Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1872-01-06
"IT'S QUITE TRUEw

i" That's terrible affair" said Hen ;
and she said it in quarter Of the town
where the occurrence had not happened !;
"That is a terrible affair in the poultry
house. cannot sleep alone toni ght! 1t
1t is quite fortunate that there are many
Of us on the roost togethcr!" And she
told tale, at which the feathers Of the
other birds stood on end, and the cocks
comb fell down flat. It's quite true!
But we will begin at the beginning !;
and the beginning begins in the poultry
house in another part of the town. The
sun went down, and the fowls jumped up
on their perch to roost. There was Hen,
with white feathers and short legs, who
laid her right number Of eggs, and was a
respectable hen in every way; as she few
up on the roost she pecked herself with
her bcak, and a little feather fell out,
There it goes :" said she; " the more
| peck myself the handsomer grow"
Aud she said it quite merrily, for she was
a joker among the hens, though, as have
said, she was respectable; and then she
went to sleep.
1t was dark all around; hen sat by hen,
but the ono that sat next to the merry
Hen did not sleep; she heard and she
didn't hear, as one should do in this world
if one wishes to live in quiet but she
could not refrain from telling it to her next
ncighbor.
"dd you hear what was said here just
now? | name no names but here is
hen who wants to peck her feathers out to
look we'll. IF were cock l would dis
pise her."
And Just above the hens sat the Owl,
with her husband and little owlets; the
family had sharp ears, and they all heard
every word that the Tel ghboring Hen had
spoken, and they rolled their eyes, and
the Mother-Owl clappcd her wings aud
said
Don't listen to it! But I suppose
you heard what was said there? heard
it with my own cars, and one must hear
much before ones ears fall off There is
one among the fowls who has SO completely
forgotten what is becoming conduct in
hen that she pulls out her feathers, and
then lets the cock see her.
"Prenes ,garde our enfants," said the
! Fathcr-Owl. "That's not fit for the child
/ rem to hear"
"I'll tell it to the neighbor owl; she's
a very proper owl to associate WITH" and
she flew away.
Hoo! hoo! to-whoo,' they both
screeched in front Of the neighbor's dove
cot to the doves within. Have you heard
it? Have you heard it? Hoo. hoo
there's hen who has pulled out all her
feathers for the sake of the cock. She'll
die with cold, if she's not dead already"
"Coo coo! Where, whcrc!' cried the
Pigeons.
"In the ueighbor's poultry-yard. I've
as good as seen it myself. It's hardly prop.
er to repeat the story, but it's quite true"
"Believe it! every single word of it,"
cooed the Pigeons, aud they cooed down
into their own poultry yard. There's
hen, and some say that there are two Of
them that have plucked out all their fcath-
ers, that they may not look like the rest,
and they may attract the cocks attention.
That's bold game, for one may catch cold
and die of fever, and they are both
dead"
awake up. wake up!" crowed the
Cock, and he flew up on the plank; his
eyes were still heavy with sleep, but yet he
crowed. "Three hens have died Of an
unfortunate attachment to cock. They
have plucked out all their feathers. That's
terrible story, l won't keep it to myself;
let it travel further"
"Let it travel further!" piped the Bats
and the fowls clucked aud the cocks
crowed, "let it 60 further! let it 60 farth-
err" And so the story travelled from
poultry yard to poultry.yard, and at last
came back to the place from which it had
gone fourth.
Give fowls," it was told, shave
plucked out all their feathers to show
which of them had become thinuest out Of
love to the cock; and then they have
pecked each other and fallen down dead,
to the shame aud disgrace of their fami-
lies, and to the great loss of the proprie-
tor"
And the hen who had lost the little
loose feather, of course did not know her
own story again; and as she was a very
respectable Hen, she said,
IL despise those fowls; but there are
many of that sort One ought not to hush
up such thing, and shall DO what lean
that the story may get into the papers,
and then it will be spread all over the
country, and that will serve those fowls
right, and their families too"
1t was put into the newspaper; it was
printed; and it's quite true-thdt one IT.
tie feather may s,ceN til IL becomes .ere
fowls. ls.-Hans Christian Anderson.
.U The system of partial dessication
by currents Of refrigerated air, which was