"HAPPY ORPHANS."
Reading edition
BY CORA A. D. WYCKOFF.
A hundred little chicks or more, Downy, soft, and yellow, Were peeping out their discontent In voices far from mellow. I looked around in wonderment— No mothers were at hand To gather 'neath their outstretched wings The doleful little band; And as I gazed, a small wee voice From one chick seemed to say: "Perhaps you think we like it, This fine new-fangled way; But it's very disagreeable, For, strange as it may seem, We never had a mother— They hatched us out by steam; "And they call us 'Happy Orphans,' When we're ready all to weep, For no answering cluck comes back to us, Though we peep, and peep, and peep. They say it's scientific, And I've no doubt it is true, But I would rather have a mother— Now really wouldn't you!"
