Henrietta Hen sometimes strolled into the horse-barn to see if she could find a little grain that had spilled on the floor. So it came about that she and Ebenezer had many a chat together. Henrietta had no great opinion of horses. She thought that they had altogether more than their share of grain.
But she was willing to pass the time of day with Ebenezer, because he let her walk right into his stall and pick up tidbits[Pg 71] that had dropped upon the floor beneath his manger.
It was on such an occasion, on a summer's day, that he said to her with a sigh, "Haying's going to begin to-morrow."
Henrietta Hen remarked that she wasn't at all interested in the news. "And I don't see why you should sigh," she added. "Goodness knows you'll eat your share of the hay—and probably more—before the winter's over."
"It's the work that I'm thinking of," Ebenezer explained. "They'll hitch1 me to the hayrake and Johnnie Green will drive me all day long in the hot hayfields. I always hate to hear the clatter2 of the mowing3 machine," he groaned4. "It means that the hayrake will come out of the shed next."
Henrietta Hen caught her breath.
"The mowing machine!" she gasped5. "Is Farmer Green going to use the mowing machine now?"
"Certainly!" said Ebenezer. "I hear he's going to harness the bays to it to-morrow morning."
"My! my!" Henrietta wailed6. "Isn't there any way I can stop him from doing that?"
"I don't know of any," Ebenezer told her. "I've often felt just as you do about it. There's nobody that
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