1800] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST 
25 
work close by. “ Let us have a little amusement at his 
expense,” said the student “ Suppose we hide these 
shoes, and conceal ourselves in the bushes to watch his 
perplexity when he can not find them.”—“ I can think of 
a better trick than that,” said the instructor. “You are 
rich, and suppose you put a silver dollar in the toe of 
each shoe and then we will hide.”—The young man did 
so. The poor man finished his work soon, and went to 
put on his shoes. You can imagine his surprise, when 
he stooped down to take out a pebble, as he supposed, 
from the toe, and found it to be a hard dollar, and then 
his absolute perplexity and astonishment, when he found 
still another dollar in the other shoe. His feelings over¬ 
came him ; he fell upon his knees, looked up to Heaven, 
and uttered aloud a fervent thanksgiving, in which he 
thanked a kind Providence for sending some unknown 
hand to save from perishing his sick and helpless wife, 
and his children without bread. Do you wonder that the 
young man stood in his hiding place deeply affected, and 
his eyes filled with tears ? Young friends, and you Miss 
“ Sly Bools,” when you want to enjoy real fun, real pleas¬ 
ure at witnessing the perplexity of others, see if you can 
not in some way imitate the student. Such tricks are 
worth performing. 
DID NOT KNOW HIS BEST FRIEND, 
A laughable mistake is said to have occurred recently 
on a western steamboat. An elderly gentleman whose 
sight was not very good, while walking up and down the 
long saloon, stopped near one end, and addressed an in¬ 
dividual he met, thus. “ Is your name Scott”? No an¬ 
swer was returned. Thinking he must be deaf, he re¬ 
peated in a louder tone, “ Is your name Scott”! still no 
answer. Once more he shouted, “Is your name Scott”? 
but receiving no reply he turned away saying, “ Well, 
you are either no gentleman or very deaf.” The passen¬ 
gers were convulsed with laughter—he had been address¬ 
ing his own image in a large looking glass.” 
how “lew” was caught. 
A subscriber contributes the following: We had a 
colored man familiarly called “Lew,” living in a ten¬ 
ant house not far from the homestead on the farm. 
He was considered shrewd, but proved eventually not to 
be over honest. Soon after his employment, our supply 
of eggs diminished rapidly, but we could not trace any of 
them to “ Lew ” or his wife, though there was an excess 
of egg shells near his house. One day he came into the 
kitchen and contrary to his usual polite custom, he did 
not doff his hat. Knowing his habit of scratching his head 
when perplexed, I asked him a puzzling question, up 
went his hat—and down rolled an egg, smash upon the 
floor! He could not well blush ‘ red,’ but with a sheep¬ 
ish look he stammered out, “ Guess I might better left 
um in the nest.” 
weighing the evidence. 
A correspondent gives the following which is worth 
telling as it will be new to-most of you, if not to all. A 
gentleman missed two pounds of very fine butter which 
he had kept for a special occasion, and charged the cook 
with having stolen it. She declared the kitten had eaten 
It, and that she had just caught her finishing the last 
morsel. The gentleman immediately put the kitten in 
the scales, and found she weighed only a pound and-a- 
half. The cook thus confounded, confessed the theft. 
a reserved man. 
Some people appear to enjoy themselves most, when 
let alone entirely. They say very little, and dislike to 
be questioned or even spoken to by st[angers, and remind 
you of an oyster, who only opens his mouth to take his 
food. One of this class was traveling in a stage with a 
very talkative man who tried hard to engage him in con¬ 
versation. They were both smoking, and the talkative 
man after speaking of several things and receiving no 
answer, remarked to his companion that the ashes from 
his cigar had fallen upon his vest, and a spark was burn¬ 
ing his hankerchief. “ Why can’t you let me alone?” 
growled out the other, “Your coat tail has been burning 
the last ten minutes, and I didn’t bother you about it.” 
FUN FOR BOYS IN WINTER. 
Not skating, or coasting, or snow-balling, or sleigh- 
riding. and such like out door sports ; these are all well 
in their place, and we hope you will enjoy them to the 
full. But we suggest some sport in addition. Do 
you, boys, ever make experiments in chemistry, phi¬ 
losophy, and do you gather specimens of wood, min¬ 
erals, plants, seeds, etc? We knew a boy living in a 
log-house in the “ Western woods ” who made a great 
many of the experiments described in Comstock’s old 
Philosophy and Chemistry, with materials found on the 
farm. He used tubes of elder wood for the hydraulic ap¬ 
paratus, for chemical tubes, etc.; with glass jars and bot¬ 
tles and soldier’s brass buttons, he got up a very effective 
electric machine—the first one ever seen in that neigh- 
hood ; and so of many other things. Let us tell you of a 
farmer’s home we recently visited, where there were a 
number of boys and girls. The family was pretty well off, 
and the children better supplied with money and other fa¬ 
cilities than are many households, but the example may 
be imitated in part at least, and you will be surprised at 
the number of things you can do with small means, when 
you set about it earnestly. 
In the family referred to, much of the spare money was 
used in buying engravings of fine kinds of horses, cattle, 
sheep, poultry and other animals, and of farm implements, 
and other machinery. A good library of books of differ¬ 
ent kinds, supplied reading for nights and rainy days, and 
the subjects read about, were discussed in conversation. 
The children, both boys and girls had a chamber room 
which they called their “ office,” where they kept their 
books, papers, pictures, minerals, and other curious things, 
all arranged in due order.—One young curly-head had a 
bent for mechanics and was called “ Our Mechanic.” He 
adorned his corner ofthe room with miniature wheel-bar¬ 
rows, horse-rakes, hoes, harrows, and mowing machines. 
Another was a “ Botanist,” and had his shelves covered 
with sections of all kinds of wood growing in the neigh¬ 
borhood, also herbariums of dried plants. Another w as 
called the “Artist,” and spent much of his time in draw¬ 
ing pictures of flowers, leaves, fruits, and animals and 
coloring them from life. His corner was perhaps the 
most highly embellished of all. Another was fond of 
speech-making, and often compelled his young auditors to 
sit in due order around the office, while he harangued 
them upon the importance of scientific husbandry, of uni¬ 
versal education, and the grand prospects of the rising 
generation ! 
Doubtless, a critic might see things in this office to 
smile at; but we were exceedingly pleased with our visit 
to it. and wish that such offices might be opened in every 
part of our country. What say the boys ? 
New Problems. —No. 1. A and B bought 80 lbs. of 
beef at 4 cents per lb., paying for the whole. In dividing 
it A took 50 lbs. and B 30 lbs., but A’s part being better, 
he is to pay | cent per lb. more than B. How much must 
each pay per lb.? 
No. 2. Word Rebus .—Man tea bonnet purchase the 
plow fuel grow the very person obliged one of the two 
contain or propel.—The puzzle here is to substitute for the 
words in this sentence some other words having the same 
or similar meaning, so that the new sentence shall make 
an excellent agricultural pioverb in rhyme. 
No. 3. Puzzling Pictures. 
A C 
A is a General of whom all have heard. 
B represents a common and useful farm implement. 
C Is very much like a cheese. 
See if you can find out how each picture resembles 
what it is said to represent. 
Answer to Agricultural Enigma (in Nov. No.). “ Chi¬ 
nese Sugar Cane.” Correct solutions received from Alida 
Gilbert, “ Mottville,” N. Y., Charles O. Potter, Milton B. 
Turner, Pearson H. Bristow, Sarah D. Lord, Edwin F. 
Treat, John G. Storis, Kenner Seaton, W. A. Buckhout, 
Jas. H. Dony, (thanks for your kind words and good 
works,) Jno. H. Treadwell, Harry La Fetra, Hiram H. 
Palmer, Matilda F. Van Houten, Mary E. Moore. 
The following have found their way into the Labyrinth 
in the Dec. No.: Jno. A Bittle, Chas. T. Simpson, Wm. 
H. Thornton, Wm. E. Jones, Dottie Noble, Wm. G. 
Kieffer, Peter Bloom, Gilbert Spicer, Theo. T. Kieffe. 
Read the Articles on Manures.—We want 
all our young friends to read the articles on manures, the 
first one of which will be found in another part of this pa 
per. You will find some interesting things about the 
growth of plants, and we feel quite sure you will gain 
much information from those articles, which will be of 
use to you hereafter. 
“How tilings are Made.” 
As already announced, wo fully expected to begin in 
this first number of the volume, an interesting series ol 
articles on “ How things are Made,” but the first article 
is necessarily delayed. That this delay is not the fault oi 
the Publishing Editor, the following note will show : 
To tilt Editor of the American Agricultuist: 
I am sorry that circumstances which I could not con 
trol, force me to disappoint you in the article with which 
I intended this month to begin the promised series on 
“ How things are Made.” You may rely that I shall not 
disappoint you next month, and 1 beg the readers to par¬ 
don a delay, which was wholly my fault, and not yours. 
New-York, Dec. 15, 1859. Yours truly, N. 
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