PIGS. 71 



she elected that the race should be down hill some 

 two hundred yards to her cottage. There was no 

 alternative, so with a pattern donkey boy " up," the 

 pony was led beside the porker to the post : the 

 keen old lady remaining at the bottom. The signal 

 given, she began beating most horridly an old tin 

 can : away, and down they pour — pony and pig — 

 helter-skelter — neck and crop — at such a rate, but 

 imprimis piggie : 



"They are off ! she has won ! ' Over bank, bush, and scaur, 

 They'll have fleet steeds that follow,' quoth young Lochinvar ; " 



and in truth it was so, for though the precaution had 

 been taken to have an accomplished steersman on 

 the horse, it was all to no purpose. Pig picked his 

 way too swiftly through the gorse and boulders : his 

 advantage from the start was enormous : he had 

 been trained over the course, and there was the 

 pricking of his appetite to boot ; for she had kept 

 him fasting some hours, and so the old lady won her 

 money and a name. Floreat vivatque. 



For buying pigs the cheapest season is, perhaps, 

 about Michaelmas, when the harvest fields are 

 cleared, or during the months of March and April, 

 when litters are prospective or abundant. 



And now, when I tell you finally that pigs should 

 always have access to fresh water (notwithstanding 

 any quantity of slops they paay consume), I shall 

 have told you all that comes upon the surface of rny. 

 mind at present respecting the porcine race. 



