IPT 23 
9 
657 
THE STOET OF STONY BROOK FARM. 
HENRY STEWART. 
CHAPTER X. 
(Continued from page 642.) 
The Stony Brook farms and the Stone House 
farm furnished examples of the different 
ways of living among farmers. In the Bart¬ 
lett homestead there was a man who wore 
himself out with work and begrudged him¬ 
self and those around him even the needed 
hours of sleep, making work the main busi¬ 
ness of his life, without any intelligent enjoy¬ 
ment whatever. Like the horse or the ox, he 
worked by day, and by night, too, at times, 
and laid down to rest merely that he might 
be able to work again the next day. The in¬ 
fluence of an educated and intelligent wife 
and that of his daughter had been insufficient 
to awaken in his mind the least pert eption of 
any other need than to work and eat, and to 
live a mere animal life. It was the same in 
the Pratt homestead, with the difference that 
there was not even the presence of any reliev¬ 
ing influence in his family. Jonas Pratt was 
a sordid man. He worked for what money 
he could get and save, and he grudged every 
dollar that was spent even for his own poor 
comfort. He saw his old mother wearing 
herself out in her old age, and all his trouble 
was that she was failing and might soon need 
care instead of working for him, and that this 
care would cost money; and his chief induce¬ 
ments in falling into bis neighbor’s plan to 
join farms and share work and profits were, 
first, that he would gain a wife who would be 
an inexpensive help to him in his 
household, and next, that he 
would have a good chance to pit 
his dishonest trickery against 
his partner’s rugged shrewdness, 
in the confidence that he could 
win by it. 
. Patience Bartlett felt greatly 
her isolation,for she was alone 
even in her home. She read and 
studied and found time for re¬ 
creation of various sorts ; she 
found occupation for her skill 
in her household duties, which 
were lightened by occasional 
help, and in her dairy, to which 
she gave her whole mind, and 
she greatly enjoyed her success 
in both her work and her pleas¬ 
ure. But there was a deep, dark 
blank, in which all her hopes of A 
the future were lost, and she y AW - 
peered into this cheerless pros- tfwjM 
pect with alarm and dread. M 
It was very different upon the M'Jp* 
Stone House farm. There the yUMUMr 
farm work was not the life. It US? 
was the chief incident of the ww 
life, truly; but it was merely y 
the center about which many ' 
other matters of interest revol¬ 
ved, all of which made up the 
daily life. There was the ambi 
tion which made the pursuit of 
success in the farm work an 
agreeable and inspiring employ- 
ment. There was the instinctive A ® 
feeling of superiority which gave 
an idea of power over the work 
and an ability to make it meet 
the purposes and ends for which 
it was done. There was the 
intellectual pleasure arising 
from the constant novelty and 
freshness of the work and its 
continual surprises, as new 
things were learned, and the 
causes of various effects pre¬ 
viously unknown were develop¬ 
ed; and, just as a student in the 
pursuit of science buries himself 
in his studies and among his 
books, and is jealous of the time 
necessarily spent in rest and in 
his meals, so the occupiers of the 
Stone House buried themselves 
in their new work, finding sermons in the 
soil; tongues in the trees and plants; books in 
the growing cropB and the animals, and 
pleasure in everything; the pursuit of their 
main idea, pecuniary profit and the ambition 
of procuring a comfortable subsistence from 
their fields and dairy, giving them the aim 
and end which served as the necessary and 
indispensable purpose of it all. They did not 
work to live; they lived to work; and they 
worked just so much as was necessary for their 
purpose; and after the work of the day was 
done and the usual routine was completed 
they enjoyed themselves. They read, they 
walked, they drove about the pleasant lanes 
and roads and over the hills overlooking the 
valleys which lay hid among them or stretched 
beyond them; they studied botany and ento- 
mology and gathered objects for their micro¬ 
scope; they had music and singing and dis¬ 
cussed matters of which they read, and 
sought the practical illustration of them in 
their daily lives. And will any person say 
how and where any intelligent people can 
better enjoy a useful and profitable life than 
in such a way upon a farm! In fact, a farm 
life, well and properly pursued, is the sought- 
for Utopia of thousands of persons, dwellers 
in cities, who considered it as a continuous 
vacation and recreation. It is the long- 
cherished dream of the wealth-pursuing mer¬ 
chant and professional business man, whose 
early remembrances are all of the pleasures 
and comforts of rural life; and all of whose 
wealth in the luxurious city cannot purchase 
for him the sweet and pure pleasures which 
he well knows belong only to farm life. And 
how much has the working farmer—him to 
the manor bom—learned from such men who 
bring with them to their rural retreats the 
methodical habits of business, the refinements 
of taste and culture, the thorough knowledge 
of how to apply the best means to the sought- 
for ends, and whose very blunders are experi¬ 
ments which show how the next effort can be 
made successful. 
CHAPTER XL 
Jabez Jonkins was not in the habit of 
writing or receiving letters. Since the sud¬ 
den disappearance of his brother many years 
before he had avoided society and had lived a 
quiet life working for the neighboring farmers 
but chiefly for John Merritt and Defiance 
Bartlett, with short intervals, when he had 
gone off for a year or two to the West and 
worked there. For years the post office was 
nothing to him nor he to it. When therefore 
a bulky letter came addressed to him all the 
spose I oughter look after it; mebbe he wants 
suthin of me. Til go this very night and get 
that letter. I never thought o’ that.” 
And so he got the letter and saw with 
amazement the still well known handwriting 
of his brother, and after much deciphering 
made out the post mark. 
“Sure enough its from Josh, and from Iron- 
burg too. How in creation did he ever get 
there I wonder! I bet ther’s bad news in it; 
the letter feels heavy too; I don’t like to 
open it.” 
And be carried the letter in his pocket for 
two days, looking at it very often and turniug 
it over and wondering what was in it. 
“Well here goes, we’ll see what we’ll see;” 
and with that he opened the letter. To say 
that astonishment was pictured upon his face 
would convey in no adequate degree the Bur- 
prised appearance of Jabez. He read the let¬ 
ter through; then laid it down on the table 
and gazed at it without saying a word for a 
full hour. 
There’s deviltry fur ye, to go and get up 
such rascally lies about a poor fellow and he 
in Buch a bad case as this. What kin I du. 
Barley’s as good as dead, or as bad, or worse; 
an it’s better to leave it as it is than to let this 
out. Why the poor old mother’d go crazy. 
I must think of a way to let her know he’s 
alive without telling he’s as bad as dead. And 
Miss Patience she’ll hear from the old lady. 
They don’t believe the stories about him any¬ 
how, and no news is good news- So I’ll say 
nuthin about it to a soal; not fur the present. 
But this money; the old lady may want it and 
must hev it. I’ll get that to her this very 
night and I’ve got a plan to du it. ’ 
Jabez wrapped up the money; two *100 
bills; which came in the letter and wrote on 
the package, “This is from the Lord.” The 
mm 
Wwmi. 
mmM 
■ y-m, 
,rs m 
m 
HI 
Fay s Prolific Cdrrant. (From Nature.) [See Page 650.]_Fig. 315. 
gossips in the village knew of »t before he di^ 
and it was some weeks before he thought the 
report sufficiently authenticated to induce him 
to apply at the post office for the letter. By 
this time the letter was in the list of those 
advertised, and the published list, hung in the 
office, confirmed the report to the curious 
neighbors. 
“Why don’t you go and get that letter 
Jabez” asked one and another. 
“Wall I swan, I don’t know if its fur me 
anyhow; who should bother their heads about 
me, I’d like tu know.” 
Then the idea occurred to him that it might 
be from his absent brother and he was then 
almost afraid to get the letter. But after con- 
package he slipped under the Widow Merritt’s 
door and left it there. 
Ef its not from the Lord, I’k like tu know 
who it is from* Ef the Lord hain’t had a hand 
in this thing my name’s not Jabez Jonkins. 
Here’s brother Josh gone away nigh onter 
•35 or years, and turned up jest where he 
could pick young Merritt outer his bad scrape 
and save the poor fellows life. What fixed 
that jest so, I d like tu kno v ? And them d&wgs 
tu; ef it hadn’t been for t> ern, the fellow was 
a goner any how. And then there’s me here 
for Josh to write tu. And me in the thick of 
the scrape as well. Well it’s a perty bad 
mess. That’s what it is. And no way outer 
it as I can see jest yet. Ef the Lord’s got his 
. j . - J A-n vuo JUVIU B Bull LilS 
sidenng some time longer he thought differ- hand inter it, and I guess he hes, it’ll come 
eutly. Ef its Jouiah as is writin’ to me I out right; so don’t worry, Jabez.” 
And so Jabez concluded to leave this busi. 
ness in what he thought “good hands,” that 
had carried him so far, and not to interfere 
himself, lest be might make a mess of it. A 
profoundly wise conclusion, under the cir¬ 
cumstances for him. 
And Jabez, in pursuance of his plan, tried to 
induce Patience to believe all would come out 
right in the end by his emphatic declarations 
of that belief himself. But not knowing that 
Jabez had auy Information to guide him in 
his belief. Patience merely took his opinions 
as well-meant efforts to soothe and comfort 
her in what was now becoming her well- 
known distress. For it was already given out 
by common report that she was about to 
marry Jonas Pratt, and that sh> bad been 
driven to the unwelcome union by her self- 
willed father. 
Miss Sally Pratt was the chief newsmonger 
of the village. If any report of any kind be¬ 
came current it could always be traced to 
that mischief-maker. And although her 
brother was a principal in the little drama 
enacting at Stony Brook Farm, yet that made 
little difference in the eagerness with which 
she spread the reports of the ill-usage of 
Patience Bartlett by her father. 
(To be continued.) 
WHAT SHALL WE EAT? 
BY CARRIE V. SWEET. 
An answer to the above interrogation is of 
more importance than most people realize. A 
study of the processes through which food 
goes after it is eaten is not wholly essential, 
but a close observation might help to remedy 
many of the evils that arise from eating im¬ 
proper food. That is food which does not 
afford the nutriment the system 
demands to build it up, or keep 
it in repair after it is once built. 
Of how many meals do we par- 
k take which seem to be very fill- 
' n £> an( I are yet unsatisfactory. 
We are still hungry, although 
jgp§^ we could not swallow another 
- mouthful. The fact is there was 
paaBM A more bulk than nutriment. In 
BllBBH® other words there was too much 
J bulk and too little nutriment to 
§' satisfy our hunger in that kind 
j " of food. Then, again, a dullness 
y I comes over us, a laziness per- 
yad es our being that really 
k makes it an effort for us to do 
the least amount of work, either 
mental or physical. Sometimes 
sick-headache comes on apace, 
and after due time the stomach 
is disgorged, followed by relief 
to the patient. These symptoms 
|§!^ often occur as well as other more 
j||||||k serious difficulties. Theferment- 
|§!!|||py ing food, bread, fruit and vege- 
tables create carbonic acid gas 
that affects the heart, weakens 
Mi, circulation, and produces lung 
flip difficulties. Now comes theques- 
tion, “How shall we avoid these 
many ailments; or having them, 
how can they be remedied !” We 
answer, and from a year’s ex¬ 
perience in trying the remedy 
conclude our reply is worthy of 
some consideration. First, wash 
out and sweeten the stomach and 
bowels by drinking, at least one 
hour before meals, and, upon 
retiring, from three to four cups 
of clear, hot water, the water 
to have been boiled and drank as 
hot as one can sip it. Second, 
eat broiled round steak that has 
been prepared by being freed 
from fat and strings and the 
lean chopped fine, as if for hash 
meat. Fortunately round steak 
is most nutritious and is cheap, 
but unfortunately it is tough. 
The chopping takes away all 
toughness. With it. take,of dry 
toast one-fifth by bulk as much 
as you have of meat and drink 
one cup of clear, weak tea or coffee. 
Live on this rigidly one year and I war¬ 
rant you will have no stomach trouble. 
Live on it one month and see how great the 
improvement. But you say i6 will not cure 
disease. It will build up faster than disease 
tears down. It will fill the veins with rich 
wholesome blood that will throw off disease. 
It will not create in the stomach the car¬ 
bonic acid gas that does so much damage. It 
will make you strong and healthy as it is fast 
making others whom physicians said were 
beyond help because consumption had mort¬ 
gaged their lungB so heavily. They were 
coughing, raising, night-sweating, feet-swel- 
ling, etc., but are able now to walk a mile or 
read aloud in a good clear voice, half an hour 
without tiring. These facts make one con- 
