FlVE ACKES TOO MUCH. 



tion was made informed me that chickens were 

 scarce and high, and that she only let me have them 

 as a special favor. Moreover, the breed of chickens 

 kept at Flushing is rare and valuable; they w r ere 

 either Shanghais, or Dorkings, or Black Spanish, or 

 something else extremely precious and desirable, and 

 none of them were worth less than five dollars a 

 pair. They were young and small, not yet exhibit 

 ing these remarkable attractions; but, as one old 

 woman observed when I suggested this circum 

 stance, &quot; Sure you wouldn t expect a little chicken 

 to be a full-grown hen the moment it comes out of 

 the shell.&quot; This was so clearly reasonable that I 

 made no farther objection, but purchased twenty 

 pair of the best to be had. A coop was built, and 

 the chickens turned in, Patrick remarking, in the 

 process, 



&quot; Indade, they were the smallest lot that iver he 

 saw.&quot; 



I explained that they would grow ; but he shook 

 his head, and seemed to doubt it, and immediately 

 proceeded to fill the smallest crevices in the coop, 

 lest they should creep through. 



Patrick fed and I watched these chickens faith 

 fully. They were rather unhappy-looking things at 

 the start, and as their principal amusement seemed 



