in the children's plan. "Only,
are you sure your mother will be willing to let you keep hens?" she
asked prudently.

"Yes, we have a house for them, and she said we could get anything we
liked. She had thought about keeping hens, only they are so expensive."

"I will sell you a Rhode Island Red," said Miss Betsy. "They lay well,
and I will throw in a fine young cock. My neighbors are complaining
because the young spring roosters are beginning to crow, and I was
expecting to have to send them to the market. I'll let Michael Farrell
take them up to your house this afternoon, if your mother will let you
have them. You can stop at his house and send me word by him whether or
not your mother wants them."

Peggy and Alice went out into the yard with Miss Betsy to choose a hen
and a rooster.

"It is like a family," said Peggy, "having two of them. They won't be
lonely. I shall call them Henry Cox and Henrietta Cox."

"Well, children, what did you buy with your two dollars?" Mrs. Owen
asked when they came home that morning.

"I got a carriage for Belle," said Alice.

"And what did you get, Peggy?"

She hesitated--"Something very useful," she said. "Guess, mother. It's
something that will grow and something that is alive."

"A rose in a pot," said her mother.

Peggy laughed. "Oh, mother, you are 'way off. It has feathers."

"You haven't bought a canary-bird?" Mrs. Owen said in tones of dismay.

"No, mother, she is much more useful. It is a hen, and her name is
Henrietta Cox, and Miss Betsy gave me a young cock because he crowed so
he woke up the neighbors; and we haven't any near neighbors. And his
name is Henry Cox."

"A hen and a cock! Peggy, what will you think of next!"

"You said I could get anything I liked, mother, and I am sure a hen is
much more useful than a doll's carriage. I'll let you have one of her
eggs every third morning for your breakfast."

"Did you ever stop to think how they were to be fed? Grain is so high
now many people have stopped raising hens."

"Miss Betsy says the Rhode Island Reds aren't so particular as some
hens. She says you can feed them partly with sour milk and scraps off
the table."

"Sour milk!" said Mrs. Owen; "it's all very well for Miss Betsy to talk
about sour milk, for her brother keeps a cow, and he sends her all the
skim milk she can use. I am surprised she let you have a hen and cock
without consulting me."

"She did say she would send them up this afternoon b