AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST 
128 
In the country, children have many innocent 
sources of amusement, and lay up a store of de¬ 
lightful reminiscences connected with home, and 
are not so entirely dependent on a happy fire¬ 
side as children in the city. But there is a 
weai'y weight to carry through all the pilgri¬ 
mage of life, if we cannot dwell with pleasure 
upon the domestic virtues of parents. 
Children are great observers; and they begin 
very young to moralize and philosophize, to 
draw inferences and jump at conclusions.— 
Where they see tears and sadness in a mother, 
they are very quick to divine the cause; and 
though they would not dare to sympathise, or 
let their pity be observed, their little hearts do 
not the less certainly become thoroughly en¬ 
listed for the sufferer. It is neither foolish nor 
weak to indulge and to manifest affection. It 
is not more beautiful and commendable in the 
young than in the aged. If fathers, and hus¬ 
bands, and brothers, wish their daughters, and 
wives, and sisters to be keepers at home, and 
contented in woman’s sphere, they must make 
them happy there; and it is a universal weak¬ 
ness of woman to depend for happiness on af¬ 
fection ; and how can they know that affection 
exists, unless it is manifested ? 
Let children see bestowed upon their mother 
the little delicate attentions and caresses which 
betoken that she is still loved, and the father 
will only be the more respected, and will be in 
no danger of seeming unmanly. There is noth¬ 
ing like unhappiness to destroy a woman’s 
beauty, and make her grow old before her time; 
and the beauty which a blithe spirit and joyous 
temper gives to the countenance no time can 
efface. 
-»«•- 
EPITAPH ON “ CHARLEY,” 
A Horse, who Died (universally lamented) Dec. 25,1853, 
Aet. 23 years. 
Here lies a faithful steed, 
A staunch, uncompromising “ Silver Gray,” 
Who ran the race of life with sprightly speed, 
Yet never ran—away. 
Bright were his eyes, yet soft, 
And “ in the main” his tail was white and flowing, 
And, though he never sketched a single draught, 
He showed some taste for drawing ! 
His limbs were smooth and clean, 
Fitted alike for buggy or for dray ; 
And, (like Napoleon the Great, I ween,) 
He had a martial neigh! 
No light nor trifling word, 
Nor empty bombast from his lips would swell: 
For, save some quiet horse-laughs, chuckling heard, 
His tongue was bridled well I 
Wild oats he never sowed, 
Yet masticated tame ones with much zest; 
Then, cheerful, bore each light allotted load— 
As cheerfully took rest. 
Full oft he lay secure, 
Installed within his stall so warm and fair, 
Slow-ruminating, dignified, demure, 
With such a stable air ! 
With here and there a speck 
Of roan, diversifying his white back, 
And, martyr like, a halter round his neck, 
Which bound him to the rack ! 
Mortal he was; at length 
The hey-day of his life was damped by death, 
So, mustering all his once load-moving strength, 
He drew —his final breath ! 
“ Doctor,” said a snuff-taking old lady, “ do 
you think snuff hurts the brains ?” 
“ Oh no, madam,” replied the doctor, “ people 
with brains never take snuff.” 
An Incipient Millionaire. —The Eastern man 
is always noted for his shrewdness; of course he 
begins early to attain this. How young he 
takes lessons we are not able to say, but we 
must mention an instance. A boy about eight 
years old, went into a shop to buy a pen-knife; 
he selected one. 
“ How much,” said the boy. 
“ Twelve cents,” said the shopman. 
“ Well,” said the boy laying down a shilling 
piece, “ there is twelve and a half cents; I’ll 
take the knife, and you may give me the half 
cent in fish hooks.” 
The shopkeeper accordingly gave the boy the 
knife, and one fish hook for the half cent, with 
the remark “ that he would do.” 
Something Left. —The Hartford Times seems 
disposed to take the recent decomposition of its 
party pretty complacently, though inclined to 
hold on to any small fragment of hope that 
may present itself. Speaking of present pros¬ 
pects, the Times says : “ The Democrats may 
possibly carry four Senators—probably only 
three, however, possibly only two.” 
Did the editor ever hear of the blacksmith 
who undertook to make an axe and burnt down 
his iron till he concluded to make a hatchet— 
found only iron enough left to make a horse 
shoe nail, and not succeeding in saving material 
enough for that, then threw what he had left 
into the water trough—exclaiming, “ I don’t 
care, there is enough of you for a good siss!”— 
New-London Chronicle. 
SIZE OF OUR GREAT LAKES. 
The latest measurements of our fresh water 
seas are these: 
The greatest length of Lake Superior is 885 
miles ; its greatest breadth is 160 miles; mean 
depth 988 feet; elevation 627 feet; area 32,000 
square miles. 
The greatest length of Lake Michigan is 360 
miles; its greatest breath 108 miles; mean depth 
900 feet; elevation 587feet; area23,000 square 
miles. 
The greatest length of Lake Huron is 200 
miles; its greatest breadth is 160 miles; mean 
depth 900 feet; elevation 274 feet; area 20,000 
square miles. 
The greatest length of Lake Erie is 250 
miles ; its greatest breath is 80 miles; its mean 
depth is 84 feet; elevation 555 feet; area 6,000 
square miles. 
The greatest length of Lake Ontario is 180 
miles; greatest breadth 65 miles; its mean 
depth is 500 feet; elevation 262 feet; area 6,000 
square miles. 
The total length of all five is 1,585 miles, 
covering an area altogether upward of 90,000 
square miles. 
Removing a Fish-hook from the Throat.-— 
John Greiner, a lad about ten years of age, re¬ 
siding in the 5th Ward, was playing on Monday 
last with a fish-hook by holding it in his mouth, 
when by some mishap he swallowed it. He 
tried to remove it by pulling at the string, but 
it had become firmly lodged in the lower and 
back part of the throat. The little fellow was 
not only frightened, but in great pain ; attempts 
were made by the boy’s parents to extract the 
hook, but they were unable to do it. The hook 
had become firmly imbedded in the throat. Dr. 
A. Walters was called, and, after many fruit¬ 
less efforts, he at length hit upon this novel and 
ingenious plan to extract it. Having ascertained 
the probable size of the hook, a pistol bullet of 
suitable dimensions was procured, a hole was 
pierced in the middle of it, and it was placed 
upon the line of the fish-hook and allowed to slip 
down to the hook. The weight of the bullet, 
assisted by gentle pressure downwards with a 
pair of curved forceps, removed the hook from 
its situation. Thus liberated, the point of the 
hook sticking into the lead, and being protected 
by it, was safely removed.— Pittsburg Journal. 
Deception of toe Senses. —It is mentioned 
in the Museum of Art and Science that if two 
fingers of the same hand, being crossed, be 
placed upon a table and a marble or pea is 
rolled between them, the impression will be, if 
the eyes are closed, that two marbles or peas are 
touched. If the nose be pinched and cinnamon 
be tasted, it will taste like a common stick of 
deal. Many substances lose their flavor when 
the nostrils are stopped. Nurses, therefore, 
upon right and scientific principles, stop the 
noses of children when they give them doses 
of disagreeable medicine. If the eyes are 
blindfolded, and buttermilk and claret be alter¬ 
nately tasted, the person tasting them, after a 
few repetitions of one process, will be unable to 
I distinguish the one from the other. 
-• e *- 
Anecdote of a Gate.—A correspondent of 
the Home Journal , writing of gates, tells this 
anecdote: 
I once passed through a door-yard gate which 
did, unintentionally, give an indication of the 
designer’s character. The gate was a common 
one, shut by a chain and ball, but the post to 
which the inner end of the chain was attached 
was carved and painted in the likeness of a ne¬ 
gro with one hand raised to his cocked hat, and 
the other extended to welcome you in. As you 
opened the gate toward you, in going in, the 
negro post-pointer bent toward you, by a joint 
in his back, fairly bowing you in. Upon letting 
the gate go, a spring in his legs “ brought him 
up standing,” again, ready for the next comer. 
This faithful fellow performed the amiable for 
his master for many years, without reward, 
except now and then a new coat—of paint; 
but finally died of a rheumatic back, con¬ 
tracted in his master’s service. 
A Family Party. —A Persian merchant com¬ 
plaining heavily of some unjust sentence of the 
lower court, was told by the judge to go to the 
cadi. 
“But the cadi is your uncle,” urged the 
plaintiff. 
“Then you can go to the grand vizier.” 
“But his secretary is your cousin.” 
“ Then you may go to the sultan.” 
“ But his favorite sultana is your neice.”. 
“ Well, then, go the d-1.” 
“Ah, there is still closer family connections,” 
said the merchant, as he left the court in des¬ 
pair. 
No—is a great word, though it looks so 
small in print. In certain circumstances it is 
the biggest word that can fill a man’s mouth. 
It concentrates his whole personality in a single 
monosyllable. The young, when tempted, find 
it very difficult to say it. There is a critical 
year or two, as they are passing to maturity, 
when they need parental help to enable them to 
get out this resolute word, No ! The moral 
machinery of the man is just starting, the steam 
is bubbling and effervescing, longing to work. A 
little help at the lever will turn it on judiciously 
and harmonious action will result. Alas for the 
youth who have no wise parents to help them 
to say no at this critical period! “ My son, if 
sinners entice thee, consent thou not.”— Exam¬ 
iner. 
-- 
Smart. —“ Why Mr. B.,” said a tall youth to 
a little person in company with half a dozen 
huge men, “ I protest you are so small I did 
not see you before.” “Very likely,” replied 
the little gentleman. “I am like a sixpence 
among six copper pennies, not readily perceived, 
but worth the whole of them.” 
-- 
A Mother admonishing her son, (a lad some 
seven years of age,) told him that he should 
never defer till to-morrow what he could do to¬ 
day. The little urchin replied, “ then mother, 
let’s eat the remainder of the plum-pudding to¬ 
night.” 
