THE TIM BUNKER PAPE11S. 49 



The above slip from the Hookertown Gazette of this 

 morning will indicate pretty clearly the character of the 

 clover fields your reporter was called upon to inspect. 

 I must say, Mr. Editor, that I never was quite so much 

 taken aback as upon last Saturday. I had supposed, from 

 your instructions, that I was simply to inspect Esquire 

 Bunker s improvements, and to report to the public how 

 much allowance was to be made for the enthusiasm of 

 your Hookertown correspondent. For everybody under 

 stands, that these sober Connecticut people, when they 

 are once waked up and take to riding hobbies, are as apt 

 to ride fast as others. I had prepared myself to take 

 notes upon extensive meadows, all blooming and ready 

 for the scythe ; upon under-draining, subsoil plowing, &G. 

 I thought my Sunday dress was hardly needed in a short 

 trip to the country, and so I came off in my every-day 

 toggery. Young John Bunker met me at the cars, accord 

 ing to agreement, and away we went, up hill and down, 

 for about six miles, after as handsome a pair of Black 

 Hawk mares as you can scare up in the pastures of Ver 

 mont. Horse breeding has received a new impulse in the 

 State within a few years, and the annual exhibitions at 

 the State Fair are hard to beat in any part of the Union. 

 Gentlemen of ample means have taken hold of the busi 

 ness, and they spare no pains or money to secure the very 

 best stock. John has a passion for horse flesh, as the 

 readers of the Bunker papers are well aware. Though a 

 lad of fifteen, he is about as mature and well posted on 

 farm matters as the old gentleman himself. This team, 

 which belonged to himself and Sally, was well broken 

 to the saddle, and with a good road could do a mile inside 

 of four minutes. We were just thirty-five minutes coming 

 over from the depot, and John said he &quot; should have come 

 much quicker but father told him not to drive fast.&quot; 



When I reached here, I found the place all astir, and 

 Esquire Bunker s lit up with such a glow of excitement 



