How this early touch of Spring has got into the blood, to be sure.

To this letter Mr. Gibbs replied thus:--

Dear Sir,--i cant make much of your letter except a riglemerole
about pigs and dinamite and pictures but what they have to do with one
another i dont know if you want some pork why dont you say so strait out
like mr Hobson does i shall be killing one this week shall i send you a
nice leg and remain

Yours obedient
Henry Gibbs.

My reply, given in the affirmative, resulted in the arrival of a
succulent-looking joint with a bill for leg of pork special 5½ lbs.
at 2_s._ per lb. 11_s._

As the price too was rather special I returned the bill with the
following:--

My dear Mr. Gibbs,--What a rapturous piece of pork! Lovely in
life, and oh, how beautiful in death. I count the hours till 7.30
to-morrow.

I am truly sorry you couldn't read my letter with comfort. I have
derived great pleasure from yours. You appear to have a strong leaning
towards phonetic orthography which is very refreshing and seems to bear
the same relation to the generally accepted rules of the art that the
modern dynamic art (a favourite topic of mine, as you know) does to the
academics of the late nineteenth century.