Ten Thousand a Year 251 



And when the wind had twisted and lacerated one 

 of his trees, I think he was as hurt as had some one 

 wounded him. He would bind up the broken 

 boughs and never weary of helping the tree recover. 

 One of his fads was to have all his favorite trees 

 and vines photographed, and on winter evenings he 

 loved to sit by the open fire and look over the pic- 

 tures, just as one likes to look over the faces of his 

 friends. He would speak of "Sparta," "Athens,** 

 "Utica, '* "Rome" with fluency; these were his 

 names for favorite vines and trees. It seems that 

 in his boyhood he had become deeply interested in 

 ancient history and knowing no better names he 

 dubbed his best horses, "Castor*' and "Pollux," 

 and one of his cows prospered tmder the name of 

 "Proserpine.** "Old Ajax is doing nobly this 

 simimer, " he remarked to me, one July day, 

 amidst the cherry harvest. He meant the middle 

 tree in the third row, near the drive-way. How he 

 remembered his long catalogue of Greek and 

 Roman names I cannot surmise, unless precisely as 

 the captain of the company comes to know his 

 men by name — ^by association. But it soimded odd 

 to hear Neville gravely instruct the pickers to 

 "pick old Socrates clean,** meaning a dimipy, but 

 very prolific ItaHan prune tree at the comer of the 

 orchard. I believe that he had a way of fighting the 

 world's battles o*er again, with the aid of his vines 

 and trees, for one afternoon, when I happened to 

 be riding with him along the north side of his farm 

 from whence it lays clearly spread out like a map, 



