Thare aint nothing phoolish in all this, but yu put 36 white stuns, under this same hen, and she will set thare till she hatches out the stones. I hav seen them do this too--i dont wish tew say, that i hav seen them _hatch out the stones_, but i hav seen them set on the stones, untill i left that naberhood, which waz two years ago, and i dont hesitate tew say, the hen iz still at work, on that same job. Noboddy but a phool would stik tew bizzness az cluss az this. Hens are older than Methuseler, and gro older till they die. Now I dont want it understood, that enny one hen ken, kan commense life, with the usual kapital, and live 999 years. This waz the exact age ov Methuseler, if I have been informed correktly. I simply want tew be understood, that hens (az a speciality) laid, cackled, and sot a long time before Methuseler did. After reading this last statement over agin, i dont kno az i make myself fluently understood yet. I dont undertake tew say, that Mr. Methuseler, _cackled_, and _sot_, what i want tew prove, iz the fakt, that hens were here, and doing bizzness in their line, before Methuseler waz. Now I hav got it. Thare iz one thing about a hen that looks like wisdum, they don’t cackle mutch untill after they have laid their egg. Sum pholks are alwus a bragging, and a cackling, what they are going tew do before-hand. A hen will set on one egg just az honest az she will set on 36 eggs, but a hen with one chicken iz always a painful sight tew me. I never knu an only chicken do fust rate, the old hen spiles them waiting on them, and then it tires out the old hen, more than 36 chickens would. I think this rule works both ways, among poultry, and among other pholks. I have seen a hen set on 36 duck eggs, and hatch the whole ov them out, and then try tew learn them tew skratch in the garden. But a ducks phoot aint bilt right for skratching in the ground, it iz better composed for skratching in the water. When the young ducks takes tew the water, it iz melankolly, and hart brakeing, tew see the old hen, stand on the brim ov the mil pond, and wring her hands, and holler tew the ducks, tew come right strate out ov that water, or they will all git drowned. I have seen this did too, but i never see the ducks come out till they got reddy, nor never see a young duck git drowned. Yu kant drown a young duck, they will stand az mutch water az a sponge will. [Illustration] One egg, per diem, iz all that a hen ought to lay, espeshily nu beginner, but there iz sum smart writers on the subjekt, who claim they ought tew lay two. This needs more testimony. Az an artikle ov diet, thare is but phew things that surpass cooked hen, if eaten in the days ov their youth and innosense, but after they git old, and kross, they kontrakt a habit ov eating tuff. After thinking the thing over, and over, and over, I am still prepared tew say, that a hen is a darn phool, ennyhow you kan fix it.