An “oldie”, but a “goodie” … 1907... MY MOTHER AND TEDDY

In January, 1907, this adorable picture of my mother and her pet rooster were featured in a “Boston Globe” newspaper article. It reads as follows: 

“Roosters are not unknown as pets, but little Ruth P. of West Brattleboro, Vt., has an exceptional rooster, Teddy, in that he will allow her to do anything she may wish with him.

The way this little mistress manages her bird playfellow is extremely interesting. She never punishes him because he never needs a rebuke. She speaks to him in a quiet tone, but there is in her eyes a certain power of the will, a power which is rare in children, which forces him to submit to her kind, though sometimes odd, treatment.

In the morning he struts into the kitchen and with a jolly “crowing” he mounts the low table at Ruth’s command, steps into the washbowl and patiently submits to a sponging with soap and water. After shaking his feathers a bit he is dried off with a towel and then brushed until his coat shines bright and clean.

Then follows another of her favorite pastimes. She hitches Teddy to her small doll-cart and drives her noble steed by “gee” and “haw” out through the woodshed, down the front yard to the sidewalk for a jaunt... both child and bird with tiny white hoods crowning their heads.

Ruth has had this strange comrade for several years and has trained him entirely herself. Teddy shows a great fondness for his mistress and obeys her without the least hesitancy.”

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(I apologize to those who have read this before but I thought it much kinder to repeat a pleasant blog entry than to write a miserable one about my newly diagnosed case of Shingles. !!! I find my mind as well as my body is on shut-down mode and the pain meds make me loopy so this will probably be the first of “repeats” for a few weeks. )