BACK TO GOVERNMENT SERVICE 181 



service ; a man must be a graduate of a three-year 

 veterinary school and must pass the Civil Service 

 examination in all veterinary subjects so that he 

 may be shipped into the tick country to supervise 

 the digging and plastering of dipping vats. 

 Aside from watching one or two dipping opera- 

 tions and the cooking up of a few batches of dip- 

 ping fluid, I did nothing but "supervise" vat 

 building. 



When I had been on the job about two weeks, 

 I was transferred to Liberty, Miss., which is near 

 the Louisiana line. Here I was to take up the 

 work of tick eradication with the county board 

 and to work out a plan of advance work. Before 

 I could get my bearings, I was again transferred, 

 this time to Quitman, Miss., near the Alabama 

 line. 



In this latter district the tick eradication cam- 

 paign was meeting with considerable opposition 

 from the farmers and stock raisers; a few vats 

 had been blown up with dynamite and the 

 inspector threatened. 



It may be that my superior officers figured 

 that, in view of my early experiences with 

 "rough-necks" in Texas, I should be just the 

 man for this job. Well, maybe so; but, nine or 

 ten years had passed since I last looked into the 

 front end of a "forty-five." What looks like fun 

 and enjoyment to the lad of twenty-two looks 

 like "bad business" to him at thirty-two; at least, 

 that was the way with me. Then, too, the 

 inspector whom I was to relieve and who was 

 "tickled to death to get away" was a pretty clear- 



