The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-10-11
TAKING A MEAN ADVANTAGE.

In the city of Washington. as most readers of the newspapers are aware, the growing of roosters between the hours of midnight and daybreak is looked on as an unbearable nuisance, and many have been the devices sug- gested and tried with hope of finding a remedy. Washington people prefer to do most of their sleeping at and after midnight, and object to having their gentle slumbers disturbed and broken by the vociferous music of alert male fowls. We believe they have even gone so far as to suggest banishment of the whole tribe, if they have not actually done so.
 But 1t seems that the more humble hen comes in for a share of the anath- emas. True, she doesn't crow as q general thing. nor is she in the habit of cacklins at night. but she scratches. and this habit causes The Washing. ton Post to say:
 It was in tho face of a similar diff- culty up Syracuse way that the hen was saved by the wit of man. The hen was sentenced to death because, forsooth. she scratched tndustriously in the effort to supply her brood with the nutritious grub She chose her field of action unwisely. and the garden to be sacrificed. The man for the emer. gency arose and invented a device which was attached to the hens leg, but gave her no concern until she reached forth and sought to thrust her drumstick to the rear with that soil- rending stroke to which she was ac- customed. Here the ingenious device. which had been trailing innocently to the rear. asserted itself. It stuck into the ground and stopped the stroke. Not uncommonly 1t tripped and upset the industrious hen. The flower beds were saved. and likewise the life of the mother of the brood.
 Doubtless this may be enew to some. If not the greater number of readers and a further elucldation may not be amiss. We find it in The Charlotte Observer. which has a confirmed habit of explaining, or endeavoring to ex- plain, things. It says that the device referred to Is nothing new. and it has seen 1t tried in that region years ago, and thus describes 1t:
 1t is a stick about six inches long. 1 one end attached loosely to the hens leg, the other trailing on the ground behind. When the foot is raised to make devastating rend in the tiower- bed or. garden patch the rear end of the stick catches in the earth and ! stops the backward motion of the foot, which comes to earth In front of the would-bs scratcher. A similar effort is made win the other foot with like re- suits and the consequence Is that the hen involnntarily walks herself out of the gardes- CT flower plat. We have seen 1t tried and It worked splendidIy in theory. Mans ingenuity Is some times wonderful when rittsd aeainst the intelligence of the lower animals.
 That is taking a mean advantage of the poor hen. She doesn't intend to do any damage, or do harm to her owner. Her sole object is to provide for the brood dependent on her for living. as nature demands of her, and she goes about it In the way that na- ture and instinct teaches. Her sole object Is to provide food for the young ones she has brought into the world, and If she destroys flowers and plants while thus engaged she probably looks on 1t as a sort of side issue. If she thinks of 1t at all. Her object Is to find the worms, grubs and other dain- ties so dear to the chicks. and so nee essary to their existence and advance ment. and she naturally seeks the soft earth of the garden or the flower bed where the objects of her search are not only more easily obtained but can also be reached with least effort.
 But we repeat that this device is taking a rather mean advantage of