the mirror of sin
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he tried soap. He made tons and tons of soap ; but although he used pounds of fat, the soap would not lather, and, besides, it cost three times as much as the soap at the co-operative stores. It lay about the house for months until at last it had to be thrown on to the rubbish heap. Another time he read in some farmers journal that rabbit flesh was as tender as chicken, that rabbits multiply rapidly, and that breeding them was very profitable. So he bought half a dozen rabbits, and two months later there were so many lop-ears in the backyard that their pet terrier took fright and ran away. The folk in the town were surprisingly con servative and seemed to have mutually sworn never to buy a rabbit. Father Theodore talked the matter over with his wife, and they both decided to test for themselves whether rabbit was really as good as chicken. They had roast rabbit, baked rabbit, stewed rabbit, minced rabbit; stews and soups made of rabbit; rabbit was served up hot for dinner and cold for supper and put under crusts for pies. But it did not seem to make any difference. Father Theodore worked it out that even if they ate nothing but rabbit all the week round they could not possibly eat more than forty rabbits a month, while their rabbits were breeding at the rate of ninety a month, and each month the numbers would grow. So they decided to cook meals for other people. Father Theodore spent a whole evening writing out notices about ‘ The villa where you can get tasty, wholesome dinners cooked exclusively with fresh butter.’ The advertisement began with the words, ‘ Cheap and Tasty ’. The priest’s wife then filled an enamel basin with flour paste, and late one night Father Theodore went out and stuck the notices up on all the telegraph poles and on the walls near the Government offices. This venture was a huge success. On the very first 2
