MR. ROOSTER’S STORY
Mr. Rooster straightened himself and said he was proud to say he was raised on the master’s farm. He was proud, too, to say he had succeeded the old rooster that had gone to a dinner one day and did not return.
“I have always taken good care of my family, and, if I do say it, there is not a better-looking family than mine around these parts,” said Mr. Rooster.
“There have been many young roosters in the barn-yard, but they have gone away to other farms to live, for the master has an eye for beauty, and he has always decided that I was too—er—valuable to lose.”
Mr. Dog and Mr. Tom Cat smiled a little on the side at this last remark, for they well knew how vain Mr. Rooster was, and then he really did have fine feathers and a beautiful comb.
“I have never had any trouble with my family until one morning Madam Blackie came running to me,” continued Mr. Rooster, “to tell me a new rooster had come in the barn-yard to live.”
“‘It is shameful the way all those silly hens are running around him,’ she said. ‘He isn’t noticing them a little bit and they strut back and forth, eying him as if they had never seen a handsome rooster before.
“‘For my part, I think the old friends are the best, though of course you are not old, my dear Mr. Rooster, only old in acquaintance I mean.’
“I had always thought Madam Blackie an old busybody, but now, if this was all true, I had found her my only friend.
“‘You are most kind, Madam Blackie,’ I said, ‘and I thank you, but I feel sure that the master will not have a new rooster here. This new-comer will probably leave in a few days.’