The herald., 1895-06-25

UNDER A MULBERRY TREE.
ans, and he had met literary people, He
had even seen Washington Irving and N.
P. Willis. The ocean was near New
York, and l longod to see it. What
blessed privilege it was to live near the
OCEAN!
When it was too wet to plow, the sto-
ries in the Cincinnati Mirror warmed my
imagination, and one day when it did not
rain and my horse wanted a moments
rest, for he was very warm, / rolled on
the grass under a mulberry tree and it
came into my mind that literature must
be the most charming and lovely of the
good things and that to lead IA literary
life was the highest occupation of man,
and through tho long hours left of that
day saw the mellow earth glide in a
brown spray from the plow to the corn
rows as in a dream. The next day these
reflections were resumed. How well I
know the last field OF corn plowed The
glitter of the green blades, tho stalks
higher than the horso's ears and bearing
the full furrow without yielding tho
dainty steps of the horse taught not to
break tho brittle ranks, tho yellow shocks
of wheat in an adjacent field. A hawk
with white breast sitting long on dis
tant dead treo / had poem by Captain
Cutter pasted on the paddle with which l
cleaned the plow and momorized it. 1t
was 1.-The Song of Steam"
Harness me down with your iron bands,
Be sure of your curb and rein.
For scorn the strength of your puny hands,
AS the tempest scorns tho chain.
There was much moro of the poem, and
tho newspapers quarreled as to which had
first published it. Captain Cutter was a
hero as we'll as poet-the last man with
young Henry Clay when the statesman's
son was killed at Buena Vista There
was tho Song of Lightning also, and
then, richer than all, plowhoy's poems.
Fancy following the plow with an old,
leather bound copy of Burns in ono's
pocket and reciting "Bannock burn and
Highland Mary" a friend good
many years older than l came into tho
field one day when was plowing and dis
covered the poem on my plow handle and
told on me, and it amused the people of
Paddy, who were pleased to say was i'm
proving my mind
When the summer was over and the
harvest was ended and there was yet some
time before the winter sessions of the
schools were opened, concluded to burn
q limekiln. A man l knew was about to
build brick house in Venice and he
said If I would burn kiln of lime there
was market for it right there l selected
ravine full of lmestones, the hillside
covered with trees, some of which were
fallen and dry, and employed powerful
laborer, Bob Irving to assist in digging
q pit in the edgo of the steep bank. 1t
was like great we'll, 10 feet in diameter
and about ID feet deep, close to the sharp
incline. At tho bottom, two or three feet
above the stony bed of the ravine, was q
big hole entering the pit, opening an easy
way to take out the dirt. That was the
place for the furnace, and my father
came in as a sympathzer and built the
furnace with heavy, fat stones. There
was ditch under it to take out the ashes.
We used two or three pieces of iron and
some stones that did not split with heat
for CRATE bars. This was the most diff
cult part of tho job Tho pit and furnace
completed, we divided work My father
volunteered and assumed the highest au-
thority. The laborer cut wood and pitched
1t down the incline handy to the furnace
I, with horse and cart, picked up stones
md timbled them into the pit, and fa-
cher placed them SO that they should get
tho heat equally, service learned to APP
preciate. 1t was n surprise to mo that q
hoc like that would hold so many stones
Tho furnace was very good job. The
start of the fire was slow for we did
not know but some of tho stones might
have so much water in them that they
would explode. The amount of smoke
and steam that assembled from tho kiln
WAS extraordinary. The looks of the thing
were that volcano had broken out in
tho woods. The furnace began to glow in
fow hours, and we rakod Goals with hoe
that had slim green hickory sapling for
o bandlo Then the pillar Of cloud ascend
ing from the kiln began to show bits of
fire, and the stones gradually became
roasted nearly to tho top layer The way
tho furnace ate logs was amazing The
stock of wood that seemed beyond reason
was dovoured, and we had to chop more
The first night was one of the longest that
remember The faint, white light of
dawn was most welcome / had been
tho latter part of the night alone and the
lur!d glare of the mouth of the furnace
among the trees and the rosy glow of the
nisAs of stones seen from above startled