244 HOME LIFE ON AN OSTRICH FARM. 



eat direct from the dish without the intervention of her 

 fingers. Alas ! between two of those succulent slices 

 of pumpkin cruel hands had spread a thick layer of 

 mustard; and poor Sarah, eating greedily, soon ex- 

 perienced direful results on tongue, palate, throat, and 

 eyes. She knew at once that she had been tricked ; 

 and never were contempt and indignation better ex- 

 pressed than by the lordly manner in which she kicked 

 away the dish with all its remaining contents. After 

 which she retired, much offended, to her bed, from 

 whence she did not emerge for a long time. 



On another occasion poor Sarah was made the sub- 

 ject of a still more unkind practical joke. She dearly 

 loved sweets, which were often given to her wrapped 

 up in a multitude of papers, one inside the other. It 

 was amusing to watch the patient and deliberate 

 manner in which she would unfold each paper in turn, 

 taking the greatest care never to tear one, and proceed- 

 ino; with all the caution of a good Mohammedan 

 fearful of inadvertently injuring a portion of the Koran. 

 This time, instead of the expected tit-bit, a dead night- 

 adder was wrapped up and presented. When she 

 unfolded the innermost paper, and the snake slipped 

 out, with a horrid writhe, across her hand, Sarah 

 quietly sank backwards and fainted away, her lips 

 turning perfectly white. By dint of throwing water 

 over her, chafing her hands, and bathing her lips with 

 brandy, she was revived from her swoon, though not 

 without some diflSculty. 



Sarah has now been for a long time the inmate of an 



