PARTING WITH POLLY 195 



ishable articles for a rise in price. Take apples 

 and potatoes. Why, in nine cases out of ten the 

 farmer who holds his apples and potatoes over 

 the cold months for a high price, and gets $2.70 

 for apples as against $1.80 per bbl., or one dollar 

 for potatoes as against seventy cents per bushel, 

 finds, when he has picked out and thrown away 

 the rotten and punky ones that he has n't a quar- 

 ter part left. 



"It 's so in live-stock. Never keep a cow a day 

 beyond her prime even if she has n't fallen off a 

 bit, but is milking full. Never keep a hen the sec- 

 ond season if you wish for eggs. And above all 

 never keep a horse beyond the age of twelve, or 

 perhaps it would be better never to keep a horse 

 more than three or four years, whatever the age." 



"But, Daniel," I said, "it takes a year or two 

 to get thoroughly accustomed to a horse, and to 

 get the horse thoroughly accustomed to you. And 

 after you have had a horse three or four years, it 

 is at its best as far as you are concerned, and if 

 it is a good horse you just feel as if you could n't 

 drive any other horse." 



"Just the point, boy, just the point," replied 

 Daniel, removing his cigar and flicking a long 

 cone of ash from its tip with his little finger. 

 "When a man gets feeling that he can't drive 

 any other horse, it is about time for him to try." 



"Well," I replied, "it seems to me that there 



