A WOMAN^S HARDY GARDEN 



ways been liens and chickens. These crea- 

 tures were provided with houses and yards 

 and fences, and given every inducement to 

 remain where they belonged ; yet with diabol- 

 ical ingenuity they would escape from their 

 quarters, dig under the fence, fly over it, or 

 some one would leave a door or a gate open, 

 and then, with one accord, all the flock would 

 make for the gardens and scratch and roll 

 in the borders. This sort of thing happened 

 repeatedly, until I felt there must be a 

 league between the farmer's wife and the 

 hens. But the limit of endurance was 

 reached when, one afternoon, coming out to 

 look at a bed of several dozen Chrysanthe- 

 mums set out in the morning, I found the 

 poor plants all scratched out of the ground, 

 broken and wilted. Then in wrath the fiat 

 went forth, *' No more hens on this farm, 

 those on liand to be eaten at once." For 

 days a patient family had hen soup, hen 

 croquettes, hen salad and hen fricassee, until 

 the last culprit came to her end. 



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