Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1878-02-27

strangers could not glance at her without
exciting in her this desire for admlrallo y,
to such degree that she would ieaVe On
eating, and strut forward in the moS'
ridiculous fashion.
Indeed, she would become so ABSORBED
in displaying herself, that one day she
tumbled heels over head through an open
scuttle in the barn floor, without noticing
where she was going.
At another time she was seen to PICK
up bright colored feather which some
rooster had shed, and stick it between the
feathers on her back; and this she did over
and over arain. as the feather would drop
off.
Some of the children who read these
pages may have had Il pet hen, but we
wonder if they ever had a hen so bright.
as the one we are going to tell about now!
A little GIRL who lived in Maine had a
little white hen which was called Pet. 1t
belonged to the kind of hen called Bolton
Gray, only it was white instead of gray. -,
The hen came to be petted and tanned
in the following way:
Its mother had sat upon lot OF eggs
and for some reason only succeeded in
Matching but one. And this little solitary
chicken seemed so lonesome with all the
other big hens and ROSTERS, and they were
so rough in walking about carelessl y, and
stepping on her, that this little girl
thought she would take it away from Its
mother, and be a mother to it herself
So it was brought into the house, and a
little box was prepared for it lined with
soft cotton, and every day the little chicken
was taken out and fed and allowed to run
about the house. As it grew up it became
very tame, and accustomed to the ways OF
the household; and gradually learned how
to ask for something to eat. When the
family were at the table Pet would come
along and with its bill, seize hold of the
dress of the little airl, and pull it several
times; and this meant that it wanted
something to eat. 1t would 90 to other
members of the family as well, and ask
for food in the same way. If it was
thirsty it would 60 to the sink in the
kitchen, where there was an old-fashloned
iron pump, and peck away at the cup
board.door beneath the sink, and make 9
loud rapping with its bill, and this meant
| JllaJ IL WdUleu SOlue Wulol W NliHh'
Pet was also taught to catch flies; anC
by simply putting the hand down in from
Of her, the hen would jump on and Cling
to the fingers; and then, by holding the
creature up to the window, and moving i
from one pane to the other, the hen woul'
rapidly catch the flies and swallow them
But the funniest thing for the hen to d.
and we never heard of hen doing soul
IL thing before,-was to slide down hill
with the little girl! There was steeI
hill near the house where the little gil
lived, and in winter there were nice slide
upon it. This little girl used to take he
pet hen with her when she went on
coasting,-or sliding us they call it i
Maine. For the hen wouldd sit quietl.
on The sled while it was going down hill
and when the sled was dragged up, sh
) would scramble on again and get rid
up! Sometimes she would slip off, for
was hard to cling on to the smooth top {
the sled But no matter how many times sh
tumbed off, she would chase after the sic
and hop on again, and thus get u ride t
the top of the hill and be ready to hav
another slide DOWNS. Nicholas.