10 
AMEBICAN AGBICULTUBIST. 
basket, when the hen looking under her could’nt 
find nothin’ there, so concludin’ she’d made a 
mistake and hadn’t laid, she begun agin, and so 
kept on layin’ as many as three or four a day, 
sometimes. lie only asks five dollars for his 
patent; and sartin true, if I had one now, I 
could sell eggs enough before settin’ time, to buy 
Molly a bran new silk frock, though she hardly 
desarves one.” 
—-—• *-*- 
Written for the American Agriculturist. 
REMINISCENCES OF A FARMER’S DAUGHTER. 
No. III. 
BY MINNIE MYRTLE. 
Tiie old farm-house on the hill, how well I 
remember it, for I am a genuine farmer’s daugh¬ 
ter as I told you, and “my experience” is not at 
all an imaginary one. We lived away out of the 
village, were surrounded by farm-houses, and 
our only neighbors were farmers, therefore I 
have a right to say I know something about 
them, and how they live. But I cannot say 
they were all to my taste, or that they all had 
the refinement and cultivation which I think it 
should be the aim of every class of people to 
possess; yet I do know that in more than one 
family, there grew up sons and daughters, with 
all the strength of character which is the pride 
of our country ; and not only with refinement, 
but elegance of manners such as I have rarely 
seen surpassed in any circle in city or country. 
It was in my earliest childhood that I used to 
see it, the old farm-house, but I should never 
forget, were I to live a thousand years, the lady 
who presided there; her gentleness, her dignity, 
her loving-kindness, and her lady-like deport¬ 
ment—which would be called in courtly circles 
high-bred. I remember how sweetly she re¬ 
proved little children if they were rude, so in¬ 
delibly impressing upon their minds the import¬ 
ance of politeness even in their plaj r , and the 
possibility of uniting freedom and joyousness 
with gentleness, that I do not think any who 
were brought within the sphere of her influ¬ 
ence could fail to be nobler and,better all the 
way through life. 
She was one of those women whose “ price is 
above rubies;” who “saw well to the ways of 
her household ;” and emphatically exemplified 
that the better educated and more highly culti¬ 
vated a woman is, the better she is fitted for all 
the duties of wife, and mother, and house¬ 
keeper. There is no more false and injurious 
notion, than that education is only necessary 
for those who are to depend upon it for the 
means of livelihood. We hear it often remark¬ 
ed of a son, “ He is to be a farmer or mechanic, 
and therefore may leave school early, as ‘learn¬ 
ing’ is not necessary to his success;” and of a 
daughter, “She is to be married, and aspires no 
higher than to be a farmer’s or a mechanic’s wife, 
and therefore can do without book-knowledge.” 
Yet it is true that if a man is to plant corn, 
mow grass, and “ fodder cattle”' all his life, he 
can do it better, and be happier whilst doing it, 
if lie has learned to do it scientifically, and has 
abundance of food for thought while so em¬ 
ployed. 1 could bring a thousand instances to 
prove that the most cultivated women are the 
best house-keepers ; for no woman can be a 
thoroughly good house-keeper who is not sys¬ 
tematic; no woman can sweep and dust a room 
well who does not do it systematically—-or “do 
a baking,” or a washing, or practise economy; 
and the more thorough her education, the bet¬ 
ter she will be able to plan ; and the more pleas¬ 
ant things she has to think about, the happier 
she will be at her toil; and thus more expertly 
and satisfactorily will it be performed. 
The most intelligent woman I ever met, was 
one whose whole life was spent in the most se¬ 
vere and wearing toil; and never any where 
else did I see a house in such “ apple-pie order,” 
or cat such delicious bread, or meats cooked in 
such 'perfection, and all the economy and ar¬ 
rangements of house-keeping so thoroughly 
performed. There was never a day-, even dur¬ 
ing “butchering week,” or “soap-making,” 
that she did not find, or make time to read, at 
least a page ; and neither souse, nor sausages, 
nor soap, ever suffered on account of her love 
of reading. 
But I must not forget the old farm-house and 
its presiding genius. It has become a proverb 
that the women of farmers’ households lead a 
more toilsome and drudgery kind of life than 
the men, and I think this is true. One reason 
has ever been, that so little attention has been 
paid to convenience in the construction of those 
parts of the house where they must spend most 
of their time, and where their labor must be 
performed; and another is that the husbands 
and fathers have so little idea of the true na¬ 
ture of woman’s toil. It seems to them light 
icorlc to run round a cooking-stove, and sweep, 
and dust, and take care of children, while on the 
contrary it is infinitely more exhausting to mind 
and body than the labor of the field. Many 
and many a farmer do I know, who thinks his 
wife may perform all the labor of the house¬ 
hold—the cooking, cleaning, butter making, and 
cheese pressing—which obliges her to rise 
early and sit up late, and never rest, and all be¬ 
cause it costs so much to “ hire a girl.” But I 
could never see why it is not as reasonable to 
expect one man to do all the Sowing, planting 
and plowing, the mowing, reaping or threshing, 
because it costs half the products of the farm 
to pay the “ hired men.” I suppose they would 
answer that the seeds would not be in the 
ground in season to spring up and bear fruit, 
and the grass would never become hay, and the 
grain would be spoiled before it could be cradled 
by one person. This is unanswerable: but be¬ 
cause the wife does not spoil and become utterly 
useless in one season, it is not the less certain 
that she does spoil by such usage; and the 
children are spoiled, in the first place by her 
over-working when she needs rest and the kind¬ 
est attention, and injithe next place by neglect, 
because the mother has not time to devote lo 
them. They are cross and fretful, when a little 
attention to their physical health and habits 
would keep them always well and pleasant. 
Now the quiet, dignified lady in the old farm¬ 
house, was just such a farmer’s wife. The 
house was an old castle of a thing, very well for 
some lord or duke who could afford to keep a 
train of servants, but not at all suited to the 
wants of a republican family in a republican 
land, where republican tastes should prevail, 
whether they do or not? The china closet was 
in the parlor, according to the custom in a mul¬ 
titude of just such houses that 1 have seen, for 
what reason T never could divine, unless be¬ 
cause all the best things must of course be in 
I the parlor, and to reach it from the kitchen, one 
must go at least a Sabbath day’s journey. The 
dining-room was half way between ; the milk- 
room down cellar, and the cheese-room out 
doors! To prepare one meal, a woman must 
necessarily walk miles, and to do the work of a 
day was worse than a pedestrian tour to Mex¬ 
ico. I will tell you some day how she did it, 
and what was the secret of her success. 
For the American Agriculturist. 
TRAINING CHILDREN. 
I notice what is said in the Agriculturist , 
No. 24, page 375, headed “Children of 1854.” 
If there be any one thing more interesting 
than another, it is children, beginning with the 
wee ones at the mother’s breast up to the group 
in the play-grounds around the country villa 
or cottage. Surely that man or woman is not 
far removed from the brute who does not love 
children when well trained and taught obedience, 
and I can subscribe to Aunt Fanny’s creed, and 
add to it many more articles. 
But here lies the great cause of the many 
evils which befal the children of the present 
day, viz., the want of parental government. 
Children arc not taught obedience. There is no 
lack of commands or demands, neither of which 
are enforced, but they are allowed to disobey 
them with impunity, and to have their own way 
and carry their own points inalmost every thing, 
either by teasing, open rebellion, or stealth ; 
hence they become a pest and vexation in our 
public conveyances, our boarding-houses, and 
more especially in our schools ; for children who 
are not taught obedience at home, will seldom 
when abroad submit to rule, however simple and 
reasonable. On this account both parents and 
children who do their duty, have to suffer by 
the neglect of those who do not. Can any one 
point out a remedy for this growing evil before 
it be too late ? 
Almost an Octocenarian. 
-—— 
ANY BODY’S CHILD. 
Tiie following story by Dickens, is as true ot 
thousands of children in the city of New York, 
as in London. It behoves the public to take 
care of them ; and we may be assured if the 
State schools do not educate the wild urchins, 
roaming about without house or home, and be¬ 
longing to any and no bodjq the State prisons 
will. The rich had much better be taxed for 
the proper education of poor, ignorant children, 
than for their support in prisons, and the ex¬ 
pense of a largepolice force, criminal lawyers, 
and judges. Some of the ideas in this story ol 
Dickens, are the same as those in the commu¬ 
nication in our last week’s paper by “Almost 
an Octogerarian;” but we know the writer of 
that had not seen this, when he wrote his arti¬ 
cle. 
Any body’s child is a sad little being. You 
find him playing at marbles in a city alley. 
His feet are bare, his clothes are ragged, his 
voice is hard and cracked, Isis hair is matted 
down over his eyes, his hands are thin and an¬ 
gular, his knees protrude through his torn 
trousers, and those rags are kept on by a pieco 
of cord that passes over his shoulder. How 
keen are the eyes that leer out at you from 
under that hair-thatched brow! They read 
