The Mason County journal. [volume] (Shelton, W.T.) 1886-1927, 1899-03-03
Autobiography Of a Hen.

The following lisa composition bv
Mason County boy 'twefvs years old:
Early. fast spring was INSIDE o
lwhatI afterwaEds :!fannd QUIT an egg
Soon | commeqsed 3s. peep. aud after
wards made a. lltstea hole in theshell
with thsrile-likeeti1ia gsehat twas on to,
of my. head, ana sosasHioroke the shell
and stepped oft inftHo' 'the world, Q,
rather into The, nest L heard m,
mother say, "clusk SLICK and I got
under her winga,lda4ntd was NICE and
warm. Qne byrqne, ten other llttl.
chicks, just like myself, came out o,
their she'll. About, a, day after came
out of my shellsa liboy'came and put
US air into niss Clean coop. He gave
us some hard boiled egg, mixed with
cracker some good elean, cool water
and some finei SaRaato put into GU,
little gizzards. :,d s.fs:
For the first few days we STAYED nm.
der our mother, fibst of the time. ex-
cept when we Game out to get some
food,-whieh We il5 gEes tiiree times a day
or SOME wateT,, Il. a few days we
had some sour i sailk, which was fine.
The fourth day!aftsr I'VE came out of
the nest, one oftmE.sisters was caught
by a cat, and a rat ,icaught one of my
brothers. When was ten days old a
rat nearly caught ,ine, but I man mayed
to get away. The next day after this
my mother stepnsd on two of my
sisters and killed them. When was
two weeks, old, something that my
mother told me was rain, came down
from didn't know where; my brother
and ran out into it, although our
mother told us not to, and.ny brother
got so wet that he died, and was very
sick. but I finally recovered.
When was two months old, our
mother would not let us run with her
any longer, so.we had to get into our
box alone. After we had gone in our
box for nearly two weeks, and had
just gone in for the night, again the
boy came and picked up the box, with
us in it, and gave us nice little ride,
to where great many other chichens
IN house all together, and took us
out one by one, and put us on a long,
slim piece of wood, that.was called a
roost. At first we nearly fell off, but
we soon got our balance and went to
sleep. During the night fell off, but
was not much hurt, and after peeping
around little, went off into a corner
and slept there for the rest of the
night. In the morning the door was
opened, and we ran out into clean,
dry yard, where we were fed whole
wheat instead of soft food. Nothing
more worth mentioning occurred until
October, when I laid my first egg. /
went to nest and looked in, then
jumped into it and laid the egg. Soon
1 jumped off and started cackling: II
have laid an egg, my first egg, I've
laid an egg. laid an egg, laid an egg
an egg, an egg an egg, egg, egg, I've
laid my first egg" etc. AS soon as
the rooster heard me, he started, cry
ing the same thing, until stopped.
Several times that day L went to the
nest and looked at that egg. I was
very proud of it.. At night the boy
came and took it away, although did
not want him to. My two sisters laid
eggs, just like I did, although it was a
little later when they started.
AT time called Thanksgiving, the
boy came and caught one of my
brothers and five other chickens and
took them away,'ahd we never saw
them again The same thing occurred
at a time called Christmas. There
was great mourning after these two
times in the yard. There were ouIy
twenty of us left now, and we felt
quite lonesome, as there had been over
thirty. In March stopped laying and
wanted to set, aud at night the boy
came and put thirteen eggs under me.
am setting on them now, and have
been for 10 days. In three days ex-
pect to have a brood of little chickens
just like belonged to about year
ago. AS haye to stay on the nest
steadi1y,-only coming off for a little
while each day for food and water,CI
am writing this while l haye nothing
else to do. Perhaps some time here
after will tell some more of my his
tory, and how I raised my first brood,
etc. But for the present will bid you
farewell. Your friend. 1.-THE HEN"
Lulled Him to Rest Anyhow.
Not long ago a venerable couple from