Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1909-09-23

knows who has tried it. And from pat
ting horses back it is only step to pat
ting his nose, and Of course one cannot
pat horses nose long before one begins
to pass him carrot or two, and from that
to Jumps of sugar Is the shortest of dis
tances.
So every morning that Mrs. Tuppins
went into the barn for corn whefewith to
pampcr the hens, there was such whin-
nying and stamping OF feet as you never
heard; and when Mrs. Tuppins came out
at last with her pan of corn-and was at
once assailed by her faithful but riotous
hens-her face was as rosy as could be,
and her eyes were as bright as diamonds.
So by degrees Mrs. Tuppins began to
notice the tomatoes, the plum-trees, the
parsnips, the currants, the flower borders,
the beans, the lettuce, the raspberries,
and all the other delights that lay just
back of the house. And when one gets
so far, one pulls few weeds, perhaps,
or waters the flowers, or eats few rasp-
berries while wondering If the plums will
soon be ripe.
When one is as bucoiic as all that, il is
distinctly irritating to be set at naught by
cross old hen that keeps growing crank
ier and crankier, and refuses to respond
to scientific agricultural treatment.
Old Spotty remained obdurate. She
seemed to think that they wanted her to
set, and she would not 90 near the coop.
Then she apparently considered thatthey
were trying to keep her out oil the chick
en-house, and she refused to come offthe
nest. Still trying to pamper her, Mrs.
Tuppins slipped dozen eggs under her.
and in due course of time Old Spotty was
leading ten little chicks around, clucking
at them peevishly, pecking at them for
nothing at all, and looking as if she had
more trouble than enough.
Now one night, when this foolish fowl
had been covered up in her little triangu-
lar pen, the same being placed near
similar pen which another hen occupied
with her five little chicks, there suddenly
rose such a commotion that Mrs. .lTuppins
ran out to see.
All of Old Spotty's chicks had deserted
their peevish and pecking mother; and
the other hen, whose family had suddenly
grown from five to fifteen, was so puffed
up with conceit that she looked double
her natural size, and could only with great
difficulty see out of her eyes.
And they were the merriest fifteen lit
tie chicks that ever peeped-playing tag
beneath the conceited hens wing, play
ing blind mans buff and puss-in-the-
corner and hide -and-seek and similar
games, putting their heads out from time
to time, as if to take the air, and popping
back in again as if they had suddenly re-
membered most urgent and delightful
appointment But as for Old Spotty,
imprisoned in her coop and seeing the er-
ror of her ways now that il was too late,
she was almost frantic. Such squawk-
ingl Such cluckingl Such terrible
threats to the puffed-up hen Such
anxious calls to the merry little chicks
Finally one little fellow that had not
found a comfortable place, or had been
''it' in the games too often to suit him,
tumbled out of his new quarters and
scampered back beneath Old Spotty's
wings. And if you had seen and heard
the rejoicing of that happy mother, and
the gentle way she cuddled him with her
wing, and the tender way she clucked at
him, it would have touched you as it
touched Mrs. Tuppins as she went slowly
back to the house.
"William," she said, after eating avery
silent supper, "you know the way you
love the cows and the horses and the
chickens and the garden and the bees and
the woods and everything" 2"
"Yes," said William, miserably, once
more.
"Well," said Mrs. Tuppins, with cheeks
that put the roses to shame, and eyes that
LETT the diamonds simply nowhere, "well
so do -