Page 10 - 1920 VES Meteor

\'isit the ll!~n lwu;;c, tmn on a powPrful clectri<' ligltt \Yhich uo had installed. Then he would take the sleeping hens oH tho roosts, run tltcm ...c,cral tiwcs about tho mom to k(f'Jl thcit· blood circulating properly, then he wo11ld f('ed them some prepnrcd food, place them bnc], on theit· roosts and tum the light off. Will assured me that after three weeks of this tr~ining his beus would lay on the a,·era~e of tlncc eggs aptece e\"cry day. lie had just completed 0110 wt-ek of tltis regime and he thonght one hen ac·ted as if she might conde- scend to start laying in the ncar f1tture.
., This wn:; all ,·cry new and intcre:,til1g to me. You see, I'm not_ a member of the brotherhood. Th<' sf r:mgeness of tltia tlmlled llle, to say the least. At tltis stage of the littlo per- formance, the kitchen door flew open and ]!Jrc;. \\'ill called us in to supper. Will had told me of the wonrlerful cook ho had. and led on by this belief T entered the dining-room ahead of the ot.bct-s. As \\'ill was following me in T heard his wife call him back into tho ],itchen, and I unwitti11gly play£>d tho part of eavesdropper. I could tell that :Mrs. \Viii had a tem- per, her ey~ and hair being tho color o£ my wife's. This temper wns fully master of tho situation. T really felt sorry for poor Will. I have a wife at homo and 1, too, haYc gone through the smne performanC'e. :Mrs. ·wm was haulino- him
o\·cr the coah; for bringing company homo without l~ttino­ hor know. Tbis was the cook's day off ~mdher ahsenec added fuel to :Jir:;. Will's tempct·. Tlte door was cl<,sed but f could see Will (from experience) trying to pom oil on tho troubled waters, ~ut if it was oil, it must. have been C'oal-oil auJ a trrcat ~eal of 1t must ha\'e mixed \Yirh ~frs. \\rill'l:l alrt"ady .fiet'V ternpet·. T could Cll(hm.· ii no longer; so r placed a finger i~ each e.:'lr and severed all the working faculties o£ that organ.
)Jrs. Will had either reco,·ered her good graco when s11e entet·ed the room a few minutes later, or sho shonld be on the stngc. Aftct· dumping a pile of catalop:nes on the floor, I found a chair, nnd we sat down to supper. Aftc1• ta],j11g a