there an opening might be seen, where, as the white
covering yielded to the season, the bright and lively green of the wheat served
to enkindle the hopes of the husbandman. Nothing could be more marked, than the
contrast between the earth and the heavens; for, while the former presented the
dreary view that we have described, a warm and invigorating sun was dispensing
his heats, from a sky that contained but a solitary cloud, and through an
atmosphere, that softened the colours of the sensible horizon, until it shone
like a sea of blue.
    Richard led the way, on this, as on all other occasions, that did not
require the exercise of unusual abilities; and as he moved along, he essayed to
enliven the party with the sounds of his experienced voice.
    »This is your true sugar weather, 'duke,« he cried; »a frosty night, and a
sunshiny day. I warrant me that the sap runs like a mill-tail up the maples,
this warm morning. It is a pity, Judge, that you do not introduce a little more
science into the manufacture of sugar, among your tenants. It might be done,
sir, without knowing as much as Dr. Franklin - it might be done, Judge Temple.«
    »The first object of my solicitude, friend Jones,« returned Marmaduke, »is
to protect the sources of this great mine of comfort and wealth, from the
extravagance of the people themselves. When this important point shall be
achieved, it will be in season to turn our attention to an improvement in the
manufacture of the article. But thou knowest, Richard, that I have already
subjected our sugar to the process of the refiner, and that the result has
produced loaves as white as the snow on yon fields, and possessing the
saccharine quality in its utmost purity.«
    »Saccharine, or turpentine, or any other -ine, Judge Temple, you have never
made a loaf larger than a good sized sugar-plum,« returned the Sheriff. »Now,
sir, I assert, that no experiment is fairly tried, until it be reduced to
practical purposes. If, sir, I owned a hundred, or, for that matter, two hundred
thousand acres of land, as you do, I would build a sugar-house in the village; I
would invite learned men to an investigation of the subject, - and such are
easily to be found, sir; yes, sir, they are not difficult to find, - men who
unite theory with practice; and I would