almost think it is an impromptu for my benefit."

"Not for yours," said she; "you do not want it. But now tell me a little
about your fanning seasons. Spring, I understand, must be a very busy
one; but when you have ploughed and planted, what have you to do but sit
down and wait?"

"My dear sister," said Howard, "you, who know so much better than I do
how to carry out your comparisons, can well understand that there is no
time given us for idleness; while we wait the result of one part of our
labors, we have other works to accomplish. Spring-time and harvest
follow each other rapidly; we have to prepare our barns and granaries.
Our mowing season is always one of our busiest. We have our anxieties,
too;--we watch the clouds as they pass over us, and our spirits depend
much on sunshine and rain; for an unexpected shower may destroy all our
labors. When the grass is cut, we must make it into hay; and, when it is
properly prepared, store it in the barns. After haying-time, there are
usually roads, fences, and stone walls to repair, apples to gather in,
and butter to pack down. Though autumn has come, and the harvest is
gathered in, you must not suppose our ploughing is over. We turn up the
ground, and leave it rough, as a preparation for the spring. A good
farmer never allows the winter to take him by surprise. The cellars are
to be banked up, the barns to be tightened, the cattle looked to,--the
apples carefully barrelled, and the produce sent to market. We have long
evenings for assorting our seeds, and for fireside enjoyment. Winter is
the season for adjusting the accounts of the past year, and finding out
whether we are thriving farmers. Depend upon it, we have no idle time."

"How curiously we may follow out the cultivation of the earth with the
striking analogy it bears to the human mind," said Mrs. Draper, "in
sowing the seeds, in carefully plucking up the weeds without disturbing
what ought to be preserved, in doing all we can by our own labors, and
trusting to Heaven for a blessing on our endeavors! A reflecting farmer
must be a wise man."

"I am afraid," said Howard, "there are not many wise men amongst us,
according to your estimation. In all employments we find hurry and
engrossment; we do not stop to reason and meditate; many good
agricultural men are as destitute of moral reflection as the soil they
cultivate."

"At least," said Mrs. Draper, "they have not the same temptation to
become ab