THE INLA3SrD PASSAGE. 31 



his Tirtue. But this state of facts and morals is 

 changing, the darkey is turning poultry fancier, he 

 is getting to raise chickens and sell eggs, he is fast 

 becoming a bloated fowl holder, and regular goose 

 and turkey wing clipper ; in his eyes the chicken is 

 assuming a different status, and hen-roost maraud- 

 ing is fast becoming a heinous crime, than which 

 there is none more unpardonable. He will soon be 

 the fowl monopolist, and when that day comes I 

 predict that the chicken will be regarded as a sacred 

 bird, and placed in the same catagory as the ibis of 

 Egypt. As it is, eggs can be obtained almost any- 

 where, and wherever there is a darkey's hut, there 

 the voice of the cackling hen ascends in welcome 

 and suggestive music to high heaven, resonant of 

 omelettes plain, omelettes aux fines herbes, with 

 ham or with onion, of scrambled eggs, boiled, 

 roasted eggs, of pan cakes and sweet cakes, of cus- 

 tards, egg-nog, and all the thousands delicacies 

 towards which the hen contributes with enthusiastic 

 zeal, and greatly to the happiness of man. 



The course of the contraband can be exemplified 

 by that of the milk farmer, if the story which I 

 once heard from an eminent retired politician is 

 true, as I think it may be. Many of the farmers 

 living in the neighborhood of Utica were in the 

 habit of supplying that city vi'ith milk from the 

 herds of cows that the magnificent meadows of the 

 vicinity easily supported. Those careful and con- 

 scientious gentlemen, aware of the heating proper- 

 ties of milk in its strong and crude state, felt it was 



