The sober down-hill of life dispels many illusions, while it develops or strengthens within us the attachment, perhaps long smothered or overlaid, for ' that dear hut, our home.' And so I, in the sober afternoon of life, when its sun, if not high, is still warm, have bought a few acres of land in the broad, still country, and, bearing thither my household treasures, have resolved to steal from the city's labors and anxieties at least one day in each week, wherein to revive as a farmer the memories of my childhood's humble home. And already I realize that the experiment can not cost so much as it is worth. Already I find in that day's quiet an antidote and a solace for the feverish, festering cares of the weeks which environ it. Already my brook murmurs a soothing even-song to my burning, throbbing brain; and my trees, gently stirred by the fresh breezes, whisper to my spirit something of their own quiet strength and patient trust in God. And thus do I faintly realize, though but for a brief and vocawhich shall irradiate the farmer's flitting day, the sereneandjoy truer education shall have refined and tion, when a fuller chastened his animal cravings, and when science shall have endowed 1 Scharf,

ii.. 515.

HISTORY

WESTCHESTER

COUNTY

him with her treasures, redeeming labor from drudgery while quadrupling its efficiency, and crowning with beauty and plenty our bounteous, beneficent Earth." Mr. Greeley was accustomed to come up to Chappaqua Saturday morning, returning to the city Sunday morning. He converted the place into a model farm, and his celebrated book, kt What I Know About Farming," was the result of his experiences in developing his Chappaqua land. " It was his custom," says Barrett, in his History of the Town of New Castle, "always to vote, both at general and local elections, and it was usual for him to spend the whole day at the polls when the election was important, discussing public questions with those who would gather about him for that purpose." He retired to his farm toward the close of the presidential canvass, and there, worn out by his exertions and sorely afflicted by the fatal illness of his wife, received the news of his crushing defeat. lie died on the 29th of November, 1872, at the residence of Dr.