Once when she had some little chickens, a frightened rabbit, that was being chased by a dog, ran into the yard.

In his terror he got right under the hen's wings, and she sheltered him, and pecked at the dog's eyes, and kept him off till help came.

The rabbit belonged to a neighbor's boy, and Mr.Maxwell bought it from him.

From the day the hen protected him, she became his friend, and followed him everywhere.
I did not wonder that the rabbit wanted to see his master.

There was something about that young man that made dumb animals just delight in him.