The star. (Reynoldsville, Pa.) 1892-1946, 1899-01-11
ABUAH BLAlSDELL'S HEN. ;
II Was Not the widow Who Gave Way.
ny SUSAN pRowN poBniSs.

'She's the most remarkable hen in
the country. ! know she doesn't look
it. No, she'd never take prize ut the
cattle show. She amt, SO to speak.
pure blooded. Some folks would even
call her mongrel, but think it's more
respectful to refer to her as compos.
ite. Why, she knows more than some
men and most women" and Abiiah
would gaze admiringly at his solitary
fowl.
"You'S think she'd be lonesome,
would you? Well, how about me? o,
mol we keep each other company. L
don't want any better companion than
Belinda, and she never finds bit of
fault with me.
Did ever tell you how il came
about that she was left here all alone?
You know | used to keep hens. | had
those three houses full. They didn't
do well, somehow, and one winter when
grain was extra high and the hens
didn't lay an egg, | got disgusted and
vowed I'd sell of the whole lot of
them.
"Well, hen man came along, and
he and | went out and caught the
hens, and an awful sQuawking and
dust they made, too. When the man
had paid me and gone of, felt pretty
good.
''But just as | tn ned to go into the
house i heard little noise, and there
came Belinda picking along as nice as
you please. | was mad, and / told
her then and there that she needn't
think she could get the best of me
that way, and Just as soon as I'd eaten
up mess of corned beef I'd Just got,
I'd kill her and have chicken pie.
"She looked up at me and craiked,
the way she has. She gives two or
three craikes like an ordinary hen,
and then her voice kind of breaks in
a long, pitiful wall. 1t sounded just
as if she said 900, don'tp if you'll
believe me, | said out loud to her, All
| right, | won't.
'Since then she's had things about
her own way. | was going to tear
down the henhouses, but Belinda she
likes TO use all of 'em, so | didn't.
She always lays in the first one. The
second one she has for n dining room
and living room, and she sleeps in the
third one.
''Yes, it's some trouble to take care
of them all, but as long as Belinda is
satisfied l don't find any fault.
Lay? You never saw hen that
would lay as she does. She hasn't
missed day in six months.
"And it's funny thing, too. Ny
aunt Nancy came here on visit and
stayed month. Now, she hates hens,
but she likes eggs. Well, what do
you think? All the time she was here,
Belinda didn't lay a single egg! But
she began again the very day aunt
Nancy went away. She knew what
aunt Nancy was just as we'll as I did,
and she wanted to spite her.
"Why, don't know but / should
have got married before now if it
hadn't been for Belinda, but / don't
suppose she'd like to have any other
woman around"
Thus would Abijah Blaisdell run on
about his hen, as long as any one
would listen to him.
The widow Millett, Abijah's next
door neighbor, talked a good deal
about the hen, but in different strain,
She addressed her remarks to herself :
or to the hen, so no one was the
wiser. She hated hens in general,
and Belinda in particular.
''If you'd mind your own business
and keep on your own side of the
fence, / wouldn't say word, but |
won't have you in my flower beds.
Shool scat! and she would shake her
skirts at the intruder, and with a
frown on her usually placid face, chase
the hen off her premises.
''1t isn't alone that you are hen, I"
she would say again, as she sat at her
window and looked over across at
Abiiah's yard where Belinda could be
seen. But it's your being his hen,
and making him the laughing stock OF
the neighborhood. He acts Just as if
you were q person, and he seems to
have forgotten my existence.
''ro be sure, he never did take
much notice of me, but there was q
time when thought" here she
would break off and blush a little
swell, any way, should think you d
be ashamed to make a grown man act
so silly"
AS time went on her hatred of Be-
linda increased. There seemed to be
an irresistible fascination for the bed
in Mrs. Millett's garden, and nearly
every day found her scratching there.
81 never did see hen that knew
anything" the widow would say
wrathfnlly, "and | believe you know
the least of any of them"
She spoke to Abilah about keeping
his hen at home, and he fixed up the
fence with that object in view, but
fences were nothing to Belinda. She