a vertigo, so that I was obliged to
content myself with a general superintendence of the garden; that is to
say, I charged my Englishman to see that my Irishman did his duty
properly, and then got on to my horse and rode to the city. But about
one part of the matter, I must say, I was not remiss; and that is, in
the purchase of seed and garden utensils. Not a day passed that I did
not come home with my pockets stuffed with, choice seeds, roots, etc..;
and the variety of my garden utensils was unequalled. There was not a
pruning hook, of any pattern, not a hoe, rake, or spade, great or small,
that I did not have specimens of; and flower seeds and bulbs were also
forthcoming in liberal proportions. In fact, I had opened an account at
a thriving seed store; for, when a man is driving business on a large
scale, it is not always convenient to hand out the change for every
little matter, and buying things on account is as neat and agreeable a
mode of acquisition as paying bills with one's notes.

"You know we must have a cow," said my wife, the morning of our second
week. Our friend the gardener, who had now worked with us at the rate of
two dollars a day for two weeks, was at hand in a moment in our
emergency. We wanted to buy a cow, and he had one to sell--a wonderful
cow, of a real English breed. He would not sell her for any money,
except to oblige particular friends; but as we had patronized him, we
should have her for forty dollars. How much we were obliged to him! The
forty dollars were speedily forthcoming, and so also was the cow.

"What makes her shake her head in that way?" said my wife,
apprehensively, as she observed the interesting beast making sundry
demonstrations with her horns. "I hope she's gentle."

The gardener fluently demonstrated that the animal was a pattern of all
the softer graces, and that this head-shaking was merely a little
nervous affection consequent on the embarrassment of a new position. We
had faith to believe almost any thing at this time, and therefore came
from the barn yard to the house as much satisfied with our purchase as
Job with his three thousand camels and five hundred yoke of oxen. Her
quondam master milked her for us the first evening, out of a delicate
regard to her feelings as a stranger, and we fancied that we discerned
forty dollars' worth of excellence in the very quality of the milk.

But alas! the next morning our Irish girl came in with a most rueful
face. "And is i