The Somerset press. [volume] (Somerset, Ohio) 1873-1977, 1877-05-17
Letter From Daniel Webster.

The following letter from the great
statesman to his farmer, at Marshfield,
was written forty years ago. 1t was re-
Gently communicated to the Phila-
delphia Ledger:
WASHINGTON, March ID, 1922.
JOHN TAYLOR: I am glad to hear
from you again, and to learn that you
are all we'll, and that your teams and
tools are ready for springs work, when
ever the weather will allow you to be-
gin. / sometimes read books on farm
ing, and remember that a sensible old
author advises farmers " to plow naked
and to cow naked" By this he means
that there is no use in beginning springs
work till the weather is warm, that
farmer may throw aside his winter
clothes and roll up his sleeves. Yet he
saw we ought to begin as early in the
wear as possible. He wrote some very
pretty verses on this subject, which, as
far as I remember, run thus:
ssWhile vet the spring is young, while earth
binds
The frozen bosom to the western winds;
While mountain SHOWS dissolve against the sun,
And streams, yet new, from precipices run
E en- in this early dawning OF the year,
And poed iiI bip till he smoke beneath his toll
And the bright share is buried in the soil.'
John Taylor, when you read these
lines, do you not see the snow melting
and the little streams beginning to run
down the southern slope of your Punch
brook pasture, and the new grass start
ing and growing in the trickling water,
ali green, bright and beautiful? And
do YOU see your Durham oxen smoking
from heat and perspiration as they draw
along your great breaking-up plow, cut
ting and turning over the tough sward
in your meadow in the great field? d? The
name of this sensible author is Virgil,
and he gives farmers much other advice,
some of which you have been following
all this winter without even knowing
that he had given it:
| "But when cold weather, heavy SHOWS and rain,
| The laboring farmer in his house restrain,
| Let him forecast his work with timely care,
| Which else is huddled when the skies are fair;
Then let him mark the sheep, and whet the shin
| Or hollow trees for boats, or number o'er
His sacks, or measure his increasing store
| Or sharpen stakes, and mend each rake and fork,
| So to be reaoy, in good time, to work.
| Visit bis crowded barns at early morn;
| Look to his granary, and shell his corn
| Give q good brea kfast to his numerous kine
| His shivering poultry and his timing swine"
And MIR. Virgil says some other things
which you understand up at Franklin
as well as ever he did:
| TN chilling winter swains enjoy their store,
| Forget their hardships, and IT cruit for more;
| The farmer to full feasts invites his friends
| And what he got with palms, with pleasure spends
| Draws chairs around the fire. and tells once more,
Stories which often have been told before;
Spreads clean table with things good to eat,
| And adds some moistening to his fruit and meat.
| They praise his hospitality, and feel
IL 1s,tta, E%o ,Oo1'
John Taylor, by the time you have
got through this you will have read
enough. The sum of all is, be ready
for your springs work as soon as the
weather becomes warm enough, and ther
put your hand to the plow and look not
back. DANIEL WEBSTER.