1869.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
343 
b©y$ 4 ©mw 
lfi<t»w to Get :i Farm. 
We are often told howto obtain a good education, how 
to rise in mercantile business, and how quite poor lads 
have struggled up against many difficulties to high posi¬ 
tions ; but how can one, with only willing hands, a brave, 
honest heart, and trust in God, obtain a farm that will 
not only bring him in a living, but secure to him a com¬ 
fortable fortune ? A Western lad has answered the ques¬ 
tion by doing this very thing. At sixteen, with a good, 
common school education, he left his father, in Kentucky, 
as he had no profitable employment for him. He hired 
himself to a neighboring farmer, the first year for only 
seventy dollars. Instead of expending his money upon 
himself in the form of clothes, or in the gratification of 
his appetites, he clothed himself decently in cheap, home¬ 
made garments, and loaned his money at six per cent in • 
terest. Working the next year, with a liberal employer 
for the times, by diligently laboring morning and even¬ 
ing, he was enabled to add to his education, by three 
months of schooling, an acquaintance with the higher 
branches of mathematics, and the rudiments of the Latin 
language. And at the end of the year, when he was 
eighteen years of age, ho had an additional sum of ninety- 
six dollars to place at interest. But he had a larger and 
more productive capital than his accumulated earnings— 
he had become known in the community for his dili¬ 
gence, his economy, and his honesty, and his services 
were now in demand at a higher rate of wages, no was 
made, when nineteen years old, a Collector and a Sheriff 
of his County. When lie entered upon his twentieth 
year, with his savings and the interest upon previous 
earnings, in addition to several periods of earnest study, 
during the winters, which had secured for him a superior 
education, with a respectable outfit of clothing, with 
universal respect among the neighbors, and the good will 
of all that knew him, he found himself the possessor of 
four hundred and eighty dollars ; and at twenty-one he 
had increased this sum to five hundred and fifty. He 
now started for the farther West, and in a prairie State 
secured one hundred and sixty acres of fertile land, for 
one hundred and fifty dollars. A portion of his remain¬ 
ing capital enabled him to purchase stock and imple¬ 
ments for farming. The second year gave him a good 
crop. Ilis little store of money honestly acquired, his 
excellent education obtained in hours saved from sleep, 
his good sense and integrity, soon brought him the confi¬ 
dence and respect of his scattered neighbors, nis habits 
of reading not only gave him an inexhaustible source of 
pleasure, but his agricultural books and papers aided 
him in increasing the size and value of his crops, and 
prepared him for the responsible positions he has been 
called by his fellow citizens to fill. lie is now, although 
not an old man, a wealthy farmer, with broad, beautiful 
lands under cultivation around him, with large herds of 
cattle and flocks of sheep, and with every comfort that 
money, the respect of others, and an honorable and vir¬ 
tuous life, can afford. When speakers tell you in your 
schools, boys, that the highest offices in the nation are 
open to you, you may reasonably doubt of your success 
in obtaining them, for there are now too many applicants 
for them, and you may have reason to be thankful that 
you do not hereafter reach them; but a good farm, a 
comfortable livelihood, and a virtuous life, are open 
before you all. You need only your hands, good sense, 
perseverance, and the blessing of God, to secure them. 
measurers, and the like. Sometimes a man appears with 
a small galvanic battery, and he may be said to make his 
living m a shocking manner. He allows the newsboys 
and others to take hold of the poles of the battery upon 
the payment of a penny. At first the shocks are very 
light and rather pleasant, but by a slight change in rhe 
instrument the operator is able to increase their strength 
to such a degree that they become difficult to bear. The 
trick is very amusing to the bystanders, whatever it may 
be to the victim. The little picture by the artist, not far 
from our office, tells its own story. 
TJie doctor’s Talks-About stak¬ 
ing :i Fire. 
It is a long time since T have talked with the boys and 
girls. Not that I have taken any the less interest in 
them, for I have occasionally put in articles without des¬ 
ignating where they came from. I have so much to do 
with this, that, and the other, about the paper, that I sel¬ 
dom get time to talk with my young friends. Now I 
propose to talk to you about making a fire, and, it may bo, 
continue it through several numbers. With us, a fire is 
so much a matter of course, so easily to be had by the 
striking of a match, that we little think of the steps that 
have led up to matches. Now let us suppose that you 
were shipwrecked on a desert island, how would you 
start a fire ? With matches, of course,—but there are no 
matches ! The few that might have been in your pocket 
were water-soaked and useless. Flint and steel,—but on 
desert islands there is neither flint nor steel to be had. 
When a boy at school, did you never rub a smooth button 
on the desk, or better, (or worse) one of those smooth 
seeds from the South which they call “ burn stones,” and 
having heated it as much as. possible by friction, apply 
it to the hand of your next neighbor? I know it is a trick, 
Ways oS' CJettisag' a, JLIviaig'. 
Some time ago we illustrated several of the odd ways 
of getting a living which are to be seen in the streets of 
New York and other large cities. It is amusing to watch 
the curious customers who try the lung testers, strength 
INDIAN FIRE STICKS. 
but, I would not give much for a boy who did not know 
a trick or two. Mind, I do not commend it, but as it is 
“boy nater,” I accept it as a fact, as long as we have boys. 
Well, now, about fire. I have traveled much among 
Indians, and they have no matches. Fire is of the great¬ 
est importance to them, and when once extinguished, is 
only renewed with difficulty. I have known Indians to 
travel hundreds of miles, one or two of their party car¬ 
rying a lighted and charred Cotton-wood or Poplar stick. 
The coal on the end of such a brand remains alight a sur¬ 
prising length of time, and when the fire shows signs of 
giving out, the holders of two sticks put the ends togeth¬ 
er and blow and coax until the existence of fire is fully 
established. But I have not told you how those Indians 
get fire, where none is to be found to start from. Before 
I describe the process, I will state here, and not in a very 
precise way, but as something to be remembered, that 
all motion produces heat, and all heat may be made to 
produce motion. I put that as what is called an “abstract 
proposition,” but it is simple, and I wish you to remem¬ 
ber it. Now to come back to our Indians. How are they, 
who have no matches, to get a fire ? Can you conceive 
of any other way than that of friction ? They cannot, 
and friction it is of the most severe kind. You read in 
the books that Indians get a fire by rubbing two pieces 
of wood together. As a statement, this is true, but the 
kind of wood and the way in which it is arranged are not 
mentioned. If you take two common strips of wood and 
rub one upon another, they will become very hot—hot 
enough perhaps to light a match, but this is not making 
a fire without outside help. Let me tell you how I 
have seen Iudians who had no matches get a fire by fric¬ 
tion. The Indian uses a piece of veiy hard wood and 
one of very soft wood. The hard-wood strip is about 
two feet long, and two inches, more or less, square. The 
engraving represents its shape. In what may be called 
its upper surface there are concavities or lioilowed-out 
spots which by a hole communicate with what is repre¬ 
sented in the engraving as the front side. Sand, or any 
powder, if dropped into these hollows would run out of 
the hole at the side. The Indian has a stick of this kind 
long enough for him to hold it conveniently by placing 
his knees upon it. He then has a very soft stick, 
usually the flower stem of a Yucca, which he twirls rap¬ 
idly between his hands, the end of the soft stick rest¬ 
ing in one of the cavities of the hard stick upon which 
his knees rest. The soft stick is revolved with gseat 
rapidity by the rubbing of the hands : heat is generated, 
soon the end of the slick becomes charred, and the char¬ 
coal being rubbed oil’ by the motion, drops through the 
channel in the hard stick that, we have mentioned, and a 
little pile of ;t is accumulated in front, and is caught 
upon a leaf. The Indian then redoubles his efforts at 
twirling the soft stick, and if he spins hard enough, 
at length a spark drops out upon the little charcoal 
heap, sets the whole on fire, and he has only to se¬ 
cure and nurse this fire. It seems very easy to tell this, 
but I have seen many a stout Indian get into a great per¬ 
spiration over the operation, and have tried it again and 
again, with the best of savage instruction, with the result 
of getting a splendid sweat, but never a spark. This is, 
so far as I know, the most primitive way of getting a fire. 
We will talk about the other methods at another time. 
A. Slorticsiltural H>ol3. 
Mr. C. B. Moore, of Brown Co.. Ohio, sends an item 
for the Boys and Girls. He was much amused at seeing 
several little girls making an odd kind of doll. The 
starting-point was a hol¬ 
lyhock, which, turned up¬ 
side down; furnished in 
its colored part a very nic-e 
skirt, and the, green part 
(calyx) a nicely fitting 
waist. Then for a head 
what could be better than 
a grape? But the thing 
must have arms, so a straw 
was stuck in, and that the 
lady might bo in full dress, 
she was furnished with a 
belt of the skin of a rhu¬ 
barb stem ; the feet are 
made of beans. We show this as a capital specimen of 
child’s ingenuity. There is more fun in making such things 
as these than there is in playing with costly toys. We be¬ 
lieve in home-made toys, and now what boy or girl has 
found amusement in some such simple thing as this, and 
is ready to tell it to all the others of our large family ? 
New S*s3ZKle»5 to l>e Answered, 
No. 35(1. Conundrum.—Mixed relationships. The ques¬ 
tions of relationship given in July last called out an 
unusual number of answers, and similar questions, one 
of which we give. The following is sent by G. W. 
Clemmer, Parksville, Tenn. Two women saw two men 
coining towards the house. One woman said to the 
other, here come our fathers, our children’s fathers, our 
children’s grandfathers, and our own husbands. What 
was the relationship ? 
Enigmas , Riddles , Mctagrams, etc.—Quite a number 
have been sent us, but we do not publish any unless the 
answer is given, as it is necessary for us to judge of their 
value before putting them in print. “ J. C. W.,” “Met¬ 
agram,” and others, will see why their contributions do 
not appear; besides we do not care for a contribution 
from any one on any subject who does not wish to sign 
his or her name. 
No. 357. Picture Conundrum .—This picture shows an 
artist at work and a boy who has been caught at stealing 
apples. In what respect are they alike ? 
No. 358. Illustrated Rebus. —A very easy one, but it 
gives good advice to the young people who can read it. 
