186 RIVERSIDE LETTERS xxiv 



anvils as the wheel went round and round 

 with the water. 



My father used to describe the delight that 

 he took in this water-wheel, the pleasure he 

 felt in watching it, and in paddling all day 

 long barefoot about the brook. I have made 

 a rough copy of his sketch for you, in the 

 background is his uncle's log house. 



My father told many stories of the happy 

 times he spent with this uncle Ward ; amongst 

 others I recollect one about a turkey cock 

 who suffered in his old age from mental 

 aberration, which took this comic form of 

 showing itself. It one day scratched a large 

 hole beneath an apple tree, and having rolled 

 a number of apples into it, quietly settled 

 itself down on them and sat there for days 

 with the evident purpose of hatching them : 

 nothing would persuade it to relinquish its self- 

 imposed task until the apples all went rotten. 



I heard a rather amusing story of a spaniel 

 that belongs to a farmer living not far 

 from here. The kennel of this dog is situ- 



