I had always treated her with respect, and she would let me come and sit beside her while she rolled in the dust and permit me to stroke her head and examine her wonderful dress of glossy mottled satin.

She would spread her glowing sleeves in the sunlight, and let me feel their downy lining with my fingers and see how their taut snug-fitting plumes were set.
I remember a day when she was sitting on her nest with that curious expression in her eyes which seemed to say, "Please don't bother me now for this is my busy time," I brought three little kittens from their basket in the wood-shed and put them under her.

The kittens felt the warmth of her body and began to mew and stir about.

I shall never forget the look of astonishment in the little hen as she slowly rose in her nest and peered beneath her body at the kittens.

She looked at me as if to say that she really couldn't be bothered with those furry things any longer--they made her so nervous.