I can't imagine more exquisite torture myself. Last
summer the flies here were dreadful. It seems to me that they are
getting worse and worse every year, and worry the animals more. I
believe it is because the birds are getting thinned out all over the
country. There are not enough of them to catch the flies. John says that
the next improvements we make on the farm are to be wire gauze at all
the stable windows and screen doors to keep the little pests from the
horses and cattle.
"One afternoon last summer, Mr. Maxwell's mother came for me to go for a
drive with her. The heat was intense, and when we got down by the river,
she proposed getting out of the phaeton and sitting under the trees, to
see if it would be any cooler. She was driving a horse that she had got
from the hotel in the village, a roan horse that was clipped, and
check-reined, and had his tail docked. I wouldn't drive behind a
tailless horse now. Then, I wasn't so particular. However, I made her
unfasten the check-rein before I'd set foot in the carriage. Well, I
thought that horse would go mad. He'd tremble and shiver, and look so
pitifully at us.
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