m.

"As he kep' on havin' more confidence in me, I kep' on usin' more an'
more, an' a-usin' oyster liquor for flavourin' in most everything durin'
the R months. Once he found nearly a bushel of clam-shells out behind the
house an' wanted to know what they was an' what they was doin' there. I
told him the fish man had give 'em to me for a border for my flower beds,
which was true. I'd only paid for the clams--there wa'n't nothin' said
about the shells--an' the juice from them clams livened up his soup an'
vegetables for over a week. There wa'n't no day that he didn't have the
vital elements of from one to four pounds of meat put in his food, an' all
the time, he was gettin' happier an' healthier an' more peaceful to live
with. When he died, he was as mild as a spring lamb with mint sauce on
it.

"Now, my dear, some women would have told him what they was doin', either
after he got to likin' the cookin' or when he was on his death-bed an'
couldn't help himself, but I never did. I own that it took self-control
not to do it, but I'd learned my lesson from havin' been married twicet
before an' never havin' fit any to speak of. I had to take my pleasure
from seein' him eat a bowl of rice that had a whole chicken in it,
exceptin' only the bones and fibres of its mortal frame, an' a-lappin' up
mebbe a pint of tomato soup that was founded on eight nice pork chops. I'm
a-tellin' you all this merely to show you my point. Every day, Henry was
makin' a blame fool of himself without knowin' it. He'd prattle by the
hour of slaughter-houses an' human cemeteries an' all the time he'd be
honin' for his next meal.

"He used to say as how it was dretful wicked to kill the dumb animals for
food, an' I allers said that there was nothin' to hinder his buyin' as
many as he could afford to an' savin' their lives by pennin' 'em up in the
back yard, an' a-feedin' 'em the things they liked best to eat till they
died of old age or sunthin'. I told him they was all vegetarians, the same
as he was, an' they could live together peaceful an' happy. I even pointed
out that it was his duty to do it, an' that if all believers would do the
same, the dread slaughter-houses would soon be a thing of the past, but I
ain't never seen no food crank yet that's advanced that far in his
humanity.

"I never told him a single word about it, nor even hinted it to him, nor
told nobody else, though I often felt wicked to think I was keepin' so
much pleasure to mysel