Improving the Imperfect Hen 



Ingenious man, after considering the hen, 

 reduces her to a mere egg-laying machine 



IF occasional as- 

 saults upon the 

 jxitcnt office by in- 

 genious, inventive 

 gentlemen from all 

 parts of this coun- 

 Iry are to be taken 

 seriously, Mother 

 Nature made some 

 silly mistakes when 

 she devised and 

 constructed the 

 gallus domeslicits, 

 otherwise known 

 as the barn\ard 

 fowl. 



When Nature 

 prf)\-ided the hen 

 with two legs, a 

 head, feathers and 

 a mysterious in- 

 ternal mechanism 

 which disgorges an 

 egg on occasion, 

 she left the poor 

 thing with a woefully 

 ment for living the 

 view of Nature's 

 mightier than the 



By George AVorts 



A hen handle. With it, the fowl may 

 be effectually powdered. The v.'ing-clip 

 clamps the members securely while 

 the germicide is being applied liberally 



incomplete equip- 

 barnyard life. In 

 negligence, brains 



hen's now Ijuzz 



through the long 

 da>s, concei\ing 

 api)aratus, mecha- 

 nisms and "de\ic- 

 es" — mostly "de- 

 vices" — for mak- 

 ing the imperfect 

 gallits dotneslicns 

 live a blamelessly 

 chaste and wortl:- 

 while existence. 



If the learned 

 opinions of poultry 

 improvers could be 

 combined into a 

 barnyard creed 

 which the hen 

 could study at her 

 leisure, and if it 

 were printed legi- 

 bly and tacked up 

 con s ]) i c u on si y 

 within and wilh- 

 ojt the lien roost, 

 then the hen might 

 raise herself in the estimation of those 

 who consider her imperfect. \\'hy not, 

 indeed? The suggestion is offered freely 

 to the entire iioulirN- uni\erse. \Vli\' not 



An III ]' i! ;i r : ilic rooster's beak will 

 reveal the reason for his apparent peni- 

 tence. Inventive man has muzzled the 

 rooster. The reason being that he (the 

 rooster) occasionally plucked bcakfuls 

 of feathers from the wings of his wives 



The ghost-like figure of a lu-n st-t-u ■ 

 over the hen house mirrors the thoughts 

 and desires of the hen in the foreground. 

 Her wing is clamped to her side by 

 means of a capalile wire clip. She 

 cannot fly; she can only dream of flying 



?()« 



