On the sloping side of a green hill there was a pretty cottage, with a
little garden round it, and a white gate that led into a wood of firs
and larches, mixed with a few birch trees, that sent out a delicious
odour after a shower of rain when the sun came out, and the green leaves
glistened in the light. It was such a solitary place that this cottage
would have been lonely, but that near it there was a farm-house, and the
sheep belonging to the farmer used to crop the grass on the hill, and
often come close up to the gate; and he had cows in the meadows below,
and corn-fields at a little distance, and fine strong horses for his
ploughs and wagons, and a pigeon-house on the roof of his barn.
In the cottage there lived a little girl and boy called Rose and Harry,
with their mama. Their papa died when they were too young to remember
him, and their mama seemed to have no happiness but in teaching them,
walking about the beautiful country with them, giving them pleasure, and
trying to make them as good as she told them their dear papa was. They
were very happy children, for they were always with their mama, whom
they loved so much. When they awoke in the morning they were sure to see
her near their little beds. She bathed and dressed them with her own
hands. Her voice led their morning prayer. She sat on the hill while
they ran and jumped in the fresh sweet air. They sat at the same round
table at breakfast with her, and then went with her to see what Mary the
maid was doing, to help to give out what was wanted from the store-room,
and to see what vegetables were ready to cut in the garden. Then they
did their lessons, read to her, wrote, and did sums; and when work was
over they played till she called them to dinner, when they had a great
many things to talk over with her. Then after dinner she took them long
walks into beautiful places, through woods and green fields, and up
hills, where they saw lovely views, and down into deep valleys by the
side of clear streams; and when evening came they went home to tea. In
summer evenings, when they came in sight of their peaceful home it was
still quite light, and the sun was making the windows glitter through
the roses that grew round them; but in spring and autumn it was often
nearly dark; the stars were coming out, and the bright light of the nice
warm fire in their sitting-room shone out pleasantly in the cold air. In
winter their walk ended earlier, and they had to run to keep out the
frost, or to skip along over the snow. But whether it was warm or cold,
light or dark, it was always happy to them. They thought that they liked
better than anything in all their pleasant lives the time when they sat
down to tea, sometimes by the open window, sometimes by the cheerful
fire; and then, when the table was cleared, and their mama brought out
her work, and told them stories, or taught Rose to hem and Harry to
draw, how happy they were! The only thing that seemed sad to them was
when bed-time came; but still, the moment their mama said, "It is time
to go to bed," they put everything away, and followed her up stairs; for
whatever she wished them to do they did instantly. They loved her so
much, that to please and obey her was their delight.
It was early in the month of February, when, one day, they were
agreeably surprised by receiving a present from the farmer's wife of a
cock and five hens. There was a yard, with an empty hen-house at the
back of their cottage, and their mama had often said she would like to
keep some fowls to lay fresh eggs for them; so this was a very kind
present. Every morning and afternoon they used to go and feed their new
pets, and to look for eggs in the nests of the hen-house; and they
almost always found three or four a day. They named the cock Emperor,
because he looked so grand and proud; the two white hens they named
Fairy and Lily, the black one Jet, and the two speckled ones Browny and
Pet.
It happened that one day, when Rose and Harry were at play in the
garden, they could see their mama's face as she sat at work near the
window, and it seemed to Rose that her dear mama looked very pale and
melancholy. Rose left off laughing and talking, and was silent so long,
that Harry asked what she was thinking of.
"I wish," said she, "that we could do anything useful."
Harry looked as if he did not quite understand her.
"Mama is always working for us, and doing things to make us happy," she
continued, "and I wish we could do anything to help her."
"So do I, Rose. What can we do?"
This led to a great deal of talk between them; and at last they ran to
their mama to ask her to let them try to be useful to her. She smiled,
kissed them, and said, "It helped her best to see them try to be good;"
but she added, "As you grow older you shall both learn more and more to
be useful."
"Let us begin now, mama," said Rose.
"I think that I can find something for you to do for me," answered her
mama, "that will be very useful, if I can trust you. It will require
care and attention."
Both declared they would be careful and attentive.
"I know by several signs," continued their mama, "that the little white
hen you call Fairy wants to sit."
"Does she, and will she have some chickens?"
"I hope so; but sitting hens require great attention when there is no
separate place for them to make their nest in. The other hens try to
drive them off, to lay their eggs in the nest; then they fight, and
perhaps break the eggs. I shall therefore have a door made to shut in
Fairy when she has got her eggs under her."
"But how is she to get her food?"
"That is what I am going to trust you with. She must be allowed once a
day to come off her eggs, to take her food and have a little exercise.
Some one must open her door every morning. She will know how long she
may safely stay out. When she goes back she must be shut in again."
"Then may we open her door, feed her, and wait till she is ready to go
back?" said Rose.
"And shut her in again when she goes back? How I shall like doing it,"
said Harry.
"It will be very useful to me if you will take this charge," said their
mama. "Mary has not time for it, and it would be troublesome to me."
"We will be very attentive. It will be so very nice!" said Rose.
"But remember," added her mama, "that Fairy must sit three whole weeks;
and that, if you forget to let her out even one day, she will suffer
much and be very hungry and thirsty; while, if you neglect to let her in
again, the eggs will get cold and we shall have no chickens. May I trust
you?"
Both declared that she might; that they would never forget. Accordingly
the carpenter put a little wooden door before one of the nests, with
holes in it for air. Then Rose and Harry went with their mama to the
store-room, and she took thirteen eggs in a little basket. Fairy was
already in the nest, though she had no eggs; but Harry took her off and
held her while his mama put clean straw and a little hay nicely in.
Rose laid all the eggs carefully among it, and then Fairy was allowed to
go in. She began to arrange the eggs with her feet and beak, till they
were laid as she liked, then she spread her wings out and settled down
upon them. The door was now closed and she was left alone.
Next morning before breakfast, Rose and Harry went to the hen-house with
a saucer of water, and some barley which they spread on the floor. When
they opened Fairy's door and called her, she got off, picked it up, and
drank some water. They felt the warm eggs, and then shut the door, lest
another hen should get in; but they waited in the yard while Fairy
wandered about, till, in less than ten minutes, she came to her nest
again, when they opened her door, let her in, and then shut her up
safely. They went on every morning in the same way. Sometimes it seemed
to them that she staid out very long, but they always found she came
back before the eggs had lost their warmth; however, to pass the time,
they went into the garden and played there, going back every few minutes
to see if Fairy was clucking outside her door and ready to go in.
Eighteen days passed on. By this time their mama had told them there was
in each egg, she hoped, a chicken, ready in a few days to burst the
shell and come out. In three days more they might expect the chickens;
indeed Mary told them that in her last place she remembered a hen
brought out her brood a day too soon; and therefore, though their mama
said she thought there must be some mistake about this, they even hoped
for them in two days.
On the nineteenth morning they let out Fairy as usual, shut her door,
and went into the garden to go on with their play. The game was keeping
a shop on a bench under a large walnut tree. It was such a shop as there
was in the village, where they sometimes went with their mama, in which
many different kinds of things were sold. For several mornings they had
been collecting their stock: now they were ready to begin buying and
selling; so that it would be still more amusing to play. They had
scraped sand off the walk, and this they called moist sugar; some chalk
they had found in a field, cut into pieces was loaf sugar; the black
seeds in the laburnum pods, which were falling as the young spring
leaves came out, were coffee; the dry beech leaves broken up in their
hands made tea; large stones were loaves, and little pebbles rolls;
willow twigs peeled and cut into pieces were pounds of butter; straws
cut short, and tied six or eight together, were candles; and pieces of
broken cups and saucers that Mary gave them, were ranged along, and made
a fine show of crockery ware. Harry was to be shopman, and Rose
customer.
"Stop a moment," said Rose, as Harry placed himself behind the counter;
"let me run and look after Fairy."
She ran back, but soon returned saying Fairy was still out, and the eggs
as warm as pies, and they began to play. Rose bought several things. She
pretended that she was a farmer's wife who had a large family of
children, and wanted to lay in stores for three months, and to buy a
great many cups and plates. Harry praised his things very much, and she
said they were dear and not good, in the way they had observed people
did when they went to the shop. They played in this way for some time.
"I now want some moist sugar, sir," said Rose.
Harry began to weigh some sand in a pair of scales that their mama had
made of orange peel. Rose asked the price, and was beginning to complain
of it.
"Your sugar is--Fairy! Oh Harry, Fairy!" she cried, instead of what she
was going to say.
The scales dropped from Harry's hands. A long while had passed. They
both ran to the hen-house.
Poor Fairy was wandering restlessly before the closed door, ruffling her
feathers, and sometimes flying up and pecking at it. Rose opened it. The
eggs felt quite cold to her hand. Fairy jumped in and settled on them
instantly.
"Run to mama, Harry," cried Rose, the tears filling her eyes. "Ask her
to come. See if she can do anything."
Harry ran into the cottage, and brought back his mama, followed by Mary.
"Oh Miss Rose!" said Mary, "what a pity. The eggs must all be spoiled."
"Do you think so?" sobbed Rose. "Oh mama, mama, how sorry I am!"
"Might they be put near the kitchen fire?" asked Harry with a faltering
voice.
Their mama put her hand under Fairy, and felt the eggs.
"They are not quite cold," said she; "I yet hope they may not be
spoiled."
"Do you think so, mama? Oh how happy I should be," said Rose, looking up
in her tears.
"And then perhaps the poor little chickens are not all dead," said
Harry.
"We must leave Fairy quiet. That is all we can do," said their mama.
"Let us go in to breakfast."
The children each took one of her hands, and walked silently by her
side. As they looked up at her they saw that she looked very sad. They
sat down, but could not eat: their hearts seemed too full. Rose soon
left her seat, threw her arms round her mama's neck, and leaned her head
on her shoulder, and Harry went to her also, and laid his head on her
lap.
"You will not be able to trust us any more," said Rose.
"And we have not been useful to you at all," added Harry.
"My dear children," she replied, "this is a great disappointment to me.
It grieves me that you have failed in the duty you had undertaken. But
learn from your failure a lesson that I hope you will never forget.
Whatever duty you have to perform let that be your first concern. Never
let pleasure make you forget it."
"We will try, mama," said Rose; and Harry added, "I hope we shall be
able to remember."
They went to their lessons. They had never felt so melancholy before,
and they were not able to play at all. Their mama took them a long walk,
and talked with them, and told them some stories that encouraged them to
be earnest in faithfully doing whatever they knew they ought to do.
Next morning, when they were dressed, they stood doubtfully looking at
their mama. They were not sure whether she meant to trust them any more;
and when she told them to go and let Fairy out they felt grateful to
her. They could not help hoping that even this morning some of the
chickens might have come out, as Mary had said they might. They looked
anxiously in, but the eggs lay as they had always done; no chickens had
come out yet. They did not think of play, but remained near the door
till Fairy came back to it.
Many were the questions they put to Mary that day as to her
expectations, and many a guess did they make between themselves as to
the next day. When morning came, the twenty-first morning so long
expected, they felt afraid to go to look at the eggs, so fearful were
they that no signs of chickens would be there. How different they would
have felt if they had not forgotten their work that unlucky morning.
They begged their mama to go with them, and she agreed.
They opened the door; Fairy seemed unwilling to move, and their mama was
obliged to lift her off. They watched with beating hearts, but were
disappointed. No egg was even chipped, and no chickens were to be seen.
"Do not quite despair yet," said their mama. "Any time to-day or in the
night they may come. It was not unlikely, after such a check as the eggs
had, that there might be some delay. You must shew your self-denial by
not coming to disturb Fairy. The best thing we can do for her is to let
her quite alone," When they had shut her in again they went to
breakfast, with many fears, notwithstanding their mama's words of
comfort. They obeyed her by not returning to the nest, and only went the
last thing before going to bed, with her permission, to listen for a
chirp. But all was quiet.
Again, when morning came they begged of their mama to go with them, to
help them to bear it, if there was no hope. All three went, and Rose
with trembling fingers opened the door. "O look! look!" cried Harry in a
tone of joy. He had seen a little bright black eye peeping from under
Fairy's wing. And now they saw another, and two or three beaks. All was
safe. The eggs had not been spoiled.
Before anything more could be done, they both threw their arms round
their mama, kissed her, and almost danced for joy. She then lifted Fairy
up, pecking and screaming, and put her on the floor to eat her barley.
In the nest there were nine pretty little soft chickens, looking like
balls of down, some entirely yellow, others speckled with brown, one
quite black. There was, besides, an egg with a beak poking out at one
end, and another cracked at the end.
Rose and Harry wanted to run for some food; but their mama said it would
be better to wait till the rest had come out, for that young chickens
did not require to be fed for several hours after they were hatched. She
removed the broken shells, and shook the eggs gently that shewed no
signs of cracking, and by doing so found they were bad and threw them
away. How happily Rose and Harry went to breakfast now! Still more happy
were they when their mama told them that she meant to trust them with
the care of the young brood. They felt that they should never forget the
lesson they had received, and were not afraid to take the charge. She
gave them the proper food, and shewed them how to set about their work.
When they returned to Fairy in the afternoon, they found the two
remaining chickens had come out, and they took her down and put all on
the ground, and had the great pleasure of seeing the little things begin
to peck and to drink water. By their constant care they reared all the
chickens but one, which hurt itself in trying to get through a narrow
slit in the gate and died; but all the other ten grew up. Every morning
and afternoon, Rose and Harry took them their food, and Mary often said,
as she looked at them, that she never saw chickens thrive so well. They
got so strong that they used to stray away, and it often took Fairy some
time before she could collect more than two or three round her; but all
were sure to come at last. Everything went on as happily as before with
Rose and Harry; they enjoyed their game in the garden and all their
other play, but they often remembered their mama's words, and tried
never to let pleasure make them forget their duty.
[Illustration: A VISIT TO THE SEA-SIDE.]