Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1860-10-05
VOL. XLIII.
HOW CAME TO BuYA "A FARM.
By BAYARD TAYLOR.
[From the n. Y. Independent. /

From the n. Y. Independent-1
In the first place it runs in the blood. If
there is any law believe in, it is that of he
reditary transmission of traits, qualities. ca
paeities and passions My father is farmer
my grandfather aras, and his father before him.
and his, and bis again. to the seventh ancestor
who came over in one of William Penn's YES.
sells, and Immediately set about reducing the
superRuous sylsanisfn Of that APOSTLES Syltd-
| Hfd.
Almost my first recollection q that of a
swamp, into which went bafe-legged at NOR
ping, and out of which I came, when driven
| by hunger, with long stockings of black mud,
and mask of the same.
| If the child was missed from the house, the
| first tfiihg that suggested itself was 10 climb
| upon a mound which overlooked the ssFanp.-
Somewhere ahiohg the tufts of the rushes and
the bladed leaves of the caIamus, a little brown
/, ball was sure to be seen moving, now dipping
out of sight, now rising again, like bit of
drift on the ripping green. It was my head.
THE treasures there collected were black ter
rapins with orange spots, baby frogs, the size
of chestnut, thrush's eggs, and stems of pur-
pie phlox.
cannot say that my boyish experience of
farmwork was altogether attractive. / had a
constitutional horror of dirty hands, and my
hrst enployments-picking stones and wedding
corn-were rather torture to this superire
taste. But almost every ffeld has its walnut
tree, and many of the last years nuts retained
their favor in the spring melons were plant
ed among the corn, and the meadow which lay
between never exhausted its store of wonders.
Besides, there we're eggs to hide at Easter !;
cherries and Strawberries in May fruits all
summer fishing parties by torch.light lobelia
and sumac to be gathered, dried, and sold for
poeket-money and in the fall ehestnutsi per-
simmons, wild grapes, cider. and the grand
butchering" after frost came-so that all
the pleasures knew were incidental to far
mer's life The books I read came from the
village library, and the task of helping to
!" fodder" on the dark winter evenings was
lightened by the anticipation of sitting down
to Gibbons Rome, or Thaddeus of Warsaw,
afterwards. To be sure, sometimes envied
the storekeepers boy, whom l had once seen
shoveling sugar out of hogshead and who
now and then stealthily dipped his hand into
the raisin box but it is not III the tafttfe Of
any child to be perfectly satisfied with bis
lot.
A life Of three years iii small corntry town
esfectuall5 cured IRE Of sll stsck folly. When
| returned to the homestead as southi first
felt the delight and the refreshment of labor
in the open air. l was then able to take the
plow handle, and / still remember the pride
felt when my furrows were pronounced even
and well turned Although it was alreatsT de-
cded that | should not make farming the bu-
siness Of my life, thrust into my plans the
slender wedge Of hope that | might one day
own bit of ground. for the luxury of tksriBg.
if not the profit Of ealtisatifg it. fhe aroma
of the sweet soil had tlsfesurcd my blood; the
black med of the swamp still stuck to my
feet.
It happened that adjoining my fathers prop
efty, there was an old farm, which was fast re-
| lapsing into state of nature. Along the
| road which bounded this sarrs Or the east stood
a grove of magnificent oaks. more Than hun
dred feet i'll height.
AT the foot of the oaks on the border of
the field, there was an old, gnarled mother
r;ae, surrounded fts her brood eF young ones,
who, always springing up in the same tiiree-
| tion. from the facts that the seeds were scat
| tered by the nor west winds, seerAcd to be run
ming off down the s.upe, as if full fiedged and
eages to make their way into the world. The
old pine had an awful interest to me as boy.
More than once hHge black snakes had beer
! seen hanging from its baasfss, am. the farm
hatNfs tsoafd tell mysterious stories of an old
mother serpent, as long as a fence rail and as
swift as horse. In fact, my brother ard i,
on our way to the peach trees, which still pro-
duced some bitter favored fruit, had more
than once SETH shakes in our path. On GER
tain occasion, as my memory runs, chased
the snake while he ran AWAY. HISTORY is
that he chased ants fan-and the question
remains unsettled to this day.
SofAsfflres we extended our rambles to the
end of the farm, and looked down into the Sc
elitktl esells beyond the ridge which it covered
such g!irnpses were like the discovery of
unAnersa lasfsfs. How far off the other people
lived How strange it must be to dwell con-
tinually down in that hollow, with no other
house in sighti But when build my house 1
thcughtt shah h-siha II sp on the ridge; with
a hi gh steeple, from the top of which can see
far and wide.
At last came the lsRrch into the world-a
slide. piahge, a sbudder, and the ship rides
the waves. Absence, occupation, travel, sub
stituted realities for dreams, and the farm, if
not forgotten, became very subordinate OBJ
ject in The catalogue of things to be attained.
Whenever l visited the homestead, however,
sass the sunset through its grating Of forest.
Fifty year of neglect had given The adjoin-
ing farm bad name among the farmers, while
/ Nature, as if delighted to recover possession,
had gone on adjoining it in her own wild and
matchless way.I looked on the spot with an
/ instructed eye, and sighed, as l counted up
ray scanty earnings, at the refeeiionsthaf years
must elapse before could venturesto think Of
possessinga it. My wish, nevertheless was
heard and remembered.
+ In July, 1858, was on the island Of Loo
Choe. Returning to the flagship of the squad
ron one evening, after tramp oversthe bills to
8 the south of Napa-Kiang, in successful
u search for the ruins of the ancient fortress oi
Iima-gusku, / was summoned by the officer oi
the deck to receive package which had been
sent on board from enc of the other vessels
Letters from home, after an interval of six
months without newsl / Immediately asked
permission to burn lamp ON the orlop deck
t and read until midnight, forgetting the tramp
of the sentry and the sounds of the s.eepers f
their hammocks around me. Opening Iettel
f aftes letter. and devourng, piece by piece, tbs
banquet of news they contained, the mos
startling as well as the most important com
munication, was-the old farm was mine! 1t:
former owner had died, the property was sold
and had been purchased in my name. I wen
on deck. The mid watch had just relievet
the first the night was pitch dark, only nov