74 COMMON SENSE - : 
lame chicken had its uses, for it taught us how implicitly the lower 
creaturés will confide in us if kindly cared for, especially when 
they are in a measure helpless. This helpless lame one had no fear 
of humanity; it would stand quietly and allow us to pick it up, 
expecting to be carried where fresh grass might be had, and as it 
fed out of our hands and looked up in our faces it seemed to look 
upon us as its natural protectors. Some one has said that to’ the 
dog, man appears as God, and, in truth, it may beso. ‘To this little 
chicken we no doubt seemed an all-powerful Providence, from 
whose hands came food, and who provided shelter and protection. 
She grew to be a good-sized hen, and laid almost as well as those 
that were perfect in their limbs. 
But when our broods multiplied, so that lawn as well as barn- 
yard was dotted quite closely all over with them, then trouble 
a The chickens would run to the wrong coops and get 
quickly pecked to death; the hens would fight, and in their strug- 
gles the chickens would be scattered and sometimes seriously hurt. . 
Another difficulty arose: Amongst so many coops the hens 
seemed to lose the power of finding their own individual dwellings ; 
two would try to get into one coop, and then fighting and destruc- 
tion of the chickens would follow. By the time we had forty coops 
occupied we had our hands full, and more too. 
I suppose that if the grounds had been of far greater extent, so 
that the coops could have been placed further apart, this difficulty 
would not have arisen. But to avoid it, the space occupied must 
have been enormous. . 
Now, it is well known that one of the great secrets in the rearing 
of strong, healthy chickens is the giving of freedom and all that it. 
implies. Open air, grass to pick, leaves to scratch, dry earth to 
dust in, and ant-hills to explore—these are what go to make healthy 
chicks and vigorous fowls.. But if the mothers fight and kill each 
others progeny when this freedom is allowed, what are we going 
to do? 
The present broods had been hatched in all sorts of contrivances 
and make-shifts. Old barrels laid on their sides; boxes with and 
without bottoms; old dog houses; a heap of broken straw laid in 
