e in mind that
while this elaborate water system was being installed, no buildings were
completed and but few were even begun; the big house was not finished
for more than a year. The sites of all the buildings had been decided
on, and the farm-house and the cottage had been moved and remodelled, by
the middle of October, at which date the water plant was completed. An
abundant supply of good water is essential to the comfort of man and
beast, and the money invested in securing it will pay a good interest in
the long run. My water plant cost me a lot of money, $2758; but it
hasn't cost me $10 a year since it was finished.

CHAPTER VI

WE TAKE POSSESSION

My barn was full of horses, but none of them was fit for farm work; so I
engaged a veterinary surgeon to find three suitable teams. By the 25th
of the month he had succeeded, and I inspected the animals and found
them satisfactory, though not so smooth and smart-looking as I had
pictured them. When I compared them, somewhat unfavorably, with the
teams used for city trucks and delivery wagons, he retorted by saying:
"I did not know that you wanted to pay $1200 a pair for your horses.
These six horses will cost you $750, and they are worth it." They were a
sturdy lot, young, well matched, not so large as to be unwieldy, but
heavy enough for almost any work. The lightest was said to weigh 1375
pounds, and the heaviest not more than a hundred pounds more. Two of the
teams were bay with a sprinkling of white feet, while the other pair was
red roan, and, to my mind, the best looking.

Four of these horses are still doing service on the farm, after more
than seven years. One of the bays died in the summer of '98, and one of
the roans broke his stifle during the following winter and had to be
shot. The bereaved relicts of these two pairs have taken kindly to each
other, and now walk soberly side by side in double harness. I sometimes
think, however, that I see a difference. The personal relation is not
just as it was in the old union,--no bickerings or disagreements, but
also no jokes and no caresses. The soft nose doesn't seek its neighbor's
neck, there is no resting of chin on friendly withers while half-closed
eyes see visions of cool shades, running brooks, and knee-deep clover;
and the urgent whinney which called one to the other and told of
loneliness when separated is no longer heard. It is pathetic to think
that these good creatures have been robbed of the o