THE AMERICAN POULTERER'S COMPANION. 



lawn, and useful fields, are all attractive with 

 their varied products of beauty and utility; yet 

 they fail to enlist that sympathy and feeling 

 which attractive animal life affords. How 

 very much more of interest the pet horse, or 

 cow, or lamb, excites among the little ones, 

 or even among the serious, than the choicest 

 trees, or shrubs, or flowers ! And as we descend 

 in the scale of size to certain limits, we intensi- 

 fy the interest of our children in the domestic 

 pets. The tenants of the poultry-yards, with 

 their youngling broods, are, of all things, what 

 earliest catch and rivet their attention, and de- 

 termine their devotion to rural life. By their 

 withdrawing their thoughts from trifling games, 

 ricious sports and indulgences, or idle, worth- 

 less habits, a great point is gained toward de- 

 veloping and maturing the future useful mem- 

 ber of society. Comparatively few who have 

 not the advantages of an extended farm can 

 indulge in the luxury of improved flocks and 

 extensive herds; but almost every one, not 

 closely hemmed in by the brick walls of a city, 

 can gratify their taste, and excite that of their 

 children, by keeping a few choice fowls. They 

 are far preferable to the usual pets dogs, cats, 

 and singing birds ; there is less danger from dis- 

 ease from them, much more variety, more scope 

 for ingenuity for rearing and attending, and we 

 need not add on which side the profit is likely 

 to be. If for no other reason, then, than to in- 

 terest the children in a useful, attractive pur- 

 suit, we would say to any person who has the 

 room, by all means keep some select poultry." 



It is well known that the constant supervis- 

 ion of most farm animals leads to affectionate 

 familiarity mutually cherished. These animals 

 well know their kind guardian from all others ; 

 when fed, they express their grateful looks, and 

 wanting feed, their attitude, their motions, their 

 beaming eyes, are so many beseeching manifes- 

 tations of hunger. It is not, indeed, human 

 speech ; it is not a written language ; but their 

 keeper understands them perfectly, and if he is 

 a man of kindness, he fails not to administer 

 to their wants and to cultivate the exercise of 

 their sympathies. Let it be asked if he expe- 

 riences no pleasure in his intercourse with them, 

 and especially in his ministrations to their ne- 



cessities? ,,Does their seeming fondness for 

 him inspire no corresponding emotions in his 

 bosom? Can he look upon them with the 

 heartless indifference that he surveys the stone? 

 beneath his feet ? Does no reciprocity of feel- 

 ing spring up beneath them ? It is not possible. 

 If it were, he would not deserve the name of 

 man. 



The greatest social pleasure felt from an in- 

 tercourse with, and a supervision of, dumb ani- 

 mals, is that which arises from a supervision of 

 the poultry-yard. This is to be expected. The 

 intercourse is more constant than with any oth- 

 er farm animals. In the time of rearing the 

 young, it is seemingly every hour in the day. 

 The feebleness and the recklessness of young 

 birds render this indispensable. In all cases 

 the strength of mutual attachments is propor- 

 tioned to the degree of constancy of intercourse 

 kept up. This is true in human society. It is 

 equally true in the brute creation. It is also 

 true where they exist between human beings 

 and dumb animals. Even in the stillness of a 

 thick darkness that lulls to rest earth's wide 

 realm, do we experience no pleasure at the un- 

 failing notes of chanticleer proclaiming the 

 hour of midnight or of dawning day ? We nev- 

 er hear these notes withoiit emotions of joy. 



And with the rising sun what an uninterrupt- 

 ed concert opens among the feathered groups ! 

 What a jubilee begins to greet the new-born 

 energies of the world ! With a hundred hens 

 constantly leaving their nests there is an un- 

 interrupted succession of their joyful notes. 

 Their mouths do not appear to be large enough 

 to emit all the boisterous emotions that animate 

 them. In the midst of this ceaseless cackling, 

 every now and then their lordly mates cause 

 the surrounding forests to echo with their shrill 

 crowing and rising above this, at measured 

 intervals, is heard the pompous shout of the 

 gobbler, almost causing the ground, like the dis- 

 charge of cannon, to tremble beneath him. 

 And if the Guinea-fowl belongs to this commu- 

 nity, as if to increase this vocal jargon, or to 

 make burlesque upon it, his harsh voice, not 

 unlike the filing in a machine-shop, is heard 

 for half a mile. If there is not music in all 

 this, there is life in it there is animation in it 



