I 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY 
pulled back off tlieir faces, every black feather, or nearly so, 
pulled out,’ and stale, ‘ Wliat few they had, it is quite 
ridiculous In suppose were natural adding, ‘ Why, if 
such trimming is to be allowed, Poultry Shows will soon 
cease, for all respectable people will draw out, and give up 
keeping fowls; such, however, is not, at present, my inten¬ 
tion. The cock was us poor u bird as any I ever sate, very 
little larger than a Bantam cock, his top-knot equally small; 
in fact, a very poor companion for his liens.’ 
“ Such is your openly avowed and written opinion of the 
successful ones. 
“ I confess I did not handle auy of the black l’olands 
at -, but awarded the prizes simply from eyesight 
I only; nor did I deem it possible I could be deceived in the 
very gross manner you had represented. 
“ Still, however, to make assurance doubly sure, I called 
on my townsman, --, whom I previously only knew 
by sight, to request another and closer examination of the 
disputed fowls. I tested them most minutely in hand, one 
by one, and in perfectly unqualified terms I do now assert, 
to the very best of my knowledge and belief, not a single 
feather had been abstracted ; and again, must decidedly, every 
feather in their crests now present—which are unusually 
abundant—is naturally produced where it now holds its 
position. 
“ Mr.- is reputedly respectable, and naturally in¬ 
quired the causes that led to my suspicion, and I, therefore, 
showed him your letter. 
“ The enigma was at once exposed. By the same post that 
complained so lustily to myself of their utter unworthiness 
and worthlessness, you endeavoured to become their pur¬ 
chaser ! 
“ You are personally entirely unknown to me ; neither do 
I wisli to add to the self-abasement you must naturally feel 
from this exposure. I cannot forbear saying, however, such 
actions are but little calculated to materially add to the 
‘ respectability ’ of Poultry Show's, or insure their perma¬ 
nency. 
“You have complained in unmeasured terms of my deci¬ 
sion without any cause, maligned the proprietor of the 
successful poultry by groundless accusation, and yet endea¬ 
voured to procure them by purchase for yourself,—all by the 
j same post. I therefore simply conclude, 
“As remaining, Ac." 
THE WINNER TO THE LOSER. 
“ He that steals my purse, steals trash. 
* * * *T\vas mine, 
’Tis his, and has been slave to thousands. 
Hut he who robs me of my good name 
Robs me of that which not enriches him, 
But leaves me poor indeed.” 
“ Sin, “- Cottage, July, 1856. 
“ You will, doubtless, be equally as much surprised 
to receive a second communication from me as I am myself 
at finding such a necessity forced upon me. Not, certainly 
not, of my own seeking, hut originated by offensive allusions 
you have considered yourself justified in making in a letter 
addressed to Mr.-, this day handed to me, with re¬ 
ference to the means by which I have attained the distinction 
he, in his capacity as Judge, has thought proper to attach to 
- the pen of Polish fowls exhibited by me at-. Now, 
such remarks contained in your letter, now 7 before me, are 
altogether too flagrant to be passed over (at all events by 
me) with a merited contempt; but, Sir, from inquiries I 
have thought proper to make respecting you, I consider 
the circumstances of your social position entitled you to 
every respect due to a gentleman ; neither will I descend to 
the attempt of placing you in any other position, or allow 
1 myself to he cheated by any suclfcfeelings from the gross 
injustice you have done me. I would much rather return 
good for evil; but I do regret that you, so much, so very 
■ much, my senior in years, should so far compromise your 
dignity as to attack and charge me with the perpetration of 
a wanton deception, so totally unknown as I am to you, and, 
w'ithout egotism, let me say, unworthy as I am of the dis¬ 
honest acts you impute to me. To remark individually 
upon your observations would impose upon me a task I have 
neither time nor inclination to attempt; and, indeed, were I 
disposed to analyse one so utterly devoid of reason, and 
containing, as it does from the commencement to its end, 
GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION. —August 5, 1856. 337 
such a conglomeration of absurd contradiction, would render 
it necessary for me to entertain feelings in harmony with 
yours, the possession of which I disown. I know not 
w’hethcr I am correct in my inference, hut to an impartial 
person, the tenour of your writing would really lead to the 
supposition that your influence as a ‘ respectable ’ individual 
ought to have commanded the desiderata you appear so 
much to covet, viz., the honorary distinction that an impar¬ 
tial Judge, and a gentleman, has thought proper, in the just 
exercise ot his duty, to award to me instead of yourself. I 
can afford, however, to wave this kind of absurdity, and will 
leave you to content yourself with the pleasant reflections 
of an ambitious but unsuccessful exhibitor. I tell you, 
candidly and fearlessly, that it is a gross injustice and libel 
to charge me with tampering, otherwise trimming, the top- 
knots ot my birds, and an assertion as utterly untrue as it is 
uncharitable. With this simple contradiction to your very 
gratuitous imputations I will conclude this communication 
with such feelings of indignation that I can scarcely find 
words to express. But let me, for one moment, reverse our 
positions, and ask you what your own feelings would he 
under the circumstances in which you have thought proper 
to place me? and would you not consider it a duty you owe 
to yourself to repudiate such an attack ? What may he your 
opinion, I neither know nor care. I have just taken the course 
any honest man would not fail to have done, however un¬ 
palatable it might prove to those who might plume them¬ 
selves with the idea that they may talk and act as they think 
fit with impunity. 
“ Yours, Ac." 
the loser to the judge. 
“-Hall, 
“ Dear Sir, _ “ July, 1856. 
“ T received your letter yesterday, and now beg to 
reply to it. You appear to have most strangely mistaken 
the spirit of my letter. You regard it as written in anger, 
and meant as a direct attack upon yourself, and the success 
fill winner of the cup for Polands at the late-Show. 
Such was neither my feeling nor my intention. I considered 
my birds in no one particular inferior to the winner’s ; and 
this opinion is carried out, I find, in The Field. 
* * * * * 
“ I wrote to you, as trie Judge, to inquire ho# 7 it was that 
they were so far in the rear—why they did not win the cup? 
wishing to learn in what points they were deficient. 
“ In ray letter, I gave an opinion as to the trimming of the 
winning birds, which, you say, you believe is a false one; 
that opinion I drew from my own experience. In giving it, 
my intention was not to malign the proprietor of the suc¬ 
cessful poultry by groundless accusations. My object was 
plainly to lay before you things as I had noticed them, and 
what I, as well as others present, thought. Had I imagined 
for one moment that my remarks would have stirred up any 
ill-feeling, I should have been the last person to have made 
them. 
“ You say, ‘ By the same post that complained so lustily 
to myself of their utter unworthiness and worthlessness, you 
endeavoured to become their purchaser.’ This circumstance 
you regard as throwing light upon the other matters. Now, 
I conceive that, to interpret my actions in any way you 
like, is jumping at a conclusion which you cannot prove. 
The motives which led me to wish to purchase Mr. - 
birds are not for you to put wliat construction you like upon 
them ; and further, by attributing some unworthy motive, I 
think you have indeed wronged me by groundless in¬ 
sinuations. 
“ I would simply add, that the letter I wrote to you was 
intended solely for yourself, and, therefore, I gave my opinion 
boldly and plainly. Had you felt yourself aggrieved by the 
tone of it, or even given me a hint that such was the case, I 
would willingly have retracted anything which in the heat of 
the moment I might have written. 
“ I remain, Ac." 
WHITBY POULTRY SHOW. 
On July 16 and 17, the first exhibition of poultry took 
place in St. Hilda’s Hall, and never was such a collection of 
rare and valuable birds seen in Whitby. The wire pens were 
admirably arranged in parallel rows in the body of the hall, 
