The record-union., 1894-06-11

and project away-who had laid aside the
tariff nightmare, and the silver bill, and
ambItion-had wrapped himself in the
mantle of chicken-raising by artificial
means and had forgotten all else?
A reporter went into one OF the artificial
henneries the other day. A young woman
at an unemployed typewriter turned her
gaze from the blizzard without TO the
incomer. The two were alone. 1t was
rather a surprising situation. The re-
porter had expected to find man with
Populist beard, hayseed in his hair, flour
dust on his clothes and feathers on the
floor.
us the proprietor in?n he asked.
He is not In the city. He is in Iowa.
He will not be here for week"
IAN Iowa farmer. Gone TO get eggs?n
"No. Gone to Des Moines to take
hand in the question OF prohibition. His
home is in Iowa"
sWho runs the incubator while he is
away?"
1.-The gentleman who is employed to ex-
plain it is not in to-day"
Here was .anOther unexpected sltua-
tlon. This incubator business has So
cietv attachment. That is, it has days
and hours when it is in and when it is
out.
"What day does the gentleman to
whom you refer incubate?"
The young woman perhaps misunder
stood. She seemed confused. She
turned her blue gaze again to the biz
zard. 1t became necessary to call her
back.
''What is the day for seeing eggs hatch
by steam?''
"They don't hatch by steam, she
said. as if her vaccination had just caught
on.
''What is the day for hatching?" This
was as short as it could be made.
1.-THE gentleman will be in shortly, /
think" said the young woman, who was
getting nervous. Wont you sit DOWN.?
The invitation was accepted. The
young woman took charge of an Emelie
Edwards novel, "The Royal Heiress,"
and was soon tathoms deep in it. A man
came in later and said he couldn't get any
fresh eggs. The young woman turned
down a corner of one of the pages Of
1.-THE Royal Heiress - and said that she
guessed fresh eggs were hard to get at
this season. The man said as between
hens teeth and fresh eggs the former
were a glut in the market. Then he
whistled a bar of Two Little Girls in
Blue" took peep at his face in the mir
ror, and went out. The young woman
returned to her novel. After silence of
twenty minutes the reporter ventured
again:
''If somebody would invent machine
that would lay eggs it would beat this
patent chicken raiser all hollow" he
said.
''That will never be did," said the blue
eyed typeiste, looking up from The Royal
Heiress."
''Why? In this age of the world, miss,
you may expect anything except solu-
tion of the tariff. That is one thing that
no incubator, or hatchery, or hennery,
will ever elucidate or make satisfactory"
II don't know" she replied. But [
don't see what that has got to do with
what you were talking about"
The young woman was right. The re-
porter had wandered from the subject.
I'VE were talking about Matching
eggs" he said apologetically.
mo, sir" she said firmly, ''you said
something about an invention to lay
eggs. Wouldn't that be cruel ?' she
asked, and then she answered the ques-
ton herself: Because it would drive
hens out of business"
IF you will pardon me, you are
wrong. There will always be a place for
the hen whether she lays eggs or not.
She has job in the spring to scratch up
the garden you make. She is an indis-
penSable at the clearinghouse in the
fall. She helps to keep worms and bugs
down."
well, that is So" she said, and then
there was another spell of silence. during
which the young woman read several
pages of ''The K. H." After this lapse
the reporter made another stagger.
Have you any pamphlets or circulars
or missionary works on ncubators, or
anything of that kind?''
20, yes,n she answered, rather gally,
and she put aside the romance of the blue
blooded inheritress and disappeared.
just as the II o'clock whistle of several
ria in fho ioir
young woman returned with book with
highly Illuminated covers; on the front
cover something about incubators and
brooders.
''You have brooders, too," said the re-
porter.
''What is a brooder. please?''
''You will find il all explained in the
pamphlet" she said.
The page on brooders was found. Af-
ter the explanation was read the reporter
said rather abstractedly:
Il see brooder is sort of step
mother to young chickens"
The young woman looked up from
''The Royal Heiress." and then out at the
blizzard.
The reporter thought to himself, "Great
Scott! She thinks [ am a crank or a
humorist," and he said at once:
ou must pardon me. l did not mean
Is
invention which keeps the young chick
ems warm and which has turtle-shape
contraption under which the chickens
gather themselves, just as they do when
they have a mother.D
She said that was it.
After another pause the reporter VEN
tured this:
1T is wonderful. 1 read in this book
that the incubator does everything ex-
cept laying the eggs. You get the eggs
and put them In here. The water is put
above them and is heated by lamp and
at a certain temperature. Then there is
an alarm clock attached to the incubator,
which wakes you up in case the tempera-
ture changes, because the temperature
must be kept the same, else the chick
does not materialize. The alarm clock
in this incubator is great thought. Be-
cause when one has just quit incubating,
gone out of the chicken business, rented
rooms in Prairie avenue boarding
house, and retired from business, one can
retain the incubator and hang it up and
have the alarm clock to call one in the
morning. Your book says that while the
incubator is not intended as an ornament,
il is not an eye sore. That is, it is a
pretty piece of furniture"
"Ihere is one in the window" said the
young woman, directing the reporters
gaze. He went over TO look at it. The
young woman called out:
Not that; that's hay rake. The incu-
bator is in the other window
After an inspection of the apparatus, as
means of securing other information,
and in the hope that the gentleman" in
charge might return, the reporter said
he had always heard that hen was the
biggest fool of the feathered kingdom.
and here was proof of it. Man had ut
last come to the same conelusion. The