In Macao | Page 9

saw the God
of Day the world enfold; There did my eyes the sapphire rare behold.
I saw the sapphire, when the day was young In royal Venice, as I lay
and gazed Into the morning sky, and saw, amazed, Its deep hued
brilliance, ere a bird had sung, Or Matin bells from San Stefano rung.
Once when my course, with myriad sea-flowers strewn, Was o'er
Formosa's waves of purple dulse, Rising and falling like a fevered pulse,
Moved by the hot and southern born monsoon, I saw the sapphire glow
in tropic noon.
But in our home, beneath our own blue skies, Before I knew these
treasures of the Earth, I saw the sapphire of far greater worth-- The first
born friendship in your boyhood's eyes-- Of which this ring as token
now I prize.

The Hen That Could Lay and Lie.
I had the following story from the bill of an old Spanish hen, an
inveterate cackler, who used to fly over the neighbouring fence and
wander, with happy, self-communing clucks about my vegetable
garden.
"Yes young man you are young, you may feel bigger than I am, but you
are not quite so tough, indeed toughness alone has saved me my life for
a good many Christmas mornings. I am a tough old hen, I have seen the
world; I have traveled. You know the island in the Napa River just
above the railroad bridge? Well, I was wrecked there in my young days
and it happened in this manner.
"The spring of the year 18-- was a wet one; snow fell in the foothills
and when it melted, the waters rushed down through the cañons and
filled the river. Our coop, (I say ours as I had a husband then,) stood
near the bank, and the rising water carried it away. I shall never forget
the night. It was Billy's last night on earth; Billy was my better half,
and a handsome, young cock he was, all the young pullets in the yard
had yellow combs, from envy, the day we were married. Old Partlett
with her brood of twelve ducks tried her best to get him, but Billy said
he didn't think it was quite the most moral thing in the world for a hen
of her age to hatch out ducks and it set a bad example to the young
'broilers' who were growing up about us, so he declined her proposals
with thanks and sent her off with her ugly-mouthed off-spring. Well, as
I was saying, our coop was carried down the stream, Billy and I
balancing ourselves on the upper roost and speaking words of comfort
to cheer up each other's fast fainting gizzards. We hens have a proverb
which says, 'A life without hope is an egg without a yolk, a gizzard
without gravel,' and that night proved the words to be true. Suddenly
down went Billy into the roaring flood. I can see his yellow spurs as he
went under, and his clutching claws, those beautiful, shining claws that
only walked the path of virtue, as far as I knew. Alas how I fluttered, I
tried to crow for help but it was useless, I could no more do it than the
hens of your genus can whistle. Billy went out forever.
"How I remember his kindness now; how he would find the best worms

and grasshoppers and always call me to see them before he ate them,
not as that old beast Cochin China does, who not even lets his wife
look at the delicious morsels he swallows.
"Billy is gone, so I will not regret him for he is probably chief crower
in St. Peter's hennery now. How Peter must blush when he hears Billy
crow, if he has any shame for his past sins. They say St. Peter has to
keep all the dead cocks as a sort of punishment and reminder.
"That night I pulled all the yellow feathers out of my tail, (I have
Cochin blood in my veins,) and I have gone in black Spanish costume
ever since out of respect for Billy.
"By morning I was cast with the coop upon a deserted island; there was
nothing but a coarse grass that was eatable, but I was almost dead with
hunger, and was about giving up in despair when a happy thought
struck me, and, I laid an egg, which with a little grass made me a good
meal. Each day I laid an egg and ate it, feeling that my life at least
could be saved, though I must be forever without society, yet I thanked
heaven that hens were made with such resources. Alas! I began to
notice that the eggs grew smaller each day and I felt starvation again
taking me by