[Illustration: The Hard-Hearted Mrs. Pea-Hen.]

"'But they'll starve to death!' Mamma Speckle cried, as if she was
almost heart-broken.

"'That's no concern of mine. Mr. Man made me believe they were my own
eggs, else I'd never sat on them a single hour,' Mrs. Pea-Hen said, as
she kept on walking away with never a look at the poor little babies,
and Mamma Speckle called after her:

"'You was so crazy to set that you would have tried to hatch out a nest
full of stones, if you couldn't have found anything better!'

"Mrs. Pea-Hen tried to act as if she didn't hear what Mamma Speckle
said; but she couldn't help it, for you know how loud the speckled hen
talks. She never paid any attention to the babies, though, and the other
fowls took care of them as best they could with babies of their own."




ALICE QUESTIONS MR. TURTLE.


"Say, of course you know a good deal more than any bird or animal on
this farm, and I do wish you would tell me how long Mr. Turtle has
lived?"

That was a question which your Aunt Amy could not answer, and when she