WONDERFUL FEATHERS 



were in earnest. My Yankee was not behind in under- 

 taking to supply me forthwith, but, I remarked, that 

 upon the production of the feather, it must stand the test 

 of being drawn through a tub of warm water.^ This my 

 friend did not object to, but after the lapse of four or 

 five years my hope of being the possessor of a seventeen- 

 foot feather has been blighted, and, I fear, never to be 

 realized. 



' Many feathers are fastened together so skilfully, that with- 

 out the test I proposed it is almost impossible to detect the 

 join. 



331 



