Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1858-10-01
agricultural.
JOIN BOGG's BARN DOOR /.
on, THE Errncrs or rHocRAsrrNArro,

/ OR, THE EFFECTS OF rRocRAsrfNArIoN.
ITS too bad (" said John Boggs.
whats too bad Z" returned Matilda his
wife
/ "Why--thc carts broken down; and now
all the hands must be idle while it's being
mended'
The cart" repeated Mrs Boggs, laying
down the stocking she was darnng. and rec
garding her husband with peculiar look
"Do you mean the large OK cart p
"Ycs"
What's the matter with it,
"Ihe hub is split right slap in two halves r.
"But thought it began to split long
time ago. heard you say, last week, that
you must have new iron band made for 10. D."
"Ics-i know, said John Boggs, rather
obviously; 81 did say something about it,
but then didn't think twas so bad
"Ict you knew it needed mcnding, John
for you said so yourself | wish you would
learn to be moro prompt about these things.
You lose more than You are aware Of
80, no, Iiddy; don't lose anything --
Everything ON my place is as well as things
generally are
Not quite. John. know YOU manage to
keep things in pretty good order but you
must acknowledge that YOU are in the habit
Of procrastinatng. It's only last week that
you lost valuable sheep Just because you
put off mendug the floor in the she'd And
now you have lost half q days work of three
hands, just because you didn't mend your
cart hub when it ought to have been mcndcd.
Ah-you do lose much; and there's no use
trying TO hide H.
"Well. complaining won't mend it, that's
a sure case, muttered John.
"No,' quickly but pleasantly returned Ma
tilda; but paying heed to your experience
might mend the whole trouble
pooh Nou sit here in the house darn
I'M stockins and / suppose You think cause
YOU can see where TO run your needle, you
could see anything in barn at once
mo, no, John said the wife smiling
"Iou don put it in the right shape. ran
sec the heel of a stocking and when ! sec
place where my needle needs ro run, / run
it there I don't expect you TO sec but ono
thing at a time but when YOU do see that
thing and also see that it needs mendiug.
then is the time to mend it,
John Boggs commenced to whistle a med
ley Of spasmodic notes and at the same time
drew on his coat. lie had got to go five
miles TO blacksmith to have an iron ring
made.
"John," said his wife plying her darnng
needle MS she spoke "now mark my words
if YOU don't turn over new leaf in this re-
spcct, you'll have lesson one Of these DAYS
that'll cost you more than you can afford to
pay"
John whistled with renewed energy. now
striking fairly into Yankee Doodle, and
With a dubious shake Of her head, his wife
turned her attention to her work.
John Boggs had two mon to work for him.
and by this breaking Of the cart they were
either obliged to lie still or 90 at some work
which was Of little use. He had large
farm, and an excellent one for producing veg
ctation and he was quite "woll to do in
the world His children were all daughters.
and hence the business Of overlooking the az
fairs of the farm all dcvolved upon him.
As we have seen, John Boggs had ono
fault lie would put of till Tomorrow what
could be and should be done to-day. He
contri,cd TO keep his place looking clean and
tidy becpusc at certain periods he would be
seized with % sort of rcnovating fit, and would
then roll up his sleeves and go at it. But
this didn't work always. Many time very
important things were left till be "fet like Il.
That was a great expression of his: "Well,
wb0 feel d.' Sometimes there would be
breakdown that bad to be attended to imsne-
diately; aud while he had the hammer AMI
nails in his hands he would fix up several
othcr things that had been awaiting his com
ing. Very often am hour was required over
something which would not have consumed
five minutes Of his time, had he taken it in
hand when he first discovered It, And not
only so. but he lost in two other ways 1t re-
quirod more nails to do the work at this late
hour, and could not be made good, at that,
it was before nor as it would have been
had he attended to it in season.
John had often promised his wife that he
would reform, but he had not done it yet
He did not realize how much he lost or if
he did, the effect was momentary. When he .
lost his sheep he would never let such thing
go again. And yet there was at this very
moment bad place in the floor of the tie-up,
where the cows were kept. He had noticed .
it three days before. lie saw one of the cows
tread upon il, and he knew that heavy OK
would break through there at once. But the
floor was not mended yet. for all that.
When the ring or hub-band came home,
Mr., Boggs went at once 20 put it on. But
it would not work He had missed a figure
in his calculations The spokcs had worn
the sockets so much that all the straps in the
world could mover Gt that broken hub on
again.
"Jerusalem 90 muttorcd the disappointed
man, as he found that he could not make the
thing work "If had only fixed the thun-
doun' thing when | ought to-, this wouldn't /.
have been Its too bad - too thunderin'
bad
But there was no help for it, new hub
must be made He managed TO find an old
wheel which he could use while the wright
was fixing his, and in this uncomfortable way
he managed to get along without losing much
over days time
One morning about week after the break
ing of the hub, ono of the little girls came
running in whio the family were at breakfast.
"Papa papa the white-acod hoiicr's
broke right through the floor !"
"Whati" uttered Boggs, starting up
" Broken through 2
John Boggs knew that his wife was look
ing sharply at him, and he avoided the pecul-
lar glance which he felt sure he should find
there if be turned that way. He called up
the two men and hurried out. As good for
tune would have it, the heifer was not ser-
ously harmed but John knew he could not
claim credit for her safety When he came