I BUY MY PIGS 9 



occasionally spending part of a holiday in beating 

 a few rugs or mowing the lawn, instead of paying 

 out money for what I could do perfectly well my- 

 self, if I only had a little energy. Goodness knew 

 she needed the money badly enough for things in 

 the house. 



Well, there was little use in continuing the dis- 

 cussion, and so I said no more at the time, but 

 spent the greater part of my leisure hours during 

 the week in building a good stout sleeping-floor 

 in the pig-house, and wheeling in straw, ashes, 

 and dry leaves. I was determined to have pigs. 



The next thing was to purchase my pigs. I was 

 somewhat at a loss to make a choice of the com- 

 parative merits of Chester White, Poland China, 

 Berkshire, Sussex, Bedford or Jersey Red. All 

 these breeds and many others I had read of in 

 my encyclopaedia, but strange to say I could find 

 no mention of the breed known as Runts. I had 

 certainly heard somewhere of Runt pigs, and 

 meant if possible to have some. I had many years 

 before kept fancy pigeons, and knew that the 

 variety known as Runts were the "giants of the 

 pigeon tribe," and their squabs were the quickest- 

 growing, fattest, largest, and most delicious eating 

 of any. The name Runt could therefore be ap- 

 plied to the porcine race for no other purpose, 

 surely, than to indicate the possession of some 

 remarkable qualities. Accordingly I decided 



