90 THE JONATHAN PAPERS 



Many things that I consider disasters on 

 the farm can be traced to one or another of 

 these little pamphlets, and when a new one 

 arrives I regard it with resignation but with 

 out cordiality. 



The sheds went, and I missed them. Pos 

 sibly the hens missed them too. They wan 

 dered thoughtfully about the barnyard, step 

 ping rather higher than usual, cocking their 

 heads and regarding me with their red-rimmed 

 eyes as if they were cluckfully conjuring up 

 old associations. Did they remember Durance 

 Vile? Perhaps, but probably not. For all 

 their philosophic airs and their attitudinizing, 

 I know nobody who thinks less than a hen, 

 or, at all events, their thinking is contempla 

 tive rather than practical. 



Jonathan also surveyed the raw spot. But 

 Jonathan s mind is practical rather than 

 contemplative. 



&quot;Just the place for a carriage-house,&quot; he 

 remarked. 



And the carriage-house was perpetrated. 

 Perhaps a hundred years from now it will 

 have been assimilated, but at present it 

 stands out absolutely undigested in all its 



