Among the Farmyard People | Page 7

did this, and at last the woman let her
alone. Every-day she told the other fowls what a wonderful Chicken
she expected to have. "Of course he will be of my color," said she, "but
his feathers will shine brightly. He will be a great flyer, too. I am sure
that is what it means when the egg is light." She came off the nest each
day just long enough to stroll around and chat with her friends, telling
them what wonderful things she expected, and never letting them forget
that it was she who had laid the shiny egg. She pecked airily at the food,
and seemed to think that a Hen who was hatching such a wonderful
Chicken should have the best of everything. Each day she told some
new beauty that was to belong to her child, until the Shanghai Cock
fairly flapped his wings with impatience.
Day after day passed, and the garden beyond the barn showed rows of

sturdy green plants, where before there had been only straight ridges of
fine brown earth. The Swallows who were building under the eaves of
the great barn, twittered and chattered of the wild flowers in the forest,
and four other Hens came off their nests with fine broods of downy
Chickens. And still the Dorking Hen sat on her shiny egg and told what
a wonderful Chicken she expected to hatch. This was not the only egg
in the nest now, but it was the only one of which she spoke.
At last a downy Chicken peeped out of one of the common eggs, and
wriggled and twisted to free himself from the shell. His mother did not
hurry him or help him. She knew that he must not slip out of it until all
the blood from the shell-lining had run into his tender little body. If she
had pushed the shell off before he had all of this fine red blood, he
would not have been a strong Chicken, and she wanted her children to
be strong.
The Dorking Cock walked into the Hen-house and stood around on one
foot. He came to see if the shiny egg had hatched, but he wouldn't ask.
He thought himself too dignified to show any interest in newly hatched
Chickens before a Hen. Still, he saw no harm in standing around on one
foot and letting the Dorking Hen talk to him if she wanted to. When she
told him it was one of the common eggs that had hatched, he was quite
disgusted, and stalked out of doors without a word.
The truth was that he had been rather bragging to the other Cocks, and
only a few minutes later he spoke with pride of the time when "our"
shiny egg should hatch. "For," he said, "Mrs. Dorking and I have been
quite alone here as far as our own people are concerned. It is not
strange that we should feel a great pride in the wonderful egg and the
Chicken to be hatched from it. A Dorking is a Dorking after all, my
friends." And he flapped his wings, stretched his neck, and crowed as
loudly as he could.
"Yes," said the Black Spanish Cock afterward, "a Dorking certainly is a
Dorking, although I never could see the sense of making such a fuss
about it. They are fat and they have an extra toe on each foot. Why
should a fowl want extra toes? I have four on each foot, and I can
scratch up all the food I want with them."

"Well," said the grumpy old Shanghai Cock, "I am sick and tired of this
fuss. Common eggs are good enough for Shanghais and Black Spanish
and Bantams, and I should think----"
Just at this minute they heard a loud fluttering and squawking in the
Hen-house and the Dorking Hen crying, "Weasel! Weasel!" The Cocks
ran to drive the Weasel away, and the Hens followed to see it done. All
was noise and hurry, and they saw nothing of the Weasel except the tip
of his bushy tail as he drew his slender body through an opening in the
fence.
The Dorking Hen was on one of the long perches where the fowls roost
at night, the newly hatched Chicken lay shivering in the nest, and on
the floor were the pieces of the wonderful shiny egg. The Dorking Hen
had knocked it from the nest in her flight.
The Dorking Cock looked very cross. He was not afraid of a Weasel,
and he did not see why she should be. "Just like a Hen!" he said.
The Black Spanish Hen turned to him before he could say another word.
"Just like a Cock!" she exclaimed. "I never raise Chickens myself. It is
not the custom