THE "COCHIN-CHINAS." BUBBLE NUMBER ONE.
A public meeting was soon called at the legislative hall of the
Statehouse, in Boston, which had the effect of drawing together a very
goodly company of savans, honest farmers, amateurs, poulterers, doctors,
lawyers, flats, fanciers and _humbugs_ of one kind or another. _I_ never
attended one of the meetings; and only know, from subsequent public and
private "reports," what occurred there.
On this _first_ occasion, however, after a great deal of bosh and stuff,
from the lips of old men and young men, who possessed not the slightest
possible shadow of practical knowledge of the subject proposed to be
discussed, it was finally resolved that the name for the (now defunct)
association then and there formed, should be "_The New England Society
for the Improvement of Domestic Poultry_"!!!
Now, the only objection I ever raised to this title was that it was not
sufficiently _lengthy_! When applied to for my own views on the subject,
_I_ recommended that it should be called the "Mutual Admiration
Society." But, though I was thought a great deal of by its
members,--especially when the concern was short of funds,--in _this_
case they thought my proposed title was altogether too applicable; and
the original name, above quoted, was adhered to.
I was honored with the office of vice-president of the society, for
Massachusetts; to which place I was reëlected annually, I believe, until
the period of its death. For which honor I was not ungrateful, and in
consideration of which, "as in duty bound, I have ever prayed" for the
association's prosperity and weal.
The first name that was placed upon the list of subscribers to the
constitution of this society was that of His Excellency Geo. N. Briggs,
formerly Governor of this commonwealth. He was followed by a long list
of "mourners," most of whom probably ascertained, within five years from
the hour when they subscribed to this roll, that causing the cock's spur
_to grow between his eyes_ was not quite so easy a thing to accomplish
as one "experienced poultry-breeder" at this meeting coolly asserted it
to be! How many attempted this experiment (as well as numerous others
there suggested as feasible), I am not advised. But I am inclined to
think that those who did try it found it to be "all in their eye."
While these gentlemen were arranging the details of the new "society,"
and were deciding upon what the duties of the officers and committees
should be, I quietly wrote out to England for information regarding the
somewhat notorious "_Cochin-China_" fowl, then creating considerable
stir among fanciers in Great Britain; and soon learned that I could
procure them, in their purity, from a gentleman in Dublin, whose stock
had been obtained, through Lord Heytsbury (then Lord Lieutenant of
Ireland), direct from Queen Victoria's samples. I ordered six of
them,--two cocks and four hens,--and in December, 1849, I received them
through Adams & Co.'s Transatlantic Express.
At this period there was no telegraph established from Boston to
Halifax, I believe. Some of the reporters for the daily city papers
usually visited the steamers, upon their arrival here, to obtain their
foreign files of exchanges; and here my birds were first seen by those
gentlemen who have made or broken the prospects of more than one
enterprise of far greater consequence than this "importation of fancy
fowls" could seem to be.
But on the day succeeding the coming of those birds, several very
handsome notices of the arrival of these august Chinamen appeared in the
Boston papers, and a vast amount of credit was accorded to the
"enterprising importer" of the outlandish brutes, that were described in
almost celestial language!
After considerable trouble and swearing (custom-house swearing, I mean),
the officers on board permitted my team to take the cage out of the
steamer, and it was conveyed to my residence in Roxbury, where it
arrived two hours after dark.
I had long been looking for the coming of these Celestial strangers, and
the "fever," which I had originally taken in a very kindly way, had by
this time affected me rather seriously. I imagined I had a fortune on
board that steamer. I looked forward with excited ideas to beholding
something that this part of the world had never yet seen, and which
would surely astound "the people," when I could have the opportunity to
show up my rare prize,--all the way from the yards or walks of royalty
itself! I waited and watched, with anxious solicitude,--and, at last,
the box arrived at my house. It was a curiously-built box--the fashion
of it was unique, and substantial, and foreign in its exterior. I
supposed, naturally, that its contents must be similar in character.
That box contained my "Cochin-Chinas,"--bred from the Queen's
stock,--about which, for many weeks, I had been so seriously disturbed.
[Illustration: PORTRAIT OF THE "COCHIN-CHINA" FOWL!]
I am _now_ well satisfied that the "Cochin-China" variety of fowl is a
gross fable. If such a breed exist, in reality, we have never had them
in this country. Anything (and everything) has been _called_ by this
name among us, in the last five years; but the engraving on the
following page, in my estimation (and I have been there!), is the
nearest thing possible to a likeness of this _long_ petted bird; and
will be recognized, I think, by more than one victim, as an accurate
and faithful portrait of this lauded "magnificent" and "superb" bird!
I was anxious to examine my celestial friends at once. I caused the box
to be taken into a shed, at the rear of the house, and I tore from its
front a piece of canvas that concealed them from view, to behold
a----well! _n'importe_--they were _Cochin-China_ fowls!
But, since God made me, I never beheld six _such_ birds before, or
since! They resembled _giraffes_ much more nearly than they did any
other thing, carnivorous, omnivorous,--fish, flesh, or fowl. I let them
out upon the floor, and one of the cocks seized lustily upon my
India-rubber over-shoe, and would have swallowed it (and myself), for
aught I know, had not a friend who stood by seized him, and absolutely
choked him off!
This is truth, strange as it may seem; but I presume they had scarcely
been fed at all upon their fortnight's voyage from Dublin, and I never
saw any animals so miserably low in flesh, in my life, before. What with
their long necks, and longer legs, and their wretchedly starved
condition, I never wondered that the friendly reporters spoke of their
appearance as being "extraordinary, and strikingly peculiar."
These were the original "Cochin-China" fowls of America. And they
probably never had the first drop of Chinese blood in their veins, any
more than had the man who bred them, and who knew this fact much better
than I did--who knew it well enough.
I housed my "prize" forthwith, however, and provided them with
everything for their convenience and comfort. The six fowls cost me
ninety dollars. They _were_ beauties, to be sure! When I informed a
neighbor of their cost, he ventured upon the expressive rejoinder that I
"was a bigger d----d fool than he had ever taken me for."
To which I responded nothing, for I rather agreed with him myself!
Nine months afterwards, however, I sold him a cock and three pullets,
four months old, raised from those very fowls, for sixty-five dollars;
and I didn't retort upon him even _then_, but took his money. The
chickens I sold him were "dog-cheap," at that!
[Illustration]