THE HIGHWAY COW.
The hue of her hide was dusky brown,
Her body was lean and her neck was slim,
One horn turned up and the other down,
She was keen of vision and long of limb;
With a Roman nose and a short stump tail,
And ribs like the hoops on a home-made pail.
Many a mark did her body bear;
She had been a target for all things known ;
On many a scar the dusky hair
Would grow no more where it once had
grown ;
Many a passionate, parting shot
Had left upon her a lasting spot.
Many and many a well-aimed stone,
Many a brickbat of goodly size,
And many a cudgel, swiftly thrown,
Had brought the tears to her bovine eyes;
Or had bounded off from her bony back,
With a noise like the sound of a rifle crack.
Many a day had she passed in the pound,
For helping herself to her neighbor's corn ;
Many a cowardly cur and hound
Had been anfigured on her crumpled horn ;
Many a teapot and old tin pail
Had ge farmer boys tied to her time-worn
ail.
Old Deacon Gray was a pious man,
Though sometimes tempted to be profane,
When many a weary mile he ran
To drive her out of his growing grain.
Sharp were the pranks she used to play
To get her fill and to get away.
She knew when the Deacon went to town ;
She wisely watched him when he went by;
He never passed her without a frown
And an evil gleam in each angry eye;
He would crack his whip in a surly way,
And drive along in his “one-hoss shay.”
Then at his homestead she loved to call,
Lifting his bars with grumbled horn;
Nimbly scaling his garden wall,
Helping herself to his standing corn;
Eating his cabbages, one by one,
Hurrying home when her work was done.
Often the Deacon homeward came,
Himming a hymn from the house of prayer,
His hopeful heart in a tranquil frame,
His soul as calm as the even air;
His forehead smooth as a well-worn plow,
To find in his garden that highway cow.
His human passions were quick to rise,
And striding forth with a savage cry,
With fury blazing from both his eyes,
As lightnings flash in a summer sky.
Redder and redder his face would grow,
And after the creature he would go.
Over the garden, round and round,
Bpauking his pear and apple trees;
Tramping his melons into the ground,
Overturning his hives of bees;
Leaving him angry and badly stung,
Wishing the old cow's neck was wrung.
The mosses grew on the garden wall ;
The years went By with their work and play;
The boys of the vil age grew strong and tall,
And the grey-haired farmers pagsed away ;
One by one as the red leaves fail;
But the highway cow outlived them all.
All earthly creatures must have their day,
And some must have their months and years
Some in dying will long delay ;
There is a climax to all careers;
And the highway cow at last was slain
In running a race with a railway train.
All into Planes at once she went,
Just like the savings banks when they fall ;
Out of the world she was swiftly sent;
Little was left but her old stump tail.
The farmers’ cornfields and gardens now
Are haunted no more by the highway cow.
EvGENE J. Hays.
—Cal. Agriculturist.
FANCY FARMERS.
No class of men have been ridiculed
80 much, and there are none that have
done so much good, as those who are
denominated fancy farmers. They
have been, in all times and countries,
the benefactors of the men who have
treated them with derision. They have
been to farmers what inventors have
been to manufacturers. They have
experimented for the good of the world,
while others have simply worked for
their own good. They have tested
theories while others have raised crops
for market. They have given a digni-
ty and glory to the occupation of farm-
ing it never had before.
Fancy farmers have changed the
wild boar into the Suffolk and the
Berkshire ; the wild bull of Britain
into the short-horn; the mountain
sheep with its lean body and hair
fleece, into the Southdown and the Me-
rino. They brought up the milk of
cows from pints to gallons. The
have lengthened the surloin of the bul-
lock, deepened the udder of the cow,
enlarged the ham of the hag, given
strength to the shoulder of the ox,
WASTES ON THE FARM.
The greatest of wastes on the farm,
is in the not using of our brains; the
greatest, because at the bottom of all
the other wastes. A little thinking of:
ten saves much labor. After accom-
plishing almost any piece of work, the
most of us can look back, and see how
we could have improved on it, if we
had but thought. As we review our
crops this year, we see how they could
have been easily increased, had we
but thought. The ditch we dug
through our meadow, was not done in
the most economical way. We dug
too deeply at first and did not allow for
the settling of the land. Hence a
waste of labor. We omitted buying
an implement that would have saved
nearly its cost in this one year's use,
until we had spent much in trying to
accomplish our work without it, Here
was another waste. We carry a water
pipe near to the surface, to save the
expense of digging a trench of safe
depth, and the winter's frost neces:i-
tates a replacement of the pipe, and an
additional digging. Certainly, a waste
here. We allowed the weeds to grow
on one peice of land, not thinking to
what proportions they would grow by
the time the crops were too far advanc-
ed to admit the hoe. A waste here,
which might have been obviated. And
so on, wastes, little and big every-
where, all arising from our not think-
ing sufficiently—waste, because not
necessary and easily obviated. We
omit the ordinary wastes from neglect,
from laziness, from want of’ apprecia-
tion of cleanliness and thoroughness,
the wastes from our stock, from our
manure heap, from our household.
Verily a little thought will save to the
farmer much, and the saving, through
this means, even on a small farm, will
represent the interest of a considerable
capital. The wastes arising from ig-
norance can very readily be diminished
and are in large, part inexcusable ;
those arising from carelessness, are not
deserving of aifhy The farmer,
as well as the business man, must use
business principles, to secure the larg-
est success, and the one should be as
careful of the outgoes as the other.—
Scientific Farmer. id
THE FIRST GRAPE-VINE.
When Bacchus was a boy, he jour-
neyed through Hellas, to go to Naxia ;
and as the way was very long, he grew
tired, and sat down upon a stone to
rest. As he sat there with his eyes
upon the ground, he saw a little plant
springing up between his feet, and was
so much pleased with it that he deter-
mined to take it with him and plant it
in Naxia. He took it up and carried
it away with him ; but as the sun was
very hot, he feared it might wither be-
fore he reached his destination. He
found a bird’s skeleton, into which he
thrust the plant, and went on. But in
his hand the plant sprouted so fast that
it started out of the bones above and
below. This gave him fear of its
withering, and he cast about for a rem-
edy. He found a lion's bone, which
was thicker than the bird's skeleton,
and stuck the skeleton, with the plant
in it, into the bone of the lion. Ere
the lion’s bone likewise. Then he
found the bone of ass, larger still than
that of the lion ; so he put the lion's
bone, containing the bird's skeleton
and the plant, into the ass’s bone, and
thus made his way to Naxia. When
about to set the plant, he found that
the roots had. entwined themselves
around the bird's skeleton, and the
lion’s bone, and the ass’s bone; and as
he could not take it out without dama-
ging the roots, he planted it as it was,
and it came speedily, and bore to his
great joy, the most delicious grapes,
from which he made the first wine,
and gave it to men to drink. But be-
rendered finer the wool of the sheep,
added fleetness to the speed of the
horse, and made beautiful every ani-
mal that is kept in the service of man.
They have improved and hastened the
developement of all domestic animals,
till they hardly resemble the creatures
from which they sprang.
YoU Ark requested to bring the best
hold a miracle! When men drank of
it, they first sang like birds ; next, af-
ter drinking a little more, they became
vigorous and gallant like lions; but
when they drank more still, they be-
an to behave like asses.—New York
ine and Fruit Réporter.
Don’t fail to see Miss Ihling in her
beautiful balloon on Wednesday next
of everything you have to the Fair,
at the Fair.
long, however, the plant grew out of
Special Inducements
CASH BUYHRERS!
All grades of
DRY GOODS, DOMESTIC AND FANCY,
AT THE VERY BOTTOM PRICES !
MENS’ YOUTHS AND BOYS
CLOTHING!
at prices based on the recent great declines.
I SNA,
MENS’ AND BOYS
BOOT'S "koi oxi borrax a atk ve
LADIEY MISSES’ AND CHILDRENS SHOES
in great variety—at astonishingly low prices.
OUR GREAT ASSORTMENT OF FALL STOCK FOR
THIS SEASON JUST RECEIVED
EXAMINE BEFORE BUYING ELSEWHERE,
S. & A. LOEB,
BELLEFONTE, PA.