£6$ 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST 
No 150 . 
r* 
om a Painting 
{Engraved for the American Agriculturist.) 
Need a line of explanation be appended to this 
picture 1 Does it not ‘ speak for itself!’ Do we 
not seem to stand at the cottage door of a hard¬ 
working countryman, who is enjoying his noon¬ 
ing hour, smoking his pipe and reading his week¬ 
ly paper, surrounded hy his hale and-happy fam¬ 
ily ! A more graceful position of the laborer might 
have been chosen, as an ideal, and the pipe, too, 
might have been omitted—but the picture would 
have been less natural—less truthful. This man 
is happy, and he exhibits his pleasure in his most 
natural way ; he is proud of that 1 blessed baby’ 
which chuckles with delight as the familiar pipe 
tickles its fat chin. The mother, too, looks down 
with smiling joy upon the crowing infant. Our 
sympathies are enlisted with the other little one, 
who for the moment feels herself neglected ; but 
her turn will soon come, and she will romp as 
blithely as ever upon papa’s knee. We like pic¬ 
tures of this kind ; they tell of love, peace, and 
happiness in rural, in lowly life, where, if any¬ 
where, happiness is to be found. There is a 
growing taste among artists for pictures of the 
every-day walks of life. We like to see this, and 
will cheerfully do our part to scatter them widely; 
for while we mean not to be behind any, in fur¬ 
nishing the practical information which such a 
journal should give—there is another and wider 
aim also kept in view, viz : to add to the inno¬ 
cent pleasures of the household, so that all its 
members shall be interested, and benefited mor¬ 
ally. Pictures that appeal to the feelings soften 
the heart, and then leave a lasting impression. 
