REMEDY AND DISEASE 53 



themselves comfortably, with little clucks and 

 chirps of satisfaction, I leave them, shut and 

 lock the outer door, and go to the stable. 



Here I find the snow so drifted that I have to 

 kick it away from the door before I can open it. 

 I lead the horses out of their stalls into the floor, 

 stagger to the house and back with pails of water, 

 then shake down their hay, fill their grain-box 

 and bed them ankle-deep with clean, dry straw. 



I then readjust their blankets, tighten their 

 girths, and close the door of the stall-room, leaving 

 them comfortably bedded and fed, as warm and 

 comfortable as dry beds and tight quarters and 

 good food can make them. 



As I close and lock the barn-door, it is dusk and 

 the storm is increasing. In the sheltered places 

 under the eaves and under the roofs of the open 

 sheds colonies of English sparrows are gathering ; 

 and as I reach the house, change my clothes, and 

 take a cushioned rocker by the library fire, I feel 

 a deep satisfaction that the stock is safe and 

 comfortable. 



And while the wind howls round the house that 

 night, and the snow dashes against the windows 

 and rattles on the clapboards, I sleep the better 

 for that thought. 



