MR. URBAN AND A COUNTRY HOUSE 



ciations which are a source of pride; what if 

 my gallant fellow in white, yonder, with 

 golden legs, and blood-red comb, curveting 

 with wings down-spread, and giving a co- 

 quettish look to the demure feathered people 

 of his harem, comes in direct lineage from the 

 alert old Chanticleer of the House that Jack 

 Built? 



This is the cock that crowed in the morn, 

 That waked the priest all shaven and shorn, 

 That married the man all tattered and torn, 

 etc. 



Can we say as much, or fancy as much for 

 an awkward, frizzled creature of Shanghae 

 name, as stupid as the celestials with their hair 

 tied into a cue ? 



And yet those city gentlemen who have 

 come newly into possession of fifty acres, or 

 ten acres of farm land, are prone to distress 

 themselves with the notion that they have not 

 precisely the right breed of cattle, or hens, or 

 geese. Their griefs (allow me to say) — for 

 they will have them — will not rest upon so in- 

 considerable a base as a wrong choice of ani- 

 mals; any of God's creatures will be good 

 enough, if they give them requisite care. 



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