The Unlucky Speckled Hen and the Tarring Party

All the good people of the town would have told you that Uncle Joel Potter was one of the best men that ever lived, but even those who liked him the most admitted he was just a little slow. As for his wife, she emphatically expressed it: 'He was slow as molasses in January.' Aunt Hannah was quick, energetic, and ambitious—a notable housekeeper who could do the work of two women.

One morning, while Joel was reading his Bible, Aunt Hannah demanded he fetch water. When she later told him to set the 'old speckled hen' on a nest of eggs, Joel moved with his characteristic lethargy. While distracted by a visit from a neighbor, Mrs. Brown, who shared a scandalous story about a local man named Mose Potter—who had been threatened by a mob of factory workers with tar and feathers for abusing his wife—Aunt Hannah inadvertently deposited a hat full of eggs into the soft, deep cushion of her rocking chair. When she sat down, the resulting mess of yolks and shells plastered her dress. Uncle Joel, watching the disaster, remarked, 'I never thought ye was in such a hurry to hatch them ye’d set on ’em yourself.' For the third time in twenty years, Aunt Hannah had no retort ready, and the speckled hen was not set that day.