Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1881-10-15
THE HEN VS.. SCIENCE.
HOW THE BARE-YARD BIRD NAY BE CURED OF THE
DESIRE TO NCUBATE.

HOW THE BARE-YARD BIRD NAY BE CURED OF THE
DESIRE TO NCuBATE.
Bill Nye, Laramie Boomerang.
Dear reader, did you ever wrestle with hen
that had wild, uncomfortable desire to incu-
batea Did you ever struggle on, day after day,
trying to convince her that her mission was to
furnish eggs for your table, instead of lowering
all day On a door-knob, trying to hatch out q
litter OF front doOrse
VIM. H. Root Of this place, who has made the
hen study, both in her home life and while
lying in the embrace Of death. has struck upon
an argument which the average hen will pay
more attention to than any other he has dis
covered in his researches. He says the modern
gets a notion that she has received a call
to incubate. You can deluge her with the
garden-hose. or throw umbrellas at her, or
change her nest, but that don't count with the
firm and stubborn hen. You can take the eggs
out Of the nest and put blooded bulldog OF a
nest Of new-laid bumble-bee in place of them.
and she will hover over them as assiduously
as she did before. William H. Roots hen had
shown some signs of this mania, SO he took out
the eggs and let her try her incubator on horse
rake awhile, just so she could taper off gradu-
ally, and not have her mind shattered Then he
tried her at Matching out four-tined forks. and
at last her taste got so vitated that she took
the contract to furnish the country with bustles
by Matching out an old hoopskirt that had gone
TO seed. Mr.. Root then made an experiment
We were one of a board of scientists who
assisted in the consultation. The owner of
the hen got strip of red flannel and tied it
around her tail. The hen seemed annoyed as
soon as she discovered it. No hen cares to have
a sash hung on her system that doesn't match
her complexion. A seal-brOwn hen with a red
flannel polonaise doesn't seem to harmonic and
she is aware of it just as much as any body is.
That hen seemed to have thought of something
all at once that had escaped her mind before,
feet at lick on the start, and gained time as
she proceeded. When she bumped her nose
against the corner of the stable she changed her
mind about her direction. She altered her
course a little. but continued her rapid style of
movement Her eye began to look wild.
She seemed to be losing her reason. She
got so pretty soon that she didn't recognize the
faces of friends. She passed Mr.. Root without
being able to distinguish him from a total
stranger. These peculiar movements were kept
up during the entire afternoon, till the hen got
so fatigued that she crawled into length of old
stOvepipe, and the committee retired to prepare
report. 1t is the opinion of the press that this
is triumph Of genius in the line Of hen culture.
1t is not severe, though firm, in it's treatment,
and while it, of course annOys and humans the
hen temporarily it is salutary in its results, and
at the same time it furnishes pleasant little
matinee for the spectators. We say to those
upon whose hands time hangs heavily theselong
days that there is nothing that sOothes the
ruffled mind and fills the soul with glad thrill
of pleasure like the cratic movements of a
decorated hen. 1t may not be high order of
enjoyment, but it affords great deal of laugh
ter to those who are not very accomplished, and
those who laugh at things and then consider its
prOpriety aIterward.