The Plymouth weekly Democrat. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1860-1869, 1869-05-06
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The Old Pennsylvania Farmer.
BY BAYARD TAYLOR.

Well-welll this is a comfort, now-the air is
And yet 'tis March the twentieth, or twenty-hrst.
And Reuben ploughs the hill for corn; thought
1t would be tough,
But now see the farrows turned, guess It's dry
enough.
1 don't half live. penned up in doors; stoves
When can't see how things go on, fear they're
badly done:
As if q man can't oversee who's in his eightieth
year!
Father, mind, was eighty five before he gave up
his;
But he was dim o. sight, and crippled with the
followed in the old, steady way. so he was sat
But Reuben likes new w-fangled things and ways
can't abide
I'm glad l built this southern porch; my chair
seems easier here:
haven't seen fine a spring this five and twenty
And how the time goes round Sc qcick la week,
Since they were husking on the nat. and now
they plough for corn
When 1 was young, time had for me lazy ox's
But now it's like blooded horse, that means to
And yet | can't fill out my days, tire myself with
naught;
I'd rather use my legs and hands than plague my
head with thought.
There's Marshall, too, see from here: he and his
boys begin.
Why don't they take the lower field? that one is
poor and thin
A coat of lime it ought to have, but they're a do
less set:
They think swamp-muds as good but We shall
what corn they get
Across the level. Browns new place begins to
thought he'd have to wait for trees, nut, bless
me, how they grow
They say it's fre-two acres filled with evergreens
But so much land it worries me, for not cent it
brings.
But tits bad example set, and leads young folks
astray:
Book-learning gets the upper-hand and work gets
slow and slack.
And they that come long after will find things
gone to wrack.
Now Reuben's on the hither eide, his team comes
back again
know how deephe sets the share, see the horses
had that field so clean OF stones, but he must
plough so deep,
He'll have il like turnpike soon, and scarcely MT
for sheep.
II father lived. I'd like to know what he would
New notions of the younger men, who farm by
chemistries;
patent plough and cart
Five hundred dollars for a bull it would have
broke his heart
The naples must be putting out; see a some
thing red
Down yonder where the clearing laps across the
swampcabbage grows beside the run; the green
is good to see,
But wheat's the color, after all, that cheers and
livens me.
They think have an easy time, no need to worry
Sit in the porch all day and watch them NOW. and
SOW, and plough;
Sleep in the sHmmer in the shade In winter in the
I'd rs'her do the thing myself, and know just
how it's donei
WE'LL suppose I'm DID, and yet 'tis not 80 long
When Reuben spread the swarth to dry, and Jesse
learned 10 NOV,
And William raked, and Israel hoed. and Joseph
pitched with me;
But such a man as was then my boys will never
be
don't mind Williams hankering for lectures
and for books;
he never had a farming knack-you'd see IL IN his
looks;
But handsome is that handsome does, and he is
'Twould ease my mind if could say the same of
Jesse, too.
There's one black sheep in every flock. so tn ere
must be in mine,
But was wrong that second time his bond to
It's less than what his share will be-but there's
the INTEREST,"
In ten wears more might have had two Thousand
To invest.
There's no use thinking of it now, and yet it
The way I've shaved and saved | ought to count
i never lost a foot of land, and that's comfort
And il they do not call me rich, they cannot call
me pour.
Well, welli ten thousand times I've thought the
things I'm thinking now
I've thought them in the harvest fe Id and in the
clover NOV:
And sometimes get tired OF them and wish I'd
something new
But this is all I've and known so what's a
man to do?
'Tis like my time is nearly out, of that I'm not
afraid:
Inever cheated any man, and all my debts are
paid
They cIE il rest that we shall have, but work
would do no harm;
There can't be rivers there. and helds, without
some sort o. farm l-9eafn and Home
The report of the New York Commls-
sioners of immigration for 1858 shows
that 213,6S6 aliens arrived at that port
during the year. This was decrease ol
1904 from the year 1867 OF the whole
number, 101 $50 were from Germany, Al
57f from Ireland, 80, 695 from England
and "a All from other countries. The
number of immigrants from Sweden was
nearly 10000 greater than in 1857.
Josh Billings was asked, How fast
does sound travel? ?" and his opinion il
that it depends a good deal about the
noise you are talking about. Iht
sound of dinner horn, for instance
travels half mile in second, while 81