264, 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[July, 
Entered according to Act of Congress, iu June, 1869, by Lilly M. Spencer, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of New York. 
TAKE YOUR CHOIC E.— From a Painting by Mrs. Lilly M. Spencer. — Engraven for the American Agriculturist. 
A fortnight since a great discovery had been made by 
Susie, and very confidentially announced to Arthur— that 
Minna had four little kitties nestled away in a box in the 
attic. They were curious little creatures, unable to see out 
of their eyes, and making a pitiable mewing when taken 
from the warm side of the old cat. It was a dangerous 
experiment to tell Arthur of the new inmates of the 
house. Boy-like, he was for having them brought out 
at once, and subjected to a course of training. Many a 
beseeching look, and wor/1, and tear, he drew from Susie 
by his rough handling of the feeble pets. 
But now a more serious trouble fell upon Susie. Four 
kittens are a very pretty sight, and can be borne 'with 
for a little time ; but to have four additional cats in the 
house, Mother insists, cannot be thought of for a mo- 
ment. The time has come for three of them to be placed 
in the hands of John, the stable-boy, to be sent where all 
poor, little, unnecessary kitties have to go. "Now you 
must take your choice," Mother says, as she gathers the 
little lively things into her lap, and calls the children to 
her side ; "Which one will you have?" Arthur comes to 
an early decision, and points his chubby finger to the larg- 
est and smartest. But Susie hesitates: to choose one 
is to sign the death-warrant of all the others. She 
leans against her mother's breast, and stands with a tear 
in her eye, her finger to her lip, reluctant to decide 
■which one is to enjoy the life of a happy kitty, and 
which are to cease playing forever. Her mother hur- 
ries her choice, but she cannot reach that point. Arthur 
must decide the question, and Susie will have a good 
cry over the end of her three unfortunate favorites. 
Beecher says to school-girls: "There are two actions 
which justify yon in instantly knocking a man down ; 
the one is the act of pointing a gun at you in sport, and 
the other is the attempt to tell you a secret which it is 
disgraceful for him to get and for you to hear." 
Accommodating; Goats. 
A letter writer from Naples, Italy, tells a pretty tough 
story about the goats in that city. The cows, he says, 
are kept hard at work at the plow, while the goats, which 
are driven into the city every morning from the surround- 
ing fields in great numbers, by goatherds, supply the 
milk. The driver milks them as they stand before the 
hotels and private houses of his customers. He says the 
goats know the plnccs of delivery as well as the boys, 
and in some instances, at a signal from their masters, 
will go up to the seventh and eighth stories of the tall 
houses of Naples, and allow themselves to be milked by 
the proper families. The writer says (and it is rather a 
steep statement) that they will permit the party to take 
only the usual quantity, and will resist any imposition. 
[This account is at least partly true ; the goats are some- 
times milked at the doors of customers, which has one 
advantage for the purchasers — they get the milk un- 
water-edl At Chamouny, in Switzerland, (in France 
now), we were much interested in seeing large flocks of 
goats come down at evening from the sides of the Mont 
Blanc range of mountains, where they were pastured 
during the day by goatherds— one man or woman to each 
forty or fifty goats. As a flock passed throngh the village, 
the people came to their doors, and one after another the 
goats voluntarily left the flock and stopped at their sev- 
eral homes, where they were passed throngh doors into 
court-yards, and often into the houses themselves. This 
continued until the animals had all distributed themselves^ 
and the drivers went off alone. In the morning, at a 
precise hour, the gathering process went on with equal 
regularity. Most of the animals wore bells. The reg- 
ularity, the stately walk of the herd, the systematic 
order, and the good understanding, with the mutual kind- 
ness manifestly existing between the animals and their 
owners and drivers, rendered the scene always one of 
interest to our American party.— O. J.] 
The Way to I>o It. 
A young leather dresser, after learning his trade with 
his father in the country, sought work in Boston. In- 
stead of spending his evenings with idle companions, 
he sought the library of a young men's literary as- 
sociation, and made those that were seeking in every 
way to improve themselves his intimate associates. 
Afterwards he left the city for another State, and with 
his father and brothers built up a large business, and 
secured a comfortable fortune. Now comes the advant- 
age of his early self-denial and study. His ability and 
probity as a business man called nttention to his quali- 
fications for the highest place in the gift of the State. He 
is now the Governor of Connecticut, and is indeed, as he 
is iu name, the Jewell of the State. 
A youngster of five or six years was reading his lesson 
at school, one day, in that deliberate manner for which 
urchins of that age are somewhat remarkable. As he 
proceeded with the task, he came npon the passage, 
"Keep thy tongue from evil and thy lips from guile." 
Master Hopeful drawled out, "Keep— thy— tongue— from 
—evil— and— thy— lips— from— girls." Shouts of laughter 
from the surrounding pnpils greeted this new version. 
