54 THE HUSKING. A TEMPERANCE STORY. THE HUSKING. In many parts of New England the farmers pick their corn in the field, without husking it; and carry it into the barn, or sometimes into the house, to husk it the ensuing evening. It is very common on these occasions, to call together the neighbors, and form a party. This is called a "husking." Boys are generally very fond of these huskings; and when I was a boy no one liked them better than I. When the corn was all stripped, we used to play a little while in the husks; and this was fine sport, I assure you. One Monday afternoon, word came to my father that Mr. A. would have a husking in the evening, requesting him to attend. The invitation to the father of course included the son; so I at once considered myself as belonging to the party, and began to be impatient for the hour. But we sometimes lose an object, by our folly, after we seem to have it almost within our grasp. The neighbors were laboring at a mill dam that afternoon, and my father among the rest. I was present and half a dozen boys besides ine; some older, some younger. It was customary, in those days, for laborers to drink brandy in cold weather. The afternoon was cold, and accordingly they had their jug of brandy. It stood under an old building, a little out of sight of the laborers. "Come here," said Anson, a boy older than myself; "Come in here." So I yielded to his solicitation, and went in, with several others. "We boys need a little grog," said he, 66 as well as the old men; and now let us take our share. They won't see us." At first I hesitated; but the rest of the boys 356 drank, and so I drank too; for who would not be and do like others? But alas! I dipped a little too deep. Soon the fumes of the poisonous alcohol which forms half of the brandy, began to rise and affect my brain. What now was to be done? As soon as I could get my father's permission, I steered for home.-Though a little giddy, I arrived safe; and ate my supper. My mother saw that sometning was the matter, and perhaps guessed the cause. I had no sooner swallowed my bread and milk, than she advised me to go to bed. I was glad to follow her advice, and to bed I went. In the morning I awoke, with a thirsty mouth, a heavy body, and an aching head. And this was not all. I had scarcely put on my clothes when a painful thought rushed into my mind.-A clap of thunder could not have affected me more; I had forgot the husking! The loss of the "husking" made such an impression on my mind, that together with the shame which I felt on account of the drinking, I could not at once get over it. For years afterward, and even to this day, I recur to the subject with pain. But I forgot no more huskings. Alas! how many things more important than "huskings" have been forgotten or lost by means of ardent spirits! How many have lost their money,-how many their reputation,-how many their health, how many their lives!-above all, how many have, in this way, caused the destruction of their own souls! Reader, if you are still safe, keep so. If you have taken one wrong step, beware! and take not another. You have lost much already, but you may lose more at the next movement: you may lose your all! W 357 WILD BILL.-MEETING OF THE SHIPS. STORY OF WILD BILL. In the summer of 1808, a naked boy apparently about nine years old, was discovered among a herd of wild hogs, near where Pinckneyville now stands, in the state of Mississippi. The hogs, it was found, considered him as one of their number and ate and slept with him; and when the Mississippi people, anxious to take him, set their dogs after him, his swinish friends formed a kind of circle round him to protect him from their attacks. After he was taken and secured, it was with very great difficulty that they could persuade him to wear any clothes. He appeared almost like an idiot; his language could hardly be understood, and he was for some time almost untameable. However, he finally learned to behave very well, and to converse intelligibly. For one or two years, he lived in the family of Mr. Benjamin Rollins, of Woodville. He was fond of wild fruits, especially the persimmon; but more fond of frequenting the ponds, and catching frogs, and eating them raw. He could run or swin with equal ease, and most with equal rapidity. al 55 Of his history previous to the time of his being taken, nothing is certainly known. All that we know is related by himself; and we have already said that he could not always be depended upon. It is true that he al ways told his story in the same manner, which is much in its favor. He stated that he had a faint recollection of coming down the Mississippi river with his father's family, in a boat; that his father killed his mother; and that he fled, in terror into the swamps, expecting that his father would kill him too; and that from that time he had subsisted on frogs, animals, and berries, living in warm weather among the canes, and in cold weather in the hollows of trees. Wild Bill always had a weak, uncultivat ed mind. Whether any attempts were ever made to instruct him at school, does not appear. Nor do we know what became of him. He was alive and residing in Mississippi, in 1825, and we have no certain evidence of his death since that time. If he is now alive, be must be about 35 years of age. The foregoing story is abridged from the New York Knickerbocker, and the Western Shield ; and is supposed by many to be substantially true. MEETING OF THE SHIPS. BY MRS. HEMANS. 'We take each other by the hand, and we exchange a few words and looks of kindness, and we rejoice together for a few short moments, and then days, me years intervene-and we see and know nothing of - 5 other."-Washington Irving. Two barks met on the deep mild sea, raising this important grain that feeds half the world, and of preparing it for use; but it would lead me too far from my story. My young reader must be contented, if he can, with the foregoing picture of the plant and with that on this page; which is also a picture of rice, while growing, with rice birds among it. These rice birds attack the grain while it is yet milky, and almost destroy it. The best rice land will produce about 2400 pounds to the acre; but the average for the tide plantations, as they are called, is 1200, to 1500. For the inland plantations, it is 600 to 1200. There are five kinds of rice; the white, gold Guinea, bearded, short grained, and highland rice. This vegetable was introduced into Carolina 140 years ago, from Madagascar, by Gov. Thomas Smith. One of the greatest curiosities in all Carolina, is the immense fields of cotton. A large field, just ripe enough for picking, that is when the pods are burst open, is a beautiful sight. Before we reached Columbia we saw fields containing several hundred acres ; and the slaves were collecting it. The weather was chilly, and they had fires in the old stumps, which were smoking like so many chimneys, and the slaves were shivering round them. The colored people can not bear the cold so well as the whites. There are three kinds of cotton, the blackseed or sea island, the green seed, or upland, and the nankeen cotton. The first kind is the best, but is not very much raised except along the sea shore, among the islands and near the rivers. The plant is much taller than the other kinds, and the price of the 58 OISTER TRAYS. 360 discovery. Before, they had to pick it by the hand, which was very slow and tedious. The upland cotton is picked nearly in the Of the nankeen cotton there is not much raised. I never saw any of it growing, and therefore cannot describe it. RICHARD ROVER The fable of the rat whose head was caught in the oyster, is not so wide a departure from truth as many suppose. A late Norfolk Herald says that a full sized duck not long since drifted ashore near Old cotton itself is nearly twice as high as that Point, in that neighborhood, with its bill enof the upland. The green seed or upland cotton is raised in great abundance. It is planted in rows, and hoed several times. It grows to the height of two or three feet, and has leaves of a bright green color, marked with brownish veins, and each divided into five lobes. The flowers are of a pale yellow color with five red spots at the bottom. The pods are rather triangular in shape, and have each three cells. These, when ripe, burst open, and show their contents, in the midst of which are the seeds somewhat resembling grape seeds, only much larger. When the cotton is collected, it is picked in a mill, turned by horses or mules. The process of cleaning the sea island sort, consists in tearing the cotton to pieces and blowing or brushing away the cotton, while seeds fall below and are piled away for sure. This method of picking it was ited by Mr. Eli Whitney of New Ron in Connecticut, and is a valuable closed between the shells of an oyster. It is supposed that the duck had dived to the bottom and thrust his bill into the opened shell of the oyster, upon which the latter, not relishing such an attack, closed the doors of his "house" so suddenly that the duck could not disengage his bill;-and that his head was thus kept under water till he was drowned. Racoons are also very fond of oysters; and taking advantage of a moonlight night to prowl along the sea shore in search of their favorite prey, which they often find with their mouths open, they often put in their paw and are taken prisoners. It is said that they sometimes use the precaution to drop a pebble between the shells before they venture their paw; but this is not so well proved. We, ourselves, have seen a huge rat brought out of a cellar, with his tail caught between the shells of an oyster; into which it had fallen no doubt, by accident. |