for the purpose of passing a few days with you in the country.

My sister and myself contrived to extract profit as well as pleasure
from our little equipage. During the summer months we frequently drove
up to London; the short journey was very pleasant, and this mode of
making it possessed the great advantage of costing nothing but 63
cents for the pony, and 12 cents for turnpikes. Not that we had the
temerity to drive through London. We always left the pony two miles
before we reached town, with strict orders to the civil ostler to
whose care we confided him to great care of him, and be sure and give
him a "good feed." We then proceeded on our way in a cab, which cost
us no more than we should have paid for one from the station.

Where there is a gentleman in the family, a dogcart is the most
convenient vehicle which can be kept; but as that would not be
suitable for a lady, we contrived to make the back seat of the
carriage do duty for the well of the dog-cart, and it was astonishing
how many light packages we managed to "stow away" in it. I will not
dilate on the pleasant drives through quiet lanes, of the delight
afforded to the children when allowed to have a ride on "Bobby," nor
of the great facility it gave us of being out of doors in winter,
when, as was very frequently the case, the state of the roads was such
as to render walking an impossibility; still, I hope I have stated
sufficient to give my readers a good idea of the great pleasure they
will derive from keeping a pony; and I will now, with the bills of the
miller and farrier before me, proceed to show the sum for which it may
be kept. Our pony cost for food, from the 4th of January to the 24th
of December in the same year, $46.66. He consumed during that period
five quarters of oats, at $8 the quarter, and five bushels of beans,
which cost $6.66. The farrier's bill for the same time amounted to