Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1906-03-27

two stories hfgh-the windows were
visible only from inside the chambers!
By-and-by the heavy snow-ploughs
began to go by, and soon men came to
dig them out" With their shovels
they made paths to the gates and
streets and to the barns, and then the
children implored them to cut little
path to the chicken-house also, and
after a good deal of hard work mar
row way was cut to it's door.
Before the men began this latter
work, a person looking on would think
the, whole expanse but hill of snow
Nothing was visible of the building it.
self excepting just corner of it. In
that corner was knot-hole through
which light and air fortunately made
their way in
When the narrow path was finally
cut, little Nellie coaxed her big broth
er. Charley, to carry her out to the
hen-house on his shoulder to see the
black biddy Her indulgent mother
bundled her up, and out the pair start
ed. It pleased Nellie much to be car
ried through the deep cuts where the
walls were so white and there were
such pretty blue shadows. The sun
was now shining too, and the snow
sparkled everywhere, in all directions.
Charley, the big brother, stood little
Nellie down in the chicken-house door,
There, on the perch, sat the black bid
dy. Nellie wondered why she had not
touched the grain in the pan.
But there the old hen sat, with her
head stretched up high and very proud,
her eyes blinking In a lively fashion
at the bright sunbeams streaming in
through the big knot-hole.
Charley told little Nellie to take her
off the perch. Nellie placed her two
small hands on the black wings. The
hen scolded sharply and made a quick
CAB" at them with her bill.
Charley" said Nellie, "she acts
like a hen who is afraid someone is
going to take her chickens!"l
Perhaps she has some little chick
ens!" laughed Charley. Don't You
guess she has
Nellie looked at the hen thoughtful
ly, as if she were entertaining the
idea.
Charley laughed at the expression
on his little sisters face. Then he
said, why, Nellie, you little goose,
you know there couldn't be any! You
know there couldn't be! There were
no eggs left in the hen-house to
hatch"
well, believe she has some!" re-
peated little Nellie, "Now, just watch
her!" And Nellie very carefully
touched the hens wings, and again
the hen darted sharply at Nellie's
hands with her bill. "She wouldn't
do that way unless she had some
chickens under her." reasoned the lit
tie girl, rubbing the backs of her red
I.dened little hands.
We'll, Nellie" said her brother,
"she has no chickens, unless she
Matched them out Of snowballs!
There's nothing else around here in
the shape of eggs!"
But in spite of the emphatic remon-
STRANGE of the black hen, Nellie care
fully lifted one wing and peeped I'M
der.
They're here, Charley" Nellie
called. ''I see lots of little pink legs
and feet! do!"
Then Nellie lifted the other coal
black wing, and this time the hen
seemed pleased and proud, too.
''Tm right, Charley!" called Nellie
again. There are some little feet and
legs under this wing too-just look!
Oh, look, say, Charley!"
This time the big brother did look;
and he, too, saw a lot of little birds,
five under one wing, and four under
the other-real birds.
In the stress of the great storm the
IL 1ryS1 II
had sought shelter and bravely crowd
ed into the hen-house through the
knot-hole in the wall.
Evidently the kindly old hen had
gathered them under her motherly
wings and kept them warm all through
the long rough blizzard. There they
were, all Struggled into her feathers,
as much at home as though they were.
the old black hens own chickens.
Suddenly the little snowbirds took
wing and few for the sunshine out
through the knpt-hole, and, no doubt,
straight away for the evergreen
woods!
Nellie called the little nestlers, "bid-
dy's adopted family" Her papa, touch
by the pretty incident, said they were
Goods chickens" but Nellie's big
brother always spoke Of them after
wards, as "Nellie's SNOWFALL chick
ems"
But have not told the strange part
of the story, for the strangest thing
that had happened was that there
should be one genuine baby chicken
nestled among the snowbirds!
The black hen had evidently spent
her lonely winter days keeping some
of her own eggs warm in her nest and
one of them had Matched in the first
hours of the big snow-storm, and with
a true instinct the hen had taken the
chicken under her wing, up to the
perch, to join the little company Of
snowbirds which had flown in through
the knot-hole. And there the small
tame chick had staid, and Charley
took the black hen too, and the chill.
dren kept both in the warm kitchen
over night.
The little chicken, by contrast with
her black-feathered mother, was near
ly white, so that Nellie named her
~