vy expenditure of this year, I had not much to show.
Seven hundred cockerels were sold in November for $342. In October the
pullets began laying in desultory fashion, and by November they had
settled down to business; and that quarter they gave me 703 dozen eggs
to sell. As these eggs were marketed within twenty-four hours, and under
a guarantee, I had no difficulty in getting thirty cents a dozen, net.
November eggs brought $211, and the December out-put, $252. I sold 600
bushels of potatoes for $150, and the apples from 150 of the old trees
(which, by the way, were greatly improved this year) brought $450 on the
trees.

The cows did well. In the thirty-three weeks from May 12 to December 31,
I sold a little more than 6600 pounds of butter, which netted me $2127.

We had 122 young hogs to sell in December. They had been crowded as fast
as possible to make good weight, and they went to market at an average
of 290 pounds a head. The price was low, but I got the top of the
market,--$3.55 a hundred, which amounted to $1170 after paying charges.
I had reserved twenty-five of the most likely young sows to stay on the
farm, and had transferred eight to the village butcher, who was to
return them in the shape of two barrels of salt pork, thirty-two smoked
hams and shoulders, and a lot of bacon.

The old sows farrowed again in September and early October, and we went
into the winter with 162 young pigs. I get these details out of the way
now in order to turn to the family and the social side of life at Four
Oaks.

CHAPTER XXXI

THE CHILDREN

The house did not progress as fast as Nelson had promised, and it was
likely to be well toward Christmas before we could occupy it. As the
days shortened, Polly and I found them crowded with interests. Life at
Four Oaks was to mean such a radical change that we could not help
speculating about its influence upon us and upon the children. Would it
be satisfactory to us and to them? Or should we find after a year or two
of experiment that we had been mistaken in believing that we could live
happier lives in the country than in town? A year and a half of outdoor
life and freedom from professional responsibilities had wrought a great
change in me. I could now eat and sleep like a hired man, and it seemed
preposterous to claim that I was going to the country for my health. My
medical adviser, however, insisted that I had not gotten far enough away
from the cause of my breakdown, a