Footnotes
[1] After a hen had set over four weeks on her nest, I should suppose she might have been thus affected!
[2] O, the cannibal!
[3] I never heard from this customer again, and should now be glad to know if he ever got his "munney"!
[4] Here was a "lawyer," who knew the difference between a Cochin-China and a Shanghae!
[5] This was the kind of gentleman I loved to fall in with.
[6] Some persons would consider this personal!
[7] I would liked to have seen the dealer that could "fule" this customer more than "twict."
[8] I informed this purchaser that I could send him a pair which, if they "couldn't eat off the tops" of his flour-barrels, I'd warrant would eat up the contents of one as quickly as he could desire!
[9] "This gigantic bird," says Richardson, a noted English writer, "is very prolific, frequently laying two, and occasionally three eggs on the same day!" And, in support of this monstrous assertion, he subsequently refers, as his authority for this statement (which was called in question), to the "Rt. Hon. Mr. Shaw, Recorder of Dublin, to Mr. Walters, Her Majesty's poultry-keeper, and to J. Joseph Nolan, Esq., of Dublin." This was, in my opinion, one of the hums of the time, and I never had occasion to change that opinion. I do not believe the hen that really laid two eggs in one day ever lived to do it a second time! I have heard of this thing, however. But I never knew of the instance, myself.
[11] I never found, in my limited experience in this business, any particular necessity for attempting to prove anything. "The people" wanted fowls—not proofs!
[12] I trust that this association may not be confounded with the "Fort Des Moines Iowa Company." The difference will plainly be seen, of course.
[13] This article was originally published in the New York Spirit of the Times, substantially, and was afterwards issued in an edition of my fugitive literary productions, by Getz & Buck, of Philadelphia, in a volume entitled "Stray Subjects."
[14] This was the kind of customer I met with occasionally, and whom I always took at his word. The gentleman who "didn't care about price" was always the man after my own heart.
[15] Certainly—of course. The express agents had nothing else to do but to "feed and water" fowls "three times a day" on the way!
[16] We have found it a very comfortable "rage," thank you!
[17] Since this was written, I find in the Country Gentleman a communication from L.F. Allen, Esq., on this very subject, in which he says that "A correspondent desires to know how to build a chicken-house for 'about one thousand fowls.' If my poor opinion is worth anything, he will not build it at all. Fowls, in any large number, will not thrive. Although I have seen it tried, I never knew a large collection of several hundred fowls succeed in a confined place. I have known sundry of these enterprises tried; but I never knew one permanently successful. They were all, in turn, abandoned." The thing is entirely impracticable.
LIST OF BOOKS
PUBLISHED BY
JAMES FRENCH & CO.,
78 Washington Street, Boston.
————
SCHOOL BOOKS.
This little treatise seems well fitted to teach everything which can be taught of the theory of Penmanship. The style proposed is very simple. The copperplate fac-similes of Mr. French's writing are as neat as anything of the kind we ever saw.—Post.
Mr. French has illustrated his theory with some of the most elegant specimens of execution, which prove him master of his science.—Courier.
This work is of a useful character, evidently illustrating an excellent system. We have already spoken of it in terms of approbation.—Journal.
This little work of his is one of the best and most useful publications of the kind that we have seen.—Transcript.
MISCELLANEOUS AND JUVENILE.
It is a most excellent work. It will have a large sale, for it embraces more real information about real Turks and their strange peculiarities than anything we have yet read.—Post.
The work is written in a happy but ludicrous style, and this reliable history of the fowl mania in America, will create an immense sensation.—Courier.
NEW MINIATURE VOLUMES.
| THE ART OF CONVERSING. Written for the instruction of Youth in the polite manners and language of the drawing-room, by a Society of Gentlemen; with an illustrative title. Fourteenth Edition. Gilt Edges. | 37-½ |
| THE SAME, Gilt Edges and Sides. | 50 |
| FLORAL GEMS: or, The Songs of the Flowers. By Mrs. J. Thayer. Thirteenth Edition, with a beautiful frontispiece. Gilt Edges. | 37-½ |
| THE SAME, Gilt Edges and Sides. | 50 |
| THE AMETHYST: or, Poetical Gems. A Gift Book for all seasons. Illustrated. Gilt Edges. | 37-½ |
| THE SAME, Gilt Edges and Sides. | 40 |
| ZION. With Illustrative Title. By Rev. Mr. Taylor. | 42 |
| THE SAME, Gilt Edges and Sides. | 50 |
| THE TRIUNE. With Illustrative Title. By Rev. Mr. Taylor. | 37-½ |
| TRIAD. With Illustrative Title. By Rev. Timothy A. Taylor. | 37-½ |
| TWO MOTTOES. By Rev. T.A. Taylor. | 37-½ |
| SOLACE. By Rev. T.A. Taylor. | 37-½ |
| THE SAME, Gilt Edges and Sides. | 50 |
| SONNETS. By Edward Moxon. | 31-¼ |
| THE SAME, Gilt Edges and Sides. | 50 |
| GRAY'S ELEGY, and other Poems. The Poetical Works of Thomas Gray. "Poetry—Poetry;—Gray—Gray!" [Daniel Webster, the night before his death, Oct. 24, 1852.]. | 31 |
| THE SAME, Gilt Edges and Sides. | 50 |
The following Writing Books are offered on Liberal Terms.
FRENCH'S NEW WRITING BOOK, with a fine engraved copy on each page. Just published, in Four Numbers, on a highly-improved plan.
No. 1 Contains the First Principles, &c. 10
No. 2 A fine Copy Hand. 10
No. 3 A bold Business Hand Writing. 10
No. 4 Beautiful Epistolary Writing for the Lady. 10
James French & Co., No. 78 Washington street, have just published a new series of Writing Books for the use of Schools and Academies. They are arranged upon a new and improved plan, with a copy on each page, and ample instructions for learners. We commend them to the attention of teachers and parents.—Transcript.
They commence with those simple forms which the learner needs first to make, and they conduct him, by natural and appropriate steps, to those styles of the art which indicate the chirography not only of the finished penman, but which are adapted to the wants of those who wish to become accomplished accountants.—Courier.
A new and original system of Writing Books, which cannot fail to meet with favor. They consist of a series, and at the top of each page is a finely-executed copy. We cordially recommend the work.—Bee.
It is easily acquired, practical and beautiful.—Fitchburg Sentinel.
We have no hesitation in pronouncing them superior to anything of the kind ever issued.—Star Spangled Banner.
FRENCH'S PRACTICAL WRITING BOOK, for the use of Schools and Academies; in Three Numbers, with a copy for each page.
No. 1, Commencing with the First Principles. 10
No. 2, Running-hand copies for Business Purposes. 10
No. 3, Very fine copies, together with German Text and Old English. 10
| BOSTON SCHOOL WRITING BOOK, for the use of Public and Private Schools; in Six Numbers, with copies to assist the Teacher and aid the Learner. | |
| No. 1 Contains the Elementary Principles, together with the Large Text Hand. | 10 |
| No. 2 Contains the Principles and First Exercises for a Small Hand. | 10 |
| No. 3 Consists of the Capital Letters, and continuation of Small Letters. | 10 |
| No. 4 Contains Business-hand Copies, beautifully executed. | 10 |
| No. 5 Consists of a continuation of Business Writing, also an Alphabet of Roman Print. | 10 |
| No. 6 Contains many beautiful specimens of Epistolary Writing, also an Alphabet of Old English and German Text. | 10 |
| LADIES' WRITING BOOK, for the use of Teachers and Learners, with three engraved copies on each page, and the manner of holding the pen, sitting at the table, &c., explained. | 13 |
| GENTLEMEN'S WRITING BOOK, for the use of Teachers and Learners, with three engraved copies on each page, and the manner of holding the pen, sitting at the table, &c., explained. | 13 |
| YANKEE PENMAN, Containing 48 pages, with engraved copies. | 33 |
| FRENCH'S EAGLE COVER WRITING BOOKS, made of fine blue paper, without copies. | 7 |
Transcriber's Note
Punctuation and formatting markup have been normalized.
Apparent printer's errors have been retained, unless stated below.
Page numbers cited in illustration captions refer to their discussion in the text. Illustrations have been moved near their mention in the text, which has, in some instances, affected page numbering
Page numbers have also been affected by the omission of blank pages.
Page [21], "gray" changed to "grey" for consistency. (...rich and poor, white, black and grey,—everybody was more or less seriously affected by this curious epidemic.)
Page [60], "anexed" changed to "annexed". (In the addenda to my Report (above named) there appeared the annexed statement, by somebody:)
Page [88], "H.B.M." changed to "H.R.M." (Her Royal Majesty) for consistency. (From Hon. Col. Phipps, H.R.M. Secretary.)
Page [116], "oustrip" changed to "outstrip". (At this time there was found an ambitious individual, occasionally, who got "ahead of his time," and whose laudable efforts to outstrip his neighbors were only checked by the natural results of his own superior "progressive" notions)
Page [153], "millenium" changed to "millennium". ("Fanny" went into New York State, crowing when she left, crowing as she went, and continuing to crow until she crowed the community there clear through the next fourth o' July, out into the fabled millennium.)
Page [162], "@" changed to "or". (The prices for chickens ranged from $12 or $15 a pair, to $25 or $30, and often $40 to $50, a pair.)