the news--just as if they could have _helped_ hearing her silly racket!

Now, it sometimes happened, when she was on such an errand, that
Henrietta Hen met with snubs. Now and then her question--"Have you heard
the news?"--brought some such sallies as these: "Polly Plymouth Rock has
just laid an _enormous_ egg! Have you seen it?" Or maybe, "Don't be
disappointed, Henrietta! Somebody has to lay the littlest ones!"

Such jibes were certain to make Henrietta Hen lose her temper. And she
would talk very fast (and, alas! very loud, too) about jealous neighbors
and how unpleasant it was to live among folk that were so stingy of their
praise that they couldn't say a good word for the finest eggs that ever
were seen! On such occasions Henrietta Hen generally talked in a lofty
way about moving to the village to live.

"They think enough of my eggs down there," she would boast. "Boiled,
fried, poached, scrambled, or for an omelette--my eggs can't be beaten."

"If the villagers can't beat your eggs they certainly can't use them for
omelettes," Polly Plymouth Rock told Henrietta one day. "Everybody knows
you have to beat eggs to make an omelette."

Henrietta Hen didn't know what to say to that. It was almost the only
time she was ever known to be silent.




II