Year: 1864

me to in the way of guano, new-fangled
garden tools, and patent watering appara-
tus; for I had fully expected to spend
mOney-and thanks to our previous econ
omy, we had money to spend; but Aleck,
it was really amusing to see what the fruit
and vegetables raised in our garden stood
Us in. Making use of the little arithme-
tic I was master Of recollect that 1 ciph-
cred up the cost of some of the taxable
fixings, and the result was cucumbers,
seventeen cents apiece; green peas, a dol
lar and three quarters for half peck;
beets, fourteen cents each, and every thing
else in proportion. All this I cared MOTH
ing about, but somehow, felt out of my
gearing in not having the right kind of
employment. Wife did her best to coax
me into gentlemanly ways; had all the
old mechanical CRIME scrubbed out of my
hands -fngernails cleaned and rounded,
so as to appear that l had never done man.
ual labor. a't2f~4. Af "#.,@ -
! Then we must get behind a couple of
Morgan ponies which / had purchased, and
make fashionable calls in the day time, on
those who had called on us and my wife
wanted me to soften down my voice, and
to be particular about my grammar, and
the subject !. talked on; but, forgetting
myself, I would revel in the memory of
the locks and keys had handled in my
happier days, and commenced a history
Of my exploits in that line, when wife
would look as though she were going to
sink through the floor. In fact she want
ed to keep a perpetual lock, on my lips,
and the key in her pocket, But l sighed
for the shop, and time hung SO heavily
on my hands that an hour spent in stupid
listlessness about the house seemed long
er than it did when had orders ahead for
locks, and was driving hard to get them
finished at a given time. My youngest
brother, who is college-bred man! and a
lawyer, sent me, at my request, . fine col
lection of books on all imaginable eubjects
so that my library outshone that of any
person, or indeed that of any man in the
place; but found l had no more taste to
sit down end read them than l had for
trimming sArrant> bushes. u, -'-'-rNl: q


>" Time Was, after had finished a hard
days labor at the shop, when an hour at
books was a real soIace, and 1 also believed
an occasion of Improvement. Then | en-
We'd those whose leisure allowed them to
feast on books perpetually; but the mistake
made was in f ling to discriminate be-
tween the mental habits and req uirements
of the professional student and those of
the working man.


In this manner did time at my country
seat, drag heavily along. Visiting was a
perfect bore, for not feeling the slightest
interest in such masculine topics as corn,
grubs and manure, and caring less for the
feminine ones of dress and local gossip, l
didn't know what to be about. Books set
me to sleep, and not having the society of
my two boys, who were at boarding school,
/ became fully satisfied that, nothing to do
was equal to having everything to suffer.


"My most delightful place of resort was
blacksmith's shop some two miles from
the house, where occasionally would han
die the hammer, and claDg little on the
anvil; but wife making the discovery one
day that my hands were getting grimy
again, was obliged to own the cause of
and this, to my sorrow, was succeeded by a
positive prohibition on her part from taking
any more exercise at the forge. After this,
when l would sometimes ride past the shop
behind my Morgan horses, the tears would
start in my eyes at my being debarred the
only employment which was in the least
adapted to my taste or capacity.


But, Cousin Aleck, to shorten my sto.
ry, wife perceiving that my unhappiness
was increasing, at last conserted to move
back to town, and let me resume my bu-
siness. Ihad no difficulty in renewing my
engagement with my old partner, and
hence you see me hard at work, and hap
pier than the President. l am perfectly
able to live without work, but have learned
two important truths-first that we new
er enjoy ourselves so we'll as when we are
usefully employed and second, that there
is no occupation, on the whole, for which
we are SO well fitted as that to which we
have long been accustomed, and which
has hence become to US, as it were, second
nature"


was much pleased with the good sense
OF my wlfes cousin, as evidenced in the
small section of his autobiography which
ne had given me, and very soon after we
finished it We reached his dwelling. If his
shop was dingy, there was no dinginess
here. The editice was built in Philadel-
phia style, having a large dining room
back OF two parlors, and a noble kitchen
in the rear of the dining room. The whole
floor as well as the airy and pleasant
rooms above stairs, were probably adorned
with better description of furniture than
was owned by the Governor of Pennsvl-
vania. Everything was in perfect order.
and although the locksmith's wife was q
little uppish in her notions, I soon per
ceived that she was capital housekeeper.
ard that my friend was proud of his
house, and proud of his wife, and proud
of his two sons, who had come from
boarding school to spend the vacation. l
found that these lads we're both intended