Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-05-18

AVOID THE MAN WHO KEEPS HENS.
He II Apt to Be . Bore and Make Trouble
for His Neighbors.
esYNHE MAN WHO SITS AT THE DESK
l. next to mine keeps hens" said a treasury
employe yesterday. "Did you ever know a
person who had newly gone into the business
of farming chickens? Well, you're in luck.
Such fellow can't talk Of anything else 1t
doesn't matter whether he has q big flock or
only half q dozen pullets and rooster, it be-
comes frst-class hobby Immediately and moth
ing else is worth talking about from his point
Of view. Every now and then my side partner
looksup from his work, scratches his ear with
his pen and asks me if am acquainted with
this or that fact about fowls. ALI this morning
he was very gloomy and for some time /
couldn't make out what was the matter with
him.
FINALLY, found ont that he had lost chick
over night-one of brood Of eleven, and only
four days old. II / had ventured 10 sympa-
thize think he would have shed tears. He
showed me sheet of paper covered over with
figures relating to his bereavement. He said
that it represented loss to HIM of 600 eggs,
because every hen was born with that number
of eggs in her body, and he was confident that
this particular one was pullet She would
have been laying by next winter. when eggs
will cost forty-fve cents a dozen in the market
But, surprising that those fifty dozen eggs only
represented an average selling value of twenty
five cents a dozen, he was out $12.5O at the
least calculation by the death Of that unfortu
nate chick. His salary being only 81 200 a
year, 100 such losses would be as bad as depri-
walton OF his official income
That was his argument He frightened up
when suggested that fresh egg cost only
cents now and that only 100 degrees Of heat
and twenty-one days of proverbially cheap hem
time would transform it into a chicken contain
ing all the future possibilities to which he had
referred. He owned that the same idea had
occurred to him, and added that h had already
formed a plan for purchasing incubator.
Hens will not always set, and the owner cannot
call an extra session any time that he wants to,
like President Cleveland. But the incubator
never gets tired of transforming 2-cent eggs into
chickens with potential value of S12. 80 each.
MY side partner corrected me this morning
when l carolessly used the expression, AS sure
as eggs is eggs He saws that eggs are not al
ways eggs sometimes they are chickens when
you buy them in the market However, there
is no mistake about his eggs. Each one OF them
is dated with q lead pencil when it is gathered.
SO that the consumer on cracking the shell
knows exactly how ancient is the animal pro-
duct which he is about to gobble. 1t is true
that on one occasion an egg that | purchased
from him marked only forty-eight hours old
proved to be rotten; but he explained it by the
statement that nest egg must have been abb
stracted by mistake. l had wondered that an
ordinary egg should explode when Clipped, but
this theory accounted for it,
II suggested to him that he should date his
nest eggs after that. on devoting them to that
purpose, else buy china oues-so that the
consumer might be sure not to chance upon a
back number left over from the previous
spring He said that he wonld do it, At the
same time these dated eggs, which l bought
from him, used to get me into a great deal Of
trouble. l found it difficult to remember to
carry them home. They would linger in nv
desk day after day somehow. Finally. would
get them to my domicile and then nv wife
would examine the dates on them. They gave
me dead away. Why did Won not fetch these
home two weeks ago. James, she would say to
ME.
my side partner used to bring the eggs to
the department always in paper bag. That
sort OF receptacle does very well for the pur-
pose ordinarily. but one discovers now and
then that it has disadvantages. On one occa-
sion it happened that one of sixteen fresh eggs
which L was starting homo with had got
cracked in some way. did not know it. But
all the same. the moist albuminous insides
gradually exuded and wet the bottom of the
paper bag. The first notice got Of the cir
cumstance was when the entire batch of eggs
dropped through with one hideous slump upon
the stone floor Of the department corridor. /
paid messenger so cents for wiping up the
mess
Ibid you ever try to carry a paper bag full
of eggs IN crowded street car? OF course
the cars always are crowded when it is time for
me to so home. l discovered that the best way
is TO stand against the dashboard on the rear
platte rm and extend the bag at arms length
rearward, Managed In any other way the eggs
are likely to be crushed and to make an ex-
tempore omelette on the front Of some gentle
mans coat.
THAT reminds me of the occurrence which
finally persuaded me to quit buying eggs from
my en-farming colleague. / remember with
painful distnctness the night when / started
homeward with a dozen fresh ones-the very
last dozen-in the customary paper bag. had
been detained later than usuh at the depart |
ment, owing to which fact found plenty of
room on the horse car. Putting the bag full Of
eggs on the vacant seat by my side proceeded
to pcruse THE EVENING STAR. An item Of
great interest was absorbing my attention Mt |
the moment when q tat man with purple nose |
and dyed whiskers got aboard the conveyance |
Without noticing my bundle he sat upon it. |
Squash! turn sick when recall the dismal |
occurrence.
Naturally felt angry because my eggs were
smashed. was disposed to expostulate. SO
was the fat man with the purple nose. On his !
rising, which he did Immediately, the seat Of
his trousers was observed to be saturated with
a yellowish liquid which trickled slowly down
to his boots. He demanded an apology. l re-
piled that one due from him to me. Why
had he sat upon my eggs? The dispute became
heated. No doubt there wonld have been a
fight il the conductor had not interfered. When
dropped off the my adversary was being
wiped of with newspapers
'My wife buys our eggs at the market now.
They may chirp occasionally when they are
opened, bat they give no further trouble"
Erastus wiman's Financial Condition.
At the close of a conference between Erastus
Wiman and Attorney A. B. Fletcher. the latter
gentleman representing the majority of the
stockholders. made the following statement: