211 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, July 6, 1858. 
before tlieir notice a solemn scene which has passed before 
my eyes during my “ recess.” Rut, first, I would ask the 
blessing of the Lord upon my readers, myself, and my en¬ 
deavours to do them good, after so long a silence ; for, with¬ 
out His grace and favour, neither the acts of mighty men, 
nor the ways of obscure folks, can stand or prosper. 
The subject of my present sketch was a man in humble 
life, but of such quickness and natural ability, that whatever 
he did was well and cleverly done, and he might hare been 
an useful and superior character. His father was a stud groom 
in the large establishment of a sporting nobleman ; and I 
believe that no place or calling can be so dear and delightful 
to Satan’s heart as a “sporting” stable. Words and deeds 
of darkness abound in sucli haunts; vice, misery, and ruin 
stalk abroad ; and deep, deep is the guilt and responsibility 
of those who support and encourage such dens of depravity. 
I have never forgotten the dreadful death of a poor whipper- 
in, from delirium tremens. It took place in our neighbour¬ 
hood, and people, for a minute or two, shuddered, and shook 
their heads. It was but a minute or two to them. But, oh ! 
my readers, think of the eternity to him ! 
Jackson, the elder, degenerated from a nobleman’s service to 
that of a private gentleman, in course of years, and, as he grew 
old and inactive, he settled among “ our villagers,” and was 
established as postman and carrier. He had a wife and son 
and daughter. The daughter married, but the son remained 
at home with his parents, and grew up, as might be expected. 
He was born, most probably, within sight and sound of the 
horn ; named, evidently, after some favourite horse, and his 
tastes and talents all leaned stableward as he grew up. 
Violent in temper, uncontrolled, and untaught in every good 
thing, Omar became a bye-word in the parish, and sat among 
those whom every one avoided. He was sometimes in service, 
and oftentimes out; sometimes riding about upon long- 
tailed colts, with alarming bridles, and a long whip ; some¬ 
times leaning over the wall doing nothing, as it seemed , but 
ruling with a rod of iron his now widowed mother, and 
breaking her spirit and heart. The scenes that; took place 
under that roof were fearful. The neighbours knew that he 
threatened his mother’s life continually. Often he retired to 
bed with a huge knife under his pillow, and every day they 
expected to find her weltering in blood, or smothered in the 
well. It w r as a terrible home for a British mother, poor 
though her lot in life. She might have sat calmly, and in 
safety, within her cottage “ castle,” where every British heart 
beats free ; but, alas! she w r as a poor, distracted, terrified 
slave to a savage, spoiled son, and a living monument of 
parental weakness and crime. It is a crime, when children 
“ make themselves vile,” and parents “ restrain them not.” 
At length poor dame Jackson died. It was, in the opinion 
of some, “ a happy release.” Ah! what a darkness rests 
upon those who say, and those who suifer such things! There 
is, dear readers, no “happy release” to any one, except we 
have accounted all things but dung, that wg may win Christ, 
and be found in Him ; “ not having our own righteousness, 
which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of 
Christ.” 
After his poor mother’s death, Omar lived on in the same 
little cottage, which was a lifehold. He spent most of his 
spare time in the cottage of a widow, whose acquaintance 
with him did not add fragrance to her name; and he worked 
on a neighbouring estate where his father had been known of 
old. He parted off two small rooms for himself, and let the 
rest of the cottage ; at one time displaying two or three 
herrings, and a few apples, &c., in the very small window. 
But no one was tempted to buy, and the flies seemed to 
possess the land. This state of singlehood lasted for several 
years, until he advanced beyond middle life, without one 
friend to solace or respect him. 
At length he began to decline in health, became less and 
less able to work, and more and more broken in appearance. 
He had always been a dirty, wild-looking object, but he now 
grew sickly and feeble, and kept very much to himself. No 
one could tell how he lived, or dared to have much curiosity 
on the subject; none were invited to enter his den, and the 
door was always locked. Under the most favourable circum¬ 
stances, the sickness of an unmarried man is sad and melan¬ 
choly ; the wife or daughter’s hand is such a blessed smoother 
of pillows, and such a sweetener of tea and gruel. But, 
where all things are unfavourable ,—where there are no com¬ 
forts of any kind, inside or out,—how thrice distressing is it to 
witness the trials of a lone man. An old maid, God bless 
her, amid all the negatives of spinstership, can make herself 
comfortable in a thousand ways, and looks business-like, and 
somewhat in her right place; but a single man looks grim 
and awkward in his best estate, and miserably deficient in 
time of sickness. 
In the course of time Omar Jackson grew sensibly worse, 
and at last never came forth at all. His last effort had been 
to be put into a donkey cart, and driven round the grounds 
and farm, where he had worked so long. We were told that 
long and lingering was his last look as they brought him 
home. 
The next change that took place in the lonely dwelling of 
him who menaced his mother’s life, was groans that reached 
the ears of his tenants in the stillness of night. They called, 
but he refused to let them in. At last they forced their way 
in, and found nothing whatever in the two miserable rooms, 
but the occupant lying on a bare bedstead, covered with an 
old sack. No bed clothes, no furniture, no food—not even 
! “ a sherd to take fire withal from the hearth.” With kind 
i compulsion his tenants took him into their own room, placed 
j him in bed, and ministered to him of their little substance. 
I Dark, ignorant, and laden with unrepentecl sin, this poor, un- 
i happy mother-slayer had no comfort, and no hope. He lay and 
groaned. Did the form of that poor trembling mother stand 
in that very room before his darkening sight ? Did the 
sound of her cries, and the touch of her tears, break up the 
clods of that hard heart, as he lay dying ? Did they rise up 
already in judgment, and condemn P He once or twice was 
heard to say, “ Lord have mercy upon me,” but that was all. 
He said he knew not how to pray, and wished for no spiritual 
aid. In this awful and distressing state ho sank into eternity. 
Children, behold the end of him who ill-used his mother ! 
Take warning, lest ye also come into the same condemnation. 
Parents, lay not up for your children death-beds like this. 
When they make themselves vile, when their childish feet 
haste to do evil, restrain them. Remember Eli and his sons. 
Let us all remember, that sin, and worldliness, and forget¬ 
fulness of God, brings us to judgment, and, if even in this 
world bitter are the fruits of unrepented sin, what will it be 
when “the worm dietli not, and the fire is not quenched?” 
IMPLEMENTS and APPLIANCES EXHIBITED 
AT CHISWICK. —June 9th and 10th. 
(Continued from page 159.) 
Among the philosophical instruments exhibited by Messrs. 
Negretti and Zambra, wo omitted to notice, in our former 
report, a Garden Thermometer , mounted on a porcelain scale, 
which is unaffected by the weather, and which may be said to 
be everlasting. The figures and divisions are not painted on 
the surface, but eaten into the substance of the scale by the 
action of fluoric acid, rendering them perfectly indelible—an 
object much to be desired by gardeners, who have to use these 
instruments in stoves and forcing-houses, where the humidity 
' acts on them with injurious effects. The scale being of pure 
i white porcelain, and the figures and divisions black, the 
I reading is at all times clear and distinct. 
Against one of the walls, in the implement department, a 
very good method of protecting fruit trees was erected. It is 
called Meeston's Fruit and Blossom Protector , and is con¬ 
structed both of glass and of canvass ; the former for pro¬ 
tecting the blossom from frosts in spring, and the latter 
I from the insects and birds in autumn. It is intended to be a 
moveable covering, and is made in panels, forming a sort ot 
framework, and standing at distances ol one loot and two 
I feet and a half from the wall. The idea is good, but the ex- 
j pense is too great to induce a large application of the prin- 
I ciple. 
Among the implements, we observed and tried a new hoe, 
called Sigma's Draw Shave Jloe—n very useful and effective 
instrument. It is a thin plate of steel, like that used in the 
Dutch hoe, but so placed as to work as a draw hoe, and it 
certainly does its work admirably, keeping itself clean during 
the operation. Sigma's Dibber is an ingenious and useful im- 
