"They would never touch the stuff if I gave it away, Helen. Medicine is like advice; if people have to pay, they will go miles to get it, even from a knave or fool. Why not charge something? My medicine is better than the doctor’s, and the cost not nearly so much. Besides, my dear, as I say, they would not come near us if we gave it away. It is the people who set great store on what they have that are most sought after." As our little farm had to be tilled, this required horses, and as the best were high-priced, and we did not have much money, Mr. Hayward contented himself with such as he could get at a moderate figure. It resulted from this, our selection being limited, that we were often scurvily dealt with by those having these animals to sell. Often by patience we could bring the unruly beast under subjection, but at best only partially; for of all things in the world a horse is the most difficult to break of a bad habit. In this way we came in time to own a great variety of animals, some of which, notwithstanding Mr. Hayward’s skill as a trader, he found it impossible to dispose of except at a loss. One animal of great stature that we acquired in the way I speak of had a trouble in breathing, but this we did not discover until too late, some soothing lotion having been used to deceive us for the moment. Indeed, so choked would the animal become with undue exercise that coming suddenly upon a croupy child could not startle you more. There were those who maintained that the Raven, for so Mrs. Hayward named him, was broken in wind, but this Mr. Hayward would not admit, ascribing the trouble mainly to irritation of the larynx, such as singers and public speakers are often afflicted with. With a moderate gait, however, the Raven would go from sunrise to sunset without show of weariness; and of all the horses I have ever known there was never one with a better disposition. So true was this that in the excursions Mrs. Hayward and Constance and I sometimes took at odd moments and in the way of indulgence, we always chose the Raven by preference. Fastening him beside the pole, he would haul a wagon with ease, and because of his great docility could be safely left beside the road or wherever we might wish to stop. For gossiping and idling by the way, no horse in the world could equal him. Indeed, from the manner in which he pricked up his ears, and a habit he had of changing from one foot to another, we came in time to think he understood much, if not all, we said. He must be driven quietly, however, and within limits. For if you but urged him beyond this, the women would hurry from their homes as we passed, to see if by chance some child had not been stricken with croup or other ailment of the throat, so loud and hoarse was his croaking.