icable method of dipping them
was to grasp all four of their legs, two in each hand, and then thrust
them down into the tub, taking care that their noses did not go under
the liquid. Each had then to be held in the bath for about a minute,
giving time for the liquid to thoroughly saturate their wool. But this
was not all, nor yet the most disagreeable part of the affair. On
raising them from the tub, it was necessary to dry their fleeces to some
extent, by squeezing and wringing them in our hands, lest, owing to the
absorbent capacity of their wool, there should soon be nothing left of
our decoction in the tub. Taken with the struggles of the lambs, this
proved a repulsive task. Before half the lambs were dipped, our old
jacket sleeves were soaked. Withal we were nauseated, either from having
our hands in the decoction, or else from the odor which arose from the
tub and the wet lambs. At length, Addison was obliged _to go out behind
the barn_, where he remained for some minutes, and returned looking very
pale. "Good gracious!" he exclaimed. "I think that I shall hate the odor
of tobacco juice to the end of my life."

Not long after he made another trip; and immediately I was compelled to
follow him, in haste. Halse, who was not much affected, derided us; but
he had not held his hands in the tub as much as Addison; besides he was
known to have smoked tobacco on several occasions, and this previous
experience of the weed, perhaps, stood him in stead on this occasion.

Theodora, who had come out to see how we were progressing, was
distressed at our woe-begone condition and ran in to report our
sufferings; and as a result of this bulletin, the Old Squire soon made
his appearance upon the scene and assumed the role of immerser. Gram,
too, came out with a dipperful of chamomile tea, of which she
authoritatively exhorted us to imbibe a draught.

We judged from appearances that the lambs were also nauseated, for they
were observed to stand with drooping heads; and the Old Squire told us
that washing either lambs or calves in a strong solution of tobacco had
been known to kill them.

Here I may add that the following year we purchased a device for burning
tobacco and blowing the smoke into the wool of the sheep and lambs,
called a "fumigator." It was said to be even more destructive to the
parasites than the bath of poke and tobacco juices. In point of fact, we
found it quite efficacious, also less sloppy and disagreeable to