Heaven, where love reigns. 
Arlovriglit and the Spinning J enny. 
Sir Richard Arkwright, of England, the inventor of the 
spinning jenny, was originally a poor barber, occupying 
a cellar, where his sign *'Come to the Subterranean 
Barber, he shaves for a Penny," attracted a good run of 
custom. He afterward reduced the price to a halfpenny 
on account of opposition by his brethren in the trade. 
But he was not content with shaving for a living, and 
epent so much time contriving machines and making 
models, that his regular business suffered. One day his 
wife being angry at his neglect to provide for his family, 
destroyed some of his mo<lels, which for a long time 
prevented Arkwright from indulging in his passion 
for invention. He next gained a livelihood by buy- 
ing and selling hair, having a secret process for dye- 
ing it to required shades. This business led him to trav- 
el considerably through the country. At that time cot- 
ton fabrics were spun and woven by hand by the cot- 
tagers. One weaver could keep many employed in card- 
ing and spinning the weft or cross threads of the goods ; 
the warp or long threads were of linen, furnished to the 
weavers by the large dealers. It was difficult to get 
enough weft spun to keep the looms going, and it was a 
common thing for the weaver 
to walk several miles in a 
morning, and to call on a num- 
ber of spinners before he could 
get enough for the remainder 
of his day's work. Arkwright 
noticed this, and set his in- 
ventive brain to work to reme- 
dy it. He had the idea that 
spinning could be done by 
means of two rollers, one of 
which levolving much faster 
than the other, would draw 
the twisted threads exactly as 
had been done by hand labor. 
He accordingly employed a 
watchmaker named Kay, to 
make a small model for the 
purpose. Then he applied to 
a macliinlst to make a w orking 
machine on the plan, but Ark- 
wright being poor and the suc- 
cess appearing doubtful, he 
hesitated, but at last agreed to 
let the watchmaker have two 
of his men to assist, and the 
first spinning jenny was finally 
constructed by them. It was 
found to work well, improve- 
ments were added to it, and 
before long Arkwright had 
little difficulty in securing all 
the money needed to carry on 
the manufactory— so true is It, 
that the first starting of every 
new enterprise is always the 
most difficult part of the work. The invention complete 
ly revolutionized cotton manufacture, and besides enrich- 
ing the inventor, it has contributed very largely to the 
wealth and importance of Great Britain, and to the com- 
fort of the whole civilized world. Cotton fabrics, for- 
merly worn only by the rich, are now easily obtained by 
all. The first machine of Arkwright is preserved in the 
Patent Museum, at South Kensington, in London. 
Xhc Old Flag: i^ Baltimore. 
A gentleman relates the following incidents which 
came to his knowledge in Baltimore. During the " dark 
days" just after the attack on the Massachusetts soldiers, 
the mob would allow no American Flag to be displayed. 
The last one (they thought) was torn dow n from an office 
in one of the principal streets, amid the brawling shouts 
of drunken ruffians, the helpless indignation of Union 
men and the tears of patriotic women who witnessed its 
desecration. The next morning, however, the mob were 
exasperated by the sight of the glorious but hated em- 
blem hanging from an upper window of an old lady's 
house. Gathering beneath it they shouted, *'Take in 
that flag !" ** Down with that rag !" Presently the own- 
er appeared. " Away with that flag I" they repeated.— 
•'What flag?" asked the old lady.— " Up there in your 
window," was the reply. " That's my bed quilt." said 
sne. " It's a pity ir an o.a woman can't air her oed cloth- 
ing without being molested," and 
shaking it out of the window she 
showed a bed quilt with a flag worked 
in each corner. Hough as they were, 
they were completely shamed out of 
thoughts of violence, and so evei-y 
morning, the bed guilt was duly hung 
out to be aired ! The gentleman who 
related the incident to the writer en- 
deavored to secure the quilt for the 
Sanitary Fair at Brooklyn, but parties 
in Baltimore were ahead of him, and 
it was exhibited and sold there for the 
benefit of the soldiers. During the 
same period, an aged resident of Bal- 
timore called on a Union man and said 
he earnestly desired, If possible, to 
look upon the old flag. Come with 
me and you shall be gratified, said 
his friend. He conducted the old 
gentleman to his mill on the suburbs 
of the city, and taking him to an upper story handed him 
a spy-glass, saying, " There it is on old Fort McHenry." 
Soon the aged man descried it in the "distance, and gazed 
long and earnestly, stopping occasionally to wipe away 
the tears of emotion which flowed freely ; and after that 
every day he walked over a mile to enjoy the pi ivilege of 
looking upon the Star Spangled Banner, until it was 
again restored to honor throughout the city, never we 
trust to be displaced. It is an interesting fact that the 
national song, "The Star-Spangled Banner," was at 
first written in connection with this same fort. 
Oood and Bad Apples. 
One day Robert's father saw him playing with some 
boys who were rude and unmannerly. He had observed 
for some time a change for the worse in his son, and now 
he knew the cause. He was very sorry, but he said noth- 
ing to Robert at the time. In the evening he brought 
from the garden six beautiful, rosy-cheeked apples, put 
them on a plate, and presented them to Robert. He was 
much pleased at his father's kindness, and thanked him. 
" You must lay them aside for a few days that they may 
become mellow," said his father. And Robert cheerfully 
placed the plate with the apples in his mother's store- 
room. Just as he was putting them aside, his father laid 
on the plate a seventh apple, whicli was quite rotten, and 
desired him to allow it to remain there. "But father," 
said Robert, "the rotten apples will spoil all the others." 
"Do you think so? Why should n(»t the fresh apples 
rather make the rotten one fresh ?" said his father. And 
with these words he shut the door of the room. Eiglit 
days after he asked his son to open the door and take out 
the apples. But what a sight presented itself I The six 
apples, which had been so sound and rosy-cheeked, were 
now quite rotten, and .emitted a bad odor through the 
room. " Oh, papa I" cried he, " Did I not lell yuu ofttw 
that the rotten apple would spoil the good ones ? yet you 
did not listen to me.*'—" My boy," said his father, " have 
I not told you often that the company of bad children will 
make you bad, yet you do not listen to me. See in the 
condition of the apples that which will happen to you if 
you keep company with wicked boys."— Robert did not 
forget the lesson. He remembered the rotten apples, and 
kept apart from the rude sports of his former playmates, 
A Oerman tradition. 
The picture below illustrates the following story. A 
rich German built for himself a large and splendid castle 
on a hill overlooking the surrounding country. He own- 
ed the land as far as he could see from the top of his 
highest tower, all except one little cottage surrounded 
by about an acre of ground, in which lived a very old 
woman. She had been a nurse in his father's family, had 
helped to rear him, and this place had been given to her 
for a home by the former lord. As we said before, the 
new lord was very rich ; but he was also vain, ambitious 
and selfish. When friends came to visit him he would take 
them to the top of the castle and proudly point out his vast 
estate. "All this I own, as far as you can see," he would 
say, and then added in a lower tone, " all but that little 
spot where the cottage stands ;" and whenever he said 
this, he felt angry that this was not in his possession. He 
tried to buy it from the old woman, but she had lived 
there long, was very comfortable, and would not part 
with it. Finally, this ungrateful and wicked man deter- 
mined to get rid of her at all hazards. He therefore hired 
one of his servants to accuse her of being a witch, and 
of bewitching his master's cattle. The poor old wotnan 
was brought before the lord, who was the magistrate of 
that part of the country, a mock trial was had, and she 
was sentenced to have her place sold, and to be banished 
three leagues from the place. Then, of course, he bought 
the coveted land and cottage for almost nothing, and the 
old woman w as driven off. As she was leaving the place 
she uttered fearful curses upon her oppressor, and con- 
cluded by saying, " You covet to have all your eye can 
I see, and to have your mark upon the whole land ; your 
eye shall turn to stone, and your mark shall be branded 
upon the hill, so that men shall shun the fearful spot 
where an ungrateful wretch robbed his old nurse of her 
last comfort." Within a year after a fearful storm 
burst upon the place. Lightning struck the castle, rend- 
ing its walls and killing the cruel lord and all his family, 
and what is most wonderful, the ruins were left in such 
a way that the old woman's curse was fulfilled, and now 
if you will study the picture carefully, you may see the eye 
of the lord turned to stone, and his mark upon the till. 
