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POETRY, ANECDOTES, &C.

MAKE THE BEST OF LIFE. WHAT'S the use of always fretting

Over ills that can't be cured? What's the use of finding fault with What we know must be endured? Does it make our burdens lighter

If we grumble 'neath their load? Does it make life's pathway smoother If we fret about the road? Better use our time than fill it

Full of sighs aud vaiu regrets Over some imagined blunder

As does he who always frets. We cannot expect life's pathway

To be always strown with flowers; Nor the time which God has given

To be all made of happy hours. Storms will follow every sunshine, Grief be mixed with every joy; And 'tis best that it should be soGold's too soft without alloy. "Half our trouble 's our invention," We're to blame for half our strife; Then, if life is what we make it, Why not make the best of life? BRITISH WORKMAN.

A GENTLEMAN.

No man is a gentleman who would treat with incivility the humblest of his species. It is vulgarity for which no accomplishments of dress or address can atone. The man who desires to make every one around him happy, and whose greatest solicitude is never to give of fence to any one, is a gentleman by nature, though he may never have worn a suit of broadcloth, nor heard of a lexicon.

THE TRUE WOMAN.
No silken robe infolds her form;
Nor dainty leisure hath her hands;
Her jewels are a simple ring; [bands;
A ribbon binds her hair's smooth
Yet in her garment's simple grace
Her soul's regality you trace.

No gift hath she to shake and thrill
A thankless world with warble-songs;
And art that wakes the ivory keys
To other hands than hers belongs;

Yet in her words of tender cheer
A richer music charms the ear.

She walks in humble ways of life

INWARD PEACE.

My mind is forever closed against embarrassment and perplexity, against un certainty, doubt, and anxiety; my heart against grief, repentance, and desire. Calm and unmoved I look down on all things, for I know that though I cannot explain a single event, nor comprehend its connection with that which alone concerns me, yet in His world all things prosper. This satisfies me, and in this belief I stand fast as a rock. My heart is steeled against annoyance on account of personal offences and vexations, or exaltation in personal merit; for my whole personality has disappeared in the contemplation of the purpose of my being. FICHTE.

DUTY.

STERN Daughter of the voice of God! O Duty! if that name thou love Who art a light to guide, a rod

To check the erring, and reprove; Thou, who art victory and law When empty terrors overawe; From vain temptations dost set free; Aud calm'st the weary strife of frail hu manity!

Stern Lawgiver! yet thou dost wear The Godhead's most beniguant grace; Nor know we anything so fair

As is the smile upon thy face: Flowers laugh before thee on their beds; And fragrance in thy footing treads; Thou dost preserve the stars from wrong; And the most ancient heavens, through

thee, are fresh and strong.

To humbler functions, awful Power!
I call thee; I myself commend
Unto thy guidance from this hour;
O, let my weakness have an end'
Give unto me, made lowly wise,
The spirit of self-sacrifice;
The confidence of reason give;
And in the light of truth thy Bondman
let me live!

WORDSWORTII.

JEFFERSON'S TEN RULES. 1. NEVER put off till to-morrow what you can do to-day.

2. Never trouble another for what you can do yourself.

3. Never spend your money before you have it.

4. Never buy what you do not want That lead ofttimes through gloom and because it is cheap; it will be dear to you.

shade;

And cares and crosses not a few
Are on her patient shoulders laid;

Yet smiles and drinks each bitter cup, And keeps her brave eyes lifted up. And homely ways she wreathes with grace,

Harsh duty turns to loving zest;
And cheery hope and steadfast will
Are at her side in work and rest;

Yet never dreams she you can spy
The angel looking from her eye!

5. Pride costs us more than hunger, thirst, and cold.

6. We never repent of having eaten toɔ little.

7. Nothing is troublesome that we do willingly.

8. How much pain have cost us the evils which have never happened.

9. Take things always by the smooth handle.

10. When angry, count ten before you speak; if very angry, a hundred.

HOW TO MANAGE CHILDREN. No art is so useful in the management of young children (nor is any art so much neglected) as that of avoiding direct collision. The grand blunder which almost all parents and nurse maids commit, is, that when the child takes up a whim against doing what he is wanted to do,will not eat his bread-and-butter, will not go out, will not come to lessons, &c., they, so to speak, lay hold of his hind leg and drag him to his duties; whereas a person of tact can almost always dis tract the child's attention from its own obstinacy, and, in a few moments, lead it gently round to submission. I know that many persons would think it wrong not to break down the child's self-will by main force, to come to battle with it, and show him that he is the weaker vessel; but my conviction is, that such struggles only tend to make his self-will more robust. If you can skilfully contrive to lay the dispute aside for a few minutes, and hitch his thoughts off the excitement of the contest, ten to one he will then give in quite cheerfully; and this is far better for him than tears and punishment. It is just the same with colts. CHARLES BUXTON. TABLE MANNERS FOR LITTLE FOLKS.

IN silence I must take my seat,
And give God thanks before I eat;
Must for my food in patience wait,
Till I am asked to hand my plate.
I must not scold, nor whine, nor pout,
Nor move my chair or plate about.
With knife, or fork, or napkin ring,
I must not play, nor must I sing.
I must not speak a useless word,
For children must be seen, not heard.
I must not talk about my food,
Nor fret if I don't think it good.
My mouth with food I must not crowd,
Nor while I'm eating speak aloud.
Must turn my head to cough or sneeze,
And when I ask, say, “ If you please."
The table-cloth I must not spoil,
Nor with my food my fingers soil.
Must keep my seat when I am done,
Nor round the table sport or run.
When told to rise, then, I must put
My chair away with noiseless foot;
And lift my heart to God above,
In praise for all his wondrous love.

A CHILD'S REBUKE.

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FISHING FOR A COMPLIMENT. A PERSON who could better preach pa- young man having preached for a revtience than practise it, was always irri-erend doctor, was anxious to get a word tated when he found his grandchildren in of applause for his labor of love. The his study. One day one of these little grave doctor, however, did not introduce children was standing by his mother's the subject, and his younger brother was side, and she was speaking to him of obliged to bait the hook for him. heaven. Ma," said he, "I don't want hope, sir, I did not weary your people by to go to heaven." "Don't want to go to the length of my sermon to-day?" heaven, my son?" "No, ma, I'm sure sir, not at all; nor by the depth either!" I don't." Why not, my son?" " The young man was silent. Why, grandpa will be there won't he? Why, yes, I hope he will." "Well, just as soon as he sees as, he'll come scolding along, and "Whew, whew! what are say, these boys here or?' I don't want to go to heaven if grandpa is going to be there."

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NEVER delay

To do the duty which the hour brings,
Whether it be in great or smaller things;
For who doth know
What he shall do the coming day? ANON.

THE GRAND LANDMARKS OF

MORALITY.

IN the darkest hour through which the soul ean pass, whatever else is doubtful, this at least is certain: If there be no God, and no future state, yet even then it is better to be generous than selfish, better to be chaste than licentious, better to be true than false, to be brave rather than a coward. Blessed beyond all earthly blessedness is the man who, in the tempestuous darkness of the soul, has dared to hold fast to these venerable landmarks.

REV. F. W. ROBERTSON.

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And, O, how still beneath the stars
The once wild, noisy earth doth lie!
As though she now forsook her jars,
And caught the quiet of the sky.
Pride sleeps; and Love (with all his scars)
In smiling dreams doth lie.
Shine on, sweet-orbed souls, for aye,
Forever calm, forever bright;
We ask not whither lies your way,
Nor whence, nor what your light.
Be, still, a dream throughout the day,
A blessing through the night.

JOHN HUNTER, the great anatomist, and founder of the celebrated Hunterian Museum, when asked what method he had adopted to insure success in his undertakings, replied, "My rule is, deliberately to consider, before I commence, whether the thing be practicable. If it be not practicable, I do not attempt it. If it be practicable, I can accomplish it if I give sufficient pains to it; and, having begun, I never stop till the thing is done. To this rule I owe all my success."

HOW TO BUY TENDER GEESE. - It was Platt Evans of Cincinnati who taught his friends how to buy tender geese, but he couldn't always get them in market. One morning he saw a lot, and inquired of the farmer how many there were. "About a dozen," was the reply. "W-wwell," said Platt, "I k-k keep b-b-boarding-house, and my b-b-boarders are the darndest e-caters you ever s-s-saw. P-P. pick out n-n-nine of the t-t-toughest youv'e gg-got." The farmer complied, and laid aside the other three tender ones. Platt picked them up carefully, and putting them in his basket, said, "I b-b-believe I'll t-t-take these three."

A COCKNEY tourist met with a Scotch lassie going barefoot towards Glasgow. "Lassie," said he," I should like to know if all the people in this part go barefooted?" "Part of 'em do, and the rest of 'em mind their own business," was the reply.

AN Irish postboy having driven a gentleman a long stage during torrents of rain, was asked if he was not very wet. "Arrah, I wouldn't care about being very wet, if I wasn't so very dry, yer honor."

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There was a man who had no eyes,
He went abroad to view the skies;
He saw a tree with apples on it,
He took no apples off, yet left no apples
on it.

ARITHMETICAL PROBLEM.

A farmer, being asked how many sheep he had, said, "Yonder flock contains 4920; of which my neighbor Smith owns twice as many as I; Mr. Jones owns 3 times as many as Smith; and Mr. Dow owns twice own 1⁄2 of what I do not own." How as many as Jones; and all three of them many had he?

CONUNDRUMS.

1. What tree bears the most fruit to market?

2. Why is the letter S like a furnace in a battery?

3. Why is a room full of married folks like a room that is empty?

4. What is that which no man wants, but which, if any man has, he will not part with for the world?

The Dairy Farm.

LET us consider for a moment the general cropping of the dairy farm. We have, it is plain, essentially a stock farm. Everything must be subservient to the interests of stock. If grain is cultivated, it should be for the purpose of supplying the necessities of stock at certain seasons of the year, and raising grain to sell, as a farm crop, is not to be thought of. A grain crop is exhaustive, and grain-growing on anything like an extended scale, in this part of the country, cannot be followed for any length of time, except in connection with sheep husbandry, which offers the means of abundant supplies of manure especially adapted to grain. But on a dairy farm the grass and hay crop will be the main reliance, and the money products will be those of the dairy, in some of its forms, as milk, or butter, or cheese, while all farm products not turned into these articles should go to market on four legs, in the shape of calves and fattened animals, as cows past their period of profitable production, and such as fail to come up to the standard adopted, which should be as high as practicable, and constantly progressive.

Grass, therefore, to be cut and cured as hay, will cover the larger proportion of the arable land; and this should, of course, be in a high state of cultivation and productiveness; and if we make a specialty of grass-growing and dairy farming, there is no reason why it should not be. Keeping a large stock enables the farmer to prepare his composts, and to top dress so liberally as to secure this end. While the system of grain farming is exhaustive, that of dairy or stock farming, properly managed, is constantly improving, as it furnishes the means of the most liberal supplies of manure.

We need not stop to dwell upon the varieties of grass, though this is a subject not to be overlooked. The grasses should be adapted to the nature of the soil. We know that fine old pastures are the best for butter as well as for beef, and this should furnish us a hint as to the grasses to be grown for hay. Clover is not very good for either purpose, butter or beef, but early cut and properly cured clover is good to increase the flow of milk to be sold as milk. June or blue grass and orchard grass, however, are excellent, and so is young tender red-top. quent top-dressings have a tendency to make the grasses finer, while early cutting preserves their juices and retains their milk-producing qualities. The grasses should all be cut before the change into woody fibre takes place, and they should not be over-cured, or too long exposed to the withering heats of the sun.

Fre

But it is chiefly the cultivated, hoed crops of the dairy farm, to which we would call especial attention. These should be planned with reference chiefly to the supply of winter nourishment of the stock, in addition to the usual crops of hay and other forage plants of that description.

We are more and more convinced every year that root crops should constitute, if not the basis, at least a far more considerable part of our feeding for dairy stock through the winter months than they do. And it is a source of some satisfaction to find that during the last ten years the cultivation of these crops has been vastly extended.

The mangold and the sugar beet are much more generally grown now than they were a few years ago, while the Swedish turnip or ruta baga, as it is often called, has become well nigh universal. They form an important part of the winter feeding of dairy cows and other stock, and though they may not effect a very great saving of hay, they promote the health and the thrift of the animal that is fed upon them.

The fact is, roots come in not only as a most valuable condiment, or change of food to assist in keeping up the health of our stock, but they go farther than that, and do more than any other food in winter can to keep the tissues of the animal system open and in a state to prepare it for larger and more abundant secretions of milk in the succeeding spring and summer.

Shelter for Animals.

AN animal kept quiet and warm will fatten much more readily and with less consumption of food than one exposed. The experiment has been repeatedly tried, and with uniform results. Three equal lots of sheep, of nearly equal weight, were fed separately for four months, in the following conditions. One was wholly unsheltered, another was allowed the run of an open shed, and a third kept in a close shed in the dark. The food was precisely alike, being one pound of oats each per day, and as many turnips as they would eat. The first lot ate nineteen hundred and twelve pounds of turnips, the second thirteen hundred and ninety-four pounds, and the third eight hundred and eighty-six pounds, less than half the weight eaten by the first lot. The first lot gained twenty-three and one half pounds in flesh, the second twenty-seven and a half pounds, the third twenty-eight and one fourth pounds. For every hundred pounds of turnips eaten, the first lot gained in weight one and an eighth pounds, the second two pounds, and the third three and one sixteenth pounds. Those kept in the dark ate less than half the first lot,

Diking in Salt Marshes.

IT is gratifying to be able to state that the improvement of the extensive tracts of salt marshes along the shores of Massachusetts has already begun. Green Harbor Marsh, of nearly fifteen hundred acres, in the town of Marshfield, has been diked in at an expense of more than thirty thousand dollars, and the results are already apparent, though it is yet too soon to state precisely the economy of the operation. It must still be regarded as an experiment, though there can be little doubt that it will prove to be a great success, or that the reclamation of the wide range of salt marshes will add largely to the productive capacity of this state.

Salt marshes may be considered as the result of tidal accumulations, to which have been added the debris of the various geological formations along the adjacent coast, consisting of the mineral and organic matter carried down by streams emptying into the tidal basins. The composition of the soil thus formed will of course differ somewhat, according to the character of the sediment of creeks and streams coming in from the interior country, or the washings of the surrounding uplands. At the same time, it is reasonable to suppose that they will have a generally striking similarity of character. They are all composed, to a large extent of course, of the settled scourings of the ocean, resembling, often, certain layers of sand, loam, or marl, which form the sea-bottom lands of preceding geological epochs, while they are all modified, to a greater or less extent, by fresh water, as already indicated.

Changes in the natural vegetation of salt marshes will take place slowly after the sea water is shut off by means of dikes. It takes time to alter the mechanical as well as the chemical condition of the soil, but all experience shows that such change will take place, aud that the vegetation will be improved gradually, even without artificial aid. Northern Europe presents us with abundant evidence of this, and the low lands of Holland, reclaimed from the sea, are among the richest and most productive in the world.

One of the grandest experiments in this direction was the drainage of the Haarlem Sea, in Holland. It originally consisted of four small inland lakes, and, at the time its improvement was undertaken by the government in 1840, its area was forty-five thousand acres, and its depth fifteen feet. This sea was surrounded by a wall fifteen to sixteen feet high, on the top of which a ditch was dug to receive and convey away the water thrown into it by numerous pumps. The first cost per acre for the improvement was forty-two dollars, increased by the expense of roads, drains, and other improvements, to an aggregate of four million five hundred thousand dollars, two thirds of which was received back for the sale of lands so drained, while the taxation pays a good interest on the balance.

So great was the success of this enterprise that the lands, after the first year's cultivation, rose to three times the original cost, and the present annual production often amounts to more than one hundred dollars per acre in value. About half of these reclaimed lands are still kept in grass. There is now a population of about ten thousand living within the basin of the former sea.

The scientific investigations instituted in the Green Harbor Marsh, already referred to, show that there is in the soil an ample supply of plant-food for future crops, and that with sufficient time for the requisite changes in the chemical and physical condition of the marsh-deposit, the proper cultivation will abundantly repay all the labor, and time, and money that have been or that may hereafter be devoted to it.

The Currant Worm.

THIS insect has been of great trouble to the New England farmer and gardener for the last few years, stripping the leaves and often very nearly destroying the bushes. Now, the currant is one of the most delicious, healthful, and valuable fruits, and worthy of careful cultivation and preservation. When the first signs of the attack of the currant worm appear, dust the bushes thoroughly with dry wood ashes, when they are wet with the morning dew, or directly after a shower. If this simple operation is repeated two or three times, at intervals of a few days, it is effectual.

Powdered white hellebore is generally recommended, and it is a sure cure for the injury of this pest, or, rather, a sure preventive; but as this substance is poison, it is desirable to avoid its use if the damage can be prevented in any other way, though the rains would be likely to wash it completely from the bushes before the currants ripen. If hellebore is used, wash the currants before eating.

Improvement of Pastures.

THE improvement of pastures will be governed somewhat by the general system adopted on the farm and the circumstances of the farmer. If, as is often the case, the farm is such as to raise far more from the mowing and arable lands than from the lauds devoted to pasturage, that is, enough to keep more stock in winter than it is possible to feed in summer, it shows that there is a want of balance, so to speak, and that greater effort should be bestowed upon the summer pasturage in proportion to that applied to the tillage lands. If, on the other hand, the farmer can

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