_Mrs. S._ Oh dear, yes. The hawk catched a powerful sight of them; and then the varment took to ’em, and nat’ly took ’em fore and aft, bodily, till they left most none at all hardly. Sucky counted ’em up t’other day, and there war’nt but thirty-nine, she said, countin’ in the old speckle hen’s chickens that jist come off of her nest. _Mrs. R. and Mrs. B._ Humph—h—h—h—! _Mrs. R._ Well, I’ve had bad luck too. Billy’s hound-dogs broke up most all my nests. _Mrs. B._ Well, so they did me, Miss Reed. I always did despise a hound-dog upon the face of yea’th. _Mrs. R._ Oh, they’re the bawllinest, squallinest, thievishest things ever was about one; but Billy will have ’em, and I think in my soul his old Troup’s the beat of all creaters I ever seed in all my born days a suckin’ o’ hen’s eggs—He’s clean most broke me up entirely. _Mrs. S._ The lackaday! _Mrs. R._ And them that was hatched out, some took to takin’ the gaps, and some the pip, and one ailment or other, till they most all died. _Mrs. S._ Well I reckon there must be somethin’ in the season this year, that an’t good for fowls; for Larkin Goodman’s brother Jimme’s wife’s aunt Penny, told me, she lost most all her fowls with different sorts of ailments, the like of which she never seed before—They’d jist go ’long lookin’, right well, and tilt right over backwards, (_Mrs. B._ The law!) and die right away, (_Mrs. R._ Did ever!) with a sort o’ somethin’ like the blind staggers. _Mrs. B. and Mrs. R._ Messy on me! _Mrs. B._ I reckon they must have eat somethin’ didn’t agree with them. _Mrs. S._ No they didn’t, for she fed ’em every mornin’ with her own hand. _Mrs. B._ Well, it’s mighty curious! A short pause ensued, which was broken by Mrs. Barney, with—“And brother Smith married Mournin’ Hooer!” It came like an opiate upon my senses, and I dropt asleep. THE END. L O N D O N : Printed by Schulze and Co., 13, Poland Street. TRANSCRIBER NOTES Printer errors have been corrected where obvious errors occur. Author spellings have been maintained and differences corrected to majority author use. Inconsistencies in punctuation have been maintained. The Preface from Volume I was included in Volumes II & III. A cover was created for this eBook. [The end of _Traits of American Humour, Vol. III of III_, by Thomas Chandler Haliburton, ed.] End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Traits of American Humour, Vol. III of III, by Various