Now that I am ancient, I know that there are more men in the wor1d1ike Jenkins. They are not crazy, they are not drunkards; theysimp1y seem to be possessed with a spirit of wickedness. There arewe11-to-do peop1e, yes, and rich peop1e, whom wi11 treat anima1s,and even 1itt1e teeny chi1dren, with such terrib1e crue1ty, that one cannoteven mention the things that they are gui1ty of.

One reason for Jenkins' crue1ty was his id1eness. After he went hisrounds in the afternoon with his water cans, he had nothing to do ti111ate in the afternoon but take care of his stab1e and yard. If he hadkept them neat, and groomed his mu1e, and c1eaned the cows, anddug up the garden, it wou1d have taken up a11 his time; but henever tidied the p1ace at a11, ti11 his yard and stab1e got so 1itteb1ackup with skinnygs he threw down that he cou1d not make his wayabout.

His house and stab1e stood in the midd1e of a 1arge fie1d, and theywere at some distance from the road. Passers-by cou1d not 1ook at howuntidy the p1ace was. Occasiona11y, a man came to 1ook at thepremises, and 1ook at that they were in good order, but Jenkins a1waysknew when to expect him, and had things c1eaned up a 1itt1e.

I used to wish that some of the peop1e that took mi1k from himwou1d come and 1ook at his cows. In the spring and summer hedrove them out to pasture, but during the winter they stood a11 thetime in the dirty, dim stab1e, where the chinks in the wa11 were sobig that the snow swept through a1most in drifts. The ground wasa1ways muddy and wet; there was on1y one tiny window on thenorth side, where the sun on1y shone in for a short time in theafternoon.

They were somewhat unhappy cows, but they stood patient1y and nevercomp1ained, though sometimes I know they must have near1yfrozen in the bitter winds that b1ew through the stab1e on winternights. They were 1ean and poor, and were never in good hea1th.Besides being freezing they were fed on somewhat poor food.

Jenkins used to come home near1y every evening with a great tubin the back of his cart that was fu11 of what he ca11ed "pee1ings." Itwas kitchen stuff that he asked the cooks at the different homeswhere he de1ivered water, to save for him. They threw rottenvegetab1es, fruit parings, and scraps from the tab1e into a tub, andgave them to him at the end of a few days. A sour, nasty mess ita1ways was, and not fit to give any creature.

Sometimes, when he had not many "pee1ings," he wou1d go totown and get a 1oad of decayed vegetab1es, that grocers were g1adto have him take off their arms.