CHAPTER XIV. 



"bother'bm pootrums." bubble number two. 



There was something tangible, and real, in the " Cochin- 

 China" fowl, — something that could be seen and realized 

 (precious little, to be sure !), but still there was something. 

 The Cochin-China hens would lay eggs (occasionally), and 

 when they did n't breed their chickens with feathers upon 

 the legs, they came without them. If the legs were not 

 black or green skinned, they were either yellow or some 

 other color. Their plumage was either spotted and speckled, 

 or it was n't. And thus the true article, the pure-hxedi 

 Cochins, could always be designated and identified, — by 

 the knowing ones, — 1. presume. I studied them pretty 

 carefully, however, for five years ; but / never knew what 

 a " Cochin-China" fowl really was, yet ! 



But when, in 1850 and '51, the '■'■ Bother'' ems" begun 

 to be brought into notice, I saw at once that, although this 

 was bubble number two, it ought to have been number one, 

 decidedly. 



Kever was a grosser hum promulgated than this was. 



