1. But Betty was a hopeful hen. She did not give up trying to teach the
young ducklings and bring them up well. She kept them with great care
from speaking to any of their own kind.
2. She would not let them play with other ducklings. They had never
seen that dreadful pond yet. She would not let them waddle within sight
of it.
3. As to their bad manners, their love of dirt and snails and wet, she
could only think that it came from their having once laid as eggs in
that old straw cradle of theirs, among the green rushes.
4. "Or else it is because their feet are the wrong shape," said Betty,
as she looked down at the yellow boots of her foster-sons and
daughters. On the whole they did not behave so very badly, she thought.
5. They came up with the chickens at meal times, even if they did go
straight back to that vile gutter the moment they had gobbled all they
could get.
6. "What a clever hen is Betty Dorking!" the others said. "She has
brought up the duck's brood and will make chickens of them!" It is true
that the wise old gander laughed at this notion.
7. He said, "You never see a silk purse made out of any other thing but
silk," and all his wives nodded their heads and cackled. They said it
was witty, though they had no idea what the speech meant.
8. As the golden ears were taken by heaps into the rick-yard, the birds
felt as glad as the farmer and his wife did. The great sheaves were
stacked and the fowls gleaned after them.
9. Betty, as well as the rest, picked up plenty of loose grains. There
was a little squabbling once, and the turkey-cock trod on one of
Betty's ducklings.
10. The great bird said nothing but "gobble gobble!" and did not even
show that he was sorry. The peacock was not too proud to come walking
in among the rest, in a dainty way, holding up his train.
11. He liked wheat as much as any of them. But he could not bear
soiling his dress. Betty now thought it was time to take her
foster-children into the world, before winter came.
12. They were grown to a fair size, and as yet no cold water had ever
come near them, except a few splashes, which their nurse could not
prevent.
13. After a good deal of driving and shrieking to them, she got her
brood into a small crowd, to see if they were neat. She smoothed their
downy heads, she plumed their soft wings with loving care.
14. Then she said, "My dears, you are all as tidy as you can be made. I
am now going to take you on a visit to your own mother, whom you have
never yet seen.
15. "Behave well, and give me no cause to feel shame when she sees how
I have brought you up. Now, Forward! March!"
* * * * *
_Write:_ The young ducks had never seen a pond. Their foster-mother
made them tidy. She wished to take them into the world and show them
their mother.
Questions: 1. What did the other hens say of Betty and her
brood? 2. What did the gander say? 3. What bird came to pick
up wheat with the fowls? 4. What did the turkey-cock do? 5.
What did Betty say to her ducklings before taking them into
the world? 6. To whom did she wish to show them?