140 RIVERSIDE LETTERS xvm 



storehouse on its long pole in no time, and 

 it has to be replenished several times a day. 

 All through the winter, during the coldest 

 nights, I hear the owls ; the frost makes 



them apparently extra clamorous, but what 

 they 



" pit their painch in 

 I ain 'tis past my comprehension." 



Surely no mice, beetles, or small birds would 

 be stirring in such weather. The ground 

 must be as hard as iron, and where they can 

 find food I cannot imagine. Birds of prey 

 can, I believe, fast longer than other birds, 



and owls are at any rate very warmly 

 clothed. 



I forgot to mention, as one of the effects 

 of the flood, that a heap of coke that was 

 piled in the kitchen garden got lifted by 

 the flood and floated about in every direction, 

 so that ever since small deposits of this useful 

 stuff keep turning up on the borders ; coke 

 does not make a good top-dressing. 



