Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1868-12-11
From Harper- Magazine.
Pleasures Of Rural Life.

10 l- not To- Nc denied tf4l there aye great
pleasures ae well as many hariehiy- u be- en-
countered in rural life; there il pleasure
both retrospective, and prospective in which
tie di-aEreeahlcs @ for nothing The habit
of early rising-with0ut which Poor Rich
ard afrms neither health, wealth. nor wis
dom are o. be tasted though, perlaI-. %
great cross o. the tyro, becomes hy the
force of haii- and the rich rewards of
the dewy hours, something 90 count upon
with certainty of delight. Wedding the
turnip beds in the early morning. with the
sun lazily mounting from behind distant. va
ppr-wreathed hills, sending h1cks Of pink
wings before him. betting the horizon in tawuy
gold with the birds making every shrub
and stalk vocal with hallclumhs. now far a
wav in tender dimuuendo. now directly over
head. among the branches Of the crooked
plum tree with thousand, of bright winged
cphemer,e Just dancing into thc life out of
which they viii dance with the sun cater
pillars hreakiastiu. off the juicy Young leaves.
and snails looking out of their snug doruit5-
rie- To take a view Of the Weather weednr
turuUs, OF what not. at such time. with SD
much of ofuterest before ones ewes and beneath
ones hand. can not be the mon0ton0us affair
one might suppose. Indeed. the visor and
tnting oi the most common leaf is 81 beet for
profitable reflection, its habits and conditions
Of growth the use it knows how to make of
every ray Of sun, of every dew or rain drou
that visits it, the various insects that urev
upon it, that find an asylum in It's heart, or
feed upon It's life-bood. or that are born and
die upon it, without ever journeying to other
countries-that Is. to oother leaves: all these
81 3D.,
struggle and suffering are believed to concen-
trate and fix the personality of human beings.
and overcome light-headedness.
How many pleasures are lost by those who
never deliver themselves TO the charms Of a
rural life; who see nothing Of these transform
ations that 90 on year after year among both
plant- andinsects whorun the chance Of be
lieying, with La Fontaine, that the ants pro-
vide themselves with well-st0red g7anariee for
Winter use-with Virgil, that bees are subject
10 a king with the fathers of rreyoux. that
these same bees find their young ready made
ON flowers At least theyare never able to
surprise the grub Of the dragon fly, like a
prince mcoRgHIf0, with it, claws fastened up
on a reed at the edge ola pool bursting from
its disguises. and shaking itself in the warm
scented wind before darting away a living
Jewel on wings of netted gold. Nor is it prob
able that they often observe the gnat launch
ing her boat Of eggs, or the aquatic creature
suddenly become denizen of the air.
He who contents himself with spending his
days within the brick walls of a city walking
on hard pavements in place of green-sward, a.
mong dusty thoroughiares instead of fresh
fields. breathing infections air, thousand
times breathed already, rather than the per-
fumed breeze Of the country, can hardly be
supposed to rogret things of which he has
little or mean conception. vet forfeits much
enjoyment and health. What does harvest
mean to him? \ matter of statistics, of bread
stufis in the market quotations, provender for
his stud, peaches for his table, Nothing o
the generous hilarity Of harvest-time the song
Of reapers. the whetting of scyth' =. the fra
GRANGE of clover fclds-nothing but drearv
facts and something to eat Orchards groane
ing in plenty, grape vines reeling under the
purple, grain inviting the sickle, the satisfac
ton accruing from year spent in the tolls to
husbandry-these are things of little account
to him He does not know what it is to have
successful gratis, to develop new powers in a
plant-to improve its color, perfume, size, or
other virtues-to become the direct heir of
utdhtil. II Hl1lllAtH littit ~ nm lldl ettl
increases fifteen times it own weight in a sin
gle minute the rate of increase being ALWAYS
uniform that Nature giveth to all literally,
is no niggard, only reserying the right to be
entreated that for every " anxious care" be-
slowed she returns to us a thousandfold, not
only in the fruits Of the earth, but in the Vi
gor Of the frame, the lustre Of health, the elias
tic step, the increased beauty of the eyes.
the cheerful heart confident of itself and ere
alton, and a mind quickened and enlarged.
We are nodded in a manner by our circum-
stances wide sky views give US liberality
and e-mindedness. Ont of doors we read
lily forget our littleness and hypochondria, be-
cause we are re-enforced from the great res
eryoirs oflifc and health and perpetual growth
Roger Bacon somewhere speaks of an old
man who, ploughing in Sicily one day, discov-
cred vial containing a solution of gold,
which, supposing it to be dew, he drank, and
Immediately he become a hale, robust, and
highly accomplished youth. Since we do not
wish to doubt the chronicle. how can we
choose but think it more likely to have been
ploughing which wrought the miracle rather /
than the solution of gold-the elixir of life Of 1
the Achemists, the virtues ofwhich have long
since been exploded?
1t seems to me only pOetical and some
what roundabout method ofsaying that, when
an old mar, he discovered theeliHir oflife while .