mope in the midst of the terrific racket all about her. Soon her
neighbors--both Number 1 and Number 2--were having loud disputes with the
hens in the pens on the further side of them. It seemed as if every hen
at the fair had left her manners at home--if she ever had any.

"Goodness!" Henrietta Hen murmured to herself. "If there's a prize, it
must be for the one that can make the most noise."

In a little while throngs of men, women and children crowded into the
Poultry Hall. They paused before the pens and looked at the occupants,
making remarks that were sometimes full of praise and sometimes
slighting.

Henrietta Hen felt terribly uneasy when people began to stop and stare at
her. She dreaded to hear what they would say. After the way her next-door
neighbors had talked to her she didn't believe anybody would have a word
of praise for her.

She soon heard all sorts of remarks about herself. Some said she was too
little and some said she was too big; others exclaimed that her legs were
too short, while still others declared that they were too long! As
these--and many similar--comments fell upon Henrietta's ears she promptly
decided that there wasn't anything about her that was as it should be.

Having always called herself (before she left home) a "speckled beauty,"
she began to feel very low in her mind. And there was only one thing that
kept her from being downright sad. All the sightseers agreed that she had
some pretty chicks.

Henrietta couldn't help wishing that they had a different mother--one