e place in an
uproar, for they thought they could really honk! and they never ceased
from morning till night.

There's no telling what it all would have come to if there hadn't been
one in the barn-yard, with an ear that could hear something besides the
dreadful discords.

One night the little brown hen was roosting alone in the top of the
hen-house. All at once she was awakened by the sweetest song she had
ever heard.

She called to her chicks and to some of her companions to wake up and
listen; but they were sleepy and soon dozed off again, so the little
brown hen was left listening alone.

"I will ask the gander what this beautiful song means," she said. "He
knows everything."

So she awoke the gander and asked him who was singing the beautiful
song, and what it meant.

The gander said gruffly: "It is the nightingale. I do not know what her
song means. She should learn to honk!" And he tucked his head back under
his wing.

"Ah!" thought the little brown hen, "if learning the gander's language
does not help me to understand this beautiful song, I do not think it is
worth bothering with. I shall never try to say 'honk!' again."

So she went back to her roost and listened till the nightingale's song
ceased. Then she tucked her head under her little brown wing and went to
sleep, her little heart singing within her.

At daylight she awoke, and hopping down sought her companions, eager to
tell them the wonderful thing that was singing in her heart.

"This is a beautiful, simple world," she cried, "and I have learned a
very wonderful thing!"

But to her surprise, the creatures had no desire to hear what it was,
for they were all in a flurry getting ready for their next lesson in
honking.

"Indeed, you need not bother about honking," cried the little brown hen,
but nobody paid any attention to her.

So she called her chicks about her, and went her way, clucking merrily,
while they picked up bugs, and dared to peep once more when they found a
nice fat worm.

Meanwhile the class in honking made very little headway, for no sooner
were they settled than they began to wish they knew what wonderful thing
the little brown hen had to tell.

[Illustration: THEY.GATHERED.AROUND.AND.LISTENED.VERY.EARNESTLY..]

They craned their necks to watch her, and were filled with envy, seeing
that she and her chicks feasted bountifully, with very little
scratching, whereas _they_ scratched in the barn-yard all day, and found