158 THE HISTORY OP 



to be sent to you? " continued the fancier, desperately and 

 resolutely, at last. 



I saw he was determined, and I took his fowls (fifteen of 

 them), and gave him ten dollars. 



He smiled. 



"I have had the hen fever," he added, ^^ badly — but I 

 am better of it. I am convalescent, now," said the doctor. 

 " You see what I have here for houses; cost me over seven 

 hundred dollars ; my birds over four hundred more; grain 

 and care for a year, a hundred more. I am satisfied! 

 Your money, here, is the first dollar I ever received in return 

 for my investment. You see what I have' left out of my 

 venture of twelve or thirteen hundred dollars ; the manure, 

 and — and — the lice ! " 



Such were the exact facts ! His stock was selected from 

 the Marsh and Forbes importations, and the birds were good ; 

 bat, by the time he got ready to believe that it was n't all 

 gold that glittered, the sale of this variety of fowl had 

 passed by. A chance purchaser happened to come along 

 soon after, however, who "hadn't read the papers" so 

 attentively as some of us had, and who wanted these very 

 fowls. I sold them to him, "'cheap as a broom," because 

 the fever for this kind of bird was rapidly declining. He 

 ■ paid me only $150 for this lot ; which was a bargain, of a 

 truth. The buyer was satisfied, however, and so was /. 



These were but isolated instances. Scores and hundreds 



