ht my potatoes and turnips like any other man; for, between
all the various systems of gardening pursued, I was obliged to confess
that my first horticultural effort was a decided failure. But though
all my rural visions had proved illusive, there were some very
substantial realities. My bill at the seed store, for seeds, roots,
and tools, for example, had run up to an amount that was perfectly
unaccountable; then there were various smaller items, such as
horseshoeing, carriage mending--for he who lives in the country and
does business in the city must keep his vehicle and appurtenances. I
had always prided myself on being an exact man, and settling every
account, great and small, with the going out of the old year; but this
season I found myself sorely put to it. In fact, had not I received a
timely lift from my good old uncle, I should have made a complete
break down. The old gentleman's troublesome habit of ciphering and
calculating, it seems, had led him beforehand to foresee that I was
not exactly in the money-making line, nor likely to possess much
surplus revenue to meet the note which I had given for my place; and,
therefore, he quietly paid it himself, as I discovered, when, after
much anxiety and some sleepless nights, I went to the holder to ask
for an extension of credit.

"He was right, after all," said I to my wife; "'to live cheap in the
country, a body must know how.'"

TRIALS OF A HOUSEKEEPER

I have a detail of very homely grievances to present; but such as they
are, many a heart will feel them to be heavy--the trials of a
housekeeper.

"Poh!" says one of the lords of creation, taking his cigar out of his
mouth, and twirling it between his two first fingers, "what a fuss
these women do make of this simple matter of managing a family! I
can't see for my life as there is anything so extraordinary to be done
in this matter of housekeeping: only three meals a day to be got and
cleared off--and it really seems to take up the whole of their mind
from morning till night. _I_ could keep house without so much of a
flurry, I know."

Now, prithee, good brother, listen to my story, and see how much you
know about it. I came to this enlightened West about a year since, and
was duly established in a comfortable country residence within a mile
and a half of the city, and there commenced the enjoyment of domestic
felicity. I had been married about three months, and had been,
previously _in love_ in the