Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1865-12-26
Artemas Wards Exporience as Farmer

ume ~ address thom On Ihe occasion o. their
mex annual fair, he wrote to the President Of
the Society as follows:
New YORK, June II, 1865.
feel h4ttored, and thnk Will come
Perhaps, meanwhile, brief history Il lay
experience as an ogrcuituriet wlll be accept,
able,
! have been an honos Old farmer for som.
iou, years.
My farm is in the interior Of Maine Unlol-
tuultoly my lands arc eleven mice from tie
railroad Eleven miles is quite distance lo
haul immense quantities Of wheat corn, rye and
oats but as | hayn't any to haul / dJ not, al
TOR all, suffer much On that account.
My farm Is moro specially good grass farm
My nelghbors told me 30 ut first, and, Gs an
evidence that they were sincere in that opinion,
they turned IN then cows Oh to il The moment
/ " Mt off leeturiDg.
These COWS are now quite lat take pride
in these cows, IN fact, ana am glad owna gross
aIm.
Tso years ego tried shoep raising.
! bought hlty lambs ana turned them lore
on my broad aud beautiful acres
10 was pleasant On bright mornings to stTyl
lesurely cut 70 the iarm in my dressing gown,
with cigar III my mouth, and watch these ,t-
tic lambs, as they danced gally oe'r the hillside.
Watching their s4uoy capcrs reminded me Of
eaper sauce, and lt occurred 70 me ! should
have some very fine eating when they grew up
TO be muttOns
Ny gentle shepherd, llr. Eli Perkins, said,
" v must have some shepherd dogs
had no very precise idea as ~ what shep-
herd dogs We're, but | assumed ralher p,o-
found look, and saii
" We must, Eli, spoke to you about lhs
some time agJ."
wrote 10 my old friend, Mr.. Dexter II Fol-
lett, Of Bo. ton, t9r two shepherd dogs. Mr.. +.
Is an honest old farmer himself but thought
he knew about shepherd dogs. He kindly iof-
soJk iar more important business to accommu-
date, and tue dogs came forthwith They were
splendid cfeesurgs-sllh cJlJred, llza eyed,
long tailed and shapely Jascd.
We LED them proudly u thc fields,
% Iufn them IN, Eli, la..l.
Eli TUNED them Ia.
They w,nt In 1T once and killed twenty OF
my beet lambs m about four minutes and d half
Ny friend had made some trllug mistake IN
the breed OF these dogs.
Eli Perkins was ustJushgd, and observed
Wall, did you cyor2'
! certainly never had.
There were pools Of blood on the green sward
and iiagments Of wool and raw lamb chops
lay round 10 confused heaps.
The dogs would have been sentto Boston that
nglti had they NOS rather suddenly died that
all, fnoon OF throat distemler. Il WASN'T d
ssollng Of tao ,hroas Il wasn't dlphthera. 1t
was violent opening Of the throat, extending
lrCn ear 10 ear.
Ihus closed their directories. Thus ended
their interesting tails
failed az u raiser Of lambs. Asa shecpist |
was NOT q success.
Lasi summer Mr.. Perkins slid, 81 think
we'd better cut some grass this season, sir"
We cut some grass.
To me the new mown bag Is very sweet and
nice. The brilliant. George Arnoli sngs about
It, IA beautiful verse;, down IL Jersey every
summer sO does the brilliant Aidrldge. NJ
Portsmouth, y. H. Aud Yet / doubt ii ellAer
oi these men know the price Of a ton Of hay TO-
day. But new-mown hay is really fine thing.
IL Is good Tor nan aud heaat
We hired four honest farmers to assist w.,
and led them saiIy 10 the meadows.
Nes going to NOV mjtelL
! saw the sturdy PEASANTS 20 round onea ere
dippei my hishiog scy;he into the tall green
gTass.
A.e you ready p said E. Perkins.
" ! AIN here :"
Then follow usln
| followed them.
Followed them rather too closely, eydenl'v,
i01 q wAi,o.harcd old mau. who immediately
followed Mr Perkins, called upon us to halt.
Then IN low, firm voice he sail 20 his son, who
fI I. aita /.
With me. ham't got long to live anyhow.
omar oeiry "a ground viii soon have these OLD
bones, and l.'s n0 matter whether ! IN carried
there with one lex off aud terrible gashes in tbo
other or not But you, John-you are young.
The old man changed places wlth his sun. A
CAIN 'miio OF resignation llt up bis wrlakled
face as he said, "Now, SIR, am ready y.'
" hat mean yOui old man p | SAID.
" ! mean that If you eontnnur to brau'ish !
tha. blade as you have been brgnishingit you'n !
sosh IL oHt Of some ot us before We re un
hour ode, go
There was some reason mingled with this
whlt. haired peasant profanity. II Sas true
that had twice escaped moving of hs sons |
lees, and his father was perhaps naturally |
alarmed
went down and sat under tree. " noyor
knoWed literary man in my lie, | overheard !
tho old man cay, that know d anything"
Mr. Perkins was not Us valuable to me tbs |
season US lad ianeied he might be. Every 80.
ienoon he disappeared from the field regularly, |
and remained absent somo two hours He said |
1t was headache. lie inherited i; from his
mo her. Ills mother was often taken in that
way, aud suffered great deal.
Al the gHu nf tlo t,g. larre NJ pas rua
would reappoar with his head neatly done u in
a large vet rag, and say " he ltlt better
One afternoon it SO happened thai soon fol-
lowed tho Invalid to the house, und as heared
the porch beard female voice energeti,ally
observe "You stop" 1t was the voice OF tho
hired glrl, and she added, "ll holler for Mr..
Brown -
" no Nancy" heard the invalid h. Per-
kings soothlngly say. mir. Brown knows |
love you. SIR. Brown approves oftw
This was pleasant for Mr.. Brown,
pcored cautiously through the kitchen blinds,
and however unatural 1t may appear, tho lips
Of Mr.. Perkins and my hired girl were very near
together. She said, "You sban't do So" and no
do.sood She also aid sho would get right Up
and go away and, as an evidence that she was
in earnest about It, she remained
whero she was.
They are married now, and Mr.. Perkins is
troubled no more aith the headache
This year we are planting corn Mr., Perkins
writes me that "on account Ol 10 skare
krows bein put up krows cum and diegod lust
crop up but soon got an other in Old Bl-beo
who was afraid you'd cut his sons eggs OF says
you bet g and stan up in field yrsell with
droSin gound on 4 essses krows will keep |