For the first few weeks, they were civil and obliging enough; and had the man been left to himself, I believe we should have done pretty well; but the wife was a coarse-minded, bold woman, who instigated him to every mischief.  They took advantage of us in every way they could, and were constantly committing petty depredations.

From our own experience of this mode of farming, I would strenuously advise all new settlers never to embrace any such offer, without they are well acquainted with the parties, and can thoroughly rely upon their honesty; or else, like Mrs. O—–­, they may impudently tell you that they can cheat you as they please, and defy you to help yourself.  All the money we expended upon the farm was entirely for these people’s benefit, for by their joint contrivances very little of the crops fell to our share; and when any division was made, it was always when Moodie was absent from home; and there was no person present to see fair play.  They sold what apples and potatoes they pleased, and fed their hogs ad libitum.  But even their roguery was more tolerable than the irksome restraint which their near vicinity, and constantly having to come in contact with them, imposed.  We had no longer any privacy, our servants were cross-questioned, and our family affairs canvassed by these gossiping people, who spread about a thousand falsehoods regarding us.  I was so much disgusted with this shareship, that I would gladly have given them all the proceeds of the farm to get rid of them, but the bargain was for twelve months, and bad as it was, we could not break our engagement.

One little trick of this woman’s will serve to illustrate her general conduct.  A neighbouring farmer’s wife had presented me with some very pretty hens, who followed to the call of old Betty Fye’s handsome game-cock.  I was always fond of fowls, and the innocent Katie delighted in her chicks, and would call them round her to the sill of the door to feed from her hand.  Mrs. O—–­ had the same number as I had, and I often admired them when marshalled forth by her splendid black rooster.  One morning I saw her eldest son chop off the head of the fine bird; and I asked his mother why she had allowed him to kill the beautiful creature.  She laughed, and merely replied that she wanted it for the pot.  The next day my sultan walked over to the widowed hens, and took all his seraglio with him.  From that hour I never gathered a single egg; the hens deposited all their eggs in Mrs. O—–­’s hen-house.  She used to boast of this as an excellent joke among her neighbours.

On the 9th of June, my dear little Agnes was born.  A few days after this joyful event, I heard a great bustle in the room adjoining to mine, and old Dolly Rowe, my Cornish nurse, informed me that it was occasioned by the people who came to attend the funeral of Phoebe R—–.  She only survived the removal of the family a week; and at her own request had been brought all the way from the —–­ lake plains to be interred in the burying ground on the hill which overlooked the stream.