Essex County herald. [volume], January 18, 1873, Image 1

About Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964

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COUNTY
HERALD.
HENRY C. BATES, Editob.
DEVOTED TO LOCAL, POLITICAL AND GENERAL NEWS, AND THE INTERESTS OF ESSEX COUNTY.
Teems : $1.50 per Anscm, is Advance.
VOL. I.
GUILDHALL. VERMONT. SATURDAY, JANUARY 18. 187:.
NO. 2.
A Clerk who Went West.
I am unfortunately one of that class
whose services in all the labor markets
of the world are at discount, a clerk,
married, with four children, two boys
and two girls, in ages graduated from
three to fifteen. But with a position
permanent, as such usually are, and re
ceiving a fair salary, I could, in looking
out for future years, see no provision
for age, no resource when unfitted by
sickness or accident for the performance
of customary duties, and with increas
ing expenses and stationary income I
chafed at the prospect to which distance
seemed to lend no enchantment, and
having in time past improved some va
cations on the farm, acquired a taste for
its independence, its physical exeercise,
vigorous appetite, and generous board.
I seemed to gravitate toward it.
In the winter of 1869 -and 1870 my
health failed. I became from sedentary
habits, broken down, worn out. Mv
physician recommended a change. , As I
had some money in a saving bank, early
in the spring of 1870 1 pulled up stakes
and started for the West; left my family
with some farmer friends in Wisconsin,
and moved out to Kansas, where I ex
pected to buy land at from $3 to $5 per
acre. But lands in the Kansas River
valley I found held at an average of $20
per acre this was near Manhattan
still I thought I had travelled too for to
pay so much, and inquired for the Gov
ernment alternates with a view of pre
empting or homesteading; but none
considered desirable were to be had mn
less at the extreme limits of the railroad
grant. I then eHgaged a sent in a stage
for Fort Sibly, lying North, near the
Nebraska line, but even at this distance
eighty miles from railroad, preemptions
were held at $7 per acre, and these cov
ered every water claim water in this
case means wood also timber lands
proper being out of tli9 question, a few
scattered cotton woods being by them
designated as timber.
The only alternative was to pre-empt
a quarter section, on the open prairie,
with no wood, no water, no schools, no
churches, no society, in a land of ex
treme heat and cold, subject to floods,
high winds, grasshoppers, and other
annoyances. My courage failed me, and
I aeknowled the absence of that grit or
nerve, call it what you will, necessary
to the successful development of a farm
on the frontier. In a community it
might do but single-handed, and that
hand unused to the plow no, sir,
never. But a farm, and a cheap sne,
seemed a necessity. So I turned
backward and influenced by some
little circumstance or current for which
'tis difficult to account, I found myself
soon again prospecting iu northwestern
Iowa.
Supplied with plots from the Land
Offioe, at Sioux City, I began the hunt;
and while I live I shall never forget it.
Tired, hungry, foot-sore, sleeping in all
kinds of places. At last not suited,
but despairing of doing better, I
bought out a pre-emption claim for
$230. The whole country is covered
with squatters, who with no disposition
to farm, but holding the lands under
homestead or pre-emption claims,
qualify the action of the Govenment in
giving and selling hinds to the actual
settlers only, by seeking out every de
sirable spot, building their cabins, turn
ing two or three acres of sod, or moving
a little liny just enough to comply with
the law. and then wait for a chance to
sellout. This is legitimate, without a
doubt, but it is a state of things which
few are familiar with, and is not recog
nized by the new comer without a feel
ing of disappointment. However, the
owner of an average piece of rolling
prairie, a shanty, and a hay stack, I
took possession, fitted it up with stove,
groceries, and other necessaries, sup
plied doors and windows, which the
former owner viewed as among the lux
uries of life, and just as I settled down
it began to blow great guns. Such a
blow I never felt before, and the me
mory of it is sufficient for the future,
Although the middle of April, it was
cold, very cold indeed, and wood was
scarce; not a stick on the newly accquir
ed possession, and none in sight.
tey railr?ad ties, borrowed frem
the Railroad on my journey from the
depot to the shanty, in anticipation of
such a contingency, was the extent of
my woodpile; but I was looking anxi
ously and expectantly for a change of
weather these extreme blows not cus
tomarily lasting more than forty-eight
hours, so I was told. But seven days
passed away, the wind still howled, the
railroad ties were exhausted, and the
rafters to the slmntv -worn
pearing, and I decided to make tracks.'
j.u my solitary watchmt the shanty I
was one morning roused by a human
voice. "Auh woh yo?" I started,
halted the team, enquired where from
and where to. A hired man of Dr.
Somebody a few miles back, on his way
to the Floyd river in search of wood.
My eyes sparkled, for I had not yet pro
cured a team. I explained my situation.
A new comer, no wood, extreme cold,
badly protected from the weather, fee,
would pay any price for part of a load ;
but it was no use ; that was a faithful
servant in the most extreme sense ; he
could not be bribed or swerved from
what he thought to be his duty. The
claims of the emigrant, the calls of hu
manity, the Weifrht nf rlnllnra onI nanlc
were alike unavailing, as looking back
Qua. xi yOU Hre oaaiy in want of
wood, trim off the sheath
your shanty. Git up," and I saw him
I abandoned the shanty that night,
arrived at the site of what is now a town,
put ur at the residAncn nf TVonoV..
the onlvnnolocv for lm'fai a
. next morning the wind ceased, the sun
shone out cheerfully, and I looked about
with a view of making some purchases,
such as ateair, cows, hogs, poultry, &c,
but in every instance the price was
double what I expected to pay, and I
determined to take a trip to Wisconsin,
cofer with my family, buy a team, etc.,
there; but, alas for human calculations,
they did not like the description of our
new home, and persuaded me to dispose
of the Iowa preemption, A small farm
was for sale on satisfactory terms here,
surrounded by friends', churches,
schools, society, railroad, and mail,
everything that was desirable, and I
bought again seventy-one acres improv
ed, two miles from a depot, with wood
a4 water, thirty-five acres under
plough, house, barn, seed, stock, tools,
etc., for $ 3,500 ; $1,000 cash ; the rest
in five years at 8 per cent. Thus, after
six weeks of tedious aud in one sense
unprofitable search, I found myself a
farmer.
In was near May day, crops had to be
put in with a rush, and many said that
I was too late for spring wheat, but I
put it in with all possible dispatch,
and followed immediately with oats and
corn. From ravages by the chinch bug
the wheat crop was f ar.below the average
but mine was as good as that of any of
my neighbors. The prospecting in
Kansas and Iowa, payment ou the farm,
freigbt on household goods, some trifl
ing purchases, and provisions for the
summer had reduced, yes, exhausted,
iy capital, and I worked all harvest to
cover the expense of getting in my crops.
Opportunity presenting, I put my team
upon a thresh ing-macliine and went with
that thirty days, for which I received
$75. This, to one unused to such labor,
was trying, still, although losing flesh, I
was gaining health acd vigor.
The threshing introduced me to a new
and varied phases of life, we threshed
alike for rich and poor, American, Eng
lish, German, and Norwegian, the clean
ly and the filthy, without distinction,
from daylight until dark, but this ex
perience was valuable ; it gave me an
insight into American farm life, that un
der other circumstances I shonld never
have had ; it showed me that in farming
there were distinctions even greater than
among merchants. I saw homes in every
grade from the easy well to do on the
rich prairie and bottom lands, to those
struggling with a debt and misfortune,
as also the hard seratching among
stumps and rocks of the German and
Swede, yet happiness was not confined
to any one class, indeed I saw content
ment and thankfulness under circum
stances which will for all time give me a
greater appreciation of the blessings I
enjoy. .
Well, at the close of the season, with
land ploughed for the next year's crops,
I sat down to sum up the results, and
my net income proved to be $270, frotti
which I was to deduct $200 for interest,
$20 for taxes, procure boots and shoes
(offsetting groceries with butter and
eggs) and provide a sinking fund to
cancel the debt.
Things were becoming serious, and
tlsit something must be done I was
satisfied. Winter was at hand, which
imposed no duties beyond feeding cattle
and cutting wood. My health was good,
the nervous debility and want of confi
dence with which I planted my first hill
of corn had given way to vigorous health
and confidence and trust. My eldest
boy was, with tiie exeption of wood-cutting,
man enough for the occasion, and
I looked to the city.
My old employer wrou?d make room
for me. But thoughts of my wife and
little ones, lonely and alone created a
struggle. let the inrm was self-sustaining.
I could in two years pay for
it ; then comparative independence
would be mine. I hesitated, but be
lieved that the end would justify the
means ; it was a righteous effort, a
stroke for a home, exemption from land
lords, a refuge in adversity, the pure air
of heaven with wholesome influences for
my children. I bade them good-by, and
to'day the farm is ours.
Onoe a New York lerk.
Matrimonial Infelicity.
A melancholy argument against the
undesirability of marriage is demon
strated by the many unhappy couples
who are yoked together for life, and
have not the tact, or kindliness, to con
ceal from the world how that yoke galls.
The truth is that the greater proportion
of the so-called incompatibilities and
uncongenialities of domestic life which
are so often made the ground for the
disruption of the matrimonial bond, are
inadmissible as a justifying ground for
any such dissolution, and could be
readily overcome and blotted out of ex
istence if the parties most concerned
had only the will to do it. A couple are
no sooner married than they find that
differences of opinion and mutual jars
ensue, and all is not gold that glistened;
and then one or both straightway
imagine that there is no remedy but in
ruthlessly breaking the solemn, sacred
tie that binds them. A vague, restless
feeling seizes upon one or both, produc
ing discontent, engendering a certain
thought of present bondage which exists
only in fancy, and creating a feverish
desire for other associations and spheres
which are supposed to be mare fitted
and providentially designed for the mind
and heart. No escape, it is said, but in
cutting the knot. It is a delusion. The
marriage relation, in all its history, was
never expected, perhaps, to be entirely
free from misunderstanding and dis
cords. Foolish to think that the whole
mutual life can flow on, like the early
stream, without a ripple or eddy. Home
is a school a discipline whereby husband
and wife are to grow into each other,
getting rid of their angularities, har
monizing their peculiar characteristics,
and more bocoming one in thought,
sympathy and life. The true blessed
ness of wedded souls is not insured by
a simple exchange of plighted faith. It
comes through and after many a self
denial, many a crucifiction of the will,
many a scourging of the resentment,
anger, pride, vanity, and passions of the
heart. It is true here, as in other rela
tions, that he who saveth his life shall
lose it, and ho that loseth his life shall
save it.
A Georgia scene: Mr. Thomas Gibbs,
a substantial citizen of Wilcox, went
into the woods a few days ago to feed
some of his hogs. Wliile going along
he saw a black fox squirrel moving very
slowly through the grass, and his curi
osity being excited, he went tip to it,
when to his astonishment he beheld a
small highland terrapin holding fast to
the squirrel by one of its hind legs.
The squirrel used all its strength to es
cape by actually dragging the terrapin
several yards through the weeds, and
finally reaching a small sapling,it climb
ing up that in the hope of releasing the
terrapin. But the terrapin held to the
squirrel's foot with a death grip, and
Mr. Gibbs went to the sapling and
shook them out. The terrapin still kept
his hold, and was dragged by the squir
rel to a gopher hole near iy, and was
carried into it. This was, the last seen
of the terrapin and. its victim,
Farm, Garden find Honschold.
Keeping Apples. The Vermont Far
mer recommends long shallow boxes,
large enough for two men to lift when
full of fruit, by each takingliold at the
end, filling not quite up to the top, and
then as the apples are put in, placing
one on the other till piled as high as a
man's shoulders. In this way a large
quantity occupies a small space, and
whenever the apples need picking over
the boxes are successively lifted off and
examined. In some cases it might be
as well to make the boxes shorter, so
that one man could put them up and
take them down.
Beef Cattle. Ony a small proportion
of the western milch cows nre sold or
exchanged in the market-places. When
no longer valuable for the dairy or for
breeding they ore mostly sold to West
ern beef-pacliers located "at points most
convenient for the collection of what
they term coarse cattle at the smallest
expense for transportation. Of the steers
nnd fat oxen not far from 400,000 are
aanually slaughtered west and south of
Chicago, 150,000 in that city, and about
750,000 are sent to the cities of New
York' Albany, Boston, Philadelphia,
and Baltimore. . Fully 5,000,000 sheep
and lambs are used up annuaKy, of
which more than 1,000,000 were sold to
slaughterers in New York City. In
eleven Western States from which re
turns were received there were packed
last season 4,868,4-18 hogs; very nearly
2,000,000 were received in New York
alive, not far from 1,000,000 in Boston,
and about 500, 000 in Baltimore and Fhil
adelnhia: so that at leRt 10.000.000 are
yearly slaughtered in all the States.
A correspondent of The, Prairie Far
mer tells "how he cured a runaway
horse" on which all previous prescrip
tions nad been tried m vam. At last lie
observed that the fiery, untamed steed
never gave him any troubble at night,
particularly if it was quite dark. On
this hint he acted. He made a hood of
leather, and attached it to the headstall
in such a way that by pulling a cord the
hood came down and completely cut off
his view. Adjusting this appliance, he
drove to a favorable place and let him
have his will. In a few moments he
was under full sail, then the cord was
pulled and the hood fell. Mr. Horse
could see nothing, began to slacken of
his own accord, and finally stopped
stock still. The hoed was lifted, he be
gan his pranks again, and again the
blinder covered his eyes. He was guid
ed agaiust a cart standing in the road,
which hurt him some. In a little while
he could not be whipped into a run, and
was completely cured of his bad habit.
Sugor Beets. There is a great amount
of food produced in sugar beet culture,
the leaves, the pressed pulp, or macer
ated slices of boet, as well as the tops,
being at the disposal of the farmer.
The leaves, some three to six tons per
acre, should not bo taken from the beet
during the grtwth, as quantity and
quality are greatly impaired. 'Those
not fed fresh t cattle and sheep should
be stored up in trenches for winter use.
They must be firmly trodden down ; one
per cent, of salt may be added, as well
as chaff of grain. The whole is well and
tightly covered by earth, and after un
dergoing a process of fermentation in
be fed at the rate of twelve to fifteen
pounds per head of cattle, and one to
one and one-half pounds per sheep. The
pulp, of which fifteen to eighteen per
cent, in weight is returned, and of slices
some seventy or eighty per cent., should
also be trenched and firmly trodden
down ; the pits of the last should be
properly drained. They can be fed fresh
and after fermentation, being composed
of a great amount of water and hydro
carbons, nitrogeneous or prpteine sub
stances should be fed, suoh as oil cake,
bean and pea meal, and clover hay. All
this food brought back to the farm, with
the lime Used in saturating and there
fuse of the - filter, will nearly make up
Hie loss of mineral substances exported
therefrom ; the former will therefore in
reality export sugar, that is, oxygen,
hydrogen and carbon, given away in in
exhaustible quantities by a bountiful
nature.
Muck as a Manure. Ned Martin,
Alexandria, Va., writes to the Farmers'
Club, "I shall feel extremely obliged
lor the opinion of the club on muck as
a manure for meadows. . I have had the
opinion of a gentleman in this neigh
borhood, who is considered an authori
ty on manures, and he by no means
recommends its use, for the reason that
weeds, especially sorrel, are certain to
follow its application; otherwise I think
he considers that it would to some ex
tent have a beneficial influence. The
muck I have in wiew is Hear to the
mouth of a small tributary of the Po
tomac and forms portion of a small
marsh. It consists principally of de
cayed marsh vegetation and sand, in
some places nearly black, and where the
sand is more abundant of a dark brown
black."
A question arose as to what is muck, lo
which Mr. Bruer replied, "I suppose
by muck he means turf, does he not ?"
S. E. Tood. Turf may consist of
clear muck, or of muck, sand and clay
in equal or unequal parts. Pure muck
contains no sand.
H. H. Inglesby gave details of his ex
periments in the use of muck on his
cultivable fields. A bountiful dressing
was applied to soma fields more than
twenty years ago, and the fertilizing ef
fect is perceived to this day.
W. L. Heuser advocated the use of
muck on light land.
Dr. E. W. Sylvester said that muck
which is produced by the decay of leaves
is very valuble as a fertilizer on almost
any soil, as there is a large amount of
inorganic matter in leaves, which is
soluble after they have decayed. But
the muck produced by the decay of
cranberry moss is comparatively worth
less for fertilizing purposes. He had
used muck as a top dressing on his
meadows with satisfactory results.
F. D. Curtis. If the muck contains
much sand, it will not be worth ten
cents per two-horse wagon load.
Omnibus and other drivers must be
careful with their long whip lashes.
One of them in London had to pay
$6 25 to a gentleman whose eye he had
injured with his lash in effecting a
flourish.
Commrncenipnt of the Year.
By the reformation of the calender by
Gregory, the year 1873 began on the
first of January, and, consequently,
whenever and wherever the new stylr
of reckoning time was adopted, then and
there the yeor commenced on this day.
Previous to the use of the Gregorian
Calender, the years had different days
of beginning at various times in the
same aud different centuaries, and occa
sionally at the same time in the same
country.
In most countries it began on one of
the following days.
Christmas-day, the 25th of December ;
Circumcision-day, the 1st of January;
Lady-day, the 25th of Maroh ;
Easter-day, the day of the Resurrec
tion of our Lord.
In England, in the seventh, and so
late as the thirteenth centner, the year
began on Christmas-day; Tb'ut, iu the
twelfth century, the Anglican Chufeli
commenced the year on tyie 25th of
March, as did also the civilians of the
fourteenth century. This continued
until 1752, the time of adoption of the
new style. By this it aripears that two
modes of reckoning the commencement
of the year have generally existed in
Groat Brittain and its colonies, causing
what is called the Civil, Ecclesiastical,
or Legal Year, and the Historical
Year. The Imt named of these has
commenced on the 1st of January for a
long period of time.
In order to prevent, as far as possible,
the occurrences of error by the use of
two commencements of the year, it is
now usual to annex the date ot the His
torical to that of the Legal Year, when
alluding to any day between the 1st of
January and the 25th of March previous
to 1752, thus : 10 Jan. 1G2J ; or 10 Jan.
1,021-2. When double dating occurs,
the upper or first figure indicates the
Legal, and the lower or the last the His
torical Year. The last of these is the
year used in the present computation.
An Eventful Voyage.
The Bremen bark Columbia, arrived
at New York after a long and eventful
passage. She sailed from Bremen on
the 18th of October, having on board
300 passengers, of whish number 150
were children under eight years of ago.
Early on the voyage she met witli bad
weather, which continuned during the
whole of her passage across the Atlantic.
Captain Helder says that ho never en
countered a continuous series of such
violent gales during his long experience
afloat. The wind blew with tremendous
fury, and the sea rose up in great angry
waves that breached over the vessel'
threatening her every moment with ut
ter annihilation. It was impossible to
carry much sail, and head winds retard
ed the vessel's progress. Deaths soon
became very prevalent among the young
er passengers, for their parents became
exhausted and were unnble to supply
them with sufficient nourishment. The
waves breaching over the vessel and
bursting upon her decks rendered it ab
solutely necessary to keep the hatches
battened for days together, the foul air
generated thereby doubtless tending to
produce sickness among the enervated
children. Though the Columbus was
amply supplied with provisions, having
been supervised by the Bremen officials
prior to sailing, it was frequently found
impossible to do any cooking aboard,
the crew and a ..nit passengers became
exhausted, the former by their laborious
exertions and the latter by the sudden
difference between quiet life ashore and
the miseries they experienced afloat,
parents could not care properly for their
offspring, ad the result is the sad fact
that twenty-one of these little sufferers
died during the passage. Diphtheria
was the cause of the demise of many.
There were two births on board, and the
mother of one of the these tempest-born
children expired just prior to the vessel
reaching Sandy Hook. The infants
were buried at sea.
The United Stales Census.
Of the 40,000.000 people in the United
States, 7,000,000 are engaged in agricul
tural and other producing occupations.
1,500,000 in manufactures. 300,000 in
commerce. 170,000 in intellectual pur
suits, embracing the learned profes
sions. 90,000 in ocean navigation. 70,
000 in mining and 50,000 in internal na
vigation, making in all about 9,000,000,
or a little more than 1-4 of the entire
population.
Agricultural Statistics show at the
present time a cash value for farms of
$0,650,000,000; a cash value for farm
ing implements, of $247,000,000. The
value for live stock, for one year, $1,
107,000,000, and for animals slaughter
ed $213,000,000; for the products of the
orchard, $19,000,000.
Of wheat, rye, Indian corn, oats,
peas and beans, Irish potatoes, sweet
potatoes, barley, buckwheat, flax-seed,
clover-seed and graBS-seed iu ono year,
that 1800, the number of bushels raised
was 1,400,000,000-
Of rice, wool, butter, cheese-, hops,
flax, tobacco, silk cocoons, maple sugar,
beeswax, and honey, the total quantity
in pounds in one year (1860) was 1,324,
306,000. Of wine, cane molasses, sorghum mo
lasses, in one year (1860) 27,000,000 gal
lons. The quantity of ginned cotton was
2,079,000,000 lbs. (1860). The market
gardens yielded $15,000,000 in value.
Destruction of Life nnd Property.
Since the beginning of the present
Avinter the destruction of life and prop
erty in Europe, by storms and floods,
has been without a parallel for centuries.
Whole villages have been destroyed ;
vast sections of country have been in
undated ; hundreds of vessels have
been wrecked ; thousands of lives have
been lost. So great was the destruction
in some localities that the superstitious
fears of the people were aroused, and it
was believed that the end of the world
was at hand.
The destroying elements have seemed
to be unusually active on both sides of
the Atlantic during the last eighteen
months. While Europe has been deso
lated by storms and floods, we have been
scathed by fire, and the destruction of
property has been vast beyond all for
mer experienee.
A Vermont man has, this year, shot
seven large eagles, which he sold at $10
each just an eagle for an eagle.
A Father's Displeusure.
Bland Ballnrd, a young man of 25,
son of Thomas Ballard, Esq., a wealthy
farmer, living about eight miles from
Bardstown, Kentucky, had contracted a
matrimonial engagement with Miss
Rhodes, a young lady living in the
same neighborhood. Tuesday, the 31st
u'lt., had been selected as the date of
the nuptials, which were to be celebra
ted at Holy Cross.
The young man had not said anything
to his father concerning his approaching
marriage, and he learned that old gen
tleman was displeased on account of not
having been consulted in the matter.
Accordingly, on Friday, the 13th inst.,
he went to his father and told him what
he had heard. His father said it was
true that he thought hard of his not
having named the matter to him sooner,
especially if he had expected a recep
tion or anything of that kind. The
young man said that when his brother
had married that he had not told his
father any longer before the wedding.
The father replied that his other son
had told four weeks beforehand.
Bland, than asked his father what he
thought of the match, to which the lat
ter replied, jestingly, " I think the girl
will get the worst of it." Upon this
Bland turned about and, remarking, " I
wish I was dead," went away. Soon
after this his sister, entering his room,
saw him rising from the floor by his
trunk, which he had open. He appear
ed much dejected, and repeated to her
the wish that he were dead. Shortly
after this he left the house, and was seen
no more alive.
His absence created no particular un
easiness at first, not being unusual.
On Sunday the bans for the contempla
ted marriage were proclaimed at Holy
Cross, according to the custom of the
Catholic Church. On Monday the fam
ily, having heard nothing from him,
and learning that he had not been at
church on Sunday, became anxious
about him, and search was instituted,
in which a number of the neighbors
joined.
On Tuesday Messrs. Dury and Milt.
Bryan, who were searching a thicket
about half a mile from the residence of
Mr. Thomas Ballard, had their attention
drawn by a dog belonging to the family
to a particular spot where the dead
body of young Ballard was found. The
dog, with the characteristic fidelity of
his species, endeavored to prevent any
one from approaching the corpse.
Young Ballard appeared to have sat
down iu a little path through the thick
et preparatory to the desperate deed he
meditated. He had fallen over on his
left side. At his feet lay his pistol, a
five-shooter, with one chamber empty.
The ball had entered the right temple,
passed directly through his head, and
came out on the other side. Upon his
person about $100 were found sonio in
his pocketbook, the rest loose in his
pocket.
Hunting Wild Turkeys.
A correspondent of the Richmond
Whir, writing of Christmas pastimes in
Virginia, gives the following acco.unt of
a turkey hunt:
The second day after tls was set
apart for hunting wild turkeys, of which
several gangs were known to exist in
the neighborhood. The mode of hunt
ing these wary birds is worth some de
scription. It is preferable to use a dog
trained to that business exclusively, an
English setter being, perhaps, the best.
Our huntsman were all mounted. The
first object being to find a covey, a line
was formed so as to beat the woods
along a breadth of more than half a
mile. Dickory's "Roscoe," an Irish
setter, under his master's eye aud bid
ding, hunted along one .flank, and his
nose being good for more than a quar
ter, we covered nearly the breadth of a
mile as we moved through the woods.
"Roscoe" presently struck a hot scent,
and, head erect, darted like the wind
along tho trail. In five minutes he had
the covey up, and his warning bark
called all the horsemen to the spot.
The splendid birds rose over the tree
tops, as if for a long flight. Now began
busy preparations for slaughter. , The
habit of these birds, which the hunter
takes advantage of, is tamove gradually
back to the spot where they took wing,
and there the scattered gang gets to
gether again. The hunters tied their
horses at a safe distance, and then each
chose his spot and built his blind so as
to intercept the turkeys when they re
turned. The blinds completed, everything for
the space of half an hour was still as
death, and then you might have heard
our more experienced hunters cautious
ly begin to yelp the turkeys up. This
mode of decoying the birds is univer
sally practiced among the old hunters.
The yelper is commonly made of a large
and small bone of tho turkey, jointed
together. With this simple little instru
ment any person, by a little practice,
can mock the peculiar call of wild tur
keys with sufficient accuracy to deceive
the cuuning birds themselves. If the
gang is a large one, the woods about the
blinds are in a little whilo alive with
turkeys, running at their race-horse
speed hither and thither, and yelping to
each other anxiously. The hunter bides
his time, snugly hid in his blind, till
some unfortunate bird, attracted by his
call, comes running up to the muzzle of
Lis gun to join his supposed mate.
Fashionable Little Girls.
But one of the worst concomitants of
this love of fashioa is, that it is infect
ing even young children. Little girls
(and it is to be feared there will be none
left snortly, for they seem to be fast dis
appearing) are now trigged off, and by
Christian parents, too, who ought to
know and do better, in all the ridiculous
paraphernalia of their mothers. It is
sad to look upon children thus trans
mogrified. It takes away tho childlike
character, which is the beauty of early
years, and makes them women before
their time, robbing life of one of its spe
cial excellences, the charm of unsophis
ticated nature.. A little girl looks far
more interesting and pleasing in a plain
and simple attiro than when tricked out
in the rings and furbelows and all the
gorgeonsness of fashionable ornamenta
tion. Let us have children yet, if you
please, O fathers and mothers ! and not
creatures born into the world, like Eve,
to immediate womanhood, to eat what
ought to be forbidden fruit.
How Fflrmm May Co-Operute.
Farmer Jones invitee fanners Smith,
Brown, and Robinson to drop iu of an
evening, and they have a elint. Of
course the subjects discussed are those
in which they iiold a common interest
stock, crops,' the result of labors and
experiences, and their lump and plans
for the future. The interchange of ideas
is mutually entertaining and instructive,
and tliej (Wire that the conference
may, like a Ledcr tory, be continued,
so fanner Smith asks iltfl company to
meet next week at his house. Other
friends drop in, and thus it comes about
in a very natural way, that a farmers'
club is instituted with no parade or
noise grows, in fart, like Topsy. This
is the whole affair; rules, by-laws,
places of meeting to accommodate grow
ing numbers, are mere matters of Con
venience provided for as the occasion
may arrive. Three years ago a club at
Elmira, N. Y., was commenced with
seven members. It has 100 members
now, who meet weekly during Winter,
and at longer intervals during Summer;
who possess already 1,000 volumes, and
add yearly to the library fund J000.
The result is that this Club has intro
duced improved stock and new seeds
and implements; that valuable experi
ments have been tried and their issues
noted and discussed. A farmers' club
in Connecticut has kept up its organiza
tion for 14 years continuously; another
on Long Island has, during tho past few
seasons, purchased at wholesale over
$50,000 worth of fertilizers for the use
of its members, saving thereby a third
of that large sum.
A recent convention of a farmers' club
in Illinois had delegates from 11 local
associations, whose members aggregated
1,000, ranging from 38 to 300 for each.
Several of these clubs co-operate in buy
ing supplies at a large saving in cost.
Now these are illustrative eases of the
thousands of asssociations among intel
ligent and enlightened farmers. But
only a commencement has been made
as yet. This co-operation is net ex
ceptional, and not until there is a farm
ers' club in eery township throughout
America, or possibly several, will the
work attain completeness. Think of
the business to come before the fanners
in these associations. Our English
brethern have found a vast profit in
them, aud many compauies own engines
and plows worth $20,fi()0, with which
their fields are plowed at an expense f
$2 per acre, and dividends 25 per cent,
paid each year on the cost of machinery.
Our stock is in an immediate need of
improvement. Horses, cows, sheep, and
hogs pay now not half the profit they
might if the best and most suitable
breeds were used. Thoroughbred ani
mals cost much money, but by coopera
tion may easily be procured, as has
been done by the Elmira Club, before
referred to. Insurance against fire by
such cooperative associations is a com
mon thing throughout Pennsylvania,
and in that way is established the cheap
est and most trustworthy insurance
company possible to conceive of.
When there is no loss no premiums are
paid ; when there is a loss it is divided
among the whole number insured, and
the veriest trifle from each builds up the
brother's bam again, or pays for his
stack of grain. It is needless to say
more ; but we urge farmers to think of
these things, see how they are done, and
" act accordingly."
The African Slave Trade.
The agent in charge of the barracoon,
says an African correspondent writing
of the slave trade, has his signal station
on the top of a high tree, or, where pos
sible, on some bluff, looking seaward, so
as to keep up communication with the
slave ship whenever she heaves in sight.
She can thus be warned of danger, and
told in which direction to steer to avoid
it; what cruisers have been in sight and
the direction in which they disappeared;
the number of slaves he has ou hand
in short, on all matters of mutual inter
est. Some afternoon, the slaver, stand
ing in, makes out the signal, ." all ready,
coast clear;" and as soon as it is dark
enough, he makes his furtive run right
up to the factory, and, without loss of
time, all hands go to work with a will,
to make ready for the run out again in a
few hours. The sand ballast is imme
diately leveled and covered with plank
ing; as soon as thisflooringis laid, some
get on board the large " coppers " used
for boiling rice, others carry the rice on
board; another gang secure and fill the
water casks, and the barracoon men
hurry the slaves on board in manage
able groups, force them to sit on the
flooring with their legs wide apart
ironed to long rods running fore and
aft, placing the next batch to sit between
the legs of the first, and so on till the
floor is covered from the sides to the
keelson with living, reeking human
bodies literally packed trunk to back,
within a few iuciies of each other. Be
fore daybreak, all is ready, and with the
favoring land-breeze off they go to
well, it is hard to say where, beyond the
confluence.
The first act the captain of a slaver
performs when he finds he is chased, is
to throw overboard the signal-book; this
book is always kept enclosed in a box,
leaded on the bottom and punctured
with holes to insure its sinking.
An Awful Condition.
The Macon Enterprise says of the
condition of Mrs. Bone, who attempted
suicide by cutting her throat: "The
vocal chords are silent, consequently
no intelligent sound or word will prob
ably ever be uttered by her again. She
cannot eject the sputsand morbid secre
tions from her mouth and throat, hence
there is constant dread of suffocation.
She failed to cut the nerve of taste, and
therefore craves for food as she is hun
gry, she calls for something to cool her
thirst and for something to eat, but she
is unable to swallow. If she sips a lit
tle ice. water it glides ever her parched
tongue mechanically and out at the
wound in her neck, which affords her no
relief. She is thus tantalized from day
to day. She often exclaims, "I am
hungry! I am starving!" but the muscles
which convey the Savory food into the
pharpnx are paralyzed, and she cannot
swallow. All the surgical skill yet em
ployed has failed to afford her any re-
If a man has but one eye, let him get
a wife, and she should be his other L
Facts and Fancies.
Edwin Forrest's estate is valued at
$1,200,000.
The man who will invent a mild blast
ing powder for snww-drifts will die
rich.
.From 8,000,000 to 10,000,000 sheep
are boiled down for their tallow annually
in Buenos Ayres.
A body of over $10,000 acres of land
has been secured for a colony in Diokin
son County, Kan.
A ship has arrived in the Thames
freighted with manure from Australia
for trial in England.
The name " grass widow "is of French
origin. It is derived from the French
"grace," and originally means a widow
by courtesy.
A recent decision in the courts would
seem to prove that a lamb becomes a
sheep legally when it has its first per
manent teeth.
A foolish youth in Girard, Kan., lately
paid $28 express charges on a box of
sawdust which he supposed contained
" the queer."
A calf from a native cow, sired by a
thoroughbred Durham, will be two
thirds Durham, so much preponderence
is there in the breeding qualities of high
bred stock.
The city of Watertown, WTis., is in a
bad financial way. Its assessed proper
ty of all kinds is set pwn at $1,250,000,
and its bonded railroad debt, interest
included, at $750,000.
The force exercised by a growing
seed is able to raise a weight of 200
pounds. This has been shown by en
closing a seed within a ball requiring
that force to burst it.
The Boston Herald says if the clerk
of ward two can establish the fact that
he was very drunk at the time of the
late city election, he will do a good
thing for his reputation.
There are fifty-six savings banks in
the State of Maine, whose total invest
ments for 1872 reach $24,500,000 an in
crease of more thon two millions aver
the investments of 1871.
There were two astonished families
in Bangor, Me., recently. The milkman
delivered a can of pure milk to one, and
pure water to the other, by reason of a
mistake in filling the cans.
Life is like a roll of costly material
passing swiftly through our hands, and
we must embroider our pattern on it as
it goes. We cannot wait to pick up a
false stitch, or pause too long before we
set another,
The Western Farmer in same remarks
regarding the "decline and fall of" of
the New York Farmer's Club, says : "If
it should expire we suspect a Coroner's
Jury would find a verdict of "Death
from too much ax-grinding, complicated
with -other disorders."
A correspondent of the Poultry
World says he kept a flock each of com
mon fows and of dark Brahmas "same
age, same feed, house and nins precisely
alike," with a result two to one in favor
of the latter, not only in respect to eggs,
but as regards care and feed.
An old German while on his way from
Tmli n.n nnnl is to Lafavette froze his nose.
Whilu fliou-incr the frost Ollt of that Very
necessary member he remarked: "By
tarn ! 1 no understand dis ting. j. jiri
cni'i-v dnt nose fortv-seven years and he
never freezed hisself before."
A Vmilrnn farmer in Ohio adonts a
novel way of disposing of his pork. He
nuta nri n. bnnr nnd asks his assembled
neighbors to guess on the weight, charg
ing them 1 apiece ior ine privilege, im
TiPVKnn comincr nearest the notch indi
cated by the steelyards being declared
owner.
Mil nli 1ms been said about the sale of
dead persons' hair, and at one time this
created quite a sensation. Of course,
some is always in the market, but it is
not the best quality, and is very easily
detected. It is quite dry and bnttlo,
and does not keep in curl, so that the
dealers do not care to buy it.
The Great Eastern Circus was sold at
auction in Selma, Ala,., a few days ago.
The elephant was bought by Mr. De
Haven for $10,000. Six bay horses
brought $3,400. The den containing
tlia Unnpss nnd cubs. &5.085. The Ben
gal tiger and leopards, $6,000. The
DUliaioes, eacu. me uuioto
sold at from $500 to $1,000 each.
It is asserted that an ice house in
Lyons Falls, New York, has not been
empty for 20 years, nor has a pound of
nut. into it. The buildinff
is constructed after the ordinary method
and when it is designed to fill it, a rose
jet is placed over the water pipe, and as
the water comes through it is chilled
and drops into the house, where it forms
a solid mass.
The eighth annual convention of the
American Dairymen's Association will
be held at Utica, New York, on January
14th, 15th and 16th. L. B. Arnold, of
Ithica, N. Y., will deliver the annual
address, and several other addresses and
papers on subjects interesting to dairy
men are expected from other gentlemen.
Admission to the sessions of the conven
tion will be by ticket, costing one dol
lar ; ladies are admitted free.
" Stop mi papper," says an indignant
" Tike" to the editor of a country paper.
" It's rong for folkes to lay-out munney
bi-in pappers. Mi daddy diddent. My
dadd was asmartt man: All the naboors
all arround the knaborhood sed he's the
most intelligantist man in the hole kun
try. Our domany that usto preched in
our toun sed dadd's familer was the
smartist of boiz and galz that he knode
on anny whar abought. So Misterr Ed
atar stop mi papper. I kno anuff tow
once.
When three Irishmen dug a ditch,
for which they were to receive four
dollars, the trouble was how to divide
four among three and have it equal.
One of them remained quiet and the
other two at last deferred to . his judg
ment, as he had been to school and
knew arithmetic, to make the divisiou.
He did it at once, sayingi " Its aisy
enough ! Shure there's two for you two,
and two forme too." "Begorra," said one
of his co-laborers, what a great thing it
is to have learning !" " And," said the
other, as he pocketed his single dollar
" and to know' ' rithmetic, too ! " Its
the like of us two'd never divided them
four dollars aqually."