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CHAPTER V.

Table of Contents

A SENSITIVE SPIRIT.

Table of Contents

1. Mrs. Black Spanish laid four beautiful white eggs, from which, after much tedious and anxious sitting, were hatched four downy little chicks, that followed their mother about the yard, crying "Peep, peep," in a way delightful to hear.

2. Mrs. Black Spanish was very proud of her great-great-grandmother, and very proud of her children, and very proud of herself, and of everything belonging to her. And when she strutted through the hen-yard with her little brood, calling "Kut, kut, kut, kut, ka-da, kut!" which is black Spanish for "Did you ever see such chick-ens?" she was quite a sight to see, and excited great admiration and respect in all fowls. Even the white bantams courtesied, and nothing could exceed the politeness of the old speckled hens.

3. The only rooster among the new-comers seemed to have a feeble constitution. His feathers were few and scattering, his blue legs were so small and weak they almost doubled up when he attempted to walk, and he was very cross and snappish.

4. Dr. Gander put on his eyeglasses and took a good look at him, when Mrs. Black Spanish brought her family near the goose-pen.

5. "Good-day, madam," called the doctor through the fence. "I'm glad to see you out again. I hope you and your interesting family are well."

6. "Quite well," said Mrs. Black Spanish, with a lofty bow.

7. "And that small young one," said the doctor, nodding his bill toward the knock-kneed little rooster, "how is he? He appears to be a trifle weak about the legs. Some nobum-bobum ointment, now, well rubbed in at night—might—"

8. "My son is quite well," snapped Mrs. Black Spanish, ruffling her feathers. "He has a delicate frame and a sensitive spirit. Our family all have sensitive spirits."

9. "Just what I was going to say, ma'am, when you anticipated me," said Dr. Gander, politely.

10. Mrs. Black Spanish walked away to call upon her own physician, Dr. Peacock, who was not only very learned, but was also a great beau and a favorite with the ladies.

11. "I've come to show you my family, Dr. Peacock," said she, graciously. "Jacob, my son, you see, is like my family, delicate, and of a sensitive spirit."

12. "Ah, yes, ah," said the doctor, in a high falsetto voice; and as Jacob knocked down two of his little sisters, and snatched up the worms they had just scratched out of the earth, he continued: "Ah, yes, ah—I see, of a very sensitive spirit. He'll be a credit to you, my lovely Mrs. Black Spanish, take my word for it."

13. The older Master Jacob grew, the more greedy and hateful he became; but, partly because he pecked on the head every one that opposed his wishes, and partly because his proud mamma talked so much about it, his sensitive spirit became the reason and excuse for every disagreeable thing he did.

14. He was always bragging about himself, and nearly every evening he entertained the hen-house with tales of what he could do—if certain things should happen.

15. One day in spring, when the air was so warm that the violets and squirrel-corn were in blossom in the woods, there were six young families in the hen-yard; forty tiny fellow-chicks strolling about on eighty little yellow legs.

16. There was a great clatter and chatter, and the warm, moist earth was scratched up in all directions. Everybody but Jacob was so busy with bill and claws that nobody else saw a black speck sailing, with long, slim wing, round and round, far above them, in the blue sky.

17. Jacob slowly wandered into the barn. Next he hopped upon a manger, and thence into the hay-loft. "I need to meditate in a quiet spot," he said to himself. "Undoubtedly that hawk will swoop down soon, and a rooster of my brave, sensitive spirit needs to be prepared."

18. In a moment more there was a great clamor in the hen-yard. The hens squalled, the roosters shrieked, and the farmer's boy bawled at the top of his lungs.

19. "It's very lucky I came up here when I did," thought Jacob. "My nerves could not have endured that noise. Ugh! what a racket!" As soon as he thought it safe, he flew down from his perch and called out:

"I've scared the hawk away!

Just see what I can do!

Oh, cock-a-doodle-do!"

20. All the hens and most of the little chickens crept out from their hiding-places at the sound of his voice, and ran up to him, clucking and peeping for joy, when the farmer's boy, who had been ordered to kill a chicken for dinner, reached his pitchfork over the fence, and hit Jacob such a crack on the head that he never breathed again. "Take that, old strutter!" said the farmer's boy; "you'll do for a pot-pie, and you are useless for anything else." But at dinner he discovered that Jacob, though fat and plump, was not even fit for a pot-pie. "The hawk could not have killed him, mother," said the boy, as he struggled with one of the legs. "I think he must have been hatched from an India-rubber ball."

21. The hens lamented all that day over Jacob's death. "He was our deliverer; he saved us from the hawk," they cried. "We shall never see another like him, who was so brave and tender, and of so gallant and sensitive a spirit."

22. Old High-Biddy Martin, who was one of the speckled hens, and had a red rag tied to her tail for trying to crow, laughed, for, though she had flown at the hawk and scared him from her chicks, she was cool enough to see and remember Jacob's retreat to the barn, and his return to the yard when the danger was past. But no one minded what she did or said, for she was not related to any of the first families, and so was of no possible account.

Neighbors with Wings and Fins and Some Others, for Young People

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