May 19, 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER, 
the few first days, was bright and prosperous, until symp¬ 
toms of exhaustion evinced themselves in his wife, never a 
very strong woman; and unable, I imagine, with the hard 
diet of an emigration vessel, to afford her twins the nutriment 
they required, the two children consequently fell sick and 
di§d, one after the other, while the wife was daily becoming 
more and more emaciated, until death put an end to her 
sufferings; and Green landed, a desolate and heart-broken 
man, with an only daughter, a child three or four years old. 
Here, indeed, was a lesson to all discontented spirits; a lesson 
of God’s own teaching ; a moral, obvious to the most careless. 
“ The letter of poor Green was full of bitter complaints 
and repining. He was the most unfortunate of men—‘ all 
liis efforts and struggles were invariably unfortunate, and 
he met with nothing but disappointments, where others 
would certainly have succeeded.’ It never for a moment 
seemed to cross his mind, that his ‘ill luck,’ as he would 
term it, arose from his own unhappy disposition. He 
was utterly disappointed in the climate and country; and 
loud were his complaints against the writers on emigration, 
whom, he said, must have written on purpose to deceive; 
and now all his anxiety seemed to be to return to ‘ dear old 
England,’ whose green fields and snug cottages he was 
sighing again to behold. He had met with great difficulty 
in obtaining suitable employment, and his favourite notion 
of cultivating the vine was not even alluded to. He had 
walked hundreds of miles to the Burra Burra mines, where 
he obtained casual work, but was suddenly dismissed, with 
many others, on some alteration of management. The last 
time I heard of him he was employed in a newspaper office, 
and was endeavouring to obtain a sufficient amount to bring 
him home. What effect the discovery of gold may have 
had upon his prospects, I know not; but I have little doubt 
his first impulse would be to rush away to the diggings; and 
I should not be surprised to learn that his career had been 
brought to an end in consequence, for his physical energies 
were never very great, and his constitution none of the 
strongest.” 
How many may take warning by the sorrows and disap¬ 
pointments of William Green. How many “ have walked 
in the light of their own tire,” and then wondered, because 
they have “laid down in sorrow!” How many are now 
murmuring at the consequences of their own blind folly, 
and are “charging God foolishly!” Ah! “He doeth all 
things well;” with Him “ is no variableness, neither shadow 
of turning;” it is not the Lord, but our own waywardness, 
that brings us into trouble. Let us go back, step by step, 
through all the events of our lives, and see if we cannot 
find out the first beginning of our “ ill-luck,” as we sinfully 
call it. Let us see if that first beginnng was not some very 
foolish, obstinate, or selfish act, if not a very wicked and 
unholy one! What man does to us never hurts us; it is 
what we do to ourselves that works our ruin. A master 
may seem very grinding and oppressive; a relation may seem 
very unjust, harsh, and unfeeling; friends may deceive; 
promises may be broken; expectations altogether upset. 
But all this is nothing; we may trace and thread our way 
through all these things with ease; they are external dis- 
agrealdes ; they will rub off; they are but bruises; they 
I will soon disappear; they are the light and gracious appoint¬ 
ments of a Father's unerring wisdom and undying love; 
they will fulfil His will, execute His commands, convey the 
benefit, and correction, and chastening, and blessing, our 
souls require, and then they will depart, or be softened 
down into sweetness. But it is our own mad actions that 
do us harm; that put stumbling blocks in the path; that 
cause blains to break out that drain our strength and 
destroy our happiness. I will venture to say, without fear 
of contradiction, that not one of ns have suffered either in 
mind, body, or estate, without having ourselves laid the first 
stone of our sorrow. I write feelingly, and I am sure 
candid minds will read feelingly too. 
We may “wander up and down for meat, and grudge if 
wo be not satisfied ;” we may “make a noise like a dog, and 
go about the city;” but, depend upon it, we are no better 
than heathens in our hearts, and, like them, we shall be 
“laughed at” by the Lord. Our joints will wither; our 
schemes will be ldown upon; and, like poor William Green, 
we shall “meet with nothing but disappointments where 
others would certainly have succeeded.” 
My dear readers! times, masters,parents, circumstances, 
may be very disagreeable, hard, and unreasonable; but, 
depend upon it, it is not them that mar your happiness. 
Look deeper, look nearer home, seek it in your hearts. And 
then look into the Word of God for instruction, knowledge, j 
direction, and increase of wisdom. Seek the teaching of 1 
the Holy Spirit., and walk closely by the statutes and precepts 
ol God. “Then thou shalt walk in thy way safely, and thy j 
foot shall not stumble. When thou liest down thou shalt 
not be afraid; yea, thou shalt lie down, and thy sleep shall 
be sweet.” 
WHAT ARE SPANISH FOWLS, AND WHAT 
MINORCAS? 
The Bristol Agricultural Society have this year offered 
prizes, at their Poultry Exhibition, to be held in December 
next, for Spanish fowls, and a prize for Minorcas, black 
or brown. This is a question, therefore, in which the 
poultry-keepers residing in the western counties are pecu¬ 
liarly, or rather, I apprehend, exclusively interested, inso¬ 
much, that I believe the name Minorca applied to fowls is 
only heard of in the West of England. If I am correct in 
my opinion, there are three varieties of Spanish fowls, viz., 
black with white faces, and blacks not white-faced, as well 
j as pure white, and my belief is, that black Spanish (not 
white-faced) and black Minorcas (of the western counties) 
are one and the same sort of fowl. Being personally inter 
ested in the subject, as are several of my neighbours, I 
j wrote to the Secretary of the Bristol Society, requesting him 
to inform me what distinction is intended to be drawn by 
the committee between black Spanish (not white-faced) 
and black Minorcas, to which he replied, “ There is no 
such name as black Spanish in the prize list, and I believe 
it is generally understood that ‘ Spanish ’ means black 
birds with white faces. The judges, no doubt, will lie able 
to distinguish between them and Minorcas." You will very 
much oblige, therefore, if you can enlighten mo and my 
friends who are in the dark, what is the difference (if any) 
between these “ two black birds ?” 
This lias led me particularly to the consideration of the 
great -want which at present exists of a proper and general 
understanding as to what are the correct names, and chief 
characteristics of the different breeds of fowls at our exhibi¬ 
tions, and that committees should be relieved from the 
necessity of stultifying themselves (for such is really in 
many instances the case) by offering prizes for they know 
not what, except a name, and also of perpetuating errors by 
adopting improper names, as in the case of “ Cochin- 
Chinas”—for here I must observe, that common sense ap¬ 
pears to me to dictate, that the proper name for a China 
fowl is a “ China fowl,” as an Englishman is an English¬ 
man all the world over, come from what county in England 
he may. 
I would suggest, that a prize list should briefly set 
forth what are intended to be considered the leading 
features or characteristics of each breed for which prizes 
are offered, which could (particularly if emanating from one 
of our leading societies) easily be carried out, and I feel 
satisfied that the principle, when once started, would be 
followed, and in the course of a short time bring about a 
clear understanding as to what really are the true cha¬ 
racteristics of all the different varieties, and at the same 
time save much trouble and expense, as well as disappoint¬ 
ment to exhibitors, since very great differences of opinion at 
present prevail even amongst “judges.”—T. A. 
[The Minorca fowl of the western districts of England is 
a bird somewhat lower on the leg, and of a rounder form 
than the Spanish ; and the white cheek, the peculiar clia- i 
racteristic of the latter, is absent, the ear-lobe alone being 
of that colour. Were we to adopt your suggestion, and, 
banishing the terms “ Cochin China,” or “ Shanghae,” 
adopt in their place the appellation of “ the China fowl,” i 
our difficulties would not be lessened—for other fowls, be¬ 
yond the class thus designated, have been introduced from 
the Celestial Empire. Shanghae, we think, is the more 
correct term, as indicative of the district from which the 
birds in question have been imported. 
