St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1875-05-28
It's Quite True"

FOR CHILDREN OLD AND YOUNG.
That il II terrible affair. said Il hen Il:
and she said it i'll a quarter of the town
where the occurrence had not happened.
That is IL terrible affair in the poultry
house. cannot sleep alone Tonight :,
1t is quite fortunate that there are many
of us Oh the roost together and she
told Il tale, III which the feathers of the
other binds stood on end. and the cock
comb fell down fiat. It's quite true,
But we will begin ut the beginning
and the beginning begins in 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 IL respectable hen in every way as
she flew up on the rooSt she peckcd
herself with her heak. aud little teath-
CT fell out.
There il goes - said she. the more
peck myself the handsomcr grow :"
and she said it quite mcrrily. for she
WAS Joker among the hens. though aS
| have SAID she WAS very respectable. =
aud then she went To sleep.
Ii was dark all around hen sat bv
hen, but the one that sat next To the
merry hen did not sleep: she heard and
didn't hear. us one should do in this
world if one wishes to live in quiet :
but she could not refrain from telling it
I" her next nciyhhor-" Did You hear
what WAS said here just now ! name
no names: hut here is hen who wants
to peck her feathers ont to look well :,
4 | 1 Il, a. han.
And Just above the hens sat the owl
With her husband and hen little owlct> :
the family had sharp ears. they all
heard eveIN word that the nei%hhorin"
hen had spoken. and they rolled their
eyes. and the mother owl clapped her
wings and said, "Don't listen to il But
| suppose you heard what WAS said.
there heard il with my own ears.
and one must hear much before ones
ears fall of! There is one among the
fowls who has 50 completely forgotten
what is becoming conduct III Il hen that
she pulls out all her feathers. and then
lets the cock see her"
"Prenec gdIie dur entdnts. said the
father owl. That's not lit for the chill
drrm to hear
I'll tell it to the neighbor owl she's
Il very proper owl to associate with. =
and she flew away.
Hoo hoo, to-whoo," they both
screeched in front of The neighbol's
dovecot to the doves within. "Have
YOU heard it? Have Won heard it ? Hoo,
hoo. there's IL 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"
Goo. coo, Where. where p cried
the pigeons. in the neighbor's poultry
yard. I've us good us seen it myself
It's hardly proper t" repeat the story.
It's quite true -
"Believe it believe every single
word of it! cooed the pigeons. and
they cooed down into their own poul-
try-yard. "There's Il hen. and some
say that there are two of them. that
have pluckd out all their feathers that
they may not look like the rest. and
that they may attract the cocks atten-
ton. That's IL bold game. for one may
catch cold and die of Il fever. and they
are both dead"
''Wakeup, wake up, crowcd the cock
and he flew upon the plank his eyes
were still heavy with sleep: but vet he
crowed. Three hens have died of an
unfortunate attachment to Il cock. They
had plucked out all their feathers.
That 5 a terrible story. | won't keep it
to my self; let it travel further"
Let it travel further" piped the
bats. and the fowls clucked and the
cocks crowed. Let it go further let
II 90 further. and :" the story travelled
from p"ultly-yard to poultry yard, and
at last came back to the place from
which it bad gone forth.
Five fowls" it was told. have
plucked ont all their feathers to show
which of them had become thnnest ont
of love to the cock and then they had
pecked each other. and fallen down
dead. to the shame and disgrace of THEN
families and to the great loss of the
proprietor -
And the hen who had lost the littl,
loose feather. of course did not know