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Streeter, John Williams

"The Fat of the Land The Story of an American Farm"

The kennel and runs were
built near the carriage barn, the runs, twenty by one hundred feet,
enclosed with high wire netting. The kennel, eight by sixteen, was a
handsome structure of its kind, with two compartments eight by eight
(for Jane spoke for the future), and beds, benches, and the usual
fixtures which well-bred dogs are supposed to require.
The house for these dogs cost $200, so I was obliged to add another $400
to the interest-bearing debt. "If Jane keeps on in this fashion,"
thought I, "I shall have to refund at a lower rate,"--and she did keep
on. No sooner were the dogs safely kennelled than she began to think how
fine it would look to be followed by this wonderful pair along the
country roads and through the streets of Exeter. To be followed, she
must have a horse and a saddle and a bridle and a habit; and later on I
found that these things did not grow on the bushes in our neighborhood.
I drew a line at these things, however, and decided that they should not
swell the farm account. Thus I keep from the reader's eye some of the
foolishness of a doting parent who has always been as warm wax in the
hands of his, nearly always, reasonable children.


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