A GENERAL'S CHICKEN.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXI, Issue 29, 3 February 1900, Page 5 (Supplement)

A GENERAL'S CHICKEN.

A PATHETIC STORY.

In General Shatter's quarters at. San Francisco is a fine, glossy "black Spanish pullet which, if it had the power of speech, could tc^l a thrilling and pathetic story. Early in. July, IS9B, when the American army hi Cuba was supplying food to the starving fecohce'ntrados in Xl Caliey, a terrific storm wrought such havoc to the roads' that it became impossible to convey furtlidr supplied to the town. General Shafter therefore issued art order that all who were able might walk to his camp, six miles away, and draw rations. The order set In motion one of the saddest processions that ever followed in the wake of War. Ragged, hungry, weak, emaciated^ a line of spectres dally wound US awful length through swamp and mud 'and jungle towards the blessed food.

Lieut. Brooke and an Interpreter were returning to camp from El Caney one day when they saw a little band of the recon-cenU-ados ahead of them. Behind the men and women lagged a six-year-old boy. He was evidently sick and weary unto death, but still he tottered persistently

At length, his last ounce of strength 'gonej he fell, and lay there in the mud, unable to rise. His father and mother glanced back at him stolidly and went on. Their own strength would be hardly sufficient to carry them to camp, and suffering had dulled their sensibilities. If he could hot keep tip, he must die where he fell.

Lieut. Srooke dropped from his horse, picked the little fellow up, and galloped Into camp with him. There he fed. him till he could eat no more, wrapped him in warm blankets, and left him to the long, dreamless sleep of exhausted childhood. Ah old Cuban Woman washed his little cotton shirt and trousers, and after a few days' rest he was serit back to El Caney with a generous supply of provisions. TWO days later the little fellow, still Weak and pale, again appeared In camp. Going straight to Lieut. Brooke, he took a small chicken from inside- his little shirt and, with tears~ in his eyes, presented it' It was the only thing he could give him he said, to, show his appreciation of the 'senor's kindness. He had walked all the way from El Caney through the deep mud, and, after he hadmade his humble present, he walked back. . Lieut, Brooke took the chicken to Gen. Shatter and told Its story. The General tethered It to his tent-pole. When he entered Santiago he took the bird with him. There her nightly roost was a gilded chandelier in the Governor's Palace.When the army moved out to camp again, the chicken went too. Later, she journeyed to Montauk Point, thence to Governor's ls-> land and noW she struts arid scratches and cackles contentedly In San Francisco, a living reminder of a deed of mercy, a pathetic acknowledgment of the gratitude with which at leftSt one little reeon<:entf&do Will always recall "las Amerkfinos."