The Washburn leader. [volume] (Washburn, McLean County, N.D.) 1890-1986, 1895-06-29

these exercises" SilaS began, because
he heard that 1 was going to deliver
the GRAFTON, I forgive him. That is our
privilege in this beautiful land of the
free. (Applause.) If we can't get
what we want we can take nothing.
And that is a privilege Of which more
and more of u people are availing
themselves. Even the immortal WASH
ington-(applause)-did not have in his
mind the vision of such a freedom as
that.
1--WE have advanced. Everything is
new. Even our sins have progressed
until an old-fashioned sin, like steal
ing, no longer gives a. man the stand
ing in the community which he used
to get for it. Such being the case, We
ought to have new symbols for things.
And that consideration brings me to
my subject, which is the need Of a
new national bird. The eagle is play
ed out. Nobody sees an eagle now-a-
days. Just as o o as we began to put
his picture on things. he retired be-
yond the reach of the artist. This
shows that he is a modest bird and a
bird Of good taste, thus emphasizing
his unf1tness for the position which he
occupies. 1t is appropriate, I admit,
TO retain his image on the dollar, for,
like the eagle, the dollar is withdraw
ing itself more and more from the
homes of the people.
"But a ~ a national emblem we need
another bird. We need one that will
typify the true character Of the Ameri-
can people. 1 would suggest the hen.
The hen has a commercial Importance.
She does not make money herself, but
a person car make considerable money
out of her if he knows how to feed
her cheaply and is shrewd enough to
cut her head off when he finds another
hen which will lay satisfactorily on
less grub. Now the eagle never
amounted to anything, industrially.
He locates in some inaccessible place,
and. when he gets anything, It is
nearly impossible to get it away from
him. In this respect he Is truly typi-
cal of our early settlers. Did you ever
they picked out when they come v
England with farm houses, and every
cred with rocks. Just so with the ca
gle. When he finds a tree that nature
is down on, a tree that has been brok-
en- in two, and struck by lightning,
he builds his nest right there. He
doesn't get much, but what he does
get belongs to him. And outside of
his own family you won't find another
eagle within 10 miles of that place.
The hen, on the contrary, is numer-
GUS whenever found. It is not worth
while to keep one hen. But, if
person has many hens, he can get a
profit over and above what it costs to
keep them alive. This tendency to
gather in great numbers and to belong
to somebody else marks out the hen
us the coming national bird.
"What good does it do a hen to
lay eggs? Did you ever see a person
fry eggs for a hen? Or boil or scramble
them? In short, did you ever see the
hen enjoying the finished product? I
don't think, as they say in New York.
She just putters along, and tries to
raise a family, and to- use her own
product in the way that seems most
desirable to herself. She doesn't know.
very much. or she'd find out before
this that the conditions are not IA
yorable. Once in awhile a hen finds
this out, and she goes off and lays
eggs where nobody "a find. them.
She wants them all for herself because
she laid them. That sort of hen is a
crank. And she never makes anything
by it. BY and by she appears with a
brood Of chickens, and pretty soon. all
of them are at work again laying eggs
at market prices for that kind of
work. That is business. but you can't
get an eagle to do it. Then, again, the
eagle is bald; and it is time that the
younger element got some recognition.
"If the hen Is adopted Is the nation
al bird, she would be represented SIT
ting on a china egg. When a hen gets
mad and quits laying, somebody puts
q china egg in her nest. She thinks 1t
is a real egg and imagines that she
laid it herself. For a day or two she
keeps an eye on it. She's waiting for
somebody to steal 1t. awa8 from her.
But the prudent person who owns the
hen doesn't do that. The china egg
remains and the hen is fooled. She
thinks that because she can keep that
china egg everything is all right. So
she goes to work and lays a real egg
on her own account, and the next
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