156 .FIVE ACRES TOO MFC H. 



But, to escape from moral considerations and to 

 return to practical ones, it will be observed that the 

 pig does not appear in the accounts ; this is due to 

 what may properly be called an accident, and can 

 not be blamed to the writer. Piggy grew finely, 

 and toward Christmas Patrick butchered him in ar 

 tistic style, and brought him to the city. He must 

 have weighed 220 Ibs., although, not having scales 

 sufficiently strong to sustain that weight, I can not 

 be positive that he did not exceed it ; but, unfortu 

 nately, the price of pork was then only five cents per 

 pound, which would have brought him to eleven dol 

 lars, whereas we had paid twelve for him six months 

 before, and put a goodly amount of corn, to say noth 

 ing of swill, into him besides. He was not for sale, 

 however, being intended for the salting-kettle, and I 

 proceeded to cut him up. 



I was not skilled in the art of animal dissection, 

 and the result would hardly have been approved by 

 a scientific butcher. His back was particularly hard 

 to split, especially with no better instrument than 

 a heavy carving-knife, which was somewhat nicked 

 in the operation, and it was very difficult to chop in 

 the true line. Surgery not having been a part of 

 my education, I found the disjointing of the limbs 

 an intricate process. The shoulders and hams took 



