ght as well let Henrietta Hen manage
her affairs as she pleased. They couldn't help hoping, however, that
somehow Farmer Green would find a way to outwit her.

"What can Henrietta Hen be so boastful about now?" the hens asked one
another one day. "She acts as if she thought more highly of herself than
ever."

They soon discovered the reason for Henrietta's unusually pompous manner.
For she began to make calls on all her friends. And she invited everybody
to come to her latest nest high up in the haymow.

"I've something there to show you," she said with an air of mystery.
"You'll be surprised to see it."

Most of Henrietta's neighbors did not show any great curiosity to see the
surprise. They smiled at one another. "She's laid another egg--that's
all!" they whispered.

But there are always some that can't rest until they know everybody
else's business. And it was lucky that Henrietta Hen hurried home to
receive her callers, because she had a good many. They came even earlier
in the afternoon than was strictly fashionable. And they came in a crowd,
too. That, however, didn't bother Henrietta Hen. Nor could they have
arrived too soon to suit her.

"Look!" she cried, when they reached her nest high up in the haymow. "Did
you ever see anything to beat that?"

X

THE BIG, WHITE EGG

When Henrietta Hen's callers crowded about her nest in the haymow they
expected to see something wonderful. But when they craned their necks and
peered into the little hollowed-out snuggery in the hay they couldn't
help being disappointed. And when they didn't burst forth with cries of
surprise and praise Henrietta Hen looked quite unhappy.

"I thought," she said, "you'd want to see this egg. I'm sure you never
beheld a bigger nor a whiter one than this."

They admitted that the egg was big and that it was very, very white. And
if their praise was faint, Henrietta never noticed it.

"Are you going to let Farmer Green have that egg?" one of the company
inquired.

"No doubt Johnnie Green will grab it as soon as he finds my nest," said
Henrietta with something like a sigh. "If I could only keep this one I
wouldn't care how many others he took."

Polly Plymouth Rock turned to old Whitey, a hen who had come with her to
the haymow.

"What do you think?" Polly asked. "Is Henrietta in danger of losing this
egg that she thinks so much of?"

"She needn't be alarmed," old Whitey answered. "If Johnnie Green robs her
of this one,