420 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
August 29. 
vessels used for household and dairy purposes. Long poles, 
suspended by cords from the roof, contained hanks of yarn 
which were hung to dry. The churn stood in the middle of 
the floor, with, at times, a tub or two of steaming turnips or 
potatoes, which were being mashed for cattle. This apart¬ 
ment of all works was ever a scene of hustle of one kind or 
other. The sleeping-rooms were never entered by me, hut 
from the glimpse I got of them, through their open doors, 
t should think they wore scarcely more favourable to study. 
A gloomy and almost sepulchral quiet seemed to pervade 
them. The scanty supply of light, and their damp clay 
floors, forbid your wishing to explore them further. The 
plain and dingy furniture which was visible, seemed only 
what was absolutely necessary. There appeared nothing in 
(ho way of a comfortable chair or convenient table, which 
could induce one to retire either to read or write; indeed, in 
such houses, the only writing materials are a solitary quill, 
and a penny jar of ink, kept in a drawer, or behind a plate, 
on one of the shelves of the dresser ; and yet it must have 
been in one of these gloomy apartments, and impeded by 
all these inconveniences, that the subject of this memoir 
snatched his intervals for self-instruction after his fatiguing 
day of labour on the farm.” What may not—what is not 
done every day by thousands, to improve their worldly call¬ 
ings ? What difficulties are got over! What inconveniences 
are borne with ! What hindrances are trampled down! But 
the sluggard in spiritual things says “ There is a lion in the 
way : a lion is in the streets.” Let such take a lesson from 
John Henry in his inconvenient house. 
Mr. Johnston, in his first intercourse with him, had 
advised him to attend the Sunday-school, where he might 
obtain further instruction. With the humility of a little 
child, this young man scrupled not to obey the recom¬ 
mendation. He never considered it beneath his age and 
station to sit among the little children that gathered round 
the clergyman to be taught by him. The smile or the 
ridicule of those who knew not God were nothing to him. 
He was thirsting for the water of life, and wherever it was 
poured out he was willing to drink. “ He felt that his 
salvation was the one thing needful, and that it mattered 
little how he fared while lie remained in doubt and 
ignorance upon that absorbing subject. * * * As he 
afterwards said—I felt within myself, at that time, that if 
mercy was to be had, I would never cease seeking until I 
found it. With such a resolution, it was easy to overcome 
any false shame or delicacy which might liavo troubled him, 
if, indeed, ho ever felt such. But from the first moment he 
was awakened of God, his earnest perseverance proved him 
to be one of those 1 violent ’ ones, of whom it is said ‘ the 
kingdom of heaven sufferelli violence, and the violent take it 
by force.’ ” 
The great question requires a great answer. There is no 
rest, no satisfaction, till that great answer comes. We are 
often wandering for a long time in the wilderness before 
qur feet tread the soil of Canaan. We have seen the 
promised land—we may have beheld even the grapes of 
Eshcol—and yet our unbelieving hearts keep us doubting 
and wandering, it may be for weeks, or months, or years, 
before we accept the blessing—before we can rest on the 
promises—before we can wrestle with the Lord, and prevail. 
At this time, Mr. Johnston fouud.John Henry silent and 
reserved. He could draw nothing from him but a simple 
“Yes,” or “No”—yet his attention was deep and fixed, and 
he never seemed weary of listening. It was the same at 
church. Mr. Johnston says, “During the service, his mind 
was wholly absorbed in devotion; when the sermon was 
preached, and the theme happened to be the subject of 
redeeming love, his countenance became perfectly radiant 
with delight. Sometimes, when the more awakening 
subjects of death and judgment were treated of, his atten¬ 
tion became so fixed, and he showed such an apparent 
terror of apprehension, that you would suppose him 
listening to some terrific peal of thunder, which had not 
reached the ears of others. Not that he really felt any 
alarm or terror; far otherwise—death and judgment had 
lost their terrors for him. No; he was solemnized and im¬ 
pressed, but not alarmed. Comparing his manner with that 
of those who sat around him, he seemed truly like a being 
from another world, who had fallen among creatures of a 
more carnal, earthly nature; so striking was the contrast be¬ 
tween his deep concern, and their comparative indifference.” ' 
Readers ! “ take heed how ye hear.” Are you listening , 
as John Henry listened ? Arc you wandering as John 
Henry wandered? Are you worshipping as John Henry ! 
worshipped? ‘Whatever you may think, unless you feel or ; 
have felt as he did, you arc still sitting among the fiesli-pots 
of Egypt—you are hugging your chains—you have not even 
cried to God to deliver you from captivity. Observe his . 
energy—his fervour—his hunger and thirst after salvation ; 
and let them stir you up to seek as he did. His case is just 
yours, and mine, and every one’s. He was no more than we 
are; in no greater danger than we are ; not a whit farther, 
if so far, from the kingdom of heaven than we are. If he 
felt so deeply and intensely the terrors of the Lord, and 
that he must “ repent or perish,” “ how shall we escape, if 
we neglect so great salvation? ” How shall we be saved, un- I 
less we “ repent and believe the Gospel.” 
ALLOTMENT FARMING.— September. 
At length our labouring classes are once more enjoying 
those two greatest of temporal blessings—cheap bread an d 
abundance of Potatoes. Such things are, indeed, a boon to 
any class in society; but particularly to all those who live ! 
by the sweat of their brow. And well it is that a sort of ! 
breathing-time comes occasionally, to elevate the hopes and 
fortify the mind against that sad depression of spirits which 
is sure, more or less, to occur during periods of scarcity, 
and, consequently, of high prices. But the patient endurance 
shown during the last terrible winter, when both fuel and 
food were scarcely attainable by thousands; together with 
the spirit recently shown by our army and navy in the 
afflicting warfare into which we have been forced, proves 
plainly that Britons are indeed Britons still, and have lost 
neither the pluck nor fortitude for which their forefathers 
have ever been famed. 
It will soon be time for the Allotment holder and the 
cottager to take up and store his roots for the winter; 
indeed, hundreds have taken up much of their Potato 
stock before now, through dread of the disease; and 
good policy too. Potato crops, in those parts which are. 
notorious for great breadths, and have been so for genera- 
j tions, are, up to the time I write (August 10th), splendid 
indeed; perhaps equal to what they were in their most 
! palmy days, some twenty to thirty years since. And, what 
i is a most pleasing feature in their condition is, the restora¬ 
tion of their blossoming and seeding powers, which had 
been broken up with the corruption of constitution they had 
undergone. Field after field may now be seen, in crossing 
the country, covered with blossom, and those more advanced 
as full of seed apples as in their best days. Every practical 
man must admit that this is an evidence of returning 
strength. 
Let me strenuously advise a most careful selection of 
seed for the future year; for in this, and the avoidance of 
rank manures, must success be sought. I advised this 
course repeatedly when the disease first broke out, and 
endeavoured to persuade people that the constitution of the 
Potato had been seriously injured by such neglect and ill- 
usage as no other crop would have submitted to; but folks, 
instead of looking to natural causes, soon got the whole 
affair so shrouded in mystery, that the dust they lucked up 
soon blinded their vision. 
Papers by me to such effect may be found written at the 
very commencement of the disease, but they were slighted; 
for folks scorned much fonder of nostrums and quackery, 
than of simple measures based on the habits of the 
Potato, and manifestly tending to health of constitution. 
But here the evil chiefly • rested; people began to dip 
deeper into the dunghill than hitherto, and this but 
aggravated the disease. They fancied themselves indisput¬ 
ably on the right scent when they found their Potatoes 
stronger looking than ever in June, not distinguishing 
between au artificial or forced strength and natural robust¬ 
ness ; the former generally distinguished by long-jointed 
shoots, with large and thin foliago; the latter, by a sturdy 
compactness, with thick foliago, as different from the 
former as light from darkness. 
I have had all my early seed Potatoes on a dry boarded 
