238 THE HISTOKY OF 



" But we laust say that his pretensions to being an ' wra- 

 ■porter' of these fowls, to having the 'originaV stock, to 

 being the importer of the fowls he sent to England, is the 

 greatest deception that ever came under our observation. 

 But this is only in character with the general transactions 

 of the man. In his dealings generally he seems to have 

 had no other object in view but to get all he could for his 

 fowls, with no regard to their merits. This is shown by a 

 letter of his, which we have in our possession, written in 

 1852 to Dr. Bennett, in which he uses the following lan- 

 guage, in regard to fowls : 'Anything that will sell. — 

 bah ! ' _ 



"We will take the liberty to digress a moment, to make 

 a few remarks on his penchant for the use of the expression 

 'bah! ' which is his common habit in correspondence. When 

 Burnham was a loafer at large, previous to his foul specu- 

 lations, it is said that }ie was very fond of mutton ; and 

 as many a fat lamb was missed in the vicinity where he re- 

 sided, it was more than suspected that he knew what became 

 of them. Whether this be so or not, it seems that ' bah ' is 

 ever escaping from his lips, a judgment, as it were, for the 

 alleged iniquity of disturbing the nocturnal peace of that 

 quiet animal. * * * * 



" Now, friend Burnham, do be civil and honest. Your 

 having sold ' premium ' Cochins all over the country, with 

 the real ' premium ' fowls in your own yard, will soon be 

 forgotten, and you may yet be considered a clever, honest 

 fellow ; but you must stop pretending to be an ' importer ' 

 of fowls." 



I was thus charged with putting my "friend" hors du 

 combat, with lying generally, with sheep-stealing, with 

 selling " premium " fowls over and over again, as well as 

 with striving to get all I could for my poultry,^— i\m 

 last offence being the most heinous of all ! BuJ, as I lived 



