The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1866-02-17
: jsea From, Artemas wards Neg Boot.

|
aa 1854 From. Artemas Wards Ne,c Book lii F"
Artemus Wards Experience as a
a me,siieu.s aFarmer.-N AeggaIq
,o The Barclay County Agricultural Socie-
tynaving seriously invited the author OF
this volume to address them on the occa-
sionsof their next annual fair he wrote to
the president of that society, as follows:
I NEw YORK, JUNE IL, 1865.
Dear Sir:-I have the honor to acknowl-
edge the receipt ofyour letter of the 9th in
slant, in which you invite me to deliver an
address before your excellent Agricultural
| Society. .7.si vog ,.ma 30 li.e ia
] feel aattered, and think | will come.
Perhaps, meantime, a brief history of my
experience as an agriculturiSt will be &C.
ceptable, and as that history no doubt con.
tains suggestions fvalue to the entire agri.
cultural community, | have concluded to
write you through The press. saasnoio
/ have been an honest old farmer for
some four years. sarsa be.s. IN sas t7
My farm is in the interior of Maine.-
| Unfortunately my lands are eleven miles
from the railroad Eleven miles is quite a
distance to haul immense quantities ol
wheat, corn, rye, and oats, but as haven't
any to hau5 do not after all suffer much
on that account s-s .Hf rdi saasssg
My farm is more especially grass farm.
My neighbors told me so at first, and, as
an evidence that they were sincere in that
opinion, they turned their cows on to it the
moment went off !" lecturing"
These COWS are now quite fat. | take
pride in these cows in nifact, and am glad /
own grass farm. ssel ss4s .s'ei5esg
Two years ago | tried sheep raising.
bought fifty lambs, and turned them
loose on my broad and beautiful acres.
1t was pleasant on bright mornings to
stroll Ieisurely out to the farm in my dress
ing gown, with q cigar in my mouth, and
watch those Innocent little lambs as they
danced gayly DER the hillside. Watching
their saucy capers reminded me of caper
sauce, and it occurred to me that | should
have some very fine eating when they grew
up to be "muttons."
+ My gentle shepherd, Mr.. Eli Perkins,
said, "We must have some shepherd dogs. :"
had no very precise idea as to what
shepherd dogs were, but Tassumed rath-
er profound look, and said os e.,
:" We must, Eli.aI spoke to you abont
this some time ago." .noa
wrote to my old friend, Mr. Dexter II
Follet of Boston, for two shepherd dogs
Mr.. Follet is an honest old farmer, himself,
but thought he knew about shepherd dogs.
He kindly forsook far more important busi-
ness to accommodate, and the dogs came
forthwith. >They were splendid creatures
-snuf-colored, hazel-eyed, longstail,s and
shapely- Waved. 1ag !.f2lo. esaoa,lsa 81
We led them proudly to the fields. saaog
"Turn them in. Eli" said. Eli turned
them in. They went in at once, and killed
twenty of my best lambs in about four min
utes and O half. My friend had made some
triHing mistake in the breed ofthese dogs.
| These dogs were not partial to sheep.
/ Eli Perkins was astonished, ndexclalmi
ed: Wall. did you ever ?'' .bao1laa bnsy
/ certainly never. had. There were pools
of blood on the green sward, and frag-
ments of wool and raw lamb chops lay
around in confused heaps. .' a' = sAs
The dogs would have been sent to Bos-
ton that night, had they 0trathersudden-
ly died that afternoon Of a throat distem-
per. 1t wasn't,a swelling Of the throat, it
wasn't diptheria. 1t was violent open
ing of the throat from ear to ear: ~
Thus closed their life-stories. Thus en-
ded their interesting tails. e
/ failed as araiser. of lambs. Asa sheep
ist was not o success. sa dada18 >'saq
Last summer Mr.. Perkins said =" think
we'd better cut some grass this season, sir.
We cut some grass, ~, s-rles ~ r,
TO me the new mOwn hay is very sweet
and nice. The brilliant George Arnold
sings about it in beautiful verse down in
Jersy every summer; SO does the brilliant
! Aldrich, at Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
And yet doubt if either of these men know
the price ola ton of hay to-day. But new
mown hay is fine thing. 1t is good for
either man or beast.
! We hired four honest farmers to assist
us, and we led them gayly to the meadows.
Il was going to NOW myself. la s80a
saw the sturdy peasants go round once
ere ! dipped my flashing scythe into the
/ tall green grass. ..,..., s4
+" Are you ready % said E. Perkins.
I" am here !"lo
"Then follow us p / followed them.
Followed them rather too closely, evident
ly. fora white-haired old man, who lmme-
| diately followed Mr.. Perkins, called upon
us TO halt. Then in a low, firm voice ne
said to his son, who was just ahead OF me-
!" John. change places with me, hain't got
long to, live anyhow. Yonder berryin
! ground will soon have these old bones, and
It's no matter whether IN carried there
with one leg off and terrible gashes in the
other or not. But you, John-you are
young"
The, Oldham changed places with his SON
and calm smile Of resignation lit up hlS
wrinkled face, as he said. rig8ss giise
CHOW, sir, l am ready r ga aa ass
"What mean you, old man I" said.
/ "I mean that fyou continner to bTanish
that blade as you have been bran'ishing it
you will slash h-out of some ofus before
\ we're hour older pc
There was some reason mingled with this
white-haired old peasants profanity i
1 was true that had twice escaped moving
4 off his sons legs, and his father was perhaps
natufaIy alarmed. ia ss7o sh9 etess
4 / went down and sat under q tree Z
4 never know'd literary man in my life, I"
overheard the old man say, sthat know
any thing"