The citizen. (Honesdale, Pa.) 1908-1914, 1909-06-11
A CHICKEN WHO LOST HER
FEATHERS.

all.
well, Mrs. Chicken, who pulled
them out?"
why, really couldn't tell; but
they are gone"
well, that hen over there would
not take them; she never took any
before"
well, maybe she wouldn't; but
Won can never tell what she might
do"
well, isn't it funny; they ate
and they drank together and they
never fought or quarrelled and they
never had any suspicion that either
one of them would take feathers
from each other; but it happened
Just the same, and in a time when
it was least expected"
well, that's too bad, | feel
sorry for you to lose so many feath-
ers at one time; it will take you
some time to get them back again;
and how all the other hens are
cackling."
Yes, but it is not always the one
that cackles first that cackles last,
and we are none of lis too safe.
Maybe, sometime, that old fox will
come along and take some feathers
from you and then what will you
say?"
well, l will say that l trusted
them all and did not even think
that they would really take a single
feather. If they wanted to take
them they could have taken them
before, but when they are obligated
together not to wrong or injure any
one of the flock it seems that fra
ternalism is only matter of form,
and how quick all of us, chicks or
chickens, forget the vows that we
have taken"
YES" but one hen says, "feath-
ers are feathers. 1t does not make
any difference how we get them, so
long as we don't get caught at it.
| wonder if a chicken has con-
science and when she meets another
chicken and knows that she stole
the feathers from her, do you think
that it would be possible for her
conscience to tell her that she did
what was wrong? If it does, then
it will be troubling her every day,
as the poultry yard is not very large
and we are bound to see each other" "
Well" says another chicken, Il
Nnow it would bother me for a life
time and probably after that, II
there is any hereafter for a poor
chicken; and l don't think that |
would want to die with anything
like that on my mind and expect to
go where robbers do not break
through and steal"
We'll" says another chicken,
why don't you keep your feathers
secure? It's too late to cry over
split milk, or to lock the cage after
the bird is gone. Make the best of
it and bear your luck like a brave
chicken, and don't ask any other
chicken for sympathy, because SYM
pathy never helps"
Well" says another chicken, Il
wonder how many revolutions that
engine Will have to make, how many
shoVels OF cCal that fireman will
have to shovel, how many days and
nights he will have to work, and
how muck criticism ! will have to
hear before that seventy-seven
feathers come back. 1t was a
quick molt and maybe it will make
a quick growth.
Yes, but | hear that your feed
bill has not been paid for three
months. l always send my money
to the mill through the postoffice
on or before the tenth day of the
month, as they only give us thirty
days credit, and if you don't be-
lieve it just step down to the post
office in White Mills and ask for the
number of the money orders for
February, March, April and May.
You can't make any mistake, as it
was the chicken that lost the feath-
ers that made the remittance
Isn't it funny that dishonest
chickens always think that all
chickens are dishonest like them
selves, and they have got to cackle
all over the town so that every
chicken will hear them. 1t is q
good way to relieve suspicion by
pushing it on to another chicken.
When the resurrection of the dead
chickens is at hand, and they come
out of their graves, won't it look
funny to see one chicken with
seventy-seven feathers, that belong
to another chicken? Don't you
think that you will hear that chick
en- cackle, Lazarus! Lazarus! bring
me a little water so that | may dip
my bill to cool my parched tongue!
That is when the big book shall
have opened and it shall be found
out that you were stealing feathers
instead of laying eggs Do you
think that you will be able to wear
that Chinaman beak just as you are
wearing it now?"
well, did they take all your
feathers?"
mo; l have just one left, and
am going to shape it into a quill
pen to answer all the chicken ghost
stories that are going around about
| the lost feathers So if anv Of vou