The Iowa plain dealer. [volume] (New Oregon, Howard County, Iowa) 1867-1895, 1889-04-25

ment Of hens eggs, and presently the
whole six weeks had slipped by; and
ono morning when Miss Lizzie went to
unlock the door, there was madam,
very thin and meager-looking from her
long sitting but the proud possessor
o. . motley family. Every egg had
Matched; three little downy chickens,
seven fuzzy little yellow ducklings,
four pretty little striped turkeys and
one web-footed yellow gosling.
It was funny, funny family, but the
old mother got on very well with them
for time. and took equally good carr
OF them all. Soon. however, her un-
grateful chick-a-biddies began to spend
the most OF their time with the hens.
and finally they deserted her alto
gether.
Then the little ducks kept her in a
state Of constant anxiety, because they
would 60 into the water, which she
knew we'll enough was not natural
act with turkeys; she scolded them
roundly, but the result was that they
did as they pleased, and finally desert
ed her altogether and took up their
quarters with the ducks. So tho good
old foster-mother had only one OF the
turkeys left in her family. and that was
the goose.
But goosie-gosling made UP to her
for all the ingratitude OF her thankless
nurslings; he was perfectly devoted to
her, and followed right at her heels all
the time. After awhile, he ate SO
much, and trotted about SO much, that
he grew to DO big goose; and then
Miss Lizzie thought he ought to learn
to live with his own sort Of people; SO
one evening, after she had fed the
fowls, she decided to make the change.
And just here must tell you how
funny that feeding was. She never
called to feed; she used to ring bell,
and up they all would come, no mat
ter where they were.
Three times day that bell called
all the folks in feathers together. In
the evening, after they had eaten their
supper, they would all 60 without one
bit Of trouble into their different houses
for the night; and as | began to say,
Miss Lizzie tried to teach the turkeys
goose-child to 60 and sleep with the
geese. He didn't like it at all. he
would try to go into the turkey-house
whether or no; and what time he
gave poor Miss Lizzie, in trying to
have his own way! Finally she had u
high fence built all round the turkey
house which they could fly over we'll
enough, but poor goosic was 50 fat and
heavy that he could not, and then
what taking he was in! He tried
and he tried. he luacked and he cried,
but all the same he couldn't climb that
fence any way.
At last, when he found he could not
get into the turkey-house and make
believe he was turkey, he would
drop his wings. turn round, and make
straight for the goose-pen, crying at
every step he took. He had very
funny voice. and it sounded exactly as
~ nC 0dAus Ols "a. Oils la. d5 lag WCuG
along. Once in the pen, he was quiet
enough. but the moment the fowls
were turned out in the morning he
would run as fast as his fiat feet would
carry him to old Mother Turkey, and
cackle and gobble like the happiest OF
geese.
They were comical folk, these fowls
OF Miss Lizzie's! One day she took
some visitors into the hatching-house.
There sat the hens. sober as judges,
turning their bright eyes from side to
side. but not taking any other notice
Of the ladies. The ducks, too. all kept
their seats; they had come on purpose.
But those ridiculous turkeys! They
seemed to think the ladies were an in
vestigating committee OF some sort, SO
every one Of them got up off Of her
nest and turned gravely round. as much
as to say: Only few eggs we are
sitting on, ladies; you can see for your
selves!' and then just as gravely sat
down again. - Rebecca Cameron, in
Youths Companion.