The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1873-01-18
BY EDWARD HvEaEFr.

As a work Of art, | know few things
more pleasing to the eye, or more capable
Of aiording scope and qualification % a
taste for the beautiful, than well sitp ated,
well cultivated farm. The man Of refine
nent viii hang with neyer-wearied gaze
on landscape by Claude or Salvador; the
price Of a section Of the most fertile l&nd
in the West would not purchase a few
square feet Of the canvass on which these
great artists have depicted a rural scene
But nature has forms and proportions be-
yond the painters skill; her divine pencil
touches the landscape with living lights
and shadows, never mingled on his pallet.
What is there on earth which can more
entirely charm the eye, or crafty the
taste, than noble farm? Its lands upon
the southern slope, gradually rising with
variegated ascent from the plain, sheltered
from the northwestern winds BY woody
heights, broken here and there with moss
covered boulders, which impart variety
and strength to the outline.
The native forest has been cleared from
the greater part Of the farm, but suitable
portion, carefully tended, remains in wood
for ;ncmical purposes, and to give pic
turesque effect to the landscape The eye
ranges round three-fourths Of the horizon
over a fertile expanse, bright with the
cheerful waters ola ripping stream, gen.
erous river, or cleaning lake;-dotted
with hamlets, each with its modest spire;-
and, if the farm lies in the vicinity Of the
coast, a distant glimpse from the high
grounds, Of the mysterious, everlasting sea,
completes the prospect. II is situated of
the high road, but near enough to the vii
lage to be easily accessible to the church,
the school-house, the post-office, the rail-
road, a social neighbor, or travelling friend.
Il consists in due proportion fpasture and
tillage, meadow and woodland, field and
garden, A substantial dwelling, with ev-
erything for convenience and nothing for
ambition--with the fitting appendages for
stable, and barn, and eorn-barn, and other
farm buildings. not forgetting SPRING
house with living fountain Of water-oc-
cupies upon a gravelly knoll, position
well chosen to command the whole estate.
A few acres on the front, and on the sides
OF the dwelling, set apart to crafty the eye
with the choicer forms Of rural beauty, are
adorned with stately avenue, with noble
solitary trees, with graceful clumps, shady
walks, a velvet lawn, brook murmuring
over pebbly bed, here and there grand
rock, whose cool shadow at sunset streams
across the field all displaying in the red
lovcliness Of nature, the original Of those
landscapes Of which art in its perfection
strives to give US the counterfeit present
ment.
Animals Of select breed, such as Paul
Potter, and Moreland, and Iandseer, and
Rosa Bonheur, never painted, roam the
pastures, or fill the hurdles and the stalls !;
the plough walks in rustic majesty across
the plain, and opens the genial bosom Of
the earth to the sun and air; natures holy
sacrament Of seed-time is solemnized be-
meath the yaulted cathedral sky; silent
dewss aud gentle showers, and kindly sun
shine, shed their sweet influence on the
teeming soil; springing verdure clothes the
plain golden wavelets, driven by the west
wind, run over the Joyous wheat field; the
tan maize aaunts in her crispy leaves and
nodding tassels while we labor and while
we rest; while we wake and while we sleep.
God chemistry, which we cannot see, goes
on beneath the elods; myriads and myri-
ads Of vital cells ferment with elemental
life germ and stalk, and leaf and flower,
and silk and tassel, and grain and fruit,
grow up from the common earth the
moving machine and the reaper-mute II
walls Of human industry, perform their glad
some task the well-piled wagon brings