SHOPPING. 115

yard. Lucy stepped out upon the step to see
what it was. She found there, in one corner of
the yard, a hen and a whole brood of chickens.

The hen looked rather fiercely at Lucy when
she saw that she was coming near her chickens,
and so Lucy kept back a little. She observed,
however, that the hen had a little leather strap
around one of her legs, and by means of that and
a string, she was tied to a stake. There was a
small cask lying down upon its side, for her to go
into, with her chickens.

Lucy broke off a small piece of her ginger-
bread, and threw it down ‘to the hen... The hen
seized it very eagerly, and broke it into crumbs
with her bill, and called her chickens to come
and eat it. They all gathered around her, and
picked up the little crumbs as fast as they could.
Lucy thought that they ate it as if they never
had had any gingerbread before.

Lucy looked about the yard. It was a very
pleasant yard, descending a little from the street.
There was a fence around it painted white; but
as the fence was not very high, and as the land
descended somewhat towards it, Lucy could see
over it. She could see the dam, and the bridge,
and the mill-pond, extending far away among the
islands and banks covered with trees. She could