care and presently there
began to arrive at the post office sundry catalogues of extraordinary
hens with unbelievable records as producers of eggs and of rapid-raising
broilers. The result was that the acre of ground behind the store was
cut up into poultry runs for the various strains of stock that Belle
decided on and that spring Belle launched out on her career as a poultry
farmer. There were Leghorns and Houdans for eggs, and Brahmas in another
yard for mothers. Four things conspired to make her venture a success.
She was the only one in Cedar Mountain with thoroughbred poultry, so
there was a large demand for high-class eggs for setting. The eggs that
for table use brought fifty cents a dozen were worth two dollars and a
half a dozen for hatching. Her store training had taught her to watch
the market reports in the papers, which arrived twice a week, and her
college training taught her to study hen hygiene. Last but not least,
she got their food for nothing.

On closing her books that autumn Belle found that on her investment of
$250 capital borrowed from her father, she had cleared $250, and had all
the capital to render back intact. She realized that while it was
possible to make 100 per cent, on small capital, the rate decreased
rapidly as the capital increased. She estimated that ten times as much
capital would only produce about 25 per cent, because the possibility of
personal management of every hen and every detail would grow
proportionately smaller, and it was this personal touch which counted.
Next, the sovereign advantages of grass range and table scraps must
diminish with each additional hen; and if she had paid herself an
adequate salary the profit would have been wiped out. Last, and perhaps
the most important to her, she was absolutely tied to the farm. She
could not be away one week without suffering loss. It was with
ill-concealed admiration that her father listened to a summary of these
conclusions; later, with the remarkable common sense that characterized
most of her ways, Belle seized a chance to sell out and lodge her money
in the local bank. But the venture had been a success in two respects.
It had helped her to health and it had given her business experience and
confidence.

The winter was now on, and Belle's outdoor activities were somewhat
circumscribed, for there is a real winter in the Black Hills. But she
was in robust health again and she turned her energies more and more to
church