Hen Adopts Family; Puss Is Expelled

McKenzie, N.D., May 26—Indolf Leslie, engaged by William Watson on the 10,000-acre Hackney ranch here, was forced to come to the aid of a distressed tabby whose place as mother had been usurped by an unfeeling old biddy, who had purloined in toto tabby's week-old family of a half-dozen kittens.

Tabby made such a fuss over the ouster proceedings that Leslie's attention was attracted. He found mother hen contentedly brooding over the equally contented kittens—they hadn't been away from mother long enough to miss the noon lunch. Whenever the distracted and furious cat came within pecking distance she received a blow from the old hen which sent her away, yowling. Leslie took issue with the cat, and removed Madame Hen.

That afternoon, chancing to be in the same vicinity, he looked in on the family, to find the hen again in the ascendancy, with the sad-faced tabby resting on guard just out of reach of the aggressive biddy's bill. Leslie again compelled the biddy to abdicate, and this time Mrs. Tabby promptly removed her brood to a place whither the hen could not follow.

Bismarck Tribune, 5/26/1917