OUR SENTIMENTAL GARDEN 



" Oh, I don't think I need put that/' Loki's Grandfather 

 was getting bored. 



" YOU must/' said she ,- " that will fetch him more than 

 anything. Isn't he a schoolmaster ? If it gets about that 

 he's got an insanitary pig" 



Well, the letter was finished with this artful twist. It had 

 the most brilliant and unexpected results. Not only was 

 the schoolmaster profoundly grateful for having his atten- 

 tion drawn to the matter and the pigsty really was better 

 ever after but he expressed his gratitude in the most 

 effusive terms. And he and his whole family called, and 

 we went to tea in a thunderstorm at the school-house, 

 which apparently had been built the day before yesterday, 

 for the plaster was so wet the whole place steamed, and 

 Loki's Grandmother caught the cold of her life. 



It is a very singular thing that in Ireland, the Padrona's 

 native land, supposed, and with reason, to be very inferior 

 in the matter of cleanliness, the pig should be so much 

 better cared for. Never have we found the sweet airs of 

 that beloved country impregnated with " bouquet de pigsty " 

 as they are in every farm here. Of course most of the 

 pigs in Ireland nice, clean, intelligent, active creatures- 

 roam cheerfully about the roads all day, and share the 

 family domicile by night. But even on properties which 

 own a separate habitation for the " gintleman that pays 

 the rint " it is swept and garnished for him in a manner 

 seldom seen over here. 



In the particular region of Dorsetshire where Loki's Great 

 Aunt dwells there is quite a pretty house and grounds 

 114 



