that,
if she could in any way increase the produce of her hens, it would be a
source of great gain to her; she accordingly fitted the bottom of each
laying hen's bed with a spring, and fixed a basin underneath, capable of
holding two eggs. In due time, the hens laid; but as each hen, after
laying, missed the warmth of the precious deposit, she got up to look if
it was all right. To her astonishment, no egg was to be seen. "Bless my
soul!" says the hen, "well, I declare I thought I had laid an egg. I
suppose I must be mistaken;" and down she went to fulfil her duties
again. Once more she rose to verify her success. No egg was there.
"Well, I vow," quoth Mrs. Hen, "they must be playing me some trick: I'll
have one more shot, and, if I don't succeed, I shall give it up." Again
she returned to her labours, and the two eggs that had passed into the
basin below supporting the base of her bed, success crowned her efforts,
and she exclaimed, "Well, I have done it this time at all events!" The
'cute wife kept her counsel, and said nothing, either to the hens or to
her neighbours, and thus realized a comfortable little bag of
dollars.--I give the anecdote as narrated to me, and I must confess I
never saw the operation, or heard the remarks of the outwitted hens. I
insert it lest in these days of agricultural distress (?) any farmer's
wife be disposed to make a trial of a similar experiment.[CO]

I proceed to consider the energy of the Republicans, a quality in which
they may challenge comparison with the world. No enterprise is too great
for them to undertake, and no hardship too severe for them to endure.
A Yankee will start off with his household gods, and seek a new home in
the wilderness, with less fuss than a Cockney would make about packing
up a basket of grub to go and pic-nic in Richmond Park. It is the spirit
of adventure that has enabled them to cover a whole continent in the
incredible manner which the map of the United States shows. The great
drawback to this phase of their energy is the total absence it exhibits
of those ties of home to which we so fondly cling in the old country. If
we were a nation of Yankees, I feel persuaded that in five years we
should not have ten millions of inhabitants. No Yankee can exist without
elbow-room, except it be the more degraded and rowdy portion of the
community, who find a more congenial atmosphere in those sinks of vice
inseparable from large towns. This migratory spirit has caus