chickens. It was as comely a brood as 

 ever touched one's admiration ; fluffy, 

 plump balls of down, which make the 

 heart melt into tenderness at the sight of 

 their dependent helplessness and their 

 delightful peeps of "wit, wit wit, wit wit, 

 wit," in grateful appreciation of warmth 

 and food. Most of the chicklings were 

 black with only one white spot upon them 

 and that on their heads ; several coal 

 black ; others black backs and white 

 underneath ; one an attractive, fat, yellow 

 little fellow ; another cunning yellow 

 chick with a stripe of a darker hue on its 

 back and a black and white spotted 

 dainty. I certainly agreed with Mother 

 Hen that she had great cause to feel 

 proud and especially when it was her 

 first brood. 



The chicklings, even in their innocent 

 babyhood, displayed a difference in dis- 

 position. Each infant had an individual- 

 ity all its own and also its own peculiar 

 traits. A little black fellow, as soon as 

 he was able to cheep manifested strongly 

 the spirit of selfishness. This chick was 

 the runt of the family. It always com- 

 manded attention because of its restless- 

 ness and great voice. If its wants were 

 not attended to immediately its peeps 

 would come forth in wonderful loudness 

 for its size, growing more and more 

 insistent until they ended in agonizing 

 shrieks. Mother Hen was almost dis- 

 tracted, taking long, anxious looks at the 

 cheeping chicken and stepping around 

 hurriedly, a*s if on eggs. Often she was 

 driven to the verge of desperation in vain 

 efforts to find a remedy, for her limited 

 knowledge and non-experience could not 

 discriminate the trouble. Poor baby ! It 

 was not long for this world. It was sad 

 to see the baby die! Perhaps we mis- 

 judged it. It may not have been selfish 

 at all, but nature crying for relief. 



I began a course of training with the 

 chicklings on the temperamental plan. 

 Every day I brought them into the house 

 in a box and gave them license to stuff 

 to their hearts' content, of which they 

 were not slow to avail themselves. After 

 which, instead of showing their apprecia- 

 tion of my kindness to them, they used 

 what they considered the formula of com- 

 mon sense and wanted their mother. So 

 "peck, peck, peck," my finger would reg- 

 ister upon their backs. About a half 



dozen tappings were administered daily 

 for several days and proved to be suffi- 

 cient incentives for silence with all but 

 two obstreperous fellows who must have 

 been roosters, for they had an eye for 

 business. 



They were so slow to appreciate the 

 humor of the situation and it required 

 twice as many tappings daily for them, 

 and their course of treatment lasted a 

 week. I also discovered that there was a 

 great difference in mentality even in these 

 two belligerents ; Blackie was so much 

 more persistent and unyielding than 

 Spottie. Love making could be carried 

 on with Blackie only by frequent repri- 

 mands to awake in him a respect for the 

 presiding genius. This Blackie was the 

 leader in everything. 



Days went by and soon wing feathers 

 sprouted and the brood began the exer- 

 cises to develop wing power. No longer 

 were they content, to sit in the bottom of 

 the box, Blackie showing his brothers 

 and sisters how to reach the top. Like a 

 flock of sheep they tried the jump and 

 most of them landed. This so pleased 

 them that they had a great yearning to 

 try the sport again; in fact, to make a 

 business of it. I was compelled to pass 

 a prohibitory constitutional amendment. 

 Taking each party by the wings it was 

 given a swing. None of them, however, 

 seemed to relish the experience of unex- 

 pected heights and with an earnest pro- 

 test of energetic kicking and lusty 

 screaming settled down into contentment 

 except the two roosters. In the course of 

 chicken events Blackie had the longest 

 and most frequent swings. He forgot to 

 kick and scream. I sometimes wondered 

 if he enjoyed it, he appeared to take it so 

 philosophically. He had a great capacity 

 for the daily exercise and a week passed 

 before his scientific mind became clear 

 that a lowly seat is better than a high 

 and mighty one. 



For several days sickness held sway, 

 and when able to resume the responsi- 

 bilities of life I made a tour of inspection 

 at twilight. One chicken was gone! 

 What had become of it ? I got a lantern 

 and examined their domicile. The 

 chicken was gone. 



Every day when it was warm I placed 

 the feathered family where they could 

 play in the front yard. As they grew 



