THE DAILY LIFE OF OUR FARM. 31 



effect." " Ton my honour they might, for anything I 

 know, but I'll ask ; " and I pounce at once upon the 

 cook, a gentle obliging creature who would do no one 

 any harm. She had lately joined, however, and it was 

 unfortunately as the vet. surmised. The pickle-tubs 

 left by her predecessor had been emptied into the pig- 

 wash. Poor thing ! she was so horrified at what she 

 had done, that scolding was out of the question. Scald- 

 ing water for a bath we decided on instead : and castor- 

 oil to be taken internally, and turpentine rubbed well 

 into his stomach externally, and an occasional clyster. 

 By dint of such continued care for some days the 

 youngster was brought round ; bu t, alas ! blind. He 

 has not since recovered his sight ; nor ever will he, I 

 am informed by that eminent authority, Mr. Frank 

 Buckland, who knelt enthusiastically down in the straw- 

 yard, and, with help of the cow-boy, who held on by 

 both ears, made careful inspection of his luminaries, 

 notwithstanding a most cruel squeaking that the 

 affrighted brute kept up. " Amaurosis : he'll never see 

 again ; but he's none the worse for breeding. I should 

 like to have his head to examine some day." ''Cer- 

 tainly, let's cut it off at once ; I've got another boar in 

 the sty, and he's good pork." " Oh ! no, no ! I mean 

 when you kill him in due course." And so the piggie 

 was released, unconscious of his late imminent risk, and 

 groped his way along the wall, like Tennyson's cavern- 

 wave, to where his drowsy comrades lay. 



Taking a round this morning to inspect the gar- 

 dener's work, I was surprised to see the surface of the 

 grass-plot in the neighbourhood of some Portugal 

 laurels, all bristling, a couple of inches above the 

 ground, with the stems of the last year's decayed bios- 



