THE HEN FEVER. 201 



"splendid" and deservedly "uni-i vailed" samples had been 

 put in competition with the stock of others. And now, at 

 the first great national exhibition, where everybody would 

 of course be present (and where the first cages that would 

 be looked for, or looked into, must be those of Mr. Burn- 

 ham, the breeder of the only original " pure "-blooded 

 poultry in the country), according to my agent's dispatch 

 I was wowhax ! 



This dispatch reached me at noon, and on the foUowiag 

 morning I was in New Tork. I looked about the several 

 apartments in the Museum, and satisfied myself who had 

 the best fowls there, very quickly. As it happened, they 

 were not inside of my cages, by a long mark ! 



Yet "the people" crowded around my showy coops, for 

 which my agent had secured an advantageous position, and 

 in displaying them (if I remember aright) he lost no oppor- 

 tunity in saying just enough (and no more) to the throng 

 who passed and admired their beautiful proportions, their 

 great size, and splendid colors. There were not a few choice 

 birds scattered about the rooms, — under the benches, or in 

 the far-off comers, — which my eye fell upon, which my 

 agent subsequently purchased at very modest prices, and 

 which found their way, somehow, into my coops. 



"The people" now stared with more earnestness than 

 ever. By the evening of the second day, my " pure-bred " 

 stock did look remarkably well ! And when the "commit- 



