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About The west shore. (Portland, Or.) 1875-1891 | View Entire Issue (April 1, 1878)
April. WHAT COMES OF IT. "Just lgn tmg note lor me to-day nMJM sign this note," nv Abner Gry, "I m in great want of cash jnu knuw, H) funds hare Kldom been sii low. Tin only email -.mount ecu we; You've always t. ti a friend to me. Hill Jones has Mssj to sjisre I find But wants your mom here, under mine, Tut Ml a form -a nils he's made H! Bays he' Ml the lean afraid) Ho know Pll iy in twenty dsvs. I m sure in ten to nuke the raise." I signed hi note ind hftd to f&y " hen it came doe, the very day. I Mid mother- -I signed before And since that time a .linen more, I Paid another f,.r Timoth, I'.e And then went ball f.-r Hcnrv liase. And now I'm M without a dime. The home is not that ones was mine. , flow chanjjvd it i the buineM men DM1 seek me now as they did then; They . l-- nie slmoit even day. Hut seldom have a won) t'o say. I ked a favor of William Jones. He muttered sometliirn; in lowest tones; I asked a loan (nun Aimer I! ray. 1 1 . 1 1111 1 "ir a ii ui worn DM And thought ,.( Uh tlm I signed Ids note, He answered DO, I'm yrieved to say, And cold and hungry I went away. Tis hard to lie so very poor, To hcjr for bread from door to door; Now on a bed of straw lie Alone! Alone, I'm left to die. How tiarimed my what awful thirst 0 had 1 dreamed of this at (list! U for a word of 0001 fort now , A hand to soothe my fevered brow. ' Twill soon be o'er I'm vert weak; My eyes grow dim, I cannot seak A lonely grave a shapeless mound Hack from the grave yard might le found. A solemn nook a dismal dell Where crickets, toad and glow worm dwell. A dreary Spot where bniUWOod grows, An old retreat for caution- crow They eounell there make rule and laws, With sober croaks and solemn caws, And sounds like these come from their throats This life was wrecked by signing notes -. r. Aire, in Rural Prtu. GOING OUT TO FARM. For several years paut I have been acquainted with ft fooL la order to relieve any anxiety whieh this admission may suddenly create in the public mind, I will add that the said fyol is not a member of the family. He belongs to a different nationality, was brought up in a dif ferent State, and hasn't the least family resem blance. I have known tliis Pool (I use a big F this time) to sit on tho bank of Detroit river, for a whole day, watching for the water to all run out. I have known of his starting out to cut a Baw-log in two with a pen-knife. 1 have seen him put his shoulder to a brick church and try to push tho editice over. He was re corded as a Fool in public documents, acted like a Pool ftfld bad my sympathies until the other day. Not having seen him playing in the dust, or grinning at the lamp-posts for a week hi ho, i ;!.. ,i one oi nis nrotnern il loin was ill, "Oh, no; Tom is all right," he replied. "We made up our minds that he would never amount to any thing around town, and so we sent him to the country to make a farmer of him! His words didn't strike mo dumb, for I hav known many other fools (with big F's ami little f's) to In- sent out on the same errand. There was tho case of llinchmaii. He bad Wen tho grocery business for 40 years. Ho km enough to weigh sugar and tea, and to measure out potatoes, and figure-out tho cost of two brooms at 25 cents each, but he didn't know much more. He was good-natured, quiet, and taw-abiding, and might have died among his musty herrings and faded clothes pins, if lire had ii t burned him out. His loss wait if-UM and a cent or two, with no insurance, and la- was a ruined man. No he Win t, cither. After reflecting that he was only 80 years old. weighed 10.) pounds, and had muscle enough to lift a bag oi bran, he concluded to rent a farm, do all the work himself, and come into tho city again at the end of live years with monoy enough to Btart a bank. When 1 asked him if he kuew auything; alxmt farming, ho replied: "Farming! Why, any one can go out and run a arm: IVrhans they can. Hut I kept track of Mr. Hinchman for a year, and 1 found that he didn't make a great deal of money. Ho didn't plant dried apples, but he Bowed Ins com broad cast, and planted his oats in hills and poled them. He didn't boil his potatoes before planting them so as to raise a crop ready for tho table; but he ul cut out ami throw away all the "eves." so as to raise smooth, nice, and symmetrical potatoes. He didn't sow any bran because he forgot it; but he sowed oats and wheat together, in order to get two crops off the same Held at once, v nen i caugni mm in town une day he wouldn't admit that fanning was a science, and that a good farmer must have the intelligence of a successful merchant but I didn't can- to argue with him. He was getting ready to build a few rods of rail fence, and was buying a steu-laddja. to enable him to axrrv uti the fifth .iti-l "itlHbl- He died at ter harvesting his first cropsJhd when a crowd of as went out to the auction we found that he had been planting ruUbagas under an old shot, where the poor things wouldn't get sun-struck or drowned out. That case wasn't more singular than Mack tone's. He was a middle-aged, corpulent. whoexy-voieed lawyer, and might have Iwen a loading tight at the tar a thousand years before I knew him. He had a consumptive son, a daughter with weak eyes, and a wife who could only get around on crutches. When Black -tone came into the office to advertise the fact that he wanted to lease "a modest, OOWpftOt eligibly situated, romantic-looking farm," I asked if he bad had any experience "Ho von think I'm a fool!" he roared, in re ply. "Iguesaamau who has practfced law lor 34 years, and who has been justice-of the peace, postmaster and aaaeaaor, kiows enough to ran a farm! I want rest and recreation, sir; and my family want root and recreation, sir; aod we'll take a farm, and 'rest up, and make THE WEST SHOKE. some money, and by and by return to public me, sir. I didn't argue with him: but I .li.ln't nut, get to keep track of his case. He secured a larm ami took iHiasessmn. He trimmed the orchard out of season, and kill, .1 most .f tha trees. When be should have beeu sowing hie wuwm uu waa unenung a patent lien s-nost, ami when be ought to have been hoeim- nan he was making a water-wheel for the creek to amuse his poor daughter. He was delighted when his corn shot up two feet high and grew no more, as it wouldu t lie so much trouble to pick oil the ears; aud when wheat, oats, rye, and pumpkins were all growing together in one lield, he wished he had only thought to mix in a few potatoes and cucumbers. He didn't plow his land as other fanners do, bat set a Btake iu the center of the field and plowed in lrcles around it. The idea was nriainal. ilia Held looked more romantic, aud he further ex-' plained; .Nature has made every thing to work an a common center. There is a center to storms. to frosts, to seasons, to trade and finance, and why shouldn't Uteri be a center to a corn field?" There was a center it was half an acre of mud-hole. Hlaokstouc insisted that he gath ered LSeanof corn from that lield; but law yers always exaggerate about half, you know. The son died while trying to cut wood enough to cook dinner. The daughter got the idea, ouo day, that one of the cows had the headache, and lha was tbathing the poor creature's brow w iu campnor, warn the animal struck her in the face with one of it horns aud indicted in juries which 0011 ended iu death. Ulackstone then went into stock raising; but, after a year, having collected together an old blind horse and a yearling calf, he and his wife moved away in the night, aud have never been hoard of since. Adam didn't know much about hutwltin when he found himself ami w ife on the wrong side of the Garden of Kden, but he scniluVd aiouud and posted himself as fast as lie eon 1.1 He wasn't iu for making money, but it was a iUC8tion oi nreatt ami nutter ami vegetables, His ways have bora Unproved on, and improve ments are still beuiH made: but it don't nec essarily follow that lieeause a man can mix hair-oil, hammer out a horseshoe. spout 'law. or pull a t . .. , 1 1 j . he can also take a farm and MOOUM I tanner. Dr. lloech was remarking, last year, that ho guessed he'd retire from the practice of medi cine anil pursue agriculture for a while. 1 dldu t want to vox him; but while I was wonder ing if he'd soak his seed corn in arnica to pre vent the corn stocks from In-coming weals in llie back, ami il tie wouhln t administer ehlo. rofonn to his cabbages to give them a ipiiet night s rest, ne onserveil: "What ails the fanning community is tho fact that agriculturists are an extravagant set. On my farm nothing shall le wasted. Kvery animal aud fowl with too great an apjietito shall be toned down with medicine. Every oue with a weak stomach shall bo toned m by daily doses. 'I here shall lie hug to eat the plants, grasshopjiers to eat thoHgs, fowls ti eat tho grasshoppers, and I shall cat tho fowls.' He tried farming, aud the sheriff ate him. If any reader has an idea that 1 am a farmer. he is mistaken. True, I ouco 1 1 out to a farmer to split IOO.Im) rails in exchange for an old gander and a broken-down fanuing-mill; but after splitting 15 rails 1 decided nut to take advantage of an innocent man. I know a carrot irom a nets, esiH-oially it it has a sign hung to it, and once in a great while I can tell a tiel.l ol tiarlev In mi a held ol wheat or oats but I don't ambush farmers on the highwav and make speeches to them on the rotation of crops. I here are some thingH al-mt fann-work mi PUMftOi to DM. I like to sit in a rocki chair on the veranda and see the Ixiys digging in to save two acres of fresh-cut hay from a thunder-storm. I like to Hit under tho harvest apple-trees, loaf around the currant btislies. tako my chances at the dinner-table, ami give my opinion on a two-gallon jug of cider. Itc youd these few things, agriculture is a mystery i" me, ami always will DO. ( ertam ol un friends have received written instructions to the effect that iu case 1 btOftUI a lunatic, or my brad gets soft, to k.-co ;i watchful cv me, and to push Die into ttie river the moment they hear mc talk about taking a fann. M yutul, in l rtfrrn tnrmrr Almnmif. A PAKAUIUl'll H(OM "1,1 I V .AniA."-"Y ask how much I am learning. A great deal; ami not only learning, tint unlearning. 1 used to tliuiK, tin, these rich ones, they ilon t have to work and worry.' Sometimes, when I'v )een turning old dresses, cutting and contriv ing, I've said to myself, 'Now if I could only miy new, ami save all this time for reading But these rich iieotile have no leisure. Mrs. t'allooii comes DOOM from a forenoon's shopping as much worn out as mother is after a hard forenoon in the kitchen. High or low, all have tneir inimiationa. rtxir men I wives worry lie cause the bread won't rise or the stove won't draw, or the clothes-line breaks, or the milk burns, or they can't afford to litre help. Itieh men's wives worry liecauae the preserve-dish is not of the latest pattern, or lieeause -hn l..l finds out how a party dress is trimmed More the party, or because their help 'sasaes' 'em, breaks up tea-seta, sjtoil dinners, get drunk, and cut up the sheets into underclothing. Caueee vary, out worry averages ahoiit the same. Tiir Nkw Iou.ak. The mints are at work on the new iloiiar ami some of them will soon - seen. The following is a description of the coining emu: I lie Olivers of the com In-ars free-cut head of Ijberty crowned with I'hrygian cap. ! - r.it' l with wto-at and otUn, the sta plea of the country; the legend "K I'lunbus t'num;" 1.1 stars; and the year of coinage. On the reverse, surrounded by an olive wreath, is an eagle with outspreading w ings, bearing in his talons a branch of olive ami a trtiudle of arrows, emblems of peace and war; the rip ttona, " L. S. of America" and "one dollar; " and the motto, " In God we trust.'' Tbiaspei-i men, white it possesses ail the requirements of law in device and su peremption, has breo selecU-l not only for the lrauty of its ileoigns. bat also for the exceptionally low relief of the devices, insunug protection irom atrasin. EIGHLANB CBOPTBBS' C0TTAGF.S, Dropping into ouo or two of the Barvas houses alter nightfall oue conies across not a hopeful scene. Iu the tirst cottage entered, a cow lies aenws the doorway, and. after a leap has bftra made across her head, the foot is reached onl after sinking many inches in the dung. Divid ing the byre from tho dwelling-house is a low mil) in minute H which is a wide opening, losed in tho meantime by a broken gate thrown across it. On the outer side of this gate, in tin darkness, lie several lambs (all tho young sheep stock are taken in during their lirst Winter) and five cattle; on the imierside of it are ranged, in tin light of a tire, the farmer's family. Of furnish ngs there are tew; a narrow wooden bftftoa does luty as a couch. 00 w hich the head of the fam ily is BtreU-hed at length; a young man sits, hat on head, on an indescribable hit of wood; the mother, wearing a cap blackened by a week or two's peat, works at a spinning wheel away in a corner; a voung woman sits on the bare cart li en (W with an almost naked child on her knee; and two more dirty youngsters iquftt round tho wat lire. In another cottage the family circle is evou more mixed. Division between' dwell ing aud byre is not thought of: seven cattle, four lambs, one nouv. a do.eu fowls, the ten ant, his wife, and mother-iii-law, all reside in the one apartment, off which there is only a small sleeping closet. The cattle and pony are content to abide iu their OWn end, but the lamhs join the circle round the lire; while im mediate overhead, coining now and then in con tact with a stranger's h,vt, roost the fowls. After several visits to such dwellings it is no surprise to hear that in this locality as in manv other parts of Lows, "tilth fever," as it is called (typhoid fever), is always moreor less prevalent. i ho or tnrce years ago i his disease rose to the bight of an epidemic, carrying off six victims from a small township near llarvas. Were the habits of the people at all cleanlv tho isl and might, medical men say, U- entirely ex empt from the pestilence; but so long as ilung- iiiiis are anowed to carpet dwelling house, and water is drawn from a soil into which much ob noxious matter must sink, a clear bill of h.-alt Ii cannot lie hoped for.- -.SVofVnnm. CHAFF. Crtmr (to artist): "Don't tan think that mod tin UbTe is out of place in an ancient pic ture?" Fainter of the picture: "They had modern tables in them days as well as now." An Irish baronet had so many rabbits on bis property that he made candles of their fat. And, to prove the fact." said he. " the moment a terrier dog came into the room, the candles immediately Degan to run. " Is your maaterat home ? " inquired a gentle man of the servant of the house at which he was calling. "No, sir," replied the man. " When will he le back?" asked the visitor. "Can't say, sir," said the man; "when lie sends me down to say lie's out, 1 can never lie sure." A r the close of tho sittings in the Illinois House of Representatives, the clerk read the following: "lam requested to announce that tho Hoy. Dr. McFarland will deliver a lecture, this evening, in the ball, on " Education of Idiots." Memliersof the legislature aro invited to attend. "Do you know," remarked a rather fast Newark youth, the other day, to a stuttering friend, to whom he was Blightly indebted -"do you know that I intend to marry and settle down?" "I do-doii't know anything aliout it," waa the reply, "bu-but I think you hd b-b-bettcr stay single ami set-settle up." TllKV have leen engaged for a long time, and one evening, not long since, they were reading the paiier together. " Imk, love!" he ex claimed. "Only 980 for a suit of clothes!'' "Is It a Wedding suit?" she asked, looking naively at her lover. "Oh. no," ho answered. " It's a buBiness suit." "Well, 1 mean busi ness," she replied. A iiknti.kman took his little liy to ft model fftrm to see the wonders of the place. After they had )een there h short time, the little fellow ran crying to his father, lieing at the same time pursued by a big turkey cock, which was trying to get a piece of bread out of his hand. " Wht, my liy," said the father, "are you afraid of a turkey ? Why, you ate rt of one yestonlay! " " Yes, papa," rescinded tho little fellow, wiping his eyes, "but this one IBU l COOKCU. ' A Hist to Nati hai.i-its.Two processes of preserving tish from decay were detailed in a recent communication to tho Paris Academy of Sciences by It. M. d'Amebo. The first process was as follows: The lish, whether raw or cook ed, is immersed in a strong solution of citric acid in water. Alter two or three hours, the fish is taken from the bath and dried in the njM-n air, or by artificial heat, the latter course tieing preterahle. fish so prearel will keep fresh anywhere for years. To restore its orig inal flexibility, it must be steeped in fresh wa ter four or five days. The other method Boa. sists in the employment of a Iwth of silicate of oiau ami giyesnne, in equal quantities. Hie fish, the intestines bavinir first bran removed. is steeed in this bath for a day or two, washed in fresh water and dried slowly. Ity the use of this process the author has succeeded in pre serving intact the color of the fishes and the eyas. IiH.KxEfta. "Wftiit of employment is the chronic and incurable disease of modem so ciety," say a recent writer. Yes; if it were worth whil- to lie awake nights in order to think out the solution of any problem, it would bo this: how to open doors of opMrtunity for men and women, Isiys and girls; or, rather, how not to ohsirucl their access to honest bread. Nolcsly can srttln the ouestion for evarvUslv bet if each one would make room and work for those nearest, there wouldn t lis much crowd- A uorcm minister says that lis has no douht that the time will come when the mem bers of a church cbour will behave just as well as other folks. 127 BABY'S BELONGINGS. Kisses siul milk tuin wanu sml sweet, These ma) the little lh est What Ml the lilUe hbv r' Smiles snd silk, traalstl smite c I .!.,.:,- silk, Kil-hc. f blue. (,jtea milk, Smiles that luiltie il in piUcu sir r'r,'iu the sole of the foot to 'he crown of the lisir, These mtv the little hftbj trssTi Soft Is the little csmliric rube, sfl t llwtephvr ess Tlmt touches the mk isr's tinj lobe, lhe sif1e( Hew an.) west, Uen i piel sesl sans i era! Aiiii the halo,' bureau ,lracr 1 full HI the thiest linen ami tunnest wool. Warm ami soft I the blanket wraol. Tool is the linen ilre; Warm Is the silver (rrintrer's p, Qool is the daintt white lace cap. That the little hea.t OOtS press. Urn whiter tad s-ner, and plakaed warm. As silk or linen or wool, the form Ami lahv herself in lier prcttj ilross. I lire! tier (ar, we all eoules. Ami sets it oft u Rsifbjl U r'"rnf, in lAe TWAuw. A TASK FOlt YOl'NG MKt'H ANU'S, It ii time wo gave our hoys a chance to show what mechanical skill they possess Wiyond common whittling. Let them practice on the following plan of making a cheap and neat lunik-case, which has cost only a tew dollars. The case consists of two end pieces and two shelves, with movable shelves between the two rigid ones. The two end pieces are oue and a quarter inches thick, eight inches wide and four feet high. Four inches from the lower ends, a shelf eight inches wide is neatly litted into gains in the end pieces, ami six inches Mow the up pftf ends, tiie top i held in by other gains. In stead of nails, two large three-iheh wmnl serews were-driven through the end pieces into the end of each shelf. The shelves are eight feet long. Between the two end uprights, two other up right pieces eight inches wide aro litted br tween tho two rigid shelves, thus dividing the sjiaec betWeOQ the upper and lower shelves into three equal spaces or divisions. Screws are put through the shelves into (ho tuuls of tho mnblto upright pieces. Those Hi screws hold the lurta together with desirable firmness. The advan tage of using screws instead of nails is, that iu i it were necessary to transport the b.vok i, tile screws could be lj.ui mil. tho luirls tied together firmly, and the booh case would occupy nut little sace, and the varnish would U marred less. Itefore the parts were screwed together, gains were cut iu all the upright pieces to receive the ends of the shelves. I employed a joiner's dado to cut the gains. A dado consists of a small plane somewhat like a rabbit plane, witli which a smalt gain can lie cut true and neatly, itialsmta minute. I msdo gains two inches apart in the nnriitht Pieces, so that the shelves lietweeu the Isittoin and te d top s and shelves can he adlustcl to int arL'e book: small ones. After it was finished, the surface was sand papered, after which a heavy coat of boiled linseed oil was laid on uvunly. Alter a few days, tho surface was again land-paitered, and two coats of shellac varnish wore laid on, which gave the wood a tieaiitifnl and gloasy straw-color. The liunlter employed was white pine, but tsianls of any other tlinlx'r, iuch SJ chestnut, butternut, tulip, hasawond, sugar maple, or oak of any sort, would look licnuti fully if sand -papered and varnished w ith shullao. Such varnish can be procured st most mint stores. In cose shellac cannot Ihi procured con veniently, use any other gisnt varnish. 1 pro cured three boards alsoit eight inches wide, and one Ixiard Id inches w ide, or nearly that width as could be found, all In fetot in length. Hence the waste in making was small. I purchased U square feet, at five cents per font, Sutceii wood screws, 111 cents, Od and varnish, 'Mi cents. The lalsir, nothing, as the case was made when I would have Ihhui doing nothing else. A boOKMRsM with glass doors, that would contain as many Ixxiks as this cheap affair, would cost W to -Ml. Tiir I'iiksipknt'k Aiivic r to Boys. -The cur rent mini 1 M of tbi 8ndM Sthnl con tains brief articles from tlie MMOf ('resident Hayes and the Governors of the original thir teen Stales ODOfl tiir lessons which are afforded to tho young by the life and career of Wash laitoll. ('resident Hayes writes thus: "The only American whoso birthday is generally known and widely celebrated tlm rather of his Country is remoiiilxired sml honored throughout all the world for what lie did ami and what he waa. None of my young friends are likely to have an (MM tumty to do such real deeds as Were done by Washington, tut all of i h i in will havu an opixirtunity to Ihi like him in character. They can have Ins love of country, his integrity and his limi tless in doing right To have such a character is lietter than rank, wealth or fame. It is a ixasessioii which cannot tm taken away. Aa Wdiater said so impressively ( a 'sense of du ty,' 'It will be with us through this life, will Ixi with us at its close, and hi that scene of in conceivable solemnity which lies yet further onward' it will still lw with us." pHhTfti Trir.-inrn The total amount si miiiIm! on account of the Fngliah I'ostoflioo telegraphs up to the .'list, of March last, was i " M . .' The working eipetises in the year amounted to f l,IH)lli and the revenue was aa follows: Message receipts, private win rentals, (el., as pftf finance accounts, IH7K 77, il value of services reuterod te gov ernment departments without money, t'Kt.Mti; eitre rscsipts, t l .'Hi. ej per telegraph appro priation account, fH,Mll; obi rnatenals U by ofties of works, '7; waste paper sdd station ery ollice, ILisVl toUl, - I . 's :i . The el sntititure is inclusive of t i paid Ut rail way companies in respect of their Ulegraph rigliU, end 1 UNO paid officers of the late Ul sgraph conianies in respect of annuities, and also inclusive of arrears paid to railway com panies in reap t of wsssags work ami main tenance of the telegraph plant, whereby theel penditure proper to the year has bson saoesdod by 01 JM.