not even furnish the oil
necessary to lay their feathers smooth, much less foster the growth of
eggs.

Josiah Farnshaw secretly questioned the propriety of having remained in
that desolate territory when, as spring approached, the shrunken cows died
one after another in giving birth to the calves which had matured in their
slowly perishing bodies, but he made no sign or admission of the fact.

It was a season of gloom such as our frontier states had never known, and
to add to the general depression there was a growing conviction that the
hatching of the grasshoppers' eggs when warm weather came would complete
the famine.

To support his action in refusing to go East, Josiah Farnshaw asserted
stubbornly that the frost of their hard winter would certainly kill the
larvae of the locusts. So persistent was his attitude that at short
intervals throughout the entire winter rumours that "th' hopper eggs is
dead 's doornails" stirred the community and set its members to making
tests in a vain endeavour to establish their truth. Pieces of earth,
honeycombed with the tiny nests, would be placed near the fire and kept at
as regular a degree of warmth as possible, the condition of the eggs would
be noted carefully, and in a short time the hopes of the anxious pioneers
would be dashed to the ground by wriggling little insects climbing
cheerfully out of their winter quarters and hopping about in a vain search
for something green to live upon. Often, in sheer desperation, the
harassed settler would sweep the hatching brood into the fire, remarking
as he did so, "Burnin's too good for such pests," and always fear gripped
the heart. If the crops in spring were eaten, other homes must be sought,
and all knew that the weakened horses were unfit for travel. In fact, no
team in that entire country was fit to travel far or fast, except the two
which Mr. Farnshaw groomed and fed so carefully for the sake of the spring
work and the much desired colts.

The depression and worries of the Farnshaw home increased the spirit of
contention and distrust of its guardians. The husband daily grew surlier
and more unpleasant and the wife more lachrymose and subject to "spells."
The children learned to avoid the presence of either parent as much as
possible, and to look outside the home for the joy childhood demands. The
chores were heavy and difficult, but could at least be performed in the
open light of God's great out-of-doors, where the imaginatio