the door.

I discussed my neighbour's good cheer with an excellent appetite, and
was in the very act of pledging mine host, when I heard the cattle
start off. We left the table with precipitation, but-were, alas! too
late to stop the refractory oxen, which galloping down a steep hill, on
the summit of which the house was built, stumbled in their descent, and
fell to the bottom, where we found them struggling, apparently, in the
agonies of death. We cut the bows from their necks as soon as possible,
but not in time to save the life of poor Spot, the near ox, who was
quite dead; and it was for some minutes doubtful if Dandy the off
"critter," as the Yankees would style him would survive his companion.
I killed the dead one over again to make its flesh fit for consumption,
and bled the other, which happily saved its life. But, notwithstanding
my careful endeavour to make the best of a foolish matter, I felt
myself in an awkward predicament. To my worthy father-in-law the loss
of an animal worth thirty dollars was, at that time, particularly
inconvenient; but his moral justice was high and his temper mild; so he
listened meekly to my account of the misfortune, quietly remarking,
that it could not be helped, and that no blame attached to me. It is in
these worrying affairs of every-day life that we discern the real
beauty of the Christian character. My mother-in-law behaved as well, on
this trying occasion, as any lady could do who found her larder
suddenly stocked with a quantity of lean tough beef a prospect, indeed,
by no means cheering to any member of the household.

On my return home from my first essay in ox-driving, or rather ox-
killing, I found Dennis, our Irish servant, waiting for me with the
greatest impatience.