56 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[February, 
The Editor with his Young Readers. 
A PRETTY LARGE COMPANY—CURIOUS FIGURES. 
As the teacher of a large well-ordered school feels 
when he points to the group of children and says to 
a visitor, “ These are my scholars,” so we feel as 
we think of the great throng of children—boys and 
girls of all ages—who belong to our great “ Agri¬ 
culturist Family ”—to our school. What a company! 
For aught we know, they are all good boys and 
girls—-we can’t think of them otherwise. Perhaps 
yon would each feel gratified to know something 
of the size of this company to which you belong. 
Everybody likes to be in a large school, or on board 
the biggest ship where there are the most passen¬ 
gers. It’s something to think of, as well as tell of, 
when one has been a participant in a grand excur¬ 
sion, or a great celebration. One really attaches 
more value to himself, and makes more effort to act 
worthy of his position. Well, young friends, you 
belong to our great family; you will this year look 
upon the same beautiful pictures (like the one 
above); you will all read the same pages, you will 
all have similar thoughts, and in many respects, you 
will all belong to one company. But how many are 
there of you who thus belong to our group ? Judg¬ 
ing from the number of households to which our 
paper is a constant visitor, and the average number 
in a house old enough to read, we suppose that far 
more than Two Hundred Thousand Soys and Girls 
belong to the Agriculturist Family. You, dear read¬ 
er, help make up this grand company. Please con¬ 
sider yourself introduced to the whole, and as be¬ 
ing one of the group... .And what a group ! Let’s 
suppose only 200,000 all together, and give each one ' 
two feet square to stand in. Hurrah! .A. twenty-acre 
field full , with scarcely any room outside for our 
friends.... Some curious thoughts are suggested as 
we, in imagination, look upon the grand gathering. 
Among all of you, there are no two just alike. 
Every mother could pick out her own children the 
moment she saw them ; she would make no mis¬ 
take. How is it that there is such a marked differ¬ 
ence, when all have faces (cheeks, foreheads, chins, 
mouths, noses and eyes) so much alike in form 
and general appearance ? Can you account for it ? 
_There are before us a hundred thousand bon¬ 
nets and hoods, as many more hats and caps, as 
many coats or jackets, and as many girls’ dresses. 
There are a hundred thousand pairs of boys’ boots 
or shoes, and as many of girls shoes, and so on of 
other items of dress. How many stitches have 
been taken by the mothers of our group to make 
up all the dresses, and aprons, and skirts, the coats, 
pants, and the other garments ? Can any of our 
girls tell how many stitches they each wear out in 
a year ? Can any of the boys ? Do you ever think 
who makes or pays for these stitches ?... .Let us 
look at our whole group of young readers again. 
They would fill two hundred good-sized churches. 
They would make two thousand Sunday schools 
of one hundred scholars each. If, this jjpar, they 
should each learn seven verses in the Bible every 
week, the whole number learned would be equiva¬ 
lent to seventy-two million and eiyht hundred thou¬ 
sand verses (72,800,000!)_Suppose each, should 
make his or her parents or some one else happy 
once a day, how many times would there be happi¬ 
ness given this year I—Answer: Seventy-three mil¬ 
lion times!.... If each of you should only once a day 
get vexed at something, and fret about it, how 
many “ frets ” would there be, j ust among our usual* 
ly pleasant Agriculturist Family, during this present 
year? Oh! oh! Seventy-three million frets! Sup¬ 
pose all try and spend at least one week (say this 
week,) without fretting, or scolding, or getting 
vexed at all. That will blot out fourteen hundred 
thousand exhibitions of temper that do nobody else 
any good, but always make the fretter think less of 
himself or herself. Come, let’s have a trial of pa¬ 
tience for one week, beginning this hour. Please 
keep these black figures (1,400,000) before the 
eye, or in the mind, and each one do your part in 
lessening the number for this week. If you like 
the result of the experiment, perhaps you may try 
it of your own accord the second week_“ Pleas¬ 
ant words are as a honey-comb, sweet to the soul, and 
health to the bones.”— So said the wise man. Not only 
are pleasant words “ sweet to the soul ” of others, 
• but they make one’s own soul happy. Suppose 
each of our two hundred thousand boys and girls 
use pleasant words to others—to their parents, to 
their brothers, or sisters, or playmates—say once a 
week, where they have been accustomed to use 
cross, or fretful, or peevish ones; they will give 
(and receive) “honey-comb,” and “sweei ess to 
the soul,” more than a million times, th s year. 
Dear reader, will you do your part ? Will you try ? 
...:“School’s dismissed.” The grand company 
will now break up, and all hasten to their homes 
scattered here and there all over our vast country, 
from Nova Scotia to California_Here’s a copy ot 
the February Agriculturist to take along, to be read 
at each fireside. We hope you will find in it 
something to both please and interest you. But 
don’t forget your part of what is to be done by the 
twenty-acre group you have been among to day. 
