“Well, then, I’ll take a few geese instead of guinea-hens. Somehow or other, I despise their struts, and their shrill cries, and the speckles on their feathers!” declared Janet.
These three reasons for not wanting guinea-hens made the farmer laugh with amusement. He never as much as saw one of those objectionable features with his guinea-hens. He saw the business interest in their slight need of food and the eggs they laid.
So Rhode Island Reds were taken in place of the old hens and rooster, and then Janet felt that she owed Mr. Ames an extra sale for taking so much trouble with her exchanges. He had thrown the sacks in which the infested hens had come, out upon the ground and taken new bags for the Rhode Island fowl so they need not be troubled with the plague of a poulterer.
“Now I’ll pick out the geese,” said Janet, having quickly figured up the cost and deciding that she could afford them.
“Do you want to pick them out yourself?” asked Ames.
“No, I am going to trust to Dorothy’s and your wisdom,” was Janet’s rejoinder.
“Then I’d say, don’t take a gander and geese, Janet,” was Dorothy’s advice, “take goslings. They are very much cheaper and easier to feed and care for.”
“Besides, they grow up fast, to geese and ganders, Miss Janet,” supplemented the farmer.
“I never thought of the goslings. They’ll be much cuter, too,” was Janet’s delighted reply. “How many goslings could I get for the price of a gander and four geese?”
“I can let you have ’bout twenty goslings,” estimated Farmer Ames.