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Show three scum's for that matter if I'd a knowed you wanted tcr go to raisin' poultry. It's too awful bad ter send so fer and pay bo much, and after all mebbe won't none of 'era hatch." "When I make a investment," pompously pomp-ously remarked Farmer Doolittle, "I wanter know what I'm a gittin' of. When a man has had a flock of fowls all his life, an' his father and gran'father before him, ho knows purty well what they be." -' "Durin' the first year of Washington's administration," began Mrs. Pettigree, "there was jest an even dozen liens on our place. Grandpa Tettigree kep' account ac-count of the aigs laid, and I wanter tell you what them hens done that year." And then for tbe one hundredth time she related the remarkable story, and ended by saying that the fowls now on the place came in unbroken descent from that same ancient, remarkable flock. Like many people who boast of their family lineage, she had nothing to say of the present. To willfully select soma new fangled kind of fowl in preference to their choice, ancient birds was an insult to every true Rutvillite. Having been committed, however, how-ever, by an unprotected, well meaning woinun, the majority were inclined to look upon it as a mistake, and to pity rather than censure the offender. Meanwhile, tlio old hen that sat with such patience on the eggs little dreamed of tho commotion she had caused, or of the deep interest her mistress felt in the result of her task. But one thing she did which might have been a lesson to many of her owner's neighbors she attended at-tended strictly to her own business. The result was that she came off her nest at the proper time with eleven chicks, active act-ive little fellows, all alike. They had the best of care and grew both in stature and points of beauty in a muuner that made the mistress proud of her venture. Even the neighbors, for they were honest at heart, could not help admiring the handsome hand-some young brood. It was a disappointment to the owner, as time passed on, to find that but four rt ih nnmlior worn i,illnfn Kim wq a n MRS. WINTERS' TRIUMPH. Poor little Mrs. Winters! She had committed com-mitted an act which had placed her nnmo In the mouths of her country neighbors for miles around. She might have seen the result had she stopped to consider that phase of the matter, but her mind had been so absorbed in another feature of the outcome as to causo her to overlook over-look all minor points. Besides, she had Intended to keep her secret to herself for the time. But secrets are slippery things at the best. And it had been said of the neighborhood in question that if a choice bit of gossip should be whispered to some tiny pebble on the most distant mountain moun-tain top and left there for safe keeping, the depositor would find it the common topio on his return. No wonder, then, that Mrs. Winters' secret had leaked out. At first it had been cautiously whispered from mouth to mouth with the strictest injunction that it go no further until complete evidence evi-dence In the matter could be obtained. "It can't be possible!" ' "Mrs. Winters is a woman of too much good sense to do such a thing!" 'Til never believe it till I hear it from a loss what to do with so many male birds. They were too valuable to be sacrificed sac-rificed for food, and she well knew there would be no sale for them in her locality. One of her neighbors at length became sufficiently friendly to these intruding fowls as to offer to exchange a hen for one of the young roostci s; Mrs. Winters courteously declined this generous proposition. prop-osition. Toward fall, when the young fowls were several months old, they were as handsome a brood as the most critical fancier need care to possess. It was Mrs. Winters' plan to keep a superior grade of fowls, and for both birds and eggs obtain a correspondingly high price. Just how to most advantageously reach an appreciative market was the question whicli puzzled her. Her limited means would not permit of much advertising, and there was no prospect of a local trade. fcshe was reading the county paper one eveidng, which contained an account of the fair, with premium list, to be shortly held in a distant part of the county, where the people were of more progressive progres-sive mind. Among the premiums offered was one of five dollars for the best coop of fine fowls. Instantly Mrs. Winters thought of her own fine birds and of the gcod opportunity this would be to display dis-play them. But there was the difficulty she would encounter in getting her birds to the fair. It was a day's journey from her home; if she should go, there was the impediment of leaving her home and children. However, the idea would not forsake her that UiiB was an opportunity oppor-tunity she should improve, and she determined de-termined to inuke the effort. She engaged en-gaged a near neighbor to attend to her place; left her two younger children with a friend, and, accompanied by her eldest child, a boy of 12, she undertook the long journey. With the aid of her son she had constructed con-structed two neat coops. One was for her exhibition fowls, in the other she put her surplus roosters which she intended to offer for salo, hoping to disposo of them at a better price than she could obtain ob-tain in her neighborhood. There would bo too much injustice in the fate that directs our lives, if such hope, determination and industry ns characterized Mrs. Winters should go unwanted. un-wanted. Yes, though criticised and laughed at by her neighbors, success was at last to ba hers. Her Jowls were by far the finest at the fair, taking the premiums pre-miums oifered; and the five surplus roosters found appreciative buyers at tho handsome sum of $2 each; giving the happy widow $15 as a result of her trip to the fair. It is useless to describe the feelings of victory that Mrs. Winters enjoyed on her return home. The neighbors were astounded. Mrs. Winters' success was the sole topic of conversation for a fortnight, fort-night, aud the rapidity with which her fowls grew in popularity was something surprising. The prejudice of her neighbors neigh-bors so far subsided that in less than three years every flock of fowls in the neighborhood had been improved by the introduction of this new blood. Mrs. Winters commenced her poultry business busi-ness ns an oti'shot Uthe farm operations. At present it is her main busi'Ua, and a thriving one, too. 3ut few farmers of Eutville are more prosperous than the slender little woman who dared to have a mind of her own .ml step outside of the rut, even though living iu the depths of Rutville. Nellio Jfurns in Siniugfield Homestead. her own lips!" Such bad been the charitable expressions expres-sions with which tho news bad been received. re-ceived. But the matter had, at length, been taken to the lady herself, and she, with some reluctance, had acknowledged the truth of the charge. Unlike the usual tale of the gossiper, the facts were up to the strongest reports. No one had had the heart to indulge in the least ex-. ex-. nggeration. Now Mrs. Winters had numerous nu-merous calls from her quizzical neighbors, neigh-bors, who freely criticised what they regarded re-garded as her folly. The pleasant character of Mrs. Winters made her universally esteemed, yet she could hardly claim to be "one" with the people of Rutville, on account of the short time she had lived among them. Four years previous she had moved there with her husband and three children. The husband dying soon after, the management manage-ment of the farm had fallen into the hands of the widow, and the support of the family depended wholly on whatever income she could make it yield. The neighbors proved themselves kind and sympathetic in her affliction, and advice ad-vice poured in torrents on the lone woman wo-man concerning the management of the place. , But this counsel, coming from so many different sources, was so conflicting conflict-ing it had a tendency to confuse rather than assist her. t It was quite a universal idea in the neighborhood that a woman was incapable incapa-ble of such an undertaking as the management man-agement of a farm, and many urged her to sell and engage in a more womanly pursuit. But Mrs. -Winters bad a different differ-ent opinion from this, and by the employment em-ployment of much earnest thought she , ' kept the farm running at a moderate degree de-gree of prosperity. The home was neatly kept, the children comfortably clothed, and when two years had passed the manager man-ager was free from debt. This was a source of much surprise to her neighbors, neigh-bors, who had made grave predictions as to the outcome of her farming. But Mrs. Winters was not satisfied with this. Bhe had plans for her children's chil-dren's future that would need monoy in carrying them out; hence her mind was constantly on the alert for something with which she could start an extra fund for such a purpose. The country neighborhood in which he lived was well back among the mountains of New England. Each generation gen-eration followed in the footsteps of its predecessor, regardless of new ways and improvements introduced by the world outside. The people, their flocks and herds, their hogs and poultry could all be traced back for many generations without crossing the town line in the locating lo-cating of an ancestor. Few, indeed, were innovations among them; fewer Btill were those invited or even tolerated without passing through the crucial test of their severe criticism. The movements move-ments of the Winters had been suspiciously suspi-ciously watched when they first came, but the favorablo impression had continued contin-ued so long that the people had almost accepted this family in" full fellowship. But the recent act of tho young widow had reawakened the feeling that she was not by birth a Rutvillite, and could not be relied upon to act as one of their own. ' But what had thi lady done to call forth such severe oon imnation from her neighbors? There are slumbering laws laid away in dust covered books in those regions whose resurrection is as rare as the century plant. Had she violated or treated with d isrespect 6onio one of those? Or was it some rigid moral or religious , code that her busy foot had turned asido to trample upon? No, her sin was found in none of these. The grave misdemeanor of tho unfortunate unfor-tunate woman was just this. She had made an investment whdlly outside of the usual range of Rutville purchases. She had paid six dollar, including express ex-press charges, for only fifteen eggs. True, it was claimed for them that they had been laid by a fine strain of fovlo of the Plymouth Rock variety. But what of that? They were nothing but lien's eggs; and not a dweller in Rutville would have paid more than twenty cents for. the lot. Long before the thirteen original states had formed a glorious Union and nestled .beneath the prote Iting wiugof a motherly mother-ly administrator it was an established role of that place that thirteen was the number of eggs to place under a sitting hen, and acver since that early period had a Rutville hen been insulted with either more or less. It has already been stated that Mrs. Wiuters had frequent condoling criticisms criti-cisms from her well meaning neighbors on this investment, which they regarde i as an extremely foolih, extravagant whim. A few samples of these remarks Will give an idea what an up hill road it was to progression in Rutville. "I'd a gin you a settin' of uigs an' welcome," wel-come," were the words of kind hearted Did Mrs, Bxpwo.. iTd a cin you two or |