Cousin James and Cousin Thomas
James Brown was born at a farmhouse. He had not seen a town or a citywhen he was ten years old.
James Brown rose from his bed at six in the morning during summer. Themen and maids of a farmhouse rise much sooner than that hour, and go totheir daily work. Some yoke the oxen to the plough, some bring thehorses 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 havethe care of the sheep, and who are called shepherds, take their flocksfrom the fold and lead them to their pasture on the hills, or in thegreen meadows by the running brook. The maids meanwhile haste to milkthe cows, then churn the butter, put the cheese into the cheese-press,clean their dairy, and feed the pigs, geese, turkeys, ducks, andchickens. James Brown did not work in the fields, so when he rose fromhis bed, his first care was to wash his face and hands, to comb andbrush his hair; and when these things were done, and he had said hismorning prayers, he went with his father about the farm or weeded thegarden. 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 topay James a visit. The two boys were very glad to see each other, andThomas told James of the famous city of London, where he lived. He spokeof the spacious paved streets, crowded all day by throngs of people, andlighted at night by rows, on each side of the way, of glass lamps. Hetold him of the fine toy-shops, where all kinds of playthings forchildren are sold: such as bats, balls, kites, marbles, tops, drums,trumpets, whips, wheelbarrows, shuttles, dolls, and baby-houses. And ofother great shops where linens, muslins, silks, laces, and ribbons fillthe windows, and make quite a gay picture to attract the passers-by. Hedescribed also the noble buildings and the great river Thames, with itsfine arched bridges, built of stone. He spoke or the immense number ofboats, barges, and vessels that sail and row upon the Thames, and of thegreat ships that lie at anchor there, which bring stores of goods fromall parts of the world. He told him of the King's palace and the Queen'spalace, of the park and the canal, with the stately swans that are seenswimming 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 awhisper 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 whichcontains a great number of monuments, erected there to keep alive theremembrance of the actions of great and wise men.
He told James likewise of the Tower of London, which is always guardedby 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, withmany sorts of monkeys.[4]
Thomas Brown talked very fast on these subjects, and as James, who hadnever seen anything of the kind, was quite silent, and seemed as muchsurprised as pleased with all that he heard, Thomas began to think hiscousin was but a dull, stupid sort of boy. But the next morning, whenthey went out into the fields, he found that James had as muchknowledge as himself, though not of the same kind. Thomas knew not wheatfrom barley, nor oats from rye; nor did he know the oak tree from theelm, nor the ash from the willow. He had heard that bread was made fromcorn, but he had never seen it threshed in a barn from the stalks, norhad he ever seen a mill grinding it into flour. He knew nothing of themanner 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 ofcows, calves, bulls, horses, sheep, and goats were made into leather.
James Brown perfectly knew these, and many other things of the samenature, and he willingly taught his cousin to understand some of thearts that belong to the practice of husbandry.
These friendly and observing boys, after this time, met always once ayear, and they were eager in their separate stations to acquireknowledge, that they might impart it to each other at the end of thetwelvemonth. So that Thomas, while living in a crowded city, gained aknowledge of farming and all that relates to a country life; and James,though dwelling a hundred miles from London, knew all the curious thingsthat 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 Zooinstead.