AVENTURES IN READING

Isaac Werner lived before the automobile, so his equivalent love affairs were with his horses, particularly with Dolly Vardin, the little gray mare he bought for $115 and named after a Charles Dickens character. In order to pay for her and borrow enough to buy other things he would need, now having a horse, he recorded in his journal: “I took loan at $350 at 10 percent and straight on my homestead for 5 years, interest due every six months.”