April, 1879.
THE WEST SHORE
107
THK DGOR&TOBP
The conference moeting through at last,
We boys 1 round the vestry waited
To eee the girh come tripping put
Like inow-birds willing to be mated.
Not braver he M ho leaps the wall
Uy level musket -nwhea UtUn,
Than I, who itepped before them all,
Who lunged to tee me get the mitten.
But no; the blushed and toek my arm!
We let the old folks have the highway,
And started toward the Maple farm,
Alung a kind of lover's by-way.
I can't remember what we said
Twaa nothing worth asongor story;
Y i that rude path by which we speil
Seemed all transformed and in a glory.
The snow was crisp beneath our feet,
The moon waa full, the Aelds were gleaming.
By hood and tippet sheltered sweet
I i. r face with youth and health was beamiug
The little hand outside her muff
O sculptor, If you could but mold It
She lightly touched my Jacket cuff,
To keep it warm I had to hold It.
To have her with me there alone,- -Twas
love and fear and triumph blended
At last we reached the foot-worn stone
Where that doliclous journey elided.
The old folks, too, were almost home;
Her dimpled hand the latches fingered,
We heard the voices nearer come,
Vet on the doorstep still we lingered.
Nhe shook her ringleta from her hood
And with a "Thank you, Ned," dissembled,
But vet 1 knew she understood
With what a daring wish I trembled
A cloud tNuuwd kindly overhead.
The inoiiu was slyly perping thruiigh it,
Yet hid its face, as if It said,
"Cotue, now or never! do It! do It!"
My lips till then had only known
The kiss of mother and of sister,
But somehow, full upon her own
Sweet, rosy, darling mouth -I klasott herl
Tertians 'twaa boyish love, yet still
O listless woman, weary lover!
To feel onoe more that fresh, wild thrill
I'd give but who can live youth over
if. V. dUd man.
SPRINKLING THK "DUSTY HIGHWAY."
The following, from the Pacific Rural Pits,
by Mm. Moll ic St. -ill in I, is a reply to an article
which appeared in that journal entitled, "Tho
Dotty Highway of Life:"
The earneat but amiably written article, "The
lusty Highway of Life," by Mister Agues, of
Santa Clara, haa brought out a train of rcfloc
tiona, and calla to mind tome aimilar experi
ences in my own life.
It haa been many yean ago aiuce I had my
lint experience in honaekeepiug, and I can look
hack now over the long lapse of time and h
many difficulties that were then to me moun
tains, but now appear as mere mole hills. Her
perplexity in regard to coming from tho kitchen
to receive and entertain company, is a perplex
ity common, I think, to moat young housekeep
ers. 1 well remember it waa one of the moat
embarrmaaing dilemmas in which 1 amid be
placed. How often haa my pride, uncommonly
sensitive, been wounded on receiving oomuany
at some unusual hoar, as 1 was conscious of th.
fact that my draw to not immaculate, nor my
hair done up in the latest style, for, of ooore, I
had read tut abominable and unrncticable
theory that all good housekeepers muat always
tie aa "neat ana clean as a pin." Time, obeer
vation and eiperieooe hare disproved this
theory; and there is no mot ran mil why a
housekeeper should be always dressed and ready
to reoair company, and always hare time to
entertain company, than should a carpenter,
blacksmith or fanner. It may not be, as Sister
Agnes asks, "really an accomplishment" (or a
tiuut oui .......... work,
however imperativo her immediate preeence
there may be, and go to the parlor and receive
and entertain company. If not au accomplish
ment it certainly reouirea perfect eelf-posses-sion,
frankness and politeness. If tlio hostess is
a true lady we will not fail to perceive the grace
and retinomeiit through all these disadvantages.
She will welcome her guests cordially and
politely, knowing full well that a sensible per
son will overlook her working garb; and if her
prosence is necessary in the kitchen, she will,
as the Ki KAi. remarks, make a frank statement
of the case and go aud attend to her duties. The
pudding muat not be burned, nor the lured men
lie made to wait for their dinners, by any
means.
It may lie added hern that a good, systematic
housekeeper, unless overburdened with work,
will always make it a rule to get through with
her rough work in the morning and before the
dinner hour demands her attention. Kite then
has tho long, bright afternoon before her for hor
own, in whioh ahe can don a fresh dross, ueat
collar, arrange her hair and appear as (rash as a
daisy. She haa this time, thou, to devote to
sewing, reading, writing, receiving aud return
ing calls, lly the aasistauce of the sowing ma
chine, one need not be overlaatingly making
dresses and aprons; aud in moat cases there is a
wide margin of time left for the culture of brain
and null, even for the farmer's wife aud
daughter, although Sister Agnes says "we hear
complaints of a want of grace aud reliiiemeut on
the part of the farmer, his wife, his sou or his
daughter. Now, we should liko to know who
complained! It must be that class of persons
who, to use a homely but expressive phrsse,
"strain at a gate and swallow a barn. "
Time waa, when the fsrmer in his vocation,
diil not aspire to graoe and relinemeut. When
on the frontiera of our far Western States, his
only ambition and endeavor waa to till a few
acres of land and keep a vigilant outlook on the
border in order to fight back the iuvading foe;
hia habitation bring part fort and part hut
They were a rough, hardy set, endowed with
great strength ol muscle, endurance and bravery
That class of farmers haa passed away with ad
vancing civilirttion, and the growth and (level
opment of education. With them has paeset
awav their mode of farming, their style of In
ing, and the old-reoeived idea id a want of graoe
and refinement in the farming community. It
ia simply " a oaae of then anil now;" for with
our enlightened oivilixetion, our broad oppnrtu
nitiea and many advantages, ia there any rriijoe
why tho farmer of to day should lack graoe and
refiiiemeut? It is not a oaae ol hereditary ig
uoranoe ami liooriahuess hauded down from aire
to son, for many of our farmers, osieuially Cal
ifornia farmers, wore formerly deuiMna of cities,
brought up amid arts, culture aud relliieinniit,
and many of them are bom to the heritage of re
tiuemnnt, on whose broad shoulders It rests
gracefully while han lling the plow as if ha
were wielding a powor in the halls of I ougreo.
The refinement of a true gentleman or lady
will be recognised in whatsoever position we
find them, eveu through the dirt and dual, and
under the homely garb of the farm life.
Again, Mister Agnes says: " )nr eons and
daughters are made to shrink from tudishsd
society, because of their conscious want of Israe
li oe in the line arts." I'aclic in the tins aria.
Ham! What are the fine arts, and where is the
polished society, if our aona ami laugh ton do
not contribute largely to itf To what intent
and par pose bars we ooutnbuted to the build
ing of costly schools of IssuTiing -cillsgee,
universities, ate. ? And on whom do the In
stitutions of learning depend in great mesaure
for support and attend anna, if not on the farm
ers sons and laughters ? In ssost farm honaae
there are mu.ioal instrumental nooks from the
beet authors; pencil aketebss from soexe embryo
artist of the family and choice pictures, while
ws bars ecosne by mail, many of aa, to the
daily paper and other journals. If, with all
these things, there H stall a lasaeotal ls want of
grace and refinement ensong ea, end our "aona
ami daughters are made to aliriuk from imlished
Society" in conseipieiu'e, whose fault ia It?
I omitted to mention the fact that every dis
trict is supplied with a achonl-honae, where are
taught the rudiments, if you will, just the
stepping stones to bettor tilings, but not to
despise so .mall a fact. W have aeeu some
highly polished ladies and gentlemen emerge
into society with no Iwtter advantages than
those schools afford. True, there are many
isolated farm houses, ownera and tenant on
large tracts of laud, who are shut out by the
baneful aystem of laud monopoly from we may
oay all advantage, of society: no day school, no
Sunday school, no religious services, for be it
remembered, civilisatiuu aud reliuenient are the
handmaiden, of Christianity, and Christianity is
the light of the homo, lie it in city life or farm
hie. While wo deplore the fact that we have
not all the advantage w could 'wieh, culture
and relinemeut and oduoallou In the (arm life,
yet wo are conscious that w have euoiigh to
mold our Imys into men uf intelligence, industry,
sound morals, and, in short, Christian gentle
men; and to make of our girl, raliiissl, culti
vated, womanly women, noted lor a high tone
of purity of sction and thought.
Our present ne.de of farming aud farm life,
though not aa yet just perfect, is a long strut
ill advance of the farm life of our furelalherai
but with all it imiierieotiuii, hard work and
disappointment, and there are very many, I am
(rae to con!, that alter so ijinnM ol ear.
oral years, I (eel wnldrd to life on lb farm.
There is a certain laauinetinnonnnectcd with it
a fascination horn of s feeling of indeiwndenn
and liberty . It is our to look over th broad
acrea, now green with the emerald of the early
year, now golden with the glory of midsummer.
It ia our to roam the distant mountain la
ipioat of its myriad wild tinware and eateh a
ghinp-e of the lamleoape leagues below j and
beyond, to wander into the orchard and pi nek
the choicest fruits, to gather the freshest vg.
tables; to oat of the fallings ol the llnck, in
short, to live under our. "own vine and tig tree."
Aud standing up under the broad canopy of
never failing blue, looking over the endless
Held of verdure, hearing the wild, Ire cu.il of
Nature 'a warblers, aud seuaitive to th aoll
whisperings of the south wind that wane us
with its wiimoiii frsgrace, there comas to us
feeling like an luapirstmii; a love of liberty and
iudeiiendene s love ol solitude made famaitsr
by the voices of Nalurei a love lor the horny,
handed farmer aud his busy wife i ami whether
there is a want uf refinement and culture among
us as a .lass, we leave the ipieallun opa o
debate, and I hniie some more graoaful pan than
mill may take the subject in baud.
If wa are really and truly wanting In graoe,
n in, 1 .merit and culture, than w must admit
that labor la degrading, but has mil lb modern
farim r done liiu h l.i rh tale and Id. labor "
In so doing he elevates slid ennoble, his voca
tion.
Mi.e.iao Wai.asaoi llaai.inri I. It is
great mistake, says a medical writer, to euppoee
that a morning walk or other form uf eaereise
before breakfast I hnalthfuli the Malaria which
lest, on the earth about sunrise in summer.
when taken into the lungs and sbnna.li, wkhdi
are equally deUlilated with other purloin ..(
th body from th long fast sin. sap, It
vry readily slaorhad and enters lb circulation
within an hour or two, iKiiaoiiina- th. blo.nl, and
laying the foundation fr troublaaome disease,
while la winter th same debilitated condition
of these vital organ readily allows th Mural to
b ahilled, ami lima render the system snasaep
tilde "I taking 1 old, with all It varied and ten
often disastrous mull. Hues will say, look
how healthy the farmer s boy is, and the dally
laborers, who go to their work from on year s
end to sooths! by ". re. k of dawn My reply
is, il they an healthy, they are as la sptU f
Hi Mpoaar; their aimpi far., their regular
live ami their ill dss industry, gj.a thwr
bulla Isaac n rknur, a capeutiily uf reetatiag
due, which nullili th action ol malaria to
a vary eneaudcrabi ileal.