'white muslin. When the table was covered 
with hooka and papers—and, for that mat¬ 
ter, the lounge was usually covered with 
them, too—the room had quite a cheerful, 
hospitable air—the look of belonging to 
rather well-to-do people. 
We could not put ourselves out of the 
way much for company, so we told our 
friends they must manage to live a little 
while as we had to all the time. They 
seemed satisfied with the arrangement, and 
those who came for a few days sometimes 
lingered for weeks. Of course, this hospi¬ 
tality brought its cares sis well as its pleas¬ 
ures, for when one pair of hands, and those 
almost untrained, undertook to keep the 
house in order, do all the cooking, and lake 
the entire care of the dairy, the days were 
necessarily tilled with business. Then, the 
anxiety about the table. We were not 
Jews, but had a decided aversion to swine’s 
flesh, unless in the slmpo of well cored 
luuns. Ah, thaL was the Golden Age—be¬ 
fore visions of Trichinae came to disturb our 
meals. Tom had a decided antipathy for 
hens, and a penchant for fresh laid eggs 
which could not well he reconciled. 
At last the visions of buttered toast, with 
delicate poached eggs dropped thereon, con¬ 
quered— and fifteen creamy white liens, 
with their lord and master, came under my 
especial administration. They scratched 
the garden some, and their taste impelled 
them to make an occasional meal of early 
tulip sprouts or Ge.rman pansies—but over 
such small sins 1 will not lilt the veil, only 
recording, to their everlasting honor, that 
they furnished us with an abundance of eggs, 
mid brought up troops of chickens. These 
fell martyrs to a taste that had been devel¬ 
oped for chickens stewed in eren..i, or baked 
to a delicate golden brown. Ho \ e came to 
love our poultry, both dead and ; live, and 
from a simple necessity they have become a 
source of considerable profit. 
The river and pond in sight of the house 
gave good sport., fishing, and also excellent 
fish; and with fish, flesh and fowl on our 
own farm, we had nothing to complain of in 
our hill of fare. Good bread we were sure 
of, as we raised our own wheat, uml bread 
was king of the kitchen baking days, though 
1 learned by experience that, try commencing 
operations over night l was wdieved from 
tlie rule of such an exacting master by eight 
o’clock ill the morning. 
Though our table was guiltless of cut- 
glass or china, and the glories of silver plate 
had not yet dawned upon us, it was fur¬ 
nished with a wholesome variety, and friends 
soon finding that it disturbed no one, (even 
if they chanced to drop in at meal times,) 
felt free to come whenever it was most con¬ 
venient for thorn. 
After a few years we were able to remodel 
the house a little, cutting off a wing here and 
a "lean-to” bed-room there, and making a 
new window for the sitting-room, looking to 
the westward, so the afternoon sun might, as 
an English divine saith, “glorify the room,” 
It also Opened ar pleasant view, terminated in 
the far distance by Black Mountain standing 
sentry over the crystal waters of Lake 
George. 
By tills time 1 had found out the mysteries 
of manufacturing rag carpets, and balls of 
particolored rags grew to an alarming size 
and increased in numbers until the weavers 
cried “enough!” So our sitting-room and 
several bed-rooms were covered with warm, 
inexpensive carpets, adding greatly to our 
comfort. A nice ingrain, of warm tints and 
small figure, had been achie ved for the par¬ 
lor, and with now chairs and other furniture, 
it was a fur nicer, although a less pleasant, 
room than before—so we fell into the habit 
of occupying the room back Of it. This was 
called by courtesy the sitting-room, and as 
its windows looked to the south and west, 
we were sure of the luxury of sunlight, at 
least. In the winter we liked to have our 
dinners there on sunny days. With a few 
pictures on the walls, and plenty of books 
and magazines, with easy chairs and a home¬ 
made lounge, it, was just the room for a 
farmer’s family to take comfort, in. To be 
sure, some orderly souls would have been 
shocked at, the work-basket filled with good, 
substantial sowing, or at Ella’s pet kitten 
taking tiie liberty to curl up for a nap on the 
softest cushions. But it was the home room, 
and who would take the responsibility of 
turning any one out of it? Even the old 
dog claimed the warnf corner* behind the 
stove, at first as a privilege, at last as a right. 
But my life was not all indoors. A little 
plot of ground just under the parlor windows 
was cut into beds, where, if order did not 
reign supreme, I endeavored to. Here T 
watched and cared for iny garden from the 
time the first crocus opened its yellow heart 
to the sun, until the autumn phloxes unfold¬ 
ed their scarlet and purple garments in the 
bright October wenther. Beds of pansies 
lifted their honest faces upward, or nestled 
lovingly among their green leaves, attracting 
by their very coziness, while ranks of asters, 
double to their heart’s core, kept nodding and 
bowing, as if always saying among them¬ 
selves, “ We rival the roses.” Here fragrant 
hyacinths shook their pearly bells in the 
spring breezes, and scores of tulips “ hung 
their gaudy banners out,” while common 
flowers, dear as the faces of household friends, 
crowded every nook and corner, and ran 
over into the garden beyond. Indeed, Tom 
complained of my disposition to enlarge my 
borders, when he found the beds in the 
kitchen garden yielding bountiful crops of 
pinks and miguonuette between the rows of 
vegetables. 
For several years my attempts at garden¬ 
ing were crowned with such success that I 
knew no such word as fail. I had come 
through wet seasons and dry triumphantly, 
only to he vanquished by an insignificant 
enemy at last. From the depths of my own 
experience 1 cry out, "Beware of Quack 
grass!” Its first appearance is as insidious 
as sin, and when well rooted, it is as difficult 
to eradicate. Every joint sends out new 
roots, increasing the plague a hundred fold 
each month, running into and over every 
bed and walk, and shaking its broad, green 
leaves with such an impudent air, as if it 
said, “I have taken possession—it's of no 
use to try to get me out.” Don’t'give the 
troublesome intruder dignity by calling it 
Tritium, repens , but call it, by its true name, 
quack grass—for truly it is a very charlatan 
among grasses, of no use to man or beast. 
Stay—I think I have heal’d it is good to bind 
railroad embankments together. If the in¬ 
formation is correct, and there is a lack of 
the valuable Tritium repent through the 
country, an enterprising nurseryman could 
raise enough slips from my garden to hind 
all the railroad embankments from Maine to 
California. I am fairly beaten by the little 
pest, and when spring comes, propose to 
gather up bulbs and perrennlals, and seek a 
now camping ground. 
Another venture of mine was a strawberry 
bed. True, the fields were full of wild ones, 
but I was not content with these. The 
hooks all said it was’nt, much work to raise 
strawberries, and I believed the tale they 
told. One spring, when the gardening fever 
ran highest, a good supply of plants was 
procured and the work undertaken. The 
authorities all agreed upon one point, and 
that was that the ground must be spaded 
deeply. Now if there is any work that 1 
eiin’t do it’s spading. If by long labor 1 am 
enabled to sink the spade in the ground, it is 
a work of time to bring it to daylight again. 
But I worked that morning, if not manfully, 
as well as I could, thinking of the familiar 
words, 
“ Shall I be carried to the skies 
On flower beds o! ease. 
While Others Jouyht to win the prize,” 
and ut terly resenting such a supposition, A t, 
noon Tom graciously had compassion on me 
and finished the bed. Never were plants 
watched and tended with more anxiety than 
mine, and, to my great, Joy, they blossomed 
full. In a little while I was able to appre¬ 
ciate the quaint saying of Dr. Botelur, 
"Doubtless Cm> could have made a better 
berry than the strawberry, but doubtless lm 
never did." The plants boro a good crop of 
berries, and my experiment was a success, 
with only this slight drawback,—they hud 
exhausted their vitality ir. this one season; 
not even enough left, to furnish runners for 
another bed. Now, Tom manages tlie straw¬ 
berries, and il we have smaller crops from 
the new sets we are better supplied through 
the season. Then our orchard,—but that 
comes naturally under the head of 
Tom’s DoIubtm. 
The great lack of our farm was fruit trees, 
but there was no use of sitting down and 
mourning over the neglect of former pro¬ 
prietors, so we came lo the decision at once 
that an orchard was among the things that 
must be attended to. Then followed long 
consultations of catalogues and books on 
Fruit Culture, aud especial lists of fruit 
flourishing in certain localities. 
Finally, the trees were ordered, and came 
promptly at the lime tlie agent specified, 
each variety nicely labeled. How our 
hearts warmed toward that honest nursery¬ 
man who had taken such pains to gratify 
our taste. True, some of the trees were 
rather deficient in roots, bill then the tops 
were splendid ; I, at least, was well pleased 
with their appearance when planted out, 
and was shocked when Tom remorselessly 
cut, them back within what he called reason¬ 
able dimensions. 1 remember going around 
with a pencil and book, and marking the 
position of every tree and the name on the 
label, so when the fruit came there should 
be no mistake in nomenclature. Tlie next 
spring some of tlie trees were dead, espe¬ 
cially those with the small roots and luxu¬ 
riant tops, but Tom filled up their places 
with others. 
After a few seasons the trees began to 
have quite a show of blossoms, and some 
fruit. One day in August, Tom came in to 
ask if I remembered what the second tree 
in the fifth row was. By consulting the 
record I found it was an “ English Russet, 
ripening its fruit when the snows of March 
were beginning to melt.” He drew a long 
breath. “ Would I please put on my hat 
and look at those English Russetts?—there 
were a few fine specimens on the tree.” We 
went out together and he picked one, and 
dividing it, waited for me to taste. I did 
and thread; and I knelt before her as she 
sat; and Bdic’s fingers were busy about my 
so. “August Sweet” was the verdict, of j throat; and a curious speculative discovery 
that jury. 
In that portion of the field devoted to 
winter apples we found, by that afternoon’s 
investigation, early apples, fall apples and 
some native fruit. How could that nursery¬ 
man he so heartless? When my black cur¬ 
rant bushes proved inferior red ones, I said 
it was a mistake, but never a doubt of those 
trees had entered my mind. When tire 
came upon me that Edic was young and 
pretty, and plump, and gentle, and in all re¬ 
spects dissimilar to Miss Eupbemia Oarliek. 
“ Have you ever done this sort of thing 
before?” 
Elbe confessed she bad—for her father. I 
began to put silly questions to Edie —about 
lovers, and so forth. I was privileged to do 
so, as a cousin. She answered me laughing- 
dwarf pears grew into dimensions no dwarf ly, hut repudiated the soft charges. Then 1 
tree should aspire to, still the honesty of ventured to kiss Edie—also as a cousin. And 
that, wily agent was never questioned, but 
here was our winter fruit beginning to ripen 
in August, and trees marked “ Rhode Island 
Greening” were already bearing fruit striped 
with crimson and yellow, and their seeds 
would he black and shining in September. 
That agent was a deceiver which same 
I am free to maintain.” Since then we have 
bought, and planted many trees, but we 
never label them until they have borne fruit. 
I will not tell at, length of Tom’s reclaim¬ 
ing the worn-out meadows, and bringing in 
sweet succulent grasses in the place of tlie 
wiry, scant crops they bad borne for years. 
Old farmers thought “sicli farming was 
tempting Providence,” but lie lms found his 
reward in full barns, sleek cattle, and thriv¬ 
ing sheep. That being the case, shall I even 
mention that he found his beloved Norway . , 
Oats a fail— no, a humbug—that water could love Plages m the past of assignations 
not profitably be made to run up hill, even “ “iiclor the conscious stars, as Hie writer 
with the aid of a hydraulic ram-thut his Phased ft; of kisses given and exchanged, 
wonderful grape vines produced magnificent This innocent-seeming cousin of mine was 
clusters of about three grapes each. Such »°t so g ,llluloss :l f, sh f appeared. She had 
things are not pleasant to reflect upon, and been guilty of philandering, aud that with a 
I lias* tliein by fellow, as I saw by llic signature—known to 
Taking all things together, “ What I Know >”)' family. For this Augustus 
of Farming" is thisi-lt is a straggly to Maunders, whoso writing it was, I knew as 
wring from our common molher our lost » mooning booby m the army-a romantic 
heritage; and .ugh wc may not find Ihc "‘ilk-sop will, colorless hair, so intimate 
lost, we can make our own Ellens. It is n with the Gwlicko as even U> he un ited to 
work requiring i,alienee, as well as quick* lllt wedding. 
ness or perception, to adapt the means to a 1 »■<* horribly indignant at Edie s duplccr- 
desired end. 1 have ... that failure Is ly, and st her choosing such a lover for her 
sometimes the parent of success, and defeat elamtanine flo tations. When she came hack 
the forerunner of a victory. U needs an no- the scissors, I taxed her roundly with 
live brain, as well os willing hands, for the her fault, and showed her the letter. She 
ability to direct is sometimes better than the •'«<«>. **”f ' l,c y U “ 
power to do. When all the world demands “barge, hot ultimately took refnge m silence, 
wool, itis not the high, of wisdom lo devote 1 «*olTfor church m a very had humor, com 
one’s self wholly to line cattle; and when »'««» 'hat 1 had a very perilous mterestm 
the cry is for dairy products, docks of Cols- *»>«. and resol ved to accommodate my con- 
wolds or Merinos go hut little way toward «•«<* ° * T ; 
. . , even , by forcing him to declare his mten- 
sunplying the demand. . * J . ... 
1 1 J , lions, it precipitated his marriage with my 
The intelligent larineff, is the true autocrat. 
Bulks may b'sralt, >’»• ' au ] ts ,eir The party had not arrived at the church, 
usual dividend. War may ruin otliei men, )m) (j a ,.]j r jo s house was within a stone’s 
but the armies must be fed. Governments tUrow of u Iu my nation I would not 
may change, but Summer and Winter, seed ^ L ma(Je fop tUe hoU8e , and met them 
time .uml harvest, iiro as sure as tlie overlast- jn ^ Jobb th(J carria?es ftt , he door, 
ing hills. Homos built upon such foimdii- There wast he perfidious Augustus Maunders 
t.ions arc not tlie more shelters of a day, lint tlmm 
their roots strike deep into our very lives. 1 j not , ny slatcly bride> I 8tal Ued 
Homes where heart and bruin and band are (() Lieut Maunders, 
alike trained to do the work God has given „ gir p , l .,, imdered «i know a n |»» 
them to do where Labor is an honored Th(J Li(;Ulenunl gazod !lt me feebly; Miss 
friend, not. a master-whore Knowledge and Qftl . Hck cl#8 , her han d 8; her father, a 
Happiness sit side by side under the root habitna , dotard( simp]y Winked his eyes, as 
tree are the ll °uie.s t uft give oppoi umi> he did under all circumstances which passed 
for the truest life and the freest thought. ki8 COI1ipn . hell sion, and as mpai worldly cir- 
And the time will surely come, when even ^ Ilto comprehension, id- 
Mitchell, the doubter, shall Hud the In- excepting lhc combination of metals 
dependent Country Geniie.nan, and his a|1( j gnses> [ paid Ul ile attention to Mm. 
name will not he ‘ I athick O Biuen. „ D( , n > L attempt to deny it, Mr. Maunders,” 
• '**'*" 1 added, sternly; “ I have discovered one of 
COMEDY OF BLUNDERS, your notes in a work-box.” 
HAPPY EXCHANGE OF Wes AND NO ROBBERY. ' T ‘> lliy “jf ,<*?”* ** n * 
Ham tAL-nniYUE. shriek and fell into ft hall-chair, apparently 
The first lime 1 found out I was in love lifeless. No sooner did her idiotic parent 
witli my cousin Edie was the morning fixed behold the spectacle, than he, too, uttered a 
for my wedding with another young lady, howl and fell on the mat. 
The discovery came rather awkwardly; for "Oh, my pa! my pa!” cried Eupbemia, 
there was my bride, Miss Eupbemia Garliek, reviving suddenly. “He cannot bear ex- 
getting ready for the ceremony ; and there, citcmeut; it flies to his head! Help! help! 
at her father’s house, ay as the wedding save him from extinction !” 
break fas L all prepared. Tlie discovery hap- Rushing to tlie old man’s head, (I had a 
pened in this wise:—I had been very nerv- demoniacal desire to sit on it, as they do to 
ous over the operation of dressing. In the horses,) 1 called for water. A servant brought 
first place, 1 had never been married before; a tumblerful. Meanwhile 1 had found in iiis 
secondly, I did not profoundly cure for my waiscour pocket a vial of colorless liquid, 
bride. She was nay senior by some seven “A tonic or stimulant,” 1 thought, and 
years, aud tall and bony for her age. She hurriedly emptying it into a glass of water, 
could not be described as youthful, or as poured the whole down his throat. It bad 
graceful, or as sportive. There was little ot an awesome effect. 1 he old man ueuily 
then, as Edie ran out of the room to gel a 
pair of scissors, I began to think tliai she 
was really very plump, and had a velvety 
Many men would have married out of spite 
under sucli circumstances, hut to me it seem¬ 
ed I should spite mj'Self moat in so doing. 
I was glad at the prospect of being hang¬ 
ed, but it turned out that old Garliek was 
not dead. The prussic acid had been bis 
own preparation ; it ay as insufferably nasty, 
causing him intense pain, but was not a bit 
genuine. He recovered, and himself pro¬ 
cured my release, on condition that Die mar¬ 
riage should at once proceed. I groaned in 
spirit, for the alternative was worse than 
death. 
Again the happy Fates stepped in. Miss 
Eupbemia, whose nerves had been terribly 
shaken, confessed all. It was to her that 
the compromising letter lmd been written ; 
skin, and Avas as guileless in the world’s it was she who had philandered with the 
ways as a chubby cherub by Rubens. 
in tills mood I lighted on the work 1k>x 
she had left , and began to turn over its con¬ 
tents. White hits of cotton, spotless as 
Edie's conscience! Black hits of cotton, 
somber as my future ! Thimble,hollow and 
empty as my bead when I overlooked Edic 
as a possible wife! But then Edie was as poor 
as myself, whereas Miss Garliek — Hallo! 
what was this? 
I came upon a letter in that work-box—an 
open letter, commencing, “ Star of my hope¬ 
less destiny!” A letter in a man’s hand¬ 
writing, and full of bad spelling! And this 
booby Maunders; it was her work box 
which had contained the damaging docu¬ 
ment. She had made-over nor work box as 
a present to Edie on the eve of her wedding 
—made it. over ns it stood, forgetting the 
one article it held. Edic had not expired 
its contents; but when she saAV the letter ia 
my hands she anticipated tragic results if I 
should guess the truth, and held her pence. 
She even suffered herself to be wrongly ac¬ 
cused for my sake and my bride’s. Poor 
Edie! 
I undeceived her. I showed her that my 
heart was unbroken by Euphemia’s duplicity. 
shameless document went on to speak of I transferred my bride to Maunders, and 
i lie lamb nature about her—except her asso¬ 
ciation with the Mint. For Miss Eupbemia 
was rich and I was poor and overwhelmed 
Avitli debts; wherefore 1 had pressed my suit 
with the heiress, and found both herself aud 
her father, an Infatuated old noodle, with an 
amateur taste for chemistry, propitiated by 
the sacrifice. 
On tlie morning of my wedding I had, 
out of sheer nervousness, rumpled most of 
my shirts, and ruined most of my clean 
collars, in agitated attempts to dress my¬ 
self. As a crowning piece of ill luck, I 
burst the neck button-hole of my last shirt. 
There Avas no time to send out for a neAv 
one; the marriage hour was close at hand. 
I bethought myself of Cousin Edie, then 
arraying herself in the house—Cousin Edie, 
with whom I had grown up, and whom 1 
started to his feet, struggled, kicked out, 
spluttered, foamed and fell back stiff aud in¬ 
sensible. 
“ What have I done ?” 
“ YOU have poisoned the old man, sir,” he 
remarked, quietly. “ The label says, ‘ Prus¬ 
sic acid.’" 
A cloudy horror seemed to close upon me. 
Everybody set up a shrieking. Miss Garliek 
went out of one fit of hysterics into another. 
A vision of cousin Edie Avas among the flit¬ 
ting phantoms around me; a vision of 
Maunders supporting my bride, and—as it 
seemed to my disordered fancy—kissing her; 
and I remember nothing more till I found 
myself in the hands of the police, charged 
with murder. 
I had made up my mind to go to execu¬ 
tion confessing nothing. On tlie whole I 
regarded as a gentle sister. Edie would, of preferred hanging to the chance of marrying 
course, repair the slit button-hole. Accord- Eupbemia Garliek, now that I had found 
iugly, Edie came with Avorkbox and needle out how dear and Iioav faithless was Edie. 
got her father’s consent. Ami then I spoke 
seriously to Edie, and from our talk there’s 
reason to believe that the day when Miss 
Eupbemia Garliek becomes Mrs. Maunders, 
Edie and I may swell the parish register. 
'oriiil (Topics. 
THE SEASONS. 
SPUING. 
Spring atn I, too soft of heart 
Much to speak ere I depart; 
Ask the summer-tide to prove 
The abundance of my love. 
SUMMER. 
Bummer looked for Ions am I, 
Much shall change, or ere I die; 
Prithee, take it not amiss, 
Though 1 weary thee with bliss. 
AUTUMN. 
Laden Autumn, here 1 stand. 
Worn of heart, and weak of hand; 
Say the word that sets me free ; 
Nought but rest seems good to me. 
WINTER. 
Ah ! shall Winter mend your case? 
Met your teeth the wind to face; 
Beat the snow, trend down the frost! 
All is gained when nil is lost. 
[William Morris, in The Academy. 
SENSE AND SENTIMENT. 
Kings are types of remorseless force who 
maintain tlie political views of the Berserk¬ 
ers by the legal principles of Lynch. 
Fame is au undertaker, that pays but lit¬ 
tle attention to tlie living, but bedizens the 
dead, furnishes their funerals and follows 
them to the grave. 
Dean Swift said :—It is with narrow- 
soul ed people us it is with narrow-necked 
bottles, the less they have in them the more 
noise they make in pouring it out. 
Said Samuel Rogers:—Those avIio goto 
Heaven will be very much surprised at the 
people they find there, and much more sur¬ 
prised at those they do not find there. 
God is the only being avIio lias time 
enough, but a prudent, man, aaIio knows 
how to seize occasion, can commonly make 
a shift, to find as much as lie needs.— Lowell. 
The great art, says Goethe, is to judicious¬ 
ly limit and isolate, one's self. 
Eternity, thou boldest In thine band 
The casket of all secrets—Death's the key. 
[Bayley. 
James Russell Lowell critically says: 
Late poets have got hold of a mistaken 
theory that imagination is common sense 
turned inside out, and not common sense 
sublimed. 
Whittier’s inscription for a sun-dial: 
With waning Imnd l mark time’s rapid flight. 
From life's triad morning to Its solemn night, 
JiuI through the dear God's love T also show 
There’s light above me, by the shade below. 
The benefactor always retains some affec¬ 
tion for the person whom lie lias benefited. 
No extent of ingratitude succeeds in utterly 
effacing Ibis kindly feeling on Ihe part of the 
benefactor. 
The imputation of inconsistency is one to 
which every sound politician and every 
honest thinker must sooner or later subject 
himself. The foolish and the dead alone 
never change their opinions. 
It may be put doivn as a fact that men 
you see hanging about public places from 
day to day, are the right material to do all 
kinds of mischief. They are the men wlio 
become dangerous characters. 
Never trust a man who assents to every¬ 
thing you say, who falls in with all your 
views, without making a single suggestion 
or correction of his own. A man, in fact, 
Avho is an incarnate “ yes,” is either a fool 
or a knave. 
