Democratic Sentinel, Volume 19, Number 23, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 June 1895 — A Touching Sight. [ARTICLE]

A Touching Sight.

In the western part of Massachtiseets a man had a fine stock farm. But a few weeks ago a fire broke out in the barn and burned not only the building and the hay, but most of the animals also. After the fire the owner walked over the ruins. It was a sad sight to see the charred bodies of his fine Jersey cows and his high-spirited horses. But at the end of the barn he saw a sight which touched him more than the rest. There sat an old black hen. He wondered that she did not move her head to look at him as he came near, but he thought she must be asleep. He poked her with his cane, and to his surprise the wing he touched fell into ashes. Then he knew she had been burned to death. But out from under her wing came a faint peep, and pushing her aside with his cane the man found—what do you think?—ten little live yellow chickens. The poor lien had sacrificed her own life to save them. That sight touched the man more than anything else.—The Churchman.