San Marcos free press. [volume] (San Marcos, Tex.) 1877-1892, 1881-10-13
The Hen vs.. Science.
Bill Nye, in the Laramie Boomerang.

Bill Nye, III Tue LarbIuIe DOOWcCuue'
Dear reader, did you ever wrestle
with hen that had wild, uncontrolla-
BILE desire to incubate? 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 door knob, trying
to hatch out litter of front doors?
William H. Root, of this place, who
has made the hen study, both in her
home life and while lying in the en-
brace of death, has struck upon an ar
gument which the average hen will pay
more attention to than any other he has
discovered in his researches.
He says the modern hen ignores al
most everything when she once gets the
notion that she has received call to
incubate. You can deluge her with the
garden hose, or throw old 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 or nest of
new-laid humble bees in place Of them,
and she will hover over them as assid-
uously as she did before.
William H. Roots hen had shown
some signs of this mania, so he took
out the eggs and let her incubate ON
horse rake awhile, just so she could
kind of taper off gradually and not have
her mind shattered. Then he tried her
at Matching out four-tined forks, and at
last her taste got so vitiated 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 the 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
sash hung on her system that doesn't
match her complexion. A seal brown
hen with red flannel polonaise don't
seem to harmonize, and she is aware OF
it just as much as anybody is.
That hen seemed to have thought of
something all at once that had escaped
her mind before, and so she went away.
She stepped about nine feet at lick
on the start, and gained time as she pro-
ceededs When she bumped her nose
against the corner of the stable she
changed her mind about her direction.
She altele ed her course little, but con-
tinued 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 rec
onize the faces of friends. She passed
Mr.. Root without being able to distin
guish 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.
It 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 its treatment, and while it of
course annoys and humans the hen tenn
porarily, 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 these long days, that
there is nothing that soothes the ruffled
mind and fills the soul with glad thrill
of pleasure like the cratic movements
of decorated hen. 1t may not be a
high order of enjoyment. but it affords
a great deal of laugh to the superficial
foot to those who are not very accom-
plished, and who laugh at thing and
then consider its propriety afterwards.