THE DOCTOR PRESCRIBES 5 



would again become a deserted farm, and prob- 

 ably with an added mortgage. 



An opportunity to buy a two - and - one - half 

 acre place on the outskirts of the town, and an 

 equally fortuitous arrival of a complacent mort- 

 gagee, solved the difficulty. And so from the in- 

 herited disposition for that part of a farmer's Me 

 which consisted of lying at ease in a pile of new- 

 mown hay, contemplating the growth of one's 

 vegetables, the plumpness of one's neat stock, 

 the regular markings of one's prize poultry, and 

 the exceeding ripeness of one's fruit, I determined 

 to have that place, in order to eke out the pre- 

 carious living afforded me by the practice of my 

 profession, by applying myself to arduous labor, 

 which I felt sure would bring me renewed health. 

 I recked not of drought, of storms, of the ravages 

 of coleoptera, of the attacks of orthoptera, and 

 the scourge of hemiptera, of lepidoptera, of hy- 

 menoptera, of diptera, of all sorts and kinds of 

 'ptera, those enemies of bucolic prosperity. Nay, 

 I even dared the heavy handicap of a six per cent 

 power - of - sale mortgage, with interest payable 

 semi-annually in advance. 



