'THE FARMER AND HIS WIFE' 337 



old gentleman looked robust as usual, and in reply to my 

 inquiries said : 



' I am hearty as a buck, but can't jump so high/ and 

 then insisted that we should do ample justice to a hearty 

 luncheon. This was his rule : he would show you no 

 horses until the meal, which was by no means a for- 

 mality, was got through. ' They look so much bigger 

 and better,' he would say, ' after a little something to 

 eat and a glass or two of my old black-strap, a story and 

 a glass of toddy, just to enliven our spirits.' 



These pleasant conditions were duly fulfilled on this 

 occasion, not omitting the story ; which, so far as I 

 remember, ran something to the following effect, though, 

 in reproducing it, it must, I fear, lose much of the point 

 it gained in the manner of its relation by our host. 



' Not long before you arrived,' so he began, ' a strange 

 and laughable thing happened not far from this place. 

 A farmer and his wife had spent a jovial evening at a 

 friend's house, and had consented, after several pressing 

 invitations, to have "just a parting glass." They then 

 left as they came, the good dame being first firmly seated 

 on the pillion, a customary mode of riding in early days. 

 In crossing a stream they had to go through, the horse 

 stopped to drink, and from some unaccountable or 

 unexplained accident the lady lost her equilibrium, and 

 was precipitated into the water below without the know- 

 ledge of her consort. On his arrival at home, on being 

 asked where his good wife was, he pointed over his 

 shoulder to the vacant seat ; but she was not there. 

 Search was immediately made, and they found her in 

 the brook, up to her neck in the refreshing element. On 

 being asked to come out, she replied: "No more, no 

 more, thank 'ee, neither hot nor cold;" and she was 

 with difficulty rescued from her perilous position.' 



22 



