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http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924002980104

Pamted by F, Winterhalter.

19. PN. G. Muiesip, Wietoria, Queen of Creat Writain,

IN THE ROBES OF THE MOST NOBLE ORDER OF THE GARTER,

DAGUERREOTYPED HY THOMPRON,
Hrom the Portrait in possession of Geo. P. Burnham;
PRESENTED TO HIM BY HER MAJESTY, THE QUEEN, IN 1853,
[Sre Letter, page 130.)

REV. F. D. HUNTINGTON’S
FAST DAY SERMON

REVIEWED.

On Tuurspay, April 5th, 1855, on the occasion of the
annual “ Fast’ appointed by the Governor of Massachu-
setts, the Rev. F. D. Hunrrneron, Pastor of the Cgn-
gregational Unitarian Society of Boston, for the text of his

_discourse made choice of the following portion of, the
twenty-second verse of the twelfth chapter of Proverbs:

“ Lying lips are abomination to the Lord.”

The audience present upon this occasion embraced a
highly intelligent and goodly array of talent, and the listen-
ers to the discourse which succeeded the announcement of .
the above theme were attentive, and were more than ordi-
narily interested during its delivery. The reverend gen-
tleman divided his subject in form, and launched fotth, at
length, upon the deceits of the present day, and the follies
and foibles that are current in this “ progressive” age.

On Friday, April 6th, the editor of the Boston Even-
ing Transcript allowed one of its apparently friendly
correspondents to furnish for that paper a nominally
“brief”? description of this remarkably interesting sermon,
in the course of which communication the writer stated *

Lolnen See
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1855, by GEO. P. BURNHAM, in tho
Clerk's Office a the District Court of the District of Massachusetts. ”

. BP Seeathe
2 BBY. F. D. HUNTINGTON'S
E 69%

that “A large audience was present at Rev. Mr. Hunting-
ton’s church -yesterday- morning, and listened with much
pleasure to an exceedingly eloquent, forcible, and practical
sermon on Lying, from the words, ‘ Lying lips are abomi-
nation to the Lord.’

The writer then went on to say that “The reverend
gentleman specified the different kinds of lying, as the ‘lie
of cowardice,’ the ‘lie for amusement,’ the ‘lie of malice,’
the ‘lie of self-interest,’ &c. Under the last head he
enlarged with great power and force, and in his remarks
alluded to the recent publications of Barnum’s Life, and
Burnham's Hen Fever. The last publication he thought
ofsthe same character as the first-named, only much weaker
and more vapid. The former’ Mr. H. pronounced
“not only weak, but bad,” &. &e.

The reverend speaker was then described as having
taken the general ground that these books were immoral
and dangerous, and he regretted to meet with them upon
the centre-tables of all his friends, to know that they were
everywhere read, and that they even found their” way into
the hands of the youth. ‘Sooner than have his boy
obtain wealth by such practices and such knavery as is in
this sort of work presented as ‘shrewdness,’ he would
rather he would live all his days in an almshouse, and be
buried without a coffin.”*

* The editor of the Transcript was subsequently appealed to, by the
author of the book thus ridiculed in his columns, and a respectful letter
upon the subject of his corfespondent’s statements was sent him in reply.
But, as the Rev. Mr. Huntington chanced to be of sufficient consequence

to be lauded in that respectable journal, ergo he was of too much conse-

quence to be reproved by the injured party, at whose cost he had thus
been complimented !

FAST DAY SERMON REVIEWED. 3

The reporter for the Transcript remarked, finally, that
the Rev. Mr. Huntington ‘closed his sermon with an
earnest appeal to his hearers to live and speak the truth at
all times, and under all circumstances. To do this, the
springs from within must be pure, and the heart must be
consecrated to God. The sermon was listened to with great
attention and pleasure; and we can only give a mere sketch
of a few of its leading ideas,” &c.

The above extracts contain the substance of the personal
allusions made by the correspondent of the Transcript,
who evidently intended to compliment the Reverend Mr.
Huntington at the expense of the author of the ‘ History
of the Hen Fever,’’ but who forgot the very recommenda-
tions he had so zealously quoted on the subject of lying, out
of “malice,” or for ‘‘amusement.” For, it subsequently
turned out that Mr. Huntington did not use the language
attributed to him by this very zealous, but clearly lying
and very stupid correspondent of the Boston Evening
Transcript !

A rumor became current, immediately, that the author
of the “ History of the Hen Fever” had in some way
contrived to influence the speaker thus to allude in his
sermon to his new and popular publication, for purposes of
self-interest; and Mr. Burnham felt constrained, in self-
defence, on the Monday succeeding the delivery of this
curious discourse, to issue the following card, which ap-
peared in the Boston Daily Times of April 9th, 1855.

A DENIAL.
George P. Burnham, Esq., the successful author of the
* History of the Hen Fever,” requests us to deny, un-

4 REY. F. D. HUNTINGTON’S.
equivocally, the truth of the rumor that ha entered into
any arrangement with Rev. Mr. Huntington, of this city,
inducing that gentleman to refer, in his last “ Fast Day ”
sermon, to his-popular book. The Hen Fever is selling’
at the rate of about one thousand daily, and the author
has no occasion to resort to this kind of advertisement, at
present.”

The positions assumed and the language applied to the
“ History of the Hen Fever” by Rev. Mr. H., were
of.the most extraordinary character, however. His hearers
plainly understood the points he made, and there was no
mistaking the drift or the application of his remarks. This
speaker is not, usually, nor did he on this special occasion
aim to be, misunderstood or misappreciated.

A two-fold response is readily suggested to the accusations
preferred by the reverend gentleman in his Fast Day dis-
course. The first point is, that, even admitting that the
language which is employed in the ‘‘ History of the Hen
Fever” is not exactly of that literal and ascetic cast which
finds so much favor with dull and sober people, the facts
are by no means the less authentic. The book in question
is a record of facts, generally. The reverend critic assumes
to think, notwithstanding, that, the “History of the Hen
Fever’? is a work of fiction, and that its author invented.
all that is therein stated to have occurred! If he be
honest in this impression, he certainly compliments the
writer’s imagination; but, really, at the expense of his
veracity. -~ .

FAST DAY SERMON REVIEWED. 5

In reply to the article which the editor of the Transcript
permitted to be inserted in his columns, in the outset, over
the signature ‘“B,” (but which Mr. Burnham did not write,
although it was generally supposed to have originated with
him !) the following respectful letter was addressed, by Mr.
Burnham, to the editor of that paper —but which he declined
to publish, although his columns had been first opened to
a correspondent upon the subject, to hold up to ridicule the
author of the book thus assailed. This letter was couched
in fair and friendly terms, as follows; and was published
in another daily of Tuesday.

Epitor oF Evenine Transoript.— Dear Sir: In
Friday’s Transcript you permitted a correspondent to give
your readers an objectionable ‘brief sketch” of the Rev.
Mr. Huntington’s ‘“‘able”’ Fast Day sermon, in the course of
which that gentleman was pleased to assail my lately-pub-
lished book, the ‘‘ History of the Hen Fever.”” Will you,
in the same friendly spirit, allow the author of that volume,
through your columns, to express his surprise that Mr. H.
should have chosen ‘‘ Barnum’s and Burnham’s”’ books for
his subject on that occasion; and to add that (while I can-
not but think the reverend gentleman stepped aside from the
course prescribed by his legitimate duties in thus wantonly
attacking me) I regret that the Transcript should have
been made the vehicle for republishing the offensive stand
taken in the discourse alluded to. Iam not aware that I.
ever crossed the path of Rev. Mr. Huntington, that he

1*

6 REY. F. D. HUNTINGTON’S.,

should thus attempt to injure me; and it occurs to me. that
surely there were many “great” and graver matters that
might have been selected for the text to his Fast Day ser-
mon, without a resort to this.
Respectfully yours,
Gro. P. BuRNHAM.
Melrose, April 9, 1855. ,

This communication was based upon the T’ranscript’s re-
port; and, in the mean time, Mr. Burnham addressed to the
Rev. Mr. Huntiveron, personally, the following letter,
which was delivered to him at his residence in Roxbury,
by a friend, on the afternoon of Monday, April 9th, and.
which ran as follows :

Russet House, Melrose, April Tth, 1855.

F. D. Huntineton, Boston.

: Rav. ‘Sir: I was greatly surprised that you should have
had at your command (for your late ‘‘ Fast Day” sermon)
a subject no more felicitous and appropriate for considera-
tion in the pulpit than that which you selected for Thurs-
day last; and in the course of which you seized upon the
opportunity so uncharitably to attack my book and the
author of the “ History of the Hen Fever.”

Of fourse, you never read the work. But you condemn |
it in round terms, thus publicly, from the “sacred desk,?”
dnd,, «vith: an altogether mistaken zeal, you have been
pleasedito characterize my, book as a compound of disclosed _

FAST DAY SERMON REVIEWED. 7

knavery, etc., while you contend that you would prefer that
a son of yours should occupy an apartment “in the alms-
house, and be buried without a coffin,” rather than he
should succeed in life by means of selling live stock at
fancy prices, etc. In so far as your own family or children
are concerned, I have no possible objection to offer to this
singularly avowed choice on your part. ButI have a right
to object to your unchristian language at my expense, and
I claim that you have no more right, socially, morally or
religiously, thus to assail me in public, than you have to
steal my watch, or to rob me of my purse.

I tacitly permit mo man to abuse or to malign me, or
mine, sir, without resenting it. I regret, exceedingly, the
cause which prompts me to address a note of this character
to a gentleman of your profession and position. But, when |
you step out of your province, evidently to your neigh-
bor’s injury, you cannot hope to escape censure.

In all candor, permit me to ask in what manner I have
ever crossed your path, sir, that you should thus do me
personal wrong. My business, and my humble “record”
thereof, did mot come legitimately within the range of your
notice, in any way whatever. The volume you thus at-
tacked is but a frank and simple exposé of a huge bubble,
of which I (not you) had been long an unconscious vic-
tim. The effect of my history of this mania will be to
cripple and crush a delusion that-has hurt the community

8 REV. F. D. HUNTINGTON’S

in past days; and thus good, not evil, will come from its
publication, eventually.

You area chosen minister of the Gospel, and in your
official station you have committed an error in thus assail-
ing private character. Your unkind and ill-chosen com-
ments upon the publication of my book were most extraor- —
dinary in sentiment and intent. I shall exert myself, in
my own way, to counteract the effect you have sought to
produce ; ‘and I trust that before you again make the pulpit
your chosen place from which to hurl anathemas upon an
humble and unoffending fellow-citizen, who never wrote one
line ‘that, dying, he would wish to blot,” you will better
weigh the probable effect of your words.

The good Apostle advises those of your holy calling
to use only “ sound speech, that cannot be condemned ;”’
and counsels us to “speak evil of no man, to be no brawl-
ers, but,gentle, showing all meekness to a/J men.’”’? We are
clearly bidden to “‘speak mo¢ evil of one another;” for ‘he
that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother,
speaketh evil of the Law, and judgeth the Law.”

Mr. Huntington, the pastor, “hath done me much evil;
the Lord reward him according to his works.”

With due respect, yours,
Gzo. P. BURNHAM.

P. 8. I respectfully ask your attention to the enclosed

notices of my book (from certain religious and family

FAST DAY SERMON REVIEWED. 9.

papers), which seem to differ from you in opinion as to its
merits.”

In contradistinction to the opinion expressed by the talented
“and reverend critic in his pulpit — as already quoted — the
author experiences great pleasure in presenting, first, the
following extracts in brief, which he selects from several
scores of similar frank and fair criticisms, FROM CERTAIN
RELIGIOUS JOURNALS.

The JVestern Family Circle says, that ‘“‘ Burnham’s
new volume is full of spice and wit, and is one of the most
instructive and readable volumes that ever fell under our
observation. We heartily commend it to general perusal;
for none can be so stoical as to rise from a careful read-
ing of this amusing book without feeling wiser in the ways
of this world, as well as better and happier.”

The Philadelphia Observer pronounces it ‘a very
humorous record of a very singular delusion; ”’ and recom-
mends its perusal to ‘‘all who can enjoy an innocent laugh
over the explosion of a most unhealthy and curious bubble, ©
which the author has effectually destroyed.”

The Boston Puritan Recorder states that ‘‘ this volume
details an actual state of things, in regard to the whole hen
tribe, as having existed in this country within the last few
years. We may safely say that some of its details are, in
point of genuine humor, quite irresistible.”’

The Buffalo Christian Advocate exclaims, ‘‘ Such a pre-
sentation as we have in this volume, both in story and em-
bellishment, the world has never seen before! Our ideas

10 REV. F. D. HUNTINGTON’S

of henology have been vastly extended since reading it
through.”

The Philadelphia Evangelist denominates it “a book
of infinite humor; ” and adds, that ‘‘the revelations which
it makes are told with a spirit and extravagance that are
irresistibly farcical. The author makes a book not without
its valuable lesson.”

The Boston Traveller says, ‘‘ The sale of this book has
already been immense—amounting, in two weeks, to twenty
thousand. It is a history of the fowl mania, and one good
result the book may have —admonitory of all such ex-
travagant follies.”

The Christian Era says, ‘‘ We profess to know but little
of the hen traffic, but the reader will find in ‘ Burnham’s
History of the Hen ‘Fever’ a curious compound, made up
of truth, sarcasm, irony, fun, etc. If people want to spend
their money for the sake of having a good hearty laugh,
they will do well to buy the Hen Fever.”

The Philadelphia Presbyterian Banner states that ‘‘ Mr.
Barnum’s book has been republished in England,” and
adds, that ‘Mr. Burnham’s book will quickly find its way
into the English market — it being a fit companion” for
that curious volume.

The Albany Family Register says, “This is a most
instructive as well as entertaining book. There is genuine
humor in it, and its perusal will make a world of people
laugh, while it cannot fail of making all who are capable
thereof wiser and better, and therefore richer.”’

The Claremont Christian Advocate says, ‘This book,
with @ profusion of spice and fun that is truly exhilarating,

FAST DAY SERMON REVIEWED. 11

shows up the hen delusion in most admirable style ; and we
would invite all who like to indulge in the luxury of a
hearty laugh to buy a copy. The illustrations are cap-
ital.”

The Portland Transcript says, Mr. Burnham ‘ writes
this book to show the people how they have been hum-
bugged; but, unlike Barnum, he makes no PEcKsNIF-
FIAN professions of reform and manalipys Such books ought
to prove of benefit to the public.”

The Penn. Independent says, ‘‘ This volume, by Geo.
P. Burnham, Esq., is a new and amusing work, for a copy
of which we are under lasting obligations to the publishers.
It will create a deep sensation, and be productive of a deal
of good in the community.”

The N. Y. Watchman denominates this work ‘a vol-
ume by a master-hand;”’ and says, ‘‘ though we could wish
that certain passages might have been omitted, yet, on the
whole, it is a capital book, calculated to effect solid good
throughout a community proverbially inclined to be de-
ceived and cajoled.”’

The editor of Zion's Herald says, he “don’t like”
this book, but announces that ‘‘it contains an account of
the manner in which the public were duped by the tricks
of interested men, during the prevalence of what is aptly
enough called the ‘Hen Fever.” The author, who, it
appears, made himself rick out of the ‘ bubble,’ hopes to
increase his hoards by this publication.”

Of no book yet put upon the American market has
there ever been sold so many copies, in three weeks from

12 REV. F. D. HUNTINGTON'S

the day of publication, as have been sold of this popular
humorous work, and the demand still continues unabated.

Out of over three hundred voluntary criticisms and
notices of Burnham's ‘History of the Hen Fever,” but
four have yet been seen that were not favorable, or lauda-
tory of its merits.

The religious press have given the work a warm ap-
proval, generally ; and yet the Rev. Mr. Huntington, of
Boston, attacked this popular book in his pulpit, and de-
clared, in substance, that he was grieved and astonished to
hear that it was read by all classes, found on all centre-
tables, and placed in the hands of youth. Sooner than

have his boy obtain wealth by such practices as were in

that work presented as “shrewdness,” he ‘ would rather he
would live all his’days in an almshouse, and be buried
without a coffin.” 3
The author of the ‘History or THE Hen Fever”

would ordinarily deem comment of his own unnecessary,

after quoting the above opinions of the religious press, and
of the Rev. Mr. Huntington in juxtaposition. But, as he
feels that he has written but “a plain, unvarnished ”’ and
truthful history of a generally unprofitable mania,— which
record cannot but have the effect to open the eyes of hun-
dreds and thousands to the ridiculousness of its details,— 80
he cannot tacitly submit to censure, without offering to the
public the explanation that thus seems to be demanded,

after the promulgation of the extraordinary strictures that
have been uttered by the reverend gentleman who so
earnestly and ruthlessly denounces this book from his
pulpit.

FAST DAY SERMON REVIEWED. 13

In reply to my letter of April 7th, already quoted, the
Rev. Mr. Huntington addressed me the following communi-
cation, a few days since.

Highlands, Roxbury, April 9th, 1855.
Geo. P. Burnuam, Eso, Russet House, Melrose.

Dear Sir: Your note of the 7th inst. has just come to
hand. ‘

You have been misinformed respecting the contents of
my Fast Day sermon. There was nothing in that discourse, .
Tam quite sure, inconsistent with the strictest justice, or
the truest charity. It would give me unspeakable pain to
believe that I had abused my place by wronging any man.
Your informant must have got matters sadly jumbled to-
gether. Ihave ‘‘done”’ you no “ evil” at all.

My strictures on that occasion were aimed at the practice
of imposing upon the public, or on individuals, by taking
their money for articles which are pretended to be what
they are not; against deceiving men in traffic or in specu-
lation ; and against such books as encourage these sins.
My language was applied to your work, because some hear-
ers considered it as suited to that work. It is an instance
of a third party’s ‘‘ putting on the coat’ because it fits !

A hearer, who is by me at this moment, for example,
says she had no idea that any allusion was made to the
“History of the Hen Fever.” I referred, in general

terms, to ‘a work issued in this neighborhood,’ but made
9

14 REV. F. D. HUNTINGTON’S

no mention of author, ¢itle,* or subject, pointing to you.
I think your good sense, your good-nature, and, above. all,
your conscience, will decide that you have no cause for feel-
ing aggrieved.

I do not estimate, as you appear to do, the proper func-
tions of the pulpit; for I suppose it is, even more legiti-
mately than the press, the appointed censor of every species
of public immorality. And, to be frank with you, I do
think your book (probably from neglect rather than inten-
tion) represents the habit of selling goods under “false
appearances and pretences as no worse, under certain cir-
cumstances, than a joke! Now, your own heart will tell
you, that, for a minister to rebuke this, boldly and sharply,
is no more than a faithful exercise of his calling and his
duty.

T cannot help being amused at the use to which you in-
geniously propose putting my criticism. But really, clever
as the humor of it is, it is not right, because the allegation,
‘as it stands, is false. :

Could I sit down and talk this matter over with you, I
could probably satisfy you that — personal feelings’ and
interests aside —I have been only loyal to my trust, as
you would wish the minister of your own family to be.

* By reference to the communication that appeared th the Boston Tran-
script, it will be seen that the writer distinctly specifies “« Burnham’s Hen

Fever.” It was not denied by Mr. Huntington in the place where the
“allegation ’’ originated.

FAST DAY SERMON REVIEWED. 15

The public judgment, however, in such a case, is not likely
to be wrong; and, if it were, God, who knows all, will do
right.

So far from your ever having injured me, my dear sir,
T have had pleasant and most favorable impressions of you.
* * * I would sooner cut off my hand than do you an
_ intentional injury, and I will gladly put forth both hands
to render you any service. And yet I do wish you had not
written this volume; or else, that, having written it, you
will, in a future edition, give it a tone more strictly con-
demnatory of all deception in ‘‘ fancy” trading.

I am, very sincerely, your friend,
F. D. Huntineron.

Mr. Huntineron is pleased to class the ‘ History of
the Hen Fever” with Barnum’s book, but pronounces it
weaker and more vapid than that work. The Philadel-
phia Merchant, a candid and highly-respectable journal,
insists that, ‘‘if there is one book in the world that can
claim superiority over add others in the quality of fun, real
genuine richness of wit, then that one book is decidedly
Burnham’s, History of the Hen Fever. This contagion,
and. others of similar type, is most provokingly, though
truthfully, exhibited in this work, which will have a tend-
ency to subdue the fever, and lead to'a convalescence of
some of the patients.”

The New York Mirror declares that ‘none other of
the manias of this century has been so fully, or at least so

16 REV. F. D. HUNTINGTON’S

truly and humorously recorded, as that of the ‘Hen
Fever.’ As to the descriptive matter, only the book itself
—the whole book, read from the title-page to the last
claws — can convey any just idea of it. It is fact, philos-
ophy and fun, kneaded by a skilful hand into a large mor-
sel, which no one will weary of chewing. We have read
many diverting and instruetive histories, but never have we
read so diverting a work on natural history and its connec-
tions as this. It ought to be read by everybody.”

The Fireside Journal says, that ‘‘ what Mr. Burnham
now publishes as a ‘history’ is essentially his own ‘ Bar-
num Biography’ quoad hoc. It has this advantage, in a
literary point of view, over the book of the great Bar-
numbo, that it has a unity —a beginning, middle, and end.
It is an epic of humbug, in which the machinery’of lies is
not called in to excite twenty-five cents’ worth of curiosity
about a bed-ridden old woman, or a woolly horse, but to
clothe deformity in feathers, and excite millions with a
sleepless anxiety to propagate it.”’

The Boston Daily Times, in a long criticism, says,
“We believe that the author has stated nothing but what
he has had capital reasons for believing to be the truth.
The work is more of a whole than most of its author’s writ-
ings. The various chapters depend upon one another very
closely, which is a strong proof of the artistic construction’
of the work. Of the singular phase in the business life of a
‘‘smart” people, Mr. Burnham, who was in the very thick of
the whole affair,— buying and selling, writing and speaking,
importing fowls from anywhere, and exporting them to
everywhere, — corresponding with the secretary of English

FAST DAY SYRMON REVIEWED. 1T

royalty, and with gentlemen whose written words were out-
done in point of beauty of penmanship by the scratches of.
their hens,-— has given a full account in the volume before
us. We believe that his history is an impartial one ; that is,
as impartial as he could afford to make it. We are sure that
at ts very interesting.”

The Portland State of Maine says, ‘‘ We were prepared
for a second revelation of something like Barnum’s hum-
bugs when we saw the announcement of this book ; but a
reading of it at once displaces such an idea. There is none
of that sanctimonious obtrusion of honesty and uprightness
which makes Barnum detestable. Though we had inly de-
termined not to laugh, we could not resist. The story is
told with such a naive air as to be irresistible. We never
understood before the extent and origin of the ‘ Fever,’
which, a few years since, so overspread the country. All
who like hearty jokes will find here an abundance.”

The Boston Daily Journal remarks that ‘The full
enormity of the fowl humbug the public will not learn
until they read this book; and in the perusal even the. vic-
tims must daugh, when they find what means were used to
keep up the excitement, and what Tom Noddies they made
of themselves. It will be of no use to be indignant, nor to
say that the author was unprincipled and knavish in. his.
dealings with the unfortunate victims of the hen mania..:
* * * Both the great showman Barnum and the hen
fancier have been successful in humbugging the public;
both have given the public, in return for their bountiful
patronage, most amusing books; and both now probably:
pace 2* Rak, 2 eee

“Ene

?

18 REV. F. D. HUNTINGTON'S

stand well with the aggregation of humanity, which, some
philosopher has said, loves to be humbugged.”’

The Troy Daily Budget, in its criticism, alludes to Mr.
Barnum’s work, and insists that, of the two, “ Burnham’s
book is the best. Itis the most natural, the most enter-
taining, the most witty, and the most honest. If the author
gives us the history of any transaction that is a little
erooked in some of its details, the reader is not shocked, on
passing to the next page, by-any sanctimonious hypocrisy.
As a book, the work is a decided hit. There is, here and
there, a touch of honest, plain, practical common sense,
underlying the sparkle of wit and merriment, that may be
turned to profitable account ‘by readers who, at this some-
what late day, feel the premonitory symptoms of this dan-
gerous disease. The volume will have an extensive sale.”

The Boston Morning Post says, that ‘‘Mr. Burnham's
narration is exceedingly readable, and his introduced letters
beat those of Fanny Fern all to pieces. He seems to have
come out of the ‘fever’ with a full purse, and a small
stock of the ‘pure’ breeds of. Cochin-China and Chitta-
gong. The book is written in an off-hand style, which seems
to be in accordance with the mood of the writer. Some of
its hits are hard, but they are dealt so pleasantly and cheer-
ily that there can be ‘no offence’ taken. The illustrations
are numerous and spirited. We must confess that this
laughing, bantering, shrewd and free-and-easy medical
work has instructed us wonderfully concerning the idiotic
and expensive disenae to the _ description of which it is: de-
voted.” ~ —

The New York Spirit of the Times says, “ The His-

FAST DAY SERMON, REVIEWED. 19

tory of the Hen Fever, by Geo. P. Burnham, Esq., is brim
full of fun and richness. Every ‘chicken man’ will, of
course, read this book, and if it doesn’t wring a good,
hearty laugh out of him, why, he may take my hat! Burn-
ham has made a ‘hit.’ His new book will have an immense
run, equal only to his enormous sales of Shanghaes in the
last six years. In this ‘History’ the humbug itself, and
the agents who have been instrumental in sustaining it for
the last half-dozen years, are shown up in a good-natured
but ludicrous style, and the tricks of the hen-trade are ex-
posed in a thorough but laughter-moving style. The work
is finely illustrated, and the thousands of. victims to the hen
fever will pay one dollar and a quarter more to learn ‘ haw
the thing was done.’ ”’

Mrs. Coartotre T. Sumner, of Cambridge, Mass., a
lady whose taste, discrimination, and judgment in literary
matters, will not be called in question, voluntarily forwarded
to the author of this book the following letter, a few days
before its publication. An advance copy was sent her for
criticism. This letter will speak for itself.

Cambridge, March 9th, 1855,

Dear Srr: I have just concluded a most agreeable sit-
ting of five hours over the advance sheets of your happily-
conceived book, the ‘History of the Hen Fever,” the
pages of which you so kindly furnished me to criticize, as
a, ‘ Jady-reader.”

To tell you that I have been immeasurably gratified and
amused. by this curious yet remarkable volume of humor,

1

20: REV. F. D. HUNTINGTON'S

would be but. faint praise indeed! I wAS DELIGHTED WITH
IT; and, to convince you how intensely interested I was by-
it, I need only assure you that I did not leave the lounge”
on which I was seated, from the moment of commencing

with the dedication, until my eye fell upon the finale of .

your most laughable and spirited book.

Permit me to congratulate you on the CERTAIN success
that must attend you with this volume, and to express the
hope that you may have thousands of Lavy readers for this
charmingly-pleasant and mirth-moving volume, which has
afforded me so much gratification.

Respectfully yours,
CuartotTre T. SUMNER.
To George P. Burnuam, Esq., Boston, Mass.

Mrs. H. Marion Srepuuys, the gifted and popular
authoress, in a letter to one of the leading literary journals.
in New York city, thus compliments this book.

“Talking of the ‘Hen Fever’ —have you read Burn-
ham’s book? Of course you have. Through the courtesy
of the author I received an early copy, and I have n’t done
crowing over it-yet. My other half had been lying ill for..
some days.when the book came, and I first opened it late
in the evening, for the purpose of reading him to sleep.
Books, now-a-days, are such splendid soporifics ! Let some
M. D. prescribe a dozen pages of any recent novel, and see
how it takes the wake out of people’s eyes. Well, as I was
saying, I read a few pages, waiting for the accustomed snore -

FAST DAY SERMON REVIEWED. 241
— hard breathing, I mean, the precursor of a sound sleep
— but no such announcement came! I read on, and on,
interrupted occasionally by a quiet smile, until the gas-light
in my chamber mingled with the soft beams of the morning
—— on and on, until the faint and far-off sounds which herald
the waking up of the city came near and more near, finally
merging into earnest and active life — until the milk-carts
rattled, and the organ-grinders were at their work — in
fact, till the Zas¢ word of the last, last page made me wish
there were a few more left of the same sort to breakfast
upon. That Burnham has achieved a triumph in the way
of humorous literature, the rapid sale of his book is ample
proof; that he is entitled to the thanks of the multitude,
many a reader, who has read his way out of an ocean of
‘blues,’ will readily admit; and that he has my sincere
thanks, no less for the courtesy shown me in the presenta-
tion copy, than for the amusement its perusal occasioned, he
can no more doubt than he can doubt the success of his
popular work.”

Mitchell’s New York Citizen pita: that, ‘‘ with all
their reputation for shrewdness, there is no people, perhaps,
on the face of the earth, so easily humbugged as Yankees.
Certain it is that in Yankeedom alone is the profession of
humbug respectable. The most notorious example of this
is Barnum’s Autobiography, in which he describes the
various humbugs he had practised on the people of the
northern states — tells not only of their gullibility, but of
their love of being gulled, provided it is done in a scientific
manner. One striking feature that exhibited itself in the
midst of this mania was the fact that among the leading

22 REV. F. D. HUNTINGTON’S

dealers in fancy poultry constantly appeared the names of.
the clergy, who fanned the flame till the fever reached the.
crisis, and speculated largely in ‘ Chittagongs,’ ‘ Brahmas,’
and other fancy stock. Our author has selected only one
species of humbug, and Mr. Burnham, by concentrating his
energies in the cultivation of this species, has therein beaten
Barnum, whose genius has spread itself over so many
species, and so many varieties of the same species. Mr.
Geo. P. Burnham, of Russet House, Melrose, Mass., says
he has accumulated, in six years, the sum of thirty thou-
sand dollars from the ‘hen fever;’ and, having that amount,
safely invested, he laughs to scorn all who despise the means
by which he has ascended to uppertendom, just.as the
miser, described in Horace, despises the hisses of the mob.
‘ when he looks at his money in his strong box.” ~

The Yarmouth Register says, ‘‘It would be amusing,
were it not too serious a matter for mirth, to recount all the
bubbles and delusions by which grasping and credulous
humanity has, from time to time, been taken in and ‘ done.
for,’ and which readily suggest themselves to the mind on
taking up this book. * * * The Hen Fever, of which
Mr. Burnham is now the historian, raged from 1849 to the
middle of 1854. It proved remarkably infectious, and seized
upon all classes, from governors to grooms, from statesmen
to stable-boys; and the author’s personal reminiscences may
be looked upon as the history of the fever in all its stages.
The book is exceedingly interesting and amusing, and lets
us into the secrets of speculation and the arts of sharpers,
in a manner that. ought to prove a warning and example
in future time.”

FAST DAY SERMON REVIEWED. 23

Such are a few voluntary opinions, in different quarters,
taken from among several hundred favorable criticisms of
the “History of the Hen Fever,” and which speak for
themselves, malgré the charges of the reverend Mr. Hunt-
ington. At least, these opinions are vastly at variance with
his own.

In the volume thus assailed I have given facts as they
occurred, in the main, with but slight attempts at sketches
of ‘*fancy ;”? and if the statements thus set down surpass
what I should have dared to invent (had I been engaged on
a work of fiction, merely), the fault is not mine, but rather
in the realities that have existed. I have been compelled
to take the ‘world as I have found it. Had it been within
my power, I. would have painted the enormities of the
poultry mania asa delicious dream, or as something quite
paradisiacal in its nature and its incidents, with which my
reverend critic would have undoubtedly been highly pleased ;
or, at least, not so displeased with as to have made my
humble “ History” a chief subject for his sermon on that
day which is commonly set apart for the consideration of
the “ great’’ public sins of the people.

It is because I have told the truth, perhaps, at times, in
a tone of persiflage, that the worthy clergyman has thus
thought proper to arraign me before the public as a most
pertinent illustration in his sermon on lying; whereas, had
I really lied in this ‘‘ History,” he would very likely have
thought of nothing of the kind. The reverend Mr. Hun-
tington should deal with human nature,—the reformation
of which he is expected to seek,— and not with me, who
have only placed before, the world the facts that show, in a

24 REV. F. D. HUNTINGTON'S

measure, how that nature displayed itself under certain very
peculiar circumstances.

In my humble experience, I have found that this human
nature exhibits itself in all spheres of life, among all pér-
sons and professions, in a similar way. The very ‘“ shrewd-
ness” that the reverend gentleman condemns, in wholesale
terms, is a part of the system of life, everywhere. The
demand, in all markets, regulates both the supply and the
price of articles needed or desired. The poor village
clergyman, who, for the general service rendered annually
to his little flock, receives his stipend of a few hundred
dollars per year, cannot compete with his aristocratic
brother, who officiates at the silver font, and marble altar,
and velvet-cushioned pulpit, in the wealthy city church.
The latter has no disposition to exchange places with his
humbler brother, however, nor should he do this, in my
judgment. And wherefore? Because his talents are really
of a higher quality, his services are of a higher value, he
ean readily (and deservedly) obtain a higher price for the
“marketable commodity ’’ which he has*to dispose of, in his
own way; ‘‘the people” desire it, run after it, will enjoy
it, are willing to pay for it thus roundly; and he, appro-
priately, SELLS It for the most he can get for it. Is
there any whit of change in the principle here involved ?
Not the slightest.

To carry the argument one point further. Do we not
occasionally find; even among the most talented and fortu-
nately circumstanced of the city clergy, some man of mark
who is willing to exchange his pulpit for the chair of a
College Professorship, because of the preferment involved

FAST DAY SERMON REVIEWED. 25

in the emoluments or position thus offered? My respected
and reverend critic will not deny me that such an instance
has been heard of, I think; while I will cheerfully grant
him the right that I think exists in such a. case. Ail
market commodities, I say, are regulated by the bond fide
demand for them; and he, or they, who may feel disposed
to pay the highest price for goods, chattels, services, talents,
birds or beasts, has the most unquestionable right to them.

In the second place, if Mr. Huntington’s censure means
anything, it means that facts which show the actions of
men in a light not altogether agreeable ought never to
be published ; particularly if the spirit of exaggeration
should have characterized the events narrated. Thus
the history of humanity, as he would choose to have it
written, would form a very remarkable series of books,
truly! Not one thing out of the common order would be
permitted to have place in their pages. This arrangement
might make very moral reading, but the moralist who
should go out to fight the battle of life with only the knowl-
edge thus obtainable, would surely find that he was very
like the youth who ‘‘ went to sea’’ because he had heen
amused by sailing on a fish-pond.

Real life is a rough business ; its only play is horse-play ;
and I am inclined to the opinion, that though it is an
indisputable pity that the good are not competent to be
men’s sole guides through it, even the example of the
wicked is of some use in it, by way of warning, if in no
other way.

Judging from the strictures contained in his Fast Day
discourse, the reverend Mr. Huntington would have no

3

26 * REV. F. D. HUNTINGTON'S

histories of popular delusions laid before tho world, from
the fear that the reading of them might chance to teach
men how to deceive; forgetting that such works are quite
as useful (if not the most useful) in preventing the many
being imposed upon as they are by the few crafty deluders.
He would evidently have men ignorant; although his co-
worker, Mr. Garrison, in commenting upon this same
subject, declares that already, ‘‘Morally speaking, the
whole nation is rotten; with its four millions of human
beings plundered of every right, and registered as so much
bona fide property by their plunderers.”’

‘Still, my friend Mr. Garrison, whose opinion is a valued
and valuable one, also asserts that he thinks this book of
mine ‘‘may serve to put honest, well-meaning people on
their guard in respect to any new delusion that may be
started hereafter, for the purpose of picking their pockets.”

The reverend critic of my humble ‘“ History” would
have all men remain in ignorance of the deception, and
fraud, and chicanery, and evils, that attended the Tulip
mania, the South Sea bubble, the Mississippi scheme, and
a hundred similar delusions, because such knowledge might
lead them astray. Just as if men, being informed of the
existence of a pit on a road they were compelled to travel,
should insist upon walking deliberately into it, instead of
turning such information (as they more naturally do) to
purposes of safety. The reverend Mr. Huntington is a
good man; too good, I fear, but not too wise, for a world
in which they make half-dimes and three-cent pieces !

Mr. Huntington alludes to these transactions which I
have narrated in my book, as if they were exceptional to

FAST DAY SERMON REVIEWED. 27.

the general course of the business world; thus showing
how exceedingly unfumiliar he is with matters constantly
transpiring under every-day observation, In his criticism
of the ‘ History of the Hen Fever,” that work of so
‘objectionable’ a character, ‘recently published in this
neighborhood,’’ he has uttered nothing that is not equally
applicable to any and every form of ordinary business.
The peculiarity of that business, of which I have given
but a “running account,” J admit ; but, that it was pur-
sued in a different way from any other calling or profession,
or that its modus operandi were marked by a worse spirit
than that which pervades the whole world of action, I deny
as forcibly as it is given to me to deny anything.

The ‘‘hen mania” was but one of the multitudinous
forms in which the spirit of American enterprise manifests
itself in the present age; an age preéminent for what may
well be termed its material versatility. It originated, as
even the Rev. Mr. Huntington will admit (especially if he
shall have chanced of late to lunch upon a tough chicken),
in a good intention; to wit, the desire to,improve the race
of poultry in this country. This very soon came to bea
business ; then, as it proved successful, that business degen-
erated into speculation; in the midst of which, wrong
unquestionably eventuated. Tried by the standard of
abstract right, much happened that could not be defended,
and which ought, pointedly, to be condemned.. Thus much
is‘ cheerfully conceded, as simple. truth; though this con-
cession in no way compromises my ‘‘record”’ of the.
“* fever.””

Yet, the same remark will safely apply to ad/ the modes -

28 REV. F. D. HUNTINGTON’S

of human enterprise, every one of which originated, profess-
edly, in benevolent motives, was pursued for a time in
legitimate ways, and then became a means of speculation.
The reverend gentleman has only to step behind the curtain
of the business world to find that in ¢his, at least, I do not
exaggerate! There is not one trick, or a single act of folly,
that is narrated in the ‘ History of the Hen Fever,’”’ which
is not paralleled.in the most sober of those modes of busi-
ness by which very many of even Mr. Huntington’s own
social circle and congregation obtain their livelihood, or
accumulate their wealth. His very salary is paid, to-day,
out of moneys obtained by means that it would hardly be
palatable or proper to disclose, or describe to him. Yet the
céin he thus receives, like that which Vespasian exhibited
to his son Titus, does not emit a ‘bad odor”? —it is not
offensive to him.

Into all kinds of business,— in the buying and selling of
sugar, and coffee, and cotton,—in the traffic that attends
the purchase and sale of rice, or flour, or rum,— there
enters, largely and continuously, the same spirit of exag-
geration, of delusion, of speculation, of trickery and deceit,
and open_cheatery, in a greater or less degree. ‘‘ Two
wrongs do mot make one right,” Iam aware; yet I con-
tend, again, that the mode of operations current during the
prevalence of the ‘‘ hen'fever’’ is by no means the excep-
tion to the rule ; and upon this account do I protest against
the reverend gentleman’s singling out this ‘sin,’ and
against the animadversions and extraordinarily personal
specifications embodied in his Fast Day discourse.

The stock-exchange is not generally supposed to bea

. FAST DAY SERMON REVIEWED. - 29

half-way house on the road to heaven; and men who derive
their incomes from lottery money and usury are suspected
by some people of being not altogether -indifferent to the
trickery of this world! I am not speaking censoriously,
but rather by way of comparison and illustration. I may
well leave the work of censure to preachers who are content
to compound for their silence on the sins of those from
whom they derive their means of liberal support, by at-
tempting to lash what they believe to be the sins of
strangers ; and who, in-their curious zeal, are prone in this
work to display a larger share of ignorance than knowledge
of the great world outside of their sphere, and more of un-
charitablenesss than of both the other qualities.

While “lying lips ave an abomination to the Lord;”
while the ‘lie of cowardice,” the “ lie for amusement,”’ the
‘he of malice,’ and the “lie of self-interest,”’ are both dis-
graceful and abominable, so, too, the lie that lurks beneath
a smiling front, the lie that is often unconsciously secreted
behind our pretensions, our motives, our wishes, or our acts,
is equally heinous in the sight of the Great Searcher of
hearts! ‘his secre¢ lie— the lie given to ourselves, to our
professions, to our better nature — this great and fearful
innate paradox in man’s composition, is too often forgotten
when we descant upon the shortcomings of. others; while it
is rarely, if ever, recognized in our own individual making
up !- .
I have already pointed out that the reverend Mr. Hunt-
ington was not justified in citing this book in illustration of
his “lie of self-interest,” because what is therein set down

3%

80 REV. F. D. HUNTINGTON’S

is the truth,—a narrative of what took place, generally,
for the time being,— as thousands well know, to their cost,
and as they are likely long to remember. Had I invented
a series of lies and fraudulent transactions with which to
make out my “record,” and held the picture up as a pic-
ture of the age, I admit that the book would have been
amenable to pulpit criticism, perhaps; though I should,
even then, have done only what has been done by all the
‘‘ sveat masters’ and little mistresses in fictitious literature
for centuries, and all of whose works Mr. H. must con-
demn, if his censure upon ‘‘ Barnum and Burnham”’ be
correct.

I write this illustratively,— to show to what the reverend
critic’s views would lead if carried to their logical conse-
quences; and I insist that a minister of the Gospel is
hardly warranted in saying anything in his pulpit which
will not bear the most rigid application. For a moment,
then, let us compare what Mr. Huntington assumes to say
with. what has been said by other persons of equal character
for good judgment and piety with himself. He has charac-
terized this volume as ‘“‘ weak and vapid,” of an unhealthy
tone and immoral influence, and claims that it ‘represents
the habit of selling goods under false pretences as no more
than a joke,” &c. :

Now, we have the voluntarily-expressed opinions of more
than thirty religious journals,— publications of the very
best character, high-toned family papers,— which are just
the reverse of what Mr. H. assumes respecting the “ His-
tory of the Hen Fever.” These journals warmly commend
it, and, to quote their own words, it “ abounds with prac-

FAST DAY SERMON REVIEWED. 31

tical information ;”’ it ‘conveys a valuable lesson ;” it is
likely to be ‘“ productive of a deal of good,” é&c.

The editor of Hunt's Merchants’ Magazine (who read
the book) states that ‘This volume is a history of the
hen speculation. It is written in Mr. Burnham’s well-
known style of wit and satire, and it will be extensively
read, because its facts and fictions are both attractive.
This speculation did not involve so serious results as to
make a sportive account of it objectionable. Whoever takes
up this volume will read it through with a lively interest,
and be richly amused.”

More than three hundred other secular journals, too,—
of all grades of influence, and standing, and character,—
have joined voluntarily in pronouncing this ‘a veritable
history;‘’ a ‘‘most remarkable volume;’ one of the
“most readable books ever published;’’ a work ‘that is
truly a humorous and reliable record;” really “‘a most
captivating production ;’’ it is “‘running over with spice
and genuine mirth throughout ;’’ it will ‘be read by every
body ;” there are ‘‘few books to compare with this ex-
traordinary volume ;” a ‘‘ pleasanter work has never been
issued from the American press;” an ‘‘ admirably well-
written ‘history’ of the most ludicrous of manias;” a
‘volume of genuine merit, that everybody should read,”
&e. &e.

Is it likely that the conductors of these many moral and
literary journals should ai/ be so stupid, or so wicked, as
thus to praise a book that was of an immoral and objection-
able tendency? Does not common charity dictate, rather,
that the Rev. Mr. Huntington might be the mistaken per-

a

32 REV. F. D. HUNTINGTON’S

son’ in this case, and not so many disinterested critics,"
most, if not all, of whom are in the habit of taking a part
in the active affairs of life, who themselves saw much of
what is related, and who do not believe that it can injure
the morals of community to place before it a concise account
of what was seen by thousands, and in which so many were
prominent actors? I cannot agree to the assumption that
the Press is not quite as likely to prove as good, as con-
scientious, and as useful a guardian of public morality, as
the Pulpit. .

Upon the day that Mr. Huntington delivered this criti-
cism it is strange that he should have chosen such subjects
upon which to employ his well-known and powerful talents.
The present:age abounds with really great themes,— themes
to which great minds instinctively recur whenever they
undertake to instruct the less gifted, and the discussion of
which is especially adapted to express, occasions of public
worship and ‘humiliation.

I might point the reverend gentleman to the great, the
all-absorbing ‘question of Slavery, the solution of which is
supposed to involve that of our future national life. There
is the kindred subject of the Nebraska abomination, which
threatens to convulse the Union, from New York to San
Francisco. The Temperance question, too, about which so
many legislatures are at this hour concerning themselves
with so deep an interest, might well have claimed an hour’s
consideration. ‘ne War topic,— the great political move-
ments now so intimately connected with Religious Freedom,
—the philosophy or the errors of the “spiritual phenom-
ena,” which has over three millions of believers in its truth

FAST DAY SERMON REVIEWED. 383
N

to-day in the United States,—and others, of consequence
to the community and to humanity. Where was Mr. H.
upon all these important matters? Had he no views on
any one or all of these for his expecting hearers on Fast
Day, when it was supposed he would with his eloquence
encourage the good and cause the wicked to tremble ?

No! He passed over all the ‘crying sins” of the age,
—all the flagrant acts of the statesmen and the rulers of
the country,— all the abuses of our political system,— all
the crimes of the nation and the people,—all the errors of
the great world at large,—and ‘came down,” with a
tremendous force, upon the autobiography of a showman,
and the simple history of a hen fever! He suffered my
friends President Pierce and Senator Douglas to escape his
censure, in order that he might the more completely
‘erush out” Mr. Burnham and Mr. Barnum! The rey-
erend speaker had no time to lash the dealers in men and
women, because he was bound to exterminate the traffickers
in ‘ no-haired horses” and ‘“‘ pure-bred poultry’?! Every-
thing was made to give way to the great business of placing
under the moral ban men whose sins were of so enormous a
character that they amount to telling wnpleasant truths;
which was not what the Rev. Mr. Huntington did in his
Fast Day Sermon; — for, whatever may have been his in-
tentions, it is certain that he made the same sort of blunders
that every man must make (no matter what may be his
native cleverness) who undertakes to instruct before he
has made himself conversant with the details of his subject. .

No one will question the reverend gentleman’s scholar-
ship, his reading, his eloquence, his goodness of heart, or

34 REV. F. D. HUNTINGTON’S

the healthfulness of his motives; but of active life,— of
that bustling, pushing, fighting, cheating, crowding, never-
sleeping collection of human animals which men call ‘ the
world,’ and which has no taste or leisure for the subtleties
of the closet and the library,—he is evidently not so well
informed ag are some other persons that could be pointed
out, and whose experience in contact with that ‘‘ world”
has been far more extended than his own.

I regret that I cannot but think that Mr. Huntington, in
this sermon, displayed a lack of courage, as well as of
world-knowledge. He lashed what he deemed the publicans
and sinners, but where were his burning words against the
scribes and pharisees? It was safe to touch (and that not
gently, either), by direct implication, at least, the sins
of Barnum and Burnham; but it “ was not profitable”
to allude to the sins of certain respectable personages who
either then surrounded the eloquent speaker, or, at any
rate, who dwelt within hig reach! Had the reverend gen-
tleman, after applying the scourge to the immoral author
and the noted showman, by way of offset have ‘‘ reasoned
of righteousness, temperance, and the judgment to come,”
until the Felixes of State, and Kilby, and Milk, and Wash-
ington strects should"have trembled before him, and have
dreamed of some more ‘“ convenient season ”’ for hearing him,
I could not so well have complained of his injustice and
uncharitableness.

In illustrating his ‘lie of self-interest,’ where was his
lash for the banks, whose lies are found on the faces of
their notes— those ‘‘ promises” which are so often violated?
Where were the anathemas which might have been so right:

FAST DAY SERMON REVIEWED. 85

eously hurled at huge and soulless corporations, which ob-
tain special privileges by-agreeing to perform what they
never do or can perform? Why did he omit to make men-
tion, in this connection, of the whole list of other business
pursuits, and neglect to show that, from each and all of
them, he could cull most forcible illustrations of the “lies
of self-interest ”— from the great bankers who loan mil-
lions ‘to the best of cut-throats”’ in aid of the destruc-
tion of the liberties of nations, down to the pettiest dealer
in molasses and codfish, who imposes upon the wretched,
poverty-stricken creatures, who have no choice but to buy
his semi-poisonous wares, on his own terms? Where was
the reverend critic’s scourge for the importers, manufac-
turers, and sellers of ardent spirits, who are doing Satan’s
work here on earth ? Where was his whip for the men who
readily take mortgages on poor, down-trodden southern
negroes, selling the mother into one state, the father into
another, and the little ones into a third? Why did he not
hold up to deserved scorn the adulterators of goods — the
men who make of rum itself a far worse poison, and who
enhance the powers of arsenic to injure? He had no word
for such as ¢hese; but ‘‘liars for self-interest,’”’ like Bar-
num and Burnham, were consigned, by the reverend gen-
tleman’s conclusions, to a part in “‘ the lake which burneth
with fire and brimstone, which is the second death ’’ !

It may be that when, in common even with sinners like
our humble self, the talented and able Mr. Huntington shall
be called upon to answer for that which has been left wn-
done in this life, it will not be held as a justification of his
having totally neglected the sins of his ‘“ hearers,’”’ that he

36 REV. F. D. HUNTINGTON’S FAST DAY SERMON.

was terribly severe at the expense of Barnum and Burn-
ham; with the errors of neither of whom, on this occasion,
can I conceive he had any special éall to concern himself,
directly.

But, ‘God, who is the Judge of all,” will set the mat-
ter right between us, both in this and in the life to come.

In response to the Rev. Mr. Huntington’s kindly-worded
letter to me, I will not omit to add, in conclusion, that so
far as his motives were concerned on the occasion to which
I have taken exception, I do not now hesitate to acknowl-
edge my belief that he judged he was ‘‘ doing God service”
in the character of his discourse. But as there are two sides
to opinions, usually ; and as J think his course was erroneous
(however honestly intended), I have deemed this brief. re-
view of that portion of his Fast Day sermon which related
to me and my humble book, both necessary and just, to
myself and my readers.

Gro. P. BurneaM.
Russet House, Melrose, April 20th, 1855.

(GFNOTE TO SECOND EDITION. <3

I have deemed it proper to publish this Review in connection with the
second edition of my book, in order that those who read this may have
the opportunity to peruse the ‘‘ History of the Hen Fever,” also, and
pass judgment upon the whole matter for themselves.

©

THE HISTORY

THE HEN FEVER.

SB Humorous Record,
lar |

GEO. P. “BURNHAW.

Xn one Volume.=-¥llustrated

BOSTON:
JAMES FRENCH AND COMPANY.

NEW YORK: J. C. DERBY.
PHILADELPHIA: T. B. PETERSON,

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1866, by
GEHORGE P. BURNHAM,
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Masaa- dusetta,

STUNNOTYPRD BT
HOBART & ROBBINS,
New England Type and Stereotype Foundery,
BOSTON.

GEO. U. RAND, PRINTER, 8 CORNHILL.

TO THE

Amateurs, Funciers, and Breeders

oF
. POULTRY,
THE SUCCESSFUL AND UNFORTUNATE DEALERS,

THROUGHOUT THE UNITED STATES 5
AND

THE VICTIMS OF MISPLACED CONFIDENCE IN
THE HEN TRADE, GENERALLY,
I DEDICATE

This Volume.

PREFACE.

In preparing the following pages, I have had the opportunity
to inform myself pretty accurately regarding the ramifications of
the subject upon which I have written herein; and I have
endeavored to avoid setting down “aught in malice” in this
“ History of the Hen Frver” in the United States.

I have followed this extraordinary mania from its incipient
stages to its final death, or its cure, as the reader may elect to
term its conclusion. The first symptoms of the fever were
exhibited in my own house at Roxbury, Mass., early in the sum-
mer of 1849. From that time down to the opening of 1855 (or
rather to the winter of 1854), I have been rather intimately con-
nected with the movement, if common report speaks correctly ;
and I believe I have seen as much of the tricks of this trade as
one usually meets with in the course of a single natural life.

Now that the most serious effects of this (for six years) alarm-
ing epidemic have passed away from among us, and when “ the
people” who have been called upon to pay the cost of its support,

and for the burial of its victims, can look back upon the scenes
1*

VI PREFACE.

that have in that period transpired with a disposition cooled by

experience, I have thought that a volume like this might prove

acceptable to the hundreds and thousands of those who once

“took an interest in the hen trade,”-—-who may have been

mortally wounded, or haply who have escaped with only a*

broken wing; and who will not object to learn how the thing has
‘been done, and “ who threw the bricks’!

If my readers shall be edified and amused with the perusal of
this work as much as I have been in recalling these past scenes
while writing it, I am content that I have not thrown the powder
away. I have written it in perfect good-nature, with the design
to gratify its readers, and to offend no man living.

And trusting that a/Z will be pleased who may devote an hour
to its pages, while at the same time I indulge the hope that none
will feel aggrieved by its tone, or its text,-I submit this book to

the public. Respectfully,

Gro. P. Burnaam.
Rosset House, Melrose, 1855.

?
Baa58 en 23

HM HE

GBH

CONTENTS. .

Premonitory SyMproms oF THE DisEASE, .... .
Tae ‘‘ Cocurin-Cuinas.’? Bussite Numprr Onze, .. .
Tue First Fown SHow 1n Boston, .......-.
How ‘‘ Poutrry-Booxs’’ are Mapk, .......
THREATENING INDICATIONS, «2. + ee ee ee es
Tae Errpemic SPREADING, .......4.- igi te
Auarmina DEMONSTRATIONS, . 6... +. 2 eee

Tae Fever WORKING, ... +. + ee ee ee
Tue Sxconp Pouttry Saow 1n Boston, Sh ww
Tas Murovat Apmiration Sociery’s Seconp SHow,
Proaress OF THE Matapy,. . 1... se eee

. My CoRRESPONDENCE, ...-. + see ee eese

Tae OTHER SIDE oF THE QUESTION, .......

** BorHer’EM Poorroums.’? Bussr—E NumBer Two,
. ADVERTISING EXTRAORDINARY, » «ss. et oe &
. Hereut of THE FEVER, .. 1.1.16 ee ee oe
. RUNNING IT INTO THE GROUND,. . 2.2... eae
. ONE oF THE Finan Kicks, ......+-+ .
. Tae Fourth Fowt Suow 1n Boston, ......
. Present TO Queen VICTORIA, ....+..+. +64.
EXPERIMENTS OF AMATEURS, . 6.41 1 5 se eee
. True History oF ‘‘ Fanny FERN,”? .. 1... e+)

VIII

Chapter

XXIII.
. An Expensive Businuss,.. +. -
. Tue Great Pacops Hen, ....-.

CONTENTS.

CoNVALESOENCE, » . . + + ee ee

*‘ Ponicy THE Best Honusty,”’? . .

. A Genuinrs Humpva, ....+.
. Barnum in tHe Firup, ....-.
. Frest ‘¢ Nationa’? Pourrry Saow
Bagnoum’s Innate DIFFIDENCE, .. + -

A Suprressep SPEECH,. ....-
A “ConFIDENCE’?’ Man, .....-

. Tue Essence or Humpua, ....
A Trump Cagp,. ..- +2 ee ee
. © Honp your Horses,” .....

TRICKS OF THE TRADE,....-
Fina Deatu-Turors, .....-

ere ee ee

Tue Porte-Monnarz I Owsz ‘rm Company,. . -

. A Sarisractory PepiaREr,... .
. Dorina Toe GenTEEL THING, ... .

. An Empuatic CLINCHER,. ...
. “Sranp From Unper,” .....
. BursTina oF THE BUBBLE, .......
. THe DEap anp Wounpep, ... .
. A Mournrun Proomssion, .....
My Smanouar Dinner, ......

ea

. Tue Fate or THe ‘‘ Mopen’’? SHANGHAES, ....

Page
- 155
- 160

- «165

.

- 176
. 182
- 190
- 198
- 204
- 218
- 220
» 224
- 229

« 6287

re ee

» 248
- 262
« 259
- 268
» 278
. 279
- 288
« 294
- 802
- 807
- 812
- 818

HISTORY OF
THE HEN FEVER.

CHAPTER I.
PREMONITORY SYMPTOMS OF THE DISEASE.

I was sitting, one afternoon, in the summer of 1849, in
my little parlor, at Roxbury, conversing with a friend,
leisurely, when he sudgenly rose, and passing to the rear
window of the room, remarked to me, with considerable
enthusiasm, :

‘* What a splendid lot of fowls you have, B ! Upon
my word, those are very fine indeed,— do you know it?”

I had then been breeding poultry (for my own amuse-
ment) many years; and the specimens I chanced at. that
time to possess were rather even in color, and of good size;
but were only such as any one might have had — bred from
the common stock of the country — who had taken the samo
pains that I did with mine.

There were perhaps a dozen birds, at the time, in the

to THE HISTORY OF

rear yard, and my friend (then, but who subsequently
passed to a competitor, and eventually turned into a sharp
but harmless enemy) was greatly delighted with them, as I
saw from his enthusiastic conversation, and his laudation of
their merits.

' Tam not very fast, perhaps, to appreciate the drift of a
man’s motives in casual conversation,— and then, again, it
may be that I am ‘not so slow” to comprehend certain
matters as I might be! At all events, I have sometimes
flattered myself that, on occasions like this, I can “see as
far into a millstone as can he who picks it;” and so I
listened to my friend, heard all he had to say, and made
up my mind accordingly, before he left me.

“‘T tell you, B——, those are handsome chickens,” he
insisted. ‘I’ve got a fine lot, myself, You keep but one
variety, I notice. I’ve got ’em all. mm

“ All what?” I inquired.

“OQ, all kinds—all kinds. ‘The Chinese, and the
Malays, and the Gypsies, and the Chittaprats, and the
Wang Hongs, and the Yankee Games, and Bengallers, and
Cropple-crowns, and Creepers, and Top-knots, and Gold
Pheasants, and Buff Dorkings, and English Games, and
Black Spanish and Bantams,—and I’ve several new
breeds too, I have made myself, by crossing and mixing, in
the last year, which beat the world for beauty and size, and
excellence of quality.”

THE HEN FEVER. 11

“Indeed!” I exclaimed. ‘So you have made several
new breeds during one year’s crossing, eh? ‘That is
remarkable, doctor, certainly. I have never been able yet
to accomplish so extraordinary a feat, myself,” I added.

‘Well, I have,” said the doctor,—and probably, as he
was @ practising physician of several years’ experience, he
knew how this reversion of nature’s law could be accom-
plished. I didn’t.

“Yes,” he continued; ‘‘I have made a breed I call the
‘Plymouth Rocks,’ — superb birds, and great layers. The
—a—‘Yankee Games,’ —regular knock-’em-downs,—
rather fight than eat, any time; and never flinch from the
puncture of steel. Indeed, so plucky are these fowls, that
I think they rather dike to be cut up than otherwise,—
alive, I mean. Then, I’ve another breed I’ve made — the
‘Bengal Mountain Games.’ These are smashers — never
yield, and are magnificent in color. Then I have the
‘Fawn-colored Dorkings,’ too; and several other fancy
breeds, that I’ve fixed up; and fancy poultry is going to
sell well in the next three years, you may be sure. Come
and see my stock, B——, won’t you? AndI’ll send you
anything you want from it, with pleasure.”

I was then the editor of a weekly paper in Boston. I
accepted my friend’s kind invitation, and travelled- forty
miles and back to examine his poultry. It looked well —
very well; the arrangement of his houses, &c., was good,

12 THE HISTORY OF

and I was gratified with the show of stock, and with his
politeness. But he was an enthusiast; and I saw this at
the outset. And though I heard all he had to say, I could
not, for the life of me, comprehend how it was that he could
have decided upon the astounding merits of all these differ-
ent breeds of fowls in so short a space of time — to wit,
by the crossings in a single year! But that was his affair,
not mine. He was getting his fancy poultry ready for the
market; and he repeated, ‘It will sel/, by and by.”

And I believe it did, too! The doctor was right in this
particular.

He informed me that he intended to exhibit several
specimens of his fowls, shortly, in Boston; and soon after-
wards I met with, an advertisement in one of the agricultu-
ral weeklies, signed by my friend the doctor, the substance
of which was as follows : ,

Noricz. —I will exhibit, at Quincy Market, Boston,
ina few days, sample pairs of my fowls, of the following
ure breeds; namely, Cochin-China, Yellow Shanghae,
lack Spanish, Fawn-colored Dorkings, Plymouth Rocks,
White Dorkings, Wild Indian, Malays, Golden Hamburgs,
Black Polands, Games, &c. &.; and I shall be happy to
see the stock of other fanciers, at the above place, to compare
notes, ete. etc.

The above was the substance of the “notice” referred
to; and the doctor, coming to Boston shortly after, called
upon me. I showed him the impropriety of this movement

THE HEN FEVER. 13

at once, and suggested that some spot other than Quincy
Market should be chosen for the proposed exhibition,— in
which I would join, provided an appropriate place should be
selected. :

After talking the matter over again, application was
made to an agricultural warehouse in Ann-street, or Black-
stone-street, I believe; the keepers of which saw the advan-
tages that must accruo to themselves by such a show
(which would necessarily draw together a great many
strangers, out of whom they might subsequently make cus-
tomers); but, at my suggestion, this very stupid plan was
abandoned —even after the advertisements were circulated
that such an exhibition would come off there.

Upon final consideration, it was determined that the first
Exhibition of Fancy Poultry in the United States of
America should take place in November, 1849, at the
Public Garden, Boston.

2

CHAPTER II.
THE ‘“COCHIN-CHINAS.”” BUBBLY NUMBER ONE.

A PUBLIC meeting was soon called at the legislative hall
of the Statehouse, in Boston, which had the effect of draw-
ing together a very goodly company of savans, honest: farm-
ers, amateurs, poulterers, doctors, lawyers, flats, fanciers
and humbugs of one kind or another. J never attended
one of the meetings; and only know, from subsequent
public and private “‘reports,” what occurred there.

On this first occasion, however, after a great deal of
bosh and stuff, from the lips of old men and young men,
who possessed not the slightest possible shadow of practical
knowledge of the subject proposed to be discussed, it was
finally resolved that the name for the (now defunct) associa-
tion then and there formed, should be ‘‘ The New England
Society for the Improvement of Domestic Poultry” !!!
| Now, the only objection I ever raised to this title was
that it was not sufficiently Jengthy! When applied to for
my own views on the subject, J recommended that it should
be called the ‘Mutual Admiration Society.” But, though I

THE HISTORY OF THE HEN FEVER. 15

was thought a great deal of by its members,— especially
when the concern was short of funds,—in this case they
thought my proposed title was altogether too applicable ;
and the original name, above quoted, was adhered to.

I was honored with the office of vice-president of the
society, for Massachusetts; to which place I was reélected
annually, I believe, until the period of its death. For
which honor I was not ungrateful, and in consideration of
which, ‘‘as in duty bound, I have ever prayed”? for the
association’s prosperity and weal.

The first name that was placed upon the list of sub-
scribers to the constitution of this society was that of His
Excellency Geo. N. Briggs, formerly Governor of this
commonwealth. He was followed by a long list of
“mourners,’’ most of whom probably ascertained, within
five years from the hour when they subscribed to this roll,
that causing the cock’s spur to grow between his eyes was
not quite so easy a thing to accomplish as one “‘ experienced
poultry-breeder ” at this meeting coolly asserted it to be!
How many attempted this experiment (as well as numerous
others there suggested as feasible), I am not advised. But
Tam inclined to think that those who did try it found it to
be ‘all in their eye.”

While these gentlemen were arranging the details of the
new “society,” and were deciding upon what the duties of
the officers and committees should be, I quietly wrote out

16 THE HISTORY OF

to England for information regarding the somewhat notori-
ous “‘Cochin-China”’ fowl, then creating considerable stir
among fanciers in Great Britain; and soon learned that I
could procure them, in their purity, from a gentleman in
Dublin, whose stock had been obtained, through Lord
Heytshury (then Lord Lieutenant of Ireland), direct from
Queen Victoria’s samples. I ordered six of them,— two
cocks and four hens,—and in December, 1849, I received
them through Adams & Co.’s Transatlantic Express.

At this period there was no telegraph established from
Boston to Halifax, I believe. Some of the reporters for the
daily city papers usually visited the steamers, upon their
arrival here, to obtain their foreign files of exchanges; and
here my birds were firstigeen by those gentlemen who have
made or broken the prospects of more than one enterprise
of far greater consequence than this ‘‘ importation of fancy
fowls’’ could seem to be.

But on the day succeeding the coming of those birds,
several very handsome notices of the arrival of these august
Chinamen appeared in the Boston papers, and a vast
amount of credit was accorded to the “ enterprising im-
porter” of the outlandish brutes, that’ were described in
almost celestial language ! :

After considerable trouble and swearing (custom-house
swearing, I mean), the officers on board permitted my team
to take the cage out of the steamer, and it was conveyed to

THE HEN FEVER. 17

my residence in Roxbury, where it arrived two hours after
dark.

T had long been looking for the coming of these Celestial
strangers, and the ‘fever,’ which I had originally taken
in a very kindly way, had by this time affected me rather
seriously. I imagined I had a fortune on board that
steamer. I looked forward with excited ideas to beholding
something that this part of the world had never yet seen,
and which would surely astound “the people,” when I
could have the opportunity to show up my rare prize,— all
the way from the yards or walks of royalty itself! I
waited and watched, with anxious solicitude,— and, at last, ©
the box arrived at my house. It was a curiously-built box °
— the fashion of it was unique, and substantial, and foreign
in its exterior. I supposed, naturally; that its contents
must be similar in character. That box contained my
‘¢ Cochin-Chinas,’’— bred from the Queen’s stock,— about
which, for many weeks, I had been so seriously disturbed.

I am now well satisfied that the ““ Cochin-China”’ variety
of fowl is a gross fable. If such a breed exist, in reality,
we have never had them in this country. Anything (and
everything) has been called by this name among us, in the
last five years; but the engraving on the following page,
in my estimation (and I have been there !), is the nearest
thing possible to a likeness of this long petted bird; and
will be recognized, I think, by more than one victim, as an

2*

PORTRAIT OF THE ‘' COCHIN-CHINA » row!

THE HEN FEVER. 19

accurate and faithful portrait of this lauded “ magnificent ”
and ‘superb’? bird !

I was anxious to examine my celestial friends at once.
I caused the box to be taken into a shed, at the rear of the
house, and I tore from its front a piece of canvas that con-
cealed them from view, to behold a
porte — they were Cochin-China fowls!

But, since God made me, I never beheld six such birds
before, or since! They resembled giraffes much more

well! 2’tm-

nearly than they did any other thing, carnivorous, omniv-
orous,— fish, flesh, or fowl. I let them out upon the floor,
and one of the cocks seized lustily upon my India-rubber
over-shoe, and would have swallowed it (and myself), for
aught I know, had not a friend who stood by seized him,
and absolutely choked him off!

This is truth, strange as it may seem; but I presume
they had scarcely been fed at all upon their fortnight’s
voyage from Dublin, and I never saw any animals so mis-
erably low in flesh, in my life, before. What with their
long necks, and longer legs, and their wretchedly starved
condition, I never wondered that the friendly reporters
spoke of their appearance as being “‘extraordinary, and
strikingly peculiar.”

These were the original ‘‘ Cochin-China ” fowls of Amer-
ica. And they probably never had the first drop of
Chinese blood in their veins, any more than had the man

20 THE HISTORY OF THE DEN FEVER.

who bred them, and who knew this fact much better than I
did — who knew it well enough.

I housed my “prize” forthwith, however, and provided
them with everything for their convenience and comfort.
The six fowls cost me ninety dollars. They were beauties,
to be sure! When I informed a neighbor of their cost, he
ventured upon the expressive rejoinder that I “‘ was a bigger
d——d fool than he had ever taken me for.”’

To which I responded nothing, for I rather agreed with
him myself!

Nine months afterwards, however, I sold him a cock and
three pullets, four months old, raised from those very fowls,
for sixty-five dollars; and I didn’t retort upon him even
then, but took his money. The chickens I seld him were
“‘ dog-cheap,” at that !

CHAPTER III.
THE FIRST FOWL-SHOW IN BOSTON.

NEVER in the history of modern “bubbles,” probably,
did any mania exceed in ridiculousness or ludicrousness,
or in the number of its victims surpass this inexplicable
humbug, the “hen fever.’’

Kings and queens and nobility, senators and governors,
mayors and.councilmen, ministers, doctors and lawyers,
merchants and tradesmen, the aristocrat and the humble,
farmers and mechanics, gentlemen and commoners, old men
and young men, women and children, rich and poor, white,
black and gray,— everybody was more or less seriously
affected by this curious epidemic.

The press of the country, far and near, was alive with
accounts of ‘‘extraordinary pullets,” ‘enormous eggs”
(laid on the tables of the editors), ‘‘astounding prices”
obtained for individual specimens of rare poultry; and all
sorts of people, of every trade and profession and calling in
life, were on the gui vive, and joined in the hue-and-cry,
regarding the suddenly and newly ascertained fact that

22 > THE HISTORY OF

hens laid eggs —-— sometimes ; or, that somebody’s crower
was heavier, larger, or higher on the legs (and conse-
quently higher in value), than somebody else’s crower.
And the first exhibition of the society with the long name
came off duly, at last, as agreed upon by the people, and
myself.

“The people’?! By this term is ordinarily meant the
body-politic, the multitude, the citizens at large, the voters,
the —the-—a—the masses; the

well, no matter !
At the period of which I am now writing, the term signi-
fied the ‘‘hen-men.’’ This covered the whole ground, at
that time. Everybody was included, and thus nobody was
left outside !

At this first show, the committee “ flattered themselves ”’
(and who ever heard of, or from, a committee that didn’t
do this!) that never, within the memory of the oldest in-
habitant,— who, by the way, was then living, bus has
aince departed to that bourn from which even defunct hen-
men do not return,— never had such a display been wit-
neésed; never had the feathered race before appeared in
such pristine beauty; never had any such exhibition been
seen or read of, since the world begun! And, to say
truth, it wasn’t a very bad sight,— that same first hen-
show in Boston.

Thousands upon thousands visited it, the newspapers
appropriated column after column to its laudation, and all

THE HEN FEVER. 28

sorts of people flocked to the Public Garden to behold the
‘rare and curious and inexpressibly-beautiful samples”’ of
poultry caged up there, every individual specimen of which
had, up to that hour, been straggling and starving in the
yards of ‘the people” about Boston (they and their
progeny) for years and years before, unknown, unhonored
and unsung.

Gilded complimentary cards, in beautifully-embossed
envelopes, were duly forwarded by the ‘‘committee”’ to all
“our first men,’’ who came on foot or in carriages, with
their lovely wives and pretty children, to see the extraor-
dinary sight. The city fathers, the public functionaries,
governors, senators, representatives, all responded to the
invitation, and everybody was there.

The cocks crowed lustily, the hens cackled musically,
the ducks quacked sweetly, the geese hissed beautifully,
the chickens peeped delightfully, the gentlemen talked
gravely, the ladies smiled beneficently, the children laughed
joyfully, the uninitiated gaped marvellously, the crowd
conversed wisely, the few knowing ones chuckled quietly,
— everybody enjoyed the thing immensely,— and sud-
denly, prominent among the throng of admirers present,
loomed up the stalwart form and noble head of Daniel
Webster, who came, like the rest, to see what he had only
“read of” for the six months previously.

24 THE HISTORY OF

The committee saw him, and they instantly lighted on
him for a speech ; but he declined.

“Only a few words!” prayed one of them.

‘¢One word, one word!” insisted the chairman.

“T can’t !”’ said Daniel.

But they were importunate and unyielding, that enthu-
siastic committee.

‘¢ Gentlemen ! ’’ said the honorable senator, at last, amid’
the din. ‘Ladies and gentlemen!” he continued; as a
monster upon feathered stilts, at his elbow, shrieked out an
unearthly crow, that drowned the sound of his voice in-
stanter, —“‘ Ladies and gentlemen, really —I—would —
but the noise and confusion is so great, that I cannot be
heard!”?— and a roar followed this capital hit,: that
drowned, for the moment, at least, even the rattling, crash-
ing, bellowing, squeaking music of the feathered bipeds
around him.

The exhibition lasted three days. Unheard-of prices were
asked, and readily paid, for all sorts of fowls; most of those
sold being mongrels, however. As high as thirteen dollars
was paid by one man (who soon afterwards became an in-
mate of a lunatic asylum) for a single pair of domestic
fowls. It was monstrous, ridiculous, outrageous, exclaimed
every one, when this fact— the absolute paying down of
thirteen round dollars, then the price of two barrels of good

THE HEN FEVER. 25

wheat flour — was announced as having been squandered
for a single pair of chickens.

I sold some fowls at that show. I didn’t buy any there,
I believe.

The receipts at the gates paid the expenses of the exhibi-
tion, and left a small surplus in the hands of somebody,— I
never knew who,— but who took good care of the money, I
have not a doubt; as most of the officers at that time were,
like myself, ‘‘ poor, but honest.”

By the time this fair closed, the pulse of the ‘“ dear
people” had come to be rather rapid in its throbs, and the
fever was evidently on the increase. Fowls were in de-
mand.e Not good ones, because nothing was then said by
the anxious would-be purchasers about quality. Nobody
had got so far as that, then. They wanted fowls only,—
hens and cocks,— to which they themselves gave a name.

Some fancied one breed, or variety, and some another ;
but anything that sported feathers,— from the diminutive
Bantam to the stork-shaped Chinaman,— everything was
being sought after by ‘‘amateurs’”’ and “fanciers” with a
zest, and a readiness to pay for, that did honor to the zeal
of the youthful buyers, and a world of good to the hearts
of the quiet breeders and sellers, who began first to get
posted up, and inured to the disease.

J was an humble and modest member of this latter class,

I kept and raised only pure breeds of fowls.
3

CHAPTER IV.
How ‘ POULTRY-BOOKS’’? ARE MADE.

Soon after this, I learried that one Asa Rugg, of Pern-
sylvania (a nom de guerre), was in the possession of a
breed of fowls that challenged all comparison for size and
weight. They were called the Chittagong fowl, and were
thus described in the poultry-books published in 1850:

“The fowl thus alluded to has been imported, within
the last two or three years, into Pennsylvania, and ranks
at the head of the list, in that region, for all the good qual-
ities desirable in a domestic bird. The color is a streaked
grey, rather than otherwise, and the portraits below” (my
birds) ‘‘are fine samples of this great stock. They are
designated as the Grey CuITTAaconas.”

“Asa Rugg,” in his letter to me, described this stock as
being at the head of the races of poultry, having “the
largest blood in them of any variety of fowl with which he
was acquainted.” The pair he first sent me were light-grey
and streaked, and “at less than seven months old weighed
over nineteen pounds.”

THE HISTORY OF THE HEN FEVER. 27

He said, in that insinuating and delicate manner so
peculiar to the habits of gentlemen who possess what
another wishes to buy of them,—‘I did not intend, my
dear Mr. B——, to part with these magnificent specimens at
any figure whatever. I assure you I had much rather
retain them; for they are very fine, as you would say,
could you see them. If, however, you are disposed to pay
wy price, I shall let you have them. I really shall regret
their absence from my yard, however. Try and make up
your mind to be satisfied with something else — won’t you?
These fowls I must keep, if possible,’ &c. &c.

Now, Asa knew very well, if he had charged me two
hundred (instead of twenty) dollars for those grey fowls, I
should have taken them from him. Of course I sent for
them at once; and, within ten days, they were in my
poultry-house, a new wonder for the hundreds who called
to see my ‘‘superb ” and “ extraordinary ”’ fowls.

A competitor turned up, a few months after this, a noto-
rious breeder in P——, who, though a respectable man,
otherwise, never knew a hen from a stove-pipe, but who had
more money at that time than I had, and who, in the hen-
trade, possessed the impudence of the devil, without the
accompanying graces to carry out his object.

This man chanced, while in Pennsylvania, to hear Asa
speak of me, and at once he stepped in to ‘‘ head me”’ in
that quarter. He bought all the “‘Girey Chittagongs”’ that

28 THE HISTORY OF

Rugg had left (most of which, when they reached P :
happened te be dark réd and brown), and forthwith set up
an establishment in opposition to me; for what purpose I
never knew. I did not know him from a side of sole-
leather, I had never spoken to or of him, and I could ‘not
comprehend why this person should render himself, as he
did, my future ‘“death’s head’’ in the fowl-trade.

If he went into the traffic for the purpose of making
money out of it, he has found, by this time, I have no
doubt, that he would have been, at the very least calcula-
tion, five thousand dollars better off had he never thrust
himself into a business of which he did not know the first
rudiments.

If he embarked in it to interfere with or to injure me,
personally, he has now ascertained, I imagine, that’ it
required a faster horse than he was in the habit of driving
to keep in sight of my team.

If his purpose was the gratification of his own petty spite
or ambition only, he has had to pay for the enjoyment of
it,—ay, to his dear cost! —and he is welcome to all he ever
made out of his contemptible, niggardly huckstering.

Soon after the first exhibition, it was announced by
the publishers in Boston that Dr. Bennett’s new. Trea-
tise would be immediately issued by them. ‘The doctor
had originally applied to the establishment in which I
was then a partner, to issue this work; but I recom-

THE HEN FEVER. 29

mended him to the others, because our own facilities
for getting it out were not so good as I thought were
theirs.

I furnished a considerable amount of the matter for that
book, and had already obtained, at my own individual ex-
pense, several of the engravings which appear in the work
spoken of. After the original cuts were placed in the pub-
lishers’ hands, they were reduced in size, and injured (for
my purposes) as I conceived, when they finally appeared in
print.

The doctor’s book on poultry had been announced again
and again; but it did not make its appearance in the mar-
ket, in consequence of his tardiness. Week after week, and
month after month, passed by, but still no Dr. Bennett’s
book could be found. I saw some of the proof-sheets finally,
observed the fate of the illustrations of my fowls, and made
up my mind what I would do. The book was at last
announced positively to appear in three weeks.

Timmediately called at a stereotype foundery, and asked
how much time it would require to stereotype a work of one
hundred and fifty pages for me. I was told that it would
occupy three to four weeks to complete it. ‘‘Can’t it be
done in one week?” I inquired. The proprietor smiled,
and said that this was impossible. I replied, ‘‘ Well, sir,
to-day is Tuesday. I have engaged to deliver in New York
city, on the morning of a week from next Saturday, three

3*

30 THE HISTORY OF

thousand copies of a book which I am about to write. Is
there no way that you can help me out?” The gentleman
looked at me incredulously. .

I added, ‘‘ Mr. , L have been in the newspaper busi-
ness a good many years, and I have had the message of the
President of the United: States — a document occupying a
dozen columns of solid brevier and minion— set up and

put to press within forty-two minutes from the time it
reached our office. Anything can be accomplished, now-a-
days, if we but will it.”

‘“* But, you say you are about. to write it. When will
the ‘copy’ be ready ?”’ said the stereotyper.

“T have thought of this,” I replied, ‘‘ but a few hours.
The ¢itle, even, is not yet decided upon. I will give you
fifty pages of manuscript to-morrow morning, the next day
IT will add another fifty, and you shall have the whole in
hand by Friday morning.”

He kindly undertook to aid me. I engaged'three engray-
ers, who worked day and night upon the drawings and
transfers of the fowls for my illustrations; the paper was
wet down on Monday and Tuesday ; I read the final revised
proof of my work on Wednesday night; the book went to
press on Thursday ; the binders were ready for it as it came
up, the covers were put on on Friday morning, and I sent
to the New York house (who had bespoken them), by
Hlarnden’s Express, on Friday evening, three thousand

THE HEN FEVER. 81

five hundred copies of the “‘Nrw Enanuanp Povrtry-
Briever,” tlustrated with twenty-five correct engrav-
engs of my choice, magnificent, superb, unapproachable,
pure-bred fowls. :

This book had an extraordinary sale,— far beyond my
own calculations, certainly. I got it out for the purpose
of “doing justice” to my own stock, and calculated that
it would prove a good advertising medium for me,— which it
did, by the way. But the demand for the ‘‘ New England
Poultry-Breeder”’ was immense. And thirteen different
editions (varying from three thousand five hundred to one
thousand copies each) were issued within as many weeks,
and were sold, every copy of them. This is the true his-
tory of the ‘‘ New England Poultry-Breeder.”

By and by Dr. Bennett’s book appeared. The market
was now glutted with this kind of thing, and this work,
though a good one, generally, dragged on the hands of its
originators. I doubt if a thousand copies of this book
ever found their way into the market, the author being too
deeply engrossed with his then thriving trade, to trouble
himself about urging the sale of his book, or of thinking
about the interests of his publishers.

CHAPTER V.
THREATENING INDICATIONS.

ANoTHER meeting was now called at the Statehouse,
which was even more fully attended than the first, and at
which much more serious indications of enthusiasm were
apparent.

Old men, and middle-aged farmers, and florists, and agri-
culturists, and live-stock breeders, from all parts of this and
the neighboring states, congregated together on this event-
ful occasion, and entered into the debate with an earnestness
worthy of so important and ‘‘ glorious” a cause.

Some of the speakers had by this time got to be so elated
and so ardent that they rehearsed all they knew, and some
of them told of a great deal more than themselves or any-
body else had ever dreamed of, bearing upon the subject of
poultry-raising. But, really, the subject was an exciting
one, and the talkers were excusable ; they could n’t help it!

Shades of morus multicaulis victims! Shadows of
defunct tulip-growers! Spirits of departed Merino sheep
speculators! Ghosts of dead Berkshire pig fanciers!

THE HISTORY OF THE HEN FEVER. 83

Where wer? ye all on that eventful night, when six hun-
dred sober, ‘respectable’ representatives of ‘the people”
were assembled within the walls of our time-honored state
edifice upo. Beacon Hill, in serious and animated conclave,
to decide the momentous question that ‘hens was hens,”
notwithstanding, nevertheless !

‘Mr. President,”’ exclaimed one of these gentlemen
‘whose speech was not publicly reported, I think), ‘‘ Mr.
President, the times is propishus. We’re a-enterin’ on a
new ery. The people is a-movin’ in this ’ere great, and
wonderful, and extraordinary —I may say, Mr. President,
this “ere soul-stirrin’ and ‘lectrefyin — branch of interestin’
rural erconomy.’”’ (Applause, during which the speaker
advanced a step or two nearer to the presiding officer’s desk,
wiped his nose fiercely upon a fiery-red bandanna handker-
chief, and proceeded. )

“The world, Mr. President,” he continued, “ is a-growin’
wiser ev'ry day,—I may say ev’ry hour, Mr. President !
Ay, sir, evry minute.’ (Loud applause, amid which one-
old gentleman in a bob-wig was particularly vociferous. )

“T say, Mr. President, the people is a-growin’ wiser con-
tinu’lly ; and by that expression, sir, I mean to convey the
idee that they are a-gettin’ to know more, sir! Who will
gainsay this position? Whar’s the man —whar’s the
er—individooal, sir — that ’ll stan’ up ’ere to-night, in this
hallowed hall, under the shadder of this doom above our

34 THE HISTORY OF

heads, sir in view of the great American eagle yender,—
that ‘bird of promise,’ sir, and dispute the assertion that
I now make, Mr. President, as an American citizen, with-
out fear and without reproach!’’ (Deafening shouts of
“‘ Nobody ! nobody can dispute it !’”)

“No, sir! I think not, I wot not, I ventur’ not, I
cal’k’late not! I say, Mr. President, it is no use for nun
of us to contend agin the mighty ingine of progress; ’nless
wed like to get our crowns mashed in for our pains, sir.
That ’s the way it pears to me; and I’ve no doubt that
this ’nlitened ordinance now present, sir, will agree with
me on ¢his p’int, and admit the truth that present indica-
tions, sir, p’int, with strikin’ force, to the proberble likeli-
hood that the deeds begun here to-night must be forever
perpetooated hereafter, and that — a — they will — er— go
down, sir, to our children, and our children’s children, a
posteriori, in the futur, forever!” (Yes, yes!” and
thundering applause. )

“¢ But, sir, the p’int at issoo seems to me to be clear as
the broad-faced sun on a cloudy day.. I’m no speaker, sir.
Tam not the man, sir, that goes about to proclaim on tops
of houses! I’m a quiet citizen, and calls myself one o’
‘the people,’ sir. But w’en the questions comes up of thes
natur’,—w’en it ’pears to me to be so clear and so transpa-
rent, —w’en the people goes abroad, sir, in their might, and
——er—and can’t stay ter home,—w’en such things occurs,

THE HEN FEVER. 35

ar, then J’m round!” (Shouts of ‘‘ Good ! good ! good !”’
the respectable old gentleman in the bob-wig creating a
cloud of dust about him with his stamping and excited
gestures. )

‘‘ Mr. President, I have a’most done mm (No, no!
Go on, go on!” from all parts of the house.)

“No, sir; as I’ve said afore, I’m no speaker, an’ I
make no pretenshuns to oraterry. I’m a plain man, sir;
but I feel deeply interested in this subject.” (Nobody had
yet ascertained what the ‘‘ subject’ was, because the gen-
tleman had n’t alluded to any.) ‘‘ And, sir, I feel that I
should be unjust to myself and to this ordinance ef I did
not say what I have, sir. I go in for the poultry-breedin’,
sir, all over! Sir, .

I love ’em, I love °em, — an’ who shall dar’
To chide me for lovin’ and praisin’ them ’c7’e ?

“T love ’em, sir,— chickens or poultry,— dead or alive.
My father afore me loved ’em, sir; and I’m rejoiced to see
the feelin’s that ’s exhibited here to-night. -And, ‘less any-
body should suspect that I have ventured upon these few
remarks with mercenary motives, Mr. President (though
perhaps no such suppersishun would animate no man’s
bosom), I will state, sir, that I have no fowls to sell, sir,—
none whatever. No, sir! not a fowl! I’m a buyer, sir,
—I want to buy,” shouted the excited man,— and he sat

36 THE HISTORY OF THE HEN FEVEK.

down amid the deafening plaudits of his associates at this
meeting, who fully appreciated his speech and his palpable
disinterestedness.

(Item.—I found this gentleman the next day, and
informed him that I had heard of his destitution. I had
understood that he had no poultry, but was in search of
pure-blooded stock. Before night I had fully supplied
him with genuine samples, at thirty dollars a pair, and no
discount for cash.’’)

Before this meeting concluded, the prices of fowls, and
eggs, and feathers, were duly discussed, the details of which
. I will defer to the next chapter.

But all the indications at this convention were really of
a threatening character; and it would have required’ the
strength of several stout men to have held certain of the
speakers as they got warmed up, and rattled away, for dear
life, upon the advantages that must accrue to the nation, in
a thousand ways, from the encouragement of this epidemic,
and the certain, inevitable losses that must be sustained by
“the people ”’ if they did n’t go into this thing with a rush,

Most of these speakers, however, had fowls for sale !

CHAPTER VI.
THE EPIDEMIC SPREADING.

White all this was transpiring, my “‘ splendid ”” Cochin-
China fowls had arrived from England, and I had had a
nice house arranged, in which to keep and exhibit them to
visitors.

The pullets began to lay in January, 1850, and imme-
diately afterwards my trade commenced in earnest, which
continued, without interruption, up to the close of the year
1854.

Among the ‘ monstrosities” presented at the second
meeting at the Boston Statehouse were several propositions
that were suggested by gentlemen-amateurs and farmers in
regard to the price that should be fixed on, by members of
the Society with the elongated title, for eggs sold for incu-
bation.

One man thought that ¢wo dollars a dozen for most of
the fancy kinds would pay well. This gentleman (I do
not remember who he was) probably calculated to furnish

4

38 THE HISTORY OF

fancy egys as a certain agricultural concern had been doing
for some months: that is, by first purchasing them at a
shilling a dozen from the eastern packets, or in Quincy Mar-
ket. The next man thought that ¢hree dollars per dozen
would be fair. Another member believed that one dollar
was enough for twelve eggs, ‘but he didn’t know much
about it,” he acknowledged ; which was pretty evident from
his remarks. At any rate, he had never fed a “ laying
hen” long enough on good corn to ascertain how much she
would devour while she was furnishing him with the said
twelve eggs, I imagine! One gentleman, more liberally
disposed, probably, ventured to express his willingness to
pay five dollars a dozen for what he wanted. I understood
he got home safely after the meeting, though it was feared
he would be mobbed for his temerity in making. this ridic-
ulous offer ! .
T had already fixed my price for the eggs that were to be
dropped by my “extraordinary and superb”? Cochin-China
fowls, which by this time had got to be ‘‘ the admiration of
the State” (so the newspapers said). I had the Jest fowls
in this world, or in any other; this being conceded by every
one who saw them, there was no necessity of ‘‘ talking the
subject up” to anybody. I charged twelve dollars a dozen
for my eggs — and never winked at it!
. And why should n’t I have the highest price? Were not
my fowls the ‘choicest specimens’ ever seen in America?

THE HEN FEVER. 89

Didn’t everybody so declare? Didn’t the press and the
poultry-books concede this, without an exception? Well,
they did! And so, for months, I obtained one dollar each
for my Cochin-China fowls’ eggs; and I received order after
order, and remittance after remittance, for eggs (at this
figure), which I could not begin to supply.

And I didn’t laugh, either! I-had no leisure to laugh.
I filled the orders as they came,— ‘‘ first come, first served,”
—and for several months I found my list of promises six
or eight weeks in advance of my ability to meet them with
genuine eggs.

I was not so well informed, then, as I was afterwards. I
think all the eggs that were then wanted might have been
had. But, as the boy said, when asked where all the stolen
peaches he had eaten were gone, “I donno!”

Will it be credited that, during the summer of 1850, I
had dozens of full-grown men — gentlemen — but enthusi-
astic hen-fanciers (who had contracted the fever suddenly),
who came to my residence for Cochin-China eggs, at one
dollar each. and who, upon being informed that I had n’t one
in the house, would quietly sit down in my parlor and wait
two, three, or four hours at a time, for the hens to lay
them a few, that they might take them away with them?
Such is the fact, however it may be doubted.

I subsequently sold the eggs at ten dollars a dozen; then
at six dollars; and finally, the third and fourth years, at

40 THE HISTORY OF THE HEN FEVER.

five dollars. This paid me, because I sent off a great
many.

But they didn’t hatch well after having been transported
away and shaken over in the hands of careless and igno-
rant or reckless express agents. Thus the buyers came
again. Many of the early fanciers tried this experiment
over and over again, but with similar ill-success; and when
they had expended ten, twenty, or thirty dollars, perhaps, for
eggs, they would begin at the beginning aright, and pur-
chase a few chickens to rear, from which they could finally
procure their own eggs, and go forward more successfully.
But all this took time to bring it about.

And meanwhile somebody (I don’t say who) was
‘« feathering a certain nest’ as rapidly as a course of high-
minded and honorable dealing with his fellow-men would
permnit.

CHAPTER VII.

ALARMING DEMONSTRATIONS.

My premises were literally besieged with visitors, and
my family attendants were worn out with answering the
door-bell summons, from morning till night.

“Ts Mr. B at home? Can we see his Cochin-Chinas?
Can we look at Mr. B——’s fowls? Might we take a look at
the chickens?’’ were the questions from sun to sun again,

almost; and I was absolutely compelled, in self-defence, to
send the fowls away from home, for a while, for the sake
of relief from the continual annoyances to which, in conse-
quence of having them in my yard, I was subjected.

Fifteen, twenty, often forty callers ina single day, would
come to see my ‘‘ magnificent’ Cochin-China fowls. But
I sent them off, and then ‘the people’’ cried for them!

““Who’s dead?” queried a stranger, passing my door
one day, and observing the carriages and vehicles standing
in a line along the front of my garden-fence.

‘Nobody, I guess,” said another; “that’s where the
Cochin- Chinas are kept.”

4*

?

42 THE HISTORY OF

‘The what ?”

“The Cochin-Chinas.”

“ What’s them?”

“ Don’t you know?”

“No; never heard of ’em, afore.”

‘‘ Never heard of Burnham’s Cochin-O.inas?’®*

‘« Never! What are they?”

“Well, I reckon you ha’n’t lived in these ’ere parts long,
my friend,” continued the other; ‘‘and you’d better step
in and look at ’em.”’

In came the stranger, and after examining the fowls he
returned. :

“‘How do you like ’em?” asked the man who had
already seen them, and was waiting for his friend outside.

“They ’re ronchers, that’s a fact!” exclaimed the grat-
ified stranger. And this was the universal opinion.

Nobody had ever seen such fowls (I had seen a good
many better ones!) — nobody had ever beheld any s0 large,
so heavy, so fine. And every one whocame to look at them
purchased or engaged either eggs or chickens from these
“extraordinary” and ‘‘never-to-be-too-much-lauded ”’ royal
Cochin-China fowls !

For my first broods of chickens (at three and four months
old) I readily obtained twenty-five dollars a pair; and
every one of them went off ‘like hot cakes”’ at this figure.
It was too low for them, altogether; and I had occasion to

THE HEN FEVER. 43

regi >t subsequently, that I did not charge fifty dollars a
pair;-—a price which I might just as easily then have
obtained as if I had charged but one dollar a pair, as events
proved to my satisfaction.

But everything connected with this fever could not well
be learned at once. I was not a very dull scholar, and I
progressed gradually. One year after the receipt of my
Cochins, I got my own price for them, ask what I might.
I sold a good many pairs at one hundred dollars the couple ;
and, oftentimes, I received this sum for a trio of them.

Things begun to look up with me. Ihad got a very
handsome-looking stock on hand, at last; and when my
numerous customers came to see me, they were surprised
(and so was I) to meet with such ‘‘noble” samples of
domestic fowls. ‘Magnificent!’ ‘ Astonishing!” cried
everybody.

A splendid open carriage halted before my door, one day,
and there alighted from it a fine, portly-looking man, whom
Thad never seen before, and whose name I did not then
learn ; who, leaving an elegantly-dressed lady behind in the
vehicle, called for me.

I saw and recognized the carriage, however, as one of
Niles’; and I was satisfied that it came from the Tremont
House. As soon as the gentleman spoke, I was also satisfied,
from his manner of speech, that he was a Southerner. He
was polite and frank, apparently. I invited him in, and he

44 THE HISTORY OF

went to look at my fowls; that being the object, he said, of
his visit.

He examined them all, and said, quietly :

“T’d like to get halfadozen of these, if they didn’t
come too high; but I understand you fanciers have got the
price up. I used to buy these chickens for a dollar apiece.
Now, they say, you’re asking five dollars each for them.”

I showed him my stock,— the ‘‘pzre-bred’’ ones,— and
informed him at once that I had not sold any of my chick-
ens, latterly, at less than forty dollars a pair.

He was astounded. He didn’t want any — much : that

is, he wasn’t particular. He could buy them for five
dollars; should n’t pay that, nohow; wanted them for his
boy; would come again, and see about it, &e. &c.
' A five-year-old stag mounted the low fence at this
moment, and sent forth an electrifying crow, such as would
(at that period) have taken a novice “right out of his
boots ;”’ and a beautiful eight-pound pullet showed herself
‘beside him at the same time. The stranger turned round,
and said :

“There! What is your price for such a pair as that, for
instance? ”?

“* Not for sale, sir.”

“ But you will sell them, I s’ pose ?”’

“No, sir. Ihave younger ones to dispose of; but that
pair are my models. I can’t sell them.”

THE HEN FEVER. 45

The gen:lemin’s eye was exactly filled with this pair of
chickens.

‘‘ What will you éake for those two fowls?”

“One hundred dollars, sir,” I replied.

‘“T guess you will — when you can get it,’’ he added. —
“Name your lowest price, now, for those two. I want
good ones, if any.”

“T prefer to keep them, rather than to part with them at
any price,” I insisted. ‘If, however, a gentleman like
yourself, who evidently knows what good fowls are,
desires to procure the choicest specimens in the country,
why, I confess to you that those are the persons into whose
hands I prefer that my best stock should fall. But I will
show you some at a lower figure,” I continued, driving this
pair from the fence.

“Don’t you! Don’t drive ’em away !’’ said the gentle-
men; — “let ’s see. That’s the cock?”

“ Yes, sir.”

‘* And this is the hen?”

te Yes.’

“One hundred dollars! You don’t mean this, of
course,” he persisted.

“No, I mean that I would rather keep them, sir.”’

“ Well —I’ll take them,” said the stranger.
“It’s cruel. But, I’ll take them;” and he paid me five
twenty-dollar gold pieces down on the spot, for two ten-

46 THE HISTORY OF THE HEN FEVER.

months-old chickens, from my “ splendid’? Royal Cochin-
China fowls.

He had a tender spot somewhere, that I had hit, during
the conversation, I presyme. He took the two chickens
into hig carriage, and I have never seen or heard from him
from that day to this. I trust, however, if ‘‘these few
lines’? should ever meet his eye, that his poultry turned
out well, and that he himself is in good health and spirits !

I called this gallant young cock ‘‘ Frank Pierce,” in
honor of my valiant friend now of the White House, at
Washington. It will be seen that I thus sold Frank for
fifty dollars; a sum which the majority of the people of
this country have since most emphatically determined was
a good deal more than he ever was worth !

CHAPTER VIII.
THE FEVER WORKING.

Axovt this time an ex-member of Congress, formerly from
Pennsylvania, was invited to deliver the address before one
of the county agricultural societies of that state (where the
fever had now begun to spread with alarming rapidity), who,
in the course of his speech on that occasion, delivered him-
self of the following pointed and forcible remark.

Speaking of poultry and the rare qualities of certain
domestic fowls, he said, ‘‘ Ladies and gentlemen, next to a
beautiful woman, and an honest farmer, I deem a Shanghae
cock the noblest work of God!”

Now, this expression might be looked upon, by some
persons, as savoring of demagogism, or, at the least, as an
approach to “ running this thing into the ground” (or into
the air); but the honorable gentleman no doubt felt just
what he said. I have seen many sensible men who felt
worse than this —a good deal — on this self-same subject ;
and who expressed themselves much more warmly in regard
to the characteristics and beauties of domestic poultry ; but,

48 THE HISTORY OF

to be sure, it was after they had ‘“ gone through the mill,”
and had come out at the smail end of the funnel.

In New England, especially, prior to the second show of
poultry in Boston, the fever had got well up to “ concert
pitch ;”’ and in New York State ‘“‘ the people ’”’ were getting
to be very comfortably interested in the subject — where
my stock, by this time, had come to be pretty extensively
known.

The expenses attendant upon this part of the business, to
wit, the process of furnishing the requisite amount of informa-
tion for “the people ” (on a subject of such manifestly great
importance), the quantum sufficit in the way of drawings,
pictures, advertisements, puffings, etc., through the medium
of the press, can be imagined, not described.

The cost of the drawings and engravings which I had
executed for the press, from time to time, during the years
1850, ’51, ’52, and ’53, exceeded over eight hundred dol-
lars; but this, with the descriptions of my ‘‘rare’’ stock
(which I usually furnished’ the papers, accompanying the
cuts), was my chosen mode of advertising. And I take
this method publicly to acknowledge my indebtedness to the
press for the kindness with which I was almost uniformly
treated, while I was thus seriously affected by the epidemic
which destroyed so many older and graver men than myself;
though few who survived the attack ‘suffered’? more
seriously than I did, during the course of the fever. For

THE HEN FEVER. 49

instance, the large picture of the fowls which I had the
pleasure of sending to Her Majesty Queen Victoria (in
1852), and which appeared in Gileason’s Pictorial, the New
Yori: Spirit of the Times, New England Cultivator, &c.,
cost me, for the original drawing, engraving, electrotyping,
and duplicating, eighty-three dollars.

All these expenses were cheerfully paid, however, because
I found my reward in the consciousness that I performed
the duty I owed to my fellow-men, by thus aiding (in my
humble way) in disseminating the information which “ the
people” were at that time so ravenously in search of, name-
ly, as to the person of whom they could obtain (without
regard to price) the best fowls in the country.

This was what “the people”? wanted; and thus the mal-
ady extended far and wide, and when the fall of 1850
arrived, buyers had got to be as plenty as blackberries in
August, whilst sellers “of reputation ”’ were, like the visits
of angels, few and far between. F was, by this time, con-
sidered ‘“‘one of ’em.” I strove, however, to carry my
honors with Christian meekness and forbearance, and with
that becoming consideration for the wants and the wishes of
my fellow-men that rendered myself and my “ purely-bred
stock ’’ so universally popular.

Ah! when I look back on the past,— when I reflect upon
the noble generosity and disinterestedness that characterized
all my transactions at that flush period,— when I think of

5

50 THE HISTORY OF

what I did for “the cause,” and how liberally I was
rewarded for my candor, my honesty of purpose, and my
disingenuousness,— tears of gratitude and wonder rush to
my eyes, and my overcharged heart only finds its solace by
turning to my ledger and reading over, again and again, the
list of prices that were then paid me by “‘ the people,” week
after week, and month after month, for my ‘“ magnificent
samples”? of ‘ pure-bred’’ Cochin-China chickens, the
original of which I had imported, and which were said to
have been bred from the stock of the Queen of Great
Britain.

But, the Mutual Admiration ——I mean, the ‘“ Soci-

ety ” whose name was like

‘« Lengthened sweetness, long drawn out,’’

was about to hold its second annual exhibition; and, as the
number of its members had largely increased, and as each
and all of those who pulled the wires of this concern (while
at the same time they were pulling the wool over the eyes
of “the people”) had plans of their own in reference to
details, I made up my mind, although I felt big enough to
stand up even in this huge hornet’s nest of competition, to
have things to suit my “‘ notions.”

I now had fowls to sell! I had raised a large quantity
of chickens ; winter was approaching, corn was high, they
required shelter, the rowp had destroyed scores of fowls for
my neighbors, and I didn’t care to winter over three ox

THE HEN FEVER. 51

four hundred of these ‘‘splendid”’ and ‘“‘ mammoth” speci-
mens of ornithology, each one of which could very cleverly
dispose of more grain, in the same number of months, than
would serve to keep one of my heifers in tolerable trim.

Such restrictions were proposed by the officers of the
Society with the lengthened cognomen, that my naturally
democratic disposition revolted against the arbitrary meas-
ures talked of, and I resolved to get up an exhibition of my
own, where this matter could be talked over at leisure, and
which I did not doubt would ‘“ turn an honest penny ”’ into
my own pocket; where, though I had done well thus far,
there was still room, as there was in hungry Oliver T'wist’s
belly, for ‘‘ more.”

CHAPTER IX.
THE SECOND POULTRY-SHOW IN BOSTON.

On the 2d, 3d, and 4th days of October, in the year of
our Lord 1850, the ‘grand exhibition” (so the Report
termed it), for that year, came off at the large hall over the
Fitchburg Railroad Dépét, in Boston, ‘‘ which proved a
most extensive and inviting one’ (so continued the Re-
port), ‘‘ far exceeding, both in nwmbers and in the quality
of specimens offered, anything of its kind ever got up in
America.

‘The birds looked remarkably fine in every respect,
and the undertaking was very successful. A magnificent
show of the feathered tribe greeted the thousands of visitors
who called at the hall, and all parties expressed their satis-:
faction at the proceedings.

“The Committee awarded to George P. Burnham, of
Melrose, the first premiums for fowls and chickens. The
prize birds were the ‘Royal Cochin-Chinas’ and their
progeny, which have been bred with care from his imported

~

THE HISTORY OF THE HEN FEVER. 58

stock; and which were generally acknowledged at the head
of the list of specimens.”’

The prices obtained at this exhibition ranged very high,
and ‘ full houses”? were constantly in attendance, day and
evening, to examine and select and purchase from the
‘pure-bred ”’ stock there. ‘‘Mr. Burnham, of Melrose ”’
(continued the Report), “declined an offer of $120 for his
twelve premium Cochin-China chickens, and subsequently
refused $20 for the choice of the pullets.”

‘The show was much larger than the first one, and the
character of the birds exhibited was altogether finer, though
the old fowls were, for the most part, moulting. A deep
interest was manifested in this enterprise, and it went off
with satisfaction to all concerned,’”’ added the Report.

In order that the details of this experiment (which I
projected and carried through, myself) may be appreciated
and understood, I extract from the ‘official’? Report the
following items regarding this show, the expenses, the
prize-takers, &c.

The “ Committee of Judges,” consisting of myself, G.
P. Burnham, Esq., and a gentleman of Melrose, made the
following statements and ‘‘observations,” in the Report
above referred to :

“‘The Exhibition was visited by full ten thousand per-
sons, during the three days mentioned. The amount of

money received for tickets was four hundred and seventy-
5*

54 ” THE HISTORY OF

three dollars and thirty-eight cents; and the following
disbursements were made :~.

Cash paid for rent of hall,. . . . . . . $175.00
ue ‘* amount of premiums and gratuities, 135.00
es ‘“¢ for lumber and use of tables, . . 17.60
at “for lighting hall, advertising, ete.,.. 70.40
“¢ tickets, cards and handbills, . . . 18.21
ue “« carpenters and attendants, . . . 27.50
ef ‘¢ police and door-keepers, . . . . 15.00
ee «¢ grain, seed, buckets, pans, etc... . 25.56

fe “ coops, cartage and sundries, . . . 7.87
Total expenses, . $491.64.
Amount received, as stated, 473.38
Deficit, $18.26”

When the state of the funds was subsequently more par-
ticularly inquired into, however, it was found that the
amount of money actually received at the door was a little
rising nine hundred and seventy dollars, instead of “ four
hundred and seventy-three,” as above quoted. But this,
was a trifling matter; since the “‘ Committee of Judges”
spoken of above accounted for this sum, duly, in the final
settlement. ,

The ‘‘ Committee” aforesaid awarded the following pre-
miums at this show, after attending to the examination con-
fided to them— namely :

THE HEN FEVER. 55

“ Fl-st premium, for the best six fowls contributed, to
George P. Burnham, of Melrose, Mass., $10.

‘For the three best Cochin-China Fowls (Royal), to
George P. Burnham, Melrose, Mass., $5.

For the twelve best chickens, of this year’s growth
(Royal Cochin-China), to George P. Burnham, Melrose,
$5.”

And there were some other premiums awarded, I
believe, there, but by which I was not particularly bene-
fited ; and so I pass by this matter without further remark,
entertaining no doubt whatever that all the gentlemen who
were awarded premiums (and who obtained the amount of
the awards) exhibited at the Fitchburg Hall Show pure-
bred fowls.

After making these awards, the ‘‘ Committee of Judges ”
(consisting, as aforesaid, of myself, Mr. Burnham, and a
fancier from Melrose) state that ‘they find great pleas-
ure”— (mark this !) —‘‘they find great pleasure in alluding
again to the splendid contributions” of some of the gentle-
men who had fowls in this show,— and then the Report
continues as follows:

“The magnificent samples of Cochin-China fowls, con-
tributed by G. P. Burnham, of Melrose, were the theme of
much comment and deserved praise. These birds include
his imported fowls and their progeny — of which he exhib-
ited nineteen splendid specimens. ‘To this stock the Com-

56 THE HISTORY OF

mittee unanimously awarded the first premiums for fowls
and chickens; and finer samples of domestic birds will
rarely be found in this country. They are bred from the
Queen’s variety, obtained by Mr. Burnham last winter, at
heavy cost, through J. Joseph Nolan, Esq., of Dublin, and
are unquestionably, at this time, the finest thorough-bred
Cochin-Chinas in America.”

My early hen-friend the ‘“‘ Doctor” — alluded to in the
opening chapter of this book — exhibited a fowl which the
Committee ”’ thus described in their report :

“The rare and beautiful imported Wild India Game
hen, contributed by Mr. B. F. Griggs, Columbus, Geo., was
a curiosity much admired. This fowl (lately sold by Dr.
. J. C. Bennett, of Plymouth, to Mr. Griggs, for $120) is
thorough game, without doubt; and her. progeny, exhibited
by Dr. Bennett, were very beautiful specimens. To this
bird, and the ‘ Yankee Games’ of Dr. Bennett, the Com-
mittee awarded a gratuity of $5.”

So miserable a Aum as this was, I never met with, in all
my long Shanghae experience. It out-bothered the Doc-
tor’s famous ‘“ Bother’ems,” and really out-Cochined even
my noted Cochin-Chinas! But I was content. J was one
of the ‘‘ Committee of Judges.” I had forgot !

This Committee’s Report was thus closed :

“Tt has been the aim of the Committee to do Justice to
all who have taken an ifterest in the late Fowl Exhibition,

THE HEN FEVER. 57

and they congratulate the gentlemen who have sustained
this enterprise upon its success.”

They did ample justice to this Wild Bengal Injun Hen,
that is certain. The Cochin-China trade received an
impulse (after this show concluded) that astonished even me,
and I am not easily disturbed in this traffic. And I have no
doubt that the people who paid their money to witness
this never-to-be-forgotten (by me) exhibition, were also
satisfied.

The experiment was perfectly successful, however,
throughout. I forwarded to all my patrons and friends
copies of this Report, beautifully illustrated ; and the orders
for “‘pure-bred chickens from the premium stock” rushed

i

in upon me, for the next four or five months, with renewed
vigor and spirit. 7

This first exhibition at the Fitchburg Dépét Hall proved
to me a satisfactorily profitable advertisement, as I carried
away all the premiums there that were of any value to any-
body. But then it will be observed that the “ Committee
of Judges” of this show were my ‘‘friends.” And, at
that time, the competition had got to be such that all the
dealers acted upon the general democratic principle of going
“for the greatest good of the greatest number.” In my
case, I considered the “‘ greatest number ’’ Number One /

4

CHAPTER X.

THE MUTUAL ADMIRATION SOCIETY’S SECOND SHOW.

In the month following, to wit, on the 12th, 13th and
14th of Noyember, 1850, the second annual exhibition of
the Simon Pure Society with the extended title was held
at the Public Garden, in Boston.

No premiums were offered by the society this year, and
there was n’t much to labor for. I was a contributor, and I
believe I was elected a member of the Committee of Judges
that year. How, Idid not know. At any rate, I wrote
the published Report upon the exhibition. A Mr. Sanford
Howard was chairman of this committee, if I remember
rightly ; and though undoubtedly a very respectable and
well-meaning man (if he had not been so, he would n’t have
been placed on a Committee of Judges with me, I imagine),
this Mr. Howard knew positively nothing whatever in
regard to the merits or faults of poultry generally. He
had acquired some vague notions about what he was pleased
to term ‘‘crested”’ fowls, and five-toed, white-legged, white-
plumed, white-billed, white-bellied Dorkings,— of which

THE HISTORY OF IHE HEN FEVER. 59

he conversed technically and learnedly; but as to his
knowledge of the different varieties and breeds of domestic
poultry then current, and their characteristics, it was evi-
dently warped and very limited.

But Mr. Howard had been connected for some months
with a small monthly publication in New York State, and,
tike myself, I presume, among the board (God knows who
they were, but J don’t, and never did!) who originally
chose this ‘‘ Committee,” he had ‘‘a friend at court,”’ and
was made chairman of the committee too,— how, I never
knew, either.

In their Report, the Committee observe, again, that
“never in this country, if in the world, was there collected
together so large a number of domestic fowls and birds as
were sent to this exhibition, probably; and, though the
most liberal arrangements were made in advance, it was
found that the accommodations, calculated for ten thousand
specimens, were entirely insufficient. The Committee
merely allude to this fact to show the actual extent of this
enterprise, and the importance which the undertaking
has assumed, in a single year from the birth of the
Association.

“ According to the records of the Secretary, there were
contributed to the Society’s exhibition of 1850 some four
hundred and eighty coops and cages. There were in all
over three hundred and fifty contributors ; in addition to

60 THE HISTORY OF

which about forty coops, containing some six hundred fowls,
were sent to the Garden and received on exhibition upon
the two last days of the Show; and which could not be
recorded agreeably with the regulations made originally.

“The palpable improvement in the appearance of the
fowls exhibited in 1850, as compared with the samples
shown in 1849, offers ample encouragement to breeders for
further and more extended efforts ; and your Committee
would urge it upon those who have already shown them-
selves competent to do so much, fo go on and effect still
greater progress in the improvement of the poultry of New
England.”

This Report (the second of the series) did my stock ample
justice, I have not a doubt. I wrote it myself, and in-
tended that it should do so. The text was in nowise
changed when printed, and a reference to the document
(for that year) will convince the skeptical — if any exist —
whether I was or was not acquainted with adjectives in the
superlative degree !

A very singular occurrence took place about this time,
the basis of which I did not then, and have never since,
been able to comprehend, upon any principles of philoso-
phy, economy, business, benevolence, or even of sanity. But
I am not very clear-headed.

In the addenda to my Report (above named) there ap-
peared the anexed statement, by somebody :

THE HEN FEVER. 61

“The Trustees refer to the followi:g with mixed pride
and pleasure; the munificence and motive of the gift are
most creditable. A voluntary kindness such as that of
Mr. Smith is a very gratifying proof that the labors of the
Society are not regarded by enlightened men as vain:

“ Boston, 12th February, 1851.
“GW. Surry, Esa.

“‘Srr: A meeting of the Trustees of the ‘ New England
Society for the Improvement of Domestic Poultry ’ was held
last evening, Col. Samuel Jaques, President of the Society,
in the chair, and a full quorum being present, when the
Treasurer announced the receipt of your very handsome
donation of one hundred and fifty dollars in aid of the
Society’s funds ; whereupon it was moved, and unanimously
agreed, that the most grateful thanks of the Society were
justly due to you for such a munificent testimony of your
desire for its prosperity ; that the Secretary communicate to
you the assurance of the high appreciation with whith the
donation was received; and that its receipt, and also a
thankful expression of gratitude towards you, should be
placed on the records of the Society.

“T can only reiterate the sentiments contained in my in-
structions, in which I fully and gratefully concur; and,
with best wishes'for your long-continued welfare,

“Tam, sir, very truly yours,
“Joun C. Moorn, Rec. Secretary.”

Now, it will be observed that this was not John Smith
who presented this sum, but another gentleman, and a dif-
ferent sort of individual altogether. He gave it (one hun-
dred and fifty dollars in hard cash) the full value of a nice

6

62 THE HISTORY OF THE HEN FEVER.

pair of my best “ pure-bred’”? Cochin-Chinas, without
flinching, without any fuss, outright, freely, ‘‘in aid of the
Society’s funds.”

Liberal, generous, benevolent, ‘charitable, kindly Mr’
Smith! ‘You did yourself honor! You were one of the
kind of men that I should very much liked to have had for
a customer, about those days. But, after due inquiry, I as-
certained that you did not keep, or breed, poultry. You were
only a “‘ friend”’ to the Society with the elongated name,—
the only friend, by the way, it ever had! Heaven will
reward you, Mr. Smith, sooner or later, for your disinter-
estedness, but the Society never can. Be patient, however,
and console yourself with the reflection that he who giveth
to the poor, lendeth, &c. &c. The Society with the long-
winded title was poor enough, and you cannot have forgot-
ten that he who casteth his bread (or money) upon the
waters will find it, after many days. You will find yours
again, I have no doubt; but it will be emphatically ‘ after
many days.”

The second show closed, the expenses of which reached
the sum of one thousand and twenty-seven dollars eighteen
cents, and the receipts at which amounted to one thousand
and seventy-nine dollars eighty-four cents, exclusive of the
above-named donation. The Society had now a balance of
two hundred and two dollars sixty-six cents in hand, and it
went on its way rejoicing.

THE SHANGHAE REFERRED TO IN LETTER NO. 177— (See page 80.)

64 P THE HISTORY OF THE HEN FEVER.

Cot. Jaquzs (the first President) now “resigned his
commission,” and Moses KimBatt, Esq., was chosen in his
stead. I found myself once more among the Vice Presi-
dents, John C. Moore was elected Secretary, Dr. Eben
Wight was made.Chairman of the Board of Trustees, and
H. L. Devereux became Treasurer for the succeeding year.

These officers were all ‘ honorable men,” who were thus
placed in position to watch each other! The delightful
consequences can readily be fancied. What my own duties
were (as Vice-President) I never knew. I supposed, how-
ever, that, as “one of ’em” thus elevated in official rank,
I was expected to do my uttermost to keep the bubble float-
ing, and to aid, in my humble way, to maintain the infla-.
tion. And I acted accordingly ; performing my duty “as
T understood it” !

SOCULTY

CHAPTER XI.
PROGRESS OF THE MALADY.

IMMEDIATELY after this second exhibition, the sales of
poultry largely increased. Everybody had now got fairly
under weigh in the hen-trade; and in every town, at every
corner, the pedestrian tumbled over either a fowl-raiser or
some huge specimen of unnameable monster in chicken
shape.

I had been busy, and had added largely to my “ supe-
rior ’’ stock of ‘‘ pure-blooded ” birds, by importations from
Calcutta, Hong-Kong, Canton and Shanghae, direct. In
two instances I sent out for them expressly, and in two
or three other instances I liad obtained them directly from
on shipboard, as vessels arrived into Boston and New York
harbors.

T was then an officer in the Boston Custom-house,— a’
democrat under a whig collector,— otherwise, a live skinned
eel in a hot frying-pan. But I found that my business had
got to be such that I could not fulfil my duty to Uncle
Sam and attend appropriately to what had now got to be

6* a *

66 THE HISTORY OF

of very much greater importance to me; and:so I resigned
my situation as Permit Clerk at the public stores, very
much to the regret of everybody in and out of the Custom-
house, and especially those who were applicants for my
place !

I had purchased a pretty estate in Melrose, and now I
enlarged my premises, added to my stock, and raised (dur-
ing the summer and fall of 1851) over a thousand fowls,
upon my premises. This did not begin to supply the de-
mands of my customers, however, or even approach it.
And, to give an idea of my trade at that period, I will
here quote a letter from one of my new patrons. It came
from the interior of Louisiana, in the fall of 1851.

“Gro. P. Burnuam, Ese., Boston.

“Tam about to embark in the raising of poultry, and
I hear of yourself as an extensive breeder in this line. Do
me the favor to inform me, by return mail, what you can
send me one hundred pairs of Chinese fowls for, of the
yellow, red, white, brown and black varieties; the cocks to
be not less than eight to ten months old, and pullets ready
to lay ; say twenty pairs of each color. And also state how
I shall remit you, in case your price suits me, &c.

6c 0)

I informed this gentleman that I had just what he
wanted (of course), and that if he would remit me a draft
by mail for fifteen hundred dollars — though this price was
really too low for them —I would forward him one hun-

THE HEN FEVER. 67

dred pairs of fowls ‘‘ that would astonish him and his neigh-

bors.” Within three weeks from the date of my reply to
him, I received a sight draft from the Bank of Louisiana
upon the Merchants’ Bank, Boston, for fifteen hundred.
dollars. I sent him such an invoice of fowls as pleased

him, and I have no doubt he was (as he seemed to be) per-

fectly satisfied that he had thus made the best trade he ever

consummated in the whole course of his life.

During the next spring I bred largely again, and sup-
plied all the best fanciers in New England and New York
State with stock, from which they bred continually during
that and the succeeding year.

In the spring of 1852 the Mutual Admiration Society
of hen-men got up their ¢hird show, at the Fitchburg
Dépét (in May, I think), where a goodly exhibition came
off, and where there were now fowls for sale of every con-
ceivable color and description, good, bad, and indifferent. I
contributed as usual, and, as usual, carried away the palm
for the best samples shown. And here was eyinced some
of the shifts to which certain hucksters resorted, to make
‘‘the people” believe that white was black, that they
originally brought this subject before the public eye, and
that they only possessed the pure stock then in the country.

Reverends, and doctors, and deacons, and laymen,— all
were there, in force. Every man cried down every other
man’s fowls, while he as strenuously cried up his own. Upon

68 THE HISTORY OF

one cage appeared a card vouching for the fact that a cer-
tain original Shanghae crower within it, all the way from
the land of the Celestials, weighed fourteen pounds and three
ounces, and that a hen, with him, drew nine pounds six
ounces (almost twenty-four pounds). When the birds were
weighed, the first drew ten and a half pounds, and the
other eight and a quarter only. This memorandum ap-
peared upon the box of a clergyman contributor, who had
understood that size and great weight only were to be the
criterion of merit and value thenceforward. Another con-
tributor boldly declared himself to be the original holder of
the only good stock in America. A third claimed to be the
father of the current movement, and had a gilded vane upon
his boxes which he asserted he had had upon his poultry-
house for five years previously. Another stated that all
my fowls (there shown) were bred from fis stock. And
still another proclaimed that the identical birds which I con-
tributed were purchased directly of him; he knew every
one of them. Finally, one competitor impudently hinted
that my birds actually then belonged to him, and had only
been loaned to me (for a consideration) for exhibition on
this occasion !

When the fair closed, however, the matter was all set
right, as may be gathered from the following extract from
the official Report of the third show, of the Committee of
Judges of which I was not a member :

THE HEN FEVER. 69

‘ At this third Boston Show,” says the Committee, ‘‘ the
best and most faultless descriptions of Red and Buff Shang-
haes were shown by G. P. Burnham, Esq., and others.
And of the Cochin-Chinas, the specimens of Geo. P. Burn-
ham, ete., were each and all notable, and worthy of public
appreciation.””

This was satisfactory to me, and I made the most of this
“‘werry fav’rable opinion” of the august Committee,— who
added the following, in their Report, in reference to the
action of Southern purchasers :

“Tt seems, from reliable information received by mem-
bers of the Committee, that fowls raised in New England,
and exported South, attain to a much larger size, and are
vastly more prolific, than in our colder climate. This is
specially so in reference to the produce of stocks recently im-
ported from the Hast, namely, the Shanghaes, Cochin-China
fowls, and others of larger varieties. So sensible have
some of the most eminent Southern breeders become that
such is the case, that they are annually in the habit of
buying their young stock from the Northern States, and
they find the system profitable. In this way, New Eng-

land bids fair to become the supply-market, in a great
measure, for the South and West.”

This was beautiful! ‘‘ Annually in the habit.” I liked
that portion of it. And Southern buyers seemed to like it,
too, judging from the manner in which orders poured in
upon us, after this gentle hint from swch authority! I
believe that the Chinese fowls really did better in the South
than they did with us, this way. At least, I hope they did!

CHAPTER XII.
MY CORRESPONDENCE.

By this time my correspondence with gentlemen in all
parts of America and Great Britain had got to be rather
extended. I took from the post-office from ten to twenty-five
or thirty letters, daily; and amongst them were some curi-
ous samples of orthography, etymology, syntax, and prosody.
I offer the annexed specimens — of course without names or
dates — merely to show how the young aspirants for fame
(in the poultry-trade) felt, about those days; and, also, to
give some idea of the progress of the fever among us, as
time passed by, etc. ete.

No. 1.

Siz — Mr. BuRNHAM ;

-i red in Nu england poultry breeder that yu kep
fouls an aigs for sail. iwant one duzen aigs if tha doant
cum tu tu mutch. ime a poor mann an carnt pa a gret

THE HISTORY OF THE HEN FEVER. 71

pris. wot can yu cend me a duzen of yure best aigs for.
ansur by male and direck yure leter tu me tu mi dress.
Yr Respec’y, &e.

No. 2.
My Dear Sir:

I am a poor clergyman, and I have some leisure,
which I can devote to raising a few good fowls. If your
price is not too high for the rather limited contents of my
purse, please inform me, by return of mail, what you can
furnish me with pure Cochin-China eggs for. I am desirous
. to procure a few; and I prefer that you would select for
me,— in a half-dozen, say two male and four female eggs.
I suggest this, because I am informed that your long expe-
rience in this interesting branch of rural economy has
enabled you to decide (upon examining them) whether eggs
will produce cocks or pullets. Your early answer will con-
fer a favor on, Sir, yours, truly,

No. 3.
Mr. Burman:

I close you ten dolls. Cend me a doz. of your
Cotchen Chiny eggs rite away — cause I hav a hen thats
been a setting on some stones I put under her now most a
week. You rote me that you would hav them about this

%2 THE HISTORY OF

time, you know. Cend them by ’3 Express, and tell
the man who fetches them not to turn the box over, at all.
I want half and half— that is to say, half cock eggs, and
half hen eggs. You know what I mean by this. Them
that has the sharp ends on to one side — them’s the cocks,
and them that’s round and smooth at both ends — them ’s
the hens. Forwud immediately, and mark with care
glass this side up — don’t shake this with speed.
Yours, &c.

No. 4.

G. P. Burnuam, Eso.

Dear Sir: I saw your beautiful Cochin-China fowls
last week, in the paper, and am desirous to obtain a few
eggs from them, if possible.

Will they hatch under our common hens? Or, must we
have the pure bloods to sit upon them? Iam a novice,
somewhat, in this business. I enclose you twelve dollars
(the price for a dozen, I believe), which please forward, at
your early convenience, by express, and oblige

Yours, &e.

No. 5.
Friend BuRNHAM:

Enclosed please find ten dollars for another dozen of
your pure Cochin-China eggs. The first ones you sent

THE HEN FEVER. 78

me (from some cause) did not hatch. I have kept a hen
(a very good sitter, too) upon that first lot, constantly, for
four weeks, now — and I don’t believe I shall get a chick,
you see! So, please forward these now, right away —
because my hen will get tired of waiting, you know, if I
don’t keep her right along, steady. The $10 you will
find within. Yours, resp’y,

P. S. Can you inform me what is good for dice on fowls?
I find that my hen is covered with a million of them, now.
Don’t forget this, please.*

No. 6.

‘Sur — wen i cum to boston nex weak i want to see yure
poltry iam a ole hand at the bizness myself an I like to
see good kinds of poltry every ware. i see yurn in the
paper an i like them verry much can yu sel a hen without a
cock, i have sevral cocks now of the black dawkin pure
bred and fine an i would change one of them with yu for a
cochon chiner hen if yu say so. answer by fust male.

. Yure in haist

Mr. P. G. Barnum,
boston.

* After a hen had set over four weeks on her nest, I should suppose she :
might have been thus affected !

T

74 THE HISTORY OF

No. 7.

*

Dear Sir: Yours duly received. I did not suppose
that the price of the ‘‘ Cochins ” was so high — but I must
have a trio of them, at any figure. I enclose you fifty
dollars for them, agreeably with “your proposal, relying
upon your known good taste in selections, and upon your
proverbial reputation as regards the keeping only of pure
stock. Send them by Adams & Co.’s Express, in a roomy
cage. If they are prime, my neighbors will very shortly

order from you, I am sure. 4
’
Yours, resp’y,

No. 8.
Mr. BaRNnaM :

Them two fowls I bought of you, by seeing the pictur
in the newspaper, and which I paid you $35 cash down
on the nail for, aint what they ’re cracked up to be —
not by a long short, sir. Now, what I want you to do is
to sen me back my munney, or I’l] prosecute you and put
you in prizon for cheating people by false pertences. I was
so mad when I took them out of the box that I’d a good
mine to kill an eat em both on the spot.* I aint no hen-
man, I’d have you to understan, an you can’t come none
of this kine of nonsense over me. Sen me back my mun-
ney, or I’ll complain of you in tu days before a Justis of

* O, the cannibal ! #

<THE HEN FEVER, 75

the Peas — a friend of mine, that’ll give you fits if you
air a big man. I don’t keer for that. I want my munney.
The fowls is both sick, too. Answer this tu once, or els
sen me back my munney.*

- No. 9.
G. P. Burnyam, Esq.:

I saw a cage of superb Cochin-China fowls from your
yard, yesterday, en route to Mobile. Can you duplicate
them? If so, at what price? I had understood that a
Mr. kept choice fowls. I visited his place, but saw
none there that seemed worth the taking away. If you can
send me such a trio as I saw at Adams & Co.’s, let me
know it immediately, and your price for them. How shall
LT remit you? Yours, &e.

No. 10.
Mr. BURNHAM:

T enclose you one hundred dollars, by check on Shoe
and Leather Dealers’ Bank, Boston (No. 417), to your
order, for the fine fowls you describe in yours received this
day. They should be good ones, as I have no doubt they
are. Forward, at once,

And believe me,
Yours,

—_ —

*Tnever heard from this customer again, and should now be glad to
know if he ever got his ‘ munney ”’!

76 THE HISTORY OF

: No. 11.
G. B. Burnnam, Boston. :
Sin: When I paid you $25 (twenty-five dolls.) for
a pair of Cochin-China chickens, according to your own
terms, I did not suppose you would dare to send to me
(whom you must know to be a judge of all kinds of poul-
try) a pair of Shanghaes, instead of those Tordered!* I
-want none but pure-bred fowls in my collection, nor will I
have them there, either. I have now a plenty of the
Shanghaes, and I ordered a pair of Cochin-Chinas of you.
Now, I want to know what you will do in this matter.
Will you send me a pair of Cochins, or not? That is all
I want to know at present. From .
Yours, truly,

P. 8. Iam a lawyer by profession; and I submit to no
imposition of this sort, you may be sure.
‘ No. 12, .
G. P. Burngam.
My Duar Sir:

The magnificent “Cochin-China” birds you for-
warded me last are the admiration of every one who be-
holds them; and I ar: greatly your debtor for this superb
lot of fowls. My neighbor, Hon. Mr. M
to request you to forward him four as nearly like mine ds

, desires me

* Here was a ‘‘lawyer,’’ who knew the difference between a Cochin-
China and a Shanghae !

THE HEN FEVER. qT

possible, and your draft on me, at sight, for the cost, will
be duly honored. He can afford (and is willing) to pay
liberally for them.* Charge him accordingly ; but be care-
ful that you de not send him finer samples than mine are,
— which, by the way, Ido not think possible. I enclose
you draft for $120, on Merchants’ Bank, Boston, for your
bill. And am Yours, truly, § —— ——..

No. 18.

Sir—TI hav alwas heerd yu was a scamp, and now I
know yu are.t Them egs yu sent me was smasht all up,
an they was runnin’ down the sides of the box. What am
I to do with them, sir—do yu think? Do yu spose I’ve
gut money so plenty as to threw it way in this manner?
Yu didné put in harf meal anuf, and the hole of them was
spilte, besides being roten I hav no manner of dout. Now
if yu send me back the six dolls. that the postmaster see me
put into my fust letter to yu, all’s well-an good. And ef
yu don’t, see if I don’t publis yu and yure caracter tu
the hole wurld yu infermus cheet yu. Yu'd aughter be
ashamed tu send a man egs that wa, anny how. So no
more at present tell I heer from yu. —_ ——.

No, 14.
FRIEND BURNHAM:
I have heard creditable accounts of thy poultry (of

* This was the kind of gentleman I loved to fall in with,
+ Some persons would consider this personal !

T*

78 THE HISTORY OF

the Cochin-China variety), and I am induced from common
rumor to believe thee a man who dealeth justly and honor-
ably. I desire to procure a few of these choice fowls, if not
too expensive; and will thank thee to inform me what thy
price is for such, at ages varying from four to eight months
old. ‘Thy early reply will oblige thy friend and well-
wisher,

No. 15.

G. P. Burnuam, Esa. — DzAr Sir: Send me ten trios
more of the Cochin-China chickens, immediately. If you
can put them down to $35 the trio, now, it will leave
me a better margin. All the others are sold, at $60 the
trio. Enclosed is draft on Bank of Commerce, Boston, for
$400. In haste, yours, .

— —_——.,

No. 16.
Sir —

I want tu get sum coshin chiney aggs, them as will
hatch out chickns with fethers onto the leggs an no mistaik.
if you got them kind yu can cend me wun dusen an i will
cen yu bak the munny wen the chickns is hached with feth-
ers onto there leggs not otherwise. If yu dott like tu cend
them on this turms yu can keepe ’em yureself. I bort too
duzsen eg in bostun an their wasnt none of em had no
fethers on the leg, i mene the chick’ns, wen tha was hached.
an I dont expek i shall be fuled no mor by no such humbugg

THE HEN FEVER. 79

by a good dele. i pade my munny for genwine aigs and I
donte see no reesun wy peeple isn’t onnest. How could i
tell wether their was chickns in the egs or not? of course
icou’dn’t. and i doant consider sech bissiness no bettern than
cheetin rite out. i bort em ¢wict this wa, ani sharnt-be
fuled agin arter waitin as I did both times over three
Weeks. ef yu will plese to sen me the pure aigs abuv
menciond and wate tell tha hach fether leggs chickns, well
an good. ive no dout yu air a onnest man, cos all the
noospapers pufs yu. But sum of the hen traiders aint no

better than thaid oughter be — that’s my pinion.*
Yours &e. ete.

No. 17.
Mr. P. B. Burnum; Sur,

If you hav enny of them big Cokin Shiney fowl, that .
eat off tops of flour barils, I want sum. I gut a big
nufoulan dogg that ways hard onto 140 pouns, and I want_
tu cell him, an git sum of them Cokin Shinys. This dogg
is a. gud dogg and dont eat much. I feed him on fish and
hoggs hasslits and it dont cost much to keep hiia. He bitt
a pedler’s arm most off yisterday, but he woudnt be much
trubble to you, if you kep him chaind all the time sose he
couldnt bite noboly. If you will rite me what you ask for
yure fowls, I wil inform you what I ask for my dog. I
‘dont want none nless thay can eat off tops of flour barrils,

* T would liked to have seen the dealer that could “ fule’*’ this customer
more than “‘ twict.’?

80 THE HISTORY OF

of course. Them’s the kind for me.* Anser by return
mail. Yours Resp’y,

No. 18.
G. P. Burnuam, Ese. :

I have got a Shanghae cock weighing 15} pounds,
and I want a few hens to match him. Can you supply
me? My crower stands three feet four inches high, and
his middle toe measures 7} inches in length. What do you
think of that? I want six twelve-pound hens. Dr. Ben-
nett can supply me, I presume; but I want pwre-bred
stock. I have no doubt my crower will weigh eighteen or
nineteen pounds, at two years old; he is now only eight

“months old! Let me hear from you.
Resp’y, SS

No. 19.
Mr. BurnHAmM: 2

I always took you to be a man of honor, and I sup-
posed you knew (if anybody did) what a Cochin-China fowl
was, because you imported your stock. Now, those you
sent me, and for which [ willingly paid,you $40 for the
three, are feathered on the legs; this sh Wal not be, of
course. How is this? They are fine, but I am certain
they can be nothing but mere Shanghae fowls. Let. me
know about this, will you? Yours, &c.

% * 1 informed this purchaser that I could send him a pair which, if they
‘could n’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 !

THE HEN FEVER. 81

No. 20.
My Dear Sir:

I hardly know what to write you about the stock I
had of you, six months ago, for ‘‘ Cochin-Chinas.” That
they are not Cochins I feel positive, however; for one
half the chickens came smooth-legged, and the’ rest are
heavily-feathered on the legs!! I consider them only
Shanghaes, and now I want to know if you can send me a
trio of pure bloods, that you ‘now to be Cochins. If so,
I care nothing about price. I want blood. ‘‘ Blood tells,”’
you know. Let me hear from you, and state your own
views in this matter. I will be governed by your advice.
Enclosed is ten dollars for a dozen of your ‘‘ Cochin” eggs .
— pure, you know. In haste,

Yours truly, ——- ——.

ie

No. 21.
Mr. BuRNHAM.

Sir: Do you call yourself a man of honor? I bought
one doz. Cochin-China eggs of you, for which I paid
you six dollars, cash. I set them, and I got but Zen
chickens out-of them (two eggs I found rotten, in the nest).
Every one of these chicks are cocks, sir—cocks! Now,
what the devil can I do, do you imagine, with ten cocks?
I want to breed fowls. That is what I bought the eggs
for; to begin right. You must have known better than
this. Anvbody could have seen that these were all male

82 THE HISTORY OF

eggs. 4 say it, at once (I remember), but I hoped I was
mistaken. What do you propose to do about this? Let
me know, a¢ once, without fail. In haste,

No. 22.

Siz: You may think well of the Cochin-China fowls,—I
don’t. Those you sent me are long-legged, and there are
no feathers on their legs, or-feet, as there ought to be. I
know what a Cochin-China fowl is, too well to be deceived
in this way. I will keep them. You are a humbug.
You are welcome to the thirty dollars I paid you. I don’t
ask you to return it. I don’t want it. I can get along
very well without it. You need it. Keep it. Much good
may it do you! In haste,

P.S. Don’t you wish you may get another $30 out of
me, that way? O, yes —I guess you will—ha! ha!

No. 23.

Mr. Barman. Dear Sir: I see in the Poultry Books
that the Cotchin-China fowls lays two eggs every day,*

* «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 subse-
quently refers, as his authority for this statement (which was called in

THE HEN FEVER. 88

and sometimes three a-day. I have hens that lays two
eggs a-day, frequenly, but I want to get the breed that
will lay ¢hree eggs a-day, reglar. If you have got anny
of the Cotchins that you ‘now lays three eggs a-day, I
would like to get a few, at a fair price. I don’t pay no
fancy prices for em, though. The hen fever won't larst
forever, I don’t believe; and then when its busted up,
what’s the fowls good for, even if they do lay three eggs
a-day? Let me hear from you,— but don’t send any fowls
unless you are swre they lay three eggs every day !
Yours, &ec.,
No. 24.

Mr. Burnnam.— 81x: I am a gentleman, and I have
no disposition to be fractious. I sent you twelve dollars, in
a letter, for a dozen ‘‘Cotchin” eggs, and I set them.
After waiting twenty-three days, I found two grizzled-col-
ored chickens in the nest yesterday, both of them with huge
top-knots on their polls! What does this mean? Am I
to be swindled out of my money thus? By return of mail
if you do not refund my money, if I live I will prosecute
question), to the ‘* Rt. Hon. Mr. Shaw, Recorder of Dublin, to Mr. Wal-
ters, 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.

84 THE HISTORY OF THE HEN FEVER.

you, if it costs me a thousand dollars. You may rely on
this. I am not a man to be trifled with, and I refer you to
Messrs. & , who know me; you evidently do
not ! In haste,

[I did not reply to this spicy favor, because, if the gen-
tleman really was not a ‘fractious’? man, I imagined he
would like his pure-bred chickens better as they grew up;
and, besides, I could afford to wait for ‘‘a gentleman” to
cool off I never heard from him, afterwards; and con-
cluded that he did n’t live to carry out his laudable inten-
tion of expending a thousand dollars in prosecuting me! I
trust that, before he departed, he became hopefully pious.
Peace to his manes !]

-

No. 25.

Sir: Them fouls you sent me, got the sore-hed. I gin
em tuppentyn and unyuns and brandy, but it want no use.
The poletry books sed so, and I follered the direction, and
it killed’em both deader’n thunder, in one night! Now
you’ve gut my mony, and I haint narry fowls. What’ll1
do? Don’t you think this a pooty impersition? Send me
another pear, to once — if you don’t want fits.

In haist,

{I sent this man ‘/ another pear,”—only Ididn’t!] -

CHAPTER XIII.
THE OTHER SIDE OF THE QUESTION.

‘Tax foregoing are only a very few samples of hundreds
upon hundreds of similar letters I constantly received, for
nearly five years.

All the blame occasioned by careless express-men, of
false blood imposed upon me originally, of tardy hens, of
the hatching or non-hatching of eggs transported hundreds
of miles, of feathered legs upon chickens, or the absence
of them, of every species of mishap that could by any pos-
sibility befall the fancier and amateur, through his own
ignorance or errors,— every kind of mistake was charged to
me! But, with a Christian meekness, I bore it all.

I was threatened with civil prosecutions, with the House
of Correction, the State Prison, the Penitentiary, and all
sorts of other punishments, for my remissness; but I sub-
mitted with a quiet resignation, because ‘‘the people” were
so deeply engaged in this pursuit, and everybody now had
the fever sq shockingly, that I sympathized with all man- ~
kind, and attributed these trifling ebullitions of ill-will, or

8

86 THE HISTORY OF

‘raving, to the spasms caused by. the prarelenes and the
severity of the epidemic.

On the other hand, I was so often cheered on in my
labors of love by the kind consideration of a very different
sort of patrons, that I did not sink under the persecution
of those who would gladly have floored me, could the thing
have been readily accomplished. I pocketed the money of
my customers, however, bred good fowls, followed up the
trade sharply, and found myself sailing easily along, in
spite of the contemptible and small-fry opposition of which
I was continually the object. As an agreeable offset to the
complaints and murmurings in certain quarters, the follow-
ing few letters will tell their own story :

From Hon. Henry Clay.
° Ashland, 1851
Gzo. P. Burnuam, Eso., Bosron.

My pear Sir: I duly received your obliging letter,
informing me that you had sent by the Express of Messrs.
Adams & Co. a cage containing four fowls for me, and I
postponed acknowledging it until the fate of the fowls
should be ascertained. I have now the satisfaction to advise
you that they all reached here safely.

They have been greatly admired, not only for their enor-
mous size, but for their fine proportions and beautiful
plamage. I thank you, my dear sir, most cordially, for this

TUE HEN FEVER. 87

very acceptable present. It has been my aim, for many
years, to collect at this place the best improved breeds of
the horse, the cow, the sheep, swine and the ass — though
the last, not the least valuable, in this mule-raising state.
To my stock on hand your splendid Cochin-China fowls
will be a congenial and valuable addition; and, if we suc-
ceed with them, I will take care not to monopolize the
benefit of them. Iam greatly obliged to you, and,
With high respect, I am
Your obd’t servant,
H. Cuay.

From Gov. Geo. N. Briggs.

Pittsfield, 1851.
My Dear Sir:

The cage of Cochin-China chickens you were kind
enough to send, reached me in safety; and I am much
obliged to you for this favor. =

They are, beyond comparison, the finest domestic fowls I
have ever seen, and I shall breed them with such care that
I hope to be able to give you a good account of them in the
future.

They are very much liked by all who have seen them,
and you will please accept my thanks for your attention.

. Tam, resp’y, yours,

Gro. N. Briaes.

88 THE HISTORY OF

From Hon. Daniel Webster.

er Marshfield, 1851,
G. P. Burnuam, Esq.

Dear Sir: The coop of chickens arrived safely, and
are noble specimens of the Chinese fowl. You will rarely
meet with samples apparently so well bred, and they will
do any one credit. I thank you for the consignment, and
consider them a most valuable addition to my stock of poul-
try, Accept my best wishes, and believe me, dear sir,
Yours, very truly,
Danie, WEBSTER.

From Hon. Col. Phipps, H. B. M. Secretary.

Windsor Castle, Eng., 1858.
Dear Sir:

The cage of Grey Shanghae fowls intended as a present
from you to Her Majesty the Queen has this day been
received from-Mr. Mitchell, of the Zoological Gardens, and
they have been highly admired by Her Majesty.

, Lhave received Her Majesty’s commands to assure Mr.
Burnham of her high appreciation of his attention ; and to.
add that it affords another addition to the many marks of
good will from the citizens of the United States which the
Queen has received, and to which Her Majesty attaches so
high a value. I have the honor to be

Your ob’t and humble ser’t,
C. B. Purprs.

THE HEN FEVER. 89

Similar documents were often received by me, from
friends and customers who knew how to appreciate good
stock ; and I have now hundreds of letters on file, of the
most flattering character,— from every State in the Union,
from England, Ireland, France, Bavaria, etce., where my
stock was sent, and was roundly paid for,—all of which
letters (with their enclosures, from time to time) served
amply to ‘balance accounts’’ against the few received of
an opposite character, and aided materially, also, to keep
“the subscriber’ from caving in!

Among the most friendly customers I ever had, and those
who bought the most liberally,— while they were the most
kindly in all their intercourse with me,— I must mention
my patrons of the South generally, but especially the buy-
ers in New Orleans and its vicinity. I never met with a
trickster amongst them, and they paid me thousands upon
thousands of dollars, without a word of cavil or complaint,
from first to last. These fanciers had long purses, and
are live men, with hearts ‘‘as big as a barn,” so far as

my experience goes.
8*

CHAPTER XIV.
“ROTHER’EM POOTRUMS.’”’ BUBBLE NUMBER TWO.

THERE was something tangible, and real, in the ‘‘ Cochin-
China ’’ fowl,— something that could be seen and realized
(precious little, to be sure !), but still there was something.
The Cochin-China hens would lay eggs (occasionally), and
when they did n’t breed their chickens with feathers upon
the legs, they came without them. If the legs were not
black or green skinned, they were either yellow or some
other color. Their plumage was either spotted and speckled,
or it wasn’t. And thus the true article, the pure-bred
Cochins, could always be designated and identified,— by
the knowing ones,—I presume. I studied them pretty
earefully, however, for five years; but Z never knew what
a ‘Cochin-China” fowl really was, yet!

But when, in 1850 and ’51, the ‘‘ Bother’ems”’ begun
to be brought into notice, I saw at once that, although this
was bubble number two, it ought to have been number one,
decidedly.

Never was a grosser hum promulgated than this was,

THE HISTORY OF THE HEN FEVER. 91

from beginning to end, even in the notorious hum of the
hen-trade. There was absolutely nothing whatever in it,
about it, or connected with it, that possessed the first shade
of substance to recommend it, saving its name. And this
could not have saved it, but from the fact that nobody (not
even the originator of the unpronounceable cognomen him-
self) was ever able to write or spell it twice in the same
manner.

The variety of fowl itself was the Grey Chittagong, to
which allusion has already been made, and the first samples
of which I obtained from ‘“‘ Asa Rugg” (Dr. Kerr), of
Philadelphia, in 1850. Of this no one now entertains a
doubt. They were the identical fowl, all over,— size,
plumage and characteristics.

But my friend the Doctor wanted to put forth something
that would take better than his ‘‘ Plymouth Rocks;” and
so he consulted me as to a name ‘for a brace of grey fowls
I saw in his yard. I always objected to the multiplying of
titles; but he insisted, and finally entered them at our
Fitchburg Dépét Show as ‘‘ Burrampooters,” all the way
from India.

These three fowls were bred from Asa Rugg’s Grey Chit-
tagong cock, with a yellow Shanghae hen, in Plymouth,
Mass. They were an evident cross, all three of them hay-
ing a top-knot! But, n’importe. They were then ‘“ Bur-
rampooters.””

92 THE HISTORY OF

Subsequently, these fowls came to be called ‘‘ Buram-
pootras,”’ ‘Burram Putras,”’ ‘“‘ Brama-pooters,” ‘ Brah-
mas,” ‘‘Brama Puters,” ‘“‘ Brama Poutras,” and at last
‘¢ Brahma Pootras.’’ In the mean time, they were adver-
tised to be exhibited at various fairs in different parts of
the country under the above changes of title, varied in cer-
tain instances as follows: ‘Burma Porters,” ‘ Bahama
Paduas,” ‘‘ Bohemia Prudas,’”’ “‘ Bahama Pudras.” And,
for these three Jast named, prizes were actually offered at a
Maryland fair, in 1851! .

The following capital sketch (which appeared originally
in the Boston Carpet-Bag) is from the pen of the
late Secretary of the Mutual Admiration Society,— a gen-
tleman, and a very happy writer in his way. It gives a
faithful and accurate description of what many of these
monsters really were, and will be read with gusto by all
who have now come to be “ posted up ” in the secrets of the
hen-trade.

The editor of the above-named journal remarks that ‘as
our Carpet-Bag contains something connected with every-
thing under the sun, we have abstracted therefrom a chap-
ter on chicken-craft, which embraces a very important
detail of that most abstruse science. When our readers
scan the beautiful proportions of the stately fowl that roosts
at the head of this article, they will acknowledge that we
have some right to cackle because of the good fortune we

THE HEN FEVER. 03

have had in securing such an uneggsceptionable picture,
exhibiting the very perfection of cockadoodledom. Isn’t
he a beauty, this BotuEr’em Pootrum?

‘* Examine his altitude! Observe the bold courage that
stands forth in his every lineament! There is no dunghill
bravery there! See what symmetry floats round every
detail of his noble proportions! What kingly grace asso-
ciates with the comb that adorns his head as it were a crown!
What fire there'is in his eye! With what proud bearing

94 THE HISTORY OF

does he not wear his abbreviated posterior appendage !
Looking at the latter, we, and every one knowing in hen-
craft, will readily exclaim, ‘Gerenau de Montbeillard! you
must have been a most unmitigated muff to designate chat
beautiful fowl the gallus ecaudatus, or tailless rooster.’
For ourselves, our indignity teaches us to say, ‘Mons. M.!
your Essai sur Historie Nat. des Gallinacee Fran. tom. ii.,
pp. 550 et 656, isa humbug!’ We know that the univer-
sal world will sympathize in our sentiment on this point.”

Peter Snooks, Esq. (a correspondent of this journal), it
appears, had the honor to-be the fortunate possessor of this
invaluable variety of fancy poultry, in its unadulterated
purity of blood. He furnished from his own yard samples
of. this rare and desirable stock for His Royal Highness
Prince Albert, and also sent samples to several other noted
potentates, whose taste was acknowledged to be unquestion-
able, including the King of Roratonga, the Rajah of Gabble-
squash, His Majesty of the Cannibal Islands, and the Mos-
quito King. Peter supplies the annexed description-of the
superior properties of this variety of fowls:

“‘The Bother'em Pootrums are generally hatched from
eggs. The original pair were not; they were sent from
India, by way of Nantucket, in a whale-ship.

“ They are a singularly pictur-squee fowl from the very -
shell. Imagine a crate-full of lean, plucked chickens,
taking leg-bail. for their liberty, and persevering around.

THE HEN FEVER. 95

Faneuil Hall at the rate of five miles an hour, and you
have an idea of their extremely ornamental appearance.
“They are remarkable for producing bone, and as re-
markable for producing offal. I have had one analyzed
lately by a celebrated chemist, with the following result :

Feathers and offal, : 3 : . 89.00
Bony substances, : : : 50.00
Very tough muscle and sinew, . 09.00
Miscellaneous residuum, . ‘ ; 02.00
100.00”

A peculiarly well-developed faculty in this extraordinary
fine breed of domestic fowls is that of eating. ‘A toler-
ably well-fed Bother’em will dispose of as much corn as a
common horse,”’ insists Mr. 8-——. This goes beyond me;
for I have found that they could be kept on the allowance,
ordinarily, that I appropriated daily to the same number of
good-sized store hogs. As to affording them all they would
eat, I never did that. O, no! I am pretty well off, pecu-
niarily, but not rich enough to attempt any such fool-hardy
experiment as that !

But Snooks is correct about one thing. They are not
fastidious or “ particular about what they eat.” Whatever
is portable to them is adapted to their taste for devouring.
Old hats, India-rubbers, boots and shoes, or stray socks, are

96 THE HISTORY OF

not out-of-the-way fare with them. They are amazingly
fond of corn, especially @ good deal of it. They will eat
wheaten bread, rather than want.

They are very inquisitive in their nature. Their habit
of stalking around the dwelling-house, and popping their
heads into the garret-windows, is evidence of this peculiar
trait.

Their flesh is firm and compact, and requires a great deal
of eating to do it justice. Like Barney Bradley’s leather
“¢ Q-no-we-never-mention-’ems,” when cut up and stewed
for tripe, ‘‘a fellow could eat a whole bushel of potatoes to
the plateful.”’ It is of the color of a stale red herring, and
very much like that edible in taste. Its scarcity constitutes
its value.

This rara avis in terris grows to a height somewhere
between .00 feet .16 inches and 25 feet. Its weight
somewhat between .06 pounds and 1 ewt. It never
lays, except when it rolls itself in the sand. The female
fowls sometimes do that duty, though amazingly sel-
dom.

Mr. Snooks says he will back his Bother’em, for a chicken-
feast, to outcrow any three asthmatical steam-whistles that
any railroad company can scare up; and adds, ‘I am
ashamed of the prejudice which makes my fellow-men
unjust. ‘The Fowl Society-—the New England organiza-
tion, I mean — repudiate the special merits of my Bother’em

THE HEN - FEVER. 97

Pootrums, and tell me that their ideas of improvement go
entirely contrary to the propriety of tolerating my noble
breed of fowls. Disgustibus non disputandum, as Shaks-
peare, or somebody for him, emphatically says,— which
means, ‘ Every one to his taste, as the old lady said when
she kissed the cow.’ One thing it will not be hard to
prove, I think; that is, simply the probability of some-
thing like envy operating among the members of the Hen
Society, on account of the exclusive attention paid my
Bother’ ems at the late Fowl Fairs in Boston,’’— where the
*squire’s contributions did rather “astonish the boys”? who
were not thoroughly acquainted with the excellent qualities
of these birds. Verily, Snooks’ ‘‘ Bother’ems ”’ did bother
’em exceedingly !

9

CHAPTER XV.
ADVERTISING EXTRAORDINARY.

From the outset of my experience in the final attacx of
the hen fever, I took advantage of every possible opportu-
nity to disseminate the now world-wide known fact that
nobody else but myself possessed any “ pure-bred’”’ poul-
try! Ivcould have proved this by the affidavits of more
than a thousand “disinterested witnesses,” at any time
after April and May, 1851, had I been called upon so to
do. But as noone doubted this, there was then no con-
troversy. q

But, as time wore along, competition became rife, and
the foremost chicken-raisers began to look about them for
the readiest means obtainable with which to cut each other’s
throats ; not ‘ with a feather,” by any means, because that
would have “smelt of the shop ;’’ but whenever, wherever,
or however, their neighbors could be traduced, maligned,
vilified, or injured (in this pursuit), they embraced the
opportunity, and followed it up, without stint, especially
towards my humble self, until most of them, fortunately,

THE HISTORY OF THE HEN FEVER. “99

broke their own backs, and were compelled to retire from
the field, while ‘the people” grinned, and comforted them
with the friendly assurance that it ‘‘ sarved ’em right.”

At the Fitchburg Dépdt Show, in 1850, my original
‘Grey Chittagongs”’ (already described) were in the pos-
session of G. W. George, Esq., of Haverhill, to whom they
had been sold by the party to whom I had previously sold
them. Nobody thought well of them; but they took a
first prize there, and the ‘‘ Chittagongs ” (so entered at the
same time) of Mr. Hatch, of Connecticut, also took a prize.
My friend the Doctor then insisted that these were also
“« Burrampooters ;’’ but, as nobody but himself could pro-
nounce this jaw-cracking name, it was taken little notice of
at that time. .

Mr. Hatch had a large quantity of the Greys at this
show, which sold readily at $12 to $20 the pair; and
immediately after this exhibition the demand for ‘“ Grey
Chittagongs ”’ was very active. I watched the current of
the stream, and I beheld with earnest sympathy the now
alarming symptoms of the fever. ‘The people’’ had suf-
fered a relapse in the disease, and the ravages now promised
to become frightful —for a time !

An ambitious sea-captain arrived at New York from
Shanghae, bringing with him about a hundred China fowls,
of all colors, grades, and proportions. Out of this lot I
selected a few grey birds, that were very large, and (con-

100 THE HISTORY OF

sequently) “ very fine,” of course. I bred these, with other
grey stock I had, at once, and soon had a fine lot of birds
to dispose of —to which I gave what I have always deemed
their only true and appropriate title (as they came from
Shanghae), to wit, Grey Shanghaes.

In 1851 and ’52 I had a most excellent “run of luck”
with these birds. I distributed them all over the country,
and obtained very fair prices for them; and, finally, the
idea occurred to me that a present of a few of the choicest
of these birds to the Queen of England would n’t prove a
very bad advertisement for me in this line. I had already
reaped the full benefit accruing from this sort of ‘‘ disinter-
ested generosity’? on my part, toward certain American
notables (whose letters have already been read in these
pages), and I put my newly-conceived plan into execution
forthwith. :

I then had on hand a fine lot of fowls, bred from my
“imported”? stock, which had been so much admired, and
I selected from my best “‘Grey Shanghae” chickens nine
beautiful birds. They were placed in a very handsome
black-walnut-framed cage, and after having been duly
lauded by several first-rate notices in the Boston and New
York papers, they were duly shipped, through Edwards,
Sanford & Co.’s Transatlantic Express, across the big pond,
addressed in purple and gold as follows:

THE HEN FEVER. 101

5. ee ~~ Pa
TO H. M. G. MAJESTY,
Vittoria,
QUEEN OF GREAT BRITAIN.
To be Delivered at Zoological Gardens,
; LONDON, ENG.

; FROM GEO. P. BURNHAM, BOSTON, MASS., U.S. A. ;
Yow eeewe 3

The fowls left me in December, 1852. The London
Illustrated News of January 22d, 1858, contained the fol-
lowing article in reference to this consignment :

‘* By the last steamer from the United States, a cage of
very choice domestic fowls was brought to Her Majesty
Queen Victoria, a present from George P. Burnham, Esq.,
of Boston, Mass. The consignment embraced nine beauti-
ful birds—two males and seven pullets, bred from stock
imported by Mr. Burnham direct from China. The fowls
are seven and eight months old, but are of mammoth pro-
portions and exquisite plumage — light silvery-grey bodies,
approaching white, delicately traced and pencilled’ with
black upon the neck-hackles and tips of the wings and
tails. The parent stock of these extraordinary fowls weigh
at maturity upwards of twenty-three pounds per pair;
while their form, notwithstanding this great weight, is
unexceptionable. They possess all the rotundity and
beauty of the Dorking fowl; and, at the same age, nearly
double the weight of the latter. They are denominated
Grey Shanghaes (in contradistinction to the Red or Yellow
Shanghaes), and are considered in America the finest of
all the great Chinese varieties. That they are a distizct

race, is evident from the accuracy with which they
9*

102 THE HISTORY OF

breed, and the very close similarity that is shown
amongst them; the whole of these birds being almost
precisely alike, in form, plumage and general charac-
teristics. They are said to be the most prolific of all the
Chinese fowls. At the time of their shipment, these birds
weighed about twenty pounds the pair.”

This was a very good beginning. In another place (see
page 88) I have given a copy of the letter from Hon. Col.
Phipps, her Majesty's Secretary of the Privy Purse,
acknowledging the receipt of this present. A few weeks
afterward, the London News contained a spirited original
picture of seven of the nine Grey Shanghae fowls which I
chad the honor to forward to Queen Victoria. The draw-
ing was made by permission of the Queen, at the royal
poultry-house, from life, by the celebrated Weir, and the
engraving was admirably executed by Sythe, of London.
The effect in the picture was capital, and the likenesses
very truthful. In reference to these birds, the News has
the following:

“Grey SHanaHax Fowxs ror Hur Maszsty.— In the
London Mlustrated News for January 22d, we described a
cage of very choice domestic fowls, bred from stock imported
by Mr. George P. Burnham, of Boston, Mass., direct from

‘China, and presented by him to Her Majesty. We now
engrave, by permission, these beautiful birds. They very
closely resemble the breed of Cochin-Chinas already
introduced into this country, the head and neck being the
same; the legs are yellow and feathered ; the carriage very
similar, but the tail being more upright than in the gener-

THE HEN FEVER. 1038

ality of Cochins. The color is creamy white, slightly
splashed with light straw-color, with the exception of the
tail, which is black, and the hackles, which are pencilled
with black. The egg is the same color and form as that of
the Cochins hitherto naturalized in this country. These
fowls are very good layers, and have been supplying the
royal table since their reception at the poultry-house, at
Windsor.”

” All this “helped the cause along” amazingly. It
proved a most excellent mode of advertising my ‘superb,”’
“‘ magnificent,” ‘‘splendid,”’ ‘‘unsurpassable,’”’ ‘‘ inap-
proachable”’ Grey SHANGHAES. *

The above articles found their way (somehow or other)
into the papers of this country immediately; and, within
sixty days afterwards, the price of ‘ Bother’ems” went
up from $12 and $15 to $50, $75, $100, and $150, the
pair! !

“ Cochin-Chinas’’ were now nowhar! But J was so as
to be about yet.

CHAPTER XVI.
HEIGHT OF THE FEVER.

Wurte this cage of Grey Shanghaes stood for, an hour
or two in the express-office of Adams & Co., in Boston, a
servant came from the Revere House to inform me that “a
gentleman desired to see me there, about some poultry.”

~ As Inever had had occasion to run round much after my
customers, and, moreover, as I felt that the dignity of the
business — (the dignity of the hen-trade!) — might possi-
bly be compromised by my responding in person to this
summons, I directed the servant to ‘say to the gentleman,
if he wished to see me, that I should be at my office, No.
26 Washington-street, for a couple of hours,— after that,
at my residence in Melrose.” y

The man retired, and half an hour afterwards a car-
riage stopped before my office-door. The gentleman was
inside. He invited me to ride with him—(I could afford
to ride with him)—to Adams & Co.’s office. He had seen
the ‘‘ Grey Shanghaes ’’ intended for the Queen there.

“TE want that cage of fowls,” he said.

THE HISTORY OF THE HEN FEVER. 105

‘ My dear sir,’’ I replied, “‘ they are going to England.”

“T want them. What will you take for them?”

“T can’t sell them, sir.’

“You can send others, you know.”

“No, sir. I can’t dispose of these, surely.”

“‘Qan you duplicate this lot?”

“ Pretty ngarly — perhaps not quite.”

“T see,” he continued. ‘I will give you two hundred
Jollars for them.”

‘No, sir.”

“Three hundred — come !””

‘TI can’t sell them.” ;

‘Will you take four hundred dollars for the nine chick-
ens, sir?’ he asked, drawing his pocket-book in presence
of a dozen witnesses.

I declined, of course. I could n’t sell these identical
fowls ; for I had an object in view, in sending them abroad,
which appeared to me of more consequence than the amount
offered — a good deal.

“Will you name a price for them?” insisted the
stranger.

I said, ‘‘No,.sir —excuse me. I would not take a
thousand dollars for these birds, I assure you. Their
equals in quality and number do not live, I think, to-day,
in America ! ”?

“I won’t give a—a— thousand dollars, for them,” he

106 THE HISTORY OF

said, slowly. ‘‘No, I won’t give that!” and we parted.
Yet, I have no doubt, had I encouraged him with a prospect
of his obtaining them at all, he woudd have given mea
thousand dollars for that very cage of fowls! To this
extent did the hen fever rage at that moment.

I subsequently sent this gentleman two trios of my grey
chickens, for which he paid me $200.

And now the Grey Shanghae trade commenced in ear-
nest. Immediately after the announcements were made
(which I have quoted) orders poured in upon me furiously
from all quarters of this country, and from Great Britain.
Not a steamer left America for England, for months and
months, on board of which I did not send more or less of
the ‘‘Grey Shanghaes.” From every State in the Union,
my orders were large and numerous; and letters like the
following were received by me almost every day, for months :

“G, P. BuRNHAM.

“Sir: I have just seen the pair of superb Grey Shang-
hae fowls which you sent to Mr.
and I want a pair like them. If you can send me better

, of this city,

ones, I am willing to pay higher for them. He informs me
that your price per pair is forty dollars. I enclose you
Jifty dollars; do, the best you can for me, but forward

them at once,— don’t delay. Yours, &.,
ct ”

aie

THE HEN FEVER. 107

T almost always had “ better ones.” That was the kind
T always kept behind, or for my own use. I rarely sent
away these better ones until they cried for ‘em! I
always had a great many of the “ best” ones, too; which
were even better than those “better” ones for which the
demand had come to be so great!

Strange to say, everybody got to want better ones, at
last; and, finally, I had none upon my premises but this
very class of birds—to wit, the “better ones.’ To be
sure, I reserved a very few pairs of the best ones, which
could be obtained at a fair price; but these were the ones
that would “take down” the fanciers, occasionally, who
wanted to beat me with them at the first show that came
off But I did n’t sleep much over this business. I always
had one cock and three or four hens that the boys didn’t
see — until we got upon the show-ground. Ha, ha! |

A stranger called at my house, one Sunday morning,
just as I was ready with my family for church. He
apologized for coming on that day, but could n’t get away
during the week. He had never seen the Grey Shang-
haes — did n’t know what a Chinese fowl was— had no
idea about them at all. He wanted a few eggs — heard
I had them— wouldn’t stop but a moment—saw that
T was just going out, &c. &c. He sat down — was sorry
to trouble me— would n’t do so again— would like just
to take,a peep at the fowls— when, suddenly, as he

108 THE HISTORY OF

“T DON’T WANT ANY EGGS—NO ! ”— (See page 199.) rs

THE HISTORY OF THE HEN FEVER. 109

sat with his back close to the open window, my old crower
sent forth one of those thundering, unearthly, rolling, gut-
tural shrieks, that, once heard, can never be forgotten !

The stranger leaped from his chair, and sprang over his
hat, as he yelled,

“Good God! what ’s that?”

His face was as white as his shirt-bosom.

“That ’s one of the Grey Shanghaes, crowing,’ I replied.

“Crow! I beg your pardon,” he said; ‘I don’t want
any eggs—no! I[’ll leave it to another time. I—a—TI.
could n't take ‘em now; won’t detain you — good-morning,
sir,” he continued; and, rushing out of my front door, he
disappeared on ‘‘a dead run,” as fast as his legs could carry
him. And I don’t know but he is running yet. He was
desperately alarmed, surely !

I was so amused at this incident, that I was in a precious
poor mood to attend church that morning. And when my
friend the minister arose at length, and announced for his
text that ‘‘the wicked flee when no man pursueth,” those
words capped the climax for me.

I jammed my handkerchief into my mouth, until I was
nearly suffocated, as I thought of that wicked fellow who
had just been so frightened while in the act of attempting
to bargain for fancy hen’s eggs on the Sabbath !

A Western paper, in alluding to the fever, about this
period, observed that ‘‘this modern epidemic has shown

10

110 THE HISTORY OF THE HEN FEVER.

itself in our vicinity within a short time, and is characterized
by all the peculiarities which have marked its ravages else-
where. Some of our most valuable citizens are now suffer-
ing from its attacks, and there is no little anxiety felt for
their recovery. The morning slumbers of our neighbors
are interrupted by the sonorous and deep-toned notes of our
Shanghae Chanticleer, and various have been the inquiries
as to how he took ‘cold,’ and what we gave him for it.
‘Chittagongs’ and “Burma Porters’ are now as learnedly
discussed as ‘ Fancy Stocks’ on change.

The N. Y. Scientific American stated, at this time, that
the ‘ Cochin-China fowl fever was then as strong in Eng-
land ag in some parts of New England,— in fact, stronger.
One pair exhibited there was valued at $700. Whata
sum for a hen and rooster!- The common price of a pair
is $100,” added this. journal ; and still the trade continued
excellent with me.

CHAPTER XVII.
RUNNING IT INTO THE GROUND.

THERE now seemed to be no limit whatever to the prices
that fanciers would pay for what were deemed the best sam-
ples of fowls. For my own part, from the very commence-
ment I had been considerate and merciful in my charges,
True, I had been taken down handsomely by a Briton (in
my original purchase of Cochin-Chinas), but I did not
retaliate. I was content with a fair remuneration; my
object, principally, was to disseminate good stock among
“the people,’”’ for I was a democrat, and loved the dear
people.

So I charged lightly for my ‘“ magnificent” samples,
while other persons were selling second and third rate stock
for five or even six and eight dollars a pair. The ‘Grey
Shanghaes”’ had got to be a ‘‘fixed fact” in England, as
well as in this country, and still I was flooded with orders
continually.

I obtained $25, $50, $100 a pair, for mine; and one
gentleman, who ordered four greys, soon after the Queen’s

112 * THE HISTORY OF

stock reached England, paid me sixty guineas for them —
$150 a pair. But these were of the better class of birds to
which I have alluded. ?

In 1852 a Boston agricultural journal stated that
“within three months extra samples of two-year-old fowls,
of the large Chinese varieties, have been sold in Massachu-
setts at $100 the pair. Several pairs, within our own
knowledge, have commanded $50 a pair, within the past
six months.. Last week we saw a trio of White Shanghaes
sold in Boston for $45. And the best specimens of Shang-
haes and Cochin-China fowls now bring $20 to $25 a pair,
readily, to purchasers at the South and West.”

Now, these prices may be looked upon by the uninitiated
as extraordinary. So they were for this country. But at
a Birmingham (Eng.) show, in the fall of 1852, a single
pair of ‘“Seabright Bantams,’ very small and finely
plumed, sold for $125; a fine “ Cochin-China” cock and
two hens, for $75; and a brace of “ White Dorkings,’”’ at
$40. An English breeder went to London, from over a
hundred miles distant, for the sole purpose of procuring a
setting of Black Spanish eggs, and paid one dollar for each
egg. Another farmer there sent a long distance for the
best Cochin-China eggs, and paid one dollar and fifty cents
each for them, at this time !

This was keeping up the rates with a vengeance, and
beat us Yankees, out and out. But later accounts from

THE HEN FEVER. = 113

across the water showed that this was only a beginning,
even. In the winter of 1852 the Cottage Gardener
stated that “within the last few weeks a gentleman near
London sold a pair of Cochin-China fowls for 30 guineas
($150), and another pair for 32 guineas ($160). He has
been offered £20 for a single hen; hag sold numerous
eggs at 1 guinea ($5) each, and has been paid down for
chickens just hatched 12 guineas ($60) the half-dozen, to
be delivered at a month old. One amateur alone had paid
upwards of £100 for stock birds.”

To this paragraph in the G'ardener the Bury and
Norwich Post added the following: ‘‘In our own neigh-
borhood, during the past week, we happen to know that a
cock and two hens (Cochin-Chinas) have been sold for 82
guineas, or $160. The fact is, choice birds, well bred, of
good size and handsome plumage, are now bringing very
high prices, everywhere; and the demand (in our own
experience) has never been so great as at the present
time.”

In this way the fever raved and raged for a long year
or more. Shows were being held all over this country, as
well as in every principal city and town in England.
Everybody bought fowls, and everybody had to pay for
them, too, in 1852 and 18538 !

. Ina notice of one of the English shows in that year
(1853), a paper saya: ‘There is a pen of three geese
10*

114 THE HISTORY OF

weighing forty-eight pounds; and among the Cochin-China *
birds are to be found hens which, in the period that forms
the usual boundary of chicken life, have attained a weight
of seven or eight pounds. Of the value of these birds it is
difficult to speak without calling forth expressions of incre-
dulity. It is evident that there is a desperate mania in
bird-fancying, as in other things. Thus, for exaniple, there
is a single fowl to which is affixed the enormous money
value of 30 guineas ; two Cochin-China birds are estimated
- at 25 guineas ; and four other birds, of the same breed, a
cock and three hens, are rated in the aggregate at 60 guin-
eas,—a price which the owner confidently expects them to-
realize at the auction-sale on Thursday. A further illus-
tration of this ornithological enthusiasm is to be:found in
the fact that, at a sale on Wednesday last, one hundred and -
two lots, comprising one hundred and ten Cochin-China
birds, all belonging to one lady, realized £369. 4s. 6d.; the
highest price realized for a single one being 20 guineas.”
Another British journal stated, a short time previously, -
that ‘‘a circumstance occurred which proves that the Co-
chin-China mania has by no means diminished in intensity.
The last annual sale of the stock of Mr. Sturgeon, of Greys,.-
has taken place at the Baker-street Bazaar. The two.hun--
dred birds there disposed of could not have realized a less
sum than -nearly £700 (or $8500), some of the. single’

pe

THE HEN FEVER. 115

specimens being knocked down at more than £12, and very
many producing £4, £5, and £6 each.”’

The attention, at this sale, devoted to the pedigree of the
birds, was amusing to a mere observer; one fowl would be
described as a cockerel by Patriarch, another as a pullet
by Jerry, whilst a third was recommended as being the off-
spring of Sam. Had the sale been one of horses, more care
could hardly have been taken in describing their pedigrees
or their qualifications. Many were praised by the auction-
eer as being particularly clever birds, although in what
their cleverness consisted did not appear. The fancy had
evidently extended to ai ranks in society. The peerage
sent its representatives, who bought what they wanted, re-
gardless of price. Nor was the lower house without its
delegates ; a well-known metropolitan ex-member seems to
have changed his:constituency of voters for one of Cochins ;
and we can only hope that it may not be his duty to hold
an inquest on any that perish by a violent or unnatural
death. The sums obtained for these birds depended on
their being in strict accordance with the then taste of the
fancy. They were magnificent in size, docile in behavior,
intelligent in expression, and most of them were very finely
bred.

And while the hen fever was thus at its height, almost, in
England, we were following close upon the footsteps of
John Bull in the United States. At the Boston Fowl

116 THE HISTORY OF *

Show in 1852, three Cochin-Chinas were sold at. $100;
a pair of Grey Chittagongs, at $50 ; two Canton Chinese
fowls, at $80; ‘three Grey Shanghae chicks, at $75;
three White Shanghaes, at $65; six White Shanghae
chickens, $40 to $45, etc.; and these prices, for similar
samples, could have been obtained again and again. .

At this time there was found an ambitious individual,
occasionally, who got ‘‘ ahead of his time,” and whose laud-
able efforts to oustrip his neighbors were only checked by
the natural results of his own superior ‘“‘ progressive’
notions. A case in point :

‘Way down in Lov’siana,” for instance, a correspondent
of mine stated that there lived one of these go-ahead fellows,
who had been afflicted with a serious attack of hen fever,
and who was not content with the ordinary speed and pro-
lificness in breeding of the noted Shanghae fowls. He
desired to possess himself of the biggest kind of a pile of
chickens for. the rapidly augmenting trade; and so he had
constructed an Incubator, of moderate dimensions, into
which he carefully stowed only three hundred nice fresh
eggs, from his fancy fowls. :

"The secret of his plan to ‘‘astonish the boys” was lim-
ited to the knowledge of only two or three friends; and —
thermometer in hand — he commenced operations. With
close assiduity and Job-like patience, our amateur applied
himself to his three weeks’ task, by day and night, and. at

THE REN FEVER. 117

tho end of fifteen days, one egg was broken, and Mr.
Shanghae was ¢har,— alive and kicking, but as yet imma-
ture. :

The neighborhood was in the greatest excitement at this
‘ prospect of success. Our friend commenced to crow

(slightly), and, to hasten matters, put on a Jeetle more
steam ata venture. The twenty-second day arrived, and
the “boys” assembled to witness the entrée of three hun-
dred steam-hatched Shanghaes into this breathing world.
‘Our amateur was full of expectation and ‘“‘fever.’? One
egg was broken; another, and then another; when, upon
‘inspection, the entire mass was found to ie been ¢hor-
oughly boiled !

A desperate guffaw was heard as our amateur friend dis-
‘appeared, and his only query since has been to ascertain
“what actual time is required to boil a°certain quantity of
eggs at a given heat, and the smallest probable cost there-
‘of! As far as heard from, the reply has been, say six gal-
‘lons of good alcohol, at one dollar per gallon, for three
‘hundred. eggs; time (night and day), twenty-two days and

seven hours ; and the product it is generally thought would

make capital fodder for young turkeys,— provided said eggs
are not boiled too hard !
On the subject of the diseases of poultry many learned
and sapient dissertations appeared about these days. In one
agricultural journal we remember to have met with the fol-

H *
118 THE HISTORY OF THE HEN FEVER.

lowing scientific prescription. The learned writer is talking
about rowp in fowls, and says :

“This is probably a chronic condition, the result of fre-
quent colds. Give the following medicines: Acomite, if
there is fever, hepar-suliphuris third trituration, or mer-
cury, third trituration, for a day or two, once in three or
‘our hours ; then pulsatilla tincture for the eyes ; antimo-
nium, third trituration or arsenic, or nux vomica, for the
crop.” :

Is n’t this clear, reader? How many poultry-raisers in
the United States are there who would be likely to compre-
hend one line of this stuff? We advise this writer to try
again; the above is an “‘ elegant extract,”’ verily !

_-We now come down to the fourth and last exhibition in
Boston of the Mutual Admiration Society, alias the Asso-
ciation with the long-winded cognomen, which took place’ in.
September, 1852.

CHAPTER XVIII.
ONE OF THE FIl AL KICKS.

I was chosen by somebody (who will here permit me to
present them my thanks for the honor) as one of the judges
to decide upon the merits of the birds then to be exhibited :
and my colleagues on this Committee were Dr. J. C. Ben-
nett, and Messrs. Andrews, Balch and Fussell.

On the morning of the opening of this show the names
of the judges were first announced to the contributors.
Immediately there followed a ‘“ hullabaloo” that would
have done credit to any bedlam, ancient or modern, ever
heard or dreamed of. The lead in this burst of rebellion
amongst the hitherto ‘faithful’? was taken by one promi-
nent member, who announced publicly, then and.there, that
the selection of the judges was an infamous imposition.
They were incompetent, dishonest, prejudiced, calculating,
speculative, ambitious competitors. Moreover, that it had
all been ‘contrived by that damned Burnham, who would
rob a church-yard, or steal the cents off the eyes of his dead
uncle, any time, for the price of a hen.”

120 THE HISTORY OF

These were the gentleman’s own expressive words. He
added that he could stand anything in the hen-trade but
“this. This, however, he would of submit to. Burnham
‘should be kicked out of that Committee, or he would kick
himself out of his boots, and the Society’s traces also; —— a
threat which did not seem to alarm or disturb anybody, ‘as
I knows on,”’ ‘except this same tall, stout, athletic,‘ brave,
honorable, honest, truthful, smart, gentlemanly member of
this Mutua] Admiration Society !

Now, it was very well known, at this time, that the Com-
mittee of Judges had been chosen entirely ‘without their own
knowledge. So far as L was myself concerned, I should
greatly have preferred at that time to have remained an out-
sider, because it would have then been quite as well for me
to have contributed to the exhibition, where, with the
“ snlendid ‘specimens ’’ T then possessed of the Cochin-China
‘and Shanghae varieties of fowl, I could have knocked all
the others “higher than a fence’ in chat show, as I had
done in all the previous exhibitions where I had ever -com-
peted with the boys.

' But the same power which had formed the Committee of
Judges also provided that they must not be competitors.
Thus, three or four of those persons who had at the pre-
vious exhibitions of this Society been the most extensive
contributors,— men who had bred by far the largest assort-
‘ments and quantities of good fowls up to this period, and

THE HEN FEVER. 121

who had till now paid ten or twenty dollars for one
(compared with any other of the members) toward the
good of the association, and in the furtherance of its
objects,— these men were made the judges, and were cut
off as contributors. I was satisfied, however, because I
saw that the framing of the Report of this show would
fall to my lot again; and I had no doubt that, under
these circumstances, I could afford to be ‘‘ persecuted ”’ for
the time being.

It is not in my nature to harm anybody; and those
who are personally acquainted with me, know that I am
constitutionally of a calm, retiring, meek, religious turn
of mind. My aim in life is to ‘do unto others as I
would have others do unto me.” I ‘love my neighbor ”’
(if he doesn’t permit his hens to get into my garden)
“as myself.” And, “if a man smite me upon one
cheek, I turn to him the other also,’”’ immediately, if not
sooner. I never retaliate upon an enemy or an opponent
—until I make sure that I have him where the hair is
short.

I once knew of an extraordinary instance of patience
that taught me a powerful lesson in submissiveness. It
occurred in a Western court, where the judge (a most ex-
emplary man, I remember) sat for two mortal days quietly
listening to the arguments of a couple of contending law-

_.yers in reference to the construction they desired him to
11

122 THE HISTORY OF

assume in regard to a certain act of the Legislature of that
State. ‘When the two legal gentlemen had “‘ thrown them-
selves,” in: this long and wearying debate, for forty-eight
hours, his Honor cut off the controversy by remarking, very
quietly, ;

* Gentlemen, this law that you have been speaking’ of
has been repealed !”

I thought of this circumstance, and I permitted the hen-
men to gas, to their hearts’ content. When they got through
with their anathemas, their spleen, and their stupidity, I
informed them that the ‘‘ Committee” had unanimously left

‘to my charge the writing of the Report of that Exhibi-
tion. ;

From that moment, up to the hour when the Report was
published, I never suspected (before) that I had so many
Sriends in this world !

‘The fear that seemed to pervade every mind present was,

‘that I'should probably do precisely what hey would have
done under similar circumstances,— to wit, take care of
myself. .

I had no fowls in this exhibition; but there were present
numerous specimens bred from my stock, that were -very
choice (so every one said), and which commanded the.
highest prices during the show.

There were several Southern gentlemen present, who
bought (and paid roundly for them. too) some of the best

THE HEN FEVER. 128

fancy-birds on sale. It was astonishing how much some of
those buyers did know about the different breeds of Chinese
fowls there! Yes, it certainly was astounding! I think I
never saw before so much real, downright bona fide knowl-
edge of henology displayed as was shown by one or two
Southern gentlemen, then and there ; — never, in the whole
course of my experience !

By reference to the next chapter, it will be seen how
shamefully I neglected my own interests, and how self-sacri-
‘ficing I was in the report of the Society’s last kick, which,
as I have already hinted, the Committee left to my charge
to -prepare.

I had no disposition (in the preparation of this document)
to underrate the stock of any one else, provided. it did not
interfere with me! And, after carefully noting.down what-
ever seemed of importance to my well-being there, I sat
myself down to oblige the Committee by writing the “ Re-
port”’ of this show, which an ill-natured competitor subse-
quently declaféd was “only in favor of Burnham and his
stock, all over, underneath, in the middle, outside, overhead,
on top, on all sides, and at both ends!”

And I believe he was right !

CHAPTER XIX.
THE FOURTH, FOWL-SHOW IN BOSTON.

Turs show (in September, 1852) was the fifth exhibi-
tion held in Boston, but the fourth only of the Society with:
the long name. ;

The Report commences with a congratulation (as usual’)
that the association still lives, and has a being; and, after
alluding to the general state of the affairs of the concern,—
without touching upon its financial condition,— it thus
proceeds : .

‘Your Committee would call your attention to the fact
that among the numerous fowls exhibited this season,— as
upon former ‘occasions,— a very unnecessary practice seems
to have obtained, in the mis-naming of varieties. Cross-
bred fowls have been called by original cognomens, unknown
to practical breeders; and a host of birds well known to the
Committee, as well as to poulterers generally, have been
denominated by any other than their veal and universally
conceded ornithological titles. This savors of bad taste; it
leads to ridicule among strangers who visit our shows from

THE HISTORY OF THE HEN FEVER. 125

abroad and should not be sanctioned by your Society.
Errors may creep in among your transactions, in this par-
ticular, and many honest, careful breeders may be deceived ;
but the multiplying of unpronounceable and meaningless
names for domestic fowls is entirely uncalled for; and
your committee recommend a close adherence, hereafter, to
recognized titles only.

‘In this connection, it may be proper to allude to a case
in point. The largest and unquestionably one of the finest
varieties of domestic fowls ever shown among us was en-
tered by the breeders of this variety as the ‘ Chittagong ;’
other coops of the same stock were labelled ‘Grey Chitta-
gongs ;’ others were called ‘Bramah Pootras;’ and others,
‘Grey Shanghae’ and ‘ Malays.’

‘Your Committee are divided in opinion as to — these

: birds ought, rightfully, to be called,— though the majority
of the Committee have no idea that ‘Bramah Pootra’ is.
their correct title. That they are not ‘Malays’ is also.
quite as clear. Several of the. specimens are positively
known to have come direct from Shanghae ; and none are
known to have come ‘originally from. anywhere else.
Nevertheless, it has been thought proper to leave this.
question open, for the present; and the Committee,. believ-
ing that this fowl-originates in and hails directly from the
East, are content to accept for them the. title of .‘Grey
Shanghae,’ ‘Chittagong,’ or ‘Bramah Pootra,’ as different
11*

126°. THE HISTORY OF

breeders may elect,— admitting, at the same time, that they :;
are really a very superior bird, and believing that if care-
fully bred they may be found decidedly the most valuable
among all the large Chinese breeds, of which ae are
clearly a good. vue

* * * * a *

‘CA large sum of money was expended at this exhibition,
by. visitors, amateurs and breeders,— one gentleman invest-.-
ing upwards of $700 in choice fowls; another, from the
South, purchasing to the amount of $350 for extra sam-
ples; another bought $200 worth, etc. The highest figures
ever yet paid on this side of the Atlantic (for india)
purchases) were realized at this show.

‘Samples of the China stock originally imported from
Shanghae were very plentiful on this occasion, and the high ”
reputation of this blood was fully sustained in the specimens
exhibited. Very superior fowls, bred from G. P. Burn-
ham’s importations of Cochin-Chinas, were also numerous,
and were sold, in four or five instances, at the very highest’
prices paid for any samples that were disposed of.”

Among the premiums awarded to the Chinese fowls by~
this ‘ Committee,” were the following : a

“ Cuna Fowns. — To H. H. Williams, best cock: and
two hens (of Burnham’s Canton importation), $5. To C: ‘
Sampson, West Roxbury, best cock and single hen (Burn-
ham’s Canton importation), $3. To H. H. Williams,

THE HEN FEVER. 127

third prize, for same stock, $2. To C. C. Plaisted, Great
Falls, Nv H., the Committee awarded a first. prize, $5, for
what he called ‘ Hong-Kong’ fowls; these were of Burn-
ham’s Canton stock, also. To A. White, E. Randolph, for
six best chickens (Burnham's importation), $2.

‘¢ Cocutn-Cuina. — To H. H. Williams, West Roxbury,
best cock and two hens (splendid samples, of extraordinary
size and beauty), first prize, $5. To A. White, E. Ran-
~ dalph, best cock and single hen (of Burnham’s importa-
tion), $8. To A. White, for six best chickens (Burnham’s
importation), $2.”

* * * * * *

The Committee then allude to the prices which were paid
there for fowls, ‘‘ not because they advocate the propriety
of keeping them up” (O, no!), “but rather to show that .
the welfare of the Association is by no means derogating.

“The three prize Cochin-China fowls were sold, for.
$100. The two prize Grey Shanghaes, or ‘ Bramah Poo-
tras,’ were sold for $50. Three chickens of the same, at
$50. A pair of Burnham’s importation of Cochins, at $80; .
another pair, at $40; another trio (chickens), at $40. Six
Black Spanish chickens (Child’s), at $50.. Six White
Shanghae chickens (Wight’s), at $45. Three hens, of
same stock, at 50 — and several. pairs.and trios of other.
varieties, at from $25 each, to $25 and $30 to $40 the

lot.” oe 4
My a? * * * %

128 THE HISTORY OF THE HEN FEVER.

At a subsequent meeting of the Trustees, Mr. George P.
Burnham, on the part of the Judges at the late exhibition
of the Society, presented their Report, whereupon it was

“Voted, That the Report of the Judges on the recent
show of poultry in the Public Garden be accepted.”

And this was the end of ¢hat ball of worsted! I rather
have the impression,-now,— as nearly as I can recollect
(though my memory is somewhat treacherous in these
matters), but I think I sold a few fowls, just after that
fair. ‘I may be mistaken, but that is my opinion!”

The Report was duly accepted, in form, and I had the
satisfaction of seeing my ‘‘ extraordinary” and ‘‘ superb’’:
stéck again lauded to the very echo, at the expense of. the
old-fogyism of the ‘‘ Mutual Admiration Society.”

The consequence was a renewed activity in my sales,’
which continued delightfully lively and correspondingly
remunerative for several months after ¢his exhibition, also;. .
where I did not enter the first fowl ! :

CHAPTER XX.
PRESENT TO QUEEN VICTORIA.

I wave already alluded to the fine Grey Shanghaes
which I forwarded to Her Majesty the Queen. In relation
to this circumstance the Boston papers contained the fol-
lowing announcement, in the month of April, 1853 ; a cir-
cumstance which did not greatly retard the prospects of my
business either on this or on the other side of the water !
The compliment thus paid me by Royalty was duly appre-
ciated, and its delicacy will be apparent to the reader. This
picture is the only one of its ind ever sent to an American

citizen.

‘A COMPLIMENT FROM Vicrorra. — Some weeks ago,
Mr. George P. Burnham, of Boston, forwarded to Her
Majesty Queen Victoria a present of some Grey Shang-
hae fowls, which have been greatly admired in England.
By the last steamer Mr. Burnham received the following
letter from Her Majesty’s Secretary of the Privy Purse,
accompanying a fine portrait of the Queen, sent over to
Mr. B.:

130 THE HISTORY OF

The Queen’s Letter.

« Buckingham Palace,
; Olloarch 15, 1853.

Deus Sir: F Rave received the commands of Aber Otlajesty
the Dhuceir, to assure you of Fer Olloajesty’s high appreciation
hs hp Band onioaidbcch asinded yas to Poot’ Pots Rat wxgeb
ance the magnificent: *Qrey Fhanghie? fouls which Rave beer
so much admired at Fer Olloajesty’s aviary ab Windsor. —

& YEor Olloajesty Ras accepted, with great pleasure, such «
mak of respect and regard, fiom a, ition of the Vuited Fates
© SF Rae, by SEer Ollejesty’s command, sipsed in the
‘ George Carl,” to yout addtess, aw case containing, w pottait ef
Ger Oboajesty,* of which the Doueen has directed me to request.

Spout here eaitee
« F Rave the honor to be,

«Fe Qo. B. Busnhaum, Bsqe,
Boston, Vo. P. Blo.”

* See Frontispiece,

THE HEN FEVER. 1381

IT caused a copy to be taken from this portrait of the
Queen, and have had it engraved for this book; it appears
as the frontispiece.

Immediately after this paragraph appeared, a new zest
appeared to have been given to the Grey Shanghae trade.
Orders came from Canada and from Nova Scotia to a very
considerable amount; and during this season my sales were
again very large. During the year 1853, I started and
raised over sixteen hundred chickens of all kinds ; but this
did not supply my orders. I bought largely, and paid high
prices, too, generally. But few persons were now doing
any business in the fowl-trade, except myself, however.

The N. Y. Spirit of the Times published portraits of
the birds sent to the Queen, and remarked that ‘“ the en-
graving represented six of the nine beautiful Grey Shang-
hae fowls lately presented to Her Majesty Victoria, Queen

“of Great Britain, by George P. Burnham, Egq., of Bos-
* ton, Mass.”

‘* These birds were forwarded by one of ‘the last month’s
Collins steamers, in charge of Adams & Co.’s Express,
and passed through this city on the 24th ult. Their extraor-
dimary size and fine plumage were the admiration of all
who examined them. The picture is from life, engraved by
Brown, and is a faithful representation of the birds, which
are very closely bred.

The color of this variety of the China fowl is a light

1382 THE HISTORY OF

silver-grey, approximating to white; the body is a light
downy white, sparsely spotted and pencilled with metallic
black in the tail and wing tips; the legs are feathered to
the toes, and the form is unexceptionable for a large fowl;
this variety having proved the biggest of all the ‘ Shang-
haes’ yet imported into this State.

“The two cocks above delineated weighed between ten
and eleven pounds each at six months old; the pullets drew
seven anda half to nine pounds each at seven to eight
months old; the original imported pair of old ones now
weigh upwards of twenty-three pounds, together. In the
existing rage for weighty birds, this variety will naturally
satisfy the ambition of those who go for the ‘biggest kind’
of fowls! :

“The group represents this variety with accuracy, and
are, without doubt, for their kind, rare specimens: of’ the
genuine gallus giganteus of modern ornithologists. As
Her Majesty has long been known among the foremost
patrons of that agreeable branch of rural pursuits, poul-
try-raising, we do not doubt but that this splendid present
from Mr. Burnham will prove highly gratifying to her
tastes in this particular.” . :

Portraits of these fowls appeared in Gleason’s Pictorial
for January, 1853, and the editor spoke as follows of them:

“The Grey Shanghae Fowls lately presented to Her
Majesty Queen Victoria, of Great Britain, by George P.

THE HEN FEVER. 1338

Burnham, Esq., of Boston, were extraordinary specimens
of domestic poultry, and were bred the past season by Mr.
Burnham from stock imported by him direct from China.
They were universally admitted, by the thousands who saw
them before they left, to be the largest and choicest-bred lot
of chickens ever seen together in this vicinity. These fowls
were from the same broods as those lately sent to Northby,

-of Aldborough, by Mr. Burnham, who is, perhaps, the

most successful poultry-raiser in America; and while these

beautiful birds are creditable to him as a breeder, they are

a present really ‘fit for a queen.’ a

The New York journals alluded to them in flattering
terms, during their transit through that city on the way to
their destination ; and the numerous orders that crowded in
upon me was the best evidence of the estimation in which

_this variety of domestic fowls was then held, as well as of

. the determined disposition of “the people” to be supplied
from my ‘‘ pure-bred stock.”’

i: By one of the British steamers, in the summer of 1853,
the express of Edwards, Sanford & Co., took out to Europe
from my stock, for Messrs. Bakers, of Chelsea, Baily, of
London, Floyd, of Huddersfield, Deming, of ‘Brighton,

. Simons, of Birmingham, and Miss Watts, Hampstead, six
cages of, these ‘extraordinary ” birds. The best of the
hens weighed nine to nine and a half pounds each, and
three of the cocks drew over-twelye pounds each! Thero

12

184 THE HISTORY OF

were forty-two birds in all, which, together, could not be
equalled, probably, at that time, in America or England,
for size, beauty and uniformity of color. The sum paid me
for this lot of. Greys was eight hundred and seventy'dol-
lars. ees

Of the three fowls sent to Mr. John Baily (above men-
tioned), and which he exhibited in the fall of that year in
England, the following account reached me, subsequently :

‘Mr. Geo. P. Burnham, of Melrose, sent out to Eng:
land, last fall, to Mr. John Baily, of London, a cage of his
fine ‘Grey Shanghaes,’ which were exhibited at the late
Birmingham Show. The London Field of Dec. 24th
says that ‘ one pair of these fowls, from Mr. Burnham, of
the United States, the property of Mr. Baily, of Mounts
street, were shown among the extra stock, and were pur-
chased from him, during the exhibition, by Mr. Taylor, of
Shepherd’s Bush, at one hundred guineas’ ($500) !”

This was the biggest figure ever paid for éwo fowls, I
imagine! Mr. Baily paid me twenty- pounds sterling for
the trio, and I thought that fair pay, I remember. The
following brief account of my trade for the year of our
Lord 1858, I published on the last day of December of that
year, for the gratification of my numerous friends, and for
the information of ‘the people” who felt an interest in
this still exciting and (to me) very agreeable subject :

THE HEN FEVER. 135

“Eps. Boston Datty Tims: In a late number of
your journal you were pleased to allude to the sales of
live-stock made by me latterly. At the close of the pres-
ent year, I find upon my books the following aggregate of
sales for 1858, which — to show how much has been done
by one dealer — may be interesting to some of your readers
who ‘ love pigs and chickens.’

*‘T have sent into the Southern and Western States,
through Adams & Co.’s Express alone, from Jan. Ist to
Dec. 27th, 1853, a little rising $17,000 worth of Chinese
fowls and fancy pigs. By Edwards, Sanford & Co.’s Trans-
atlantic Express, in the same period, I have sent to Eng-
land and the continent about $2000 worth of my ‘Grey
Shanghaes.’ By Thompson and Co. and the American
Western Express Co., I have sent west and south-west, in
the same time, over $1200 worth; and my minor cash sales
(directly at my yards in Melrose) have been over $1000;
making the entire sales from my establishment for the past
year nearly or quite twenty-two thousand dollars in value.
Of this amount, $7300 worth has: been sold since the 10th
of Sept. last.

- “ By the first steamer that leaves New York in January,
’54, I shall send to New Orleans (to a single customer)
between five and six hundred dollars’ worth, ordered a few
days since. I have also now in hand three large orders to
fill for Liverpool and London, immediately ; and the present

‘

186 THE HISTORY OF THE NEN FEVER.

prospect is that the poultry-trade will be considerably better
next year than we have ever yet known it in New England.
Wishing you and my competitors in the trade a “ Happy
_ New Year,’ I am theirs and yours, truly,

“Gao. P. Burnaam.
“© Melrose, Dec. 80, 1858.°’

I have offered these statistics and facts to give some idea
of the amount of trade that must have been current, in the

aggregate, when these isolated instances are considered

and for the purpose of affording the reader an opportunity

to” judge measurably to what an extent this fever really

raged.

Thousands and tens of thousands of «the people”? were,

now (or had been) engaged in this extraordinary excite-
ment, who were continuously humbugging themselves, ‘and

each other, at round ‘cost. And when these thousands are

multiplied by the fives or tens, twenties or fifties, one hun-

dreds or five hundreds of dollars, that they invested in this

mania, the « prime cost” of this hum can be fancied,
thc ugh it 2an never be known with accuracy.

CHAPTER XXI.
EXPERIMENTS OF AMATEURS.

THE newspapers of the day were now occupied with
speculative and actual statistics, of various kinds, relating
to the utility and value of poultry and its produce, and
every one seemed to join, in his or her way, to magnify the
vastness of this enterprise; and statements like the follow-
ing, in respectable public journals, had the effect to increase
and keep up to fever-heat the state of the hen malady :.

“ By reference to the agricultural statistics of the United
States, published from reliable sources in 1850, it may be
seen that the actual value of poultry, in New York State
alone, was two millions three hundred and seventy-three
thousand and twenty-nine dollars! Which was more than.
the value of all the swine in the same state; nearly equal
to one half the value of its sheep, the entire value of its
neat cattle, and nearly five times the value of its horses
and mules !”’

The amount of sales of live and dead poultry in Quincy
Market, Boston, for the year 1848, said another paper, was

12*

138 THE HISTORY OF

six hundred seventy-four thousand four hundred and
twenty-three dollars: the average sales of one dealer alone
amounting to twelve hundred dollars per week for'the
whole year. The amount of sales for the whole city of
Boston, for the same year, was over one million of dollars,
The amount of sales of eggs in and around the Quincy
Market for 1848 was one million one hundred and twenty-
nine thousand seven hundred and thirty-five dozen, which,
at eighteen cents per dozen, makes the amount paid for eggs
to be two hundred three thousand three hundred and fifty-
two dollars and thirty cents; while the amount of sales of
eggs for the whole city of Boston, for the same year, was a
fraction short of one million of dollars; the daily consump-
tion of eggs at one of its hotels being. seventy-five dozen
daily, and on Saturday one hundred and fifty dozen.

At this time, a single dealer in the egg-trade, at Phila-
delphia, sent to the New York market, daily, one hundred
barrels of eggs; while the value of eggs shipped from Dub-
lin to Liverpool and London was more than five millions
of dollars for the year 1848.

In addition to these facts, frequent allusions were made to
the enormous quantities required for other markets, in the
interior, to supply which the number of laying hens must be
kept good, and increased, as the demand for the eggs was
constantly augmenting, and the business, “if skilfully and

THE HEN FEVER. 189

judiciously managed ” (said the agricultural papers), mast
prove mmensely profitable to those who engage in it.

If “skilfully and judiciously managed” ! This was good
advice. But no one could inform “the people” how this
management was to be effected. In the mean time, every
sort of experiment was resorted to, by amateurs and fan-
ciers and humbugs (who had been humbugged), to “im-
prove’ the breeds of poultry, and to produce new fowls
that would lay two or three or four eggs for one, as com-
pared with the old-fashioned birds.

We knew one beginner who had purchased a pretty little
place a.few miles from the city, who contracted. the fever,
and “suffered”? badly, but who was cured by the following
curious result of his early experiments. Eggs were scarce
(genuine ones), and, after considerable searching, he finally
procured of some one in Boston a clutch of ‘fancy ”’ eggs,
for which he paid big figures, but which did not turn out
exactly what he anticipated; and so he concluded, after a
time, that the hen fever was a rascally hum. (He did n’t
procure these eggs of me, be it understood. never had
any but genuine ones !)

He purchased what he was assured were pure ‘‘ Cochin-
China” eggs. (Perhaps they were — who knows?) And
after waiting patiently for six long weeks for the “ curious”
eggs to hatch, he found six young ducks in his coop, one
morning !—So much for his knowledge of eggs!

140 THE HISTORY OF

But this was not so bad as was the case of one of his;
neighbors, however, who paid a round price for half.a dozen.
choice eggs, queer-looking speckled eggs — small,. round,
‘outlandish ” egés— which he felt certain would, produce
rare chicks, and which he was very cautious in wi ;
under his very best hen. °

At the end of a few days he was startled, at the rele
fast-table, to hear his favorite hen screaming ‘‘ bloody mur-
der” from within the coop! He rushed to the rescue,
raised, the box-lid, and found her still on the nest, but j ina
frightful perturbation — struggling, yelling and cackling,
most vociferously.

He spoke to her kindly and softly; he would fain,
appease and quiet her; for there was great danger: lest, i in
her excitement and struggles, she would destroy the favorite,
eggs — those rare eggs, which had cost him so much money
and trouble. But soft words were vain. His “ best’
hen continued to scream lustily, and he raised her from the:.
nest to look into the cause of the trouble more critically.
His astonishment was instantaneous, but immense; and his.;
surprise found vent in the brief but expressive exclamation,
“ Turkles — by thunder !”

Such was the fact. This poor, innocent soclbnyen

f
f

‘fancier’? was the victim of misplaced confidence. The
party who sold him ¢hem eggs had sold the buyer shock-
ingly! And instead of a brood of pure Cochin-Chinas,

THE WEN FEVER. 141

he found that his favorite hen had hatched half a dozen pure
mud-turtles, all of which, upon breaking from the shells,
seized upon the flesh of the poor fowl, and had well-nigh
taken her life before they could be ‘choked off’ He
has given up the chicken-trade, and has since gone into the
dwarf-pear business. Poor devil!

A youthful lawyer of my acquaintance, away Down East,
who was proverbial for his ‘sharp practice ’’ at the bar,
met with a young doctor, who was a great bird-fancier,
and with whom he subsequently formed an intimate
acquaintance. Our medicinal friend owned a pretty little
estate, distant a few miles from the city of P——, where
he kept up a very neat establishment, which was thoroughly
appointed. Among his out-of-door appurtenances, he
maintained a modern bee-house, a choice dove-cot, and a
well-selected aviary; in the latter he had some choice poul-
try, and into this the doctor invited his legal associate, one
day, to examine his specimens of cacklers and crowers.

There was a super-excellent “ Bother’em”’ fowl among
this collection,— a rare hen, the many good qualities of
which the doctor dilated on (as he always did before his
visitors), and the lawyer took a fancy to the beauty, instan-
ter; but this fowl was a great favorite, and the doctor
would neither,sell, lend, or give her away; and then the
visitor begged some of her eggs, as a last favor. But the
doctor was selfish in regard to this particular bird — he -

142 THE HISTORY OF

wanted the breed exclusively to himself. 1t was of no
avail, however, and his friend promised to embrace the first
opportunity to steal the hen, and all the eggs he could find,
if his request were not complied with; whereupon the doc-
tor at length reluctantly promised to send him a dozen
within a week, provided-he said nothing about it. He
would do it for him, as w particular favor —and so he
was as good as his word.

The young lawyer had his poultry-yard, also; and,. select-
ing a fine hen, he quickly set her upon the. re Bother’em
eggs, resolved to have as good a show as his neighbor. But
three weeks passed — four, and upwards — but no chickens
appeared! He broke up the nest, at last, and then called

upon the doctor at once. (be
‘¢ What luck, Tom?” : eon
“Not a chick!” ; OM,
Note

“Not a one. The eggs were n’t good.”
“No? That is queer,” = the doctor, ‘“‘ when I
took so much extra pains with ’em.’ ;
“* Extra pains — how?”
“Why, I boiled every one of ’em, the last thing a
I sent ’em down to you !”’
‘And so he did. Tom grinned, squirmed, and went home;
— but that was n’t the last of this joke.
Six months afterwards, the keen-witted doctor: visited the

THE HEN FEVER. 143

lawyer’s little place, where he saw a magnificent large
Bucks County rooster stalking about in the latter’s yard.

‘By Jove, Tom! That ’s a rouser,” exclaimed the dov-
tor, enthusiastically, ‘‘’pon my word! Where d’ you get
aim?”

i Pennsylvania — Buxton’s; a fine fellow that. Only
eight months old.”

“ Will you sell him?”

.“Yes—no; I reckon not, on the whole.”

» “Tl give you an X for him.”

> “Well, take him. He ’s worth twenty dollars; but you
shall have him for ten dollars, being an old friend.”

The doctor placed the huge crower in his gig immedi-
ately, went home, killed off two of the finest Dorking
roosters in the county, and put the new comer into his nice
poultry-house; congratulating himself upon having at last
secured a ‘‘ tip-top breeder,” and nothing else.

At the end of the season, however, he complained to his
friend the lawyer that he had had but very few eggs lat-
terly ; he could raise no chickens from them — not a one ;
and he didn’t think much- of the ten-dollar bird he pur-
chased of him, any way.

“He’sa rouser, Bill, surely,” said the lawyer, with a
knowing smirk, repeating the doctor’s exclamation on first
beholding the rooster.

vai “Well, yes — large, large—but—’..

i44 THE HISTORY OF

“And a finer capon I never sold to anybody in my
life!”

“A what!” screamed the doctor, springing - towards his.
horse, which stood near by. ai

“ What’s the price of b’iled eggs, Bill?” roared the
lawyer, in reply.

“Ten dollars a dozen, by thunder!” was the answer, as
the doctor drove his rowels into the sides of his nag, and
dashed away from his friend’s gate a wiser if not’ a better
man.

Many amateur poultry-raisers resorted to the most
ridiculous and injurious shifts for remedies against the ills
that hen-flesh is heir to. I have known certain friends who
passed two or three hours every morning in running about
their fowl-premises with pill-box and pepper-cup in hand,
zealously dosing théir drooping chickens, to their certain’
destruction. And some of the “‘ doctors” went into jalap,
in cases of colds, fevers, &o., in their fowls. We should as
soon think of using arsenic, or any other poison, under such’
cireumstances. The internal formation of a hen is scarcely’
believed to resemble that of a human being, surely; and
why such medicinal applications, pray? This reminds’us
of a private joke, by the way, ‘that was ‘Jet out” by a
young fancier (out West) a little while ago.

He had a bad cold ‘himself, and had mixed “ summat
hot” to.swallow, one evening. His servant informed him

THE HEN FEVER. 145

that his favorite Cochin-China crower had been ill for a
day or two; and he ordered twenty grains of jalap to be pre-
pared for his fine bird. By some mistake his toddy was
given to the crower, and he swallowed the hen-medicine
himself, and retired to bed. -

He slept soundly for a time, but was visited with shock-
ing dreams. He fancied himself to be a huge rooster— one
of the biggest kind; that he had taken all the premiums at
all the shows, and that he had finally been set to hatch
over a bushel of Shanghae eggs. It was the twentieth day,
at last, and the chickens commenced to come forth from
their shells beneath him. He dare not move,—his fowl-
cure was at work,— and his critical position, for the time
being, can be better imagined than portrayed. With a des-
perate effort, and a shrieking crow, he at length sprang from
his couch, dashed out of doors, and, since the day after-
wards, has resolved to eschew the use of jalap among his
poultry,— a determination which, in all candor, we recom-
mend earnestly to the hen-Galens who imagine that a hen
is ‘¢a human.” .

It had now become an every-day occurrence to hear of
black chickens emerging from what were “warranted ”’
pure white fowls’ eggs; top-knot birds peeped forth from
the eggs of pure-bred anti-crested hens; and all colors and e
shapes and varieties of chickens, except those that they

18

146 THE HISTORY OF THE HEN FEVER.

were purchased for, made their appearance about the time
of hatching the eggs so bought.

All the old-fashioned fowls were utterly discarded. Co-
chin-Chinaism, Shanghaeism, Bother’em Pootrumism, was
rampant. The fancy egg-trade had ‘begun to fall off sen-
sibly ‘The people” had had enough of this part of the
enterprise, which was destined to prove so “immensely
profitable,” if ‘judiciously and skilfully managed ;” and
the price was reduced to the miserable sum of three to five
dollars a dozen, only, as customers chanced to turn up.

From the commencement of the trade, in 1849, down to
the month of August, 1853, I had a continued and certain
sale, however, for every egg deposited upon my premises,
at my price.

But this, though an exception, was not to be wondered
at. J kept and raised only the “ genuine’’ article.

CHAPTER XXII.
TRUE HISTORY OF ‘‘ FANNY FERN.”

I was riding through Brookline, Mass., one fine after-
noon, on my round-about way home from a fowl-hunting
excursion in Norfolk County, when my attention was sud-
denly attracted by the appearance and carriage of the most
extraordinary-looking bird I ever met with in the whole
course of my poultry experience.

I drew up my horse, and watched this curiosity for a few
minutes, with a fowl-admirer’s wonder. It was evidently a
hen, though the variety was new to me, and its deportment
was very remarkable. Her plumage was a shiny coal-
black, and she loitered upon a bright-green bank in the
sunshine, at the southerly side of a pretty house that stood
a few yards back from the road. She was rather long-
legged, and “‘ spindle-shanked,’”’ but she moved about skip-
pingly and briskly, as if she were treading upon thin egg-
shells. Her feet were very delicate and very narrow, and
her body was thin and trim; but her plumage — that glossy,
jet-black, brilliant feathery habit —was ‘‘too much ” for my

*

148 THE HISTORY OF

then exo ted “‘ fancy ” for beautiful birds ; and I thought I
had never seen a tip-top fowl before.

As I gazed and wondered, this bird observed me coquet-
tishly, and, raising herself slightly a tip-toe, she flapped her
bright wings ludicrously, opened her pretty mouth, and sent‘
forth a crow so clear and sharp, and so utterly defiant and
plucky, that I laughed outright in her face. I did. I
could n’t help it. .

She noticed my merriment, and instantly flap went those
glittering wings again, and another shout— a very shriek
of a crow, a termagant yell of a crow— rang forth pierc-
ingly from the lungs of my sable but beautiful inamorata. —

This second crow was full of fire, and daring, and chal-
lenge, and percussion. It seemed to say, as plainly as words
could have uttered it, ‘‘Who are you? What you after?
Would n’t you like to cage me up — s-a-y?”

I laughed again, wondered more, stared, and shouted
“ Bravo! Milady, you are a rum ’un, to be sure!” And
again she hopped up and crowed bravely, sharply, mali-
ciously, wildly, marvellously.

I was puzzled. I had heard of such animals before. I
had read in the newspapers about Woman’s Rights con-
ventions. I had seen it stated that hens occasionally were
found that ‘crowed like a cock.” But I had never seen
one before. This was an extraordinary bird, evidently.

There it went again! That same shrill, crashing, chal-

THE HEN FEVER.

lenging crow, from the gullet of the ebon beauty before
me. 0, what a crow was that, my countrymen! I re-
solved to possess this bird, at any cost. And I was soon in

communication with the gentleman who then had her.

“Ts this your hen, sir?” I inquired. And I think the

gentleman suspected me, instanter.
“Yes,” he answered. ‘ That is, I support her.”
“Will you sell her?” ~
“* No — no, sir.”
“T will give you ten dollars for her.”’
Crack! Crash! Whew! went that crow, again.
was electrified.
“Tl give you fifteen ——” ‘
“No, sir.”
“Twenty dollars, then.’’
(73 No.”’ ;
“ What will you take for her?”

“Hark!” he replied. ‘‘Isn’t that music? Isn’t that

heavenly ?”
“What is that? ” I asked, eagerly.
«My hen.”
* What is she doing?”
* Singing,” said the gentleman.
“Beautiful!” I responded. ‘‘I will give you forty dol-
lars for her.” ;

“Take her,” replied her keeper. ‘She is yours.”
18*

150 THE HISTORY OF

‘* What breed is it?” I inquired.

‘ Spanker,”’ said the gentleman, “but rare. It is one
of Ellett’s importation — genuine.”

‘‘ Remarkable pullet!” I ventured.

“Hen, sir, hen,” insisted the stranger.

I paid him forty dollars down, and seized my prize,
though she proved hard to catch.

‘‘ She ’s much like the Frenchman’s flea, sir,” said her
previous possessor. ‘‘Put your finger on her, and she’s
never there. Feed her well, however, keep her in good
quarters, let her do as she pleases, and she’ll always crow
—always, sir. Hear that? You can’t stop her, unless
you stop her breath. She always crows and sings. There
it is again! Isn’t that a crow, for a hen — eh?”

It was, indeed.

“Good-day,”’ said the Brookline gentleman, quietly
pocketing his money. ‘‘ Fanny will please you, I’ve no
doubt.”

“Fanny ?”’ I queried.

“Yes; I call her ‘ Fanny Fern,’” said thé stranger to
me, as I entered my wagon; and, half an hour afterwards,
my forty-dollar cock-hen, ‘Fanny Fern,’ was crowing
again furiously, lustily, magnificently, on the bright-green
‘lawn beneath my own parlor-windows.

“Fanny” proved a thorough trump. Bantams, Games,
Cochins, Dorkings, Shanghaes, Bother’ems, were nowhere

THE HEN FEVER. 151

when “Fanny” was round. She could outcrow the lustiest
feathered orchestra ever collected together in Christendom.
She was a wonder, that redoubtable but frisky, flashy,
sprightly, sputtery, spunky ‘‘ Fanny Fern.”

And didn’t the boys run after her? Well, they did!
And didn’t they want to buy her? Didn’t they bid high
for her, at last? Didn’t everybody flock to see her, and to
hear ‘‘ Fanny” crow? And didn’t she continue to crow,
too? Ah! it was heaven, indeed (and sometimes the other
thing), to listen to ‘‘ Fanny’s”’ voice.

When “ Fanny” opened her mouth, everybody held their
breath and listened. “Fanny” crowed to some purpose,
verily! She crowed lustily against oppression, and. vice,
and wrong, and injustice; and she crowed aloud (with her best
strength) in behalf of injured innocence, and virtue, and
merit, exalted or humble.

. And, finally, “Fanny” hatched a brace of chickens;
and did n’t she crow for and over them? She now cackled

“and scratched, and crowed harder and louder and shriller
than ever. , The people stopped in the street to listen to her ;
old men heard her; young men sought after her; all the
women began to ‘‘swear” by her; the children thronged to
see her; the newspapers all talked about her; and thou-
sands of books were printed about my charming, astonishing,
remarkable, crowing ‘“‘ Fanny Fern.”

I sent her to the fowl-shows, where she ‘“ took ’em all ‘

152 THE HISTORY OF

down” clean, and invariably carried away the first pre-
mium in her class. Never was such a hen seen, before or
since. I was offered a hundred, two hundred, five hundred
dollars for her. Iwas poor; but didn’t I own this hen
‘“‘Fanny,’’ — the extraordinary, wonderful, magnificent, coal-
black, blustering, but inapproachable and world-defying
“Fanny” ?

“T will give you eight hundred dollars for her,” said a
publisher to me, one day. ‘‘I want to put her in a book.
She’s a wonder ! a star of the first magnitude! a diamond
without blemish ! a God-send to the world in 1854!”

At this moment “ Fanny” crowed.

“Will you take eight hundred?’ screamed the pub-
lisher, jumping nearly to the ceiling. |

“No, sir.”

“ A thousand ?”

“Ne?

“ Two thousand ?””

“No, sir.”

“« Five thousand ?”’

“No! I will keep her.”

And I did. What was five thousand dollarstome? Bah!
Thad the hen-cock ‘“ Fanny Fern.” I didn’t want money. °
My pocket-book was full to bursting, and so was my head
with the excitement of the hen fever. And “Fanny”
crowed again. Ah! what a crow was Fanny’s!”

.

THE HEN FEVER. 158

“Fanny” couldn’t be bought, and so my competitors
clanned together to destroy her. The old fogies did n’t like
this breed, and they resolved to annihilate all chance of its
perpetuation. I placed her in better quarters, where she
would be more secure from intrusion or surprise. I told
her of my fears,— and didn’t she crow? She flapped her
bright black wings, and crowed all over. ‘‘ Cock-a-doodle-
doo —oo—oo!’’ shouted “Fanny,” while her sharp
eyes twinkled, her fair throat trembled, and the exhilarating
tone of defiance seemed to reach to the very tips of her
shining toe-nails. ‘‘ Cock-a-too —roo — oo !”’ she shrieked;
‘let ’em come, too! See what they’lldo—oo! I'll take
care of you—oo! Don’t get inastoo—oo! Pooh—pooh
— poo — poo!”

Maybe “Fanny” didn’t crow! And I learned to
crow. It was beautiful! She crowed, and I crowed. We
crowed together. She in her way,—Iin mine. The duet
was mellifluous, cheering, soul-stirring, life-invigorating,
profitable.

“Fanny” went into New York State, crowing when she
left, crowing as she went, and continuirg to crow until she
crowed the community there clear through the next fourth
o’ July, out into the fabled millenium. She crowed Messys.
Derby & Miller into a handsome fortune, and Mason &
Brothers into ditto. She crowed one Hyacinth into the
shreds of a cocked hat and battered knee-buckles. She

154 THE HISTORY OF THE HEN FEVER.

crowed the Hall breed of old hens so far out of sight that
the ‘search for Sir John Franklin ’’ would be a fool to the
journey requisite to overtake that family. And still she
crowed.

The more they bade her stop, the more she would n't.
** Cock-a-tootle ~— too!” ‘ I-know-what-J-shall — doo !”
‘¢ What-do-I-care-for — yoo?” ‘‘ This-world-is-all — foo-
foo.” “ Leave-me-and-I’ll-leave — you.” ‘Tf-not-I’ll-
lamm — you — Too — 00 !””

And “ Fanny ” crowed herself at last into the good graces
of two long brothers in Gotham, where she is now crowing
with all her might and main. Let her crow!

She was a remarkable “ bird,’ that rollicking, joyous,
inexplicable, flirting, funny, furious “‘ Fanny Fern.” I hear
her now again !

“ Cock—Aa—DooDLE — poo— oo!” “Young ’Un,—
you-will-do!!" “ H¢—¢tu— Brute — 0-0-0!!!”

CHAPTER XXIII.
CONVALESCENCE.

One striking feature that exhibited itself in the midst
of this mania, was the fact that prominent among the lead-
ing dealers in fancy poultry, constantly appeared the names
of clergymen, doctors, and other ‘‘liberally-educated’’ gen-
tlemen.

In Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, and most of the Hast-
ern States, this circumstance was especially noticeable; and
more particularly in England. Whether this class of the
community had the most money to throw away, or whether,
their leisure afforded them the better opportunity to indulge
in this fancy, I cannot say; but one thing is certain,—
among my own patrons and correspondents, for the past
five or six years, I find the names of this class of ‘‘ the
people” by far the most conspicuous and frequent.

There came into my office, one morning late in 1853,
a Boston physician (whom I had never seen before),
who introduced himself civilly, and invited me to ride a
short distance with him up town. I was busy; but he

156 THE HISTORY OF

insisted, and his manner was peculiarly urgent and deter-
mined.

“My carriage is at the door,” he said; ‘and I will
bring you back here in twenty minutes. I have some pure-
blood stock I desire to dispose of.”

“« What zs it, doctor?” I asked.

‘¢ Chickens, chickens !’’ replied the doctor, briefly.

I assured the gentleman that I had near a thousand fowls
on hand at this time, and had no possible wish to increase
the number.

‘They are pure-bred — cost me high,” he continued ;
‘are very fine, but I must part with them — come!”

I joined him, and we rode a mile or more, when he halted
before a fine, large house; his servant in waiting took his
horse, and he ushered me into his well-appointed poultry-
house, at the rear of his dwelling.

The buildings were glazed in front and upon the roofs;
the yards were spacious and cleanly, and appropriately
divided; the laying and hatching rooms were roomy and
convenient; the roosting-house was airy and pleasant, and
everything was, seemingly, in excellent order, and arranged
with good taste throughout.

“That cock cost me twenty dollars,’ said the doctor,
calmly. ‘Those two hens I paid eighteen dollars for.
That bird, yonder, twelve dollars. These five pullets stand
me in about forty-five dollars. Ihave never yet been able

THE HEN FEVER. 157

to hatch but one brood of chickens. The rats carried them
off by the third morning after they came into this world.
The hens sometimes lay, I believe; at least, my man says so.
I have never seen any eggs from them myself, however. I
have no doubt this species of fowls (these Changays) do lay
eggs, though. There are twenty-two of them. Buy them,

,” continued the doctor, urgently.

T said no; I really did not want them.

“T had nigh forty of them,” continued the doctor, “‘ two
months ago. But they have disappeared. Disease, roup,
vermin, night-thieves, sir. Will you buy them? John
—— drive them out!”

The fowls were driven into the main yard. There were
but sixteen in all.

“‘ Where are the rest, John?’’ inquired the doctor,
anxiously. ‘‘ There were twenty-two here yesterday.”

“T dunno, sir,’”’ said John.

“ Drive ’em back, and box them up, oo Mr. B—,
will you make an offer for the remainder? To-morrow I
shall probably have none to sell! Will you give anything
for them?”

I declined to buy.

“Will you permit me to send them to you as a present,
sir?” he continued.

I did not want them, any way. I had a full supply.

“ What will you charge ‘me, Mr. B , to allow them
14

158 THE HISTORY OF

to be sent to you?” continued the fancier, desperately. and
resolutely, at last.

I saw he was determined, and I took his fowls (fifteen of
them), and gave him ten dollars.

He smiled.

‘“‘J have had the hen feyer,’”’ he added, “ badly — but I
am better of it. Iam convalescent, now,” said the doctor.
“You see what I have here for houses; cost me over seven
hundred dollars; my birds over four hundred more; grain
and care for a year, a hundred more. I am satisfied!
Your money, here, is the first dollar I ever received in return
for my investment. You see what I have: left out of my
venture of twelve or thirteen hundred dollars; the manure,
and — and — the lice!”

Such were the exact facts! His stock was selected from
the Marsh and Forbes importations, and the birds were good ;
bat, by the time he got ready to believe that it wasn’t all
gold that glittered, the sale of ¢his variety of fowl had
passed by. A chance purchaser happened to come along
soon after, however, who ‘‘hadn’t read the papers’’ so
attentively as some of us had, and who wanted these very
fowls. I sold them to him, ‘cheap as a broom,” because
the fever for this kind of bird was rapidly declining. He
- paid me only $150 for this lot; which was a bargain, of a
truth. The buyer was satisfied, however, and so was J.

These were but isolated instances. Scores and hundreds

THE HEN FEVER. 159

of gentlemen and amateur fanciers found themselves in a
similar predicament, at the end of one or two or three years
Without possessing a single particle of knowledge requisite
to the successful accomplishment of their purpose,— utterly
ignorant of the first rudiments of the business,— they
jumped into it, without reason, forgetting the wholesome
advice contained in the musty adage, ‘look before you leap.”
And, after sinking tens and hundreds or (in some cases)
thousands of dollars in experiments, they woke up to find
that they had had the fever badly, but, fortunately, were
at last convalescent !

I was busy, all this time, in supplying my friends with
“* pure-bred”’ stock, however, and had very little leisure to
tarry to sympathize with these ‘poor crecturs.”’ The
demand for my stock continued. and the best year’s busi-
ness I ever enjoyed, was from the spring of 1853 to May
and June, 1854; when it commenced to fall off very sensi-
bly, and the prospect became dubious, fdr future operations,
even with me.

CHAPTER XXIV.
AN EXPENSIVE BUSINESS.

Durine the past six years I have expended, outright, for
breeding stock, and for appropriate buildings for my fowls,
over four thousand dollars, in round numbers — without
taking into the account the expenses of their care, and the
cost of feeding.

Few breeders have spent anything like this sum, for this
purpose, strictly. In the mean time, the aggregate of my
receipts has reached (up to January, 1855) upwards of
severity thousand dollars. I have raised thousands upon
thousands of the. Chinese varieties.of fowls, and my purchases
to fill orders which came to hand during this. term — in
addition to what I was able to fill from those I myself
raised —have been very large. And, while I have been
thus engaged, hundreds and hundreds of amateurs and
fanciers have sprung up in various directions, all of whom
have had their skare, too, in this trade.

To the fanciers — those who purchased, as many did at
first, simply for their amusement, or for the mere satisfaction

THE HISTORY OF THE HEN FEVER. 161

of having good, or, perhaps, the best birds —this fever proved
an expensive matter. I have known amateurs who willing-
ly paid- twenty, fifty, or a hundred dollars, and even more,
for a pair, or a trio, of what were considered very choice
Shanghaes. These fowls, after the first few weeks or months
of the purchaser’s excitement had passed by, could be
bought of him for five or ten dollars a pair! Yet, his next-
door neighbor, who would not now take these identical birds
for a gift, scarcely, would pay to a stranger a similarly
extravagant amount to that which had a hundred times been.
paid by others before him, for something, perhaps, inferior
in quality, but which chanced to be called by the most pop-
ular name current at the moment.

Thus, for a time, bubble number one, the Cochin- Chinas,
prevailed. The eggs of these fowls sold at a dollar each,
for a long period. Then came the Shanghaes, of different
colors,— as the yellow, the white, the buff, or the black,— *
and took their turn. Many thousands of these were disposed
of, at round rates. The smooth-legged birds at first com-
manded the best price; then the feathered-legged. And,
finally, came the Grey Shanghaes, or ‘‘ Chittagongs,” ox
‘‘ Brahmas,” as they were differently termed; and this
proved bubble number two, in earnest.

Everybody wanted them, and everybody had to pay for
them, too! They were large, heavy fowls, of China blood,
plainly, but, with some few exceptions, were indifferent

14*

162 THE HISTORY OF

birds. They were leggy, however, and stood up showy and
tall, and, to look at, appeared advantageously to the fancy,
at this veriod. In the maw of this bubble, thousands of
good dollars were thrown; and no race of poultry ever had
the run that did these Greys, under various names, both in
this country and in England.

A most excellent Southern trade had sprung up, and large
shipments of fowls went forward to the West, from Massa-
chusetts, and to Charleston, Augusta, Mobile, New Orleans,
etc., where the fever broke out furiously, and continued,
without abatement, for three years or more.

No buyers were so liberal, generally, and no men in the
world, known to Northern breeders, bought so extensively, as
did these fanciers in New Orleans and vicinity. They
purchased largely, from the very start; and the trade was
kept up with a singular vigor and enterprise, from the be-
ginning to the end. Orders, varying in value from $500 to
$1200 and $1500, were of almost weekly occurrence from
that region; and in one instance, I sent forward to a gentle-
man in Louisiana, a single shipment for which he paid me
$2230! This occurred in September, 1853.

In this same year, I sent, from January to December, to
another gentleman (at New Orleans), over ten thousand
dollars’ worth of stock.

The prices for chickens ranged from $12 @ $15 a pair,
to. $25.or $30, and. often $40 to #50, a pair. These rates

THE HEN FEVER. 163

were always willingly and freely paid, and the stock was,
after a while, disseminated throughout the entire valley of
the Mississippi; where the China fowls always did better
than in our own climate.

It proved an expensive business to some of these gentle-
men, most emphatically. But they always paid cheerfully,
promptly, and liberally; and knew the Yankees they were
dealing with, a good deal better than many of the sharpers
supposed they did. For myself, I shall not permit this
opportunity to pass without expressing my thanks to my
numerous and generous Southern patrons, to whom I sent a
great many hundred pairs of what were deemed ‘‘ good
birds,” and to whom I am indebted,-largely, for the trade I
enjoyed for upwards of five years. I sincerely hope they
made more money out of all this than I did; and I trust
that their substance, as well as “their shadows, may never
be less.’

During this year, and far into 1854, the current of trade
turned towards Great Britain; and John Bull was not very
slow to appreciate the rare qualities of my ‘‘ magnificent ”’
and ‘‘ extraordinary” birds; ‘the like of which,” said a
London ‘journal, when the Queen’s fowls first arrived, ‘‘ was
never before seen in England.”

For upwards of a year, I had all ¢his trade in my own
way. Subsequently, some of the smaller dealers sent out a
few pairs to London, but “the people ” there could never

164 THE HISTORY OF THE HEN FEVER.

be brought to believe those fowls were anything but mon-
grels; and, while these mterlopers contrived to murder the
trade there, they at the same time “‘ cut off their own noses,”
for the future, with those who knew what poultry was, upon
the other side of the Atlantic.

I had my shy at the Britons, seasonably !

But, a few months afterwards (as I shall show in a future
chapter), through the mismanagement of an ambitious dealer
in other fancy live-stock, the trade with England, from this

side of the water, was completely ruined. Over two hun-' °°

dred American fowls were thrown suddenly upon the
London market, and were finally sold there, at auction, for
a very small sum; and we were subsequently unable (with
all our chicken-eloquence) to make John Bull believe that
even the Grey Shanghaes were any longer “scarce” with
us, here!

CHAPTER XXV.

°

THE GREAT PAGODA HEN.

THE most ‘idiculous and fulsome advertisements now
occupied the columns of certain so-called agricultural
papers in this country, particularly one or two of these
sheets in New York State.

Stories were related by correspondents (and endorsed by
the nominal editors), regarding the proportions and weights
and beauties of certain of the ‘‘ Bother’em ” class of fowls,
that rivalled Munchausen, out and out. Fourteen and fif-
teen pound cocks, and ten or eleven pound hens, were as
common as the liars who told the stories of these impossibil-
ities. And one day the following capital hit, by Durivage,
appeared in a Boston journal. He called it ‘The Great
Pagoda Hen.” There is as much truth in this as there
was in many of the more seriously-intended articles of that
time. It ran as follows:

‘‘Mr. Sap Green retired from business, and took posses-
sion of his country ‘villa,’ just about the time the ‘hen
faver’ was at its height ; and he soon gave evidence of hay-

166 THE HISTORY OF

ing tkat malignant disorder in its most aggravated form.
He tolerated no birds in his yard that weighed less than
ten pounds at six months, and he allowed no eggs upon his
table that were not of a dark mahogany color,.and of the
flavor of pine shavings. He supplied his own table with
poultry, and the said poultry consisted of elongated drum-
sticks, attached by gutta-percha muscles and catgut sinews to
ponderous breast-bones. He frequently purchased a ‘crower ’
. for a figure that could have bought a good Morgan horse ;
but then, as the said crower consumed as much grain as a
Morgan horse, he could not help being perfectly satisfied
with the bargain. His wife complained that he was ‘ mak-
ing ducks and drakes ’ of his property ; but, as that involved
a high compliment to his ornithological tastes, he attempted
no retort. He satisfied himself that it ‘would pay in the
end.’ His calculations of profits were ‘clear as mud.’ He
would hay3a thousand hens. The improved breeds were
warranted to lay five eggs apiece a week; and eggs were
worth — that is, he was paying — six dollars a dozen. His
thousand hens would lay twenty thousand eight hundred
and thirty-three dozen eggs per annum, which, at six dol-
lars per dozen, would amount to the sum of one hundred
and twenty-four thousand nine hundred and ninety-eight
dollars. Even deducting therefrom the original cost of the
hens and their keep,— say thirty-six thousand dollars,— the
_very pretty trifle of eighty-eight thousand nine hundred and

THE HEN FEVER. 167

ninety-eight was the remainder—clear profit. Eggs —
even dark mahogany eggs — went down to a shilling a
dozen! But we will not anticipate.

‘To facilitate the multiplication of the feathered species,
Mr. Green imported a French Eccaleobion, or egg-hatching
machine, that worked by steam, and was warranted to
throw off a thousand chicks a month. °

‘One day an ‘ancient mariner’ arrived at the villa, with
a small basket on his arm, and inquired for thé ‘master of
the house. Sap was just then engaged in important busi-
ness,— teaching a young chicken to crow,— but he left his
occupation, and received the stranger.

‘«¢ Want to buy an egg ?’ asked the mariner.

‘““*Qne egg? Why, where did it come from?’ asked the
hen-fancier.

‘««E Stingies,’ replied the mariner.

‘** Domestic fowl’s egg?’

‘* « Domestic.’

“¢ Tet ’s see it.’

‘The sailor produced an enormous egg, weighing about
a pound. Sap ‘hefted’ it carefully.

““*Did you ever see the birds that lay such eggs?’ he
asked.

“¢ Lots on ’em,’ replied the sailor. ‘They ’re big as all
put-doors. They calls ’em the Gigantic Pagoda Hen.
I’m afeared to tell you how big they are; you won't

168 THE HISTORY OF

believe me. But jest’ you hatch out that ’ere, and you'll
see wot’ll come of it.’

“But they must eat a great deal?’ said Sap. .

‘«“ Scarcely anything,’ replied the mariner; ‘that’s the
beauty on ’em. Don’t eat as much as Bantams.’

‘*¢ Are they good layers?’

“** You can’t help ’em laying,’ replied the seaman,
enthusiastically. ‘They lay one egg every week-day, and
two Sundays.’

““¢ But when do they set?’ queried Green.

“*¢ They don’t set at all. They lays their eggs in damp,
hot places, and natur’ does the rest. The chicks take keer
of themselves as soon as they ’re out of the shell.’
Damp, hot place!’ said Sap. ‘My Eccaleobion is
the very thing, and my artificial sheep-skin mother will
bring ’em up to a charm. My friend, what will you take
for your egg ?’.

‘** Cap'n,’ said the mariner, solemnly, ‘ if I was going to
stay ashore, I would n’t take a hundred dollars for it; but,
as I’ve shipped ag’in, and sail directly, you shall have it for
forty.’

“The forty dollars were instantly paid, and the hen-
fancier retired with his prize, his conscience smiting him for
haying robbed a poor, hard-working sailor.

‘QO, how he watched the egg-hatching machine while
that extraordinary egg was undergoing the steaming pro-

THE HEN FEVER. 169

cess! He begrudged the time exacted by eating and sleep-
ing; but his vigils were rewarded by the appearance, in
due time, of a stout young chick, with the long legs that
are a proof of:Hastern blood. The bird grew apace ; indeed,
almost as rapidly as Jack’s bean-stalk, or the prophet’s
gourd. But the sailor was mistaken in one thing; it ate
voraciously. Moreover, as it increased in size and strength,
the Pagoda exhibited extraordinary pugnacity. It kicked
a dozen comrades to death in one night. It even bit the
hand of the feeder. Soon it was necessary to confine it in
a separate apartment. Its head soon touched the ceiling.
What a pity it had no mate! Sap wrote to a correspond-
ent at Calcutta to ship him two pairs of the Great Pagoda
birds, without regard to cost. Meanwhile he watched the
enormous growth of his single specimen. He kept its ex-
istence a profound secret. It was under lock. and key, in
a separate apartment, lighted by a large window in the roof.
Sap’s man-of-all-work wheeled daily two bushels of corn
and a barrel of water to the door of the apartment, and
Green fed them out when no one was looking. Even this
supply was scanty ; but, out of justice to his family, Sap
was compelled.to put the monster bird on allowance.
«Poor thing!’ he would say, when he saw the creature
devouring ‘broken glass, and even bolting stray nails and
gravel-stones, ‘it cuts me to the soul to see it reduced to
such extremity. But it’s eating me rut of house and home.
15

170 THE HISTORY OF

Decidedly, that sailor-man must have been deceived about
their being moderate feeders.’

“When the bird had attained to the enormous altitude
of six feet, the proud proprietor sent for the celebrated Dr.
Ludwig Hydrarchos, of Cambridge, to inspect him, and
furnish him with a scientific description, wherewith he
might astonish his brethren of the Poultry Association.
The doctor came, and was carefully admitted by Green to
the presence of the Great Pagoda Hen. The bird was not
accustomed to the sight of strangers, and began to manifest
uneasiness and displeasure at seeing the man of science. It
lifted first one foot and then the oes as if it were tread-
ing on hot plates. a

“<P! hi!’ said Green, pocthingta, ‘ Pagy! Pagy
come, now, be quiet ! — will you?’

“*« Let me out!’ eried Hydrarchos, in great alarm. The
huge bird was polking up to him. ‘ Let me out, Igay!’

““¢T never knew it to act 80 before,’ said Green, fumbling
at the lock.

“A whirr, a rush, a whizzing of the wings, and the
bird was down on the doctor, treading on his heels, and
pecking at the nape of his neck.

“¢Pagy! Pagy!” supplicated the owner.

“ But the angry bird would not listen to reason, and Sap
received a thump on the head for his pains. And now
both rushed for the opening door, stumbling and falling

THE HEN FEVER. 171

prostrate in their eagerness to escape. The monster bird
danced a moment on their prostrate bodies, and then darted
forth from its late prison-house.

“Tt rushed through a couple of grap»-houses, carrying
destruction in its progress. It scoured through the flower-
beds, ruining the bright parterres. Mrs. Green, who was
walking in the garden with her child, saw the horrid appari-
tion, and stood paralyzed with terror. In an instant she was
thrown down and trampled under foot, shrieking and clasp-
ing her infant in her arms.

‘“‘Mr. Green beheld this last atrocity, and his conjugal
affection overcame his love of birds. He caught up his
fowling-piece and fired at the ungrateful monster; the shot
ripped up some of its tail-feathers, but failed to inflict a
mortal wound,— nothing short of a field-piece could produce
an impression on that living mass. Away sped the fowl to
the railroad-track, down which it rushed with headlong
speed. But its career was brief; an express train, coming
up in an opposite direction, struck it full in front, and
rushed on, scattering feathers, wings and drum-sticks, wildly
in the air. .

«Tell me, doctor,’ gasped Green, ‘ what do you think
of my Great Pagoda?’

“* Great Pagoda!’ said the professor, in indignant dis-
dain. ‘That was a Struthio,— Greek, Strothous,—in
other words, an ostrich. If you hadn’t belonged to the

172 THE HISTORY OF

genus Asus, you’d have known that, without asking me.
Good-morning, Mr. Green.’

‘““«Where is the monster?’ cried Mrs. Green, ‘I
believe the poor child is killed. O, Sap, I did n’t expect
this of you!’

‘«¢ Be quiet, my dear,’ said Green ; ‘it was only an ex-
periment.’

““¢ An experiment, Mr. Green!’ retorted the lady,
‘sharply ; ‘your wife and child nearly killed, and you call
it an experiment! Nurturing ostriches to devour your off-
spring! I wonder you don’t take to raising elephants.’

““¢No danger of that, Maria,’ replied her husband,
meekly. ‘TI have ‘seen the elephant.”? And to-morrow I
shall send my entire stock to the auction-room,— Shang-
haes, Chittagongs, Brahma Pootras, Cochins, Warhens and
‘Warhoos. They ’re nice birds, great layers, small eaters,
but they — don’t pay.’”

Mr. Green was cured, of course; and though his antici-
pations were great, yet he had his predecessors and his
successors in the hen traffic, who were almost as sanguine
as he, and who not only ‘paid through the nose” for their
experience, but who came off, in the end, really, with quite
as little success. Mr. Green was but one of many. Mr.
Green was one of ‘the people.”

It will be remembered that my correspondents allude to
the fowls they ‘‘ see in the noospapers.”

“4

THE HEN FEVER. 178

Thad seen these birds, in the same way, before they did.
Anda London dealer wrote me that he could send me a lot
of Egleton’s “ famous” stock, ‘‘ which took the three first
premiums at a metropolitan show, and two descendants of
which, at the close of the late exhibition, were sold at auc-
tion for forty-eight guineas ($262).”

I immediately sent out for a few of these monsters.
They were described to me as being of enormous size, and
feathered upon the legs ; and I was now somewhat sur-
prised to note that several of the English societies decided
that the true ‘Cochin-China”’ fowl (as they term this
variety) come only with feathered legs. The very stock
above alluded to, however, came direct from the city of
Shanghae ; and duplicate birds of the same blood were de-
lineated in the London Illustrated News. The metropol-
itan associations required that all Cochin-China fowls
put in competition for premiums must be feathered-legged.
This was a new decision, as it is well known that every
importation of domestic fowl yet brought out from China
direct come more or less clean-legged; and that fully one
half of their progeny are so, with the most careful breed-
ing, both in England and in this country.. This was imma-
terial, however; and I repeated the story to my corres-
pondents in good faith, and sent them copies of the por-
traits of these new, “extraordinary,” “splendid” and
“astonishing ”’ hens, precisely as their history and pictures

15*

be

174 THE HISTORY OF

came to me. The result can be fancied. Here is the
“ original” portrait of

ONE OF ’EM.

This was the kind of thing that “took down” the out-

THE HEN FEVER. 175

siders. Orders for this strain of pure blood poured in upon
me, and I supplied them. I trust the purchasers were
always satisfied. In my case, it might answer; but I
would not recommend the practice generally of purchasing
chickens out of the newspapers. Such a portrait as the
above might chance to be a little fanciful; or, perhaps, it
might be a trifling exaggeration, you see. Yet this was
the breed that were always ‘put in the newspapers.”
You very rarely found them in your coops, though !

CHUAPTER XXVI.
“ POLICY THE BEST HONESTY.”’

TuIs reversion of the old saying that ‘‘ honesty ’s the
best policy ” seemid to have finally attained among many
hen-men, and the ambition to dispose of their now large
surplus stock, at the best possible prices, had become very
general, while the means to accomplish it came to be imma-
terial, so that they got rid of their fancy poultry at fancy
figures. ‘ .

Nothing that could be said against me and my stock was
neglected, or omitted to be said. But, as long as fowls
would sell at all, I had my full share of the trade, notwith-
standing this. The following veritable letter, received from
a noted “breeder,” in 18538, will explain itself; and it ex-
hibits the disposition of more than one huckster still left
around us. It will be observed that this gentleman called
me his “ friend’’!

‘‘ FRIEND B——: What has become of all the trade? I
have n’t sold twenty dollars’ worth of chickens, in a month !
[’ve now got over three hundred of these curses on hand —

€

THE HISTORY OF THE HEN FEVER. 177

and they ’re eating me up, alive. What’ll we do with
them? Do you want them? Will you buy them— any-
how? And give what you like for them.

“They are a better lot than you ever owned,— every-
body says so,— Greys, Cochins (pure) and Shanghaes.
D—n the business! I’m sick of it. My fowls and fixin’s
cost me over twelve hundred dollars. What do you think
of an auction? Has the bottom fallen out, entirely? Could
I get back two or three dollars apiece for this lot, do you
think, at public sale ?

“B is stuck with about five hundred of the gorman-
disers. I’m glad of it—-glad—glad! An’t you? He
always lammed you, as well as me; and though I think

you can swinge the green ’uns as cutely as ’most any of
‘em, he has been an eye-sore for three~ years. that ought
to be put down. He got his stock of you, he says,— but
{no offence to you, friend B——), it an’t worth a cuss. All
of it’s sick and lousy, and he shan’t sell no more fowls, if
I can help it.

‘“‘Have you seen W——’s stock, lately? Isn't he a
beauty! I told him, last week, he’d ought to be ashamed
of himself ever to gone into this trade, at all. He’s well
enough off, without stealing the bread out of the mouths of
them that’s a long way honester than he ever was. Ill
have a lick at him, yet.

‘Come and see my stock,— and buy it. I don’t want

178 THE HISTORY OF

it. I mus give it up. I’m too busy about. something
else. Come—vwill you? I don’t say anything against
your fowls outside; but you know, as well as I do, that
you have n’t got the real thing. Bennett says you have n’t,
and everybody else says so. As to your ‘ importations,’
you never had a fowl that was imported from any further
off than Cape Cod, and you know it! But that is neither
here nor there. J don’t -care a fig how much you gouge
’em. All I want is to get rid of mine. If you don’t buy
them, I shall sell them,— somehow,— or give them away,
sure. They shan’t eat me up, nohow.

“They don’t eat nothing — these fowls don’t! O, what
an infernal humbug this is! I never got much out of it,
though. [I tell everybody what all the rest of you do,— of
course. But [had rather keep the sume number of Suf-
folk pigs, anyhow, so far as that’s concerned. I an’t
afraid of your showing this letter to nobody—ha! ha!
So I don’t mark it ‘private.’ But of all the owdacious
humbugs that ever this country saw, this thing is the
steepest,— and you know it !

“‘ Write me and say what you'll give me for my lot. I
won’t peach on you. You can buy ’em on your own
terms. I want to get out of it. And you may say just
what you’ve a mind about ’em. I’Il back you, of course.
Could n’t you take them, and get up another fresh guy on
a ‘new importation’? That’s it. Come, now, friend

THE HEN FEVER. 179

B——.,, help me out. And answer immediately. All I
want is to get out of it, and ‘atch me there again if you

can ! Yours, &c.,
iz)

“P. 8. If you don’t buy them, I shall kill the brutes,
and send ’em to market ; though they are too poor for that,
T think.” :

This complimentary epistle from a brother-fancier was
rather cool, but it did n’t equal the following. I had more
than one of this sort, too,— of which I had no occasion, for
the time being, to take the slightest notice, for I had ‘ other
fish to fry,” decidedly !

‘*Mr. BurngamM.—Sir: How is it that you have the
impudence to try to palm off on the public those fowls of
yours for genuine ‘imported ones,’ when it is known that
you bought them all of me, and A——, and B——-? How
can you sleep nights? Don’t you feel a squirming in your
conscience? Or is it made of ingy-rubber, or gutter-perchy ?
You have made hundreds, and I don’t know but thousands ‘
of dollars, by your impudence and bare-faced deceit. They
are not genuine fowls. I say this dolely. I wish there was
a noospaper that would show the inderpendence to print an
article that I could rite for it, on this subject of poletry.
If I would n’t make you stare, and shet your eyes up, too,
then J aint no judge of swindling !

180 THE HISTORY OF

“Why don’t you act like a man? Carnt you? Havn’t
you got the pluck to own up that other people have done
for you what you never had the gumption to do for your-
self? Why don’t you act fair,— and tell where the genuine
fowls can be got, and of who? Youre a doing the poultry
business more hurt than all the rest of the men in the
country is doing, or ever did, or ever will, sir.

“T don’t mind a man’s being sharp, and looking out for
himself. J do that. But I carn’t humbug people as you
are doing,—and I won’t, neither. Youre sticking it into
the people nicely,— don’t you think you are? And they
believe it, too! The people believes what you tell them,
and sucks it all down, and wants more of it. And you
keep a giving it to them, too! How long do you suppose
such infamous things as these can last? I hope this letter
will do you good. I havn’t no ends to answer. I keep
but a few fowls, and I have never charged over twenty-five
dollars a pair for the best of them,—as you know. You
get fifty or a hundred dollars a pair. So the noospapers
say, but I believe you lie when they say so. You carn’t
come this over me! You don’t pull none of that wool
over my eyes! No, sir!

“Tf you want to get an honest living,— get it! Idon’t
say nothin against that; you’ve a rite to. But don’t
cheat the people out of their eye-teeth, by telling these

e

THE HEN FEVER. 181

stories that you carn’t prove.* You’ve no right to. You
sell fowls, by this means, but you don’t get no clear con-
science by it. It’s wrong, Mr. Burnum, and you know it.
While you do this, nobody can sell no fowls except you.
Give other people a chance, say I. I would n’t do this, no-
how, to sell my fowls at your expense; and I go for having
everybody do unto others as J would do to them. This is
moral and Christian-like, and you ’d better adopt it. That’s
my advice, and I don’t charge nothing for it. So, no more

at present — from Your, resp’y,
cc ”

These missives never disturbed me. Why should they?
These very men would have sold, from that very stock,—
had done so, repeatedly, before,— whatever a buyer sought
to purchase. I never knew either of them to permit the
chance of a sale to pass by him, on account of the variety
of bird sought! They invariably possessed whatever was
wanted. With them, “policy was the best honesty.” I
did not comptain. I was a ‘‘ hen-man,” but no Mentor.

*I never found, in my limited experience in this business, any par-
ticular necessity for attempting to prove anything. ‘‘ The people ’? wanted
FOWLS — not proofs !

16

CHAPTER XXVIII.

A GENUINE HUMBUG.

It was now getting pretty clear to the vision of most of
the initiated that the hen fever was in the midst of its height.
Buyers with long purses were about, but they were not sc
ravenous as formerly. They talked knowingly and cau-
tiously, and chose their fowls with more care than formerly ;
but still a great many samples were being circulated, and at
very handsomely remunerating prices.

A gentlemanly-dooking man called upon me, one day,

THE HISTORY OF THE HEN FEVER. 183

about this time, in Boston, and introduced himself, in his
own felicitous manner, something in tits wise :

‘How are you? Mr. Burnum, I suppose. My name is
T—. I’m from Phil’delphy.”’

“ Happy to see you, Mr. T——,” I replied. “Take a
seat, sir?”

“* T want to look at your fowls, Burnum,”’ he continued,
n a rather bluff manner. “I know what poultry is, I
think. I’ve been at it, now, over thirty year; and I’d
rughter know what fowls is. You’re a humbug, Burnum!
[here’s no doubt about that; and you’re all a set of
aums, together — you hen-men! I haven't got the fever.
[’m never disturbed by no such stupid nonsense. These
China fowls are an old story with me. I had ’em twenty
years ago,— brought ae Phil’delphy straight from Shang-
hae by a friend of mine.’

[This gentleman had forgotten, or didn’t biog (or
thought J didn’t), that the port of Shanghae had been open
to communication with this country only a dozen years or
less; and so I permitted him to proceed in his remarks
without offering any opposition to his assumption. ]

“« These big fowls never lay noeggs, Burnum. You know
it as well as anybody. Do they ?”” —

“ None to hurt,” I answered.

“No, no—TI reck’n not,” continued my visitor. “J
know ’em, like a book. Can’t fool me with them. They

184 THE HISTORY OF

an’t'worth a curse to nobody. I'll go out and see yours,
though, "cause you’re a good deal fairer than I expected to
find you. I thought you’d try to hum me, same as I s’pose
you do the rest.”

‘©, no!” I replied, meekly. “ When I meet with gen-
tlemen who are posted up, as you are, sir, I conceive it to be
useless to attempt to urge them to possess themselves of this
stock ; because I am always satisfied, at first sight, what my
customer is. And I govern myself accordingly. I will
take you out to my placé, directly. My carriage is in
town, and we’ll ride out together. You can see it,— but
you say you don’t want to purchase any ? ”

“No, no — that’s not my object, at all. Still, I like to
look at the humbugs, any way.”

I was as well satisfied that this man knew very little of
what he thus boldly talked of, as I also was that he had
come all the way from Philadelphia purposely to buy some
Chinese fowls. But I gave him no hint of this suspicion ;
and we arrived, an hour afterwards, at my residence in
Melrose.

He examined my fowls carefully; went through all the
coops and houses, and finally we entered the ‘“green-house”
where the selected animals were kept. As soon as he saw
these birds, J saw that he was ‘a goner.”’

He denounced the whole race,as he passed along; but
when we entered this well-appointed place, he stopped.

THE HEN FEVER. 185

These were very respectable, and he would n’t mind having
a few of these, he said.

“What do you get for such as these ?”’ he inquired.

‘Twenty-five dollars each,” I replied, ‘‘ when I sell
them. But they’re all alike. You know it as well as I
do. They're worth no such money. These fowls are well-
grown, and are in good condition; but five or six shillings
each is their full read value. Still, you know when ‘ the
children cry for them,’ why, we get a little more for
them.”

“Yes; but twenty-five dcllars is a thundering hum, any-
how, Burnum! I can’t go ¢hat/ You mustn’t think df.
getting no such price as that out of me, you see; ’cause
you know that J know what all this bosh means. I’d like
that cock and those three big hens,’ he added, pointing to
four of my “best” birds. ‘‘ That is,’ he continued, “if
T could have them at anything like a fair rate.”

“My dear sir,” I responded; ‘“ you don’t want any
such hum as this imposed upon you. You know, evidently,
what all this kind of thing signifies. But, atthe same time,
you see I can get this price, and do get it every day in the
week, out of the ‘flats’ that you have been speaking of.
I don’t sell any of these things to gentlemen, who know, as
you do, what they are, you see.”

‘Yes, yes!” continued the stranger; ‘I know; I see.
I comprehend you, exastly — precisely, But I should

’ 16*

°

186 THE HISTORY OF

like them four fowls. What.’s the lowest price you'll
name for them ?”’

“‘T never have but one price, sir,” I replied. “ These
fowls I keep here for show-birds. They are my ‘sign,’
you perceive— my models. The younger stock, that you
have seen outside, are bred from these; and thus I am
enabled to show gentlemen, when they come here, what the
others will be” — (perhaps, I might have added; but I
did n’t).

This gentleman remained half an hour at my house, and
we talked the whole subject over, at our leisure. I agreed
with him in every proposition that he advanced, and he
finally left me with the assurance that I had been traduced
villanously. He really expected to meet with a regular
sharper when he encountered me; but he was satisfied, if
there was a gentleman and an honest poultry-breeder in
New England, J was that fortunate individual !

I did not dispute even this assurance on his part. And
when he left, J had one hundred dollars of his money, and
he took away with him four of my “splendid” pure-bred
Grey Shanghaes, which I sent to the cars with him when he
bade me good-day. °

This was but a single sample of the real humbugs that
presented themselves to us, from time to time, all of whom
were certain to inform us that they were “thoroughly
acquainted’ ’ with the entire details of the business-;--all of

td

THE HEN FEVER. 187

whom had been through the routine, and “knew every rope
in the ship;” none of whom were affected with the
“fever” (so they always declared), and not one of whom
believed, while they were thus striving to pull wool over
the eyes of others, that they were all the time being
‘* shaken down” without mercy !

This was the very class of men who, in the later days
of the malady, assisted most to keep up the delusion, and to
aid in carrying on the hum of the trade. To be sure,
the keepers of agricultural warehouses talked, and told big
stories to their poor customers, who would buy eggs and
chickens of them, for a while, at round prices ; true, most of
the agricultural papers strove from week to week to keep
up the deceit, after the editors or proprietors found their
yards over-stocked with this species of property, for which
they had originally paid me (or somebody else) roundly,
and which they ‘couldn't afford to lose,’ though they
knew it to be valueless! True, the hen-men themselves
kept their advertising and the big stories of their success
constantly before ‘‘the people,” whom they gulled from
day today. But no portion of the community did more

,to ‘thelp the cause along’ than did this self-sufficient,
learned, know-nothing, thin-skinned class of ‘‘ wise-acres,’’
who never chanced to make much more than a considerable
out of the writer of this paragraph —I think !

Among this well-informed (?) set of men there was

188 THE HISTORY OF

a “John Bull” who was connected in some way with
a Boston weekly, which was nominally called an agri-
cultural sheet, but which for several years was filled
with articles upon the subject of “the equality of the
sexes.”

His name was Pudder, or Pucker, or Padder, as
nearly as I remember. From the commencement of
this fever he was sorely affected, and his articles upon
the merits of the different breeds of fowls he raised
were very learned and instructive! He sold eggs for
three, four, or five dollars a dozen, for a few weeks; but, as
they didn’t hatch, his game was soon blocked. Still, he
stuck to this hum with the obstinacy of a ‘‘ bluenose ;”’ and
his readers were indebted to his advice for possessing them-
selves of the most worthless mass of trash (in the shape
of poultry) that ever cursed the premises of amateur.
His lauded ‘“ Plymouth Rocks,” his “‘ Fawn-colored Dork-
ings,”’ his ‘ Italians,” his “Drab Shanghaes,” etc., sold,
however; and the poor devils who read the paper, and
-who purchased this stuff, lived (like a good many others)
to realize, to their hearts’ content, after paying this fellow
for being thus humbugged, the truth of the old adage that
“the fool and his money is soon parted.”

Still, Podder was useful—in his way — in the hen-
trade. The operations of such ignorant and wilful huck-
sters had the effect of opening the eyes of those who

THE HEN FEVER. 189

desired to »btain good stock, and who were willing to
pay for it. And after they had been thus fleeced,
they became cautious, and procured their poultry only of
“honorable and _ responsible breeders (like myself), who
imported and bred nothing but known pure stock.

As late as in January, 1855, a western agricultural
sheet alludes to the flaming advertisement of an old hand
in this traffic, and says: ‘(It is known to all who know
anything about poultry that Mr. G-
teur breeder for about forty years, and is undoubtedly

has been an ama-

better ‘posted,’ in reference to domestic and fancy fowls,
than any other man in America; and, beside this, he is an
honest man, and has no ‘axe to grind.’ He has raised fowls,
heretofore, solely for his own amusement ; but now he
proposes to accommodate the public by disposing of some of
them.”

This man is my “ fat friend ” in Connecticut,— who has
bred and bought and sold as much ¢rasf, in the past ten
years, as the best (or the worst) of us. Friend Brown, we
could tell you a story worth two of yours, on this point!
But — we forbear.

CHAPTER XXVIII.
"‘BARNUM IN THE FIELD.

THe prince of showmen ‘was suddenly developed as a
‘hen-man’?! Mr. Barnum was seized, one morning, with
violent spasms, and, upon finding himself safely within the
friendly shelter of ‘Iranistan,”’ his physicians were duly
consulted, who examined his case critically, and reported
-that the disease lay chiefly in the head of their patient —
who, it was subsequently ascertained, was suffering from a
severe attack of hen fever.

‘Such was the violence of the demonstrations in this gen-
tleman’s case, however, and so fearful were the indications
with him, even during the incipient stages of the affection,
that his friends feared that Phineas T. had really contracted
his “ never-get-over.” But, upon being informed (as I
was, soon afterwards) of this case, and questioned as to his
probable eventual recovery, I unhesitatingly gave it as my
opinion that his friends might rest assured the humbug that
covld kill him was yet to be discovered; and that, so far
as he was personally concerned, I entertained no sort of

THE HISTORY OF THE HEN FEVER. 191

doubt that ‘he would feel much better when it was done
aching.” (A prediction which, I have no question, has
been accurately fulfilled, ere this.)

The man who could succeed, as he had, with no-haired
horses, gutta-percha mermaids, fat babies, etc., and who had
gone into and out of fire-annihilators, prepared mastodons,
illustrated newspapers, copper mines, defunct crystal pal-
aces, and the like, unscathed, would scarcely be jeopardized
by an attack of the prevailing malady of the day, however
violently it might exhibit itself in his case. And so there
was hope for Phineas, though his symptoms were really
alarming.

My friend took the very best possible means for alleviat-
ing the virulence of his attack ; and, looking about him for
the largéest-sized humbug known in the trade, he alighted
upon a two-hundred-and-forty-pound Connecticut joker,
who quickly offered to inform him how he could find relief.

“« How shall Ido it, John?’ exclaimed Phineas, as his
fat friend made his appearance.

‘¢ Heesiest thing ‘in life,” responded John ; ‘hall you ’ave
to do is to put yer ’and in yer pocket.”

“So?” said Phineas, putting his fist gently out of
sight.

‘““No—you aren’t deep enough down yet,” replied
John. ‘Go down deeper. That’s better,— that Il do.”

“ How much Il it cost ?? queried Phineas.

192 THE HISTORY OF

“Carn’t say,” responded John. ‘You’re pooty bad.
There’s nuth’n’ in ¢his country that ’ll cure you. Hi’ll go
hout to Hingland, if you say so, and hi can git somethin’
there that ll ’elp you. It ar’n’t to be ’ad in Ameriky,
though.”

“Sho!” exclaimed Barnum; “you don’t say so! Do
you think, John, that we could find something in England
that would knock ’em, here?”’ :

“Nothing else,” replied John. ‘ Hi know where they
keep ’em.’”’ (John was raised in Great Britain.)

‘But, John,” persisted Phineas, “there’s Burnham,
you know, of Boston. They say he has the best poultry in
the world; and I’ve no doubt of it, between you and I.”’

“Fudge!” exclaimed John; ‘“‘ Burn’am’s a very clever
fellow, hi’ve no manner o’ doubt, and hi won’t say nuth’n’
ag’inst-’im; but ’ee’s the wust ’umbug you ever see, since
you ’ad breath. ’Ee don’t know the dif’rence ’tween a
Shanghi and a Cochin-Chiny —an’ never did. ’He’s a
hum, ’is Burn’am. Don’t go near ‘2m, unless you want
the skin shaved hoff o’ yer knuckles, clean.”

“Well, John,” said the show-man, ‘‘something must be
done. I’ve got the fever, bad, I’m afraid, as you suggest;
and it must be fed. What can you do for me?”

John thought the matter over, and it was finally agreed, as
there were no good fowls in America (according to John’s
notions), that he should be deputized by Phineas to proceed

THE HEN FEVER. 198

to ‘‘Hingland,” and procure some genuine (that is, pure)
stock, for the coops at Iranistan, at the liberal show-man’s
expense! A capital recipe, this, for Barnum’s disease, as
well as for John’s own benefit.

But Phineas isn’t taken down easy, though they do occa-
sionally “fetch him.” And so he hesitated. He thought
the matter over a while, and finally said to his friend, one
day,

“ John, I’ve got it!”

“?Ave you?” says John.

“Yes, I’ve got it. You know I’ve something in my
head besides grey hairs, John.”

‘“‘ Hi’ve no manner o’ doubt o’ that,” replied John.

“Well, I have thought this thing over, and I have
determined to see, first, what there is in America, before I
send you out to Hurope.”’

‘Tt ll take you a long time to do that,” said John, ‘‘and
you’d’ave to travel a great w’ile to see all the poultry
we ’ve ’ere.””

“ T won’t travel at all,’’ said Phineas.

““No? As ’ow, then?” inquired John.

“T’ll get up a show—a poultry exhibition —on a
grand scale, and it shall come off at my Museum, at New
York. Everybody ’ll come, of course; and we can see
what there is, buy what I want from the best of ’em, and
make our selections as we may fancy; you shall go out

17

194 THE HISTORY OF

afterwards to England, and obtain for me what? .u’t get
here, you see.”

‘* Capital ! — hexellent! ” responded John.

“And I’’ll call it the — the — what?” said Barnum,
stopping for an appropriate title to this anticipated
exhibition.

“‘T donno,” said John, puzzled.

‘‘ Well — then — the National Show,” continued Phin-
eas. ‘“‘How’ll that do? The first exhibition. of the
‘National Poultry Society.’ I think that’s good. You
see that includes all quarters of the country; and we shall
know no north, no south, no east, no west! A quarter
admission — Museum included — capital ! ”’

“ Yes—just ¢he thing!” chimed in his friend. Anc.
shortly afterwards advertisements and circulars found their
way into the hands of all the hen-men in the country, who
were thus invited to visit New York, in February, 1854,
to contribute to the grand show of the ‘‘ National Poultry
Society,’’ of which P. T. Barnum, Esq., was President.

A long string of names was attached to this call, and
the list of ‘‘ Managers’? embraced one or more representa-
tives from every State in the Union —my own humble name
appearing among the Vice-presidents for Massachusetts.

The whole thing was clearly one of Barnum’s dodges to
fill his Museum for a few days; and probably not a single
individual except himself had any knowledge of the forma-

THE HEN FEVER. 195

tion or existence of any such society as this, of which he
thus nominally appeared to be the presiding officer. At any
rate, after diligent inquiry, I could never ascertain that
anybody knew anything about any such an association,
except himself.

However, this was a matter of no sort of consequence, of
course. The Fitchburg Dépdét Show, in Boston, was a sim-
ilar affair; and I now joined in this exhibition without
asking unnecessary questions,—because I saw that there
was fun ahead, and that J could make an honest penny out
of it, whether Barnum did or not.

Every one now put his best foot foremost; and, as this
fair approached, Shanghaes were converted into Cochin-
Chinas (by the knowing ones), by the removal of the
feathers from the legs; the mongrels were made “feathered-
legged Bother’ems, by the free use of gum-tragacanth and
down; the long-tailed fowls were deprived of all super-
fluous plumes, through the aid of the pincers; and what
this last process did not satisfactorily effect, the application
of the shears completed (see engraving!); until, at last,
the unlucky bipeds, whom nature had originally supplied
with decent caudal appendages, were reduced to that re-
quisite state of brevity, astern, which the mode or the taste
of the day demanded. And, at length, all was ready for
the great ‘‘ National Show” in New York city.

As it turned out, the whole thing (though an utter sham

196

THE HISTORY OF

PREPARING FOR THE FOWL SHOW. — (See page 195.)

THE HEN FEVER. 197

as regarded its being a society matter) proved to have been
well conceived, and, from beginning to end, was admirably
well carried out. Mr. Barnum did his part most creditably
at this first show in New York, and the experiment was
eminently successful.

The birds were afforded excellent care, and an immense
quantity of good specimens found their way to the Museum
at the appointed time. For a week, notwithstanding the
very dull weather, the great rooms of the American Museum
on Broadway were thronged with visitors ; and Barnum was
in high glee at the entire success of his undertaking.

Not content with one week’s show of the fowls, Barnum
proposed that it should be continued for six days longer ;
and the crowd continued to visit this exhibition for another
week, and to pour in with their friends, their wives, their
children, and their quarters, to the great edification and
satisfaction of the proprietor of the show, and the “ Presi-
dent ” of the ‘‘ National Poultry Society.”

I was there, with a goodly quantity of my ‘‘ rare” and
“ unexceptionable ’’ and ‘‘pure-bred”’ fowls, which were
greatly admired by the thousands of lookers-on, who flocked
to this extraordinary exhibition. It was really astonishing
(to me, at least) what very fine birds I had at this show.

And, “may be,”’ fowls did n’t seld there! If I remem-
ber rightly, ‘the people” were round, on that occasion.
And so was I!

17*

CHAPTER XXIX.

FIRST ‘NATIONAL’? POULTRY-SHOW IN NEW YORK.

WHETHER it was because Barnum had taken this enter-
prise in hand, whether it was because it was known that my
“superior” stock was to be seen at the Museum, or whether
it was because the intrepid ‘‘ Fanny Fern” had promised -to
visit the show, I cannot say ; but one thing was certain,—
such a gathering of ‘‘the people” was seldom witnessed,
even in busy, driving, sight-seeing New York, as that
which crowded the great rooms of Barnum’s establishment
on the occasion of the first exhibition of the so-called “‘ Na-
tional Poultry Society.”

‘ All the world’ was there, with his wife and babies,
and nieces and nephews. The belle and the beau, the mer-
chant and the mechanic, the lawyer and the parson, the rich
and the poor, old and young, grave and gay,— all were in
attendance upon this extraordinary display of cockadoodle-
dom ; and Barnum —the indefatigable, the enterprising,
the determined, the incomparable Barnum — was in his
glory, a8 the quarters were piled up at the counter of the.

THE HISTORY OF THE HEN FEVER. 199

ticket-office, and ‘‘the people” wedged their way up the
crowded stairs and aisles of his Museum.

The great show-man was as busy as His Satanic Majesty
is vulgarly supposed to be in a snow-storm! Now here,
now there ; up stairs, down stairs; in the halls, in the
lobbies ; busy with John, button-holing the “‘ committees,”’
from morning till night. All smiles, all good-nature, all
exertion to please the throngs of visitors who constantly
jammed their way about the building. And, to say that
everything about this undertaking (so far as he was person-
ally conterned) was not managed with tact and good judg-
ment, as well as complete propriety and liberality, would
be to state what was untrue. Mr. Barnum rarely does
anything by halves; and to him, in this instance, belongs
the credit of getting up, and carrying through successfully,
the very best show of poultry ever seen in America,—
beyond all comparison.

In due season I selected from my then somewhat reduced
stock sixty specimens of the Shanghae tribe of fowls, which,
with some twenty samples of choice Madagascar Rabbits, I
forwarded (in charge of my own agent) to this long-talked-
of show.

The person whom I employed to look after my stock —
(for I had long since got to be ‘‘a gentleman,”’ and could n’t
attend to such trifling matters, personally)— the man who
went with it to this exhibition was thoroughly posted up in

200 THE HISTORY OF

his ‘‘ profession,” and knew a hawk from a handsaw, as
well as a Shanghae from a Cochin-China. And when he
started for New York with my contributions, I enjoined it
upon him to bear in mind, under ai/ circumstances, that
the gentleman he represented had the only pure-bred
poultry in America, any way. To which he replied,
briefly,

“Is that all? I knew that before.”

I said, “John, you’re a brick. A faced-brick. A hard-
faced-brick. You ’ll do.”

John winked, and left me, with the understanding that,
as soon as he should have time to look around the show, he
would telegraph me at Boston what the prospect was, com-
paratively. I felt quite sure that my fowls would take all
the premiums, for they always had done so before ; and my
“¢ pure-bred”’ stock grew better and better every year!

I did not go to the show for a day or two after my
agent left; and, on the morning succeeding the opening, I
received from him the following brief but expressive tele-
graphic dispatch :

“G. P. Burnuam, Boston.
“¢ Arrived safe; thought we’d got ’em, sure. We have
— over the left. You are nowhar ! B.”

Here was a precious fix, to be sure! For five years, I
had carried away the palm at every exhibition where my

THE HEN FEVER. 201

‘‘splendid” and deservedly ‘unrivalled ” samples had been
put in competition with the stock of others. And now, at
the first great national exhibition, where everybody would
of course be present (and where the first cages that would
be looked for, or looked into, must be those of Mr. Burn-
ham, the breeder of the only original ‘ pure’’-blooded
poultry in the country), according to my agent’s dispatch
I was nowhar !

This dispatch reached me at noon, and on the following
morning I was in New York. I looked about the several
apartments in the Museum, and satisfied myself who had
the best fowls there, very quickly. As it happened, they
were not inside of my cages, by a long mark !

Yet ‘the people’? crowded around my showy coops, for
which my agent had secured an advantageous position, and
in displaying them (if I remember aright) he lost no oppor-
tunity in saying just enough (and no more) to the throng
who passed and admired their beautiful proportions, their
great size, and splendid colors. There were not a few choice
birds scattered about the rooms,— under the benches, or in
the far-off corners,— which my eye fell upon, which my
agent subsequently purchased at very modest prices, and
which found their way, somehow, into my coops.

“The people” now stared with more earnestness than
ever. By the evening of the second day, my “‘ pure-bred”
stock did look remarkably well! And when the “‘commit-

202 THE HISTORY OF

tee”? came round, at last, I found myself the recipient of
several of the leading premiums, for my ‘ magnificent,”
“superb” and “extraordinary” contributions, again. And
now commenced the fun, once more, in earnest.

Everything that I sent to New York was quickly bought
up at enormous prices. Fifty,-eighty, a hundred, a hun-
dred and twenty-five dollars per trio, was willingly paid my
agent for the rare and incomparable fowls I exhibited there.
““The people” were literally mad on the subject; and I
had n’t half enough to supply my customers with, ‘at figures
that astonished even my ideas of prices,— which, by the
way, were not easily disturbed !

During this exhibition, Mr. Barnum announced that a
* conversational ”’ gathering would be held, one day, in the
lecture-room of his Museum; whither the throng were in-
vited to repair, at last, to talk over matters pertaining to
the welfare of the trade generally, and the hen-humbug
more particularly.

A rush was directly made for this hall, which was
quickly filled up by the multitude, who now stood or sat,
with gaping mouths and staring eyes, in readiness to be
further bamboozled by the managers of this National
“‘Society,”’ who duly paraded themselves upon the platform,
and commenced to show themselves up for the edification
of the uninitiated, and to the great amusement of those who
had “been there’’ before them.

THE HEN FEVER. 208

Mr. Barnum presided, but with that grace and modesty
and extreme diffidence for which he is so noted. The en-
thusiasm of the occasion soon reached concert-pitch, how-
ever, and everybody on the stage, in the parquette, and
around the gallery, desired to relieve themselves of the
pent-up patriotism that rioted in their bosoms; and all
desired to be heard at the same time.

Cries of ‘‘ Barnum! Barnum!’ ‘‘ Where’s Bennett?”
“Speech from Burnham!” ‘ Down in front!” “Give
’emachance!’’ ‘Hear the president ! — there he is!”
“Hurra for the Bother’ems!” &c. &c., rang from the
lungs of the crowd. And finally order was restored, and
Mr. Barnum approached the front of the stage, to deliver
himself of ‘feelings that could be fancied, not described,”
amid the cheers and shouts of that crazy multitude.

CHAPTER XXX.
BARNUM’S INNATE DIFFIDENCE.

As soon as the vociferous cheering had subsided, Mr.
Barnum reached the foot-lights, and smiled beneficently
upon the crowd before him.

“LADIES AND GENTLEMEN,’’ said the show-man, mod-
estly, ‘‘ unaccustomed as I am to public speaking, you will
pardon me, imprimis, for hinting at the extreme diffidence
with which I now rise to address you; and I am surf that,
notwithstanding the commendable zeal that now animates
this enlightened audience, you will sympathize with me in
the midst of the embarrassments under which you must
readily perceive J am laboring, and extend to the speaker
your lenity (all unused, as you are aware he is, to this sort
of scene), while he ventures upon a few very brief remarks
on the interesting and laudably-exciting topic that has
brought us together here, on this happy occasion.”

_This modest appeal brought down the house, of course;
and the bashful Mr. B., after clearing his throat, was
requested by the crowd to ‘Go on, Barnum! Proceed—
put ’er through !”’

THE HISTORY OF THE HEN FEVER. 205

‘The hen fever,’’ continued Mr. B——, ‘‘is but just begun
to be realized, ladies and gentlemen, among us.” (Barnum
had been attacked by the malady only a few weeks previous-
ly, and hadn’t “heard from the back counties” then !)
‘This first exhibition of the National Poultry Society, my
friends, is ample evidence in support of this statement.
Was there ever such a show seen, or heard of, ladies and
gentlemen, as this which you are now the witnesses of?
Never! Yet, I repeat it, this is but the commencement.
The enthusiasm which has attended upon this exhibition, the
feelings that have been stirred up by this before unheard-of
display, the people of every grade in society that come for-
ward here in its support, the zeal which animates the bosoms
of the thousands upon thousands who have attended it, and
the names of the men connected with its origin and present
patronage, afford ample evidence in support of my assertions,
that the fire has but just begun — just begun to burn, fairly,
ladies and gentlemen!’ (‘‘ That ’s.a fact,’ was the ready
response of a young gentleman who had just paid my
agent over three hundred dollars for a few samples of niy
“choice” chickens; the first he ever owned !)

“J want to say a few words,” remarked a stranger,
under the gallery, at this point. But he was requested by
the chairman to “ hold in!’’ until Mr. Barnum concluded.
After considerable urging, this anxious man was prevailed

18

208 THE HISTORY DF

upon to sit down; though he was evidently “full to burst
ing,” with his enthusiastic emotions.

».“ We have a good deal to learn yet, gentlemen,” con-
tinued Barnum (and that was truthful, at any rate!) ‘We
have much to learn; but we know enough to spur us on to
acquire more. More knowledge, more experience, more
fowls. We have n’t enough — we don’t know enough, yet
I am greatly rejoiced at the prospects, to-day, and with tho
entire success of this enterprise, here!”? (And well he
might be.) ‘I have freely given my time and humble
talents to its consummation, and we have triumphed! We,
the people, the men who have the heart and the pluck to
undertake and carry through this sort of thing. There ’s
no hum in ¢his, gentlemen! None, whatever. How can
there be? We see this thing before our very eyes. It isa
tangible, living, breathing, walking, crowing” (and he
might have added eating /) ‘‘ reality, ladies and gentlemen.
There can be no humbug in anything of this sort; because
we can take hold upon it, handle it; view it with our eyes
open. A humbug is but an unexplained or half-concluded
fact. This is a self-evident,.clearly-defined fact —

* A thing that 7s — and to be blessed ! *

“ And when you, or I, can take a crower in our hands that

will weigh twelve or fourteen or fifteen pounds,— when we:
can see and feel him,— can there, by any possibility, be

humbug in it?”

THE HEN FEVER: 207

“ No-—no —no!” shouted the crowd; the ladies kindly
joining in the decisive negative given to this forcible appeal.

‘‘Then, I repeat it, we are but just in the beginning of
the commencement of this new and promising era. The fire
has just begun to burn, and to illumine the world; and, as
I said before (or intended to say), it is not to be subdued !
It is a mighty conflagration, which assails everybody at this
moment, and is now enveloping all classes of the community,
from the highest to the lowest! This land is in a blaze!
In a threatening, exciting, violent, whirling, astounding
blaze, gentlemen — and no opposition or invention can put
it out!” (‘‘ Fetch on your fire-’nihilators, then!”’ shouted
a vicious wag, from the gallery.)

‘« We don’t want to put it out,” continued Mr. Barnum,
growing warmer as the fire of his zeal in this cause contin-
ued to glow within him; “we have no wish to put it out.
Let it burn! Let it come! Let it conflagrate! We love
it— you love it—JZ love it—it’s one of the things we
admire to think of, and speak of, and read of, and pay for,
and help to keep alive here, and everywhere, and elsewhere!
Our country is big enough; we have millions of broad acres,
miles on miles of fertile fields, and cords of maize and grain
that cannot be used or disposed of, unless it be devoted to
the uses and benefits of these beautiful birds, sometimes so
cavalierly spoken of by their enemies, but the value of which
TZ know, and most of you, gentlemen, know how to appre-

208 THE HISTORY OF

ciate!’’ (Apt lause, and cries of “‘ Go it, old hoss! You “ll
be a capital customer for some of the hen-men to pick up!
Go it, Barnum !”)

“J did not rise, gentlemen,” continued the speaker,
“with any idea of telling you anything new. Iam but an
humble coadjutor with you in this pleasing and innocent
undertaking. I can see, as you can, also, the importance
of this subject” (he did n’t say what ‘‘ subject”), ‘and I
trust that we may go on, and increase, and multiply domestic
fowls and customers, in a ratio commensurate with the rapid-
ly increasing throbs of the public pulse— which is now
beating only at 2.40, and which must soon reach a 2.10
pace, if nothing breaks!” (‘‘Hurra! MHurra!” yelled
the boys; ‘‘ that’s a good ’un!”) And the President sat
down, blushing, amid the uproarious applause that followed
his remarks.

As soon as order was comparatively restored, other gen-
tlemen, whom the President introduced as “ honorable,”
and ‘‘talented,”’ and “professional,” and “ influential,”
took the rostrum, and “followed suit” upon Barnum’s
lead.

_ A vote of thanks was finally passed to Mr. Barnum fox
his services, and the sacrifices he had, made im behalf of the
“ Society ;”? another to the’ ‘‘orator” of the day (whose
name I have now forgotten), formerly a member of Con-
gress, I believe; another similar vote to the Secretary, to

THE HEN FEVER. 209

whom, also, a plated jug was subsequently presented; a
vote to Mr. Burnham, of Boston, for his speech and his
‘‘ magnificent ” contributions of pure-bred stock; a vote
condemning everybody who had or should thenceforward
nickname fowls; a vote of condolence and sympathy with
Jolin Giles, because none of his pure Black Spanish fowls
were in the exhibition; a vote to Porter, of the New York
Spirit of the Times, for his disinterested notices of the
show ; another to Greeley, of the Tribune, who had n’t time
to visit it; another to pay the bills of the ‘‘ Committees ”’
at the Astor House (minus the champagne charges!) ;
another to Dr. Bennett, for not being present at this show;
another endorsing the claims of patent pill-venders and
cross-grained bee-hive makers; another to Frank Pierce,
for the allusions in his inaugural to the ‘‘ march of prog-
ress” in our land, which of course included Shanghae-ism ;
another to Caleb Cushing (an honorary member), who was
lauded as the most thoroughly graceless humbug known to
the ‘‘national” society ; another endorsing the collector and
postmaster ef Boston as disinterested democrats; another
that my “ Grey Shanghaes ”’ were evidently the only full-
blooded fowls exhibited at the American Museum on this
occasion; and numerous other resolves were duly “‘ voted,”
of which no note was taken at the time.

While this bosh was transpiring, I sent to Boston for
some fifty pairs more of my “superb” specimens of Shang.

18%

210 THE HISTORY OF

haes and Cochins, all of which were disposed of during the
second week of this show, at curiously “ruinous” rates.
And at the close of the exhibition my agent had taken
very nearly three thousand dollars for the “‘ pure” Shang-
haes, and Cochins, and Greys, he had sold there for my
account !

T trust that every one was as well satisfied with the re-
sults of this first exhibition of the ‘‘ National Poultry.
Society” as I was. It is the last show J shall ever attend.
And haying invariably taken the lead, from the beginning
up to this trial, I retired, content with the self-assurance
that I had made all I could make out of this sort of thing,
and that the field now legitimately belonged to my juniors
in the profession. May success attend them !

At the close of the exhibition, my friend Barnum con-
gratulated me.

“They tell me you’ve done well, Burnham,” said my
friend, cheerfully. ‘I’m glad of it. And, since you’ve
made it so handsomely, suppose you leave me a couple of
your best Fancy Rabbits, yonder; I’ll add them to the
‘ Happy Family.’ ”

“Certainly,” I replied. ‘ With great pleasure, B——.
And, since you have done so capitally with this show, you
shall give me a quarter of your profits on the tickets sold.
Here — take the rabbits ! ””

“ A-hem!” said Barnum. ‘‘No—no. It’s no mat-

THE HEN FEVER. 211

ter. You need n’t — no— we.won’t say anything about it.
It’s all right. You’lldo. You can run alone, I guess.
I believe I don’t spell my name right! Good-by — good-
by.”

I have n’t seen friend Barnum since.

At this exhibition of poultry I managed to show a pair
of my pure-bred Suffolk pigs, too, which did not set me
back any. I took numerous orders for these animals, and I
have given on page 174 what passes for-a likeness of a
fancy ‘‘ Shanghae ” fowl, such as we ‘read of in the news-
papers,” and which everybody, during the last five years,
imagined he was buying, when he ordered ‘‘ such,” after
seeing the “' pictur’.”’

In this class of illustration, there was: quite as much
deceit and chicanery practised, commonly, as in any part of
the general system of the humbug. The uninitiated saw
the well-rounded forms of the huge fowls or hogs he sought,
in his weekly agricultural journal, from time to time; and,
through the same channel, he met with ‘‘ portraits,” repre-
sented to have had originals at some time or other, and
which were said to be in the possession of this or that
breeder, who ‘‘had been induced, after earnest solicitation,
to part, with a very few choice samples,” out of such imag-
inary. stock. With the swine, the thicker the ham, the
smaller the feet, the shorter the nose, and the thinner the

212 THE HISTORY OF THE HEN FEVER.

hair, the better and the purer blooded pig you got, for
instance !

The following is a sample of this kind of guy, which has
had its run in the past three years, and upon which tens of~
thousands of dollars have been squandered by enthusiastic
admirers of these bloated bladders of lard. This is sup-
posed to be a likeness of the ‘‘ genuine ”

SUFFOLK PIG.

The good old lady replied, when asked if she loved the
Lord, ‘I donno much about him, but I hain’t nothin’ agin
him!” So I affirm in reference to this hog. But one thing
I may be permitted to remark in this. connection; to wit,
that the more pure Suffolk pigs there are, the less corn
you find round. That’s all!

CHAPTER XXXI.
A SUPPRESSED SPEECH.

Tue following remarks, on the occasion referred to, were
neither published at the time, nor would the ‘‘ Committee on
Printing” admit them into the official report of the proceed-
ings of this national show. For what reason, I am utterly
unable to determine. These were the author’s sentiments,
and I give the speech a place here, because I have no idea
of being thus “‘ headed”? by my colleagues in that enter-
prise. This speech was delivered by the Young ’Un “ with
emphasis and discretion ;’’ but the managers suppressed it.
I now submit it, in the hope that it will be duly appreciated.
When called upon, I said, as modestly and as gracefully as
I knew how:

“Mr. Prestpent: Vox populi, vor Dei! The people
assembled within the classic and well-painted walls of your
American Museum call upon me for a few words of encour-
agement; and, while I assure you I find myself totally
unprepared to speak (though my present address has been

214 THE HISTORY OF

written some four weeks), I cheerfully respond to the flat-
tering demonstration that greets me on this electrifying
occasion.” (Applause, and waving of hats and handker-
chiefs.)

‘‘Tam but an humble disciple in this profession, Mr.
President, and know very little of the deceit and chi-
canery that some persons charge others with practising in
the ramifications of the hen-trade; and, although it has
been said that ‘what I don’t know about this part of the
business would n’t be worth much to anybody,’ yet I here
solemnly disclaim any superhuman or supernatural knowl-
edge of the tricks of this laudable and highly respectable
calling.” (Cries of “Good, good! You’re an injured
man! Go on!’’)

‘¢ For six years, Mr. President, I have carefully watched
the progress of this disease, and it really warms the recesses
of my heart to find myself surrounded, as I do to-day, by
the highly honorable and respectable throng of gentlemen
who now grace this rostrum,— yourself, Mr. President,
prominent among this galaxy of talent, education, genius,
morality, and thrift!’’ (Immense applause, during which
the speaker removed his outside coat.)

“The day is auspicious, Mr. Barnum,—I beg pardon —
Mr. President. The spirit of liberty,— of American lib-
erty,— sir, is abroad! To be sure, our valued friends who.
pretend to Know Nothing (and whose pretensions none of

THE HEN FEVER. 215

us here, I think, will gainsay) have commenced an on-
slaught upon almost everything of foreign extraction ; but
they kindly permit us to import Chinese fowds, and allow
us to breed them — for the present, at least — without inter-
ruption; for which I trust they may receive a unanimous vote
of thanks from this American National Poultry Society.”
(‘‘ Yes, yes!” followed this allusion, with hearty cheers.)
“T repeat it, sir,— the times are auspicious. Money is
a drug in the market, plainly. The patronage bestowed
upon this show (in which, Mr. President, Iam sure your
native modesty and national patriotism cannot suffer you to
feel the slightest personal interest) is evidence of this fact.
The prices paid here, in 1854, for domestic fowls — though
so clearly below their actual value !— supports this assertion :
and your own entire lack of backwardness in coming for-
ward to assume the risk and responsibility of the expenses
of this exhibition is the crowning proof that largent is
plenty — somewhere, at least. I have no disposition, Mr.
President,— far be it from me— Heaven forbid that I
should attempt—to offer one word of flattery, that you
might, by any possibility, appropriate personally. No, sir,
—TIam no such man! But, if ever there was an individual
whose pure-bred disinterestedness, whose incomparable gen-
erosity, whose astonishing sacrifice of self, stuck out like a
sore thumb, these attributes have now been evinced, beyond
the shadow of a shade of question, on this exhilarating occa-

216 THE HISTORY OF

sion, through the astounding liberality of a gentleman, the
initials of whose name are Finnyous Tee Barman!”
(Immense applause, during which the Young’ Un laid aside
his dress-coat, and took off his cravat,— while the President,
with both hands over his face, sat overpowered with his
emotions. ) :

‘Mr. President, I am no clap-trap orator. I shall. say
what I haye to say, sir, to-day, without any hope or aim
towards future reward. To be sure, I. have. the originals
of the finest-blooded fowls in the land, and nobody disputes
it; and I have now a fine lot here to dispose of; but this is
not the time or place to allude to this matter; and I will
only say that I do not charge so much for them as many
breeders do, while, at the same time, mine are very much
finer and purer than anybody else’s, as can readily be seen
upon examining the contents of my cages, in the first room
below this hall, on the right-hand side as you enter the
building. The people, sir, are in search of information on
this interesting subject ; and I will only add, gentlemen,—
call as you pass out, and judge for yourselves.” (Loud
cries of ‘‘ We will! — we will!’ ‘‘That’strue!”? “ That’s
a fact!’ ‘Your fame is firmly established!’’) .

‘‘Mr. President, I have been too long a resident of
these United States—I am too old a citizen of this
enlightened country — to be ignorant of the true character
of the American people. J am a Yankee, sir! My father

THE HEN FEVER. 217

was a Yankee, and my grandfather (if I ever hud one, sir),
before him. ‘The people’ know what they are about.
You cannot deceive ¢hem, sir, as you and I well know.
When they undertake a thing, it must go forward. There’s
no stopping them, sir. They enter into any enterprise that
promises so much of universal success to the whole country
as does this business of poultry-raising, with a rush, sir !
And they carry out their objects,— nil disperandum hic
jacit est glorit mundi morning, sir,—as the poet re-
marks.’ (Hurra! Hurra! ‘Three cheers for Burn-
ham,” suggested the President, which were given with a
will; and during which the speaker removed his vest and
braces,— carefully securing his watch, however, at the
same time. )

“We are not here to be humbugged, sir, nor do we
aspire to humbug anybody, at this exhibition ;— a perform-
ance which would be rather difficult to effect, in my humble
judgment, even if we did! We come here to show the
people what has been done, what is now doing, and what
may be done again, sir, by our friends here, all of them
and any of them, who choose to undertake the pleasing and
delightful task of rearing pure-bred fowls. And, should
there now be within the sound of my voice any lady or
gentleman who has never seen the tiny Shanghae chick as
it emerged from its delicate prison-shell and leaped forth
into liberty and the glorious sunlight,— should any one of

19

218 THE HISTORY OF

my listeners never have enjoyed the dulcet tone of that
chicken’s tender ‘peep,’— if any of you are strangers to
the habits and beauties and innocence of these rare but
graceful birds,— if you have never listened to the melody
of their musical crow, from youth to green old age,— I will
only say, procure some of the genuine specimens, and there
is much of joy and happiness yet in store for youyselves,
your wives, your children, or your friends, — if you chance
to have any.” (Applause, and marked sensation.)

‘Mr. President, I am no speech-maker. Had I, for one
moment, supposed that J should have been thought of, by
this talented and well-informed audience, I should not have
been present here, I assure you. But, sir, my fame pre-
ceded me here. I’m a poor but honest man; and modesty,
sir, that native modesty which so preéminently character-
izes your own composition, Mr. President (had I suspected
that I should have been called upon), would have prompted
me to have left to others the pleasing task of speaking of
me and mine. Still, if my friends ‘will buckle fortune on
my back, whether I will or no,’ I can only say that I feel
impressed that the duty and’ moral obligations I owe to
society compel me to submit to the burthen, with the best
possible grace at my humble command.”? (Deep sensation
among the audience; the ladies, for the most part, in tears.)

“ But, sir, the future is before us! The brilliant star
of fortune still shines in the distance, for the encouragement

THE HEN FEVER. 219

of those who have not yet availed themselves of the splendid
promise that awaits the men who are yet to come after us,
to do as we have done! And, to those who are now about
to undertake the commendable occupation of attempting to
breed ‘ fancy poultry,’ I will only say, ‘Go on, gentlemen !
Forward, in your delightfully pleasing and profit-promising
ambition! Purchase none but the best stock, without
regard to price; and breed it (if you can!) Everybody
wants to buy,— everybody wil buy,— and the hens that
lay the golden eggs are still for sale, within the sound of my
voice (unless they have all been bought up since I entered
this hall). But there are still a few more left, I.have no
doubt, gentlemen; and, I charge you, seize them while you
may !’”

A general stampede followed my speech. I secured my
clothes, and, for three hours afterwards, I found it impossi-
ble to get within fifty feet of my show-cages, in consequence
of the throng of purchasers that crowded around them !

There must have been some charm about those magical
coops of mine. They were filled and refilled, twenty times
over ; but they were as often emptied, and at singularly
gratifying prices, both to buyer and seller. .

CHAPTER XXXII.
A ‘*CONFIDENCE”’ MAN.

Tc warps the close of this show in New York, a
somewhat noted cattle-breeder (who was then absent
in England) wrote home to an agent in this country,
directing him to secure all the Grey Shanghaes obtain-
able, and further to contract for the raising of hun-
dreds or thousands more, to be delivered during the
following season. *

At this late day, such an undertaking appeared (to the
initiated) to exhibit a most extraordinary confidence in the
reality of the hen-trade; but, to those who ‘‘had been
there,” it was very amusing to witness the new-born zeal
of this curiously verdant purchaser, who invésted so large
an amount of money, in 1854, in this hum!

’ The most extravagant prices were paid by this person
for Grey fowls, and large orders were given by the agent,
to different breeders, in New England, for future supplies.
Several hundred birds were then purchased, at rates vary-
ing from four or five dollars to fifty dollars each ; and

THE HISTORY OF THE HEN FEVER. 221

finally some twenty cages were filled, and consigned to
Londor, to be disposed of (as it was supposed) at enormous
figures.

This speculation was a total failure. The fowls were
inferior, and sick, and worthless. An auction sale followed
quickly upon their arrival in England, the proceeds of
which failed to pay even their freight and expénses out
from this country ; and the ‘‘ confidential’ proprietor of the
stock, who had not the slightest conception of the details of
the trade, was the loser of hundreds of dollars by this fool-
ish and reckless undertaking.

But his contracts with home breeders, who had raised
for him one hundred, three hundred, or five hundred pairs
of chickens, each, were yet in statu quo! Two or thred
thousand Grey chickens were awaiting this confident gen-
tleman’s orders, and in the mean time were devouring huge
quantities of corn and meal, then ranging at from a dollar
to a dollar and ten cents a bushel !

Sales were merely nominal; buyers of fancy fowls were
nowhar; grain continued on the rise; the chickens grew
longer in the legs and necks, and devoured more corn
than ever; cold weather approached, and the breeders had
no conveniences for housing these thousands of monsters;
and finally the victims became importunate.

The contractor didn’t want the fowls. Of course he

did n’t. He had “‘ put his foot into it”? with a vengeance!
19%

229 THD HISTORY uF

But-the parties who had raised these birds ‘to order ”’
insisted upon the fulfilment of the contractor's promise to
take them, at four, six and eight months old.

But the confident gentleman, who, in the spring of 1854,
had made up his mind that the “hen fever had but just
then made its appearance, in fact,”’ mow discovered that the
bottom had been shaky for a twelvemonth, at the least, and
hal at length fallen out altogether !

The folly of this enterprise was apparent to every fowl-
raiser in New England, from the outset. But this man
-knew what he was about,— so he declared,- and he scouted
the advice of those who, from long experience, were able to
instruct and advise him better. It was but a single
instance of its kind, however, and it served, for the time
being, to aid in keeping up the excitement of the humbug
which had cost so many men before him large sums of
money, and months of labor and care, without the slightest
subsequent compensation.

By the fall of 1854, the price of this “‘fahey stock”
began to approximate towards its intrinsic level, somewhat,
in consequence of its being thus overdone; and very fair
birds were offered for five to seven dollars the pair, with but
few purchasers.

In England, the fever had subsided. During the
spring and summer, my own sales for that market had been
continuously and without any abatement, extremely liberal ;

THE HEN FEVER. 223

but the prospect suddenly became clouded — the demand
fell off—and I saw that the gate was about to be shut
down.

The jig was nearly up, evidently, in December, 1854.
In all the suburban towns of this state, and more especially
throughout the entire length and breadth of Rhode Island
and Connecticut, immense numbers of the Chinese varie-
ties of fowls were being bred; and I saw, months before,
that the market must of necessity be glutted, to the
full, in the winter that was then approaching. Many of
the experienced fanciers still clung to the hope that the
trade would rally again, however,— but I was satisfied that
the engine-bell had rung for the last time, and that the train
was already now on the move.

—S== — =

A “ PURE-BRED”’ SPECIMEN, IMPORTED FROM BRIGHTON,

CHAPTER XXXIII.
THE ESSENCE OF HUMBUG.

Dorine this and the previous years, Some of the older
fanciers and breeders had resorted to the most fulsome and
“nonsensical style of advertisements, to push off their stock
upon the unguarded. No quality of superlative goodness,
known or unknown, that could be described in the English
language (either by means of “ communications ” through
the public prints, or by ordinary forms of advertising). was
omitted to be proclaimed by the owners of fancy stock, in
order to force off upon the credulous or the uninitiated
their ‘‘ newly-imported ”’ stuff, and its progeny.

High-sounding but most ridiculous titles were given, by
the nominal “importers,” to their live stock ; and the pub-
lic were asked to purchase ‘“‘ Hong-Kong”? fowls, ‘ Ben-
gal Eagle” chickens, ‘‘ Wild Indian Mountain ” ‘hens,
“« Whang-tongs,”’ “ Quittaquongs,” ‘‘ Hoang-Hos,”’ “ Pad-
uas,” etc.; and the following advertisement appeared,
finally, to cap the climax of this inexpressibly stupid non-

THE HISTORY OF THE HEN FEVER. 225

sense. It was printed in an agricultural monthly, issued
somewhere in western New York, and it ran as follows:

‘““Mormann & Humm, Importers and Exporters of, and
Dealers in, all breeds and varieties of Blooded Live Stock,
Big Falls, N. 8. Messrs. Mormann and Humm are now
perfecting their arrangements for importing from Europe
and Asia all the best breeds of Horses, Cattle, Hogs, Dogs,
Sheep, Rabbits, Goats, Fowls, &. &e., and for exporting
Buffalo, Elk, Deer, Moose, Badgers, Bears, Foxes, Swifts,
Eagles, Swans, Pelicans, Cranes, Loons, &e. &e. The
will keep on hand, as near as may be, all the best Blooded
Animals and Fowls — gallinaceous and aquatic — fancy
and substantial — which they will furnish to their numer-
ous patrons in Europe and America at reasonable rates.
All orders should be directed to Big Falls, N.§., until oth-
erwise notified.

‘* Also, they have imported the finest and only Prar-
MAGINS ever introduced into the United States. These
surprisingly beautiful fowls are direct from the original
stock. The Ptarmagins— white in winter and ash-colored
in summer — booted and tufted —are the most unique of
domestic fowls. They will supply orders for Ptarmagin chick-
ens; also, Hoang-Hos, Imperials, Falcon-hocked Cochins, (!)
and a large variety of Improved Suffolks and other fine
hogs, from the choice stocks of His Royal Highness Prince
Albert, His Grace the Duke of Beaufort, Lord Wenlock, the
Earl of Radnor, late Earl of Ducie, Rev. Mr. Thursby, ‘Mr.
Garbanati, &c. "&e. Also some choice Chinese Mandarin
and Siamese hogs, &e. &c. &e.”

In this same pamphlet, appeared the annexed communi-
cation (in the form of a letter to the nominal publisher),

which will explain itself, probably, to those who are ac-
quainted with its hifalutin author. It was a rich “ card,”

226 THE HISTORY OF

in the estimation of the “boys,” at the time of its first
appearance, though. nobody ever saw this extraordinary beast
or its progeny, I imagine :
Chinese Mandarin Hogs.
ss » Wor. 7, 1854,

‘Frrevp M

. We have just panda the lot of Chinese Mandarin
Swine, imported, &c. &e. &e. * * *

_ “This is the best breed of China hogs, and are great
favorites with the inhabitants, the meat being remarkably
tender and fine-flavored. At maturity they weigh from
fifteen to eighteen score, and are very prolific.

“The head and face of these. animals very closely
resemble an elephant, both as to the appearance of the skin
and ears, and the number and depth of facial fissures ; per-
fectly unique, and strikingly oriental in capital aspect. °

‘The neck is longer than that of anything of the hog
race, imparting a most singular appearance to the propor-
tions of the whole animal.

«These Chinese hogs are entirely different ie anything
of the sort ever imported into this country before, and, are
the most prolific of the swine race. The imported sow and
each of the sow-pigs have eighteen well-developed dugs.
The number of well-defined dugs is always the best prima
facie evidence of prolificness in any animal.

_ “The bodies of these hogs: are shaped like the white
Berkshire breed of England. They take on fat with remark-
able rapidity, and, in color, though not so. spotted as the
leopard, these hogs are beautifully striated, the body spotted
like polished alabaster and ebony, checkered and rounded
most exquisitely.

‘‘We shall have an engraving of these animals for the
‘northern oo, papers, and one of the great English
periodicals. - Yours, truly, eae Fa

THE HEN FEVER. 227

The editor adds, cautiously, ‘‘ The importers are gentle-
men of strict probity and honor, so far as our knowledge
extends; but, in these hurrying times, when the public
excitement is up on any kind of stock, » man may import
and sell worthless animals, to a great extent, before a redc-
tion can take place.”’

Now, this sort of mush and moonshine very soon nau-
seated upon the stomachs of ‘‘ the people,’ even; who
ordinarily can (and will) patiently submit to a vast deal of
mummery. But when such palpable bosh as this is placed
before them, they are apt to dodge all association with it
and its clearly-expressed humbuggery ; and so the tide now
very quickly began to turn against the trade. ‘‘ Brahmas,”’
and ‘ Quittaquong ” fowls, and ‘‘ Mandarin” pigs, proved
too threatening a dose for the masses! They had n’t time
to spell out the names of such stock — to say nothing of
purchasing it, at round figures, and attempting to breed it
afterwards.

What those men imagined they could possibly effect by
this sort of ridiculous nonsense, I am unable to conceive of.
Yet it was put forth in sober earnest; and scores of similar
advertisements filled the papers, from time to time — each
having for its object the continuous gulling of the “ dear
people,” each in its own peculiar way.

And for years—up to this period—the star-gazing,
wonder-loving, humbug-seeking portion of the community,

228 THE HISTORY OF THE HEN FEVER.

—the mass who fill every corner of the land, and who watch
for something continuously ‘‘new under the sun,” out of
which money can be made,—TI say, for years, this por-
tion of the public believed what they saw and read of, and
responded to this sort of thing with a gusto equalled only
by the zest with which, in years before, they had encour-
aged and supported the score of other “‘ hums” that had
been current around them.

But the delusions of morus multicaulis, and Merino
sheep, and patent bee-keeping, and Berkshire pigs, and
tulip-growing, had passed away; and the hen fever, at last,
subsided, too. Unpronounceable names and long-winded ad-
vertisements would n’t do! ‘The people” had ascertained
that there was an end even to Shanghae and Brahrha-ism !
And this flimsiest of if bubbles was now inflated fully to
bursting.

CHAPTER XXXIV.
A TRUMP CARD.

Nor to be beaten by this sort of thing (since the
columns of certain friendly journals were still open to me),
I adopted the style of advertising then current; and soon
after the articles noted in the last chapter made their
appearance in the “ agricultural” paper alluded to, the fol-
lowing letter from the Young ’Un was published in the,
New York Spirit of the Times, upon the subject ‘of
live stock generally, and what I had for sale particularly.

“*Uncue Porter:

‘ During the last few years, I have turned my attention
to trafficking in stock (as you may possibly already be
aware). Not copper stock, or Reading, or Hoosac Tunnel,
or similar ‘ bores,’— but in live stock; to wit, living stock.
Asis uspal in this great and free country, other people have
got to doing the same kind of business, since it has been’
now found to ‘pay ;’ and who’s a better right ? :

‘'T desire, at the commencement of the new year,

through the Spirit, to call the attention of such of your
20

230 THE HISTORY OF

friends (as you cannot supply readily) to my present assort-
ment of ominus, omnivorous, carnivorous, graminivorous
and bipederous specimens— which I have imported from
Europe, Asia, Africa, Oceanica, South America, and other
places ; and consisting, in part, of the following, namely :,

‘¢ All the best and choicest. breeds and varieties of horses,
cattle, swine, dogs, cats, sheep, rabbits, goats, fowls,
pigeons, rats, catamounts, hyenas, alligators, cormorants,
kangaroos, grizzly bears, antelopes, envelopes, llamas, lam-
’ems, jaguars, fox and geese, kinkajous, petrel, periwinkles,
long-tailed rabbits, Nubian fennecs, red eagles, condors,
hooded ducks and hood-winked drakes, swifts, sloes
(intended for ‘fast’ men and old ‘fogies’), chamois, arma-
dilloes, wingless emus, beadles, crabs, cranes, coons (bred
from ‘that same old ’un’), white zebras, macaws, catspaws,
cantelopes, carbuncles and shuttle-sewing machines.

**T also have, for exporting, a splendid assortment of buf-
falo, elk, deer, moose, bears, cranes, owls, badgers, wood-
chucks, swans, pelicans, gulls (genuine), rattle-snakes
(domesticated), fighting hen-turkeys (from Iowa), larks
(from Nauvoo), and a superior assortment of fishes, of
every conceivable size, color and variety, which are war-
ranted to live out of the water, in any climate. Tn short,
I will keep on hand all the best ‘blooded ? animals, fowls,
quadrupeds, fishes, reptiles, insects and birds,—be tuey
gallinaceous, aquatic, aérial, fancy, substantial, goo, bad

THE HEN FEVER. 281

or indifferent, that may be had; which I will furnish to
my numerous friends, patrons, and the rest of mankind, in
Europe, Asia, Africa or America, at all hours of the day or
night (Sundays excepted); and at prices so reasonable that
Christendom shall ‘ vote me’ a philanthropist, or no sale.

‘“‘ Among my most recently received samples, I beg espe-
cially to call the attention of fanciers, amateurs und breed-
ers, to a ‘vaggin-load of monkeys, vith their tails burned
off,’ which I warrant will not frighten the most skittish of
horses. A crate of she-basilisks, of most virtuous exteriors,
and with eyes as large as saucers. Eleven pet elephants
(intended to have been offered to Mr. Barnum, but who
informs me that he has done breeding them, on account of
the high price of provender). One pair of red ostriches,—
supposed to be the original progenitors of the famous ‘ Co-
chin-China’ race of poultry. (The male has a ‘ horse-shoe
mark’ upon his breast, described by certain modern authors
on poultry. Unluckily for this theory, however, I happen
to know that this individual was kicked by a mare of mine,
while the beauty was skulking behind her, and attempting
to rob her of the corn she was eating from her crib.) I have
_ a trio of very healthy walruses, from Norway, that will eat
snowballs from your hand. Also, a brace of young masto-
dons, very docile, and as easily kept, almost, as a trio of
‘Brahma Pootras.’ Three green swans (delightfully green),
that never seek for or approach the water; supposed not

932 THE HISTORY OF

yet to have learned to swim. I have also in my collection
a family of very curious chameleons (believed to be), but
none of which are supplied with the usual caudal extremity
yelept @ ¢ail.

““My friend Durivage — who, as you are aware, is now
in the Boston Custom-house, and whose opinion, conse-
quently, isn’t worth much — examined this family, and at
once pronounced them hop-toads! But I don’t mind his
jokes. You must see them. They are beautiful creatures,
and ‘do live on air,’ I assure you; I have seen them do it
fréquently, without changing color. Dr. Bennett, of Fort
des Moines, has recently sent me a fine male porcupine, —
a nice little fellow to handle, so long as you rub his feathers .
the right way,— which I purpose to cross upon my Chinese
Mandarin sow, at a future day, for experiment. In addi-
tion to all these, I have, of fowls, the. Mum-chums, Hong-
Kongs, Whamphoas, Quittaquongs, Hoanghos, Bramapoot-
ers, Damphules, Rocky-mountain-Indian-wharhoops, Nin-
compoops, etc., and an endless variety of white blackbirds,
sleeping weasels, very fine mules (for breeding), fan-tail
tumblers and tumbling fantails, no-woolled sheep, etc. ete.,
and so forth.

“The principal object of this communication, however, is
not to particularize my stock, but rather to call attention
to my new breed of Hoas, which I have lately imported :
and of which I send you a striking likeness herewith. I
call it the Chinese Mandarin Hog.

("p98 oSud 09g) -—— "DOH NINVONVH USANIHO GAL

THE HEN FEVER.

283

2384 THE HISTORY OF

“The drawing of this very faithful and life-like picture
—copies of which I have already forwarded to Punch,
the Paris Charivari, etc.— was executed by Phizz; the
engraving is by Quizz; the portraits are perfect.

“This breed of hogs is most extraordinary ; and has been
pronounced of great value for their beautifyl model (see
portrait), and easy fattening qualities. Their meat is also
remarkably tender and fine-flavored, as can be proved by
several gentlemen in this country, although this is the first
hog of the kind ever brought here, and she is now alive !
As you will note in the drawing, the head and face of these
hogs (supposing it possible that another could be found on
God’s footstool of the same kind) very closely resemble an
elephant ; perfectly unique, and strikingly oriental in capi-
tal aspect. (Which, if you do not understand, I can only
say is plain English, and I must again refer you to the pic-
ture.) There is another singular feature, you will probably
have observed (allowing that you are somewhat acquainted
with the ordinary formation of animals), and that is, that
the trunk of this animal is upon the wrong extremity ; but
it answers, apparently, a very good purpose for a tail, as
will be noted. True, the neck is longer than that of any
‘hogs ever seen here, imparting a singular appearance; but
it is a long lane that has no turn in it, and so n’émporte on
this point.-

“This is the most prolific of the whole swine race.

THE HEN FEVER. 235

There never was one in America before, but this point is
settled. She has eighteen dugs (see portrait), and learned
doctors inform us that the number of dugs (teats) is always
evidence of prolificness. The bodies of these hogs are like
the white ‘Berkshires’ of England (admitting that the
white and the black Berkshires have different-shaped
bodies). In color, though not so spotted as the leopard,
these hogs are beautifully striated, like polished alabaster
and ebony, checkered and rounded (see drawing) most ex-
quisitely, like a slice of mouldy sage cheese.

“P.§. Although I am now short — or shall be, in the
spring — full eleven thousand pairs of pigs, from this sow
(to fill present orders), yet I will undertake to furnish a
few more to gentlemen who may fancy them, at the ad-
vanced price,— seven-and-sixpence per pair. (I have no
boar of this breed, but that is immaterial.)

“N. B. I have frequently been asked to account for the
singular facial appearance of this sow; but I can only do
80, satisfactorily to myself, upon the theory of my friend
Jacob, of old; that, at some time or other, her mother
must have ‘seen the elephant’ !

“«*4* The other figures in the accompanying drawing
are likenesses, also from life, of my harmless and beautiful
‘Bramerpootrers.’ They are very fond of little children
(see picture), and I send to my uncle William Porter,
herewith, as a New Year’s Gift to our mutual friend, Solon

236 THE HISTORY OF THE HEN FEVER.

Robinson, a very fine sample, with the gentle hint that if
he keeps his ‘Hot Corn’ as far out of this fellow’s reach
as it has thus far been out of mine, it will be perfectly
safe.

‘37> All orders for my famous ‘ Bramerpootrers,’ or my
imported ‘ Chinese Mandarin Hogs,’ etc., must be put in
water-proof condition, post-paid, endorsed by the collector
of this port, and sent, by Adams & Co.’s Express, to Nia-
gara Falls, until I conclude to remove to Salt Lake,
Nebraska, or ‘elsewhere,’ of which due notice will be given
(provided I don’t decide to ‘step out’ between two days).
Adios ! Yours,

“The Youne ’Un.
“‘ Boston, Jan., 1854.’

Now, the above letter explains itself fairly, upon its face ;
yet — would it be believed? —I actually received four or five
sober (I presume the writers were sober) letters of inquiry,
relating to the ‘curious and remarkable Chinese Mandarin
Hog in my possession,” immediately after the above article
appeared in the Spirit! Such are the knowledgé and
acquirements of ‘‘the people,’’ in certain quarters, upon the
subject of live stock ! @

CHAPTER XXXYV.
“HOLD YOUR HORSES.”

My competitors in the hen-trade, by this time, had got
to be exceedingly active and zealous, though they rarely
indulged in personalities towards me, at all. Generous,
disinterested, liberal, kind-hearted, valiant men! Provi-
dence will reward you all, I have no doubt, some day or
other !

The following article, which appeared in a “‘respectable”’
agricultural sheet (which, though I was solicited so to do,
E neither subscribed for nor advertised in), I offer here as a
sample of the puffs that were extended to me for five years,
by the small-fry humbugs whom I rarely condescended to
notice. This ‘elegant extract ’’ appeared in a northern
Farmer :

“We did suppose that the strait-jacket we fitted to
this fellow (Burnham) would be worn by him, but it ap-
pears that, on reading our article relative to his movements
in England in regard to Grey Shanghae fowls, he cast it
off, and made an attempt to put us hors du combat, in his
usual style.

238 THE HISTORY OF

“But we raust say that his pretensions to being an ‘ém-
porter’ of these fowls, to having the ‘original’ stock, to
being the importer of the fowls he sent to England, is the
greatest deception that ever came under our observation.
But this is only in character with the general transactions
of the man. In his dealings generally he seems to have
had no other object in view but to get all he could for his
fowls, with no regard to their merits. This is shown by a
letter of his, which we have in our possession, written in
1852 to Dr. Bennett, in which he uses the following lan-
guage, in regard to fowls: ‘Anything that will sed/,—
bah !?

“We will take the liberty to digress a moment, to make
a few remarks on his penchant for the use of the expression
‘bah!’ which is his common habit in correspondence. When
Burnham was a loafer at large, previous to his foul specu-
lations, it is said that he was very fond of mutton; and
as many a fat lamb was missed in the vicinity where he re-
sided, it was more than suspected that he knew what became
of them. Whether this be so or not, it seems that ‘bah’ is
ever escaping from his lips, a judgment, as it were, for the
alleged imiquity of disturbing the nocturnal peace of that

uiet animal. * * * *

‘“‘ Now, friend Burnham, do be civil and honest. Your
having sold ‘premium’ Cochins all over the country, with
the real ‘premium’ fowls in your own yard, will soon be
forgotten, and you may yet be considered a clever, honest
fellow ; but you must stop pretending to be an ‘importer’
of fowls.”

I was thus charged with putting my “friend” hors du
combat, with lying generally, with sheep-stealing, with
selling “‘ premium” fowls over and over again, as well as
with striving to get all I could for my poultry,— this
last offence being the most heinous of all! But, as I lived

THE HEN FEVER. 239

|
(as I supposed I should) to seo this cub and his allies on
their knees to me (as I could show, if I desired to do so,
now), I did not mind these first-rate notices. They were
most decidedly of miner consideration in my esteem, when
I thought how “the people” crowded around me to
obtain eggs or samples of my famed ‘imported,’ ‘“supe-
rior,” ‘‘magnificent’’ and ‘ never-to-be-too-much-lauded ”
pure-bred fowls !

In the official Report upon the first New York show, the
Committee of Judges there state that, ‘though they have
been governed by the nomenclature of the list, they by no
means assent to it as a proper classification. Shanghae and
Cochin- China are convertible terms, and Brahma Pootra
is a name for a sub-variety of Shanghaes, of great size and
beauty. White Caleuttas and Hong-Kongs were not on
exhibition. Believing them to be inferior specimens of
White and Black Shanghaes, it is likely that we would not
have awarded them premiums, if found. In lieu thereof,
we have assigned several additional second premiums for
Brahma Shanghaes.

“For the sake of simplicity, we would recommend that
all thorough-bred large Asiatic fowls be classed under the
name of Shanghae, to be further designated by their color;
and, inasmuch as these. shows are intended not solely for
the aggrandizement of breeders, but for the purpose of
converting ‘Henology’ into a science, we would earnestly

240 THE HISTORY OF

suggest that all ridiculous, unmeaning aliases be abandoned,
and a simple, intelligible and truthful classification strictly
observed.” After quoting. this, the writer above alluded to
objects to the recommendation to call all Asiatic fowls
Shanghaes, notwithstanding the action of the Committees
of the National Society. He insists :

‘‘ This is a rididulous affair, and we call on fowl-breed-
ers to veto this nonsense at the outset. Just imagine
what a ridiculous figure breeders would cut in calling their
fowls ‘Brahma Shanghaes,’ ‘ Chittagong Shanghaes,’ &e. !
Why this desire to overturn established names? It arises
from a prejudice against the name ‘ Brahma Pootra,’ and
a desire to put down that popular breed. Again: Who are
the gentlemen who recommend such a course? Why don’t
they give their names? These ‘recommendations’ and
‘ resolutions’ are no more the act of the National Poultry
Society than of the Emperor of Russia! Where were the
forty MANAGERS when the above ‘resolution’ was passed?
We, as one, were not there; and we learn that not over
three out of the entire number were present, and that the
resolution was passed by outsiders, and, perhaps, influenced
to do so by G. P. Burnham, of ‘Grey Shanghae’ noto-
riety.

This clown even ‘regrets that he did not attend this
show ;”’ as if it would have made a difference in the result !
Well, well !— the impudence and ignorance of some people
really astound us, at times! He says “some of the best
Brahma Pootra fowls were entered ‘ Chittagongs.’ Now,
we declare emphatically that the desire on the part of cer-

THE MEN FEVER. 941

tain breeders to class the Brahmas as identical with the
Chittagong fow] is absurd; and we assert that no man can
produce any evidence that the Brahmas are identical with
Chittagongs, beyond the fact that many breeders have pro-
duced mongrels, by crossing Brahmas with Chittagongs, and
now seck to amalgamate the two breeds.”

Who ever wished to ‘ produce any evidence” on this
subject, pray? ‘The people” wanted fowls ; they never
sought for ‘ evidence,” man! The breeder who could
‘* produce’? fowls was the man to succeed in the hen-trade.
As you never did this, and only bought and sold wretched
mongrels, with long names, you never succeeded. And
‘the people ”’ said, ‘‘ Served you right !”’

This sapient editor then declares that he ‘‘ doubts the
ability of any Poultry Society to maintain its existence
permanently, for the reason that such societies will, sooner
or later, degenerate into mere speculating cliques, and the
premiums will become,a matter of darter, or a matter of
favor to particular men, like the operations of our govern- e
ment.”

Is it possible! When did you discover this extraordinary
and singular fact, my dear sir? Not until the close of the
year 1854! After the cars had long since passed by, and
the fun was over, effectually and forever, in this country.
Your warning was valuable, indeed! ‘The colt nad left the
stable, and you now come to fasten the door! 0, chief of

21

242 THE HISTORY OF THE HEN FEVER.

prophets in Henology ! how much “the people” :we 7ou
for your advice and foresight in this hum !

This writer finally thus wriggles over the action of the
“National”? Society at New York, which knocked his
“¢ Bother’ems ’’ on the head so effectually, substituting their
true name (the “ Grey Shanghaes ”) for this ridiculously
assumed cognomen. He continues:

: The most absurd thing which came under our observa-
tion at the fair was the classification of certain fowls.
There were the beautiful white Brahmas, with pencilled neck
hackles, placed by the side of fowls of an owl or hawk
color, and both classed ‘ Grey Shanghaes!’ How long
will a few old fogies thus stultify themselves? Many
exhibitors were highly displeased with this absurdity. They
who think that the name of Brahma fowls can be changed
to ‘Grey Shanghaes’ have entirely mistaken their ability
to make such an innovation. What did all the nonsense in
the resolutions passed at the National Poultry Show in New
bar about the nomenclature of fowls effect? Just nothing
at all.’ ;

Indeed! Didn’t it? Is it possible? You don’t say
so ! My dear friend, you have a great deal to learn yet ;
and I here advise you, affectionately and lovingly, and with
an ardent desire for your present and future good, to—
** hold your horses ! ””

CHAPTER XXXVIl.
TRICKS OF THE TRADE.

Povttry exhibitions had been or were now being held
all over the country. In the New England States, in New
York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia, numer-
ous fairs had come off, at which the customary competition
among breeders of fancy poultry had been duly shown ; and
for a time, yet, out of Massachusetts, the fever still raged,
though with comparative abatement.

It was now a common thing, and certain men were in the
habit of visiting the express offices, and examining coops of
fowls, and taking the names of the persons to whom they
were directed, and then writing them that they would furnish
such fowls at a much cheaper rate. This occurred, gener-
ally, while the stock was en route to its destination ; but it
never disturbed me.

Among the Rhode Islanders (who, by the way, generally
speaking, have raised the best of all the Chinese varieties
of fowls, for five years past) a feeling of desperate rivalry
had grown up. At the Providence shows, many of the

244 THE HISTORY OF

choicest specimens ever seen among us were exhibited and
disposed of at high rates. But the management of the fairs
there was not satisfactory to certain breeders, who, unfor-
tunately, and naturally, drove rather ‘too slow coaches ”’
to keep pace with a few of the leaders in the traffic there,
as will be seen by the following exposé, which I find in the
shape of an advertisement in the Woonsocket Patriot :

In a report published subsequently. to this State Fair in
Rhode Island, the Committee on Poultry at the exhibition
held there in the fall of 1854 awarded their first premium
to the chairman of the committee. The second premium
was awarded to another man, who had just as good fowls,
probably, but who was n’t smart enough to ‘‘ keep up”’ with
his competitor. The person who came out thus second-best,
only, at once charged, through the public prints, that an
attempt had been made by the chairman thus “‘ to hoodwink
the public” in their future purchases (which was very.
likely, because it was a very common matter). The injured
party says, in his published ‘“ card,”—

**No doubt Mr. © was ready to grasp at the ap-
pointment as the committee, and he was progressing in the
examination, when I remonstrated, and had two other men
added to the committee with him, supposing that justice
would then be administered to the parties concerned. But
Mr. C was determined to have the sole arrangement
of the report, contending with the other two upwards of
five hours, aggrandizing to himself the first premium, and

THE HEN FEVER. 245

then affixing to the committee’s report the name of Mr.
A , instead of his own, to deceive the public, that he
was not interested. Mr. C intended that justice should
not be done his competitor, by withholding his right as to
the first premium; and I challenge him to an impartial exhi-
bition of the poultry (although some of his number were
borrowed), for the sum of one hundred dollars, to be de-
cided by three disinterested men.”’

Another member of this committee then states that,
“being one of the Committee on Poultry at the late State
Fair, held in Providence, R. I., and having seen the report
of the same, I feel it my duty to say that such was noé the
decision of the committee. Two were in favor of giving
to
decided to award a premium of twelve dollars to ;

the first premium; as we could not agree, we

also the same to Mr. C——, provided each were repre-
sented equal in the report.”
Now, this was a very trifling affair to trouble the public

with, yet it shows ‘“‘ how the thing was done.” Mr. C
had a happy way of “laying ’em all out,” when J was not
in the field. If the advertisements ‘‘ to the public” were
paid for duly (and I presume they were), I have no doubt
the public are satisfied; and Mr.
must keep his eyes open tight, if he trains in company with

, the ified party,

experienced hen-men. ‘This is but ‘a part of the system,”
man !
Now, as this sort of thing was of very common occur-

rence among the hucksters who kept the hen-trade alive, for
21*

246 THE HISTORY OF

years, this was in nowise a matter of astonishment to the
“hard heads’? in the business. ‘The only wonder was that
the man who performed ¢his trifling trick did not carry out
the dedge more effectually, and bear away al/ the premiums
in a similar manner, as had been done by some of his
smarter predecessors !

The editor of 2 New York journal undertook as follows
to “inform the public’ (in 1854) of a little performance
in kind, which had been common for several years at these
fairs where ‘‘ premiums” were awarded, and which proved
a very profitable mode of operation, almost from the very
beginning of fowl-shows in the United States. In an article
upon a recent exhibiuion, under the caption ‘t How the
Cards are Played,” he says:

“A fowl-breeder, hy extraordinary means, raises a few
specimens of fowls of great size, which he takes to the
exhibition; and, on the appearance and character of those
few specimens, he contracts to furnish fowls and eggs of
the ‘same stock.’ He goes home with his pockets full of
orders, and with not a single fowl, for sale, in his posses-
sion at thditime, and hastens to purchase of A, B and ©,
such fowls as he can find, say at $8, $5-to $10 a pair,
which he sends to fill his-orders at $20 to $50 a pair, and
no nearer in value to the stock that appeared on exhibition
than a turkey i is toa turkey buzzard! The same of eggs.
Noy. ,, there are exceptions to this aliewaaon but we KNow

THE HEN FEVER. QAT

that such thirgs are done, and we think that the public
should be put on their guard.”

Thets is no question about the accuracy of this statement.
The writer says he “‘ Avows that such things were done ;”’
and I feel sure that no man in New York State ever knew
the details of this dodge so well as he did. It was a yery
common thing everywhere, howeyer, among the hucksters.
I had no occasion to resort to this plan; for the game we
played was a deeper one, altogether.

There was a ‘‘live Yankee,’”’ all the way from Rhode
Island, who attended the New York show, who took the
boys down there after the following style. as appears from
another advertisement, which I recently met with, and
which “feat is thus described by one of the sufferers. Ina
‘gard ’’ published soon after that exhibition, this victim of
misplaced confidence says, with a show of seeming injured
innocence :

“ Justice to the public, as well as myself, demands a
slight explanation of a few facts connected with the recent
National Poultry Show, in New York City.

“Mr. C , of Woonsocket, R. I, accompanied me to
New York for the purpose of attending the fair. On the
fourth day of the exhibition it was announced that the
judges were about to commence their labors. Mr. C .

‘seeing that his chance for a premium of any kind on Asiatic
fowls was very slim, came to me and requested, nay, ven
insisted, on grounds of mutual friendship, that I should
put my two best hens with a cock of his, for the purpose of
taking the first premium. I finally consented, with the ex

*

248 THE HISTORY OF

press understanding,.and no other, that we should each
share the honors and proceeds equally. On Friday it was
announced, in the lecture-room, that Ae had taken the first
premium on the best pair of Asiatic fowls, of whatever sub-
variety. I went to him, at once,.and expressed my dissat-
isfaction, and reminded him of his agreement. He then
agreed to see the secretary and all the reporters, and pub-
lish, or cause to be published, a card, stating that I was
equally entitled to the premium with himself, as the hens
were raised by me; and he furthermore agreed that his
name should not be mentioned or published, in relation to
the premium, except in connection with my own. How was
that agreement fulfilled? On taking up one of the New
York dailies the next morning, I was surprised to see a puff
laudatory of Mr. C , while my name was not alluded
to,— which puff, report says, was paid for with a rooster.
On my return home, a few days afterwards, I found that he
had volunteered to make: the following assertions: ‘ Well,
T have laid’em all out. I took the first premium on every-
thing, best pair and all, and I can beat the world.’ When:
asked how it was done, he said, ‘I will tell you, some time,
how. Iplayed my card.’ ”

But Mr. C——, with that reserve and indifference
peculiar to gentlemen in the hen-trade who have accem-
plished a ‘‘ neat operation,” did not see fit to explain the
process, and hesitated to inform his ‘friend’? how he
played his card. And so the aggrieved party resorted to
the newspaper, and come the “‘power of the press”’

upon Mr. C , as follows:

“Mr. C—— stated that my stock was ‘mongrel,’ and
inferior. Whether it beso or not, is for the thousands and

THE WEN FEVER. 249

tens of thousands who saw them, while on exhibition, to
judge. After selecting two of my best hens for Mr,
C——’s especial benefit (as it appears), the committee even
then saw fit to award me a premium, while his two coops
of ‘ pare, full-blooded Asiatic fowls,’ which he had cracked
up so loud and extensively, did not receive, as I can learn,
even a passing notice, except the old cock, which was put
in the coop with my ‘mongrel hens,’ as he is pleased to
call them. Perhaps the public would also be gratified to
learn the manner in which he obtained the first premium at
the recent Agricultural Fair in Providence, R. L Was it
not done by entering several coops of fowls, belonging to
another person, in his own name, Without that person’s
knowledge and consent, and pointing out those fowls to
one or more of the judges, representing them as his own?
No doubt the books of the society, and those of the railroad
corporation which conveyed Mr. C ’3 poultry to and
from the fair, if compared, will throw some light upon the
subject. Is not this the manner in which he has frequently
played his card; or, in other words, ‘laid ’em all out’?
As [have always treated him asa gentleman, a neighbor
and friend, to what cause can I impute this low, mean
contemptible and underhand manner of exalting himself at
my expense? Iwould advise him, in conclusion, to peruse
Msop’s moral and instructive fable of the ambitious Jackdaw,
and’ learn from that, that however well a course of decep-
tion and duplicity may at first prosper, the day of exposure
and disgrace will come, and the ungainly Jackdaw, stripped
of his ill-gotten plumage, will stand forth in all his native
blackness and deformity.”

Now, I have no doubt, that this Mr. C——, when he
read the above “card” (which must have cost its author
considerable time and money), felt very badly about it, the

250 THE HISTORY OF

more especially as the show-prizes had been duly announced,
and he had the premium-money safely in his own pocket!
And it certainly must have been a very gratifying circum-
stance, to the man who had been thus duped, to see his ad-
vertisement thus in print, too. Had I been similarly situ-
ated, however, after losing my premium and the credit that
belonged to my having had the best fowls on exhibition,
also (only by thus joining issue with another to gull the
“dear people ’’), I rather think I should not have published
the facts, to show,myself up a fool as well as a knave. But
this is merely a matter of taste. Mr. B——-, who signs
this ‘‘ card,” will scarcely be caught in this way again.
We “live to learn.”

Mr. B—— had not become apprised of the fact that,
from the very commencement, the hen-trade was a huge
gull, possessing an unconscionable maw, and most incon-
ceivable powers of digestion. Older heads and wiser men
than he had been duped or swallowed by this monster, that
stalked about the earth for six long years, seeking whom he
might devour. If this is the worst treatment he ever ex-
perienced at the hands of those who helped to feed the
vampire, Mr. B—— is, indeed, a fortunate man. ‘There
be those who would gladly exchange places with this gentle-
man, and give him large odds.

C was smart. Ihave known him for several years.
He is one of the few ‘‘ hen-men” whom I would trust alone

THE HEN FEVER. 251

with my purse. And whether he raised them, or purchased
them, it matters nothing; he has sold some of the best fowls
in America.

In all human probability, the author of the “card”? last
quoted will live long enough (unless he shall have already
stepped out) to know that “‘the people” went into the hen-
trade blindfolded, and that the bandages have now dropped
from their eyes. He will have ascertained, too, I think, that
a resort to the newspapers for redress against such of his
“friends”? as may get ahead of his time in this way is
precious poor consolation, when he reflects that advertise-
ments cost money, and that the anathemas of an over-
reached chicken-man have never yet been known to harm
anybody — as far as heard from! Selah!

CHAPTER XXXVII.
FINAL DEATH-THROES.

» Tue officers and the fos at the poultry-fairs Ge of
whom are self-constituted), as will be seen, usually carried
away all the first prizes. Ata late show of the New York
State Society, the president thereof received about one
third of all the premiums awarded, and yet his fowls were
nearly all second and third rate, and not one of them,
it was stated, was bred by him. He may have breil a few
specimens during last season, but not one on exhibition
was bred by him. The people and certain greenhorns were
astonished to see the way in which the premiums were
awarded to him. One of the judges there seemed deter-
mined to award to him every premium. that his influence
could secure, right or wrong; and, from what was learned
from exhibitors, it did. look very much like an exist-
ing understanding between the parties in regard to the
premiums.

: For the above stitoment we have the authority of a huck-
ster.in New York, who did of. obtain any premiums, and

THE HISTURY OF THE HEN FEVER. 2538

who says of the management of the state show there, that
this sort of partiality shown in favor of the wire-pullers ‘ is
the rock on which the ‘New England Poultry Society’
foundered; and our state society is treading in the foot-
steps of its ‘illustrious predecessor.’ ”

This writer contends that the president of the New
York society, who thus received about all the premiums at
one of their late shows, was a man of too much discernment
not to see that such a farce as some of the judges played
would redound to his discredit. They went too far —over-
did the matter ; hence the universal indignation of exhibitors.
And then concludes that ‘‘poultry-societies generally merge
into mere speculating gatherings, a few receiving most of
the premiums, while the uninitiated exhibitor is made a tool
to swell the income of those who pull the wires. Many
breeders exhibit solely for the sake of the notoriety that
their fowls will receive, —a sort of gratuitous advertising,”
—and it is now got to be ‘‘ notorious that an order sent to
one who receives the first premium for fowls is no more
likely, in many cases, to be filled with any better fowls
than if sent to one who took no premium at all; as the prize
fowls are not often for sale, and very inferior specimens are
sent when orders are received.”

This information would have answered very well, had it
been afforded years ago. Now that the fever has disap-
peared almost entirely, and now that everybody has been

22

254 THE HISTORY O¥

gulled, and gouged, and gorged, with the fulsome and glow-
ing accounts of the asserted reality of this thing, from
the pen of this very man among the rest, it comes rather
late in the day for such an one to “‘ warn the people,” and
in such a manner !

But, soon after the exhibition above referred to had
closed, the president of the society issued a most astound-
ing “card,” declining to receive the premiums awarded
him, and in which appears the following sentence :

‘“‘In connection with the report of the Judges of the
late State Poultry Show, allow me to make a statement.
_As appears from the report, my birds have been unusually
successful in the contest for premiums, sixteen out of
twenty distinct varieties exhibited being so honored. This
was more than I expected, and more than I honestly think
they deserved. And I am strongly of opinion that, had
they had more time, they would have come to a different
‘conclusion, in two or three cases.”

I was prepared for almost anything in the hen-trade,
up to this time ; but this performance really astonished
me! The man actually refused to take the premiums
awarded him! He even went so far as to show the
“judges”? who ought to have had the prizes, rather than
himself. And he actually sent back to the committee
the money they forwarded to him after the exhibition was
over ! !

_..Now, if this were not sufficient to astonish “the

THE HEN FEVER. 255

people,’ I am very much in error regarding the ordi-
nary strength of their nerves. It was an almost immac-
ulate performance; and the ‘New York State Poultry
Society’ should positively insist that this extraordinary
man (if he can be proved to be sane) should at once
accept from them one of the largest-sized leather medals,
to be worn next to his gizzard, for this unexampled
disinterestedness, and extraordinary sacrifice of self. O,
but ¢hat gentleman must be “a brick,” indeed!

A journal that alluded to this singular circumstance, at
the time, asserted that this procedure on the part of the
president ‘‘ was highly commendable in the author, if his
statements were made through principle, rather than
through fear to encounter public opinion. He stands high
in the estimation of the public, and we have ever considered
‘him as strictly honorable in all his business transac-
tions; but we cannot help thinking that ‘ascrew was
loose’ somewhere in the matter. His statements are not
very flattering to the judgment of the judges, and show
that some of them, at least, were not competent to dis-
charge their duties properly,” etc.; while, in my opin-
ion, than this, a more barefaced piece of mush was
never yet perpetrated, in the details even of the hen-
trade. :

This was emphatically among the ‘‘death-throes ”’ of the
.mania. And cards like the following found their way- into

256 THE HISTORY OF =

the newsyapers, about this time, in further proof that the
valye of this huge balloon had slipped oyt. An ambitious
Westerp, man says :

“T have long been expecting to hear of the swindling
operations of a certain dealer, who makes a great display of
pretending to haye every breed known or bred’ in this
country ; and, to my certain knowledge, buys all, or nearly
all, of his fowls, as wanted, and as many on credit as he can,
but.does not pay, nor can the law reach him to make him
pay. I believe, also, that the papers that advertise for him
are doing it for nothing — that is, that they are not, and
never will be paid for it. 4

‘ Such a course, in my opinion, is no better than high-
way robbery; and I hereby give said person fair warning to
act honestly hereafter, or I will point him out in a way that
shall not be misunderstood, as I cannot see such rascality
perpetrated, and remain silent.

‘A man who deals in high-priced fowls, in receiving pay
in advance, has his customers completely at his mercy,
especially when he is not responsible for a copper; and at
the rates that fowls sell for—say, from ten dollars to
one hundred dollars a pair— purchasers should receive
what is promised them,— good specimens of the puze
breeds. So far as weight 1s concerned, a pair of fowls
will fall off @ few pounds in a journey of a week or less,
in a cramped condition, and perhaps without food for a por-
tion of the time; ‘but in other respects justice should be
done to the confiding purchaser.’ s :

Beautiful ! — poetical! — musical!’ This advertiser, 1
have no doubt, keeps only pure stock. I do not know who

he.is; but, if I wanted to buy (which I don’t), I should
certainly apply to such an honest and justice-loving person,

THE HEN FEVER. 257

because I should feel assured, after reading such an adver-
tisement, that ¢hat man was a professor of religion; and,
even if he had the chance, would never fleece me — over
the left !

Other fanciers, in their utter desperation (as the fever
80 positively and now rapidly begun to decline), resorted
to the printing of the pedigrees of their stock; and the
following advertisements made their appearance late in
1854 :

“« By the influence of Mr. Ellibeth Watch (editor of the
London Polkem Chronicler, and uncle to the Turkish
Bashaw with three long tails), I have just procured a few
of Prince Albert’s famous breed of ‘ Windsor fowls.’ In
a letter to me of the 32d day of April, Mr. Watch
observes :

‘I have positively ordered a trio of Windsor Fowls of
Prince Albert, for you. It is THE BEST BREED IN Ene-
LAND, and they are much run after, and cannot be., had
without giving previous notice; but you are safe to have
yours. Ihave engaged a friend to choose yours for you;
and I consider it a great thing to get them direct from the
Prince, for you must be aware that persons generally can-
not exactly pick and choose FROM THE PRINCE’S OWN

stock. I shall employ an efficient person to have them
shipped, etc.’ ”’

In due time this remarkable stock arrived in America,
and their pedigrees were duly published ;' the advertiser
being. “‘ thus particular,” because (as he asserted) ‘ there

22*

288 THE HISTORY OF THE HEN FEVER.

had been so much imposition upon the public by irresponsi-
ble persons claiming to have made importations” !

Now I never entertained the slightest objections to this
sort of advertisement,— not J, i’faith! On the contrary, [
deem all this kind of thing very excellent, in its way, to be
sure. The moré the merrier. ‘‘The people” want it, and
let them have it, say I.

But, at the same time, though the ‘ Porte-Monnaie I
owe ’ems”’ declare that their unrivalled stock comes from
Prince Albert’s yards, I feel very well assured that all this
is @ mere guy, it being very well known that His Royal
Highness is not engaged in the hen-trade particularly, and
of course hag something else to do besides supplying even
the “‘ Porte-Monnaie Company” with his pigs and chiekeng,

It was a rare undertaking, this importing live stock
(with any expectation of selling it) in the fall of 1854!
But we shall goon see who were the final victims of the
“* fever.”?

CHAPTER XXXVIII.
THE PORTE-MONNAIE I OWE ’EM COMPANY.

It has been said, with much of truth, that ‘two of a
”

calling rarely agree;” and this applies with force to those
engaged in the ‘“‘hen-trade.’’ Messrs. Mormann and Humm,
whom I have before spoken of, could n’t long agree together,
and their “dissolution”? soon appeared; and, from the
ashes of the professional part of this firm, there suddenly
arose an entirely new dodge, under the big-sounding title
of
“HB PORTE-MONNAIE I OWE "EM COMPANY.”

The presiding genius of this concern was one Doctor
Bangit,— an old friend of mine, who had been through wars
enough to have killed a regiment of ghouls, who was among
the earliest advocates and supporters of the ‘‘ New England
Mutual Admiration Society,” who was one of the very first
physicians employed in prescribing for the hen fever in this
country, and who, I supposed, had had sufficient experience
not to embark (at this late day) in such a ridiculous enter-
prise as this so clearly seemed to be.

260 THE HISTORY OF

But the doctor saw his victims in prospective, probably ;
and, though he had run the hummery of the fowl-fever so
far into the ground that, in his case, it would surely never
know a day of resurrection, still he was ambitious and
hopeful; and he flattered himself (and some others) that
the last man who bought live stock had not yet turned up!
And so the doctor pushed on, once more.

The “‘ Boop Srock” of the “ Porte-Monnaie I owe
‘em Company” * was thus advertised, also:

“IN appiTion to the genuine, unadulterated Prince
Albert fowls, the ‘ Porte-Monnaie I owe ’ems’ offer pigs,
with tails on, of the Winsor, Unproved Essex, Proved Suf-
folks, Yorkshire, Wild Indian, Bramerpouter, Siam, Hong-
Kongo, Emperor Napoleons, and Shanghae Breeds; most
of them of new styles, and warranted to hold their colors in
any climate.

“ Also, Welsh Rarebits — bred from their Merino buck
‘ Champum,’ of England (that did nt take the first prize
at the National Show, because Mr. Burnham’s ‘ Knockum’
did!), whose ears are each thirty-three feet longer than
those of our best pure-bred jackasses, and wider than five
snow-shovels, by actual measurement. .

‘* Also, A-quack-it fowls; as Swans (Porte-Monnaie

*I trust that this association may not be confourded with the “ Fort

Des Moines Iowg. Company.”” The difference will plainly be seen, of
course.

THE HEN FEVER. 261

I owe em strain), Two-lice, Hong-gong, Brumagem and
other Geese. Ruin and Ailsburied Ducks, and Pharmigan
Pigeons (blue-billed).

“ Also, every breed of Gallinaceous fowls,— Games and
other bloods already noted,— together with every species of
pure and select blood-stock, which has been secured in Ku-
rope, Asia, Africa, and the Arctic Ocean, with reference to
QUALITY, without regard to price.

“> We can furnish pedigrees to all buyers who desire
them, which will be endorsed by the faculty of Riply Col-
lege, Iowa.

‘CN. B. The ‘Winsor’ breed of pigs imported by us is
a great addition to the already fine hog stock of the United
States, and is fully equal, if not superior, to any other
breed. They are the very choicest of the royal stock which
is so much admired in England. We are in possession of
the shipping papers of these splendid pigs. The freight
and incidental expenses on them, alone, amount to about six
hundred dollars. They ought to be fine pigs. Three hun-
dred dollars a pair for the pigs from this splendid stock
would be dow, taking their great value into consideration.
We have often heard of Prince Albert’s stock of pigs,
but until G. P. Burnham, Esq., of Russet House, Melrose,
first imported this superb stock into this country, no Ameri-
can was ever honored with a shy at this extraordinary breed
of swine. The company, at great expense and trouble,

262 THE HISTORY OF THE HEN FEVER.

prevailed upon Mr. Burnham to part with a few of his sec-
ond-rate samples; and they have now no doubt that they
will be able to ‘beat him all to rags,’ in a few months, since
they have been lucky enough to get them from him purely
bred (probably !).

“P. §. Of these pigs, which gained the first prize and
gold and silver medal at London in December, 1863, and
the first prize and gold and silver medal in Birmingham,
were from Tibby, by Wun-eyed Jack. Old Pulgubbin’s
pigs gained a prize at Mutton-head in 1729, and one at
London in 1878.” :

Still, notwithstanding all this extra flourish of trumpets,
the ‘‘ Porte Monnaie I owe ’em Company ’’ is well-nigh
defunct. It was started, unfortunately, about five years
and eight months ‘‘ too late in the season.”’

Yet, as I honor talent and enterprise, wherever they may
be shown, I trust that this association may be galvanized
into successful operation — as, perhaps, it will!

CHAPTER XXXIX.
A SATISFACTORY PEDIGREE.

In the course of my live-stock experience, and espe-
cially during the excitement that prevailed amidst the routine
of the hen-trade, I found myself constantly the recipient of
scores and hundreds of the most ridiculously unreasonable
and meaningless letters, from the fever-struck (and inno-
cent) but uninitiated ‘victims of this epidemic.

In England, amongst other nonsense bearing upon this
subject, the more cunning poultry-keepers resorted to the
farnishing of pedigrees for the birds they sold. This trick
worked to admiration in Great Britain fora time, and the
highest-sounding names were given to certain favorite fowls
the progeny of which (‘‘with pedigree attached”) com-
manded the most extravagant and ruinous prices, in the
English ‘fancy’ market. .

For instance, I noticed in the London papers, in 1852,
an account given of the sale of “two splendid cinnamon-
colored chickens, out of the famous cock ‘Jerry,’ by the
noted hen ‘ Beauty,’ sired by ‘Napoleon,’ upon the well-

264 THE HISTORY OF

known ‘Queen Dowager,’ grandsire ‘Prince Albert,’ on
‘ Victoria First,’ ’’ &. &c., which brought the handsome sum
of one hundred and sixty pounds (or about eight hundred
dollars). And, soon afterwards, the same dodge was
adopted on this side of the Atlantic. The ‘‘ Porte-Monnaie
T owe ’em Company ” have mow an advertisement in sev-
eral New York and Western papers, concluding thus :

“To all who desire it, we will furnish authentic pedi-
grees of our stock of all descriptions, which may be relied
on for their accuracy.”’

This sort of thing was rather too much for my naturally
republican turn of mind;. and, though I could endure
almost anything in the humbug of this bubble, I could n’t
swallow zhis. I received from New York State, one day,
the following spicy epistle :

“Mr. BURNHAM.

“Sir: [have been a live-stock breeder for some years
in this and the old country, and I was desirous to obtain
only pure-blooded fowls when I ordered the ‘ Cochins’ of
you last month. I asked you for their pedigree. You
have sent none. What does this mean? I paid you your
price seventy-five dollars —for three chickens. What
have you sent me? Am I dealing with a gentleman?- Or
are you a mere shambles-huckster? What are these fowls

THE HEN FEVER. 265

bred from? Perhaps I may find myself called upon to speak
more plainly, sir. Ihope not. Whoare you? Isent fora
pedigree, and I want it. J must have it, sir. You will
comprehend this, I presume. If you do not, I can en-
lighten you further. In haste,

I smiled at the earnestness of this letter, the more par-
ticularly when I reflected that this gentleman always sup-
plied to his patrons a thing he called a pedigree, for all the
animals he sold — so intricate, conglomerated and lengthy,
that no one would ever venture to dispute the authenticity
and reliability of the document he sent them.

I re-read his sharp communication, and I found the sen-
tence again, ‘‘ Who are you? I sent for a pedigree, and I
must have it.”” And I sat down, at once, and wrote him as
follows :

‘« Melrose, Mass., 1853.
“My Dear Sir:

“Your peppery favor came duly to hand. You say you
‘want a pedigree,’ and that you ‘must have it;’ and you
inquire who J am? I cannot furnish any such history for
my fowls, for I haven’t the slightest idea what, they are,
except that they are bred from my superb imported ‘ Cochin-
Chinas,’ which have so long been pronounced the ‘ admira-
tion of the world.’
"28

266 THE HISTORY OF

‘‘ But, since you must have a pedigree, you say, and as
you seem anxious to know who J am, I enclose you the fol-
lowing, as an accurate account of my own pedigree, which
I furnished to a legal gentleman in New York city, some
years since,* and which, I presume, will answer your pur-
pose as well as any other would; as I observe, by your
polite favor now before me, that you ‘want a pedigree.’
Please read this carefully, and then inform me (as you
promise to do) if you ‘can enlighten me further’ !

“Very profoundly yours,
“G. P. B.”

It will be necessary, in order that my readers may the
better appreciate the pedigree that follows (and which I
enclosed to my correspondent, ag above stated), to inforin
them that some fifteen years ago, or more, there was a per-
son named Burnham, who died in England, leaving no
will behind him; but who was possessed, at the time of his
decease, of an immense fortune, said to amount to several
millions of pounds sterling in value. ‘As soon as the intel-
ligence reached this country, the Burnhams were greatly
elated with their prospects, and meetings of the imaginative

* 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 vol-
ume entitled *‘ Stray Subjects.”’

THE HEN FEVER. 267
¢

‘theirs’ to this estate were held, who, each and all, believed
that a windfall was now in certain prospect before them.
The excitement ended as all this sort of thing docs. No
one among the Burnhams could identify himself, or substan-
tiate the fact of his ever having had a grandfather ; and the
bubble was soon exploded. Among the parties who were
addressed on the subject of this supposed ‘‘ Burnham for-
tune,” was my humble self; the ambitious lawyer who
undertook to unravel the mystery, and to recover the money
for us, informing me by mail that “it would be of material
pecuniary advantage to me to establish my pedigree.” I
wrote him as follows:

“My Dzar Sir:

‘Your favor, under date 4th instant, came duly to hand,
and I improve my earliest moment of leisure (after the un-
avoidable delays attendant upon procuring the information
you seek) to reply. You are desirous of being made ac-
quainted with my ‘pedigree.’

‘“‘T have to inform you that I have taken some days to
examine into this matter, and, after a careful investigation
of the ‘records,’ find that I am a descendant, in the direct
line, from a gentleman, very well remembered in these
parts, by the name of Apam. ‘The old man had two sons.
‘Cain’ and ‘ Abel’ they were called. The latter, by the
other’s hands, went dead one day; but as no coroner had

268 THE. HISTORY OF
.
then been appointed in the county where they resided,

‘ verdict was postponed.’ A third son was born, whom they
called ‘Seth.’ Cazm.Adam. had a son named Enoch, who
had a son (in the fourth generation) by the name of Malech.
Malech had a son whom. he called Noau, from whom. I
trace directly my own being.

‘¢ Noah had three sons, ‘Shem,’ ‘ Ham’ and ‘ Japheth.
The eldest and youngest — Shem and. Japheth — were a
couple of the ‘b’hoys;’ and Ham was a very well-disposed
young gentleman, who slept at home o’ nights. But. his
two brothers, unfortunately, were not so well inclined.
Ham was a sort of ‘ jethro’— the butt of his two brothers,
who had done him ‘brown’ so many times, that they.
called him ‘burnt.’ For many years he was known, there-
fore, as ‘Burnt-Ham.’ Before his death he applied to
the Legislature in his diggings for a change of name. He
dropped the z, a bill was passed entitling him to the name
of Bury-HaM, and hence the surname of your humble
servant. So much for the name.

‘Tn several of the newspapers of that period I find al-
lusions made to a very severe rain-storm which. occurred
¢ just about this time ;’ andthe public prints (of all parties)
agree that ‘this storm was tremendous,’ and that ‘an im-
mense amount of damage was done to the shipping and
commercial interest.’ As this took place some six thousand
years back, however, you will not, I presume, expect me to

THE HEN FEVER. 269

quote the particular details of this circumstance, except in
so far as refers directly to my own relatives. I may here
add, however, that subsequent accounts inform me that
everything of any particular value was totally destroyed.
A private letter from Ham, dated at the time, declares’ that
‘there wasn’t a peg left to hang his hat on.’

“Qld Noah found it was ‘ gittin’ werry wet under foot’
(to use a familiar expression of his), and he wisely built a
canal-boat (of very generous dimensions) for the safety of
himself and family. Finding that the rain continued, he
enlarged his boat, so that he could carry a very consider-
able amount of luggage, in case of accident. This fore-

. sight in the old gentleman proved most fortunate, and only
confirms the established opinion, that the family is ‘smart ;’
for the ‘ storm continued unabated for forty days and forty
nights’ (so say the accounts), until every species of animal
and vegetable matter had been ‘used up,’ always excepting
the old gentleman’s canal-boat and cargo.

“Now, Noah was a great lover of animals. ‘ Of every
kind, a male and female,’ did he take into his boat with him,
and ‘a nice time’ they must have had of it for six weeks !
Notwithstanding the fact (which I find recorded in one of
the journals of the day), that ‘a gentleman, who was swim-
ming about, and who requested the old man to let him in,
upon being refused, declared that he might go to grass

with his old eanoe, for he didn’t think it would be much of
23*

270 THE HISTORY OF

a shower, anyhow,’—I say, notwithstanding this opinion
of the gentleman, who is represented as having beena ‘ very
expert swimmer,’ everything was destroyed.

‘* Ham was one of ’em—/e was! He ‘ knew sufficient
t> get out of the rain,’ albeit he wasn’t thought very
witty. He took passage with the rest, however, and thus
did away with the necessity of a life-preserver. From Ham
I trace my pedigree directly down through all the grades,
to King Solomon, without any difficulty, who, by the way,
was reported to have been a little loose in his habits, and
was very fond of the ladies and Manzanilla Sherry. He
used to sing songs, too, of which ‘the least said the soonest
mended.’ But, on the whole, Sol was a very clever, jolly-
good fellow, and on several occasions gave evidence of pos-
sessing his share of the cunning natural to our family.
Some thought him ‘ wise;’ but, although I have no dispo-
sition to abuse any of my ancestors, I think the Queen of
Sheba (a very nice young woman she was, too). rather
‘come it’ over the old fellow !

‘By a continuous chain, I trace my relationship thence
through a rather tortuous line, from generation to genera-
tion, down to Mr. Matthew,—not the comedian,. but to
Matthew, the Collector (of Galilee, I think), who ‘sat at
the receipt of customs.’ To ¢his connection I was, un-
doubtedly, indebted for an appointment in the Boston Cus-
tom-house. Matthew lived in the good old ‘high tariff’

THE HEN FEVER. 271

times, when something in the shape of duties was coming
in. But, as nothing is said of his finale, I rather think he
absquatulated with the funds of the government. But I
will come to the information you desire, without further
ado.

“You know the ‘Oup ’Un,’ undoubtedly. (If you
don’t, there is very little doubt but you will know his
namesake hereafter, if you don’t cease to squander your
time-in looking after the plunder of the Burnham family !)
Well, the ‘Old’Un’ is in the ‘direct line,’ to which I
have now endeavored to turn’ your attention; and I have
been called, of late years, the ‘Youne ’Un,’ for reasons
that will not interest you. To my honored senior
(whom I set down in the category as my legitimate ‘ dad’ )
I would refer you for further particulars. He is tenacious
of the character of his progeny, and loves me ; I would
commend you to him, for it will warm the cockles of his
old heart to learn that the ‘Youne ’Uw’ is in luck.

“Tf you chance to live long enough to get as far down
‘in my letter as ¢his paragraph, allow me to add that,
should you happen to receive any very considerable
amount as my share of the ‘property’ for the Burnham
family, please not overlook the fact that I am ‘one of ’em,’
and that I have taken pains to tell you ‘ whar I cum from.’
Please forward my dividend by Adams & Co.’s Express
(if their crates should be big enough to convoy it), and if

272 THE HISTORY OF THE HEN FEVER.

it should prove too bulky, turn it into American gold, and
charter a steamer to come round for the purpose; I shan’t
mind the expense.

“Tn conclusion, I can only intimate the high consider-
ation [ entertain towards yourself for having prepaid the
postage upon your communication ; a very unusual trans-
action with legal gentlemen. My sensations, upon closing
this hasty scrawl, are, I fancy, very nearly akin to those of
the Hibernian who ‘liked to have found a sovereign once,’
—but you will allow me to assure you that it will afford me
the greatest pleasure to meet you hereafter, and I shall be
happy to give you any further information. in my power
touching that ‘ putty’ in prospective.

“‘T am, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

“Gro. P. Burnuay, alias the ‘Youne ’Un.’”

I presume this pedigree was perfectly satisfactory to my
correspondent; and I am quite certain that it was of as
much account as this kind of thing usually is. At any
rate, I heard nothing more from him, in any way; and I
made up my mind, therefore, that,.after reading this, he
concluded that he could n’t ‘enlighten me further,” as he
had so pertly suggested in his communication, quoted in the
beginning of this chapter. He is a very nice man, I have
no manner of doubt.

CHAPTER XL.
“DOING THE GENTEEL THING.”

‘Tue xe is one thing you should always bear in mind,”
said a nctorious shark to me, one day, while we conversed
upon the subject of breeding live-stock successfully —
‘there is one thing you should always remember; and
that is, under no circumstances ever permit a fowl or a pig
to pass out of your hands to a purchaser, unless you know
him to be of pure blood.”

This is a pretty theory, and, I have no doubt, such a
course would work to admiration, if faithfully carried out
(as I always intended to do, by the way); but in this
country this was easier to talk about than to accomplish.
I have now a letter before me, received some years since,
upon this point, and which will give the reader some idea
how far this thing extended in certain quarters, and what
came of it.

‘Sir: Ihave been informed by my friends, and I have
seen it stated in the poultry-books generally, that you are

274 THE HISTORY OF

a breeder of fowls who can be relied on. I wish I could
Bay as much of some other parties with whom I have dealt,
duiing the past year or two.

‘“T have been striving, for a long time, to get possession
of some pure-bred domestic fowls, and a strain of thorough-
bred Suffolk swine. I am satisfied you have got them.
Now, I beg you will understand that I am fortunately pe-
cuniarily able to pay for what I seek. I care nothing for
prices ; * but I do desire, and stipulate for, purity of blood.
Can you supply me? What are your strains? When did
you import it, and how has it been bred?

“Tf you can send me half a dozen Chinese fowls, all
pure bloods, of each of the different varieties, do go, and
charge me whatever you please,— only let them be fine, and
such as will produce their like. Z

“‘T have read much on this subject of poultry, and I
want to degin right, you perceive. I have made up
my mind that there are not so many varieties of fowls ex-
tant as many breeders describe. Iam satisfied that these
domestic birds hail originally from China, and that all of
them are of one blood. What is your opinion?

‘Write me your views, please, and let me know if you
can furnish me what I seek, upon honor; bearing in mind

* This was the kind of customer] met with occasionally, and whom. I
always took at his word. The gentleman who “ did n’t care about price *

was always the man after my own heart. a

THE HEN FEVER. 275

that I am ready to pay your price, whatever it may be;
but that I want only pure-blooded stock.
“Yours, respectfully,

6c ”

I immediately forwarded to this customer (as I usually
did to my newly-found patrons) copies of the portraits of
my ‘“‘genuine Suffolk” pigs, and of my “ pure-bred ” and
‘imported ”’ Chinese fowls. These “pictures,” samples of
which appear in this work upon pages 174 and 212, had
the desired effect. I rarely forwarded to these beginners
one of these nicely-got-up circulars that didn’t ‘‘ knock
’em”’ at first sight.

These gentlemen stared at the engravings, exclaimed
“Can it be?” thrust their hands to the very bottom
of their long purses, and ordered the stock by return of
mail.

In this last-mentioned case, I informed my correspondent
that I agreed with him in the ideas he had advanced pre-
cisely (I usually did agree with such gentlemen), and I
entertained no doubt that he was entirely correct in his
views as to the origin of domestic fowls, of which he evi-
dently knew so much. (This helped me, amazingly.) I
pointed out to him the distinction that existed (without a
difference) between a ‘“‘ Shanghae’”’ and a ‘‘ Cochin-China,”
and finally concluded my learned and unselfish appeal by

276 THE HISTORY OF

hinting (barely hinting) to him that I felt certain he was
the best judge of the facts in the case, and I would only
suggest that, so far as my experience went, there were, in
reality, but ten varieties of pure-bred fowls known to orni-
thologists (I was one of this latter class), and that these ten
varieties were the Cochins, the White, Grey, Dominique,
Buff, Yellow, Red, Brown, Bronze and Black Shang-
Aaes— and these were the only kinds J ever bred.

_As to their purity of blood, I could only say, that I im-
ported the original stock myself, and “enclosed”? he had
‘their portraits ; to which I referred with pride and confi-
dence and pleasure, &c. &c. &c. Of their probable merits
I must leave it entirely to his own good judgment to decide:
I had this stock for sale, and it did not become me (mind
this!) didn’t become me to praise it, of course (O no!).
And I would say no more, but simply refer him to the
public prints for my character as a breeder of blooded stock,
etc. etc. etc.

Did this take him down? Well, it did; vide the follow-
ing reply from him, two weeks subsequently.

‘*My Dazar Srr:

“‘T never entertained a doubt that you were all you had
been represented ; and your reputation is, indeed, an envi-
able one, in the midst of these times, when so much deceit
and trickery is being practised among this community. I

THE HEN FEVER. Qt7

am flattered with the tone of your kind letter, just received,
and I am greatly pleased that you thus readily coincide
with me in regard to my opinions touching the fowl race.

‘*T had come to the conclusion that there were but eight
real varieties of genuine fowls; but I observe that, in your
last favor, you describe ¢en strains of pure-bloods, that you
know to be such. The portraits of your stock are beauti-
ful. You allude to the ‘Bronze’ and the ‘ Dominique’
colored Shanghaes. These must be very fine, I have no
doubt; and I gladly embrace the opportunity to enclose,
you a draft on Merchants’ Bank, Boston, for six hundred
dollars, in payment for six of each of your splendid
varieties of this pure China stock, the like of which (on
paper, at least) I have never yet been so fortunate as to
meet with.

‘« Please forward them, as per schedule, in care of Adams
& Co.’s Express; whose agents, I am assured, will feed and
water them regularly three times a day* on the route,
and who are universally proverbial for their attention to the
birds thus directed and intrusted to their care. I shall
order the ‘Suffolks’ shortly. Yours, truly,

“ o

I sent this anxious purchaser sixty chickens, at ten dol-

* Certainly —of-course. The express agents had nothing else to do
but to ‘* feed and water’? fowls “ three times a day ‘’ on the way !

24

278 THE HISTORY OF THE HEN FEVER.

lars each (cheap enough, to be sure), in accordance with
his directions, and he was delighted with them. I do not
now entertain a shadow of doubt that every one of those ten
“* different varieties”’ were bred from white hens and a black
cock, of the ordinary ‘‘ Shanghae”’ tribe.

CHAPTER XLI.
THE FATE OF THE ‘MODEL’? SHANGHAES.

Napo eon, the great, found himself compelled to suc-
cumb to adverse fate, at the end of a long and brilliantly
triumphant career. ‘It was destiny,” he said; and he
bowed to the fiat, which at last he was unable successfully
to dodge.

I was the fortunate owner of a pair of fine Shanghae
fowls, that were universally acknowledged to be ‘‘at the
head of the crowd,’ —so far as there was any beauty or
attractive qualities, whatever, in this species of animal,—
and I thought they were not bad-looking birds, really.

I caused a likeness to be taken of them from life, accu-
rately, and it was placed, some years since, at the head of
the circulars which I always enclosed back to my corres-
pondenis, in reply to their favors and inquiries regarding
my views as to what was the best kind of domestic bird for
breeding.

The cock was very handsomely formed, and when in full
feather was exceedingly showy, and graceful, and noble in

280 THE HISTORY OF

his carriage. His hen companions were fine, too; but there
was one in particular, that, in company with this bird, I
showed at several fairs, where they invariably carried away
the first premium, without any question or cavil,as to com-
parative beauty and merit. I named them ‘“ Napoleon”
and the “ Empress.”

Their joint weight, when in the best condition, was about
twenty-two pounds ; and as the “‘fancy”’ then raged, they
were really unexceptionable. I ‘‘donno” how many chick-
ens I have sold by means of the pictures of these birds, but
I do know that, unfortunately, this particular hen never
laid an egg while I owned her, which was some two years.
Still, she was very handsome, as was also her husband ; and
IT certainly raised a great many fine chickens while they
were in my yards. I called them my very best,— and
they were, indeed, to look at,—a model pair of Shang-
haes, as will be seen by a glance at their portraits on the
next page.

But they were singled out for a curious fate. At two or
three.of our early fairs they had taken the first prizes;
and at one of the exhibitions, finally, there chanced to come
along a gentleman who fancied them exceedingly, and who

was bound to possess himself of the best that could be had.
' ‘He hada long purse (though, at the time he bought, prices
were not up to the mark they reached subsequently, by a
long margin); and when he offered forty dollars for this

THE HEN FEVER. 281

7m

HE “MODEL” SHANGHAES, —- (See page 280.)

282 THE HISTORY OF

“ model” pair, it was thought, by most of the outsiders, to
be a fabulous transaction altogether, made up between us to
aid in gulling “the people.’ However, he paid his money
for them, sent them off, and the following account of their
subsequent fate is thus touchingly furnished by my friend
_ “ Acorn,” who chanced to be “in at the death” :

“The gentleman who became the fortunate purchaser of
these fine fowls had come to the city in the morning for
the purpose of posting himself up generally, and to procure
a pair of these then very desirable birds, though he did not
imagine that he would be called upon to come down so
‘werry han’some’ for a single pair. He saw these, how-
ever, and visions of brilliant promise loomed up before him,
if he could contrive to obtain them, however high a figure
this ‘magnificent’ twain might be held at. As soon as
he secured them, he felt that his fortune was made.

“He calculated to remain in town until evening, and, sit-
ting down, he hastily wrote a note to the keeper of a fash-
ionable hotel in T
dine with him, and that the bearer would deliver him a pair
of uice chickens, which he desired him to take charge of.
He also directed the boy (to whom he gave this note and
the coop) to say that he would take dinner with his friend
at four Pp. M.; and, sending up the fowls, he turned to other
matters, for the day.

street, informing him that he would

THE HEN FEVER. 288

“Arriving at the hotel, the youngster found the landlord,
and said,

‘*¢Here ’s a pair of rousing big chickens Mr. M——-s has
sent up; and he says he ’ll be here to dine with you at four
v’clock.’

“The landlord supposed that his friend knew a hawk from
a handsaw, as well as a canvass-back from a broiled owl;
and believed that he had ‘sent up’ something a little extra
for the proposed dinner. He therefore ordered the two birds
to be placed in the hands of the cook, and gave directions
also to have these ‘model Shanghaes’ killed and dressed
at once, for the proposed dinner, to come off at four o’clock
p. M.!

‘This order was promptly obeyed; and at the hour ap-
pointed the chicken-fancier made his appearance, in com-
pany with a few of the ‘boys,’ and the dinner was served
up with due accompaniments. After indulging in sundry
wine bitters, as a sharpener to their appetites, the snug
party sat down to table, and the liberal owner of the forty-
dollar Shanghaes was politely invited to carve. While in
the act of dissecting those enormous ‘members of the late
hen convention,’ the amateur remarked,

‘“*¢?Pon my word, Major, youve a noble pair of chickens
here, to be sure.’

‘«-Ves, yes,’ responded the Major. ‘I think they are
an indifferently good-sized pair of birds. They were sent

284 THE HISTORY OF

up to me, to-day; by a mutual friend of ours. I think we
shall find them choice.’

“A present, eh?’ said the owner, unwittingly. ‘A
very clever fellow our friend must be, Major. Capital,—
really!’ And as he finally commenced to enjoy the feast,
he added, ‘I declare they are very fine, and of the most
delicious flavor I ever tasted. Juicy, too,—juicy as a
canvass-back.’ .

“Thus continued the victim, praising the rich excellence
of the birds, until at last he had bagged a bottle or more of
sparkling Schreider. While chatting over their Sherry, at
last, and enjoying the rich aroma of their regalias, the now
unlucky owner of the model Shanghaes suddenly said,

‘By the way, Major, speaking of fowls, what do you
think of my hen-purchase, this morning? Are n’t they good
“uns ?’

‘“*¢ Well, Bill,’ rejoined his friend, ‘I think they were
delicious. And I won’t mind if you dine with me every
day in the week, provided you can send me up such chick-
ens as those !’

““¢ Such chickens!’ exclaimed Bill, astounded, as the
thought for the first time flashed upon him that he might
possibly now have been dining upon his ‘model Shanghaes.’
‘Why, Major, what the deuce do you mean?’

“Mean ?’ replied the Major ; ‘nothing, — only to say
— without any intention of disturbing your nerves, —

THE HEN FEVER. 285

that we have just finished a most capital dinner upon those
nice Shanghaes that you sent up to me, this morning.’

“<¢What!’ yelled Bill, jumping wildly up from the
table ; ‘ what do you say, Major?’

“*Those Shanghaes —’

** Bill groaned, rammed his hands clean up to the elbows
into his breeches-pockets, and, after striding fiercely across
the room some half a dozen times, without uttering another
word, but with his eyes all this time ‘in a fine frenzy
rolling,’ he stopped short, and, turning to the Major, he
exclaimed, with no little gesticulation,

*** Good God, Major, you don’t mean to say you’re seri-
ous, now ?’

““¢ Nothing else, Bill. What’s the matter ?’

“*Why, I paid forty dollars for that puir of chickens,
this morning, at the hen-show !’

“You did !*

“*Yes, Did n’t that stupid boy give my note, when
he left the chickens ??

““¢Not a note; not even a due-bill,’ said the Major,
provokingly.

‘“*¢T mean my letter,’ coutinaed Bill.

‘** No,’ said the Major, ‘he gave me no letter; he sim-
. ply delivered the fowls, and informed me that you would
dine with me at four p.m I thought, of course, you would
like them thus, and so I had ’em roasted.’

286 THE HISTORY OF

“Bill didn’t stop for further explanations, but rushed
for his horse and wagon, and wasn’t seen in the city but
once afterwards, for a long-time. He was then closely
muffied up, and had both his ears stopped up with cotton-
batting, lest he might possibly hear some one say Shang-
hae! :

** A few weeks afterwards, while passing near his resi-
lence, I halted, and dropped in upon him for an hour;
and, after a while, I ventured to touch upon the merits
and beauties of the different breeds of poultry ; — but
I discovered, at once, that there was a wildness about
Bill’s eyes, and therefore ceased to allude to this usu-
ally interesting ‘ rural’ subject, as Bill exclaimed, implor-
ingly,

““¢ Don’t hit me, old boy, now I’m down! That chicken
dinner has never yet digested !’”’

Thus “passed away” one of the handsomest pairs of
domestic fowls ever seen in this part of the country, and
which were well known, by all the fanciers around me,
as tip-top specimens of the then lauded race of Shang-
haes.

This result proved rather an expensive dinner for Mr.
M——-s; but, while it served for an excellent lesson to him
(as well as to many of his friends who chanced to hear of
what the Major called “this capital joke”), he had the

THE HEN FEVER. 287

satisfaction, subsequently, of ascertaining that he got off at
a remarkably low figure. His hen fever was very quickly,
and fortunately, cured. But for this sudden and happy
turn in his case, the disease might have cost him far more
dearly.

The fowls he thus lost were what were then deemed ‘‘tall
specimens ;’’ but they did not, in this respect, equal those
of a neighbor, who declared that a young Shanghae cock
of his grew so high on the leg, that he got to be afraid of
him ; and, instead of eating him, one day while the rooster
was in a meditative mood, he contrived to place a twenty-
feet ladder beside him, and, mounting it, mansged to blow
out the monster’s brains, greatly to the owner’s velief.

CHAPTER XLII.
AN EMPHATIC CLINCHER.

Ownx of the last specimen detters that I will offer I re-
ceived late in the year of our Lord 1854, which afforded
me as much amusement (considering the circumstances of
the case) as any one I ever yet received, of the thousands
that found their way to ‘‘Geo. P. Burnham, Esq., Boston,
Mass.’ Here it is, word for word : ise.

“Gzore Burnam :

More ’n.a yeer aggo i cent yu twenty six dollers in a
leter for 3 coshin chiner Chickns, an yu sed tha wus per-
feck pure bludds an yu lade yerseff lyble tu a Sute of pros-
ekushn fer letin such dam stuf go intu yure yard or out of
it, eether. :

“i bred them orl by themselfs an never had no uther
cockrill on my plase. an imo yu cheeted me like the
devl, an yu no it 2. the fust lot of chickns i gut was awl
wite as snobawls. but i didnt sa nothin, cause wy? Wat
did I Want tu let fokes no ide bin fuled an suckt in by a

THE HISTORY OF THE HEN FEVER. 289

Corntemtible yanky, fer! i sed nothin an kep shaidy, an
stuk to it that i gut em to breed wite fouls out on — caus i
Ment peeple shudent larf at me, no how!

‘“‘ Wel, the nex lot of chickns i gut wus Slack as thun-
der! black, Geo Burnam — bred out of yur Patent yaller
impoted preemum stock, that yu an the lyin Noospappers
ced wus pure bludds. i chocked Every wun on em quick-
er ’n scatt-— wen i found um, an ef Yude a bin thare then
i guess you Wuddent razed not more’n ten thowsen more
fouls to cheet Peeple with after ide a guta holt on yure
desaitful gullet.

‘never yu mind now, yuve gut my monny an yu can
maik the most of it. aint yu a Pooty kine of mann? dont
yu think yu ort tu hav yure Naim put in the nuspapper an
jet em say more ’n fifty times a Munth that yu breed onny
pure Impoted stock? dont yu feel nice wen Yu heer, about
the luck that peeple has with the stuf you impose on em in
this shaimfull maner? Yu muss be a Nise kine of a sort
of mann, i don think.

“i tell yu wot i think on yu. i think if yu Shud taik to
sum onnest imploiment, sech as drivin a express Waggin or
sorring wood, yude be Considurd a gentle mann Compaired
with wat yu now be, everyboddy nose how yu ar cheetin
and Gougin and bleadin the publick, an yur naim stinks
wuss ’n a ple Hen-cupe enny how. i spose tho ef yu shud
taik to enny kine of onness sort of way tu git a livin it ud

25

290 THE HISIGRY OF

kill yu dam quik cos yu aint uste tu it, an that wud serv
yu rite, yu Cheetin lyin onprinsipled nave. ide orter taikn
bennits an Minur’s advise, an then i Shudent bin suckt by
yu. tha air Gentle mann to yu, an tha aint no better
then tha shud be Neyther — xo how !

- ‘i-dont mine the Eckspence, it aint no cornsidable mat-
ter of konsekens Tu me, i ’shure yu. ican stan it, yu
need n’t be Afeered of that. ican aford tu be suckt wunce-
But ide like yu tu tell me how Blak chickns an wite chickns
an sum of em orl Cullers tu, can cum out of pure bludded
Aigs, or pure bludded fouls? tha carnt, an yu kno it. an
yu kno’de it afore, an yure Welcom tu orl yule evyver maik
More out of me, bait yure life on that, georg Burnam !

“go ahed. suc em as long.as Yu can. tha wunt fine
yu out fer a wile, an yu can maik sum cornsidable mor
Monny out of the flatts, yit. yu thort yude suckt meI
spoze. welliownup. yudid. yu gut twenty six dollers
of my monny an i spose yu chukled about it, same’s yu did
Wen yu stuk them roten aigs onto bill turner. Yude beter
cum here, this wa, sum fine da an See the stock here thats
bred out of yure preemum fouls. praps Yude git hoam

agin without a saw hed. i think yu wood. haddn’t yu _

Better try it on — hay ?

* “dont yu wish ide pade the postige on this leter? Yule
git a wus wun nex time. ile rite yu agin, wunct a weak,
cee ef'idont. ile Meat yu sum day at sum of the fares

THE HEN FEVER. 291

an then cee if i dont Rake yu down with a corse comb. i
haint harf dun with yu yit, by a dam site. so wate.
‘« Tn haist,
“B F L

.

: ¥,
“ Poss Skrip. —P. §. i seen in boston Times yister-

day that yu ‘Lade six aigs on The editurs table, 8 inchis
long an 4 inchis Round.’ This was pygt in that paper i
Spose sose yu cud cell Aigs. yu ma pool wull over thair
ies But yu dont fule Me. idoant bleeve yu ever Lade a
aig in yur life—yu Hombugg. go tu the devl gorge
Burnam !”’

A German friend of mine once temporarily left. the pro-
fession to which he had been educated thoroughly, and, with
a few hundred dollars in hand, purchased a small place, a
dozen miles out from the city, which was called by the seller
of it “a farm.”

Mynheer went to work lustily at his new vocation, slav-
ing and sweating and: puffing away over his lately ac-
quired grounds, every moment of time that he could bor-
~ row or steal from his legitimate duties, and expending

upon his “ farm” every dollar he could rake and scrape
. together.
In the fall of his first year as a “practical agriculturist,””
I met him casually, and I said,

292 THE HISTORY OF

“ A. how does the farming succeed with you? How
have you made it ?”’

‘By gar,” he replied, ‘‘I ’av try vera hard all de time,
I’ay plant potato an quash an corn an all dat, I ’av hire
all my neighbors to ’elp, I buy all de manoor in town, I
‘av spent all my monish—an wot you tink, now, Burn-
ham— wot you tink I get—eh? Well, I git one dam
big watermel’n, dass all; but he never git ripe, by
gar!”

When I had read the letter which I have just quoted
above, I thought of my friend A~—, and I said that my
correspondent (like a good many before him), as did Myn-
heer A
beyond his comprehension.

, had undertaken a business which was entirely

His letter was complimentary, (!) to say the least of
it. But the young man was easily excited, I think.
He did pay me some twenty-six dollars for four chickens,
and from some cause (unknown to this individual) he got
only white or black progeny from the yellow fowls I sent
him! Was that any’. business ‘of mine? He should
have thanked, rather than have abused me, surely,— for
didn’t he thus obtain a variety of “pure” stock, from
one and the same source ?

Such fortune as this was by no means uncommon. The
yellow stock was crossed in China, oftentimes, long before
we ever saw it here; and there was only one means of

THE HEN FEVER. 298
a

redress that I could ever recommend to these unitidky
wights, conscientiously, and that was to buy more, and try
it again.

Sometimes “like would breed its like” in poultry; not
often, however, within my humble experience! The ama-
teurs were continually trying experiments, and grumbling,
and constantly dodging from one ‘fancy ”’ kind of fowl to
another, in search of the right thing ; and I endeavored to
aid them in their pursuit; though they did not always at-
tain the/r object, even when they purchased of me.

25*

CHAPTER XLIII.
“STAND FROM UNDER!”

I wave asserted, in another place, that, in all probability,
in no bubble, short of the famous ‘‘ South Sea Expedition,”
has there ever been so great an amount of money squan-
dered, from first to last, as in the chicken-trade; and,
surely, into the meshes of ‘no humbug known to us of the
present day have there been so many persons inveigled, as
could now be counted among the victims of this inex-
plicable mania. .

Acopy of the Liverpool Express in January, 1854, now
lies before me, from which I ‘notice that the great metro-
politan show in London, just then closed, surpassed all its
predecessors; and that the excitement in England, at that
time, was at its height. The editor asserts that “it was
not an easy thing to exhaust the merits of the three thou-
sand specimens of the feathered tribe there shown. No
one,” continues the writer, ‘ who is at all conversant with
natural history, can fail to find abundance of material for
an hour’s instruction and amusement. The general charac-

THE HISTORY OF THE HEN FEVER. 295

ter of the exhibition has been already indicated; but this is
oneof those cases in which no description, however elabo-
rate, can supply the place of personal inspection.”

The British correspondent of the Boston Post, but a
short time previously, writes that ‘‘ the fowl fever, which has
raged with so much violence in New England during the
last three years, has extended to this country. There was
a great crowing among the cocks at the late Smithfield
cattle-show, and there seems to have been a still louder one
at the Birmingham fair.

“The mania for the purchase of fine fowls,’ continues
this writer, ‘was as furious there as if each of them had
been the hen in the fable that found the jewel in the dung-
hill. Some pairs brought as high as forty pounds (two
hundred dollars). One very fine pair of Cochin-Chinas
sold for fifty pounds (two hundred and fifty dollars). In
the catalogue some were marked at one hundred pounds,
the valuation prices of owners who did not wish to sell.
With you, in America, the rage for fowl-raising is simply
one of fancy and profit,* but here it is the result —and a
very beneficial one, too — of free trade. The price of cggs
and poultry, owing to the great demand, does not fall; the
price of grain, owing to free importation, does fall; and
hence the great profit which is realized from keeping fowls.

* We have found it a very comfortable “ rage,”’ thank you !

296 THE HISTORY OF

The Dorkings are great favorites, less difficult to raise than
with you; and, though not abundant layers, still command,
from the greater whiteness and superior delicacy of their
flesh, a high price in the market. But the new Cochin
China varieties are in the greatest demand ; the display of
them at Birmingham exceeded all others, and they are now
much sought after here.”

Such accounts as these continually occupied the papers ;
and the fever had been kept furiously alive, by this means,
until far into the year 1854. The most glowing accounts
of the pouliry-shows, at home and abroad, were kept up,
too; but, in the mean time, Shanghae chickens multiplied
rapidly, and grew up, and filled the barns and yards of
“the people,”— and at the same time they did not forget
how to eat corn, when they could get it.

And, in spite of the best endeavors of interested parties to
galvanize the hum into a continued existence, it was now
evident to those who watched its progress, as J had done,
that the death-rattle was clearly in its throat.

At this juncture I was reminded of the details of the
mulberry-tree bubble, the tulip fever, and the Merino sheep
speculation; and I had taken care not to become involved
in the final ruin of the hen-trade (as I knew many had
been, and more were destined to be), in the eventual wind-
ing-up of this affair, which was now close at hand.

A brief account of the famous sheep mania (so like the

THE HEN FEVER. 297

hen fever i1 its workings) will not bo uninteresting at this
point ; and its record here, perhaps, will have the effect of
opening the eyes of some chance reader, haply, who is, even
now, half inclined to ¢ry his hand in the chicken-trade.

This sheep bubble originated in the year 1815 or 1816,
immediately after the treaty of Ghent, and at a period when
thousands of the American people were actually ‘ wool-
mad” in reference to the huge profits that were then ap-
parent, prospectively, in manufacturing enterprises.

In the summer of the last-named year (as nearly as can
be fixed upon), a gentleman in Boston first imported some
half-dozen sheep from one of the southern provinces of
Spain, whose fleeces were of the finest texture, as it was
said; and such, undoubtedly, was the fact, though the sheep
were so thoroughly and completely imbedded in tar, and
every other offensive article, upon their arrival in America,
that it would have been very difficult to have proved this
statement. But the very offensive appearance of the sheep
seemed to imbue them with a mysterious value, that ren-
dered them doubly attractive.

Tt was contended that the introduction of these sheep into
the United States would enable our manufactories, then in
their infancy, to produce broadcloths, and other woollen
fabrics, of a texture that would compete with England and
Europe. Even Mr. Clay was consulted in reference to the
sheep; and he at once decided that they were exactly the

298 THE HISTORY OF

* e
animals that were wantel; and some of them subsequently
found their way to Ashland.

The first Merino sheep sold, if I recollect right, for fifty
dollars the head. They cost just one dollar each in Anda-
lusia! The speculation was too profitable to stop here ; and,
before a long feriod had elapsed, a small fleet sailed on a
sheep speculation to the Mediterranean. By the end of the
year 1816 there probably were one thousand Merino sheep
in the Union, and they had advanced in price to twelve
hundred dollars the head.

Before the winter of that year had passed away, they sold
for fifteen hundred dollars the head; and a lusty and good-
looking buck would command two thousand dollars at sight.
Of course, the natural Yankee spirit of enterprise, and the
love which New Englanders bore to the “ almighty dollar,”
were equal to such an emergency as this, and hundreds of
Merino sheep soon accumulated in the Eastern States.

But, in the course of the year 1817, the speculation, in
consequence of the surplus importation, began to decline ;
‘yet it steadily and rapidly advanced throughout the Western
country, while Kentucky, in consequence of the influence of
Mr. Clay’s opinions, was especially benefited. -

In the fall of 1817, what was then deemed a very fine
Merino buck and ewe were sold to a gentleman in the West-
ern country for the sum of eight thousand dollars; and
even that was Jeemed a very small price for the animals!

THE HEN FEVER. 299

They were purchased by a Mr. Samuel Long, a house builder
and contractor, who fancied he had by the transaction
secured an immense fortune.

Now, Mr. Long had acquired the sheep fever precisely
as thousands of others‘(in later days) have taken the hen
fever. And, in this case, the victim was réally: rabid with
the Merino mania. In proof of this, the following authentic
anecdote will be amply sufficient and convincing.

There resided, at this time, in Lexington, Ky., and but a
short distance from Mr. Clay’s villa of Ashland, a wealthy
gentleman, named Samuel Trotter, who was, in fact, the
money-king of Kentucky, and who, to a very great extent,
at that time, controlled the branch of the Bank of the
United States. He had two sheep,—a buck and an ewe,—
and Mr. Long was very anxious to possess them.

Mr. Long repeatedly bantered and importuned Mr. Trot-
ter to obtain this pair of sheep from him, but without suc-
cess; but, one day, the latter said to the former, “ If you
will build me such a house, on a certain lot of land, as I
shall describe, you shall have the Merinos.”’

“Draw your plans for the buildings,” replied Long,
instantly, ‘and let me see them; I will then decide.”

The plans were soon after submitted to him, and Long
eagerly accepted the proposal, and forthwith engaged in the
enterprise. He built for Trotter a four-story brick house,
about fifty feet by seventy, on the middle of an acre of

800 THE HISTORY OF

land; -he finished it in the most approved modern style,
and enclosed it with a costly fence; and, finally, handedit
over to Trotter, for the zwo Merino sheep. The establish-
ment must have cost, at the very least, fifteen ° aienewad
dollars..

: But d alas! ‘A long while before this beautiful and costly
estate was fully completed, the price of Merinos' declined
gradually ; and six months had not passed away before
they would not command twenty dollars each, even in Ken-
ne . c

..Mr. Long was aubeoduontly a wiser but a poorer man.
He held on to this pair till their price reached the par
value only of any other sheep; and then he absolutely killed
this buck and ewe, made a princely barbecue, called all his
friends to the feast, and whilst, the “goblet went its giddy
rounds,” like the ruined Venetian, ‘he thanked God that, at
that moment, he was not worth a ducat !

This is absolute, sober fact. Mr. Long was ‘oust
and irretrievably ruined in-his pecuniary affairs; and very
soon after this ‘‘sumptuous dinner,” he took sick, and
actually died: of a broken heart, 7

Along in the summer and fall. of 1854, having watched
the course that matters. were taking in the chicken-trade, I
became cautious; for I thought I heard in the far-off dis-
tance something indefinite, and almost undistinguishable,
yet pointed and emphatic in its general tone. I listened;

THE HEN FEVER. 801

and, as nearly as I could make the warning out, it sounded
like “Take care!”

And so I waited for the dénowement that was yet to
come. In the mean time, I had a friend who for five long
years had been religiously seeking for that incomprehensi-
ble and never-yet-come-at-able ignis fatuus, a genuine
“ Cochin-China”’ fowl of undoubted purity !

I had not heard of or from him for some weeks; until,
one morning, about this time, a near relative of his sent to
my house all that remained of this indefatigable searcher
after truth ; an accurate drawing of which J instantly caused
to be made —and here it is!

CHAPTER XLIV.
BURSTING OF THE BUBBLE,

My friend John Giles, of Woodstock, Conn., has some-
where said, of late, ‘I often hear that the ‘fowl’ fever is
dying out. If by this is meant the unhealthy excitement
which we have had for a few years past, for one, I say the
sooner that it dies out the better. But as to the enthusiasm
of ¢rue lovers of the feathered tribe dying out, it never will,
as long as man exists. It is part of God’s creation. The
thinking man loves and admires his Maker’s work ; always
did; always will. And I have not the least doubt that any
enterprising young man, with a suitable place and fancier’s
eye, would find it to his advantage to embark in the enter-
prise of fowl-raising for market.” .

Now, I don’t know but John is honest in this assertion, —
that is, I can imagine that he believes in this theory! But
how he can ever have arrived at such a conclusion (with
the results of his own experience before him), is more than
I can comprehend.

Laying aside all badinage, for the moment, I think it may

THE HISTORY OF THE HEN FEVER. 808

be presumed that I have had some share of experience in
this business, practically, and I think I can speak advis-
edly on this subject. As far back as during the years
1839, 40 and ’41, I erected, in Roxbury, a poultry estab-
lishment on a large scale, upon a good location, where I had
the advantages of ample space, twenty separate hen-houses,
running water and a fine pond on the premises, glass-
houses (cold, and artificially heated, for winter use), and
every appurtenance, needful or ornamental, was at my
command.

I purchased and bred all kinds of domestic fowls there,.
and they were attended with care from year’s end to year’s
end. But there was no profit whatever resulting from
the undertaking, and why ?

The very week that a mass of poultry — say three to
five hundred fowls —is put together upon one spot, they
begin to suffer, and fail, and retrograde, and die. No amount
of care, cleanliness or watching, can.evade this result. In
a body (over a dozen to twenty together), they cannot
thrive; nor can the owner coax or force them to lay eggs,
by any known process.*

* Since this was written, I find in the Country Gentleman a communica-
tion from L. F. Allen, Esq., on this very subject, in which he says that
« 4 correspondent desires to know howto build a chicken-house for ‘ about
one thousand fowls.’ If my poor opinion is worth anything, he will not
build it at ail. Fowls, in any large number, will not thrive. Although I

804 THE HISTORY OF

To succeed with the breeding of poultry, the stock must
be colonized (if a large number of fowls be kept), or else
only a few must find shelter in any one place, about the
farm or country residence. And my experience has taught
me that five hens together will yield more eggs than fifty-
five together will in the same number of months.

I honestly assert, to-day, that of all the humbug that
exists, or which has been made to exist, on this subject, no
part of it is more glaringly deceptive, in my estimation, than
that which contends for the profit that is to be gained by
breeding poultry— as a business by itself — for market
consumption. The idea is preposterous and ridiculous,
and no man can accomplish it,—I care not what his facil-
ities may be,— to any great extent, upon a single estate.
The thing is impossible; and I state this, candidly, after
many years of practical experience among poultry, on a
liberal scale, and in the possession of rare advantages for
repeated experiment.

I do not say that certain persons wht have kept a few
fowls (from twenty-five to a hundred, perhaps), and who
have looked after them carefully, may not have realized a
profit upon them, in connection with the farm. But, to

have seen it tried, I never knew a large collection of several hundred
fowls succeed in a confined place. Ihave known sundry of these enter-
prises tried ; but I never knew one permanenily successful. They were ail,
in turn, abandoned.’’ The thing is entirely impracticable.

THE HEN FEVER. 805

make it a business by itself, I repeat it, a mass of domestic
and aquatic fowls cannot be kept together to any advan-
tage whatever, their produce to be disposed of at ordinary
market value.

The fever for the fancy ” stock broke out at a time when
money was plenty, and when there was no other speculation
rife in which every one, almost, could easily participate.
The prices for fowls increased with astonishing rapidity.
The whole community rushed into the breeding of poultry,
without the slightest consideration, and the mania was by
no means confined to any particular class of individuals —
though there was not a little shyness among certain circles
who were attacked at first; but this feeling soon gave way,
and our first men, at home and abroad, were soon deeply
and riotously engaged in the subject of henology.

Meantime, in England they were doing up the matter
somewhat more earnestly than with us on this side of the
water. To show how even the nobility never “put their
hand to the plough and look back ’’ when anything in this
line is to come off, and the better to prove how fully the
_ poultry interests were looked after in England, I would
point to the names of those who, from 1849 to 1855,
patronized the London and Birmingham associations for the
improvement of domestic poultry.

The Great Annual Show, at Bingley Hall, was got up

under the sanction of His Royal Highness Prince Albert,
26%

806 THE HISTORY OF THE ILEN FEVER.

the Duchess of Sutherland, Lady Charlotte Gough, the
Countess of Bradford, Rt. Hon. Countess of Littlefield, Lady
Chetwynd, Hon. Viscountess Hill, Lady Littleton, Hon.
Mrs. Percy, Lady Scott, and a host of other noble and
royal lords and ladies, whose names are well known among
the lines of English aristocracy.

But, as time advanced, the star of Shanghae-ism began to
wane. The nobility tired of the excitement, and the people
of England and of the United States began to ascertain that
there was absolutely nothing in this ‘‘ hum,” save what the
“importers and breeders ’’ had made, through the influence
of the newspapers; and while a few of the last men were
examining the thickness of the shéll, cautiously and warily,
the long-inflated bubble burst! and, as the fragments
descended upon the devoted heads of the unlucky star-gaz-
ers, a cry was faintly heard, from beneath the ruins —
“ Stand from under !”

I had been watching for this climax for several months;
and when the explosion occurred, as nearly as I can “ cal-
"late, I was n't thar !

*
CHAPTER XLV.

‘; THE DEAD AND WOUNDED.

I uavn never yet been able to ascertain, authentically,
all the exact particulars of the final catastrophe ; but, basing
un opinion upon the numerous ‘“ dispatches”? I received
from November, 1854, to February, 1855, the number of
dead and wounded must have been considerable, if not more.
I received scores of letters, during this last period men-
tioned, of which the annexed is a fair sample:

“G, P. Burngam, Esa.

‘Dear Srr: I’m afraid the jig is up ! There ’s
a big hole in the bottom somewhere, or Iam mistaken. I
think the dance is concluded; and if it isn’t time to
‘blow out the lights’ and shut down the gate, just let
us know,—will you? Where’s Bennett, and Harry
Williams, and Dr. Eben, and Childs, and Ad. White,
and Brackett, and Johnny Giles, and Uncle Alden, and
Buckminster, and Chickering, and Coffin, and Fussell,
and Chenery, and Gilman, and Hatch, and Jaques, and
Barnum, and Southwick, and Packard, and Balch, and

308 THE HISTORY OF

Morton, and Plarsted, and Geo. White, e¢ id omne genus ?
Where are they all? Sta a-y!

“What has become of Platt, and Miner, and N ewell, and
Hudson, and Heffron, and Taggard, and Hill, and Swett,
and M’ Clintock, and Dr. Kerr, and Devereux, and Thacher,
and Haines, and Hildreth, and Brown, and Smith, and
Green, ahd ¢heir allies 2 Are they dead, or only ‘ kilt’?
Let me know, if you can, I beseech you ! .

“<¢Q, where, tell me where,’ is my bonnie friend
John Moore, and mine ancient frére Morse, and my loved
chum Howard, and the wily Butters? And where’s Ped-
der —the immaculate Pedder ? ‘And Charley Belcher,
too, and bragging | Cornish, and Billy Everett, and. our good
neighbors Parkinson, and George, and Sol. J: ewett, and Pres-
ident Kimball, and know-nothing King, and the reverend
Marsh, and Pendletonian Pendleton of Pendleton Hill, and
their satellites? Have all departed, and left no wreck
behind? I reckon not !

‘ Seriously, friend B——, what does all this mean?
Has the fever passed by? Can’t we offer another single
prescription? Has the Jast man been heard from? Has
there been found ‘a balm in Gilead’ to heal the wounds of
the afflicted sufferers? Is the thing finished? Are they
all cured? Did you say all? Dunder and blixen! Is
anybody hurt? What are we todo? ‘ Speak, or die !’

“Where are the ‘ Committee,’ and the ‘J udges,’ and the

THE HEN FEVER. 809

‘ Trustees,’ and the ‘Managers’? Where is the ‘ Society ’
whose name, ‘like linked sweetness long drawn out,’ [
have n't time to write? Where is that balance in the
Treasurer’ s hands,’—and where is that functionary himself ?
Did he ever exist at all? What has become of the premi-
ums that were awarded at the last show in Boston?» And
when, in the language of the enthusiastic Mr. Snooks (at
the Statehouse in 1850), will that Association begin ‘to be
forever perpetuated,’— eh?

“JT have got on hand three hundred of the Shanghae
devils! What can Ido with them? There is a neighbor
of mine (a police-officer), who has got stuck with a lot of
‘ Cochin’ chickens, which he swears he won’t support this
winter; and he has at last advertised them as stolen prop-
erty, in the faint hope, I suppose, that some ‘ green ’un’
will come forward dnd claim them. You can’t get rid of
these birds! It is useless to try to sell them; you can’t
give them away; nobody will take them. You can’t
starve them, for they are fierce and dangerous when aggra-
vated, and will kick down the strongest store-closet door ;
and you can’t kill them, for they are tough as rhinocer-
oses, and tenacious of life as cats. Ah! Burnham, I have
never forgiven the man who made me a present of my first
lot! Do you want what I’ve got left? Will you take
them How much shall I pay you to receive them ?
Help me out, if you can.

810° THE HISTORY OF

“T am not aware that I ever committed any offence, that
this judgment should be thus visited upon. my poor head!
I never sold fowls for what they were not; I never cheated
anybody, that I know of; Ido not remember ever having
done any unjust act that should: bring down upon me ‘this
terrible vengeance. Yet I am now the owner of nearly
three hundred of these infernal, cursed, miserable ghosts in
‘feathered mail,’ which I cannot get rid of! Tell me what
I shall do, and answer promptly.

“Yours, in distress,
oe ”

I have smiled over this document, so full of feeling and
earnestness, so lively and touching in its recollections of the
days when we went chicken-ing, long time ago! But I
have never been able to reply fully to my ardent friend’s
‘numerous inquiries. I don’t want those ‘‘three hundred
Shanghae devils,” though. I have now on hand nine of
them (only, thank Heaven!) myself; and that is quite
enough for one farm, at the present current price of grain.

What has become of all the friends about whom my cor-
respondent so carefully inquires, I don’t know. Not jive of
them are now iv the hen-trade, however ; and there are not
ten of, them who got owt of the business with a whole skin,
from the commencement.

The engine has collapsed its boiler. ‘There was alto-

THE HEN FEVER. 311

gether too much steam crowded on, and the managers were
not all “up to snuff’ The dead and wounded and
dying are now scattered throughout New England and New
York State chiefly, and their moans can occasionally be
heard, though their groans of repentance come too late to
help them.

They recklessly invested their twenties, or fifties, or hun-
dreds, and, in some instances, their thousands of dollars, in
this hum, without any knowledge of the business, and without
any consideration whatever, except the single aim to keep
the bubble floating aloft until they could realize anticipated
fortunes, on a larger or smaller scale, as the case might be.
But the ‘cars have gone by,” and they may now wait for
another train. Perhaps it will come!

Poor fellows! Poor, deluded, crazy, reckless dupes!
You have had your fun, many of you, and you will now
have the opportunity to reflect over the ruins that are piled
up around you; while, for the time being, you may well
exclaim, with the sulky and flunkey Moor,

‘© Othello’s occupation ’s GONE!’

CHAPTER XLVI.
A MOURNFUL PROCESSION. *

I was sitting before my comfortable library fire in mid-
winter, 1854, and had been reflecting upon the mutability
of human affairs generally, and the uncertainty of Shang-
hae-ism more particularly, when I finally dropped into a
gentle slumber in my easy-chair, where I dozed away an
hour, and dreamed.

My thoughts took a very curious turn. I fancied myself
sitting before a large window that opened into a broad pub-
lic street, in which I suddenly discovered a multitude -of
people moving actively about; and I thought it was some
gala-day in the city, for the throng appeared to be excited
and anxious. ‘ The people ’”’ were evidently abroad; and
the crowds finally packed themselves along the diol
leaving the wide street open and clear; and I could over-
hear the words ‘‘ They ’re coming!” “ ne they are!”

I looked out, and beheld an immense gathering of human
beings approaching in a line that stretched away as far as
the eye could reach,—a dense mass of moving mortality,

THE HISTORY OF THE HEN FEVER. 813

that soon arrived, and passed the window, beneath me. I
was alone in the room, and could ask no questions. I could
only see what occurred before me; and I noted down, as
they passed by, this motley PRocussIoN, which moved in

the following
Order of March.
Escort or InpEscRIBABLES.
Hatless Aid. [ Chief Marshal in Black. ] Bootless Aid.
Police. Two Ex-Mormons 1n Wurre Tonics. Police.
Calathumpian Band,

Whig The ‘Know Nothing Guards,’’ with guns 2 Democrat
Office-holders, enough for all useful purposes. Expectants.

‘Ture “‘ Ins.”? [ Cottecror and Postmaster. ] Tue ‘* Ovrs.”?

The ‘* National ’? Democracy, two deep, U.S. Dist. Ate
in one section. nea eee

BANNER.
Motto — ** We know of Burns that Russia Salve can’t cure.””

“ Aids to the Revenue.’? { MarsHat. ] Drawbacks on the Revenue.
Kaleb Krushing. [ Tae Man wo Faintep 1n Mexico. ] Jorge ah ! Poll.

“ Fanny Fern,”’ :
Flanked by a company of disappointed Publishers,
twenty-four deep, in twelve sections.

BANNER.
Motto. — ‘*She’s a brick !”’

Aids. [ MarsHat, ] Aids.
President of the “‘ N. E. Mutual Admiration ’? Hen Society.
Fat Marshal. [ Tue Great SHow May. J] Lean Marshal.
Banp, playing the ‘‘ Rogue’s March.”
Marshal. Guost or Jorce Hern. Marshal.

Aids, A Fejee Mermaid, astride Aids,
of Quaking Shakers. the Woolly Horse. The Happy Family.

U.S. Marshal. ;

Invited Guests. ror
. The Three Historians, “ admirers.”
Burnuam, Prescot, and BANncrart. ef
Escort in the rear, with charged bayonets.
A genuine ‘ Cocuin-Curra ”’ Rooster, } Police.
Police. ; succeeded by the man who knew him to be such !
Marshal. § The entire United States American Spa Marshal.
Pea Wilder. § Agricultural Society, in a one-horse buggy. ) ¥- ESS king.

27

ids,
Their readers

314 THE HISTORY OF

[The good this association had accomplished was borne along -y a stout
‘* practical farmer,’ ina small thimble; the records of its doings were
inscribed on a huge roll of paper, 16,000 yards long, carried upon a truck
drawn by twelve yoke of ‘* pure’? Devon oxen.]
Banner. — Motto: “* Ourselves and those who vote for us.”’

Aid, An ex-U. 8. Navy Agent who left that office Aid,
Naval Store { without having made money out of his place ! U. 8.
Keeper. Banner. — Motto : “* Poor, but honest.’? Sub-Treasurer.

The Mass. Hort. Improvement Society,

‘en’ masse, with several full hands of | pwenty-five
ig music, on “ seedling’? accompani- | hundred and-one
Marshals. ments, etc. gold-medal

BANNER. seekers.
Motto : ** Cuss thexConcord Grape.”’
No The max who voluntarily gave up his office under the r
Aids. National government, solus, on horseback, with Paeeee:
Banner. — Motto: ‘* Few die, and none resign.’’

**Tae Youne ’Un,”’

The defunct in his own barouche, drawn by four * superb His

New England dapple-grey Shanghaes.’’ barony S

Hen Society. | Bannun.— Motto :, Mosro. § Banner.— Motto: | petitors.
** Who's afraid??? $0 ‘Not this child!” J

Hen Men wHo HAD MISTAKEN THEIR CALLING, } Police

Patice. § twenty-eight deep, in four hundred sections.

Aids,

in seventy sections, Min a vow

otitts
24 Constables. sixty-four deep.
Bann, playing ‘* Hope told a flattering tale..’?
- The great-grandson of the man who set

out an orchard of dwarf Pear-trees | with thum)s

Rae ah asim (ina barouche). He was 102 years on their

old, and believed he should see fruit on MOBERS

those same trees ‘‘ next season ’? !

Palit Bearers. [ HIS COFFIN, BEHIND. ] Heirs to his estate.

Grain Men, with their bills,

ae ae f BeLravers THAT CooHITuaTs WATER ae Batts
Physicians. WHOLESOME (in a chaise). Commissioners.

Chicken Fanciers who did n°t buy their eggs of
16 Marshals. me. and who expected they would hatch ! 15 Marshals.
(Four thousand strong.)

oe A body of Express Agents, who never shook
Aids, up the eggs intrusted to them (though Aids,
the Conductors. they occasionally shook down their em- f the Brakemen,
ployers).

Banp. — Air: “O, I never will deceive you !”

THE HEN FEVER. 815

“ My friend Tan Presipent,”’

Flankeit by In the carriage presented to him by
the Subscribers ‘the people,’? drawn by that incu who
ov that ** superd puir of #1500 horses ’? did Wt obtain
*& Double Harness,” cae 4 we Ba of in fat offices. -
the papers.
Motto: Motto :
© T°ll see you in the Fall.” ; Teaaren, } “ Save me from my friends !??
Full Band.
The Hatch Grey Shanghac Express Co.,
. Aid, with the latest news from Nantucket Aid, &
Brass & Co. and ‘‘ Marm Hackett’s Garden.”? Tax “CoLoneL.

Motto: <‘ImporTant, oF TRUE !”?

Holders of Second Mortgage R. R. Bonds,
Aid, 24 deep, in 2400 sections. Aid,
Two Presidents. BANNER. One Treasurer.

Motto: ** There ’s a good time coming.’”

Aids, The owner of the first ‘* Brahma Pootra ”” Aids,

6 Regular fowls in America, with a map of India _Faculty of
Dostors. on the seat of his pantaloons. Ripura College.
Ga The original members of the ‘a

2 ‘Women’s Riaurs Convention.’ Ler
Lucy Brick. ‘ ® 5
eral Banp. — Air: ‘‘ Why don’t the men propose??? ee
: The ‘* wreck of Burnham’s character ”? Aids
Aids, caused by the powerful aper The “ Porte-
The First Premium vy pow fu newsp' PE e. oF gi
Fowls. assaults of one Monnaie Towe’em
Tes Bre Minur, A.SS. pene.

Banner. — Motto : “Don’t he feel bad !?? **
No - Poultry Fancier who had found out the at af

Too far

difference between a ‘‘ Cochin-China’’ and a gone !

«¢ Shanghae.’?

Unpaid Delinquent subscribers to northern Farmers, 2 Disappointed
Compositors. twelve deep, and three miles long ! “ Press Gang.”

Marshal. [ The ‘‘ editor,’’ suffering from a severe attack of roup. ] Marshal.

Day. ; Dr. Bangit, with the unsold copies of his Poultry-Book, } Gora,
in a huge baggage-wagon, drawn by 14 horses.
uj A battalion of victims to the Hen Rever, who had Pn
18 ge of bought eggs that “didn’t hatch,’’ and who Ratha
Charity. were waiting. patiently to have their money Insane
returned! Poor.
My legal friend (on a mule) who promised d
Marshal and to spend a thousand dollars in prosecuting | Jail Keeper

Deputy Sheriff. me for selling him Shanghue eggs for 4 Constables.
Cochin-Chinas !

316 THE HISTORY OF

Aid, § Fat Johnny Jiles, with the head of a pure ‘* Black i Aid,
Barnam. Spanish ’’ crower on a salver. Burnum.

The men who did n’t take the first premiums
Marshals. (when I was round) at the Poultry-Shows ¢ Marshals. 4
(in deep mourning). - 2
nt political remains of Frank Pierce, in af Aids,

Aids,
A “Cabinet” toy wheelbarrow, with Banner, on a His own

of Curiosities. @ ** sharp stick.”? Motto: ‘* Veto.” Opinions ¢
5 Victims who purchased Minor’s Aia,

m aise in ‘ «Patent Cross-grained Collat- Gen. Bangir,
ftorthum Farmer. eral Beehives,’’? with Motto: of the

“Burned child dreads the fire.?? } “ Nauvoo Legion.”

: Customers for “‘Ozier Willow,”
wes teats a in two sections, one man deep.
* (Banner. — Motto: ‘* I rather guess not!’

A huge concourse of “* Copper Stock’? and “ Agewuth
Land ”*’ owners, in deep sables. +

Foti Banp.— Air: Dead March.
Banner. — Motto: “You ’re sure to win —if you don’t lose !’?

(&S" A smooth-skinned pure ‘‘ Suffolk’? Pig, imported.
Twenty-four Sewing Machines, ‘* warranted.”?

Aid, President of the ‘‘Porte-Monnaiz I ows ’EM Aid,
Secretary. Company,’’ as Richard ILI. on horseback. Treasurer.

Nine ‘‘ Bother’em Pootrums,’’ rampant.

Aids,
The Victims.

Marshals. ; } Marshals.

The few ( The identical lot of “* pure-bred ’? fowls that Bangit, The
unlucky Plarsterd, Minor, Humm & Co., imported (over esa
Buyers. the left) <‘ for the Southern market,” in 1853 ! ‘story !

The Hen that lays two eggs a day !
Treasurer of the ‘‘ Mut. Adm’n Society.””
Defunct Hucksters, in a tip-cart.
Four empty Hen-Coops, on wheels.
(= Breeders of pure Alderney cattle ! _&}}
_ who furnish Pedigrees with long tails.
An effigy of the Lasr Man that will buy Shanghae chickens
(in a strait-jacket),,
Police ( Purchasers of Live Stock who bought of my competitors; ) snerig
and » With Banner. and
Aids. Motto: ‘* We got more than we bargained for !”? posse
The Hen-Men who “‘ pity Poor Burnham.’?
My Own Casu Cusromers,
10,000 strong F-
CAVALCADE.
‘‘THE PEOPLE,”’
Music,
And the rest of Mankind,
ete,

THE HEN FEVER. 817

The scene was closing! That immense concourse of
-humbugs and humbugged had passed on, and I was alone
once more. But, a moment afterwards, I saw the head and
face of a comical and good-humored looking Yankee (just .
beneath the window), who was in the act of puffing into the
air a huge budget of bubbles, that danced and floated in the
atmosphere for a brief moment, and which, bursting, sud-
denly awoke me. Here is a sketch of the finale.

\ E i.
ce B (one YZ ips.
1g £K Udy ° *
AWMERN AEN Co OF FM gel \ cose
(aston Sart fy fh ‘| ius)
; howd

nn \ Le ae
tens NEY i.) <a

Wuuuiy RAD

ie ) .
7 RS
DS [ Boznuay

CHAPTER XLVII.
MY SHANGHAE DINNER.

I saw by the papers, one day, late in the year 1854,
an account of the return from England of my fat friend
Giles, who brought with him the pdultry purchased
abroad for Mr. Barnum, and which proved to be a lot of
pure stock, of a remarkable character, as I supposed it
would be.

But, while John was absent in Great Britain, the know-
ing ones there shook him down, beautifully! His theory,
when he left America, four months previously, was that
‘‘hall ’at was wanted ’ere was to get hover from Hingland
pure-bred fowls, and such would sel.” John brought over
“such,” and they did sell; but Barnum was sold by far
the worst !

An auction was immediately got up at the American
Museum, in New York; and after a vast deal of drumming,
puffing and advertising this magnificent, just-imported,
pure-bred poultry, the sale came off, to a sorry company,
indeed! And the gross amount of the sales of the fowls

THE HISTORY OF THE HEN FRVER. 819

thus disposed of, really, was insufficient to pay the freight
bills for bringing them across the Atlantic, to say nothing
of their original high cost abroad. The show-man has
since left the hen-business, I learn, ‘a wiser if not a better
man ;” while John retired with the simple exclamation,
‘Most extr’ornerry result I hever ’eer’d of in hall my
life !””

Soor after this little episode occurred, the second show
of the ‘National Poultry Society” (in January, 1855)
came off at Barnum’s Museum, in New York; which,
notwithstanding the best endeavors of the “President,” was
a failure. The ‘‘ Committee” shut out of their premium
list the Grey Shanghaes, altogether ; and the result of this
last exhibition was just what I had anticipated. But Mr.
Barnum can well afford to foot the bills; and, as he is per-
fectly willing to do this, no objection will be raised to his
choice, I presume. This final exhibition at New York, I
have no doubt, closed up the business, for the present.

As soon as this last fair had closed, and when the
lucky and unlucky contributors returned to Boston, I
invited a party of my former confréres to, my residence,
to dinner. I had been preparing for this little event
for several days; and the following was the actual “ bill
of fare” to which we all sat down, at Russet Hovsz,
Melrose, on the fifth day of February, 1855:

320 THE HISTORY OF

~ Pinner.

SOUP—4 Ja SHANGHAL.

FRESH FISH—Wirtu Carna Saver.

BOILED FOWL—1o wit, the identical Grey Shanghae cock (two
years old) which took the premium at the First National Poultry
Show, in New York, in 1854; then valued at $100. 3

ROAST — Shanzhae Cock, nine months old, weighing, dressed, 10} pounds.
Do. Shanghae Pullets, same age, drawing, dressed, 74 pounds each.
Do. Spring Shanghae Chickens in variety. rs

BAKED — Pure “ Suffolk” Pig, with genu-wine “ Mandarin” Sauce.

—_—_—_++—__—

ENTREMENTS.

Brortep Shanghae Chicks. Frrep Shanghae Pullets.
Stewep Shanghae Chickens. CoppLep Shanghae Stags.
Curniep Shanghae Fowils. FricassEeD Shanghaes.

SuancHags TRUFFLED,
and
Morse SHANGHAES, tF WAnreEpD!

08 0- —--
DESSERT.
Shanghae Chicken Pie. Pudding @ la Shanghae.
Shanghae Omelets. Candied Cocks’ Spurs.
Shanghae Custards. Crystallized Pullets’ Combs.
Chinese Pudding. Shanghae Wattles, in Syrup.
ae

SHANGHAE-QUILL TooTH-Picks,

and
de MORE SHANGHAES IN THE YARD!

THE HEN FEVER. 321

To. this repast, with thankful hearts, a company of five-
and-twenty sat down, and, as nearly as my recollection now
serves me, the friends did ample justice to my Shanghae
dinner. After two’ hours over the varied dishes (varied in
size and style of cooking only), the cloth was removed, and
the intellectual treat commenced with a song, written ‘ex-
pressly for this occasion,’ by the Young ’Un, which was
delivered with admirable effect by ‘one who had been
there,”’ and in the chorus of which the guests unitedly
joined, with surprising harmony and unison. The follow-
ing toasts were then submitted :

By the Man in the Black Coat-— The Memory of the
defunct Rooster we have this day devoured: Peace to his
manes! (Drank standing, in silence.)

By a Successful Breeder. — The health, long life, and
prosperity, of our absent cash customers,—at home and
abroad.

By an Amateur. — Honor to the discoverer of the exact
difference between a “‘Shanghae”’ and a ‘ Cochin-China”’
fowl, if he shall ever turn up!

By the ‘‘ Confidence” Man.— The Continuity of the
beautifully-elongated Chinese fowls: May their shadows
never be less !

By a Victim. — The Bother’em Wot-yer-call-’ems :
Dammum! (Nine cheers for Doctors Bennett and Mi-

ner.)

822 THE HISTORY OF

By a Disappointed “ Fancier.”’ — Barn-yard fowls and
white-shelled eggs, for my money. (Three cheers for the
old-style biddies. ) mg

By the Youth in“a White Vest.—‘*Fanny Fern’’: The
hen that lays the golden eggs. (Six cheers for Fanny, and
the fair sex generally.) :

By a Repentant.— The whole Shanghae Tribe: Curse
em; the more fowls you see of this race, the less eggs
there are about! (This was deemed slightly personal, but
it was permitted to pass ; the gentleman spoke with unusual
feeling ; he had been only three years in the trade, and had
expended some sixteen hundred dollars in experimenting
with a view to establish a breed. that would lay two eggs
daily.)

By One of my “ Friends.” —The Young ’Un: The
only hen-man who has put the knife in up to the handle
with a decent grace! (Nine cheers followed, for the im-
porter of the only pure-bred poultry in America.)

This last sentiment called me to my feet, naturally
enough ; and, as nearly as I remember, I thus addressed
my guests, amidst the most marked and respectful attention :

“GENTLEMEN: I think I have seen it written some-
where, or I have heard it said, ‘It is a long lane that has
no turn init.’ I believe, however, that, although the lane
we have most of us been travelling for the last six years

THE HEN FEVER. 823

has proved somewhat tortuous as well as lengthy, we have
now passed the én in it, and have «rived very nearly at
the end of the road.

“Few of you, gentlemen, have met with so many thorns,
en route, as I have; none of you, perhaps, have gathered
so many roses. I am content, and I trust that everybody
is as well satisfied with the results of this journey as J am.
The Shanghae trade is done, gentlemen! We have this
day eaten up what, four years ago, would have been the
nucleus, at least, of a small fortune to any one of us who at
that time might have chanced to have possessed it. But the
fever is over ; the demand for giraffe cocks and chaise-top
hens is passed; the ‘poor remains of beauty once admired,
in my premium fowls,’ now lie scattered about the dishes
that have just left this table; and ‘Brahma-pootra-ism’ is
now no longer rampant.

“Perhaps, gentlemen, as you entertain opinions of your
own upon this delightfully pleasing subject of poultry-rais-
ing generally, and of the propagation of Shanghae fowls in
particular, you would care to hear nothing of my views
regarding this point. Yet, I pray you, indulge me for a
single moment — in all seriousness — and permit me to say
(without the slightest intention of being personal), that we
have proved ourselves a clan of short-sighted mortals, at the
best, during the last half-dozen years, in our crazy devotion
to what we have deemed an honorable and laudable ‘ profes-

824 THE HISTORY OF

sion,’ but which has been, in, reality, the most shallow,

heartless, unreasonable, silly and bottomless humbug that

_ grown-up men have ever been cajoled with, since the hour
when.Adam was fooled by the accomplished and coquetting
Eve!” (Cries of “You’re more ’n half right!” “That’s
a fact!” ‘ Exactly —just so!”’) -

‘There is now living in Melrose, Mass., gentlemen, a
breeder who begun at the beginning of this excitement, who
has since followed up the details of this hum with a zeal
worthy of a better cause; and who has accumulated a hand-

some competency in this traffic, by attending. strictly to his
own affairs, while he has uniformly acted upon the. princi-
ple that this world, is sufficiently capacious to accommodate
all God's creatures, without jostling. If you should chance

to meet this now getired fowl-fancier, he will tell you that |
he has had, and believes he still has, many personal friends;
.but the very bes¢ ‘friend’ he has ever known is the enjoy-
ment of his present income of, eight per cent. interest, per
annum, upon thirty thousand dollars. But this is a digres-
sion, and I beg pardon for the allusion.

“T look back with no regrets at the past, gentlemen.
We have seen a great many merry days, and, in the midst
of the competition and humbuggery in which we enlisted,
we ‘have often differed in sentiment. But here,—at the
close of: the route on which- we have so long been journey-
ing,— let us remember only the good traits that we any of

THE HEN FEVER. 825

us possess, while from this point we forget the errors that
ourselves and our companions may have committed, for-
ever.” (Three times three, ‘(and one more,” were here
given for the speaker, his friends, and all the rest of man-
kind. )

‘*T will say no more, gentlemen. My stomach is too full
for further convenient utterance; and I will conclude with a
sentiment to which, I am sure, you will all respond. I will
give you —

‘¢¢The Hen Fever !’’? —

“Don’t, don’t!” shrieked the crowd. ‘ We’ve had
that disease once, and that’is quite sufficient.’’

“Indulge me, gentlemen, one moment, and I will pro-
pose, then —

“<«Tue Hen Trave: Pheagh a fowl calling, it puts
fair money in the purse, when “judiciously”? managed.
May none of you ever dq worse, pecuniarily, in this
humble “profession,” than has your friend — the sub-

scriber.’ ””

Another round of hearty cheers succeeded this sentiment,

a parting bumper was enjoyed, and the circle sepa-

rated, to meet again at Philippi,—or elsewhere, —

where the author hopes to encounter only friendly faces,

whatever may have been his business relations with
28

826 THE HISTORY OF THE HEN FEVER.

his acquaintances in the days that are now passed
away. ‘ :

The mania is over. I have frankly repeated to you
the humble history of this curious fever, and we have
reached

THE END.

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