GREAT EXPECTATIONS 123 



which I anticipated buying as soon as the foal 

 arrived. 



Every day was one of expectation. In the 

 morning I was first at the paddock. At noon I 

 hurried there from the office, and visited there 

 the last thing at night. I arranged for my family 

 to notify me by telephone. My friends and neigh- 

 bors were nearly as much interested as I was, 

 and waited in more or less anxiety for the event. 



For several weeks this went on. I do not 

 know how I could have stood the strain had it 

 not been for the fact that I was kept busy both 

 by office and farm work. The corn silked and 

 became a daily course on our table, and on those 

 of our relatives and neighbors. 



My beans likewise helped maintain my repu- 

 tation as a bon vivant, while some of my other 

 crops were maturing in fine shape. It was, how- 

 ever, at the cost of constant labor to keep down 

 weeds. Indeed, I do not believe I could have 

 succeeded had it not been for the occasional as- 

 sistance of Mike, who would accomplish in a day 

 more than I would in a week. 



I forgot to say that during the month of June 

 I had, literally, bushels of roses, which I distrib- 

 uted by the pailful among our friends, the success- 

 ful cultivation of which (both friends and roses) 

 kept my wife engaged in a desperate hand-to- 

 hand encounter with all manner of creeping, 



