5/28/2023 0 Comments Boxer propertyFor the time being, certainly, it had been found necessary to make a readjustment of rations (Squealer always spoke of it as a "readjustment," never as a "reduction"), but in comparison with the days of Jones, the improvement was enormous. In any case he had no difficulty in proving to the other animals that they were not in reality short of food, whatever the appearances might be. A too rigid equality in rations, Squealer explained, would have been contrary to the principles of Animalism. Once again all rations were reduced, except those of the pigs and the dogs. The winter was as cold as the last one had been, and food was even shorter. Boxer's twelfth birthday was due in the late summer of the following year. For a horse, it was said, the pension would be five pounds of corn a day and, in winter, fifteen pounds of hay, with a carrot or possibly an apple on public holidays. Now that the small field beyond the orchard had been set aside for barley, it was rumoured that a corner of the large pasture was to be fenced off and turned into a grazing-ground for superannuated animals. As yet no animal had actually retired on pension, but of late the subject had been discussed more and more. Liberal old-age pensions had been agreed upon. He had, he said, only one real ambition left–to see the windmill well under way before he reached the age for retirement.Īt the beginning, when the laws of Animal Farm were first formulated, the retiring age had been fixed for horses and pigs at twelve, for cows at fourteen, for dogs at nine, for sheep at seven, and for hens and geese at five. "A horse's lungs do not last for ever," she said to him. Clover treated the hoof with poultices of herbs which she prepared by chewing them, and both she and Benjamin urged Boxer to work less hard. ![]() In the evenings he would admit privately to Clover that the hoof troubled him a great deal. Boxer refused to take even a day off work, and made it a point of honour not to let it be seen that he was in pain. They had started the rebuilding of the windmill the day after the victory celebrations were ended. Animal Farm: A Fairy Story by George Orwell (Chapter 9)īoxer's split hoof was a long time in healing.
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