The War Egg of Monroe
An ambitious local hen lays an egg that causes a stir and is interpreted as a wartime omen.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
In Monroe, this county, an ambitious hen has produced a war egg which lays every one so far reported in the shade. The old lady who owns the hen went out one day to gather eggs and found one bearing the cabalistic letters 'G. S. H.' The find created much excitement among the women of Monroe and they quickly gathered. They all agreed it was prophetic of something, but of what, puzzled them. One lady suggested that it meant 'Give Sinners Help.' Another suggested that it meant 'God Sends Help.' Still another said it meant that 'God Saves Heathens.' Another declared it meant that 'God Sends Harmony.' Finally one old lady, noted for her religious devotion, who had been saying little, sprang to her feet and vehemently declared that the letters stood for 'Give Spain Hell.' All present agreed that her interpretation was correct.
“Finally one old lady, noted for her religious devotion, who had been saying little, sprang to her feet and vehemently declared that the letters stood for 'Give Spain Hell.'”
Local newspapers of the 1890s frequently ran 'wonders' or human-interest oddities to humanize the mounting tensions of the Spanish-American War. This story reflects how the jingoism of the era permeated even the most mundane aspects of rural life.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.