CHAPTER FIFTEEN 

 HAPPY ANIMALS 



1 ERHAPS I have said enough already about mak- 

 ing our animals happy, but I can afford a short 

 chapter to my hobby. I remember with sweet ten- 

 derness a little mother who, when a sudden storm 

 came up, fixed open umbrellas over her hens, that 

 were hitched by their legs to keep them from set- 

 ting. The less merciful wind lifted the umbrellas 

 into the tops of neighboring apple trees. All the 

 same, the little mother had done her best, and 

 shown that she had a heart. The hens clucked on 

 in the teeth of the storm, and oiled themselves from 

 nature's oil can. 



A neighbor, who had collected the water from 

 the hills into his stable yard, where he had a splen- 

 did fountain bubbling fresh for his horses, built 

 over it a great well-house. I asked him why he 

 did it, and he said it was purely to save time. 

 *' Perhaps, sir," he said, "you never noticed that 



