XXIX. Beatrice 



THE big sow that has been added to the farm 

 live stock is making herself quite at home. 

 She doesn't expect us to make company of 

 her. She is willing to help herself and 

 seems to feel hurt when we insist on superintending 

 her helpings. The children have named her Beatrice, 

 though I can't figure out just why. Beatrice sug- 

 gests to me something slim and gracile rather than 

 two hundred pounds of hump-backed and enterpris- 

 ing pork. They couldn't have picked up the name 

 from anything they have heard me calling her since 

 her arrival on the farm. I have called her many 

 names, but I am quite certain that none of them 

 sounded anything like Beatrice. It must have been an 

 inspiration on their part, and we shall see how it 

 works out. As Beatrice is not being fed up for pork 

 but just being given a ration calculated to keep her 

 in good health, she has a wide margin of unappeased 

 appetite. Whenever she hears any one stirring she 



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