Lines composed by Nancy Luce about poor little Ada Queetie
and poor little Beauty Linna, both deceased. Poor little Ada
Queetie died February 25th, Thursday night at 12 o'clock,
aged most 9 years. Poor little Beauty Linna died January
18th, Tuesday night, most 2 o'clock, 1859, aged over 12 years.
She lived 11 months lacking 7 days after poor sissy's
decease.

It would take a heart of stone not to be moved by this introduction, and by the time we get to the medical details, tears are streaming down our faces:

Poor little Ada Queetie's last sickness and death
Destroyed my health at an unknown rate,
With my heart breaking and weeping,
I kept the fire going night after night, to keep poor little dear warm,

After all this tragedy, it comes as something of a surprise to discover that the author is talking about her chickens. 'Ada Queetie' and 'Beauty Linna 'were just two of the hens which Nancy tended with so much care on her farm in Martha's Vineyard.

Poor little thing, she was sick one week
With froth in her throat,
Then 10 days and grew worse, with dropsy in her stomach,
I kept getting up nights to see how she was.

Never have hens been more cossetted. It was the chicken equivalent of intensive care.

In the picture of her (above left) she looks uncannily like Anthony Perkins 'mother' in Psycho. She is holding a pair of rather scrawny chickens. They may, for all I know be Ada Queetie and Beauty Linna. They are certainly not looking well.