1869.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
183 
HJODYS & (SIMS' ©©ILOTMSo 
A School Girl's Composition. 
** Spring;." 
"This is spring. The grass is green — what there is of it 
—hut it's a kind of invisible green just now ; and snow 
isn't. The days arc longer than they was when they was 
shorter, and they'll he a good deal longer yet if they keep 
on stretching at both ends. The nights aint so long as 
they used to be. Mil said it was cold yesterday, and I 
thought so, too. It was scold, scold, scold, all day; it 
was washing-day. Carrie and me is going to have a May- 
day party next June. Won't that be jolly! We'll have 
such fun, and shall invite all the rest of the boys. Spring 
is one of the four seasons— the /wvrnost one. I like 
spring ; it is such a nice time to go skating. The buds 
have commenced to sprout on the potatoes down cellar. 
The end. Sarah Ann." 
Picture Story.— Showing the remarkable adventures and 
escapes of an amphibious individual ; every reader can 
give his own version with variations to suit listeners. 
Ready Wit.— It is told of Billy Hibbard, 
the Methodist, that once when roll was called in the Con- 
ference, his name was read " William." lie rose at once 
and objected. Faying that his name was not William, it 
was Billy. iL But Brother Hibbard," pleaded Bishop As- 
bury, "Billy is a little boy's name!" "Yes, Bishop," 
was the quick reply of the eccentric preacher, "and 
I waB a little boy when my father gave it to me I" 
One Secret of "Cioocl Luck." 
Claflin, Stewart, Vanderbilt, and many others of less 
note whom we could name, arc regarded by thoughtless 
persons as "lucky" men. If "luck" means success ob- 
tained by constant, untiring attention to business, they 
have had " luck," for harder working men it would not 
be easy to find. They worked as faithfully for small 
gains at the beginning of their career, as they now do, 
when their transactions involve millions. The first be- 
ginnings of one of our heaviest merchants was in a dry 
goods house where he sought employment, and out of 
mere pity the proprietor set him to straightening out bent 
nails that had been drawn from boxes. His pay was 
scarcely enough to keep body and soul together, but this 
did not prevent his working industriously and steadily. 
Ilis faithfulness was soon observed— employers arc not as 
blind as many a fault-finding clerk thinks— and he was 
advanced to other wo k at better wages. The same course 
of devotion to business was followed by promotion, 
until, step by step, he gained his present independence. 
Another with whom we arc personally acquainted, now 
the head of a large commercial firm, at first when a mere 
lad. besides faithfully attending to his duties in the store, 
devoted all his spare hours to reading every publication 
he could find, which gave any information on the branch 
of business he was engaged in. Some of his fellow 
clerks attended balls, parties, and other places of amuse- 
ment, while he was thus engaged, and laughed at him for 
a stupid plodder. In less than a year he knew more of 
the business than many who had been employed there for 
years, and was rapidly advanced accordingly. He is now 
reaping the fruits of his "seeds of luck" planted with 
such laborious pains. Stop grumbling, boys, and be- 
gin to try this method of comjMlling fortune to favor you. 
" I Want I?Iy Own UJnitorella." 
The following incident is related by a correspondent of 
the Methodist: " Standing on the middle porch of the Capi- 
tol, witnessing the re-forming of the line of procession, af- 
ter the ceremonies were concluded, I saw several carriages 
drive up to the steps, and the invited guests, who were to 
head the column, got in and were driven to their positions 
in the line. When the President's carriage was brought 
up, he stepped forward, and was in the act of getting in, 
when he asked his servant for his umbrella. The man 
replied that he had placed it in one of the rooms in the 
Capitol, but on his return to the room, he could not find 
it. In a moment several gentlemen rushed to the Presi- 
dent and offered him their umbrellas in the most kind 
and pressing terms. 'I thank you, gentlemen, but I 
want my own umbrella.' Then turning to his servant, 
he said very quietly : ' I gave you my umbrella in charge; 
go back and look for it again.' The man left. The 
head of the column in the meantime was halted. The 
carriages of the corps diplomatique were waiting their 
turn to come up. The long line of carriages behind these 
were at a stand-still. The military companies formed in 
front were wondering at the delay ; everybody seemed to 
be impatient but the little man who was waiting for his 
umbrella. He was calm, and looked thoughtful ; and 
well he might, after just coming down from the platform 
where, before congregated thousands of the people, ho 
had pressed the Bible to his lips in confirmation of the 
oath of office, to execute the laws, and defend the Consti- 
tution. After about ten minutes of most perplexing 
waiting to all who did not know the cause of the delay, 
the servant made his appearance, very red in the face, 
and very much out of breath. Tipping his beaver, he 
handed the President a well-worn umbrella, which he 
took, saying at the same time, ' Yes, this is mine ;' and 
quietly poked it under the carriage-seat, and got in, 
when the procession moved on. This was Grant all 
over; nothing seems to disconcert him, or turn him to 
the right or left. He goes straight along, demanding 
what is right— refusing to compromise short of the right." 
A Bear Story. 
"Our Boys and Girls" gives the following account of the 
antics of a pet bear. He was captured when a little cub, 
and was brought up by hand as one of the family. He 
claimed the warmest place on the hearth-stone, and 
nestled in cold weather with the dogs before the fire. 
None of the pet animals about the farm were tamer than 
he ; aud none better loved to climb up into his master's 
lap and receive his caress, or understood the whims of his 
mistress when begging for a choice morsel, ne was 
of a prying disposition, and forever peeping into every 
hole, so the family were obliged to lock up every thing, 
even the closets where they kept their clothing. If a hen 
cackled when an egg was laid, Mr. Bear understood it ; 
and if he was not prevented, he would very soon find it 
and suck it before the cackling fowl had ceased her song. 
One Sunday the family went to church, and left the 
bear alone at home. Bruin improved the opportunity, and 
rummaged all over the house in search of fan or some- 
thing to eat. Unfortunately, the good housewife had 
left the cellar door unlocked and ajar; and it was not 
long before the bear discovered it and crept down the 
stairs. Once down in the cellar, he espied the molasses 
barrel ; and if there was any thing in the house he was 
excessively fond of, it was molasses or honey. Bruin 
pawed over the barrel, licked the tightly driven bung, 
and was about abandoning it in despair when he espied 
the spile. Grasping it with his strong teeth, he easily 
withdrew it, and out came the molasses in a stream, to 
the great delight of the bear, who clapped his mouth to 
the hole and sucked away with grunts of self-satisfaction. 
The molasses still flowed, and still the bear kept his 
mouth to the orifice, pausing now and then to take a long 
breath. At length he was full ; his stomach could hold 
no more ; yet his appetite was not satisfied. He squatted 
on his haunches and viewed the still running stream with 
disgust, to think that the supply was so abundant, and 
that, alas 1 he could hold no more. The molasses had 
now mil out in large quantity, and had formed a great 
pool on the floor ; but Bruin dove into it, and rolled him- 
self a thousand times in the thick fluid, until his shaggy 
coat, from hisnosc to his tail, was covered with molasses, 
dirt, and gravel stones ! There he caroused in the sweet 
pool, as cats roll and tumble in a field of the catnip 
herb. All at once Mr. Bear became sick at the stomach ! 
And it was a new sensation to him — something he had 
never felt before. As he grew worse, he thought of hi* 
master and mistress, and so crept upstairs to ask for their 
consolation ; but they had not returned from church. 
Then he crawled up another story, and got into the girls* 
bed, drawing the snowy white sheet? over his besmeared 
form. There he lay groaning and grunting, the sickest 
bear ever seen by anybody in that part of the country. 
When the girls arrived they were horrified at the scene, 
and were going to lay the broomstick over Bruin, when 
he started on the run fur the haymow with the sbcets 
sticking to his back ! It was some time before the bear 
got well, and still longer before his mistref-s forgave him. 
IIIPI 
No. 343. Illustrated Rebus.— Good advice for the rash 
Answers to Problems and Puzzles. 
The following are answers to the puzzles in the 
April number, page 143 No. 340. Puzzle Inscription.— 
Read backwards, it is "I told you once." Some have 
had considerable amusement by telling a friend the an 
swer when he was trying to solve the puzzle ; the friend 
of course, denied having been told, and kept un trying 
to read it correctly No. 341. — Illustrated Rebus. — A 
party of soldiers on the plains firing at the Indians 
(Good, nciv puzzles of all kinds arc always welcome from 
our readers.) The following have sent in correct an 
swers: John Shabo, G. A. Harpel. Charles Miller, Leon 
ard A. James, E. W. P. Heeney, Charlie Rickner, T 
Joralemon, B. B. Keeler, C, C. Keeler, M. C. Woodward 
