94 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
Joseph stood amazed, but at length re¬ 
plied with great emotion, and a tear stood in 
his eye. 
“ Yes, sir, it was the very last penny she 
gave me.” 
“ Well, Joseph, so satisfied am I with your 
conduct, thatlnot only do I pay to you a 
month’s wages willingly for the time you 
have been here, but I must beg of you to 
fulfil the duties of collecting clerk to our 
firm, which has become vacantly the death 
of a very old and faithful assistant.” 
Joseph thanked me in the most unassum¬ 
ing manner, and I was asked to take care 
of his money, since I had promised to pro¬ 
vide him with suitable clothing! for his new 
occupation. 
It will be unnecessary to relate how, step 
by step, this poor country lad proceeded to 
win the confidence of myself and partner. 
The accounts were always correct to a pen¬ 
ny ; and whenever his salary became due, 
he drew out of my hands no more than he 
absolutely needed, even to a penny. At 
length he had saved a sufficient sum of 
money to be deposited in the bank. 
It so happened that one of our customers, 
who carried on a successful business, wanted 
an active partner. This person was of ec¬ 
centric habits, and considerably advanced in 
years. Scrupulously just, he looked on every 
penny, and invariably discharged his work¬ 
men, if they were not equally scrupulous in 
their dealing with him. 
Aware of this peculiarity of temper, there 
was no person I could recommend but 
Joseph; and after overcoming the repug¬ 
nance of my partner, who was unwilling to 
be deprived of so valuable an assistant, 
Joseph was duly received into the firm of 
Richard Fairbrother & Co. Prosperity at¬ 
tended Joseph in his new undertaking, and 
never suffering a penny difference to appear 
in his transactions, he so completely won the 
confidence of his senior partner, that he left 
him the whole of his business, as he ex¬ 
pressed in his will “ even to the very last 
penny.” __ 
A HORSE STORY. 
“ The Nicholas Mare ” was a beast of ex¬ 
traordinary speed and endurance. Like 
most rare animals, whether human or brute, 
she was eccentric in her habits. It matters 
not who owned her at the time of the inci¬ 
dent we are about to relate. Suffice it to 
say that her owner was a sensible man, a 
thorough horseman ; his predilection for 
horse flesh, more than anything else, having 
driven him into the livery business. Next 
to the wife of his bosom, he loved the Nich¬ 
olas mare, a fact of which both females were 
sensible, without being at all jealous of each 
other. For this reason the mare was hired 
only to particular customers, and when let, 
the party hiring was always carefully in¬ 
structed as to the peculiarities of the animal. 
A particular friend, unacquainted with the 
mare or her habits, and troubled with an im¬ 
pediment in his speech, as well as with a 
native infirmity of temper, which prevented 
him from exercising any charity for living 
c reatures of slow or tardy motion, once ap¬ 
plied to our livery man for a horse, for a 
journey of a dozen miles or so, undertaken 
for the purpose of bringing his wife home 
from her father’s house on a visit. The con¬ 
tract ran thus : 
“ I w-w-want a horse—a good ’un—one 
that’ll st st-st-start the minute that you s-s- 
sa-sa-say pwh-pwh-pwhist, an’ll go like the 
wind.” 
“ Suit you, I guess,” was the reply. 
The mare was put between the thills of a 
nice light buggy, her harness thoroughly 
adjusted by the owner, the reins carefully 
laid over the dashboard, and the usual chap¬ 
ter of advice opened concerning her manage¬ 
ment. 
“ Oh, g-g-git out with your directions; I 
c-c-can d-drive her, I guess,” interrupted the 
lessee, and picking up the reins, he sprang 
for the seat, but landed heels up, upon the 
buggy bottom. The mare was off! but the 
driver, being game, had gained the command, 
as he thought, through the recovery of the 
lines, upon which he pulled as though re¬ 
solved “ to do or die.” A slight smile was 
visible upon the demure face of the lessor, 
as the vehicle receded from sight, at a kil¬ 
ling pace, and nothing more was known until 
the next day, when our friend with the im¬ 
pediment made his appearance with the mare, 
but without his wife. As he drove up a 
cloud o’erspread his face, as he saw the 
lessor at the stable door. 
“ W-w-what kind of an incarnate b-b- 
brute do you c-call this 1” 
“ Best horse in the stable.” 
“ W-w-well! I started for D—.” 
“ Yes, I know it.” 
“W-w-well! before I could stop, went to 
H—, (22 miles ;) drove back this morning. 
Y r ou k-kn-know father’s door-yard—half a 
mile wide ?” 
“Yes. Weill” 
“ W-w-well, old man, me, b-br-bro-broth- 
er Jim, hired man, and a visitor, besides, t-t- 
tri-tried for two hours to get w-w-wife into 
the wagon, and couldn’t do it; d-d-de-devil- 
ish critter danced college hornpike all r-ro- 
round an-an-and over some of us, but not a 
passenger could we get in.” 
“ How, then, did you get in 1” 
“ Tell you. Old man’s as foxy as a law¬ 
yer. Told me to take her out. I did. Told 
me to g-g-get in. I did ; and after I got in 
they hitched the mare, and h-he-here I be. 
W T -w-wouldn’t give a Spanish dollar for the 
mare, though she did come the twelve miles 
in f-for-forty-eight minutes.” 
“ Why 1” 
“ Look at my hands.” 
They were one blister. The lessor smiled. 
“ If you had listened to me, all this would 
have been avoided. Allow the lines to re¬ 
main untouched until you are seated, and 
she never starts until you tell her. Drive 
her with a slack rein and she will go as you 
desire.” 
The truth of the statement was at once 
tested by trial, and resulted as was asserted, 
precisely ;—but the driver was punished for 
his impatience, and ever, from that day, in¬ 
sists upon having a horse “ that won’t start 
the m-m-rninute you say p-ph-phwist, and 
go like the wind.” 
All Books received.—if not unworthy of notice—will be an¬ 
nounced in this column by title, as soon as received. 
Further notices or reviews of Agricultural and Horticul¬ 
tural Books will be given—when their striking merits 
or demerits require it—after we have had time to thor¬ 
oughly examine them. 
Transactions of the New-Hampshire Ag¬ 
ricultural Society for 1854 —We are in¬ 
debted to the Secretary, Mr. Jas. O. Adams, 
for a copy of this the Third Volume issued 
by the Granite State Society. It is a mod¬ 
erate-sized volume, of 400 pages, but large 
enough for all practical purposes. The ed¬ 
itor, Mr. Adams, appears to have made the 
best possible use of the materials at hand. 
A cursory glance through the volume re¬ 
veals several articles that we shall read with 
interest and profit. 
The Nest in the Honey Suckle, and other 
Stories. Published by the American Sun¬ 
day School Union, and to be obtained at the 
various depositories of this Association. 
This is a charming little volume of 192 pages, 
written by our correspondent, Anna Hope. 
It contains forty-two stories, many of them 
beautifully illustrated, and on such subjects 
and in just the style to please, instruct, and 
improve children. A capital thing for a 
holiday present. 
REVIEW OF TRICES, WEATHER, AC. 
American Agriculturist Office ) 
New-York, Dec. 29, 1855, j 
Between the close of our last summary (Nov. 24) 
and the 10th of the present month, the Breadstuff 
Markets were as variable as the hight of the 
mercury in the thermometer, owing to the uncer¬ 
tainty of the time the Canals would be closed by 
ice. They were advertised to close “ officially ” 
on December 5th, but there was at one time 
strong fears that Jack Frost would step in and re¬ 
lieve the authorities from the necessity of sending 
the boats into winter quarters. With a limited 
stock of Wheat, Flour and Corn, on hand, every 
day’s immense arrivals materially changed the 
complexion of affairs. The dealers in Breadstuffs 
studied the appearance of the clouds and the di¬ 
rection of the wind, by day, with the earnest at¬ 
tention of old sailors ; and if reports be true, some 
of the largest speculators in flour sat up o' nights 
to watch the weather. But warm breezes and 
genial skies—not to add lenient Canal Commis¬ 
sioners—favored the inland farmers who had 
wheat to sell, and the starving multitude at the sea¬ 
board who must needs purchase it; the Canals 
remained open to the 10th inst, so that our win¬ 
ter supplies have been too great to admit of their 
being tossed about like a football, by the specula¬ 
tors. While the producers received fair remu¬ 
neration, the consumers are not compelled to pay 
exhorbitant profits to go into the pockets of the 
middlemen, who last winter were able to control 
the market. Owing to this state of affairs, the 
transactions in breadstuffs have not been very large 
during the last five weeks—hardly equal to those 
of some single weeks previous. We have daily 
watched and recorded the principal sales, and our 
note-book shows the following results for the last 
28 business days, not including Thanksgiving and 
Christmas, viz., of Flour, 441,450 barrels; of 
Wheat, 598,900 bushels ; of Corn, 1,283,000 bush¬ 
els ; and of Rye, 359,500 bushels. 
With an occasional fluctuation upward, the 
prices of flour, grain, &c., have experienced a 
gradual decline. The following figures show the 
comparative prices of some of the principal agri¬ 
cultural products at the two dates named .- 
