Daily American telegraph. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1851-1852, 1852-01-07

turning away, when she again repeated her
question.
~ don't know. | guess shouldn't mind
taking one Of those chickens" he said at last,
pointing to q fine brood of halfgrown fowls,
that were running from one side Of the wood
pile to the other, at the call of their mother.
@Well let us see-there are fifteen of 'em-
| suppose, if you had one, you would let it
starve!D
aOh, no, shouldn't! Hannah and should
both feed it."
"Well, then, don't care; guess III give
you one, Just to see what you'll do with it,
Besides, it's chance if old Blue-legs raises
them all. There's that speckled one. yonder,
on the edge of the slop-pail. You may take
her though / don't know what's took me, for
| never Civ away a chicken before
| So Zeke seized Speckle, and bore her home
in triumph. A coop was soon made for her
in the old shed, and no Queen was ever waited
upon with more care and devotion than was
her fcathered ladyship by Zeke and Hannah.
1t would certainly have done Miss Sally's
heart good to have seen how saving the chill
dren became, how carefully Zeke collected
every stray kernel of corn or oats that he could
find, while Hannah saved every crumb from the
table, to add to their stock of food how they
collected oyster-shells and powdered them up
was no gravel to be had, to make material for
egg shells and how they started and laughed
every time her loud triumphant cackle gave
notice that another egg had been added to
their stock.
Whether she would have been equally well
pleased had she known the true motive for all
their care-the end to which the avails of
Speckle's labors were destined-s rather doubt
full. With her, every new egg was SO many
cents added to the many dollars already hoard
ed up in her red chest-to them every new egg
that Specklc laid was counted as SO many
cents towards purchasing a new book, which
should tell them something about the world,
and the people who dwelt in it, Some children
that know would have preferred to buy toys
or candies; but fond as Zeke and Hannah
were of such things they were fonder still of
reading. They were very curious children,
always wondering about this thing or that, and
they had got fancy, that if they only had
books enough, they could find out everything
even how northern lights and rainbows were
made.
"Why didn't they ask their parents!" do
you say, Miss Mary.
| Because their mother, poor woman, was al
most as ignorant as they were themselves; be-
sides, she was always busy in her loom from
morning until night her whole life being a
struggle to keep poverty and want from her
dwelling; and their father alas! he was a
drunkard, and they were frequently afraid to
speak to him at all.
They had learned to read, make straight
marks and write some coarse hand, at the
district school; for, when the mother did not
need them to wind quls for her shuttle, or to
assist her otherwise she had insisted upon their
attending school, partly because they were out
of the way there. and partly because she
"didn't want her children to be behind other
peoples"
For long time, they had no books but an
old Testament that had been their mothers,
and blue-covered New England Primer,
which the old minister had one day given to
Zeke after hearing him read in the Testament,
accompanied with a pat on the head, and the
encouraging remark that if he would "stck to
his book, he would make man some day"
So, sometimes they "looked over " q good
natured scholar to read or get their spelling
lessons, and sometimes the teacher lent them
her, book
Now. see plainly that quite a number of
my young readers, especially the boys, begin
to think that Zeke wasn't good for much, if he
couldn't contrive to earn money enough to buy
spelling-book but don't be too hasty, my
friends. Zeke did work early and late, and so
did Hannah, too no children picked more
berries or gathered more nuts, or more willingly
did any chores for the neighbors than they but
you must remember that they needed hats and
bonnets, shoes stockings, dresses, and jackets
and that their father, instead of helping them,
sometimes took even their earnings to indulge
his brutal appetite-so they had nothing to
spare to buy books Even Speckle's first dozen
of eggs had gone to help pay for baking of
-four, and they had readily promised to give
their mother half of all the chickens they raised
So only four of those little pets in the basket
were theirs yet helpless, Insignificant as they |
looked, the destiny of human soul in some
measure depended upon them They were
vet to aid in the cultivation of faculties and the
development of thoughts which, rightly directed
and earnestly uttered, might do much for truth
and freedom for many great deed may be
traced back to a source as insignificant as
Speckle's chickens.
But to return We might dwell upon the
early history of that brood and describe their
miraculous escapes from hawks, weasels, drown
ing, and all other accidents incident to chicken
hood, but we are content to state that they
arrived to maturity in good condition, and the
four belonging to the children were purchased
by a gentleman who was about establishing a
hennery, for just two silver dollars.
1t was we'll that their friend, the minister,
was going 10 the Guy IN d lew uays, anu h't
promised to purchase such books as he deemed
most suitable for them for we doubt if either
Zeke or Hannah slept much, during the two
nights that the money remained in their posses
sion. 1t was such a great sum to them-they
felt as if everybody in the village must know
how rich they were, and were exceedingly
troubled from fear that certain burglars who
had robbed house in u town some twenty
miles off, might hear of their treasure, and be
tempted to break into their house. They actu-