THE DAILY LIFE OF OUR FAEM. 191 



however, that they would allow anyone to catch them : 

 at least we hope not. Havmg lately taken to feeding my 

 own chickens with Latin crumbs, I must now attend 

 to their meal, for they are hopping and chirping around 

 me. I hope they may never be guilty of such fear- 

 ful ignorance as I have just heard of occurring in a 

 neighbouring somewhat cider-bestricken parish, where, 

 upon a recent occasion, one child explained a picture 

 of Cain and Abel to be " Eve a- walloping of Adam :" 

 drawing, probably, for his idea upon the experience 

 of his home. The cider question is the curse and 

 puzzle of this country. 



At last we have finished taking up our potatoes 

 (spring-planted), and a comparatively valueless crop 

 they are, considering the number of hands who have 

 been employed in storing them, the ground occupied, 

 and the sets. We have several waggon-loads of " seedy" 

 ones, which I shall deposit at once ten inches deep 

 upon the mangold ground, trusting to recoup myself, as 

 the lawyers say, thereby next year for the losses we have 

 sustained through the failure of the turnip this season. 

 Anyhow a diseased "pratee" is noxious, I think, even 

 to the gizzard of a pig, that wondrous animal, which 

 is said even to chew ordinary poisons without hurt. 

 How splendidly my porcine pets are doing upon the 

 slopes, they look so full and sleek. Now that the 

 acorns and chesnuts are sprouting under the fallen 

 leaves, they seem to possess a doubly fattening quality, 

 as barley does started. Our children have found out 

 that the porker of about sixty pounds' weight is the 

 most delicious eating conceivable. Older, they are apt 

 to be too fat, and there is consequently waste, both in 

 the parlour and the servants' hall. I don't know 



