

SEPULCHRE OF A HUNDRED EWES. 23 



low the slender " thistles ! I worked till the 

 perspiration poured through my mackintosh. 

 I came upon a strong bed of nettles. I was 

 going to attack them, but I was warned off. 

 There was a sad tragedy connected with 

 those nettles : they formed the covering of a 

 sepulchre ; they sprang from the bodies of a 

 hundred ewes buried underneath ! 



These splendid Shropshire Downs had 

 fallen victims to an epidemic which ran 

 through the country four years ago. They 

 all died in two days a sad and sudden loss 

 to the farmer of nearly ^400. I did not 

 venture on that bed of nettles. 



After dinner another game of chess, and 

 so to bed, but not to sleep my bones ached 

 too much for that. Swinging an axe or a 

 scythe is splendid exercise for the muscles, 

 but then the muscles have to become used to 

 such exercises mine had not. 



