AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
407 
“A little humor now and then, 
Is relished by the best of men.” 
YANKEE HUMOR. 
Captain Basil Hall, when he traveled in 
this country, found the Yankees a people 
entirely destitute of wit and humor. Per¬ 
haps our gravity, which ought to have put 
him on the right scent, deceived him. I do 
not know a more perfect example of wit than 
something, which, as I have heard, was said 
to the captain himself. Stopping at a vil¬ 
lage inn there came up a thunder storm, and 
Capt. Hall, surprised that a new country 
should have reached such perfection in these 
metereological manufactures, said to a by¬ 
stander, “ Why, you have very heavy thun¬ 
der here.” “ Well, yes,” replied the man, 
“ we ilu, considerin’ the number of inhabit¬ 
ants.” Here is another story which a 
stage-driver told me once : A wag on the 
outside of the coach called to a man by the 
roadside who was fencing some very poor 
land—“ I say, mister, what are you fencing 
that pasture for 1 It would take forty acres 
on’t to starve a middle-sized cow.” “ Jesso ; 
and .I’m fencing of it to keep eour kettle 
eout.” 
• Now in the “ forty-acre ” part of the story, 
we have an instance of what is called Amer¬ 
ican exaggeration, and which I take to be the 
symptoms of most promise in Yankee fun. 
For it marks that desire for intensity of ex¬ 
pression which is the phase of imagination. 
Indeed many of these sayings are purely 
imaginative—as where a man said of a 
painter he knew, that “ he painted a shingle 
so exactly like marble that when it fell into 
the river it sank.” A man told me once that 
the people of a certain country town were so 
universally dishonest, “ that they had to take 
in their stone walls at night.” In some of 
these stories, imagination appears yet more 
strongly in that contradictory union with the 
understanding which lies at the root of the 
highest humor. For example, a coachman 
driving up some mountains in Vermont, was 
asked if they were as steep on the other side 
also? “Steep! chain-lightnin’ couldn’t go 
down ’em without the breechin’ on !” I be¬ 
lieve that there is more latent humor among 
the American people than in any other, and 
that it will one day develop itself and find 
expression through Art.— J. R. Lowell's Lec¬ 
tures. 
American Sentiment. — I encountered to¬ 
day in a ravine some three miles distant, 
among the gold washers, a woman from San 
Jose. She was at work with a large wooden 
bowl by the side of a stream. I asked her 
how long she had been there, and how much 
gold she averaged a day. She replied “Three 
weeks and an ounce !” Her reply reminded 
me of an anecdote of the late Judge Bruce, 
who met a girl returning from market, and 
asked her, “ How deep -did you find the 
stream ? What did you get for your better 1” 
“ Up to the knee, and ninepence,” was the 
reply. “Ah!” said the judge to himself, 
“ she is the girl for me! no words lost there;” 
turned back, proposed, and was accepted, 
and a more happy couple the conjugal bonds 
never united. The nuptial lamp never 
waned, its ray was steady and clear to the 
last. Ye who paddle off and on for seven 
years, and are at last perhaps capsized, take 
a lesson of the judge ; that “up to the knee 
and ninepence ” is worth all the love letters 
and melaneholy rhymes ever penned. 
The choicest pleasures of life lie within 
the range of moderation. 
BELLES AND BEGGARS OF ITALY. ' 
The Florence correspondent of the New¬ 
ark Advertiser says : 
Instances are not unfrequent of mendicants 
becoming rich through their beggarly sav¬ 
ings. A singular revelation of this is report¬ 
ed to have occurred here a few days ago. 
A young man of respectable family being 
cheated in some way out of his heritage, 
went to a certain church daily to pray to the 
Virgin to take his cause in her hands ; and 
as he went he was in the habit of throwing 
alms into the hands of a beggar found always 
on the church steps, who pretended to be 
blind, wearing a bandage over his eyes. Af¬ 
ter a month or so, the beggar addressed him, 
changing his imploring air to one of patron¬ 
age, and asked if he did not himself need 
pecuniary aid. The young man, with sur¬ 
prise, asked the beggar, in reply, what that 
was to him 1 
“ Much,” he answered, “ because I love 
you and then inquired if he would like to 
make an eligible marriage. 
“ I,” said the young gentleman, “ how can 
1 marry a rich wife, when I have nothing to 
bring her in return 1” 
“Well enough, if you let me make the 
match for you,” said the beggar. “ Come 
to-morrow, at such an hour, to-street, 
No. — ? and I promise you a good fortune.” 
“ Agreed !” said the other, beginning to be¬ 
lieve that his patron Mary had wrought a 
miracle in his behalf. 
The next day found him true to his ap¬ 
pointment at the house. The door being 
opened by a servant, he was about to retire, 
thinking all a hoax, when the domestic in¬ 
sisted on his going in, saying that his mas¬ 
ter expected him. He accordingly entered 
and found a gentleman, who met him with a 
kindly welcome. “ Sir, I have not the honor 
of your acquaintance,” said the young man. 
“I know you very well, though,” replied the 
gentleman, “ and permit me to present you 
to my daughter,” leading the astonished 
youth to a beautiful young lady seated on the 
sofa. After some general conversation the 
father signified his wish to be alone with the 
stranger. The daughter modestly withdrew, 
and he revealed himself as the blind beggar 
of the church-stone—said he had, during 
twenty years,accumulated a fortune through 
begging, and would now present him with 
his daughter and her dot, because he was 
sure that he was an honest man. It need not 
be added that Italian piety did not prevent 
the young man’s accepting the price of low 
treachery, nor that it led him again to the 
church to thank the Virgin for this wonder¬ 
ful answer to his prayers, and to hang a sil¬ 
ver heart, in acknowledgement, before her 
image. 
The Goat in the Chair. —Dr. Cooper, of 
the South Carolina College, was one of the 
best natured old gents, that ever lectured to 
mischievous boys. On one occasion when 
he entered the lecture-room, he found the 
class all seated with unwonted punctuality, 
and looking wondrous grave. Mischief was 
the cause, and it was apparent that they were 
prepared for a burst of laughter as the old 
Doctor waded along to the professor’s chair, 
for there sat an old goat, bolt upright, lashed 
to the chair. But they were disappointed of 
their fun, for instead of getting angry and 
storming at them, he mildly remarked, “ Aha, 
young gentleman ! quite republican, 1 see, in 
your tendencies; fond of representative 
government! Well, well, it is all right, I 
dare say, the present incumbent can fill it as 
well as any of you. You may listen to his 
lecture to-day, Good bye ! Don’t feel sheep¬ 
ish about it!” And he went away leaving a 
smile behind. 
Our Index crowds out several notices of 
books, reports, &c., which will be appropri¬ 
ately noticed hereafter. 
Index. —By cutting this number at the top 
the part containing the Index can be readily 
separated for stitching or binding at the 
front or back of the volume. 
Missing Numbers. —Those who preserve 
their files complete should at once look them 
over, and send for any missing number they 
may desire. We have a few extra copies of 
each number in this volume, except 54. 
These will be supplied to subscribers calling 
for them while they last. Where but one or 
two copies are called for they will be mailed 
without charge ; for more than this, four 
cents a number will be charged. 
Day of Publication. —Beginning with 
the next volume, the American Agricul¬ 
turist will be dated on Thursday, and be 
promptly mailed on the afternoon of that day. 
Our issue will go into the same mail with 
many other papers which are dated on Sat¬ 
urday of the same week. Our reports of the 
cattle and produce markets will be brought 
up to the hour of putting the last page of the 
paper to press on Thursday morning. This ar¬ 
rangement is made to enable us to be in the 
markets the entire day, Wednesday (instead 
of only to 3 o’clock P. M. as heretofore) and 
leave us the evening of that day for better 
arranging and comparing our notes before 
putting them in type. 
gtwbk 
Remarks. —On account of the long index 
in this number, we are obliged to omit our 
usual price current. Flour has advanced 25 
to 50 cents per barrel on the lower and mid¬ 
dle grades, extra fine remains unchanged. 
The choicer parcels of corn have fallen 2 to 
3 cts. per bushel; common same as per our 
last. 
Cotton of the lower and middle grades is 
i of a cent per lb. less. Rice, Sugar, and 
Tobacco firm. 
The weather softened rapidly from the 
opening of this month, and the thermometer 
this week has ranged as high as 60 at noon. 
The prospects for early planting are now 
favorable. 
PRODUCE MARKET. 
Tuesday, March 6, 1855. 
The prices given in our reports from week to week, are the 
average wholesale prices obtained by producers, and not those 
at which produce is sold from the market. The variations in 
prices refer chiefly to the quality of the articles. 
The weather for a few days past has been quite warm 
and spring-like, but not sufficiently long yet for the river 
to be open much. Consequently produce continues very- 
scarce in market, and little is brought in on account of 
the high prices of freight. The railroad companies, like 
many other corporations, appear very willing to take ad¬ 
vantage of the trade, iif doing which they are not likely to 
let their business suffer. Thus the freight on potatoes 
from Rochester, which, when the river is open is only 58 
or COc. per bbl., is now run up to $1. If this weather con¬ 
tinues, however, there will soon be a “ relapse.” 
In the potato trade there is considerable call for western 
