OUR COUNTRY LIFE 



his success, but I felt no inclination to follow in his 

 footsteps. 



No one could be more enthusiastic than I really feel 

 over the sheep on my neighbor's moors, whether nib 

 bling the grass at noontime, their funny soft noses work 

 ing busily, or gathered in masses by the gate at twilight, 

 or moving along the highway in a whir of sun-flecked 

 dust. They always add a certain picturesqueness to the 

 landscape. I even admire in the distance my 

 neighbor's small pig-houses scattered over the sunny 

 meadow, where pigs in all stages of development root 

 vigorously. The poultry plant too of my neighbor 

 I can appreciate with its carefully heated apart 

 ments, its rows of bins for food and cleansing materials, 

 its brooders and incubators and specially arranged fat 

 tening coops. Ducks, geese, Guinea hens, turkeys, 

 pigeons, in all I take the keenest interest at my 

 neighbor's ; but never with an envious heart. 



So when the first mention of bantams was made to 

 me, I agreed somewhat dubiously as to their charms. 

 Chickens, even bantams, I felt persuaded would mean, 



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