IN THE POULTRY YARD. 89 
An Episode. 
AEANWHILE the season was gliding past, and the first 
4) days of August were fully upon us. Everything looked 
well, the crops were good, the animals in good health, 
and we were all enjoying country life, or would have done so, had 
it not been that my wife’s health failed, and she showed strong 
symptoms ofa malarial attack. At this I was rather surprised, for 
the atmosphere was so clear, the water so pure, and everything ap- 
parently so conducive to health, that when our family physician 
told me that it was a veritable attack of marsh fever, my heart sank 
within me, and I said to myself, “Is it possible that no region is 
free from that scourge of our country?” The hired girl, too, showed ' 
symptoms of an attack ; she was a strong, fresh-looking girl when 
she came to us, but she had fallen away wonderfully both in health 
and looks, and now showed constant signs of weariness, against 
which she bravely fought in vain. My own health-continued unaf- 
fected, but then I believed myself to be ague-proof. 
I was sorely puzzled over this new development. ‘The land all 
round us was pure and wholesome, and yet I was convinced that _ 
some unseen marsh must be the source of our illness. ‘The Browns 
had never been troubled in this way, but then the present season 
had been unusually hot and dry, so that ponds which in other 
years had been filled with clear, wholesome water, were now stag- 
nant and putrid. But none of these ponds lay near us, and so the~ 
problem remained unsolved. 
One day, however, when passing along the lower part of my 
grounds, I heard somé ducks quacking and making that’ peculiar 
noise which ducks do when they'stick their bills in mud. Like a” 
flash it struck me that here was the cause of all our troubles, and- 
in an instant I was on the other ‘side of the fence on an exploring 
expedition. I saw enough to con ince ine that there would be no’ 
