dairy and poultry produce. All went well
for a time until one day the boy, anxious to produce as many eggs as
possible, as he received a royalty per dozen for collecting,
discovered some nests which my man had set for hatching before he
retired from the post. The boy, not recognizing this important fact,
came in greatly pleased with an unusually large quantity, and it so
happened that the school received the eggs from this special lot. Next
morning forty eggs appeared at the boys' breakfast table, and forty
boys simultaneously suffered a terrible shock on the discovery of
forty incomplete chickens. The head wrote an aggrieved letter of
complaint, and though my wife was by that time able to explain the
matter, and regret her own loss too of forty chickens, he removed his
custom to a more reliable source.

This schoolmaster was a collector of antique furniture and china, and,
knowing that I was interested, he asked me to come and see some
Chippendale chairs he had just acquired. It happened that some months
before I had declined to buy four or five chairs that were offered at
10s. apiece. I had not then fully developed the taste for the antique,
which once acquired forbids the connoisseur to refuse anything good,
whether really wanted or not, and at that time there was much more
choice in such matters than at the present day. The chairs were very
dilapidated and I did not recognize their possibilities, but I noticed
the arms of the elbow chairs were particularly good, being carved at
the junction of the horizontal and vertical pieces with eagles' heads.
Deciding that I did not want them I sent a dealer to the house and
forgot all about the matter. The schoolmaster took me into his
drawing-room, and I instantly recognized the set I had refused; they
were quite transformed, nicely cleaned, lightly polished, and the
seats newly covered. I duly admired them, and on inquiry found that he
had purchased them in Worcester from the dealer I had sent to look at
them; they cost him L5 each, and I suppose at the present time they
would be worth L20 apiece at least.

I have previously mentioned old Viper as a family friend, but like all
dogs he had his faults. He acquired a liking for new laid eggs and
hunted the rickyard for nests in the straw. My bailiff determined to
cure him; he carefully blew an egg, and filled it with a mixture of
which mustard was the chief component. Viper was tempted to sample the
egg, which he accepted wi