AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
151 
THE DANCE OF THE AUTUMN LEAVES. 
Borne by the restless winds along, 
Where the sorrowful woodland grieves, 
Hither and thither a fitful throng, 
Merrily dance the autumn leaves. 
Upward they mount to the murky sky, 
Downward they plunge to the earth below; 
Now iu a giddy whirl they fly, 
Now iu a madcap chase they go. 
Tinkling gaily their feet advance 
Over the graves in thoughtless glee ; 
And the music to which they dance— 
Hark ! ’tis a dirge’s melody ! 
Onward merrily still they go 
Through the wood and over the wave, 
Till they find in the wintry snow, 
Chilly and dark their .lonely grave. 
* * * * * 
Borne by the tempter’s power aloug, 
While kind Heaven in pity grieves, 
Giddily pass the human throng, 
Thoughtlessly as the autumn leaves. 
Upward they mount iu fancies high, 
Downward they plunge in pleasures low; 
Now in the passions whirl they fly, 
Now in Ambition’s chase they go. 
Merrily still their feet advance 
Over the graves in thoughtless glee; 
And the music to which they dance— 
Hark! ’tis a dirge’s melody ! 
Onward—giddily on they go, 
Over the earth and over the wave, 
Till they find in the depth below, 
Chilly and dark their lonely grave. 
Independent. 
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AUTUMN. 
Thou comest, Autumn, heralded by the rain, 
With banners, by great gales incessant fanned, 
Brighter than brightest silks of Samarcand, 
And stately oxen harnessed to thy wain! 
Thou standest, like imperial Charlemagne, 
Upon thy bridge of gold ; thy royal hand 
Outstretched with benedictions o’er the land, 
Blessing the farms through all thy vast domain: 
Thy shield is the red harvest moon, suspended 
So long beneath the heaven’s o’erhanging eaves, 
Thy steps are by the farmer’s prayers attended; 
Like flames upon an altar shine the sheaves; 
And, following thee, in thy ovation splendid, 
Thine almoner, the wind, scatters the golden leaves. 
Longfellow. 
-• « •- 
Requisites fob going to Law.—T o him that 
goes to law nine things are requisite: 
1. A good deal of Money. 
2. A good deal of Patience. 
3. A good Cause. 
4. A good Attorney. 
5. A good Counsel. 
6. A good Evidence. 
7. A good Jury. 
8. A good Judge. And, 
9. Good Luck. 
A Strong Prescription. —An alderman once 
called on Dr. Francis, when the following dia¬ 
logue took place:—“Doctor, I have a strong 
tendency to gout; what shall I do to arrest it ?” 
“ Take a bucket of water, and a ton of anthra¬ 
cite, three times a week.”—“How?”—“Drink 
the former, and carry the latter up three pair of 
stairs.” 
m 
PRUDISHNESS. 
The other day we ofFered our hand to a lady 
who was about to pitch out of an omnibus into 
the mud. She took no notice of it, but chose 
to swing herself down by the railing, regarding 
us meanwhile with a look of rebuke, as if we 
had insulted her. Now we do not pique our¬ 
selves upon etiquette but we flatter ourselves 
that the hand aforesaid was tendered with the 
modesty and propriety becoming a gentleman ; 
but no matter for that, if it had been the brawny 
fist of some honest-hearted Patric who had 
dropped his hod to help the lady, her rejection 
of such well-meant kindness would have been 
an act of insolent hauteur. 
Had we offered to assist a well-bred French 
lady, her sweet-toned ’ Mercie , Monsieur , ’ mercie , 
would still have lingered on our ear. A true 
English lady would have accepted the courtesy 
with a smiling “ thank you.” Such ladies are 
always companionable. You may travel with 
them abroad, in “ first-class” cars, show them 
any little attention, converse about scenery, 
paintings, literature, art, monuments, and after 
half a day’s enjoyment in such society, get some 
accidental clue to a name that is spoken in the 
first circles in London or Paris. A lady who is 
not afraid to receive the common civilities of life 
from a stranger shows a far higher sense of 
character, than one who draws herself up stifly 
within silks and kid, and pouts at every man as 
if he were a roue. 
What we have referred to is a national trait. 
Our case is not isolated. But we shall conform 
to custom. We have deliberately resolved never 
again, in any circumstance, to offer our hand to 
a lady (woman is the word) until we are assured 
beforehand that she will accept it. Indeed, now 
that women are putting into exercise rights long 
held in abeyance, we think of taking up one of 
the castoff rights, long held by prescription, and 
of waiting till we are asked, and then holding in 
our own hand the question for acceptance or re¬ 
fusal.— Independent. 
A Good Answer.— While the City Marshal 
of Bangor, Me., was engaged in destroying a 
quantity of liquor that had been seized, some 
one in the crowd inquired, “Why was not this 
sold for three hundred pence and given to the 
poor?” A voice from the distance replied, 
“The poor have had enough of it; let it go!” 
Making Butter in Winter. —As butter mak¬ 
ing is considered often a very great difficulty, 
and churning day is often the day dreaded in a 
farmer’s family—we having been plagued in like 
manner—I was determined to find out the diffi¬ 
culty if possible, and two years since I under¬ 
took to churn myself, and found by putting hot 
water in the cream the butter would come some¬ 
times after one to three hours churning. I then 
tried placing the cream, which we keep in a 
yellow earthen pan, upon the stove, and stirring 
it up after repeated trials when the thermometer 
indicated 63 to Go. I found this to be the true 
temperature for the cream, for the butter came 
and gathered to a charm in 5 minutes. And 
butter making in ever so cold winter weather by 
proper management of the cream can be made 
in quite as short a time as from grass fed milk. 
The true secret is this, and it never fails if the 
cream is from 63 to 65 degrees Fahrenheit. But 
talk about a thermometer in churning cream for 
butter, and more than half the folks will be 
frightened. Now every wtwhan that churns, if 
she will place the pan of cream on the stove, 
and keep it stirred from the bottom, so that 
when she puts her fingers in to try its warmth, 
which to be right should feel a very little warmer 
than the finger, then this is the heat to charm 
it, and in from 5 to 15 minutes the butter will 
have come; more under 10 than over. We 
churn once a week in winter, and the whole 
operation is more ofte’ completed, butter milk 
washed out and every thing done in thirty or 
forty minutes. — James Houghton, in Ohio 
Farmer. 
More Deaths from Poisonous Candy.— Two 
bright-eyed little boys, one aged two and the 
other about five years—sons of a Mr. Horton, 
of Boston—died a few days since from eating 
candy which had been colored with some poi¬ 
sonous substance. 
WASHING COLORED FABRICS. 
There is no substance which can be put into 
water during the washing of calicoes or dresses 
to prevent the color from fading, but we will 
give some directions for the washing of delicate 
colors, in muslin or other textile fabrics, which 
we have no doubt will be a benefit to many. 
Never wash goods having delicate colors in 
warm suds; nor rub bar soap on them at any¬ 
time. Dissolve some soap so as to have strong 
suds, and set it aside until it is quite cold; wash 
the goods in this, and when the dirt is all re¬ 
moved wring out and rinse well in clean cold 
water; be sure and not have the suds too weak, 
or the soap will be decomposed and stick in the 
goods like hard tallow. After wringing, finish 
out the dress or goods in a vessel containing 
some alum dissolved in clean water, or some 
alum water stirred among the starch. Wring 
out well and dry in the shade. Strong bran 
water—bran boiled in water and left to cool— 
is very excellent for washing delicate muslin 
dresses. Some use ox gall for washing fine 
woolen goods, but cold strong soap suds are 
better. Be sure and rinse the soaped goods 
or dress clean in soft water, and squeeze well so 
as to take all the soap out. Soap has a ten¬ 
dency to ldue red colors, and fade the blue in 
green colors; alum restores the color; in other 
words, so combines with the substances in the 
calico, to reflect the green, which is a mixture 
of the blue and yellow rays, and also the red 
ray, which is a primitive color.— Scientific 
American. 
Wm. Root, Druggist, of Marietta, Ga., writes 
us that a few cloves added to a bottle of gum 
tragacanth solution (paste) will keep it sweet; 
he believes they will also keep ink from becom¬ 
ing mouldy.— Ibid. 
RECIPES. 
We from time to time insert recipes gathered 
from various sources. We cannot always vouch 
for their goodness, though we exercise all pos¬ 
sible discretion in their selection, and insert 
none, merely because they have been the round 
of the newspapers. A majority of those in¬ 
serted have been found good by actual use in 
our own families, or those of our immediate 
acquaintances. 
To Mend Iron Pots. —Mix finely-sifted lime 
with some white of egg till a thin kind of paste 
is formed, then add some iron filings. Apply 
this to the fracture, and the vessel will be found 
to be nearly as sound as ever. 
Never use Ley to clean tin; it will spoil it 
soon ; make it clean with suds, and rub with 
whiting, and it will look well, and last longer. 
For Custard Pie without a Crust.— Take 
three eggs, three tablespoonfuls of flour, two 
do. of sugar, nutmeg ; beat well, oil a long tin, 
stir well and pour it in, bake the bottom well. 
It will form a nice crush 
To make Crackers.— One quart of flour with 
two ounces of butter rubbed in ; one teaspoon¬ 
ful of salaratus in a wine glass of warm water; 
half a teaspoonful of salt, and milk enough to 
rub it out. Beat it half an hour with a pestle, 
cut it into thin round cakes, prick them, and set 
them in the oven when other things are taken 
out. Let them bake till crisp. 
For Cabbage and Beet Pickle. —Take the 
cabbage two parts, chopped fine, and one part 
boiled beets chopped. Mix well with the hand. 
To three gallons of the mixture add half a tea- 
cupful of salt; do. of red pepper; do. of black 
pepper; mix well; pack in a jar, and cover 
with vinegar. It is good as soon as prepared, 
but better in two or three days ; and will keep 
a long time in a cool place. It is extensively 
used in the West. 
-ft • ft-* 
“ It is very curious,” said an old gentleman 
to his friend,” that a watch should be perfectly 
dry, when it has a running spring inside.” 
