Not enny shanghi for me, if yu pleze; i wuld rather board a travelling
kolporter, and as for eating one, give me a biled owl rare dun, or a
turkee buzzard, roasted hole, and stuffed with a pair ov injun rubber
boots, but not enny shanghi for me, not a shanghi!
Speaking ov hens, leads me tew remark, in the fust place, that hens,
thus far, are a suckcess.
They are domestick, and occasionally are tuff.
This iz owing tew their not being biled often enuff in their younger
daze; but the hen ain’t tew blame for this.
Biled hen iz universally respekted.
Thare iz a grate deal ov originality tew the hen--exactly how mutch i
kant tell, historians fight so mutch about it. Sum say Knower had hens
with him in the ark and sum say he didn’t. So it goes, which and tuther.
I kant tell yu which waz born fust, the hen or the egg; sumtimes i think
the egg waz--and sumtimes i think the hen waz--and sumtimes i think i
don’t kno, and i kant tell now, which way iz right, for the life ov me.
Laying eggs iz the hen’s best grip.
A hen that kant lay eggs--iz laid out.
One egg iz konsidered a fair day’s work for a hen. I hav herd ov their
doing better, but i don’t want a hen ov mine tew do it--it iz apt tew
hurt their constitution and bye-laws, and thus impare their futer worth.
The poet sez, butifully:
“Sumboddy haz stole our old blew hen!
I wish they’d let her bee;
She used tew lay 2 eggs a day,
And Sundays she’d lay 3.”
This sounds trew enuff for poetry, but i will bet 75 thousand dollars
that it never took place.
The best time tew sett a hen, is when the hen is reddy.
I kant tell you what the best breed is, but the shanghigh is the
meanest. It kosts as mutch tew board one, as it duz a stage hoss, and yu
mite as well undertake tew fat a fanning-mill, by running oats thru it.
Thare aint no proffit in keeping a hen for his eggs, if he laze less
than one a day.
Hens are very long lived, if they dont contrakt the thrut
disseaze,--thare is a grate menny goes tew pot, evry year, bi this
melankolly disseaze.
I kant tell exactly how tew pick out a good hen, but as a general thing,
the long-eared ones, are kounted the best.
The one-legged ones, i kno, are the lest ap tew skratch up a garden.
Eggs packed in equal parts ov salt, and lime water, with the other end
down, will keep from 30, or 40, years, if they are not disturbed.
Fresh beef-stake is good for hens; i serpose 4 or 5 pounds a day, would
be awl a hen would need, at fust along.
I shall be happee tew advise with yu, at enny time, on the hen question,
and--take it in egg.
THE AUNT.
The ant iz a menny footted insekt.
They live about one thousand five hundred and fifty of them (more or
less), in the same hole in the ground, and hold their property in
common.
They hav no holydays, no eight-hour sistem, nor never strike for enny
higher wages.
They are cheerful little toilers, and hav no malice, nor back door to
their hearts.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account