It was a horrid thing to have happen , of course , but I do n't think it was as dreadful as seeing your pet EATEN UP . Yet everybody laughs at ME . '' `` I think it is because the name ` rooster ' seems rather a funny one , '' said Rosemary gravely . `` There IS something in it that is comical . Now , ` chicken ' is different . It does n't sound so funny to talk of loving a chicken . '' `` Adam was the dearest little chicken , Miss West . He was just a little golden ball . He would run up to me and peck out of my hand . And he was handsome when he grew up , too -- white as snow , with such a beautiful curving white tail , though Mary Vance said it was too short . He knew his name and always came when I called him -- he was a very intelligent rooster . And Aunt Martha had no right to kill him . He was mine . It was n't fair , was it , Miss West ? '' `` No , it was n't , '' said Rosemary decidedly . `` Not a bit fair . I remember I had a pet hen when I was a little girl . She was such a pretty little thing -- all golden brown and speckly . I loved her as much as I ever loved any pet . She was never killed -- she died of old age .
Mother would n't have her killed XXXXX she was my pet . ''
Martha West as at because in of though to with