Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1922-11-01

{ fat hen, and. anyway. ! don't see how
any one could have possibly done 1t in
f, the minute or two / had my eyes closed"
He visited the box where the young
! Fox was and carefully looked all about
| It for some distance around III search
| of feathers. Not single feather did he
find Neither did he find any tracks ex-
cepting those of Mother Fox. He would
have suspected her of having taken the
| fat hen away had he not been watching
| when she discovered that 1t was gone
+, and thus seen that she was as puzzled
and surprised as he was.
, Now, Farmer Browns Boy dearly
loves a mystery, as most people do. He
! likes to try to work it out. He knows
that to every mystery there is simple
answer IL only it can be found. SO all
the time he was at work his mind was
busy trying to work out the answer to
this mystery But he couldn't. No. sir.
he couldn't. The more he thought about
it the more mysterious it all became.
, That afternoon he went for a walk
in the Green Forest Somehow he can
always think better when he is tramp
ing through the Green Forest or across
the Green Meadows. So he tramped and
he tramped. and he thought and he
, thought But despite all his tramping
and all his thinking, he was as puzzled
as ever.
At last he reached certain dark part
of the Green Forest, and as he passed
beneath great tree he happened to
! look down. The first thing he saw was
a feather. He gave a little exclamation
Of surprise. for that feather was from
a hen, and it was from the same kind of
hen as the one which had so mysteri-
ously disappeared. OF course, he
stopped at once and began to look around
carefully 1t didn't take him long to
discover more feathers. Then he found
some queer little balls. He knew what
they were the instant he saw them. They
were the little balls made up Of the parts
of food which Hooty the Owl can
rot digest, and SO spits out. He opened
one or two Of them. There were
! feathers in them.
Farmer Browns Boy laughed aloud.
| He fairly shouted. and as he did SO a
great broad-winsed bird sailed out from
the top of that tree. 1t was Hooty HIM
self. 1t was the biggest Of all the Owls
-Hooty. the Great Horned Owl.
so you are the rascal that got that
! fat hem" cried Farmer Browns Boy.
You are the one that got that dinner I
| was counting on. No wonder I couldn't
! think where that fat hen had disap-
good than it would have done me, and
I'm not sorry you had it"
He started for home and as he tramped
along he chuckled. He knew just as
| we'll as if he had seen it all what had
happened. He knew that Hooty must
have come SAILING along On tHoSe silent
wings of his and seen that fat hen. Pos
sibly he had been sitting somewhere
near when Mrs Reddy first brought the
hen. Then when the way was clear he
had floated down like a great shadow
picked up the hen in his great claws
and just as silently floated away. 1t
wouldn't have taken him a minute to do
it, and that minute had been one of
those minutes when he, Farmer Browns
Boy, had been nodding. So for Farmer
Browns Boy the great mystery of the
fat hen was mystery no longer But
to this day it is a mystery to Mrs. Reddy,
for, of course, Farmer Browns Boy
couldn't tell her what he had found out
Copyright 1922. by T. ". Burgess)