by Anne Winn Stevens

“ The salesman smiled patiently and shook the box lid. Heads together, they watched intently.
"It ain't dead yet," said Jane again.
"Now look," said the salesman triumphantly. "It's dead, all right. It's the fumes that kills 'em."
The task of delousing 80 hens seemed to stagger Mrs. Riddle, particularly when the salesman declared the process should be repeated several times at intervals of three weeks.
"You could do it this way," he argued, "just put the powder in the dust hole where the hens are accustomed to wallow. That will do as well." ”

“ On the opposite side of the hill, overlooking wide grain fields and distant mountains, is the red-roofed, many-gabled summer home of the Middletons, aristocratic coast dwellers, who rent part of their mountain estate to native farmers. ”

“ No attempt has been made to grade the yard, and the only evidence of care is a gravel walk outlined by bricks set edgewise, which leads from the front porch to the brink of the hill, where it stops short. ”

“ The girl makes $12.60 a week. She is pale and anemic looking, and puffy about the eyes. Her expression is sullen, and she answers questions in a curt, monosyllabic style. Neither she nor her younger brother seem to have shared their mother's vigorous health. Although she has trouble with her eyes, she does not wear glasses. ”

“ I don't know how far Jim got - he's older'n me, and dropped out before I started."
Jim owns 102 acres of land back in the mountains, but, "It's so steep," he said, "it ain't fit for farmin'." He raises apples on this land, and pastures cattle on the hillsides. He tried renting the place, "But the tenants," Jane put in, "let the cows get into the orchard and break limbs offen the apple trees. They run down the property, so we just locked up the house and let it stand." ”

“ Then there began a haggling over the price. "A dollar and a half's too much," said the farm woman.
The salesman maintained his bland air. Finally, he agreed to take as payment two living hens totaling 11 pounds.
"I can sell them," he said, "at the curb market in town."
Mrs. Riddle brought out bathroom scales, which she balanced precariously on the uneven ground. Hen after hen was caught and deposited thereon, but refused to perch, until at last the salesman solved the problem. ”