OUT-OF-TOWN PLACES 



worse for the occasional carding which your 

 zealous Irishman can afford him in spare 

 hours; and when, in the month of October or 

 November, the waste growth of the garden 

 is abating, and the frost has nipped the bean- 

 tops, and laid your tomatoes in a black sprawl 

 upon the ground, your Suffolk (with, say, 

 one or two additional bags of mixed feed) 

 should be ripe for the knife. 



"My advice, at this conjuncture, would be 

 — sell him to the butcher. Those who like pig 

 flesh better would give you rules for cut and 

 curing. But, while I have considerable respect 

 for the pork family when fairly afoot and 

 showing grateful appreciation of the delights 

 of life and of a full trough, I have very little 

 consideration for the same animals when 

 baked or stewed. Charles Lamb's pleasant 

 eulogium on roast pig is one of the most ter- 

 rible instigators of indigestion that I know; 

 and I want no better theory for that charming 

 writer's occasional periods of bitter despond- 

 ency, than to suppose him to have dined *at 

 seven, sharp,' upon the dish he has so pleas- 

 antly and fearfully extolled. 



"I do not mean to say that exception is not 

 to be made in favor of a good rasher of bacon 

 at breakfast, with a fresh egg (from the cock 



74 



