He acquired a liking for new laid eggs and
hunted the rickyard for nests in the straw. My bailiff determined to
cure him; he carefully blew an egg, and filled it with a mixture of
which mustard was the chief component. Viper was tempted to sample the
egg, which he accepted with a great show of innocence; the effect when
he had broken the shell was electrical; he fled with downcast tail and
complete dejection, and nothing would ever induce him to touch an egg
again.
The whirligig of time has indeed brought its revenge in the matter of
the market value of eggs. In Worcestershire we have had to give them
away at eighteen or twenty for a shilling; last (1918-1919) winter we
sold some at 7s. a dozen, and many more at 5s.
CHAPTER XIV.
ORCHARDS--APPLES--CIDER--PERRY.
"Lo! sweetened with the summer light,
The full-juiced apple, waxing over-mellow
Drops in a silent autumn night."
--_The Lotus-Eaters_.
A curious old punning Latin line, illustrating various meanings of the
word _malus_, an apple, seems appropriate, as a commencement, to
writing about apples; it is I think very little known, and too good to
be forgotten. _Malo, malo, malo, malo_; it is translated thus:
"_Malo_, I would rather be,
_Malo_, in an apple-tree,
_Malo_, than a bad boy,
_Malo_, in adversity.
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