THE HEN FEVER. 145 



that his favorite Oochin-China crower had been ill for a 

 day or two ; and he ordered twenty grains of jalap to be pre- 

 pared for his fine bird. By some mistake his toddy was 

 given to the crower, and he swallowed the hen-medicine 

 himself, and retired to bed. 



He slept soundly for a time, but was visited with shock- 

 ing dreams. He fancied himself to be a huge rooster — one 

 of the biggest kind; that he had taken all the premiums at 

 all the shows, and that he had finally been set to hatch 

 over a bushel of Shanghae eggs. It was the twentieth day, 

 at last, and the chickens commenced to come forth from 

 their shells beneatli him. He dare not move, — his fowl- 

 cure was at work, — and his critical position, for the time 

 being, can be better imagined than portrayed. With a des- 

 perate effort, and a shrieking crow, he at length sprang from 

 his couch, dashed out of doors, and, since the day after- 

 wards, has resolved to eschew the use of jalap among hia 

 poultry, — a determination which, in all candor, we recom- 

 mend earnestly to the hen-Galens who imagine that a hen 

 is "a human." 



It had now become an every-day occurrence to hear of 

 black chickens emerging from what were "warranted" 

 pure white fowls' eggs ; top-knot birds peeped forth from 

 the eggs of pure-bred anti-crested hens ; and all colprs an^ » 

 shapes and varieties of chickeng, except those that they 

 13 



