E-text prepared by Al Haines SUMMERFIELD; or Life on a Farm by DAY KELLOGG LEE "When now the cock, the ploughman's horn, Calls forth the lily-wristed morn, Then to thy cornfields thou dost go, Which, though well-soil'd, yet thou dost know That the best compost for the lands Is the wise master's feet and hands." --HERRICK Second Thousand. Auburn: Derby and Miller. 1852. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1851, by Day K. Lee, In the Clerk's Office for the Southern District of New York. TO MY VENERATED FATHER; A PIONEER OF THE LAKE COUNTRY; WHO SOWED TRUTH AND GOODNESS IN THE SPRING-TIME, AND REAPS PEACE AND HONOR IN THE AUTUMN OF HIS LIFE; THIS VOLUME IS WITH LOVE INSCRIBED. INTRODUCTION. BY THE AUTHOR OF "GOLDEN STEPS," &c. Works of fiction are to be approved when they subserve the interests of morality and religion. The Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments--the ancient classics--the most distinguished productions of modern ages--afford striking illustrations of the beautiful and instructive lessons of virtue and piety, which may be conveyed in fabulous narration. The Parables of the Saviour; Milton's Paradise Lost; Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, are samples of salutary and saving truth exhibited in stories of the imagination. I have made myself familiar with the contents of the following tale, from the manuscript copy. The aim of the author is of the highest description. He endeavors to instil into the minds of his readers a lesson of the utmost practical importance, intimately connected with the experience of every-day life. He would instruct them of the wisdom of being contented with a useful and productive occupation, which is honorable in its character, healthful in its nature, and conducive to the welfare of society, rather than to aspire to callings, not so laborious perhaps, yet more deceptive and uncertain in substantial remuneration, and far less calculated to promote public good.