alive. It was such a spirit as that which made the farms of New England a century ago blossom and bear fruit on every hillside and breed men who, while they held strong allegiance to the soil, were yet masters in the community and the strong men of the nation. They sent their sons out to the then new West, and it is their spirit which has made the West what it is today. Somehow we are losing that strength and spirit among the hills. of New England, have lost it in a great measure, and the problem before us is how shall we bring it back?

Northampton seems to have the opportunity to make an experiment in the right direction through the trust fund of "Uncle Oliver" Smith. Uncle Oliver lived in Hatfield a century and a half ago. He was a Yankee with all the thrift and shrewdness which the name implies. In a community where few men made more than a bare living he amassed a considerable fortune, a part of which he left in trust to be used, when it had accumulated a certain amount, for the foundation of a school for the indigent youth of the Connecticut valley, a school conducted upon peculiar ideas of his own which should not only teach its pupils to be good farmers, but should start them in life with a modest sum as capital.

This sum is is now ready and amounts to something over $300,000. It is turned over to Northampton to be used in founding the prescribed college. The trustees of the fund seem to be in some doubt as to the exact use which they will make of the bequest under the will. It is argued that the state already

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has an agricultural college at Amherst and that, while this does much to promote agriculture indirectly it does not as a rule send its graduates back to the farm. The farmers of the neighborhood seem slow to send their boys to Amherst. fact the institution is said to be desirous of getting the word "agriculture" out of its title. Only ten Franklin county youths are year taking work of any kind at the institution. The fact seems to be that the college does its work too well. It fits its students for positions which are outside the average work of the farm, and the men go to those positions, leaving the farm work to be done by men of less specialized education. There is talk of making some sort of trade school out of the Smith bequest.

But after all, was not Uncle Oliver wiser than his later critics, and would not a school such as he devised and left money for do just the work which he hoped it would? There seems to be a great opportunity for some school of this sort to idealize, not the finer scientific principles, but just plain farming. A school which would teach the young man how to rotate crops successfully and how to make a living while building up his farm, then give him money enough to take an opportunity near home and apply those plain principles to practical farming, would seem to fill a long felt want. There are plenty of scientific schools in New England now. There are enough colleges where the deeper technicalities are taught. These will not do it. They send the boys not to the farm but beyond it, into positions which keep them off the farm, rather than planting them

there to grow up in the good old sturdy New England life of a half century ago, the life which we should like to see more men living. The new Smith College would better be a college which teaches the plainer and simpler principles of agriculture, such as will send boys, unable to go farther, back to the farm rather than letting them grow up to storekeeping and factory life, as they do now. They are doing it in the West with grandsons of New England farmers. we should be able to do it here if we get hold of the right sort of boys and train them in the right way. Northampton has a splendid opportunity of this sort. If it can make the experiment a success it will

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carry out the idea which Uncle Oliver Smith had in mind when he made the bequest, and will do the finest thing for New England which any college has ever done. England farms are being taken up at present by immigrants. That is better, perhaps, than to have them grow up to wood lots, but it is not with the good old New England half so good as to re-people them stock, which is in a way to leave them for the factory or the shop. The finest men in the world have come out of the New England farmhouses in the past. It seems a pity to have the source of such a stock lost or turned over to the blood of an alien race.

The nearest house was a mile away; the nearest store, two miles. Calls and visits were as scarce as hidden gold, and recreation of any kind a thing unheard of. It was all the life that Jed Weed's wife had ever known, however, and she could not have told what else she wanted nor why she wanted it. She only knew that for a month at least, she had wished that "something would happen," and felt as if she should "jest stand still and scream" if it didn't!

Everything continued to drag along in the same dull routine, however, and Polly Maria grew so nervous and irritable that she was literally on the point of screaming when her Aunt Patience entered the kitchen one forenoon and sat down

in the old-fashioned rocker with an emphasis that belied her name.

"I declare, I'm 'bout tuckered out!" she gasped, with a rapid, checkedapron accompaniment. "You wish't suthin' would happen, Polly Maria, an' it has! Three of my best broilers hev' gone-what do yer think of that? I hunted all over the farm for 'em, an' what yer 'spose I found?"

"The chickens?" ventured her niece listlessly.

"Chickens! No-nor I don't expect to! I found that new cow, the humbly one, staggerin' round. broader'n she is long! She's eat 'bout all those cider apples, an' she's real intoxicated!"

Polly Maria, deep in the dishpan, showed but mild interest.

"An' that ain't all," continued the fretful voice. "The sheep broke through that weak spot in the fence

jest as I allus said they wouldan' I couldn't git 'em back in to save my life! Hed to drive 'em up to the mountain pasture!"

The tired eyes opened wide at last. "Good land, Aunt Patience!" she cried. "You never went clear up there? Why, it's more'n a mile. -over ploughed ground, too!"

"A mile! I s' think 'twas ten! I

never was so near winded in my life, though I stopped eight or ten times to empty the stones an' stuff outer my shoes. My feet feel so gritty that I bet I'll hev' to wash 'em!"

"Wal', you lay down an' rest now, Aunt," said her niece, falling back into her former lethargy. "I'll do the ironin' jest as soon as I get the dishes wiped an' the baby to sleep an' the cookin' done."

Aunt Patience looked around and sighed. "It's jest cause there ain't a man on the place to-day!" she exclaimed. "If Jeddy leaves for a minnit, every critter here gits possessed with an evil spirit! Wal', I'm so dead beat that I guess I shall hev' to git on the sofy for a spell. You call me when you git the baby off sound, an' we'll see if we can't git some of this work done 'fore noon!"

She settled herself heavily on the sofa and by the time the dishes were finished was fast asleep. Polly Maria moved noiselessly about tidying up the room and then sat down near the fire and sang softly to the restless child. The teakettle hummed cheerily and the audible. snores of Aunt Patience added bass notes to its song.

The baby, for a wonder, slept almost at once; but, loath to stir from the pleasant warmth, its tired mother lingered until she too dozed, slept and dreamed that some one was knocking. It was many weeks since such a thing had occurred, and Polly Maria, half waking, smiled at the mere thought; then suddenly the outside door was thrown wide open-and three three pairs of pairs of eyes opened with it. Aunt Patience stumbled to her feet and demanded the intruder's business in tones that were not remarkably pleasant. She

always felt cross when awakened. The baby, frightened at his mother's nervous clutch, screamed lustily.

"Hope I didn't disturb you, Madam?" asked the intruder apologetically, as he came forward, hat in hand, and deposited a small satchel on the floor. "I have here a little article that every one-positively every one-needs and wants, Madam. So in justice to yourself, I felt it my duty, when I received no response to my knocking, to open your door and hunt you up. Madam, allow me!" He deftly tucked a pair of side combs among the tumbled locks of the astonished

woman.

"Price only fifty cents, Madamthink of it! And for the young Madam," he cried, triumphantly rummaging his satchel, “I have something simply won-der-ful! Just the one thing she most requires! Here you are, Madam-a baby paci-. fier-and only twenty-five cents! Made of rubber and ivory, a rattle in the handle and a lunch in the middle. There! See! It has quieted him already!"

"It's real nice," began Polly Maria timidly, "but I'm afraid we-we can't afford to-"

"Be without it. Of course not!" interrupted the big voice chcerfully, turning back to Aunt Patience. "Why, Madam, Madam!" he cried in ecstacy. "How those fine combs do improve your appearance! wouldn't have believed it-you looked so extraordinarily nice before!"

Aunt Patience eyed him doubtfully. "I guess I'm too old for such fixin's. I guess I won't-"

"Let such a bargain go by!" interrupted the big voice again. "A wise decision, Madam, very wise!

Now, Madam, while you go after your money-let's see, fifty and twenty-five make seventy-five cents -I will go, with your permission, to that pail and quench my thirst. Ah, pail is empty! Shall I fill it for you, Madam? Always a pleasure to assist the ladies-particularly such ladies! Out this way through the woodshed? Ah, yes!"

The door banged behind him before Polly Maria or her Aunt could speak. They stared at each other in astonishment.

"Wal," said Aunt Patience finally, as faint squeaks of the pump handle. reached them, "his mouth may need water, but his tongue don't need no oil! I snummy, I never see sich a fast runnin' tongue, nor sich a thin man, in my life! The idea of tellin' me I looked-looked-"

"He makes me think of a boy I use' to go to school with!" broke in Polly Maria as she gazed at the completely pacified baby. "I wonder if it could be the same one growed up? They called this one. 'stuffed string.' He was awful, awful thin! He always et enough for three men, too, but he jest wouldn't flesh up any-”

"Tapeworm, probably," interrupted Aunt Patience, twisting and turning before the cracked glass over the sink in an effort to see the ornaments in her hair.

"I wish't we could buy that pacifier," said Polly Maria suddenly. "We never buy nothin'! Wouldn't it seem pretty good to hev' somethin' new for once?"

"Now, Polly Maria, you know we can't afford to spend a cent! I don't care anything 'bout gewgaws my self, but this fellar is sich a nicespoken chap, that I should kinder. like to help him out-that is, if we

could afford it," she added, meeting Polly Maria's eye.

"We might take seventy-five cents out of the hen money!” suggested that young woman eagerly, "and make it up by-good land, what's that?"

Both listened and then rushed to the woodshed door; for instead of the squeak of the pump, came a strange muffled cry.

"What's that pesky peddler doin'?" demanded Aunt Patience irritably.

"Sounds as if he was down the well!" cried Polly Maria, turning pale. The cry was repeated more clearly.

"Help! Help!"

"He is! He's fell down the well!" cried Aunt Patience, starting for the woodshed on the run. Polly Maria instinctively grabbed the baby and, unheeding his loud protest at being disturbed, deposited him and the pacifier in a room at the other end of the house. Locking the door with trembling fingers, she hurried back to the kitchenin time to see her worthy aunt dodge inside and bang and bolt the door just as something came against it with a thud that shook the house. 'Tain't the well!" she gasped. "It's Bartholomew-he's out! What shell we do, Polly Maria? Speak, can't yer! My sakes-I never see anything like the critters on this place they ain't half civilized! Polly Maria Weed, if I hadn't been quite so spry, that beast would have killed me dead-did yer know it? Can't yer speak?"

Her niece stood staring with almost a smile on her lips. Fright at the unexpectedness of the thing rendered her speechless-but something had happened at last-was