* * * * *
It may well be doubted whether the thought ever occurred to ADAM that
one day or other a hen would be charged with the care and custody of a
brood of goslings. The pastimes of Eden were perhaps not favorable to
vaticinations in the line of Natural History, but in the progress of the
world since those most primitive times, men have come to contemplate the
spectacle of that familiar barn-yard fowl made wretched by the aquatic
propensities of her supposed offspring, without a particle of
astonishment. The wicked and unfeeling even go so far as to seek
amusement in her misery. Her "ducklings" and other symptoms of maternal
agony at beholding the feathered darlings tempting the dangers of a
neighboring duck-pond, do not move their stony breasts. On the contrary,
they decidedly relish that sort of thing, and greet with positive
hilarity the efforts of some sympathizing rooster to cheer her. Fie,
upon such natures! If they must have an outlet for their ribaldry, let
them take PUNCHINELLO'S advice and select such instances as that
recently furnished in Sacramento, where a hen took charge of a nest of
kittens, and resolutely maintained it against the parent cat. Here the
case was different. The hen had become a trespasser. She had no business
with kittens.
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