" 'Father, old Prince has done his share to help us pay 

 for the farm. He wouldn't owe us anything for board 

 if he lived fiftyyears longer, but if he's got to be killed 

 because you think we can't afford to keep him, I've 

 got something to say. Here's eighteen dollars. It's 

 my butter money, an' I've been savin' it to carpet the 

 parlor with, but never mind. It'll pay for Prince's keep 

 while it lasts, and there'll be more when that's gone.' 



"A crimson flush crept into the old man's sunburned 

 face. 'Stop, mother, stop !' he said. 'I'm a selfish 

 brute, an' I'm ashamed of myself, but I ain't so mean 

 as that ! Old Prince has earned the right to fodder 

 and good care the rest of his life, as you say, an' he 

 shall have it if he lives to be a hundred ! Thad, Az'- 

 riah, you go put him into the four-acre clover lot ; an' 

 if either of you ever pester me again 'bout killin' him, 

 I'll take one o' them new tug straps an' make you 

 dance livelier'n Prince ever did when he was a four- 

 year-old.' " 



68 



