The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1863-01-17


'inguishcd men have passed a large por
ton of their lives in prisons, yet main
tanned their mental in egrity, aud lived
long enough af erwards to accomplish
great deeds. Count Confolioncri, hav
ing. rendered himself obnoxious 10 the
Aus iian government, was confined in 4
dungeon zen feet square for six years
with so dim light that he could not
distinguish the features of the solitary
companion of his miSfortunes after
which time he remained nine years
longer, entirely, alone. He writes Of
himself; " Only one event broke in
upon my nine years vacancy. One day
it must have been year or two after
my companion left mc-my dungeon
door was opened, and voice, knew not
whence, uttered hese words BY order
of his Imperial Majesty, l intma to
you, that one year ago your wife died.
Then the door was shu+. | heard re
more. They had but flung this great
agony in upon me, and left me alone
WI h it again" Without book, with
out a companion, without any intelli-
gence from the outer world, confined in
dark dungeon, living on the coarsest
food, having those inward resources
which superior education gave, he
fed upon them. and thus maintained
boh mental and bodily health while
the uninstruc ed farmer, who can feed
on the fat of the land, who passes near
three fourtbs of his existence in the
blessed sunlight, groediy drinking in
the luscious outdoor air in all its puri-
ty, WI h no restraint of bodily liberty, so
abandons himself to the dull routine
which comprises almost nothing but to
work and eat and sleep, often finds in a
less time than fifteen years, that vigor
of mind and health of body are both on
the wane. But better time is coming,
through the influence ot our glorious
Publlc-School system, when it shall no
longer be consider an all sufficient quail
tication for farmer that he have a
vigorous frame and intelligence enough
to skillfully WELD an ak or turn fur
row o. drive a team. Men are already
beginning to perceive that encouragingly
remuneratlvc farming is tie reward of
those who have made themselves familiar
wi h the analysis of soils, who have some
knowledge Of DO any and vegetable
chemistry, who have given some udy
to ascertain the surest way of obtaining
the bcst seeds and the bcst breeds. and
who have " method in their" book
madness" in the selection of cons and
gratis and roots and plants. Such men
not onl y make money by farming, but
have a positive delight in their labor,
and III waiting for results for one of the
sweetest sensations possible to the
human mind is the development of use
full practical facts as he result of trials
and experiment 5. If the young farmer
hen begins life with better literary
education, and every farmhouse is
regularly visi ed BY some well-condncted
agricul ural periodical, the mental hori-
zon of the hard working tillcr of the
soil will soon become so extended that
demented farmer will become the rarest
of sights. There is another item in
reference to the farming ropula ion of
this country, which certainly adds to
the number of its lunatics it is that
grim spccter, DEBT, which is vountar
ly set up in the households of three
farmers out Of four, whether in .he cabin
of the thriftlcss squatter or in the man
sion of the princcly planter. 1t is gen.
orally very grave mistake, in the hope
of making money by the rise of land, to
purchase more than can be convenien ly
paid fer on the spo, or more than can
be advantagcously cultivated with the
force at command. This demon of debt,
with its sin erest' eating out the
farmers subs ance ceaselessly, day and
night, Summer and Winter, in sunshine
and in shade, is in multitudcs of cases
vain sacrifice to the Moloch of gain, a
yawning maels rom, pitiless and inap-
peasable it eats out half the Joys of
many families, by reason of the self
denlals, the always losing "make-s shifts, :"
the working to disadvantage and conse-
quent extra labor, with those anxietics
and soici udes which are necessarily
imposed, and which, In their turn, in
ducc irritation of mind, Feasibility of
temper, and that forge fulness of those
domestic amenities which many times
convert trouble inc a pleasure and
allevlae or take en- ircly away half the
burdens Of life. These acerbities of
temper grow by what they feed upon,
and seldom fail,in the end to leave an
evil impress on the character Of those
upon whom the disturbing consciousness
of debt presses with the weight of the
neither mills one, impelling too often to
the razor, the river, or the halter; for
1t is not an unknown thing, by any
means, that the Woodworking farmer
becomes a suicide To make this arti-
Gle more specifically practical, the atten-
ton of farmers families is invited to the
chief and direct causes of nine tenths of
the diseases which cloud their happi-
ness, which interfere wi their prosper
ity, and often largely add to discourage
ing expenditures of the means which it
caused so much labor to acquire.
ITO be Contaaued.)
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PUT UP YOUR OLD RAGs-.No more
Lint Wanted. The Secretary of the U.