152 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[May, ■ 
portion was placed in an out-building for safe keeping 
until the next day, but in the morning it was nowhere to 
be found; some one had stolen it, and the pelt in which 
it was wrapped. Greatly disappointed, the Deacon and 
his wife resolved to make some amends for the loss to 
the minister, and therefore selected their nicest cheese, 
placed it in a covered basket, and sent it with a polite 
note by their two boys. It was berrying time, and the 
boys made frequent stops both going and coming. When 
they returned, great was the surprise of the Deacon to 
find a note from the minister cordially thanking him for 
the present of a quarter of mutton, and asking him to ac¬ 
cept the gift contained in the basket as an expression of 
his regard. “ Mutton ? Mutton ?” said the Deacon, “ he 
was probably thinking of the sheep I killed yesterday, 
when he wrote the note ; but let us examine the basket.” 
He opened it and there was a flat stone! The Deacon 
was a good man, but this aroused his indignation, and lie 
could not refrain from speaking harshly of such treat¬ 
ment from one he had always considered his friend. By 
the advice of his wife, in the afternoon he called on the 
minister for an explanation, taking with him a small cut 
of mutton for a peace offering. The minister and his 
wife had just gone out, and as the Deacon was talking 
with their little girl, lie happened to look into an open 
tere spied the very quarter of mutton stolen 
night previous—he knew it by the marks 
he had made in dressing it. Without another word he 
seized it, and went home in great wrath, convinced that 
the minister was a thief, and determined to have nothing 
more to do with him. The minister on his return was 
equally indignant at the conduct of the Deacon, but pru¬ 
dently resolved to say nothing of the matter. For three 
weeks after, the Deacon and his family were absent from 
church. Every body wondered why, but he would make 
no explanations, neither would the minister. Finally a 
meeting of the church members was called, with a de¬ 
termination to have the strange actions of the Deacon 
explained, and he resolved to let the whole story out. 
He told the circumstances, and expressed great grief at 
what he considered the shameful conduct of the minis¬ 
ter. The latter gentleman'then made his statement. He 
said that the Deacon’s boys had brought him a quarter of 
mutton in a basket, and that in return he had placed 
there a neat Family Bible. Every body now looked at 
his neighbor, wondering what it could mean; some 
thought them both crazy, others thought of witchcraft. 
All was still as the grave for some minutes, when there 
arose a man formerly known as Wicked Will, who had 
lately reformed and joined the church. “Brethren,” said 
he in a trembling voice, “ 7 stole the quarter of mutton. 
On my way home in the night I was chased by wolves, 
and climbed a tree for safety, where I had to stay until 
they went away in the morning. Being afraid to take 
the meat home by daylight, I hid it in the woods, but to 
make sure of it, I stayed near the place, intending to car¬ 
ry it away early in the evening. While there, the Dea¬ 
con’s boys came along, and from my hiding place I heard 
them speaking of what had happened. I also'found that 
it was too warm for the meat to keep through the day, 
and so when they were busy gathering berries, I slipped 
the cheese out of the basket, and put in the meat. When 
they returned, they stopped again, and hearing them 
speak of a present for the Deacon, I examined the bask¬ 
et, and finding a nice package there, I thought it might 
be valuable, so I took it out, and put in the stone. But 
that is not all. On reaching home safely, I opened the 
package to examine my prize. While carelessly turn¬ 
ing over the leaves, my eye fell upon the passage “ Thou 
shalt not steal,” and from that moment I found no peace 
until I became a changed man.”—Thus the whole mys¬ 
tery was solved, and the Deacon and the Minister were 
not only reconciled, but they both heartily rejoiced to¬ 
gether that their temporary loss of peacohad resulted in 
so great a good as the reformation of Wicked Will, 
The Slaver ami the Shark. 
Some years ago an English vessel on the lookout for 
slave ships gave chase to a suspicious looking craft. 
While the pursuit was going on, it was noticed that some¬ 
thing was thrown overboard from the supposed slaver. 
She was soon captured and taken into' port for trial, 
but no certain evidence could be produced against her ; 
the ship’s papers, that is, the writings which every vessel 
is by law obliged to carry, showing her character and 
where she is bound, could not be found ; they had evi¬ 
dently been thrown into the sea during the chase. The 
slaver’s captain was in high glee, both at his expected 
escape, and also with the idea of recovering damages for 
the seizure and detention of his vessel. But before the 
trial ended, a vessel came into the same port which had 
followed closely in the track of the chase. Her crew 
had caught a shark, and in its stomach found a tin 
box which contained the missing ship’s papers, and on 
this evidence the slaver was condemned. The jaws 
of the shark with the tin box placed inside are preserved 
in the Naval Museum in England. 
Three Ways to he Bffappy. 
The little wanderer is safe at home again, thanks to the 
kind friends who found her in the woods, and the whole 
party are happy. The little girl looks very serious, as 
though she would say “ I will never do so again,” but 
nevertheless she has the feeling of being right again, 
which is always pleasant. The mother is full of joy at 
the return of her missing child. The strangers are happy 
because they have done a kindness to this poor family. 
Here then are shown three kinds of enjoyment, that of 
becoming good, of receiving good, and of doing good. 
Whoever would have happiness must find it in one of 
these three ways. The first, becoming good, and the last, 
doing good, will be sure to bring the other, receiving 
good. Whoever will learn this short lesson by heart and 
practice upon it, will have a more valuable possession 
than the “philosopher’s stone,” which people once be¬ 
lieved would turn every thing into gold, and every wise 
girl and boy who reads the Agriculturist will at once! 
set about a task which promises such great results. 
Something' Ahout Your Name. 
James, George, Susan, Mary, Willie, Lucy,—but we 
can’t call a thousandth part of the roll of the Agricultur¬ 
ist girls and boys—here is something for each of you to 
think and learn about. What does your name mean ? 
Why was it given to you ? Thousands answer to the 
last question, “ I was named after my father or mother, 
uncle or aunt, or other relative. They had their nSmes 
from some one before them, and so back until there must 
have been a time when the name was first used to desig¬ 
nate an individual. Thus Adam means red color, and the 
name was given to the first man from his ruddiness of 
complexion. Eve signifies life; a very appropriate name 
for the mother of the human race. John is said to be de¬ 
rived from the Hebrew word Johanan, meaning “the 
grace of God.” If so, the beloved disciple had a name in 
perfect accordance with his character. It will be interest¬ 
ing for every one to know the history of his or her name, 
the meaning of the word, and the distinguished persons 
who have borne it.' Such information will be all the more 
valuable if each will try to acquire the virtues and shun 
the vices of his name-sake, and when the name signifies 
something good or noble, if an effort be made to make 
the character equal to it; or if your name has not a 
good signification, then try to make it honorable, and 
to have it possess a value to those who come after you. 
A I*»rrot in Court. 
An English paper tells a story of a parrot which was 
claimed by two parties, each of whom endeavored to 
prove his ownership. Finally the bird was brought into 
court, and the real owner, from whom she had been 
stolen, made the bird whistle several tunes, and at the 
end of the performance, placed his head near the cage 
and asked the parrot to kiss him, which she did very af¬ 
fectionately to the best.of her ability. “That’s no 
proof,” exclaimed.the other claimant, “ she will do that 
for any body,” and he immediately presented his own 
face to the bird, for a like salutation. But instead of a 
kiss, Poll gave a sharp snap, caught him by the lip, and 
held on, screaming with all her might, while the bystand¬ 
ers could not restrain laughter at seeing the thief thus 
convicted, and punished by the knowing bird. She was 
forthwith restored to her owner—on her own testimony. 
The Mysterious Quarter of Mutton. 
The following incident, said to have occurred “ Out 
West,” proves that it is not always safe to judge from 
appearances. In a district adjoining a large forest, 
wolves were so plenty that it was almost impossible to 
keep sheep, and only now and then a “cqsset” was 
raised as a pet. A good Deacon had reared one with 
much trouble, and as it had become rather troublesome, 
he killed it. Mutton was a great treat in those parts, so he 
reserved one quarter for himself, one for the minister, 
and divided the remainder into small portions and dis¬ 
tributed it among his few neighbors. The minister’s 
