"No, no!" said the mistress. "Do not kill her. Give her away. She will
be a useful hen to some one else, and is sure to lay plenty of eggs."
"Very good, ma'am," replied the cook.
7. There was no washing this time before Betty was sent away. That was
one comfort. She was huddled, just as she was, into a hamper, and sent
as a present to a friend of the cook.
8. This friend was the wife of a farmer, and she was such a kind, good,
rosy, happy, pleasant woman, that it was quite a treat to look at her.
She lived about five miles from Betty's old home.
9. The large farm-yard into which Betty now stepped from her hamper,
was like a new world to her. She began at once to dig with those of her
sharp claws which were left.
10. And finding chalk like that which had been under the soil at home,
she nodded her head and chuckled, for she was pleased. No hen can be
happy without chalk, after she is old enough to lay eggs.
11. She knew that the yard in which she now was, would be a fine place
for her young brood. They would not be likely to get the cramp or catch
colds.
12. The fowl-house was built on a gentle slope, and below, at some
little distance, was a pond with two or three green islands in the
middle of it. Here some water birds, such as Betty had never seen
before, were paddling about.
13. She could not think how they did it. The yard had good shelter from
rough, cold winds, for a fir wood was at the back of it. And the
houses for cattle and horses stood with their backs to it on two sides.
14. The houses where the hens were to sit on their eggs, were sprinkled
with chalk laid over dry coal ashes. This was to keep the floor clean
and wholesome.
They were swept out often. The perches for roosting were not thin
sticks, but nice stout boughs of trees, so that the feet could clasp
them without slipping.
* * * * *
_Write:_ The new home to which Betty was sent pleased her. She thought
that she should soon forget her sorrows. The fowl-house was nice and
clean.
Questions: 1. To whom was Betty sent? 2. What sort of woman
was the farmer's wife? 3. When Betty stepped out of her
hamper what did she begin to do? 4. What did she find? 5.
What was the hen-house like?