Q88 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST, 
[September, 
I THE PRISONEK AND HER 
This beauliful pictnve tells its own touching story of a 
lonely prisoner suffering for companionship ami sympa¬ 
thy, and finding it with the little birds that she has taught 
by kind treatment to confide in her. “ What is she shut 
up for?” ask ttie whole first class of Agriculturist read¬ 
ers, that is the little ones. We can not tell certainly. 
She does not look like a person who would commit 
any crime. In some countries men and women have 
been put in prison because they belonged to certain fam¬ 
ilies. Those w'ho shut them up were afraid if they lived 
they might become kings or queens, or get some place 
away from those who confined them. You will find many 
such accounts in the history of England, Fi ance, and 
other European countries. Probably the lady in the pic¬ 
ture, if she should ever be set free, would never want to 
see a bird shut up in a cage ; she would think of the lone¬ 
ly hours she herself had passed in confinement. If you 
have any doubts whether a bird loves liberty, just open 
the door of its cage, and it will soon show you liow it 
feels. It is much pleasanter to tame the birds by feeding 
them. They can be made so familiar as to feed from a 
person’s hand, if he will encourage their confidence by 
kind treatment day after day. If no one had ever injured 
the birds, they would never have had such fear of man, 
whom they now very justly look upon as their enemy. 
'I'lie Jiidge’s Experiment. 
Many years ago it was a common practice in Europe, 
to torture witnesses who were suspected of concealing 
the truth, and particularly supposed criminals who would 
not confess their guilt. The following account is given 
of its abolishment in Portugal, the country where it was 
hast practised : A certain judge greatly doubted whether 
statements extorted from sufferers by the rack, were 
worthy of belief, as many would he willing to confess to 
any thing to escape from the excruciating torments. He 
put the matter to test in the following manner. He gave 
the charge of his horse to a servant, requiring him to 
lodge in the stable, which was kept locked. One night 
the judge tiimself unlocked the door, stole in carefully 
while the servant was asleep, and killed the horse. Then 
when the mischief was discovered, it was of course 
charged upon the servant. The punishment for such a 
crime was death, and of course the poor fellow denied all 
knowledge of the act. But as appearances were so 
RETS .—Enijraced for the American Agriculturist, 
much against him, he was put to the torture to make him 
acknowledge the crime, and in a short time, he confessed 
himself guilty. Then the judge related the whole cir¬ 
cumstances to the court, stating what were his motives. 
Of course the man was acquitted, and the torture was 
abolished from that time. Although the act was a cruel 
one, much suffering was thereby saved to many others. 
Xlie Iiivemtoi* of the Stocking' Frame. 
The history of William Lee, the inventor of the first 
stocking knitting machine, is a remarkable instance of 
perseverance under difficulties and final want of person¬ 
al success, although he became a benefactor to his coun¬ 
try and the world. It is related that, when a young man, 
he paid his addresses to a lady who did not appear to fa¬ 
vor his attentions. Whenever he visited her she would 
always engage in knitting very industriously, and scarce¬ 
ly notice his conversation. At length he became disgust¬ 
ed, and declared that instead of following her whims 
any longer, he would invent something to do away with 
her favorite employment of knitting. After three years 
study and patient labor, he was able to produce all of the 
stocking except the foot, but several months more ena¬ 
bled him to accomplish this also. Now he thought his 
fortune surely made, but upon applying for a patent, it 
was absurdly refused on the ground that it would take 
away the living of many poor persons to whom knitting 
gave employment. Queen Elizabeth is said to have re¬ 
marked, that wore it a machine for making silk stockings 
a patent might have been granted, as that would affect 
but a small number of persons, but a monopoly of mak¬ 
ing stockings for the whole people, was too great a mat¬ 
ter for any one individual. He now set himself to over¬ 
coming this obstacle, and was helped by Lord Hunsden, 
a cousin of the Queen, who bound his own son to him as 
apprentice. After another long interval of patient labor 
he completed a frame for making silk stockings, but even 
then the Queen obstinately refused to gr.ant him a pa¬ 
tent. Then he attempted to carry on the business of 
stocking making, keeping liis machine a secret, and em¬ 
ploying his own relatives as workmen. But his patron. 
Lord Hunsden, and also his son, the apprentice, dying 
about this time, he vras left without capital, and almost 
reduced to want. Then he determined to remove to 
France, w here lie w as encouraged to set up his frames 
by the King, Henry IV, but just as he was about to com¬ 
plete extensive and favorable arrangements, the King 
was assassinated, and again his patron was lost, and he 
was left to work unaided. This entirely prostrated him, 
and he died of a broken heart the same year (1610). The 
stocking frame was finally perfected and introduced by 
those who had learned its construction from Lee, and 
thus the country received the benefits of the invention 
which cost the inventor a life of unrequited labor. 
SSogiiies Outwitted. 
A correspondent relates the following, which seems 
almost too good to be true. Ben Davis, as his neighbors 
call him, had a very fine melon patch. One afternoon 
while in the village store he overheard some boys plot¬ 
ting to help themselves to the fruit without being invited. 
Ben said nothing, but on his way home set his wits to 
work lo head the.m off. As he was passing along, a large 
black snake crossed his path, which Ben succeeded in 
capturing alive. He immediately went to his garden and 
seiecting the very finest watermelon, cut it in two very 
carefully, scooped out the inside, and by means of pegs 
on the inside fastened it together so nicely that one could 
scarcely detect tlie seam. He ilien plugged it, and forcing 
the snake in head first, made all secure, and left it in 
plain sight. That night of course he lay concealed near 
by to witness the sport. Shortly after nine o’clock, three 
boys came, and each selecting the finest melon he could 
find, started away, with Ben following at a safe distance. 
They proceeded to an outbuiidingnot far distant, struck a 
light, and prepared for a good time, Ben looking on 
through the cracks. Boy like, the largest one was taken 
first. “ I guess its hollow,” said the boy ripping tlirough 
one side with his jack-knife, “we’ll soon see what’s in it,” 
continued he, turning it over, and then came a scream of 
terror from all the boys as the snake glided out among 
them, and away they scrambled, leaving the other mel¬ 
ons untouched, and it did not make them feel more com¬ 
fortable to hear the uproarious laugliter of Ben as they 
took flight. The story spread through the village, and 
they soon found they had paid a dear price for their free 
melons. For weeks, wherever the boys saw the thieves, 
they would set up a hiss, and the culprits would be glad 
to retreaHiut of sight to hide their shame. 
This calls to mind the story of a clergyman who sus¬ 
pected one of his neighbors of stealing hay from his barn. 
One night he provided himself with a dark lantern, and 
watched for his coming. He saw the suspected man go 
to the barn, take out as much hay as he could carry on 
his back and start for home. The clergyman stole up 
softly behind him, and opening his lantern set fire to the 
hay behind his back. It flashed up insiantly and the man 
dropped it and ran away in the greatest terror. A few 
days after the culprit came to the clergyman and confes¬ 
sing the theft, asked forgiveness. He said that while he- 
was carrying away some hay the fire of God came down- 
upon it, and he could not rest until he was pardoned. 
The clergyman freely forgave him, but did not for a 
long time tell him how the hay came to take fire. 
Xltc Kace. 
One of our artists has evidently been reading about 
the Bull-frog Show, reported to take place this luonili, 
and has given us the above funny conceit from his pencil. 
He must have drtiwn upon his imagination, for what lie 
has shown, could not happen, unless bull-frogs were 
larger, or boys were smaller, than they are now-a-duys. 
