CONVALESCENCE.
One striking feature that exhibited itself in the midst of this mania,
was the fact that prominent among the leading dealers in fancy poultry,
constantly appeared the names of clergymen, doctors, and other
"liberally-educated" gentlemen.
In Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, and most of the Eastern States, this
circumstance was especially noticeable; and more particularly in
England. Whether this class of the community had the most money to throw
away, or whether their leisure afforded them the better opportunity to
indulge in this fancy, I cannot say; but one thing is certain,--among my
own patrons and correspondents, for the past five or six years, I find
the names of this class of "the people" by far the most conspicuous and
frequent.
There came into my office, one morning late in 1853, a Boston physician
(whom I had never seen before), who introduced himself civilly, and
invited me to ride a short distance with him up town. I was busy; but
he insisted, and his manner was peculiarly urgent and determined.
"My carriage is at the door," he said; "and I will bring you back here
in twenty minutes. I have some pure-blood stock I desire to dispose of."
"What _is_ it, doctor?" I asked.
"Chickens, chickens!" replied the doctor, briefly.
I assured the gentleman that I had near a thousand fowls on hand at this
time, and had no possible wish to increase the number.
"They are pure-bred--cost me high," he continued; "are very fine, but I
must part with them--come!"
I joined him, and we rode a mile or more, when he halted before a fine,
large house; his servant in waiting took his horse, and he ushered me
into his well-appointed poultry-house, at the rear of his dwelling.
The buildings were glazed in front and upon the roofs; the yards were
spacious and cleanly, and appropriately divided; the laying and hatching
rooms were roomy and convenient; the roosting-house was airy and
pleasant, and everything was, seemingly, in excellent order, and
arranged with good taste throughout.
"That cock cost me twenty dollars," said the doctor, calmly. "Those two
hens I paid eighteen dollars for. That bird, yonder, twelve dollars.
These five pullets stand me in about forty-five dollars. I have never
yet been able to hatch but one brood of chickens. The rats carried
_them_ off by the third morning after they came into this world. The
hens sometimes lay, I believe; at least, my man says so. I have never
_seen_ any eggs from them myself, however. I have no doubt this species
of fowls (these Changays) _do_ lay eggs, though. There are twenty-two of
them. Buy them, Mr. B----," continued the doctor, urgently.
I said no; I really did not want them.
"I _had_ nigh forty of them," continued the doctor, "two months ago. But
they have disappeared. Disease, roup, vermin, night-thieves, sir. Will
you buy them? John----drive them out!"
The fowls were driven into the main yard. There were but sixteen in all.
"Where are the rest, John?" inquired the doctor, anxiously. "There were
twenty-two here yesterday."
"I dunno, sir," said John.
"Drive 'em back, and box them up, John. Mr. B----, will you make an
offer for the remainder? To-morrow I shall probably have none to sell!
Will you give anything for them?"
I declined to buy.
"Will you permit me to send them to you as a present, sir?" he
continued.
I did not want them, any way. I had a full supply.
"What will you charge me, Mr. B----, to allow them to be sent to you?"
continued the fancier, desperately, and resolutely, at last.
I saw he was determined, and I took his fowls (fifteen of them), and
gave him ten dollars.
He smiled.
"I have had the hen fever," he added, "_badly_--but I am better of it. I
am convalescent, now," said the doctor. "You see what I have here for
houses; cost me over seven hundred dollars; my birds over four hundred
more; grain and care for a year, a hundred more. I am _satisfied_! Your
money, here, is the first dollar I ever received in return for my
investment. You see what I have left out of my venture of twelve or
thirteen hundred dollars; the manure, and--and--the lice!"
Such were the exact facts! His stock was selected from the Marsh and
Forbes importations, and the birds were good; but, by the time he got
ready to believe that it wasn't _all_ gold that glittered, the sale of
_this_ variety of fowl had passed by. A chance purchaser happened to
come along soon after, however, who "hadn't read the papers" so
attentively as some of us had, and who wanted these very fowls. I sold
them to him, "cheap as a broom," because the fever for this kind of bird
was rapidly declining. He paid me only $150 for this lot; which _was_ a
bargain, of a truth. The buyer was satisfied, however, and so was _I_.
These were but isolated instances. Scores and hundreds of gentlemen and
amateur fanciers found themselves in a similar predicament, at the end
of one or two or three years. Without possessing a single particle of
knowledge requisite to the successful accomplishment of their
purpose,--utterly ignorant of the first rudiments of the business,--they
jumped into it, without reason, forgetting the wholesome advice
contained in the musty adage, "look before you leap." And, after sinking
tens and hundreds or (in some cases) _thousands_ of dollars in
experiments, they woke up to find that they had _had_ the fever badly,
but, fortunately, were at last convalescent!
I was busy, all this time, in supplying my friends with "pure-bred"
stock, however, and had very little leisure to tarry to sympathize with
these "poor creeturs." The demand for _my_ stock continued, and the best
year's business I ever enjoyed, was from the spring of 1853 to May and
June, 1854; when it commenced to fall off very sensibly, and the
prospect became dubious, for future operations, even with _me_.