James Brown was born at a farmhouse. He had not seen a town or a city
when he was ten years old.
James Brown rose from his bed at six in the morning during summer. The
men and maids of a farmhouse rise much sooner than that hour, and go to
their daily work. Some yoke the oxen to the plough, some bring the
horses in from the field, some mend the hedges, some manure the land,
some sow seed in the ground, and some plant young trees. Those who have
the care of the sheep, and who are called shepherds, take their flocks
from the fold and lead them to their pasture on the hills, or in the
green meadows by the running brook. The maids meanwhile haste to milk
the cows, then churn the butter, put the cheese into the cheese-press,
clean their dairy, and feed the pigs, geese, turkeys, ducks, and
chickens. James Brown did not work in the fields, so when he rose from
his bed, his first care was to wash his face and hands, to comb and
brush his hair; and when these things were done, and he had said his
morning prayers, he went with his father about the farm or weeded the
garden. Garden work was very proper for a boy of his age and size.
James Brown had a cousin, named Thomas, and Thomas Brown once came to
pay James a visit. The two boys were very glad to see each other, and
Thomas told James of the famous city of London, where he lived. He spoke
of the spacious paved streets, crowded all day by throngs of people, and
lighted at night by rows, on each side of the way, of glass lamps. He
told him of the fine toy-shops, where all kinds of playthings for
children are sold: such as bats, balls, kites, marbles, tops, drums,
trumpets, whips, wheelbarrows, shuttles, dolls, and baby-houses. And of
other great shops where linens, muslins, silks, laces, and ribbons fill
the windows, and make quite a gay picture to attract the passers-by. He
described also the noble buildings and the great river Thames, with its
fine arched bridges, built of stone. He spoke or the immense number of
boats, barges, and vessels that sail and row upon the Thames, and of the
great ships that lie at anchor there, which bring stores of goods from
all parts of the world. He told him of the King's palace and the Queen's
palace, of the park and the canal, with the stately swans that are seen
swimming on it.
Nor did he forget to describe Saint Paul's Church, with its fine choir,
its lofty dome and cupola, and its curious whispering gallery, where a
whisper breathed to the wall on one side is carried round by the echo,
and the words are heard distinctly on the opposite side of the gallery.
He spoke also of Westminster Abbey, that fine old Gothic building which
contains a great number of monuments, erected there to keep alive the
remembrance of the actions of great and wise men.
He told James likewise of the Tower of London, which is always guarded
by soldiers, and in one part of which he had seen lions, tigers, a wolf,
a spotted panther, a white Greenland bear, and other wild beasts, with
many sorts of monkeys.[4]
Thomas Brown talked very fast on these subjects, and as James, who had
never seen anything of the kind, was quite silent, and seemed as much
surprised as pleased with all that he heard, Thomas began to think his
cousin was but a dull, stupid sort of boy. But the next morning, when
they went out into the fields, he found that James had as much
knowledge as himself, though not of the same kind. Thomas knew not wheat
from barley, nor oats from rye; nor did he know the oak tree from the
elm, nor the ash from the willow. He had heard that bread was made from
corn, but he had never seen it threshed in a barn from the stalks, nor
had he ever seen a mill grinding it into flour. He knew nothing of the
manner of making and baking bread, of brewing malt and hops into beer,
or of the churning of butter. Nor did he even know that the skins of
cows, calves, bulls, horses, sheep, and goats were made into leather.
James Brown perfectly knew these, and many other things of the same
nature, and he willingly taught his cousin to understand some of the
arts that belong to the practice of husbandry.
These friendly and observing boys, after this time, met always once a
year, and they were eager in their separate stations to acquire
knowledge, that they might impart it to each other at the end of the
twelvemonth. So that Thomas, while living in a crowded city, gained a
knowledge of farming and all that relates to a country life; and James,
though dwelling a hundred miles from London, knew all the curious things
that it contained.
[4] These, it is sad to say, have now gone. Beyond a venerable raven,
the Tower has no live stock. To-day Thomas would describe the Zoo
instead.