"One day we missed them both, and for three weeks saw them only at intervals, Mrs. Bantam always coming alone, eating a hurried meal, and stealing away as quickly as possible; while the Captain wandered about rather dejectedly, we thought, in the society of the other hens.
"But one bright morning we heard Mrs. Bantam clucking and calling with all her old vigor; and there she was at the kitchen-door, the prettiest and proudest of little mothers, with three tiny chicks not much larger than the baby chippies you saw in the nest, Florence, but wonderfully active and vigorous for their size. We named them Bob and Dick and Jenny, and, as they grew older, were never tired of watching their comical doings. Their mother, too, afforded us great amusement, while we found much in her conduct to admire and praise. She was a fussy, consequential little body, but unselfishly devoted, and ready to brave any danger that threatened her brood. Charlie and and I learned more than one useful lesson from the bantam hen and her young family.
"One of these lessons we put into verse, which, if I can remember, I will repeat to you. We called it
CHICKEN DICK THE BRAGGER.
'Scratch! scratch!
In the garden-patch,
Goes good Mother Henny;
Cluck! cluck!
Good luck! Good luck!
Come, Bob and Dick and Jenny!
A worm! a worm!
See him squirm!
Who comes first to catch it!
Quick! quick!
Chicken Dick,
You are the chick to snatch it!
"Peep! peep!
While you creep,
My long legs have won it!
Cuck-a-doo!
I've beat you!
Don't you wish you'd done it?"
Dick! Dick!
That foolish trick
Of bragging lost your dinner;
For while to crow
You let it go,
Bob snatched it up—the sinner!
Bob! Bob!
'T was wrong to rob
Your silly little brother,
And in the bush
To fight and push,
And peck at one another.
But Bobby beat,
And ate the treat.—
Dear children, though you're winners,
Be modest all;
For pride must fall,
And braggers lose their dinners.'