MRS. JANE'S EXPERIMENT. 



One is surprised at the wonderful vital- 

 ity to be found in an egg. The following 

 incident, almost incredible as it seems, is 

 an absolute fact. 



Mrs. Jane, very fond of raising select 

 breeds of chickens, put a setting of fine 

 Brahma eggs under what she considered 

 an absolutely trustworthy Biddy, — but, 

 alas ! Biddy proved unstable, like many 

 another biped, and went off in a few days, 

 leaving her nest and rather costly con- 

 tents to the mercy of the elements. 



Mrs. Jane, in three or four days, discov- 

 ered the abandoned domicile, and, deter- 

 mined not to be outdone by any such 

 maneuver on the part of Biddy, proposed 

 to show her that Brahma chickens could 

 be developed without the assistance of 

 any old hen. 



So, not having an incubator of any ap- 

 proved manufacture, she proceeded to 

 make one. She secured a large bread pan 

 to hold the water, a small wooden pail to 

 hold the eggs, which were wrapped in 

 warm flannel, and a good kerosene lamp, 

 which was placed under the pan holding 

 the water and then lighted. 



The bucket containing the eggs was 

 then placed in the pan of water and the 

 whole apparatus left in a quiet bedroom. 



Oh, how Mr. Jane and the boys and the 

 neighbors twitted Mrs. Jane about wast- 

 ing coal oil and time in keeping those 

 eggs warm ! But, behold ! in a little over 

 two weeks, one morning a shell was 

 chipped, at noon another, and by the next 



morning four pert little downy fellows oc- 

 cupied the bottom of the bucket, with 

 seven unhatched eggs. 



Those chickens grew faster than almost 

 any chickens ever known. They were 

 never anything but tame, and the most 

 active of the four, who bears the appro- 

 priate name of Theodore Roosevelt, al- 

 lows any one to pick him up and fondle 

 him, but is ready to fight with anything 

 in the poultry yard — big chicken, little 

 chicken, the skye terrier, the cat or any- 

 thing else that is or might be in his way. 

 Mrs. Jane says she never was sorry for 

 her experiment but once, and that is all 

 the time. 



The cause for Mrs. Jane's regret is the 

 fact that whether she be in the hen yard, 

 kitchen or parlor, no place except right 

 under her motherly gown is quite good 

 enough for these enterprising birds. 



Recently I saw "Teddy" open the 

 screen and walk into the kitchen. 



He lifted his foot, pulled the screen 

 open wide enough to admit his head and 

 then pushed his whole body, now quite 

 large and plump, through the crack. 



How long this interesting little hero, 

 with his mates, will be permitted to en- 

 joy the rights of chickendom yet remains 

 to be seen, but the fact that "Mrs. Jane's 

 incubator was a success" has been ad^- 

 mitted by all who were so skeptical when 

 she began her novel experiment. 



Mary Noland. 



72 



