The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1907-12-22
A LIFELONG ACQUAINTANCE.
Gentle Nature Fsker Tells What Game Or
EIs Interest I'm q Deserted FEE.

Gentle nature FRker EeihG what came OF
TITS Interest I'm q Deserted EEG.
The talk had related to examples Of in
telIigence n animals Of lower orders than
the human. :, would not he accurate to
speak OF any one II the takers az a nature
falSer. for all Of tho stories told had been
easy 90 believe. After a brief interval Of
silence one OF the group asked:
ANY one know anything about the lido
syncrasies Of setting hens?"
You mean sitting hens" some one sug-
gested.
Il mean setting hens the first speaker
said. emphasizing the word. IF any n
should ask you the difference between a
parliament and a hen you could safely sny
that one difference is that a parliament sits
and a her sets"
But doesn't a hen sit?"
Surely. when h isn't setting. standing.
flying, walking or scratching"
Does a men lay or lie?"
Both; she lays When she WANTS to set.
and she lies when she prefers 20 lie rather
than sit"
But you know that lie is intransitive and
lay is transitive. And il IL the same with
sit and set. You sit in your chair; you
set your glass on the table"
Does the sun sit? Do we say that the
sun was just sitting below the horizon.
or had just sat. or that 1t was an hour past
supsit? Again. if any one asks you why the
sun is like a hen. say that they both set.
intransitively."
Well. don't get excited" some one said,
and go OF with your story"
II once had q setting hen-not a sitting
-. - A. -. ..,...I aah.A III 49,. ,aaf
in a Clump " bushes behind the barn. She
set she didn't sit for three weeks; and
at the end Of that period If setting moi sit
ting she came of with a brood of chicks.
When | saw her scratching around out
side Of the bushes and making a fuss over
her chicks l found her nest and in 1t
was an egg that had not Matched. l carried
the egg into the summer kitchen and placed
it on an old blanket, where the warm sun
shine fell upon it through an open window"
Very kind of yOu-tO the egg" the
grammarian of the party broke in.
Il got my troubles worth. the narrator
retorted, "for within an hour a chicken
had CONF out of the shell. and that chicken
and | we're on good termsSof companion
ship"
He hadn't had tire to know you as well
as we do" said the grammatical purist.
without deigning to make reply, the
story teller u on, and as he talked his
mood became more serious. With hall
closed eyes he spun his yarn 10 its finish
and nobody interrupted him.
The first thing that chicken did, " he
said, was to pull himself together and
take a look at the shell out Of which he had
come. Then he began to notice other
things. / a n of them, and about the
iii e he made ms out he said. 'Peep2'
That peep was IN audible interrogation
mark. II was plainly a question. and l
said.
Certainly, my dear fellow. Anything
| cav to for you. But you must be hungry.
Il - chicken cooked it's head at hearing
a sou "a that was not it's own Teep. SOTe
flies 'sere buzzing on the window zane
and | caught one and dropped IL IN the
blanket before the chick.
He swallowed il and looked up 10 me.
| caugh, another flv. The chicken ate il.
And then its look followed my band as |
waa reaching for still another hy.
Gould 1t he that this tiry creature within
the first few minutes Of its life without u
curtain oC it's shell r~ecognigcl NY hand
as the instrument that gave il satisfaction
; swept the wind0wsill for a fly and misSei
H.. The chicken looked from my hand tO
my face and sail:
"'Peen?'
IF thar li,tle downy ball had Tired in
unmistakahle English Have You got him?'
.ie meaning could not have been Tlaincr
to me.
Honestly and soberiy. | never before
had felt myself 80 lainly brought face to
face 18th the mystery of mysteries. An
hour Or 80 ago an egg lay IN an abandoned
neat out in the bushes. Out OF the egg hal
come a tiny creature hat was asking me
questions.
TO me the questioning reep of my little
COmTa nion vas evidence of intelligence ~
C'ean cut, "a definite 40 far ~ il went. as
far beyond human power to explain. IA the
Intelligence Of the doctors OF PHILOSOPHY.
Fascinated by the mystery 80 naturally
and yet so strikinRly brought before me.
I continued to catch flies for the inn rudent
chick. rewarded for every effort by the
n'Jpstioning 'Pceu?' yet feeling for every
failure a regret | could not express.
The mother hen, wisely refusing 10 he
bothered by mysteries Of philosophy. and
having regard only for the welfare of her
oTsr probably would have permitted
her chicken "a eat no more than was good
Cor il at its first meal. But | kept On catch
ing flies for IL until something happening
about the place called me away.
when 1 returned a lifeless little yellow
hall lay on the blanket in the sunbeam in
which its lifetime of an hour had been spent.
During its life this tiny creature saw only
one other being of an order higher than
that Of the flies that buzzed about the
window frames. Yet that spark of intel
liHence left upon me-the only one of the
earth's living millions that il was permitted
to reach an impression hat will remain
10 the INC OF my hfe."
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