THE HEN FEVER. 25 



wheat flour — was announced as having been squandered 

 for a single pair of chickens. 



I sold some fowls at that show. I did n't bi4y any there, 

 I believe. 



The receipts at the gates paid the expenses of the exhibi- 

 tion, and left a small surplus in the hands of somebody, — I 

 never knew who, — but who took good care of the money, I 

 have not a doubt ; as most of the officers at that time were, 

 like myself, " poor, but honest." 



By the time this fair closed, the pulse of the "dear 

 people " had come to be rather rapid in its throbs, and the 

 fever was evidently on the increase. Fowls were in de- 

 mand.<i Not good ones, because nothing was then said by 

 the anxious would-be purchasers about quality. Nobody 

 had got so far as that, then. They wanted fowls only, — 

 hens and cocks, — to which they themselves gave a name. 



Some fancied one breed, or variety, and some another : 

 but anything that sported feathers, — from the diminutive 

 Bantam to the stork-shaped Chinaman,— everything was 

 being sought after by " amateurs " and " fanciers " with a 

 zest, and a readiness to pay for, that did honor to the zeal 

 of the youthful buyers, and a world of good to the hearts 

 of the quiet breeders and sellers, who began first to get 

 posted up, and inured to the disease. 



I was an humble and modest member of this latter class, 

 /kept and raised only pure breeds of fowls. 

 3 



