must be hunted for, and to look out for themselves,
yes! they have been brought up properly, I have a right to be proud."

Laurie had never seen a real pump before, so they stopped and he had a
drink of the cool well water. How refreshing it was! Next they peeped
into the chicken house, deserted, except for a few old mother hens,
sitting on their eggs, who, when they saw Laurie, set up such a fuss
that he quickly came out again.

[Illustration: Chickens]

As they came near an old brown hen sitting in the grass, Laurie laughed
with delight when she got up, and a whole brood of downy yellow chicks
ran from under her wing.

[Illustration: Laurie with the hen and chicks]

Uncle Sam now took Laurie back to the barn to see the milking, and they
threaded their way through the dim twilight of the stable, past the
tired horses munching their oats, to the cow-shed, frightening an old
hen off her nest, where she had laid her eggs away from prying eyes in a
corner of the hay.

Laurie thought he had never smelt anything so delicious as the odor of
the sweet clover grass that hung down between the boards of the flooring
of the hay loft, and when a mouse would scurry away, he would laugh at
its being afraid of him.

Outside in the gathering twilight, the pigeons were wheeling and
circling overhead, and dipping to the ground for the corn that lay
scattered among the pebbles.

High overhead, was the dove-cote on the wagon house. "Do the pigeons
fly far away, Uncle Sam? and what are they always doing?" asked Laurie
when he had watched them for some time. "They fly ever so far away,
Laurie," answered Uncle Sam, "but always come back again. Some pigeons
you know, the carrier pigeons, carry messages, but I do not think this
kind is used for that purpose." Meantime Aunt Laura had come out to
scatter corn to the chickens, who, seeing her approach, hurried to meet
her on all sides, until she stood surrounded by the pretty feathered
creatures. Laurie begged for a handful of corn to throw to them, but
started back in dismay, when an old turkey-gobbler reached up and
picked a grain out of his hand. "What a rude old bird," he said, "but I
wasn't a bit afraid of him, he only surprised me," he explained to Aunt
Laura quickly, for fear she would think him timid. Just then the turkey,
who was a pompous sort of creature, cocked his head on one side, and
looked at Laurie for a moment as though he understood, then turned away.

[Illustration: