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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/16255-8.txt b/16255-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..08f788e --- /dev/null +++ b/16255-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4034 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Dickey Downy, by Virginia Sharpe Patterson + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Dickey Downy + The Autobiography of a Bird + +Author: Virginia Sharpe Patterson + +Release Date: July 10, 2005 [EBook #16255] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DICKEY DOWNY *** + + + + +Produced by Al Haines + + + + + + + + + + +Dickey Downy + + +The Autobiography of a Bird + + + +by + +VIRGINIA SHARPE PATTERSON + + + +AUTHOR OF + +"The Girl of the Period," "All on Account of a Bonnet," "The Wonderland +Children," etc. + + + + + +With Introduction by + +HON. JOHN F. LACEY, M.C. + + + + +Drawings by + +ELIZABETH M. HALLOWELL + + + + + + +PHILADELPHIA + +A. J. Rowland--1420 Chestnut Street + +1899 + + + + +Copyright 1899 by the + +AMERICAN BAPTIST PUBLICATION SOCIETY + + +From the Society's own Press + + + + +To + +my dear children + +Laura, Virgie, and Robert George + +this little Volume is + +Affectionately Inscribed + + + + +INTRODUCTION + +This beautiful volume has been written for a good purpose. I had the +pleasure of reading the proof-sheets of the book while in the +Yellowstone National Park, where no gun may be lawfully fired at any of +God's creatures. All animals there are becoming tame, and the great +bears come out of the woods to feed on the garbage of the hotels and +camps, fearless of the tourists, who look on with pleasure and wonder +at such a scene. + +"The child is father of the man," and this volume is addressed to the +heart and imagination of every child reader. If children are taught to +love and protect the birds they will remember the lesson when they grow +old. When children learn to prefer to take a "snap-shot" at a bird +with a camera, rather than with a gun, they will protect these +feathered friends for their beauty, even if they do not regard them for +their usefulness. + +Nature has supplied a system of balances if left to itself. Some forms +of insect life are so prolific that but for the voracity and industry +of the birds the world would become almost uninhabitable. + +Bird life appeals to the eye for its beauty, to the ear for its music, +and to the interest of man for its utility. Shooting-clubs have +foreseen the extermination that awaits many of the finest of the game +birds, and are taking much pains to enforce the laws enacted for game +protection. A selfish interest thus is called into activity, and one +class of birds is receiving protection through the aid of its own +enemies. + +But the birds of beautiful plumage are now threatened with extinction +by the desire of womankind for personal decoration. Against this +destruction Audubon societies are organizing a crusade, and Mrs. +Patterson's principal purpose in this book is to direct attention to +the wholesale slaughter of the birds of plumage and song. + +The Princess of Wales was requested to write in an album her various +peculiarities. Among the inquiries was: "What is your greatest +weakness?" She answered: "Millinery." + +When Napoleon was banished to Elba it is stated that the fallen monarch +was followed by Josephine's old millinery bills. How many of these +bills were for the plumage of slaughtered birds the historian does not +say. But the passion for the beautiful is very strong in the tender +hearts of women, and an earnest appeal to the natural gentleness of the +sex must be made to enlist them in the defense of the birds. + +Mrs. Patterson enters upon this task with enthusiasm, and many a bird +will live to flutter through the trees or glisten in the sunshine and +gladden the earth with its beauty that but for this little book would +have perched for a brief season upon the headgear of some lovely woman. + +Let the good work go on until the mummy of a dead bird will be +recognized by all persons as an unfitting decoration for the head of +womankind. + +JOHN F. LACEY. + + + + +CONTENTS + +CHAPTER + + I. THE ORCHARD + II. DICKEY DOWNY'S MEDITATIONS + III. THE RULER WITH THE IRON HAND + IV. DICKEY'S COUSINS + V. "DON'T, JOHNNY" + VI. THE PARROT AT A PARTY + VII. A WINTER IN THE SOUTH + VIII. THE PRISON + IX. THE HUNTERS + X. A NEW HOME + XI. THE ILL-MANNERED CHILD + XII. TWO SLAVES OF FASHION + XIII. DICKEY'S VISIT + XIV. THE COUNTRY SCHOOL + XV. POLLY'S FAREWELL + + + + + +List of Illustrations + +The Indigo Bird + +The Summer Tanager + +The Baltimore Oriole + +The Bobolink + + + + + Last night Alicia wore a Tuscan Sonnet + And many humming birds were fastened on it. + Caught in a net of delicate creamy crêpe + The dainty captives lay there dead together; + No dart of slender bill, no fragile shape + Fluttering, no stir of radiant feather; + Alicia looked so calm, I wondered whether + She cared if birds were killed to trim her bonnet. + Her hand fell lightly on my hand; + And I fancied that a stain of death + Like that which doomed the Lady of Macbeth + Was on her hand. + + --Elizabeth Cavazza + + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE ORCHARD + + Bobolink, that in the meadow + Or beneath the orchard's shadow + Keepest up a constant rattle, + Joyous as my children's prattle, + Welcome to the North again. + --_Thos. Hill._ + + +My native home was in a pleasant meadow not far from a deep wood, at +some distance from the highway. From this it was separated by plowed +fields and a winding country lane, carpeted with grass and fringed with +daisies. + +While it was yet dawn, long before the glint of the sun found its way +through the foliage, the air was musical with the twittering of our +feathered colony. + +It is true our noisy neighbors, the blue-jays, sometimes disturbed my +mother by their hoarse chattering when she was weary of wing and wanted +a quiet hour to meditate, but they disturbed us younger ones very +little. My mother did not think they were ever still a minute. +Constantly hopping back and forth, first on one bough, then on another, +flirting down between times to pick up a cricket or a bug, they were +indeed, a most fidgetty set. Their restlessness extended even to their +handsome top-knots, which they jerked up and down like a questioning +eyebrow. They were beautiful to look at had they only possessed a +little of the dignity and composure of our family. But as I said, we +little ones did not trouble ourselves about them. + +The air was so pleasant, our nest so cozy, and our parents provided us +such a plentiful diet of nice worms and bugs, that like other +thoughtless babies who have nothing to do but eat, sleep, and grow, we +had no interest in things outside and did not dream there was such a +thing as vexation or sorrow or crime in this beautiful world. When our +parents were off gathering our food, we seldom felt lonely, for we +nestled snugly and kept each other company by telling what we would do +when we should be strong enough to fly. + +At this stage of our existence we were as ungainly a lot of children as +could well be imagined. To look at our long, scrawny necks and big +heads so disproportioned to the size of our bodies, which were scantily +covered with a fuzzy down that scarcely concealed our nakedness, who +would have thought that in time we would develop into such handsome +birds as the bobolink family is universally considered to be? + +Our mother, who was both very proud and very fond of us, was untiring +in her watchful care. No human mother bending over the nursery bed +soothing her little one to rest, showed more devotion than did she, as +she hovered near the tiny cradle of coarse grass and leaves woven by +her own cunning skill--alert and sleepless when danger was near and +enfolding us with her warm, soft wings. Thus tenderly cared for we +passed the early sunny days of life. + +After we could fly we often visited a fragrant orchard that sent its +odors across the grain fields. From its green shade we made short +excursions to the rich, black soil in search of some choice tid-bit of +a worm turned up by the plow expressly for our dessert. We were indeed +glad to be of use to the farmer by devouring these pests so destructive +to his crops, but did not limit our labors to these places; we also +made it our business to pick off the bugs and slugs that infested the +fruit trees, and often extended our efforts to the tender young grape +leaves in the arbor and the rose bushes and shrubs in the flower garden. + +On a warm morning after a rain was our favorite time for work, and it +was pleasant to hear the tap-tap-tapping of our neighbor the +woodpecker, as he located with his busy little bill the bugs in the +tree limb. It was like the hammer of an industrious blacksmith +breaking on the still air. His jaunty red cap and broad white shoulder +cape made of him a very pretty object as he worked away blithely and +cheerily at his useful task. While the rest of us did not make so much +noise at our work, we were equally diligent in picking off the larvae +and borers that ruined the trees, and on a full crop we enjoyed the +consciousness of having aided mankind. + +On several occasions I had seen our enemy, the cat, slinking stealthily +on his padded feet from the direction of the great brick house which +stood on the edge of the orchard. Crouched in a furrow he would gaze +upward at us so steadily and for so long a time without so much as a +wink or a blink of his green eyes, that it seemed he must injure its +muscles. Aside from the many frights he gave us it is sad to relate +that he succeeded before many days in getting away with one of our +number. One morning he crept softly up to a young robin which had +flown down in the grass, but had not sufficient power to rise quickly, +and before the unsuspecting little creature realized its danger, the +cat arched his back, gave a spring, and seized it. A moment later he +softly trotted out of the orchard with the poor bird in his mouth and +doubtless made a dainty dinner in the barn off our unfortunate comrade. +This incident cast a deep gloom over us, and our songs for many days +held a mournful note. + +But while cats were unwelcome visitors from the great brick house, we +sometimes had others whom we were always glad to see. The two young +ladies of the family, together with their mother and little niece, +occasionally came out for a saunter under the trees, and it was very +delightful to listen to their merry chat. So affectionate toward each +other, so gentle and withal so bright and lively, they seemed to bring +a streak of sunshine with them whenever they came. Miss Dorothy, who +was tall and stately, seldom sat on the grassy tufts which rose like +little footstools at the base of each tree, but rambled about while +talking. This was perhaps because she disliked to rumple her +beautifully starched skirts. But Miss Katie--impetuous, dimple-cheeked +Katie, would fling herself down anywhere regardless of edged ruffles or +floating sash ribbons. + +"For it is clean dirt," she laughingly said, when Miss Dorothy +playfully scolded her for it. "This kind of dirt is healthful, and it +isn't going to hurt me if a few dusty twigs or a bit of dried grass or +weeds should cling to my gown. You must remember, Sister Dorothy, +there are different kinds of dirt. I haven't any respect for grease +spots or for clothes soiled from wearing them too long. I don't like +that kind of dirt, but to get close to dear old mother earth, and have +a scent of her fresh soil once in a while is what I enjoy. It is +delightful. I like nature too well to stand on ceremony with her." + +"You like butterflies too, don't you, aunty?" asked little Marian. + +"To be sure I do, dear. I love all the pretty things that fly." + +"And the birdies too?" asked the child. + +"Yes, indeed; I love the birds the best of all." + +"And the old cat was awful naughty when he caught the baby robin the +other day and ate it up. Wasn't he, aunty?" + +"Yes. Tom is a cruel, bad, bad cat," responded Miss Katie, as she +squeezed Marian's little pink hand between her own palms. "That +naughty puss gets plenty to eat in the house and there are lots of nice +fat mice in the barn, and yet he slips slyly out to the orchard and +takes the life of a poor, innocent little bird." + +"And it made the mamma-bird cry because her little one was dead," added +Miss Dorothy, who had drawn near. + +Little Marian heaved a deep sigh and her rosy lips trembled +suspiciously. "Poor mamma-bird! It can never have its baby bird any +more," she said, with a sob of sympathy. "Don't you feel sorry for it, +Aunt Dorothy?" + +"Yes, dear. I feel very sorry for it." + +"And I expect the poor mamma-bird cries and cries and weeps and grieves +when she comes home to supper and finds out her little children are +gone forever and ever." And with her bright eyes dimmed with tears of +pity, Marian, clasping a hand of each of the young ladies, walked +slowly to the house still bewailing the fate of the robin. + +My heart warmed toward these sweet young girls for their tender +sympathy. I almost wished I were a carrier pigeon, that I might devote +myself hereafter to their service by bearing loving messages from them +to their friends. + +But, alas! I was to have a rude awakening from this pleasant thought. +As we flew that evening to our roosting-place, I observed to my mother +that if there were no cats in the world what a delightful time we birds +might have. + +"You have a greater enemy than the cat," she responded sadly. "It is +true the cat is cruel and tries to kill us, but it knows no better." + +"If not the cat, what enemy is it?" I asked in surprise. "I thought +the cat was the most bloodthirsty foe the birds had." + +My mother dipped her wings more slowly and poised her body gracefully a +moment. Then she said impressively, "Our greatest enemy is man. No," +suddenly correcting herself, "not man, but women, women and children." + +"Women and dear little children our enemies?" said I, in astonishment. +"The pretty ladies who speak so sweet and kind! The pretty ladies who +gather roses in the garden! Would they deprive us of life?" + +My mother nodded. + +"Yes," she answered, "the pretty ladies, the wicked ladies." + + + + +CHAPTER II + +DICKEY DOWNY'S MEDITATION + + It hath the excuse of youth. + --_Shakespeare._ + + +That night I pondered long upon what my mother had told me. Ever since +I left my shell I had been taught to respect my elders, and that it was +a mark of ill manners and bad breeding for children to question the +superior knowledge of those much older than themselves. +Notwithstanding this, in my secret heart I could not help thinking that +my mother was mistaken in her estimate of women when she called them +wicked. She had surely misjudged them. However, I took good care not +to mention these doubts to her. + +I had heard from my grandmother, who had traveled a great deal from the +tropics to the North and back again, that women were the leaders in the +churches and were foremost in all Christian and philanthropic work; +that they provided beautiful homes for orphan children, where they took +care of them and nursed them when they were sick. She told me about +the hospitals where diseased and aged people were kindly cared for by +them. She said they were active in the societies for the prevention of +cruelty to children and to animals. They fed armies of tramps out of +sheer pity; even the debauched drunkard was the object of their +tenderest care and their earnest prayers. They held out a friendly +hand to the prisoners in the jails and sent them flowers and Bibles; +they pitied and cheered the outcast with kind words. They offered +themselves as missionaries for foreign lands to convert the heathen and +bring them to Christ. They soothed the sick and made easy the last +days of the dying. + +On the battlefield, when blood was flowing and cannon smoking, my +grandmother had seen the Red Cross women like angels of mercy binding +up the gaping wounds and gently closing the glazed eyes of the expiring +soldier. In woman's ear was poured his last message to his loved ones +far away, and when death was near it was woman who spoke the words of +consolation and her finger that pointed hopefully to the stars. + +Did not all this prove her to be sweet and tender and loving and gentle +and kind? Yes--a thousand times yes. + +My grandmother once had her nest near a cemetery, and often related +pathetic incidents which had come under her observation at that time. +One in particular I now recalled. It was of a woman who came every day +to weep over the mound where her babe was buried. She was worn to a +shadow from her long watching through its illness, and when it was +taken from her, her grief was deep. The bright world was no longer +bright since she was bereft of her darling, and her moans for the lost +loved one were heartrending. + +This incident was only yet another instance of the tenderness of +woman's nature, and I could not reconcile it with what my mother had +told me. + +"No, no," I repeated as I cuddled my head under my wing, "never can I +believe that woman, tender-hearted woman, who is all love and mercy, +all gentleness and pity, never can I believe she is our enemy." And +resolving to ask my mother to more fully explain her unjust assertion I +fell asleep. + +But a source of fresh anxiety arose which for a time caused me to +forget the matter. + +The lindens which fringed the wood were now in full leafage, adorned +with their delicate ball-like tassels, and hosts of birds flitted among +them daily. Many of them were of the kind frequently known as indigo +birds, smaller than the ordinary bluebird. In color they were of the +metallic cast of blue which has a sheen distinct from the rich shade +seen on the jay's wings or the brilliance of the bluebird. Flashing in +and out among the hanging blossoms their beautiful blue coats made them +an easy target for the boys who attended the neighborhood country +school. + +[Illustration: The Indigo Bird.] + +To bring down a sweet songster with a shower of stones, panting and +bleeding to the ground, they thought was the best sport in the world, +and the woods rang and echoed with their whoops and cheers as each poor +bird fell to the earth. A mere glimpse of one of the blue beauties as +he hid among the leaves seemed to fire these cruel children with a wish +to kill it. + +One half-grown boy, who went by the name of Big Bill, was noticeable +for his brutality. He encouraged the others in cruelties which they +might not have thought of, for such is the force of evil example and +companionship. A distinguishing mark was a large scar on his cheek, +probably inflicted by some enraged animal while being tortured by him. +I always felt sure Big Bill would come to some bad end. My mother said +that a cruel childhood was often a training school for the gallows, and +the boy who killed defenseless birds and bugs deadened his +sensibilities and destroyed his moral nature so that it was easy to +commit greater crimes. + +So dreadful became the persecutions of the schoolboys that the indigo +birds finally held a council and determined to leave that part of the +country and settle far from the habitations of men, where they might +live unmolested and free from persecutions. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE RULER WITH THE IRON HAND + + But evil is wrought by want of thought + As well as want of heart. + --_Hood._ + + +One morning as we flew across the open space which lay between the wood +and the wheat fields, we noticed two gentlemen in the orchard who were +carefully examining the trees, peering curiously into the cracks of the +rough bark or unfolding the curled leaves. + +As we came nearer we discovered that one of them was the owner of the +place, the father of Miss Dorothy and Miss Katie. The other was a thin +gentleman in spectacles, who held a magnifying glass through which he +intently looked at a twig which he had broken off. + +After a few minutes' inspection he said: "Colonel, your orchard is +somewhat affected. This is a specimen of the _chionaspis furfuris_." + +"Is it anything like the scurfy-bark louse?" inquired the colonel. + +"The same thing exactly. It occurs more commonly in the apple, but it +infects the pear and peach trees. You will find it on the mountain +ash, and sometimes on the currant bushes," he answered. + +The colonel asked him if he would recommend spraying to get rid of the +pests, and was advised to begin immediately, using tobacco water or +whale-oil soap. + +"By the way," said the colonel, "there is a beetle attacking my shade +trees. They are ruining that fine row of elms in front of the lawn." + +"It is undoubtedly the _melolontha vulgaris_," said the professor. I +designate him in this way because he used such large words we did not +understand. My mother told us that she was positive he was president +of a college. "The _melolontha vulgaris_ is the most destructive of +beetles, but the larvae are still more injurious. They do incalculable +damage to the farmer. Fortunately enormous numbers of these grubs are +eaten by the birds." + +"Unfortunately the birds are not so numerous as they used to be. They +are being destroyed so rapidly, more's the pity! These grounds and +woods yonder were formerly alive with birds of all kinds. Flocks of +the purple grakle used to follow the plow and eat up the worms at a +great rate. You are familiar with their habits? You know they are +most devoted parents. I have often watched them feeding their young. +The little ones have such astonishingly good appetites that it keeps +the old folks busy to supply them with enough to eat. They work like +beavers as long as daylight lasts, going to and from the fields +carrying on each return trip a fat grub or a toothsome grasshopper." + +"I am a great lover of birds," returned the professor enthusiastically, +"and I find them very interesting subjects of study. By the way, I was +reading the other day a little incident connected with one of America's +great men which impressed me deeply. The story goes that he was one +day walking in company with some noted statesmen, busily engaged in +conversation. But he was not too much occupied to notice that a young +bird had fallen from its nest near the path where they were walking. +He stopped short and crossing over to where the bird was lying, +tenderly picked it up and put it back into its nest. There was a +gentleman of a noble nature! No wonder that man was a leader and a +liberator!" + +"Who was he?" + +"The grand, the great Abraham Lincoln," responded the professor +impressively. + +"Well, he'd be the very one to do just such a kind deed as that," was +the colonel's hearty response. "No man ever lived who had a bigger, +more merciful heart than 'Honest Abe.'" + +For myself I did not know who Abraham Lincoln was. I had never heard +the name before, but I was quite sure from the proud tone of the +professor's voice that he was a distinguished man, as I was equally +sure from the story of his pity for the helpless bird, that he was a +good man. + +"You mentioned the industry of the grakle a moment ago," resumed the +professor. "Do you know that the redwing is equally as useful, and +besides he is a delightful singer? + + "The redwing flutes his o-ka-lee. + +"Do you remember that line, colonel?" and the professor softly whistled +a strain in imitation of a bird's note. "The services of our little +brothers of the air are exceedingly valuable to the horticulturist. +And think of the damage done to arboriculture by the woodborers alone +were it not for the help given by the birds. Did you ever notice those +borers at work, colonel? Some writer has well described them as +animated gimlets. They just stick their pointed heads into the bark +and turn their bodies around and around and out pours a little stream +of sawdust. The birds would pick off such pests fast enough if people +would only give them a chance and not scare them off with shotguns." + +"Yes, the birds earn their way, there is no denying it, and he is a +very stupid farmer who begrudges them the little corn and wheat they +take from the fields. The account is more than balanced by the good +they do." Then the conversation ceased, for the colonel and his friend +moved off to inspect the quince bushes. + +Pleased by the praises they had bestowed on us for our efforts in +cleaning the fruit trees and cornfields of injurious insects, I went to +work with new vigor to get out some bugs for my luncheon, and was thus +pleasantly employed when a sharp twitter from my mother attracted my +attention. + +"Look, children!" she exclaimed. "Here come our young ladies with some +company from the city. Be careful to notice what they have on their +heads and then tell me what you think of our sweet, pretty ladies." + +One of my brothers was swaying lightly on a little swing below me. I +flew down hastily and placed myself on the next bough, where I could +also get a good view of the ladies as they strolled toward us. They +were in a very merry mood and each one seemed striving to say something +more arousing than her companions. Miss Dorothy led the way, her arm +linked in that of one of the stranger guests. Then followed the others +with Miss Katie and Marian hand in hand in the rear. They were all +very handsomely dressed, and having just returned from a drive had not +yet removed their hats. + +As they came under the tree where we were perched, which was a favorite +spot with Miss Katie, they halted for some time and consequently I had +an excellent opportunity to look, as my mother had bidden me. + +And what did I see? + +I saw six ladies' hats trimmed with dead birds. Fastened on sidewise, +head downward, on one was a magnificent scarlet tanager, his body half +concealed by folds of tulle, his fixed eye staring into vacancy. On +another was the head and breast of a beautiful yellow-hammer; it was +surmounted by the tall sweeping plumes of the egret, which this bird +produces only at breeding time. Oh, how much joy and beauty the world +had lost by that cruel deed! A third hat had two song sparrows +imprisoned in meshes of star-studded lace. Their blithesome carol had +been rudely silenced, their cheer to the world cut short, simply that +they might be used for hat trimming. Of the remaining ones some were +as yet unknown to me, but my mother, who had an extensive acquaintance +with foreign birds, said that in that strange murderous mixture of +millinery, far-away Australia had furnished the filmy feathers of the +lyre bird which swept upward from a knot of ribbons, and that the +forests of Germany had contributed the pretty green linnet. Dove's +wings and the rosy breast of the grosbeak completed the barbarous +display. + +How my heart sickened as I gazed at these pleasant, refined, +soft-voiced women flaunting the trophies of their cruelty in the +beautiful sunlight. + +Had they no compassion for the feathered mother who had been robbed of +her young for the sake of a hat? + +"Oh, how can they do such dreadful, such wicked things!" I moaned. My +mother heard my lament and signaled for us to come up where she was +perching. + +"You see now who are our worst enemies," said she. "The cat preys on +us to satisfy his bodily hunger, but women have no such excuse. We are +not slaughtered to sustain their lives but to minister to their vanity. +For years the women of Christian lands have waged their unholy war +against us. We have been driven from our old haunts and forced to seek +new places. We have been shot down by thousands every season until now +many species are destroyed from the face of the earth. There is no +security for us in any place. The hunter with his gun penetrates into +the deepest forests, he perils his life in scaling the most dangerous +cliffs, he wades through bog and marsh and mud and tracks us to our +feeding grounds to surprise us with the deadly shot, and kills the +mother hovering over the nest of her helpless offspring with as little +compunction as if she were a poisonous reptile instead of a melodious +joy-giver. And all this horrible slaughter is for women." + +I grew feverish with excitement at this terrible arraignment of the +"gentler sex." + +"But why are they so cruel? Why do they do this wicked thing?" I asked. + +"For the sake of Fashion," said my mother. + +"Fashion, what is that?" + +My mother was very patient with me, so when I asked questions she did +not put me off by telling me she didn't know, or advise me to fly away +and play, or tell me she was busy and couldn't be bothered just then, +therefore she now took pains to make me understand. + +"You ask me what is Fashion," she began. "Well, Fashion is an exacting +ruler, a great, tyrannical god who has many, many worshipers, and these +he rules with an iron hand. His followers cannot be induced to do +anything contrary to his wishes. He sits on a high throne from which +he dictates to his slaves what they must do. Often they do the most +outrageous things, not because they like to, but because he demands it. +He is constantly laying down new laws for their guidance, and some of +these laws are so unreasonable and absurd that a part of his followers +frequently threaten to rebel. They do not hold out against him long, +for he manages to make it quite unpleasant for those who disobey him or +refuse to come under his yoke." + +"Has he any men slaves?" asked my brother. + +"Yes, he has some slaves among men, but the larger number of those who +wear his most galling fetters are women. If he but crooks his little +finger these bond-women rush pell-mell in the direction he points. +They are thus keen to do his bidding, because each woman who is the +first to carry out his rules in her own particular town or neighborhood +acquires great distinction in the eyes of the other worshipers." + +"His slaves are nearly always rich women, aren't they?" asked my +brother. + +"By no means. Many of them are poor working women who have to labor +hard for a living. But they will rob themselves of necessities and +needed rest to get the means to follow his demands. Often it takes +them a long time to do this, and perhaps just as they have accomplished +the weary task he suddenly proclaims a new law, and all this toiling +and drudging and stinting must begin over again. In this way the +unhappy creatures have never a breathing spell. It is utterly +impossible for them to conform to the new law when it is first +proclaimed by the god, and so they are always struggling to keep up. +Their chains are never lifted or lightened a particle." + +"If the chain is so heavy why don't they break it?" I asked impatiently. + +"Because they are afraid," she replied. + +"Afraid of the god?" + +"No, no, child, they are afraid of each other. They are afraid the +richer slaves, who are able to comply with the demands will laugh at +them and ridicule them, and that is why they strain every nerve to +follow the god's wishes. A slave, whether she is rich or poor, grows +more cringing year by year, until at last she loses all her +individuality, and becomes a mere echo of the god." + +"What about the slaves who rebel at first and afterward yield?" + +"Oh, they denounce the god very severely when he lays down some new law +they don't happen to like, but as all the other slaves are obediently +complying with it they dislike to be set off by themselves as +different, and so they reluctantly give in after a time. Sometimes +they try to compromise with the god by going half-way." + +I inquired what the other slaves thought of that. + +"They mildly tolerate them," said she. "Sometimes they look askance at +them when they meet, and try to show their superiority as being +obedient, full-blooded, genuine slaves, while the others are only +lukewarm servants of the monarch!" + +I wondered how the slaves regarded the woman who was independent and +wouldn't worship the god. + +My mother twittered softly at my question, and I knew she was smiling +to herself. "Why," said she, "they call that kind of a woman a +crank--whatever that is." + +It was very evident that this god Fashion was a cruel tyrant, and it +was clearly through his influence that we were killed, and I so told my +mother. She looked very sorrowful as she replied: + +"Yes, the women do not hate us. They do not dislike to hear our pretty +songs; they have no revenge to gratify; but the god orders them to have +us killed, and they do it. He tells them that to wear our poor +mutilated dead bodies will add to their appearance, and so we are +sacrificed on the altar of their vanity and silly pride. As members of +humane societies women have denounced the docking of horses' tails as +cruel, but from what I know of woman's indifference to the sufferings +of the innocent birds, I venture to assert that were Fashion to say +that she should trim her cloak with horse tails there would not be left +an undocked horse in the country." + +I knew my mother was very excited or she would never have been so +vehement. + +"Just hear how those birds twitter," remarked one of the ladies, +looking up into our tree. "One would think they were holding an +indignation meeting over something." + +"Yes, the dear little things; I love to hear them chirp," commented +Miss Katie, turning a sweet glance toward us, and then the party moved +to go and we saw the six hats loaded with their mournful freight file +off to the house. We followed the retreating hats with sad eyes till +they were lost to view. + +My brother broke the silence by asking, "Are there any Christian women +who wear birds, and are among the god's worshipers?" + +My mother's manner grew very grave and solemn. "That is not for me to +say," she replied. "They know whether they are guiltless of our +wholesale slaughter, and they know too, how the gentle, merciful Christ +regarded us when he declared that 'not a sparrow is forgotten before +God.'" + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +DICKEY'S COUSINS + +Another of my airy creatures breathes such sweet music out of her +little instrumental throat that it might make mankind to think that +miracles are not ceased. We might well be lifted up above the earth +and say, Lord, what music hast thou provided for the saints in heaven, +when thou affordest bad men such music on earth?--_Izaak Walton._ + + +The fine pasture adjoining was a popular resort for some handsome birds +that often visited it as a playground. They were said to be relatives +of ours, but I do not think they were closer than seventh or eighth +cousins, which is so distant that it doesn't count--especially if one +doesn't want it to. + +All I know is that their family name was the same as ours, _Icteridae_, +and means something or other, I forget what. It was a good honorable +name, however, and our branch was as proud of our ancestry as any +Daughter of the American Revolution could possibly be. + +There were some tall weeds growing along the margin of a little stream +in the pasture which produced quantities of delicious seeds, and to +these we often repaired when we wanted a choice breakfast, as well as +to watch the playful pastimes of these queer bipeds. + +What would you think of a bird taking a bareback ride on a cow? They +were extremely fond of settling themselves on the cattle which browsed +in the field and presented a truly comical picture as they complacently +gathered in little groups on the backs of those huge animals. Moving +slowly along munching the dewy grass, first on one side, then on the +other, the cows did not seem particularly to mind their saucy bareback +riders. Occasionally they would toss their heads backward, when up all +the birds would fly into the air only to descend again as soon as the +cattle were quiet. + +As I said, they were very handsome. At a short distance they looked to +be clothed in black, but the breast and neck were really a very rich +brown, with the rest of the body like jet and as lustrous as satin. +They were not general favorites with the other birds on account of some +dishonorable tricks which they did on the sly. For instance, they +never troubled themselves to make nests, but watched their chance to +sneak in and lay their eggs, only one in a place, in the nests of other +birds. For some reason their eggs always hatch a little sooner than +the eggs rightfully belonging there, consequently the foster-parents, +not knowing of the deception, are quite delighted with the first little +one that comes out of the shell, and immediately fly off to get food +for it. This is very unfortunate, for during their absence their own +eggs get cold and will not hatch. After a time the old birds grow +disgusted and tumble the poor eggs all out of the nest and bestow their +whole attention to the juvenile cowbird, entirely ignorant of the fact +that they are the victims of a "put-up job." + +Once when we were dining in the pasture we found out the cause of the +booming noise we had often heard sounding through the woods. Two men, +each carrying in his hand a long club, shaped large at one end, +appeared in the meadow and began looking among the long grasses which +sheltered the nests of some meadow larks. A number of the larks were +on the wing, others sat on the rail fence rolling out cadenzas in +concert in a gush of melody from their downy throats. The men moved +cautiously nearer under cover of the weeds. Raising their long clubs +to their shoulders they gazed along their narrow points a moment. +Without exactly knowing why, we took alarm, and larks, bobolinks, and +cowbirds sped upward like the wind. At the same instant something +bright shimmered in the sunlight, and with it a horrid burst of noise +and a puff of smoke. We did not all get away, for some of the +beautiful larks fell to the ground pierced by the sportsman's deadly +hail. + +Again and again, all through that long, sad day we heard the ominous +booming crash, and knew the savage work of killing was going on. + +Among our acquaintances was a lame redbird who at one time had been +trapped and made a prisoner, confined behind the bars of a wire cell +for many weeks and months. Luckily he made his escape one day when his +grated door was accidentally opened, and he speedily made his way back +to his dearly loved forest. + +During the period of his imprisonment in the city he had picked up a +great deal of information regarding the bird trade, and some of the +facts recited by him of the terrible cruelties perpetrated and the +carnage which had been going on for years, almost caused our feathers +to stand upright in horror as we listened. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +"DON'T, JOHNNY" + + Farewell happy fields, where Joy forever dwells. + --_Milton._ + + +A very pleasant, sociable fellow was this redbird, and often when on +hot afternoons we were hiding in the treetops from the rays of the sun +he told us stories and anecdotes about the people he had seen while he +lived in the city. + +He and his brother had been caught in a trap in the woods set by a +farmer's boy. One cold spring morning when the boy came to look at his +trap he was overjoyed to find he had snared two redbirds, and forthwith +carried them to the village nearby and sold them to the grocer for five +cents apiece, which sum he said he was going to invest in a rubber ball. + +As he put the dime into his coat pocket he told the man that one of the +birds was named Admiral Dewey and the other Napoleon Bonaparte. The +groceryman agreed that these names were good enough names for anybody, +but he thought he'd change Bonaparte's name to Teddy Roosevelt, as +being easier to pronounce, and the two birds were accordingly given +these titles then and there. Not having any cage at hand to put them +in, the man thought that for a few days the new-comers could share the +quarters of an old sparrow he had in the rear end of the store until an +extra cage could be procured. + +But alas for Teddy Roosevelt! The very first night he was +ignominiously whipped by the spiteful occupant of the cage, who +resented having these country visitors thrust into his house without +his leave. Poor Teddy died the next day. Admiral Dewey stood the +battle better than his unfortunate friend, but he too was pecked at in +a way so threatening that the groceryman concluded it would be wise to +get rid of him immediately. Because the admiral had not defended +himself better from his pet's attack, the grocer regarded him with some +disgust. + +"Being as there was two of you and only one of the sparrow, 'pears as +if you hadn't much grit," he said. "I would better take your +high-soundin' name away from you and call you something else besides +Dewey, if you can't fight." + +For all the man's censure, the redbird knew that if Teddy Roosevelt had +killed the sparrow instead of being killed by it, the grocer would have +been much more grieved at the loss, for he had heard him say the +sparrow was like one of his family. The man forgot that the result +might have been different if the redbirds had been older. + +Having decided to dispose of the admiral, the grocer, who had an errand +in the city the next day, carried the bird with him. He knew of a +probable customer for it in a gentleman named Morris, who had been +advertising in the papers for a redbird. He soon found the street and +number where was located the gentleman's office, at which the +advertisement was to be answered, and displayed the admiral. + +"Your bird looks kind of ragged, as though he hadn't been treated +well," said Mr. Morris, as he examined the scarlet plumage. "My boy +wants a redbird, and I promised him one if he would get the highest +grade in arithmetic in his class this term and he did it, so of course +I must keep my word. What d'ye ask for this bird?" + +"He'd be cheap at five dollars," answered the groceryman. "A nice +redbird is hard to get, and they're powerful nice singers, but bein' as +it's for your boy that has earned it by studying his lessons so good--I +always like a boy that is fond of his books--you can have it for two +dollars and a quarter." + +As he had paid but five cents for it this advance in price would be a +fine business speculation. After a little further talk, Mr. Morris +counted out the money, and the man went back to his home doubtless +wishing he had a hundred more redbirds to sell at the same handsome +profit. After he had gone, Mr. Morris went to a box hanging against +the wall, and turning a handle began talking to the box as if it were a +human being. Though it was just a plain wooden box, the admiral said +there was something mysterious about it, for Mr. Morris actually seemed +to be carrying on a conversation with it, though the bird could not +hear what the box answered, but he felt sure it talked back. + +Mr. Morris' residence was a fine stone house with wide porches and +sunny bay windows, over which were trained graceful creeping vines. A +boy of about eleven years of age and a very pretty lady stood arm in +arm on the broad steps leading up to the front entrance that evening +when Mr. Morris and the admiral arrived. They were Johnny Morris and +his mother, who had already learned that Mr. Morris had bought the bird +and would bring it when he came to dinner. The admiral discovered the +next day that Mrs. Morris owned a box like the one at the office, into +which she talked, and that it was called a telephone. He often +mentioned this mysterious box as one of the most remarkable things he +saw during his stay among men. + +Johnny Morris capered and danced and jumped so hard in the exuberance +of his joy at receiving the redbird that all the way to the sitting +room his mother was coaxing him to be quiet. + +"Don't act so foolishly," she begged; but he only capered and kicked up +his heels still harder. When the cage was placed on a stand in the bay +window he pranced around it, whistled and chirped, threw the bottom of +the cage floor full of seed and splashed the water about so recklessly +in his attempts to be friendly as nearly to frighten the poor admiral +to pieces. + +"Now, Johnny, don't," pleaded his mother. + +"Johnny, don't do that," commanded his father every few minutes. + +It was a constant "Don't, Johnny, do this" and "Don't, Johnny, do +that," until, the admiral said, the conversation was so mixed up with +"Don't-Johnny's" as made it almost unintelligible. Of course these +expostulations made not a bit of impression on Johnny Morris. To be +sure, he might stop for the moment, but the next second he was doing +something else which brought a fresh round of "Don't-Johnny's" from +each parent. + +He was such a generous, affectionate, pretty boy, with his rosy cheeks +and wavy yellow hair, it was a great pity that he should keep a whole +household in a state of constant commotion by his habit of not promptly +minding when he was spoken to. His father and mother were very +indulgent to him, and the admiral believed he had every kind of a toy +known to the boy world. He also had a machine to ride on, which they +called a "wheel." On this he went out occasionally, although Mrs. +Morris declared she never felt at ease a minute while he was gone, +because he never came back at the hour he promised he would. Besides +this, he had a dear little pony, named Jock, on whose back he often +cantered about the big park. Frequently from the bay window the +admiral watched him as he mounted Jock and rode away, while his mother +stood on the house step and called after him as long as he was in +sight: "Don't ride in that reckless way, Johnny; you'll tumble off," or +"Don't, Johnny; the pony will throw you," at which Johnny would laugh +and make the pony go faster. + +Among the boy's other possessions was a parrot, which the admiral +asserted was the smartest bird in the world. She was a highly educated +parrot, and much time had been spent on her training, and she was +usually very willing to show off to company all her various +accomplishments. Occasionally she assumed an air of offended dignity +when asked to display her talents, and no amount of threats or coaxing +could change her purpose. At such times she impatiently flapped her +wings and croaked "No, no" in her harshest tones. + +Her favorite retreat when her temper was ruffled was on the back of an +armchair, where she would sit with her bill in the air and her head +cocked disdainfully on one side, pretending not to hear or see any one. +In her affable moods, however, no one could be more complaisant and +entertaining than Bessie. + +Her name was an uncommon one for a parrot. Strangers usually accosted +her as Polly, at which mistake she was greatly displeased. + +"No, no--not Polly; call me Bessie," she would scream, so angrily that +it always made people laugh, which angered her still more. + +Bessie could sing a verse of an old-time song, at least she thought she +could. The admiral said nothing could have induced him to sing for +company if his voice had been as harsh and cracked as hers, but he said +it was a fact that everybody seemed to enjoy her noise more than his +music; that when she took up her position on top of the piano to sing, +they crowded around and called her "nice Bessie," "nice lady," and +praised her, and gave her bits of sugar, as if she were the finest +singer in the world. The admiral thought they showed very poor taste, +for her music was simply horrid and couldn't compare with the warblings +of the woods birds. It is well, however, to make allowance for the +admiral's opinion, for musicians are proverbially jealous of each other. + +The song the parrot sang was "Listen to the Mocking Bird," to which +Mrs. Morris played a little gliding accompaniment on the piano. Great +hand-clappings always followed the performance. These Bessie accepted +with an air of studied indifference. But if for the purpose of teasing +her they did not applaud her performance, she shrilly screamed: +"Bessie's a good bird, a good bird I tell you," raising her voice +higher and higher at each repetition. + +Then she would wait a moment for some one to assure her that she was +indeed a very good bird, quite the smartest bird that ever breathed. +But if these soothing assurances were not quickly forthcoming, she +would retire to the back of her favorite chair and, elevating her bill +to show her disdain, sulk in silence. + +"Did she like you?" I asked the admiral one day when he was telling us +about her funny tricks. + +"No, she was a little bit jealous of me; yet she was not unfriendly, +except when Johnny or some other member of the family paid me +attention. She always wanted to be the center of attraction herself, +which showed she was a vain creature. No matter how silent she had +been or how firmly she might have refused to talk only the minute +before, if Johnny came to my cage and called, 'Hello, Admiral! you're a +daisy,' Bessie immediately struck up such a chattering as would almost +deafen one. + +"'Johnny dear, open my cage. I want to take a walk,' she would say in +her most coaxing manner. If she happened to be already out of her cage +and walking about the room, she endeavored to get him to leave me by +saying: 'Here, Johnny, boy, put me on your finger. Kiss poor +Bessie--p-o-o-r Bessie.' + +"Mrs. Morris used to laugh at these schemes of the parrot to attract +notice, and said Bessie reminded her of some people she had met who +always wanted to monopolize the conversation." + +"Monopolize?" said I. "That's a large word. I don't know the meaning +of it." + +"Well, I think it means getting the most of anything and crowding other +people out," replied the admiral; "and it was true in Bessie's case, +for she always wanted the most attention. A gentleman friend of the +Morrises had this habit too. He had been a general in a war that took +place in the South a good many years ago, and was often entertained at +dinner at the Morrises'. Though he was a well-informed, genial man, he +was almost rude in making himself heard, so determined was he that +people should listen to his jokes and stories, which were generally +something about himself. At a large tableful of guests, General +Peterson's voice was always heard above that of every one else. He +seemed to compel the rest of the company to listen. His big voice +drowned the others out. Though Mr. and Mrs. Morris liked him very +much, when they were alone they often ridiculed this disagreeable habit. + +"'Bessie and General Peterson are just alike,' Mrs. Morris used to say +jokingly, when the parrot pushed herself into notice by her loud +jabbering. 'Neither of them can endure to have any one else receive +attention when they are present.' + +"Although Bessie had not a pony to ride on as Johnny had, she took a +great many jaunts around the parlors on the cat's back. This cat was a +great pet in the house. A very striking-looking cat he was too. He +was jet black with a flat face and long white whiskers. Johnny always +said he resembled an old colored man who used to be their coachman, and +he wondered if they were any relation to each other. + +"When Bessie was out of her cage the cat did not often visit the +parlor, because he was afraid of her. He always appeared to be much +relieved when she did not notice him. If she had decided to take a +ride, however, he never was quick enough to get away from her. With a +shrill laugh of triumph she would fly upon his back, and holding on by +digging her claws into his fur, around and around the room they would +go, the poor cat feeling so completely disgraced that he dragged his +body lower and lower at every step, until his legs could scarcely be +seen at all. + +"Bessie enjoyed it greatly. She seemed to take a wicked satisfaction +in making poor Jett ridiculous, and laughed and chuckled and scolded +till the cat looked as if he were ready to drop from very shame. +Urging him on with, 'Get up, get up, you lazy thing,' she refused to be +shaken off till his body was actually dragging on the floor, a sign of +his complete humiliation. As soon as he threw off his unwelcome +burden, Jett always ran away to hide. With his tail slinking, his ears +drooping, and crawling rather than walking, he was the most +abject-looking, miserable cat in existence. Bessie meanwhile flirted +herself saucily and chuckled with the conscious air of having done a +very smart thing." + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE PARROT AT A PARTY + + A parrot there I saw, with gaudy pride + Of painted plumes, that hopped from side to side. + + +"How did you happen to get away from the Morrises?" asked my brother. + +The red-bird laughed heartily, as if the recollection were exceedingly +amusing. + +"Well," said he, "it all came about through Johnny's having a tea +party. For months he had been coaxing and begging his mother to invite +his schoolfellows to the house and entertain them with games and plays +and music, ending with a fine supper. Early in the spring when he +began talking of it, it was too cold, his mother said. Then after a +while it was too rainy, or too warm, or they were house-cleaning, or +something, and so she kept putting him off from one time to another, +hoping by deferring it to make him forget it. The Morrises always +spent the month of August at their seaside cottage, and the night +before they left home, Johnny tried to get Mrs. Morris to promise that +he might have the party the very first thing on their return. + +"'I'll think about it, my dear,' she answered. + +"'Whenever you say you'll think about it then I'm pretty sure not to +get what I want,' sighed Johnny." + +[Illustration: The Summer Tanager.] + +"His mother seemed to be much amused at this statement. 'Oh, no, my +son, it doesn't always turn out that way; but you know it wouldn't do +for me to promise to have it just as soon as we get back,' she +objected. 'I am always very busy just at our return. It might be very +inconvenient for me to prepare for a children's evening at that time; +but when I am ready I shall take pleasure in getting up a nice party +for you sometime in the autumn.' + +"This sounded well, but it was not definite enough to suit Johnny. +However he said no more at that time. While the family were gone +Bessie and I had the back porch to ourselves, and no one being there +except the housemaid to whom she could display her superiority over me, +she grew to be quite agreeable. For some time before the Morrises had +bought her, which was years and years before, long before Johnny was +born, she had lived in a taxidermist's shop. The owner of the shop was +also a bird dealer in a small way. On account of her accomplishments +he had held her at a price that few were willing or able to pay, and so +she had been forced to stay with him a long time. She much preferred +being owned by a refined family to living in a dingy store, for she was +a bird of luxurious tastes, she said. + +"I too had never ceased being glad that the grocer had sold me to the +Morrises, for I was sure that life would not have been so comfortable +for me in the back part of a country store, inhaling the odors from +fish barrels and molasses kegs, and with the dreary outlook afforded by +shelves full of canned vegetables and cracker boxes. The only point in +favor of a life at the grocery was that I would have been nearer to the +woods; but if I could not be in the woods, of what avail was that? The +Morrises were people of elegance and refinement, and their home +expressed their culture. I had made a pleasant exchange, and I felt it +was wise to be as contented as possible. + +"August slowly passed, and Johnny came back. The big house that had +been so quiet for four weeks was suddenly wakened as from a sleep. His +noisy, joyous voice rang through the halls, and from cellar to garret. + +"'Bless the b'y! he's that plazed to git back, it does one's sowl good +to hear him,' said the housemaid. + +"Mrs. Morris was so busy for the first day or two that she saw little +of Johnny. He was sent on several errands, and took his own time in +returning, but every one had too much to do to inquire what kept him so +long. + +"'Can't I shine up Bessie's and the admiral's cages?' he asked his +mother after dinner the second day. + +"Mrs. Morris was delighted with her son's thoughtfulness. 'Why, +Johnny,' she said, 'I'll be so glad to have you do it.' + +"So master Johnny wiped and dusted our cages till we felt very clean, +although I own I did not enjoy having him work about me with his brush +and dust cloth. Just as he had finished and put us back in our places +the doorbell sounded, and presently we heard children's voices in the +hall asking the maid if Johnny Morris was at home. + +"'It is some one to see you,' said Mrs. Morris. But Johnny did not +reply. He was nowhere to be seen. At the first sound he had quietly +slipped out of the room and I could now see him hiding behind the +curtains in the library. Soon Sarah came ushering three or four little +barefooted children into the parlor. + +"'They've come to Johnny's party, ma'am,' she explained to Mrs. Morris, +who looked up from her work as the children entered. + +"'How do you do, my dears?' said Mrs. Morris sweetly, though I could +see she was greatly surprised. 'I believe I don't know your names, so +you will have to introduce yourselves.' + +"The children looked bashful, and made no reply. + +"'You are not Johnny Morris' schoolmates, are you?' she questioned. + +"'No, ma'am,' answered the tallest girl, as she gazed about the +handsome room with wide-open eyes, I could see that she was not +accustomed to such beautiful things. + +"Where did you get acquainted with him, then?' went on Mrs. Morris +kindly. + +"'We hain't acquainted at all, ma'am; but he seed us on the street this +morning, and said for us to come to his party to-day. He thought as +how maybe they'd be ice-cream to eat, and he told us where he lived, +and so we are here.' + +"'Well, we must try to make you have a pleasant time,' she replied. +'Sarah, please call Johnny and tell him his guests have arrived.' + +"But Sarah had been answering a second peal of the bell, and now +appeared with a very queer smile on her face at the head of a line of +three girls and a small boy, whom she introduced by saying: + +"'A few more children, ma'am, who have come to take tea with master +Johnny.' + +"'Why, really,' exclaimed Mrs. Morris, in a sort of flutter, as she +helped Sarah to seat the new arrivals. 'The house is hardly in order +for company.' + +"The children appeared quite embarrassed, and ranged themselves +silently and sedately on the chairs to which they had been directed. + +"'Dear me, Sarah, what a predicament to be in! Where do you suppose +Johnny scraped up all these youngsters? I don't know what I ought to +do to him for playing me this trick.' Mrs. Morris said this to the +maid as they came to my side of the room. 'Think of all the work to be +done, and which will have to be stopped for the day--the house all +upside down--no chance for preparations for an extra supper for his +company. And that big girl bespoke ice-cream as soon as she entered.' +And then Mrs. Morris and Sarah turned into the recess of the bay window +and laughed softly. Her vexation seemed to pass away in a few minutes, +for she added, 'We must make the best of it, since they are here, and +let everything else go. But there's the bell; I expect it's another +batch of Johnny's friends.' + +"And so it proved, for these were old acquaintances, eight or ten of +his schoolmates. Little misses dressed in fine style, in dainty +ruffled frocks and necklaces and bright hair-ribbons, tripped +gracefully in and advanced to meet Mrs. Morris, quite like grown ladies +in their manners. Behind them came several boys, spick and span in +fresh white linen waists and silk neckties and well-fitting shoes. + +"'Ah! here are Frances and Naomi and Justice and Karl and Mary Ethel +and Philip and Jessica and all the rest,' said Mrs. Morris, giving them +each a hand of welcome as they gathered about her in a pretty group. +'Will you make yourselves quite at home and help me to entertain these +other visitors till Johnny comes in? I don't know what keeps him so +long. If you'll excuse me I'll go and look for him. There are the +pictures in the portfolio that you might like to show to these little +girls. And there's the admiral, our redbird, and Bessie, the parrot. +Maybe they would like to look at them.' + +"The two girls whom she had designated as Jessica and Frances looked at +the strange children a minute but made no movement to carry out Mrs. +Morris' wishes. Instead they drew a little apart and began to talk to +each other. Mary Ethel, a round-faced girl who giggled a great deal +behind her fan, crossed over to where sat the large girl who had +mentioned the ice-cream, and started a conversation by remarking that +it was a warm day. The girl made no audible answer, only nodded. + +"'Do you like to go to school?' inquired Mary Ethel. + +"The girl again nodded. There was a little pause. Mary Ethel, who was +bent on carrying out Mrs. Morris' suggestion to help her entertain +them, began again on the weather. I suppose she couldn't think of +anything new to say, so she observed: + +"'It's a nice warm day for the first of September, don't you think?' + +"The girl's head once more wagged up and down in assent, but not a word +did she utter. At this a subdued titter came from Frances and Jessica. +Mary Ethel's face grew red and she frowned at them. + +"Just at this moment in ran Johnny. He had put on his best suit. His +yellow hair was freshly brushed and his face was wreathed in smiles. +He reminded one of a dancing sunbeam. It was wonderful to see how +quickly he set the social wheel moving in the parlor. In three minutes +he had them all acquainted and talking to each other. At one side I +noticed Naomi and Jessica who were trying to make the parrot talk for +the big girl. Mary Ethel was turning the crank of a small music box, +around which were clustered a group of the stranger children. On a +sofa three or four others had the portfolio of pictures spread out. +Others came to my cage coaxing me to whistle for them, while Johnny +capered hither and thither and joked and had more funny things to say +than anybody in the room. When he let Bessie out of her cage and put +her on the piano to sing the 'Mocking Bird,' the joy of the visitors +knew no bounds. + +"'Have you a parrot, Jeannette?' he asked one of the little barefooted +girls, whose dancing black eyes showed how much she enjoyed Bessie's +performance. + +"'No, but I have two lovely cats.' She made the announcement as if +very proud of their ownership. + +"'I have a cat too. He dresses in black and wears long white +whiskers, and looks just like a respectable old colored man.' This +description amused the children very much. + +"'What's your cat's name?' they shouted. + +"'Jett. What do you call your cats, Jeannette?' + +"'The big one is _Boule de Neige_ and the little one is _Jaune +Jaquette_.' + +"'What queer names!' exclaimed Mary Ethel. 'How did you happen to +select such names for them?' + +"'Oh, miss, because the names do suit them so well.' + +"'They don't sound like any cats' names that ever I heard. I don't +understand how they would suit.' Mary Ethel looked perplexed. + +"'Why, miss, on account of the color of those cats, to be sure,' said +Jeannette in surprise. + +"'Pooh!' explained Johnny, 'that's easy. _Boule de neige_ is the +French for snowball, and _jaune_ means yellow, so _jaune jaquette_ +means yellow jacket. I learned that in our French reader. I expect +one of the cats is all white and the other is a yellow one. Is that +it, Jeannette?' + +"'Yes, sir,' said the French child, and she tipped him a polite little +bow that was very pretty indeed. + +"'_Boule de Neige_! what a funny name. I haven't named our white +kitten yet. I believe I'll call it _Boule de Neige_ for a change,' +said Karl. + +"Then Jett was brought in and Bessie pounced upon him for a ride, she +chuckling and singing and looking from side to side with proud +satisfaction, knowing she was being observed by everybody. The +children almost screamed with delight at this performance. + +"'Now, Bessie,' said Johnny, as the poor cat at last shook her off and +slank away. 'You did that beautifully, and you deserve something to +eat. I am going to let you have some bread and milk right here in the +parlor, and the company can see how nicely you can feed yourself with a +spoon.' + +"'All right,' croaked the parrot. Sarah brought in a saucer in which +was a little bread moistened with milk, and two spoons with it. A +cloth was spread over one corner of the table and Bessie crawled up to +the top of a chair which had been placed with its back close to the +table. This brought the bird almost in line with the saucer. Johnny +took his seat beside her and broke the bread into tiny pieces with his +spoon, shoving the particles into the other spoon as fast as Bessie +disposed of them. She gravely clasped her spoon with one claw and +brought it to her mouth quite dextrously and ate the contents with +evident relish, though it was plain that she enjoyed being admired for +being able to do it really more than she enjoyed the bread. Once in a +while her grasp was uncertain and the food was spilled on her breast +feathers or fell to the floor. At this she scolded herself roundly and +seemed quite ashamed. + +"'One of these days, when I get time, I am going to train her to use a +napkin when she eats,' said Johnny. + +"'She'll be a perfectly accomplished lady then,' added Mary Ethel. + +"By this time some of the stranger children had left the table and had +come over to my cage to look at me. + +"'The admiral's an awful purty feller,' said one. + +"'Wouldn't his tail be sweet on a Sunday hat?' suggested another. + +"'Oh, I choose his wings for my hat,' exclaimed a third. + +"'I choose his head and breast for mine,' said the first one who had +spoken. 'And Naomi chooses his whole body for her hat, I expect,' she +added as Naomi joined them. + +"'No,' said Naomi, 'we don't wear birds any more in our family. My +sister and I used to have our hats trimmed with them, but we've quit. +I had a lovely one on my blue velvet hat last year. It was a beautiful +hat," and she smiled at the recollection. 'But we've quit now,' she +added gravely. + +"'Why?' asked the other girls in a breath. + +"'Oh, because my mother thinks it is wrong to wear them. Little boy, +little boy, be careful or you'll let the bird out,' she called hastily. + +"But the warning was too late. While the girls had been talking the +small boy who was with them had been entertaining himself by slightly +opening my cage door and letting it spring back to its fastening. +Suddenly he was seized with fright at discovering that it had stuck +while half-way back, and refused to come together. + +"Oh, dear!' he called. 'He's out.' + +"'Mercy on us! Oh, dear!' screamed the girls as I made a dash through +the opening, and flew to the top of a picture frame. 'Johnny, Johnny, +your redbird's out,' they called. + +"All was confusion in an instant. Boys and girls ran hither and +thither, tumbling over each other, and over the chairs and stools, and +all talking and screaming at once. + +"'Bring a broom or a flagpole, Johnny,' called Philip. 'I'll shoo him +down for you while you stand underneath and catch him.' + +"'Shoo, shoo!' said Jeannette, catching her dress skirt with both hands +and waving it back and forth rapidly. In a minute all the girls were +waving their dress skirts at me and saying 'shoo.' + +"'Oh, my pretty Admiral Dewey, my dear old admiral,' wailed Johnny, +almost in tears. + +"I didn't wait for the broom or the flagpole to help me from the +picture frame. I balanced myself steadily and then I flew out of the +open window and away into the world, without saying good-bye to +anybody. I suppose they all crowded to the window to look after me as +I disappeared, for the last thing I heard was Mrs. Morris' voice +saying, 'Don't, Johnny; you'll fall out if you lean over so far. Papa +will get you another bird. Don't grieve so hard. Don't, Johnny.'" + +"Did you ever see Johnny afterward?" we asked the redbird. + +"Yes, once I saw him cantering along slowly on Jock. He could not go +very fast because he was holding a great bunch of red and pink roses in +one hand. His cheeks were as pink as the flowers and his yellow hair +curled up under the edge of his cap the same as it used to. I knew him +in a minute. A great many carriages were on the street trimmed in +flags and flowers. Little flags were fastened to the horses' harness. +Jock had one on each side of his head, which made him look very pretty. +Children were running about carrying wreaths. On a corner of the +street where a band was playing some men were holding banners. I heard +some one say it was Decoration Day, and that everybody strewed flowers +on the graves in the big cemetery that day. I thought it was a very +beautiful custom. Through all the buzz and confusion I kept an eye on +Johnny. He didn't seem to be riding anywhere in particular, but was +just looking around for the fun of the thing. Presently he drew up to +the sidewalk where a little ragged boy was leaning up against a tree. +He had a wistful look, as if he would like to be taking part. + +"'Hello!' said Johnny, as he reined Jock in. 'Aren't you going to help +to decorate?' + +"'Naw--ain't got any posies, I tell you.' The boy said this in a +sullen tone. + +"'Here, take these. I brought you a big bunch so you could divide 'em +with some of your friends. There's enough for all of you boys to have +a few flowers to take to the cemetery.' Johnny extended the roses with +a smile as he spoke. + +"The boy grabbed them eagerly. 'My! You're a jolly one, I'll say that +for you,' he said heartily by way of thanks, then he ran off with a +whoop. + +"I saw from this action that Johnny was the same generous, kind-hearted +boy he used to be, and I felt proud to have had the honor of his +acquaintance." + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +A WINTER IN THE SOUTH + + I was wrong about the Phoebe bird; + Two songs it has, and both of them I've heard; + I did not know those strains of joy and sorrow + Came from one throat. + + +As the season advanced our May songs became less melodious until +finally our music was merely a metallic but pleasant, "chink, chink," +and we knew we would soon be putting on our new fall attire, as toward +the close of the summer our family exchange their pretty +black-and-white suits, so much admired, for a becoming yellowish-brown +one. The different flocks were also now arranging for their regular +winter trip to the sunny Southland, where their winters were spent. + +I was very glad to know that we bobolinks were to travel only in the +daytime, as that would afford us younger ones a better opportunity to +see the country. The return trip to the North is always made by night. +A great many people have wondered why we do this, and those who are +interested in our habits have tried to find out; but it is a secret the +birds have never yet divulged, and probably never will. + +The blue jays were going to remain behind, for the winters which we +dreaded so much had no terrors for them. Sometimes when we were +preening our feathers under the radiant skies near the Southern gulf, I +thought of our old neighbors the jays, and fancied them in their bleak +Northern home flitting about in the tops of the leafless trees, swayed +by the icy winds from the upper lakes, and with perhaps but little to +eat. I would not have exchanged places with them for the world. But +my older comrades assured me the jays were not in need of my sympathy +or pity. They liked the invigorating cold and chattered merrily in the +desolate boughs and enjoyed many a nice meal from under the melting +snow. The crimson dogwood berries, standing out like rosettes of +coral, at which they liked to peck, also furnished them an aesthetic +and sumptuous feast. Much more to be dreaded than the winter's cold +was the cruel sportsman, said my comrades. + +The day of our departure came. The concourse of birds setting out on +their annual journeys was immense, and oh, what joy it was to soar +aloft on buoyant pinion high up in the blue sky, over housetops and +tops of trees, skimming along above rushing waters or tranquil streams +in quiet meadows. Mere existence was a keen delight. The sense of +freedom, of lightness, of airiness, was gloriously exhilarating, a +delicious sensation known only to the feathered tribes of all God's +creation. + +Our trip took us across some densely wooded mountains, where we rested +for a time. A thick undergrowth of young saplings prevented any roads, +and only occasional narrow footpaths showed that people sometimes +passed that way. + +The mountain was grand in its loneliness; but doubtless was a desolate +spot to the settlers, whose cabins were scattered at long distances +from each other in the depths of the wood. I could imagine how cut off +from the whole world the women and children in these cabins would feel, +for it is natural for human beings to love society. The perpetual +stillness must have been hard to bear when months sometimes passed +away, especially in the winter season, without their getting a glimpse +of other human faces. + +The mountains were full of wildcats too, which made their situation +worse, as these fierce animals were frequently known to attack men as +savagely as wolves do. One day while we were there two travelers +camped under the tree where our family was roosting. They had +evidently had a hard time making their way through the tangled +undergrowth, for as one of the men flung himself down on the ground and +stretched himself out at full length, he exclaimed peevishly: + +"Well, I don't want any more such experiences. I'm dead tired; my face +is all scratched with the thorns and bushes; and I haven't seen a +newspaper for a week. If the railroad company needs any more work of +this kind done, they must get somebody else." + +"Fiddle-dee-dee! You mustn't be so easily discouraged," answered the +other young man, who had already set to work scraping up dry chips and +pieces of bark to make a fire, "Think of these poor mountaineers who +stay here all their lives. Your little tramp of a few days is nothing +to what they do all the time and never think of complaining. The half +of them are too poor to own a mule. They eat hog and hominy the year +around, and are thankful to get it. Their clothes are fearfully and +wonderfully made, but for all that they don't give up and think life +isn't worth living." + +As the two young fellows talked on in this strain I named them Growler +and Cheery, because the one was so determined to look on the dark side, +while the other took a cheerful view of everything. Growler continued +to lounge on the ground, looking with careless interest at Cheery, who +was preparing dinner. + +The dinner was in a small tin box which he took from his coat pocket. +Opening it he disclosed some eatables very compactly put in. He took +out several articles and set them on the ground in front of him. In +the box was a bottle stoutly corked containing a dark liquid, some of +which he poured into a flat tin cup which formed a part of the lid of +the box. This he set over the fire, which by this time was snapping +cheerily. + +"Come," he said. "Here's a lunch fit for a king. Get up and have your +share. Maybe when your stomach is warmed up with a few ham and mustard +sandwiches, some cheese and coffee, you'll be in better spirits. These +crackers are good eating too." + +"Fit for a king, eh? Mighty poor kind of a king, I should say," +growled Growler sarcastically; but he rose and flicked the leaves and +twigs from his clothing before he helped himself to the coffee which +was now hot. + +"One cup for two people is just one too few," laughed Cheery when it +came his turn to take some. "My! but it tastes good. There's nothing +like the open air to give one an appetite." + +"I don't like coffee without cream," objected Growler, chewing moodily +at his cracker. + +"Well, we'll get to Girard by to-night, and then possibly we will get a +good supper." + +While they were lunching I had observed another traveler slowly +approaching through the underbrush. Over one shoulder was slung a +leather strap in which were a few books. He carried a rifle, and from +his coat pocket bulged a small package. As he drew nearer the sound of +his footsteps startled Growler who nervously upset his coffee over his +shirt front. + +"What d'ye suppose he is?" he asked of Cheery as the stranger +approached. + +"I judge he's a parson, from the cut of his clothes," observed Cheery. +Then as the new-comer advanced he called: "Hello, friend! Who'd 'a +thought of meeting company this far back in these mountains?" + +"This is only about eight miles from the town where I live," answered +the gentleman, who now seated himself near them with his back against a +tree, "I know the paths through here fairly well, for I come this way +several times through the summer. But this will be my last trip for +the season, and I'm giving a little more time to it on that account. +I've taken it somewhat leisurely to-day." + +He was a delicate-looking, middle-aged man, with a mild voice and a +kind face. + +"You're a drummer for a publishing house, I take it?" said Growler, +nodding toward the books in the strap. "I've just been wondering where +you'd find any buyers in these infernal woods." + +The gentleman laughed. "No," said he, "this is my regular route; but +I'm not a commercial traveler in any sense. I'm a pastor at a town +near here, and I go out to these mountain families to hold services +every few weeks." + +"You don't mean you foot it through these bushes and among these +wildcats to preach to the mountaineers!" exclaimed Growler in +astonishment. + +"Certainly I do. These poor people would never hear the sound of the +gospel if some one did not take it to them. They have souls to be +saved, my friend. I feel it is my duty to carry the word to them. As +for the wildcats," he continued, smiling, "I have my rifle. Besides +the government offers a small bounty for every wildcat." + +"Oh, yes, I see. You combine business with pleasure and have your +wildcat bounty to pay expenses as you go along--or else keep it for +pin-money," and Growler laughed good-humoredly at his own fun. + +"You're the parson from St. Thomas, I judge," said Cheery. + +The gentleman bowed, and said he was the pastor of that little church. + +"I've heard of your mission work, and I understand you've done a great +deal of good among the mountain whites." + +"How many churches have you in these mountains?" interrupted Growler. + +"I have but the one church organization, for outside through the +mountains there are no churches--no buildings, no organizations. +People ten and fifteen miles apart can't very well have churches. I +visit the families. I have three on this mountain side. I am well +repaid for all the sacrifice of comfort I make, in knowing how glad +they are to have me come. To many of them I am the connecting link +with the rest of mankind. Ah! the world knows nothing of the +privations and sorrows and ignorance of many of these poor creatures! +Through the winter I am obliged to stop my visitations, but I generally +leave a few books and papers for those who can read, and pictures for +the children." + +"Well, parson, I didn't know there was enough goodness in any man in +the United States to make him willing to tramp right into the wildest +part of the Allegheny. Mountains to preach the gospel to half a dozen +poor people!" exclaimed Growler, still more astonished. + +"My friend," responded the gentleman earnestly, "the world is full of +Christian men and women who are trying to help others." + +Just then my mother said to me, "When I hear the beautiful words that +minister speaks and see what he is doing, then indeed do I believe that +human beings have hearts." + +As we resumed our journey I wondered if Growler would profit by the +sunshiny example of Cheery and the devotion of the parson of St. Thomas. + +Later in our travels we came upon some old acquaintances. Our +stopping-place was near an ancient house on a mountain side. The +outlook was the grandest I had ever seen, and though I have traveled +much since then I have never found anything to exceed it in beauty. A +glistening river wound its way in a big loop at the foot of the +mountain, and beyond it lay stretched out a busy city. + +A good many years before a battle had been fought on these heights, +which people still remembered and talked about. I heard them speak of +it as the "Battle above the clouds." There was still a part of a +cannon wagon in the yard which visitors came to see and examined with +much interest. They also often requested the landlady to let them look +at the walls of an old stone dairy adjoining the house, because the +soldiers had carved their names there. + +To me it seemed strange that the guests would sit for hours on the long +gallery of this hotel, and go over and over the incidents of the +battle, telling where this regiment stood, or where that officer fell, +as if war and the taking of life were the most pleasant rather than the +most distressful subjects in the world. In the distance was a mammoth +field of graves, miles of graves, beautifully kept mounds under which +lay the dead heroes of that sad time. + +The days up here were beautiful, but it was at night that this was a +scene of surpassing loveliness. Far below the lights of the city +glowed like spangles in the darkness. Above us was the star-encrusted +sky. It was like being suspended between a floor and a ceiling of +glittering jewels. + +On this plateau grew the biggest cherry trees I ever saw, and they bore +the biggest and sweetest cherries, though I could not taste any at that +time, as the season was past. I heard the landlady complaining one day +to some of her guests that the rascally birds had hardly left her a +cherry to put up. + +"The saucy little thieves! they must have eaten bushels of the finest +fruit," she said. + +"And didn't you get any?" inquired a childish voice. There was +something familiar in the voice and I flew to the porch railing to see +who it was. And who should it be but dear little Marion. And there +too was her aunty, Miss Dorothy, and the professor, and in the parlor I +caught a glimpse of Miss Katie and the colonel. They were having a +pleasant vacation together. + +Marion looked inquiringly into the landlady's face. No doubt she was +thinking the mountain birds were very greedy to eat up all the cherries +and not leave one for the poor woman to can. + +"Our birds always eat some of our cherries too," she said, "but they +always leave us plenty." + +"There were bushels left on our trees," observed the landlady's +daughter. "We had all we wanted, mother. We couldn't possibly have +used the rest if the birds had not eaten them. We had a cellar full of +canned cherries left over from the year before, you remember, and that +is the way it is nearly every year." + +"Yes, yes, I know," answered her mother impatiently; "but for all that +I don't believe in letting the birds have everything." + +"I never begrudge a bird what it eats," commented the professor. "Of +course you can discourage the birds, drive them off, break up their +nests, starve them out, and have a crop of caterpillars instead of +cherries. But, beg pardon, madam, maybe you don't object to +caterpillars," and he bowed low to the landlady. + +The laugh was against her and I was glad of it, for I didn't consider +it either kind or polite to call us "saucy little thieves." + +We were amused one morning when, flying over a piece of pretty country, +we saw a lady moving rapidly along on the red sandy path below. She +seemed to be neither exactly riding nor walking, as she was not on foot +nor had she a horse. On closer inspection it was seen that she was +propelling a strange-looking vehicle. Two of her carriage wheels were +gone, and between the remaining two the lady was perched. At sight of +it I was immediately reminded of the queer thing that Johnny Morris +rode which the admiral had described to us and called a "wheel." I +felt sure that this was the same kind of a machine. The lady looked +neither to the right nor to the left, but her glance was fixed intently +on the road before her. + +Farther along another lady leaned against the fence awaiting her +approach. As she bowled along the friend asked enthusiastically: "Is +it not splendid?" + +The rider called back to her: "It is grand! It is almost as if I were +flying. I know now how a bird feels." + +Think of comparing the sensation produced by moving that heavy iron +machine, with the rider but three feet from the ground, to the +exhilaration felt by a bird spurning the earth and soaring on delicate +wing through the fields of heaven! It was truly laughable! + +Our amusement was cut short, however, when we noticed that the lady's +hat was decorated with a dead dove. + +"Can we never get away from this millinery exhibition of death?" I +exclaimed in horror. + +"No," said my mother sorrowfully. "The god, Fashion, I told you of has +his slaves all over the land. We will find them wherever we go, north, +south, east, and west. No town is too small, no neighborhood too +remote, but there will be found women ready to carry out his cruel +laws." + +Had we not been haunted by this vision of death which we were +constantly meeting wherever women were congregated, we might have been +happy in the fair land of rose blossoms and magnolias where we now +sojourned. The air was soft and balmy, and the atmosphere filled us +with a serene, restful languor quite new to those who had been +accustomed to the brisker habits of a colder clime. Besides the birds +there were many human visitors from the North spending the winter +months here. Some sought this warmer climate for their health, others +for pleasure, and these also soon fell into the easy-going, +happy-go-lucky ways induced by the sluggish climate. + +Among the birds the waxwings most readily acquired this delightful +Southern habit of taking life easy. In fact the waxwings are inclined +to be lazy, except when they are nesting; they are the most deliberate +creatures one can find, but very foppish and neat in their dress. +Never will you find a particle of dust on their silky plumage, and the +pretty red dots on their wings and tails look always as bright as if +kept in a bandbox. They have, indeed, just reason to be proud of +themselves, for they are very beautiful. + +Hunters by scores were after them with bag and gun mercilessly killing +them for the New York millinery houses. The slaughter was terrible, +and made more easy for the hunters by reason of the poor birds flocking +together so closely in such large numbers when they alighted in circles +as is their habit. As they came down in dense droves to get their +food, the red dots on their wing tips almost overlapping those of their +fellows, dozens were slain by a single shot. They were very fond of +the berries of the cedar trees, and after the other foods were gone +they hovered there in great numbers. Here too, the hunters followed +them and made awful havoc in their ranks. One man made the cruel boast +that the winter previous he had killed one thousand cedar-birds for hat +trimmings. + +Many of our family had located for a time near the coast, but here too, +on these sunny plains, the death messengers followed us and slew us by +the thousands. + +We learned that one bird man handled thirty thousand bird skins that +season. Another firm shipped seventy thousand to the city, and still +the market called for more and yet more. The appetite of the god could +not be appeased. + +I am sure this account of the loss of bird life must have seemed +appalling to my mother, for I heard her moan sadly when it was talked +about. + +It was during my stay in the Southern islands that I first saw the +white egret, whose beautiful sweeping plumes, like the silken train of +a court lady, have so long been the spoils of woman, that the bird is +almost extinct. As these magnificent feathers appear upon the bird +only through the mating and nesting season, the cruelty of the act is +still more dastardly. The attachment of the parent birds for their +young is very beautiful to witness, yet this devotion, which should be +their safeguard, is seized upon for their destruction, for so great is +the instinct of protecting love they refuse to leave their young when +danger is near, and are absolutely indifferent to their own safety. + +Never shall I forget one sad incident which occurred while I was there. +Overhanging the water was an ancestral nest belonging to a family of +egrets which had occupied it for some seasons. Unlike the American +human species, in whom local attachment is not largely developed, and +who take a new house every moving day, the egret repairs and fixes over +the old house year after year, putting in a new brace there, adding +another stick here, to make it firm enough to bear the weight of the +mother and the three young birds which always comprise the brood. + +The three pale-blue eggs in this nest had been duly hatched, and the +fond mother was now brooding over her darlings with every demonstration +of maternal affection. She was a beautiful creature with her graceful +movement, her train of plumes, and her long neck gracefully curved. + +The quick sharp boom, boom of the guns had been echoing through the +swamp for some time, and the men were now coming nearer. The efforts +of the poor mother to shield her babies were piteous, but the hunters +did not want them. Their scant plumage is worthless for millinery +purposes. Possibly the mother might have escaped had she been willing +to leave her dear ones; but she would not desert them, and was shot in +the breast as the reward of her devotion. The nestlings were left to +starve. + +Would you think the woman who wore that bunch of feathers on her bonnet +could take much pleasure in it? + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE PRISON + + Like a long-caged bird + Thou beat'st thy bars with broken wing + And flutterest, feebly echoing + The far-off music thou hast heard, + --_Arthur Eaton._ + + +This was my last day of liberty for many, many months. The very next +evening I was stunned by a stone thrown by a small boy who accompanied +a hunter. Picking me up he ran toward his father, who was coming back +from the neighboring swamp with his loaded gamebag. + +"This bird isn't dead," said the boy, holding me up to view, "and I'm +going to put it in a cage and train it to talk." + +"Crows are the kind that talk. That's no crow nor no starling +neither," answered the man. "Better give it to me to kill. I'll pay +you a penny for it." + +"Naw, you don't," and the boy drew back, at the same time closing his +hand over me so tightly that I feared I would be crushed. "I'm going +to keep him, I tell ye. He's mine to do what I please with, and I +ain't agoing to sell him for a penny, neither." + +So saying he ran along in front of his father till we reached the mule +cart. Into this clumsy vehicle they climbed and soon we were jogging +over the sandy road to their home. As we drove along the man computed, +partly to himself, partly aloud, how much money the contents of his +game-bag would bring him. The result must have been satisfactory, for +presently he observed: + +"Purty fair day's wages, but I believe I could make more killing terns +and gulls than these birds. Bill Jones and the hunters up on Cobb's +Island last year got ten cents apiece for all the gulls they killed. +Forty thousand were killed right there. Oh, it's bound to be a mighty +good business for us fellows as long as the wimmen are in the notion, +that is, if the birds ain't all killed off." + +"Air they getting scarce?" questioned the boy. The man ejected a +mouthful of dark, offensive juice from between his grizzled whiskers +before replying. + +"Yes, purty tol'ble scarce. So much demand for 'em is bound to clean +the birds out. There used to be heaps of orioles an' robins an' larks +an' blackbirds an' waxwings through the country, but they're getting +played out too, since the wimmen tuk to wearin' 'em on their bunnets." + +"Well, no woman sha'n't have my bird for her bunnet," and the boy gave +me another friendly pinch that nearly broke my bones. "I'm a going to +put it in that old cage that's out in the shed and give it to Betty, if +she wants it." + +"Humph! she won't keer for it. You'd better kill it. Betty won't be +bothered with it." + +"She may give it away, or let it loose, or do what she pleases with it, +then," was the boy's reply. + +I learned from their further conversation that the hunter sold his game +to another man who cured the skins for shipment to the city. To this +dealer the bag which held my dead companions was taken and I saw them +no more. Arriving at the hunter's home I was put under a bucket that I +might not escape, while my captor prepared my prison for me. It was an +almost needless precaution for I had been so cramped between his +fingers that I feared I could never again use my legs or wings. Just +before putting me in my rude prison house he brought a pair of shears +and bade Betty clip my wings. + +"Oh, I'm afraid it will hurt it!" she exclaimed, pushing away the +extended scissors. + +"Nonsense, you ninny! What if it does hurt it?" and he roughly knocked +my bill with his hand. + +"Now that's real mean, Joe. You're a scaring it to pieces. Here, +Dickey Downy, I'm going to give you a pretty name if you belong to me; +let me hold you. Why, its little heart is a thumping as if 'twould +burst through its body." + +Joe was reluctant to loosen his grasp, and between being pulled first +one way and then the other by the two children, I was badly bruised. +Finally I was permitted by my young captor to enter the cage, where I +sank, trembling and exhausted, to the floor, and remained there all +night, being too sore to ascend the perch. + +As may be imagined I was very sorrowful and unhappy. The separation +from my mother and my dear companions, coupled with the fear that I +might never again wing my blithesome flight through the bright blue +sky, but spend the balance of my life in this miserable cell, filled me +with despair. Frantic but useless were my efforts to escape. In vain +I beat my head against the hard steel bars; in vain I endeavored to +crowd my body between them. My prison was too secure. + +At length I found that fluttering back and forth buffeting my wings +against the sides of my cell only injured me and availed nothing. Then +it was I wisely made the resolution to endure my imprisonment as +cheerfully as possible. I soon began to regain my strength and spirits +and, save that I was deprived of my liberty, I had no special fault to +find for some days with my treatment from Betty, who was now regarded +as my owner and keeper. + +I was always glad when Joe was absent from home, for he was vicious as +well as rough. One of his favorite tricks was to dash my cage hard +against the wall, laughing boisterously as he did so to see how it +frightened me. The concussion was frequently so great that my claws +could not hold to the perch, and I would be tossed helplessly from side +to side with my feathers ruffled and broken. There was but one thing +Joe liked better than this cruel sport, and that was gingerbread; and +my tortures were often stopped by Betty's producing a slice of this +delicacy which she had saved from her own luncheon for this particular +purpose. When I discovered that Joe could be bought off with +gingerbread it can be imagined that I was always glad on the days when +the pungent odors of cinnamon, ginger, and molasses issued from the +cook-stove. It was a surety of peace, of a cessation of hostilities as +long as the cake lasted. + +All went fairly well for a little while, but as the novelty of +possession gradually wore off, my little jailer grew negligent and left +me much of the time without water or food. Frequently my throat was so +parched from thirst that I could not utter a protesting chirp. I knew +no other way to attract attention to my wants than to flutter to the +bars and thrust out my head; unfortunately this action was attributed +to wildness and a desire to escape, and I was allowed to suffer on. + +"That bird is the most annoying, restless thing I ever saw," complained +Betty's mother one evening when I was thus trying to tell them my cup +was empty. "It spends all its time poking its head through the wires +or thrashing around in the cage, instead of getting up on its perch and +behaving itself quietly as a decent bird should." + +"Do you reckon it's sick?" suggested Betty, and she came to my cage and +looked at me attentively. + +"Reckon it's hungry, you mean," growled her father, who was in one +corner of the kitchen cleaning his gun. + +"She never feeds it any more," commented the mother. "What's the use +of keeping it? I'd wring its neck and be done with it. Betty don't +keer a straw for it." + +"Yes, I do," cried the little girl. "I'll get it something to eat this +very minute." + +These spasms of attention only lasted a day or two, however, when my +young keeper would lapse into carelessness, and again I would be +allowed to go with an empty crop and a dry throat. My beautiful +plumage grew rusty from this irregularity and continual neglect, and +although I am not a vain bird, my dingy appearance was a source of +daily grief and mortification to me. When Betty was not too busy +playing she sometimes hung my cage outside the door of the cottage, but +often for days together through the pleasant summer I was left hanging +in the kitchen, sometimes half-choked with smoke or dampened with +steam. No wonder I drooped and ceased my cheerful song. + +The days when I was put out of doors were indeed gala days to me. Many +families of young chickens lived in the back yard, and the pipings of +the little ones and the scoldings of the mothers when their children +ran too far away from them, were always amusing to listen to and gave +me something to think about which kept my mind off my own troubles. + +I liked to watch the hens with their fuzzy broods tumbling about them, +or with the older chicks when they scratched the ground and ceaselessly +clucked for them to come to get their share of what was turned up in +the soil; meanwhile they kept a sharp lookout with their bright eyes to +see that no outsider shared in the feast. And how angrily did they +drive it away should a chick from another brood heedlessly rush in +among them to get a taste. + +One old hen in particular interested me very much. I noticed her first +because of her pretty bluish color and the dark markings around her +neck, but I soon came to pity her, for she made herself quite unhappy +and seemed to take no comfort in anything. She was usually tied to a +tree by the leg, and although her string was long it seemed always just +a little too short to reach the thing she wanted. To make matters +worse she had a bad fashion of rushing wildly around the tree and +getting her string wound up shorter and shorter until at last she could +not stir a step, but would hang by one foot foolishly pulling as hard +as she could. It always seemed to me that her chickens were more +disobedient than the rest, because they knew she could not get to them +nor follow them. + +Joe sometimes slyly threw pebbles at this blue hen to scare her and +make her jump and pull at the string, when he thought his mother was +not looking. As pay for his sport he often got his ears cuffed, for +though his mother did not seem to notice how cruelly he teased me, she +would not allow him to frighten her fowls. + +"Don't you know that a hen that's all the time skeered won't lay?" was +the lesson she tried to impress on him as she punished him. + +But the thing I liked best of all was to see Betty's seven white ducks +crowd up to the kitchen door every time any one appeared with a pan of +scraps. Such gabbling and quacking, such pushing and such stepping on +each other and on the chickens, in their eagerness to get there first, +was almost laughable. In fact, the pink-toed pigeons that walked up +and down the ridge of the barn roof, did make fun of them openly. Had +I not known the ducks were well fed and so fat they could scarcely +waddle, I might have thought they were really hungry, but I soon +discovered that they were simply greedy. + +Standing on tiptoe and stretching up their long necks they often seized +the food before it had a chance to fall to the ground. By this good +management they usually got more than the chickens. Joe accused Betty +of being partial to the ducks. + +"You allus give 'em the best of everything, and twice as much as you do +the chickens," he complained. + +"They get the most because they've got the most confidence in me," said +Betty, putting on a very wise look. "They come close up to me, while a +chicken shies off and misses the goodies coz she's silly enough to be +afraid. Besides, the ducks are mine. I raised 'em. I paid twenty +cents a setting for the eggs out of my own money, and when you raise a +thing you generally like it the best. Ducks are a heap smarter'n +chickens, anyway," she asserted. "I never can get one of the chickens +to feed out of a spoon, and the ducks like it the best kind." To +convince him she held toward them a large baking spoon of soured milk. +This milk was thickened into a paste or ball by being put on the stove +and separated from the whey, or watery part, by the action of the heat. + +It was a favorite dish with the fowls, and they all smacked their lips +when they saw it coming. + +As fast as Betty could fill the spoon it was emptied by the ducks, who +stuck their big yellow bills into it and devoured the contents, letting +the chickens below scramble and push and pick each other for any stray +bits that fell to the ground. + +"Didn't I tell you?" said Betty triumphantly. "Them chickens had just +as good a chance as the ducks, but they wouldn't take it." + +"Huh!" answered Joe. "Their necks ain't long enough, is what's the +matter." + +There were several trees in the yard, and often when the fowls were +fed, birds flew down from their leafy recesses to pick up the crumbs +left lying about. How I used to wish they would come near enough to my +cage that I might converse with them, but it always happened that just +at the time when one of them would settle close to the house, either +Joe's little dog, Colly, would run across the yard, or Betty or her +mother would appear at the door and frighten my feathered friend away. +Only once did I exchange a word with any of these birds, and that for +but a few short minutes. + +The bird did not belong to our family, nor had I ever met any of his +relatives before, but that made but little difference. He was a bird, +and that was enough. We did not wait for any formal introduction; but +as he balanced himself on the edge of my cage he hurriedly told me news +of the woods, and how he wished I might get free and come to live +there. He told of the lovely dragon flies, with purple, burnished +wings that floated in the forest, mingling their drowsy hum with the +chirping of the birds. He told of the great mossy carpet spread under +the trees; how at set of day the owls came out, and the moles rustled +in the fallen leaves, and the frogs raised their evening hymn to the +sinking sun. + +I could have listened for hours to the sweet familiar tale my feathered +brother told of life in the happy woodland, but Betty's mother suddenly +hurrying out to the pump to fill her bucket, cut short the story, and +away my bird friend skimmed out of sight without so much as saying +"good-bye." Though I saw him several times after that, he never came +so close again. + +"Oh, what heaps and heaps of fireflies!" exclaimed Betty, as she +unhooked my cage to move me into the house that evening. "It looks as +if our door-yard was full of moving lanterns." + +"Nothin' but lightnen bugs!" said Joe contemptuously. "Here, see me +catch 'em," and in a few minutes he showed her a handful which he had +killed by crushing between his hands. + +"Hold on, I want to catch some too!" and hustling me into the kitchen, +Betty ran along with him and was soon engaged in catching and killing +the beautiful fireflies. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE HUNTERS + +Song birds, plumage birds, water fowl, and many innocent birds of prey, +are hunted from the everglades to the Arctic Circles for the barbaric +purpose of decorating women's hats. The extent of this traffic is +simply appalling.--_G. O. Shields._ + + +When Joe and his father came back from their gunning expeditions, the +accounts they gave of the day's slaughter made me very homesick and +miserable, and wore sadly on my spirits in my captivity. + +The heartless indifference with which the woman would ask her husband +if it had been "a good day for killings," almost made me wail aloud. + +"Best kind of luck; I bagged nearly a hundred this trip," he replied +exultingly, one night when she put the usual question. "The birds were +as thick as blackberries in the high weeds along the creek, and were +havin' a mighty good time stuffing themselves with seeds. Joe fired +the old gun to start 'em and, great Jerushy! in a minute the sky was +dark with 'em; I just blazed away and they dropped thick all around us, +and it kept us tol'ble busy for a while a pickin' 'em up." + +"Pop, tell 'em about the old water bird down in the swamp," said Joe +with a wicked laugh. + +"Yes, tell us; what was it, pop?" urged Betty. + +"Oh, nothin' partickler, I reckon; just an old bird that hadn't the +grit to get away from me," and the man gave a low chuckle at the +remembrance. + +"My, oh! the way them old birds hung around and wouldn't scare worth a +cent when we was right up close to 'em was funny, I tell ye," and Joe +leaned back in his chair and slapped his knees in a fresh burst of +merriment. + +"There was eggs in the nest was the cause," said the man; "them birds +are always as tame as kittens then. You can go right up to 'em and +they won't leave the nest. Them birds has two broods in a season, and +then's the chance to get a good whack at 'em." + +Joe rubbed his hands together in delight as he turned to his sister, +"You'd ought to have seen 'em, Betty. There was pop in his rubber +boots a creepin' along--a c-r-e-e-p-i-n' along as sly as a mouse toward +'em, and there they stayed. The male bird he fluttered and' squawked, +and the female she stuck to the nest till pop he got right up and he +didn't even have to shoot her. He just clubbed her over the back and +down she went ker-splash as dead as you please. Them there eggs won't +hardly hatch out this year, I don't reckon," and at the prospect Joe +broke into a malicious guffaw. + +"I think to club it was meaner'n to shoot the poor thing," said Betty +indignantly. "And, anyway, I wouldn't a-killed it on the nest. It's +mean to treat an 'fectionate bird so." + +"Pshaw, you'd do big things!" was Joe's scornful reply. + +"Well, I wouldn't be so tremenj'us cruel," persisted Betty; "I don't +believe in killing a pretty bird." + +"But what would the wimmen do without bunnet trimmen' if we didn't kill +'em, hey?" and Joe finished his question with a taunting whistle. + +As the shadows of each evening gathered around the cottage, the shadow +over my life seemed to deepen and grow more gloomy. Outside the door I +could hear the hum of the bees as they flew homeward, the wind-harp +played in the yellow pines its softest, sweetest music, and I scented +the odor of honeysuckles and roses far away. The rushing of the waters +over the stones in the creek tinkled dreamily, but in the midst of all +earth's loveliness I was desolate, because I was not free. + +And thus the summer days dragged wearily along, and the autumn came. +It is not surprising then that I was overjoyed when later on I learned +that I was to be given as a present to a young relative of Betty's, who +lived to the northward in a distant State. My present existence had +grown almost intolerable, and I felt that any change could scarcely +make my condition worse, and there was a chance of its being better. +The prospect put new life into me. + +Preening my feathers became a pleasant task once more. I whetted my +bill till it glistened, and my long-neglected toilet again became my +daily care. + +"I shall be mighty glad to get rid of the mopy creature," Betty's +mother had, said when they talked of my departure. "I wouldn't give +the thing house-room for my part." + +"Cousin Polly will like it, though," Betty answered her mother. "Polly +was always fond of pets, and she'll be powerful pleased to get it as a +present from her Southern kinfolks." + +"We'll have to go to the cost of a new cage, I reckon, and I don't feel +like spending the money, neither," mused the mother. "Polly might like +a bresspin better. I don't know as it will pay to send her the bird +after all." + +How my heart sank at this announcement! so fearful was I that I might +have to remain at the cottage; but Betty's answer gave me new hope. + +"Oh, certain it will pay!" she exclaimed eagerly. "You know how many +nice things Cousin Dunbar's sent us off-and-on, and only last Christmas +Polly sent me my string of beads. As for giving her a bresspin for a +keepsake, she can get a heap nicer one out of their own store than any +we could send her, and I'm certain she'd like the bird best of all; +it's such a good chance to send it by Uncle Dan when he is going to +their town and can hand it right over to Polly." + +"I reckon you're right. Well, it will be only the cost of the cage," +said her mother, and so the matter was settled, much to my satisfaction. + +My new cage was very pretty, if anything can be said in praise of a +prison, and was much lighter and pleasanter than the old, heavy, +home-made structure in which I had been shut up so long. Its rim was +painted a cheerful green, and the wires were burnished like gold. +Ornamental sconces held the glass cups for my food and there were +decorated hoops to swing in. Altogether it was a very handsome house, +yet I could not forget it was a prison house. + +Betty busied herself in fixing it comfortably for me, and was full of +kind attentions. She begged me many times not to get frightened when +the cover would be put on my cage. The hood was necessary when I was +traveling, but Uncle Dan would be sitting right near me all the time +and would be very good to me. She further assured me that I would find +the motion of the cars delightful, and that all I would have to do was +to sit on my perch and munch my seed and have a good time. How jolly +it would be to go whizzing past fences and over bridges and through +tunnels and towns and never know it, she said. She also charged me +particularly not to be scared when I would hear an occasional horrible +shriek and a rumbling like thunder, as if the day of judgment was at +hand. I must remember it was only the locomotive, and it was obliged +to do those disagreeable things to make the cars go faster'n, faster'n, +faster'n------ + +How much faster I did not have time to find out, for Uncle Dan just +then called to get me. A light cover with a hole in the top was +slipped over my cage, and I started on my journey. Of my trip, of +course, I knew nothing. Part of the way we rode in a wagon through the +country to the station where we took the train, but as Uncle Dan did +not remove my cover in the railway car the time spent on the journey +was almost a blank to me. + +Right glad was I, after what seemed a long, long time of jarring and +jolting, to find the cage once more swinging from his hand and to hear +the click of his boot heels on the pavements as we went through the +streets of the town where Polly lived. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +A NEW HOME + +Should it happen that the last egret is shot and the last bird of +paradise is snared to adorn a lady's dress, then--then I would not like +to be a woman for all that earth could hold.--_Herbert O. Ward._ + + +When at last my covering was removed I found myself in a large, long +room, which I afterward learned was a millinery store. In fact the +store was the front part of the family residence, the living rooms +being behind and upstairs over it. My cage was hung near the wide +doorway at the end of the apartment and my new mistress at once ran to +fill my cup with fresh water and bring me a supply of clean millet. +After I had refreshed myself I began to look about me and study my +strange surroundings. + +My new home was so unlike the little log house in the South from which +I had come that it was many days before I could accustom myself to the +clatter of voices which buzzed monotonously all day through the store. +From ten o'clock in the morning, if the day were fine, till three in +the afternoon, the din at times was almost deafening; for it was the +busy season and customers were constantly coming and going, not all of +them to buy, merely to look over the ribbons and tumble up the goods, +as I heard the tired clerks say complainingly more than once. + +Numerous glass cases were placed near the walls, and running cross-wise +were a counter and shelves much frequented by ladies who stood eagerly +examining the array of bright gauzes, the glittering buckles, the +flowers and plumes displayed there. And what a chattering they kept +up! What a stir and a hubbub they made! So many "Oh-h's" and +"Ah-h's," so many "How lovely's," and other ecstatic exclamations, were +mingled with their conversation as was quite bewildering. In time, +however, I became accustomed to this and discovered it was simply a way +ladies have of expressing their approval of things in general. Around +the glass cases which held the trimmed hats the women buzzed like a +swarm of flies, their volubility assuming a more emphatic character as +they gazed within at the fashionable headgear placed on long steel +wires. Almost every hat held one, or a part of one, of my slaughtered +race. Frequently there were parts of two or three varieties on one +hat--a tail of one kind, a wing of another, or a head of a different +species. The ends of the world had been searched to make this +patchwork of blood. The women raved over the cruel display; they +gloated over our beauty; but they cared nothing for the pathetic story +the hats told of rifled nests and motherless young. + +My new owner was a soft-voiced, gentle child, from whom I soon found I +had nothing to fear. She was most careful to keep my cage in order and +never neglected to feed me. Unlike her little friend Betty, she never +allowed her sports or pleasures to interfere with this duty. Often her +playmates came for a romp in the garden behind the store, but she did +not join them till she had first attended to my wants. I was fond of +having her talk to me, for her voice was sweet and kind, and the little +terms of endearment she often used were very pleasing and made me feel +she was my true friend. She once tried to pet me by stroking my +feathers, but I did not like it. Although I knew she did not mean to +hurt me, the motion of her hand made me nervous. Instead of +persisting, she only said reproachfully, as she put me back on my perch: + +"Dear Dickey Downy, why are you afraid of me? Your own little Polly +wouldn't hurt you for the world. I wanted to softly stroke your pretty +plumage just out of pure love and, you dear little coward, you won't +let me." + +In her affection for me, Polly did not forget the wild birds outside, +which flew about in the big evergreen trees near the garden gate. She +showed her thoughtfulness for the little creatures by strewing bread +crumbs for them on the window sills on snowy days. She often gathered +up the tablecloth after the housemaid had removed the breakfast dishes +and, running out under the trees, would shake it vigorously that her +wild pets might get all the little pieces of food that fell. Not a +bird came down as long as she remained in the yard, but as soon as she +had tripped back to the house and the door closed upon her brown curls, +I could see a drove of hungry snowbirds swoop from the trees, and in a +minute every crumb would be picked up. I am sure they must have loved +dear little Polly, for many a choice bit did they get through her +kindness. + +While the majority of the customers at the store were well-dressed +women, there were many who came to buy hats who looked poor and +pinched. A few looked slatternly. + +A sudden swing of their dress skirts would disclose a badly frayed +petticoat or a tattered stocking showing above the shabby shoe. Their +gloveless hands were red and cold and coarse, and the milliner told the +clerk that she dreaded to have them handle her filmy laces or +glistening satins, because their rough fingers stuck to the delicate +fabrics and injured them. + +These poor women worked hard, early and late. Beyond the barest +necessities they had little to spare, and yet not a woman among them +would have bought an unfashionable or out-of-date hat could she have +had it at one quarter the price. Feathers were fashionable, and +feathers she must have. Might not one "as well be out of the world as +out of the fashion"? + +All this dreadful traffic in my murdered comrades, and their display in +the glass cases as well as on the heads of the customers, naturally +made me very sad, and I now looked with aversion at every woman who +entered the store. But that all were not heartless fiends who were +robed in feminine garb I found out another day when a daintily dressed +lady came in to purchase a winter hat. The contents of the glass cases +were looked over critically for some time before she selected one which +she tried on before the long mirror. The milliner, who deftly adjusted +it for her, tipping it first forward a little, then setting it back a +trifle, stood off now to view the effect, at the same time assuring her +how beautiful it was, and how vastly becoming to her. + +"I like this hat very much," said the lady; "or at least I shall like +it when the bird is taken off." + +"You think the oriole too gay? Orange is quite the vogue," answered +the milliner, who seemed reluctant to make any change, and yet was +anxious to please her customer. "Perhaps you'd prefer some wings; or +stay, here is a sweet little gull that will go all right with the rest +of the trimming. We will take off the oriole if you wish." + +"Thank you, but I have decided not to wear birds any more," said the +customer. + +"But the effect would be quite spoiled without a wing, or an aigrette, +or something there," exclaimed the milliner. "You wouldn't like it. I +wouldn't think of taking off the bird, if I were you." + +"Yes, I shall like it much better with the bird off," returned the lady +quietly. "I have sufficient sins to answer for without any longer +adding the crime of bird slaughter to the list." + +The milliner bestowed on her a pitying smile, but evidently was too +politic to get into a discussion of an unpleasant subject. Having +given her final order for the hat, the lady crossed over to the other +side of the room and shook hands with a friend whom she addressed as +Mrs. Brown, who had just come in and was making a purchase at the lace +counter. + +"I have been putting my new resolution into effect," she remarked after +the first greetings; "I have just ordered my new hat, and it is not to +have a bird or a wing or a tail on it." + +"Oh, I'm glad to hear of one convert to the gospel of mercy," said Mrs. +Brown heartily. "The apathy of our women on this subject is +heart-sickening. Men are denouncing us; the newspapers are full of our +cruelty; the pulpit makes our heartlessness its theme; and yet we keep +on with our barbarous work with an indifference that must make the +angels weep." + +Her face glowed with righteous indignation. It was easy to see that +any cause to which she might commit herself was sure of an ardent and +untiring champion. + +"But they tell me that chicken feathers, and those of other domestic +fowls are being largely used now instead of birds," said the other lady. + +"Oh, yes; they tell us so because they want to prevent us from getting +alarmed, since so much has been said against the destruction of the +birds. It is true that chicken feathers always have been used to some +extent, the straight quills for instance. I know it is frequently +broadly asserted that the most of the birds used are made birds, but +the manufactured creatures are poor deceptions; they are mixed with +bird feathers, and are sold only to the less fastidious customers. The +demand for genuine birds is as great as ever." + +"But do you think as many are used now as formerly?" questioned her +companion. + +"Yes, indeed! Just think of the feather capes and muffs and +collarettes made of birds. The market for them is increasing all the +time. It takes from eighteen to twenty-five skins for each collar, and +I don't know how many for the muffs. Oh, I tell you, women are heaping +up judgment on themselves." + +The other lady looked grave. "I understand," said she, "that in many +places down on the New Jersey coast the boatmen have given up fishing, +as they can make so much more money killing terns and gulls for women's +use. They earn fifty dollars a week at it, at ten cents apiece for the +birds. Isn't that a horrible record for women?" + +"I don't doubt they earn that much, and perhaps more," answered Mrs. +Brown; "for one season there were thirty thousand terns killed in one +locality alone. And at Cape Cod, and up along the shore near where I +lived, they are slain by thousands every season and shipped to New +York. Oh, I can't tell you how distressing it used to be to hear the +report of the guns day after day and know that every piercing sound was +the sign that more innocent lives were being taken. I used to cover up +my ears and try not to hear them. It made me shiver to know that those +poor gulls were being shot down for nothing. Their only crime +consisted in being beautiful." + +Both women turned at that moment attracted by the sight of a young lady +who was standing on the pavement outside in an animated talk with +another girl. + +"There's Miss Van Dyke, with her new feather collar on," observed Mrs. +Brown, in a low voice. + +The young lady in question was a dashing, radiant creature, bright with +smiles and a face like a picture. On her shapely shoulders was a +magnificent cape, lustrous as satin, of silvery white, into which pale +dark lines softly blended at regular intervals. Twenty-two innocent +lives had been taken to make that little garment. Twenty-two beautiful +grebes slain that their glossy breasts might lend splendor to a lady's +wardrobe. + +The two friends looked at Miss Van Dyke in silence for a moment, then +sighed as she passed along out of their view. + +"When I see such perversion of woman's nature I wonder that the very +stones do not cry out against us," exclaimed Mrs. Brown. "And mark my +words, the slaughter will go on; the unholy traffic will not long be +confined to grebe's breasts for muffs and cape trimmings. Other birds +will be used. The gentle creatures are not all put on hats." + +"Oh! I must not forget to tell you that the new preacher over at the +Second Church has begun a course of lectures on the work of mercy that +women might do. He says that as mothers in the homes, and as teachers +in the public schools and the Sabbath-schools, we have a grand +opportunity." + +"So we have; but what avails our opportunity if our eyes are blinded so +that we do not see it?" assented Mrs. Brown. + +"Last night," resumed the lady, "he spoke particularly of the crime of +wearing birds; and he accuses us of being more cruel than men." + +"He does?" questioned Mrs. Brown, in great surprise. "Why, we all know +that woman's part in this wickedness comes from her desire to look +pretty; at least she thinks that wearing birds adds to her beauty. Her +wickedness does not come from actual love of butchery. But men and +boys have shot innocent creatures since the world began for the mere +brutal pleasure of killing something. It seems as though they were +born with a blood-thirsty instinct, a wanting to destroy life, to hunt +it and shoot it down. They beg to go gunning almost before they are +out of dresses and into trousers. Every mother knows there is a savage +streak in her boy's nature. No," continued Mrs. Brown, with a decisive +nod of her head, "I say let the man who is without sin among them be +the first to cast stones now. Perhaps this very preacher spent all his +Saturdays robbing birds' nests and clubbing birds when he was a little +boy, and kept it up until he was big enough to kill them with a gun. +Of course there are some who do not; not all boys are cruel. But this +cruelty does not excuse ours. Man's wickedness does not make us the +less guilty. We will be held responsible all the same." + +The other woman looked thoughtful. "Well," she said at last, "I +haven't quite lost all faith in womanly mercy. Women don't mean to be +cruel; the trouble is they don't think." + +"Don't think!" echoed Mrs. Brown scornfully. "Don't think! That is an +excuse entirely too babyish for women to offer in this age of the +world. Do they want to be regarded as irresponsible children forever? +Don't you know that childish thoughtlessness on a subject as important +as the needless taking of life argues tremendously against us? Here we +are at the twentieth century, and with all our boasted advancement we +are as cruel and savage as Fiji Islanders. Oh, don't talk to me about +women!" and she made an outward motion of her hand as if pushing away +an imaginary drove of them that was coming too near. "I haven't a +particle of patience with them. If they're not in the habit of +thinking, let them begin it right off. Let them begin it before the +birds are all destroyed. If they have the least spark of tenderness +left in their hearts------" + +The rest of the sentence was lost in the louder tones of a pert little +miss, who in company with her mother was rummaging over a box of +trimmings on the counter nearest my cage. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +THE ILL-MANNERED CHILD + + O wad some power the giftie gie us + To see oursel's as ithers see us. + --_Burns._ + + There lived of yore a saintly dame, + Whose wont it was with sweet accord + To do the bidding of her Lord + In quaintly fashioned bonnet + With simplest ribbons on it. + + +"I won't have ribbon loops, I tell you," exclaimed the child. "I want +an owl's head and I'm going to have it." + +"Why, my dear, the ribbon is ever so much prettier," urged the mother +soothingly. "An owl's head is too old a trimming for your hat, dear. +It wouldn't do at all. Here, select some of this nice ribbon." + +"Didn't I say I wouldn't have it?" answered "dear" pettishly, as she +reached into another box containing an assortment of wings, quails, +tails, and parts of various birds jumbled up together. Picking out a +pair of blackbird's wings she placed them jauntily against the rim of +an untrimmed hat which her mother held. + +"There, that looks nice," was her comment. "If I can't have an owl's +head I'm going to have these wings." + +Her mother mildly assured her that the ribbon was more suitable only to +be met with the reply: "You can wear it yourself then, for I sha'n't +wear it." + +This shocking disrespect caused two old ladies who were pricing hat +pins to turn quickly and view the offender. + +"Goodness gracious!" ejaculated one of them, drawing a deep breath. +"If that youngster belonged to me for about twenty minutes, wouldn't I +give her something wholesome that she'd remember? I'd take the +tantrums out of her in short order." + +"She deserves it, sure," said her companion. "But the mother is more +to blame than the child for letting it grow up with such abominable +manners. I dare say the woman at first thought it was cute and smart +in the little thing, and now she can't help herself. La, sakes! just +listen to that." She re-adjusted her spectacles and gazed with added +interest at the pair in altercation. + +With the hat poised on her finger the milliner was bending smilingly +toward the little girl who was giving her order in a very peremptory +tone. + +"I want those wings put on my hat. I won't wear it if you trim it only +in ribbon." + +The mother seemed a little embarrassed as she told the milliner that +she supposed the hat would have to be trimmed in the way Elsie wanted +it. + +"Humph! I knew the child would get what she wanted," observed the old +lady who had first spoken. "I felt all the time that the mother would +have to give in. What on earth did she let her take those big black +wings for? Two of those little yellow sugar birds would have been +better for a child's hat. The idea of letting a youngster rule you +that way! My!" and then she took another deep breath. "She needs a +trouncing, if ever a child did," and with that she and her friend +resumed their shopping. + +The cloud had vanished from Elsie's face, and all was serene again. +Her mother seemed somewhat ashamed of her little girl's bad manners, as +was shown by her apologetic air when she observed to the trimmer that +Elsie was as queer a child as ever lived. When she set her mind on a +thing, it was so hard for her to give it up. + +They waited for the new hat to be trimmed, and on its completion Elsie +seized it and put it on her head, much against her mother's wishes, who +preferred not to have it displayed until the next day at Sunday-school; +but the insistence of the child was so vehement that again the mother +thought it wise to yield, and Elsie tripped off in triumph to the other +end of the store with the black wings showing out stiffly on each side +of her head. The mother remarked, with forced playfulness, as she +watched her, "Elsie's a g-r-e-a-t girl, I tell you. You can't fool +her." + +[Illustration: The Baltimore Oriole.] + +As the trimmer returned the boxes to the shelves, I overheard her +mutter, "Oh, yes, Elsie is a g-r-e-a-t girl, a perfect little jewel, so +well-behaved. Her polite manners show her careful home training; quite +a reflection on her dear mamma." But from the peculiar laugh she gave +I didn't believe she really meant it as praise. + +When the nights grew longer and the store was closed for the evening, +the milliner and her husband usually spent an hour or two in the back +room looking over the newspaper which came every day from the city. +The man always turned at once to the wheat reports, and the price of +wool, which he read aloud to his wife, though I could see she did not +care very much to hear about them; but she hunted first for the fashion +notes and the bargains in millinery before she read the other news. +One night while thus engaged she suddenly exclaimed: + +"Here's something that is bound to hurt trade." + +By trade she meant the millinery business. + +"What is it?" her husband inquired, looking over the top of the page he +held. + +"Why, here's a lot of women who have been meeting in a convention in +Chicago and getting excited and losing their heads, and passing some +ridiculous resolutions." + +"What kind of resolutions?" he inquired. + +"Oh, they've been denouncing the fashion of wearing birds. They belong +to a society called--called--something or other, I forget what. Let me +see," and she ran her eye down the column. "Oh, yes, here it is. They +are members of the O'Dobbin society, and they got so wrought up on the +subject they took the feathers out of their hats right there in the +meeting and vowed never to wear bird trimming again. Well, if such +outlandish notions spread, you'll soon see how it will injure the +millinery trade." + +"Pshaw! you needn't worry. The protests of a handful of fanatical +women can't do your business any harm," he answered carelessly, and +turned to his paper again. + +She shook her head. "I'm not so sure of that. I think there are some +women in this very town just cranky enough to endorse such foolishness. +There's Mrs. Judge Jenkins for one. I've never yet been able to sell +her a real stylish hat. She won't wear birds, because she thinks it's +wicked. I hope to goodness she won't consider it her duty to start an +O'Dobbin society here." + +From the depths of my heart I blessed those kind women who had shown +their disapproval of the nefarious traffic in bird life, and had +pledged themselves to our protection. True, they were but a handful +compared with the millions whom the god Fashion still held in bondage, +only a handful who were fighting the good fight; but would not the +influence of their noble example and their pledge of mercy be spread +abroad till all the women in Christian lands would join in the crusade +against the wrong? + +In my joy at the thought I chirped so loudly that the lady looked up +from her reading. She seemed suddenly to recall a thought as she +glanced at my cage, for she said, "I must not forget to ask Katharine +if she can take the bird home with her next week and keep it while +Polly is gone to the country. I'll be sure to forget to feed it. +Anyway, I haven't time to bother with it." + +The day before Polly left for the country I heard her inquiring for the +"Daily," which I remembered was the name they called the newspaper +containing the account of the noble city ladies who had pledged +themselves not to wear us any more. + +"Tuesday's paper?" her mother asked; she was busy at the time fastening +a poor, little, mute swallow on a rich hat. "Perhaps it was thrown +behind the counter. Did you want it for any special purpose?" + +Polly replied that she wanted to read something in it. + +"Well, it is probably torn up by this time," said her mother. "If it +isn't on the table in the back room, or on the shelf by the window, or +behind the counter, I'm sure I don't know where it is." + +The young clerk who was arranging the goods on the counter had heard +Polly's inquiry, and she now asked if it was the newspaper that told +about the women who thought it wrong to wear birds. It seemed to me +that Polly hesitated a little as she replied that that was the very +paper she wanted. + +"Goodness, child, is that the piece you want to read?" Her mother's +voice sounded rather sharp, as if she were vexed. "I hope that subject +hasn't turned your head too," but she said no more, for just then a +customer coming in, she laid down her work and went forward to greet +her. + +Polly looked troubled, but she confided to Miss Katharine that she +wanted very much to read the account. + +"Fortunately I cut the piece out to give to my sister. I knew she'd be +interested in it, but I have always forgotten to give it to her," said +the clerk. She seemed to be very much in earnest as she continued, "I +do wish something could be done to save the birds. If women must have +feathers, why can't they content themselves with wearing ostrich tips +and plumes? There is nothing cruel or wicked in the way they are +procured." + +She opened the little satchel hanging at her belt, and from it took a +folded slip of paper which she handed to Polly, telling her she might +have it to read, and when she had finished it to please bring it back +to her. Polly thanked her, and ran away to a quiet corner of the back +room, where I saw her slowly reading the clipping as she rocked herself +in her pretty birch chair. When she had read it through, she sat for +some time looking very thoughtful. At last she rose and carried the +paper back to Miss Katharine, halting a moment as she passed my cage, +to whisper softly: + +"Dickey Downy, you dear little fellow, I'm going upstairs right this +very minute to take the feathers off my best Sunday hat and I'm never, +never going to wear birds any more." + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +TWO SLAVES OF FASHION + + I do not like the fashion of your garments. + --_Shakespeare._ + + I'm sure thou hast a cruel nature and a bloody. + --_Shakespeare._ + + +Two young ladies, fashionably dressed, met each other that afternoon +just in front of our side window, which had been raised to let in the +air. From the warmth of their greeting I saw that they were on terms +of friendly intimacy. + +One of the girls stood a little out of the range of my vision, +therefore I could not hear her voice when she talked, if, indeed, she +had a chance to say anything, but the vivacious monologue carried on by +her friend was amply sufficient to show the theme which interested them. + +How glibly that pretty creature chattered! How fast the words flew! +How she arched her eyebrows and shrugged her shoulders and winked her +eyes and wrinkled her forehead and pursed her rosy lips and tilted her +nose and gesticulated with her slender hand and tapped the pavement +with her umbrella point, passing from each phase of expression to the +next with a rapidity truly wonderful. Occasionally she went through +with these strange grimaces all at once. She was indeed a whirlwind of +language, an avalanche of emotion. + +Her voice was high pitched and shrill, so that every one on the street +must have heard her as she exclaimed: + +"Oh, Nell, how perfectly lovely your new hat is! Turn around so that I +can see the other side. Oh-h, ah-h, that darling little bird with its +glossy plumage among the velvet is too sweet for anything! If anything +it is prettier than Kate Smith's hat with the thrush's head and wings, +although I'll admit hers is awfully stylish. You ought to see my new +hat. Ah, I tell you it's a beauty; soft crown of silvery stuff, and on +one side a tall aigrette and a dear little cedar-bird, and toward the +back is the cutest, cunningest humming-bird with its tiny green body +and long bill. It looks as if it were ready to fly or to sing. I +selected the trimming for sister May's new hat too. It is brown velvet +and has an oriole on it; you know they are so showy and bright it makes +you almost think you are in the woods. At Madame Oiseau Mort's, where +I get my millinery, there was another hat I had a notion to take. It +was built up with robins' wings and part of a tern was on it too, I +believe--just lovely! but afterward I was glad I didn't buy it, for +that decoration is more common. I counted nine hats in church last +Sunday trimmed with gulls. Of course they were pretty, for a handsome +bird makes any hat pretty. + +"By the way, Nell, I must tell you something perfectly ridiculous! Do +you know papa pretends it's wicked for women to wear birds on their +hats or trim their gowns with feather trimming? Did you ever? I told +him we'd be a mighty sorry-looking set going around like a lot of +female Dunkards or Salvation Army women, without a bit of style, and he +said those women hadn't the sin on their souls of wearing birds that +had been killed on purpose to minister to their vanity; that he'd +rather be a peaceful-faced Dunkard woman or Salvationist with her plain +bonnet and her gentle heart than a gay society butterfly with her empty +head loaded down with dead birds. + +"Isn't it perfectly horrid for him to talk like that? He is such an +old fogy in his ideas he actually makes me tired. Then he went on to +say that never again could he believe that women are the tender-hearted +creatures they have always been supposed to be, when they show +themselves so eager to be decked with the innocent songsters whose +lives are sacrificed by the million on the altar of fashion; the men +have always been taught that woman's nature was morally superior to +theirs, but we'd have to give up this criminal fad which we have +persisted in at such a fearful price of bird life before we could be +regarded as other than monstrously cruel and bloody. However, he +prophesied that the fashion can't continue much longer anyway, because +there soon won't be any birds left, and then, he says, we'll have a +world without its sweetest music. It will be hushed by the folly of +woman. + +"Oh, Nell, don't you dislike to have anybody lecture you like that? It +makes one feel so uncomfortable. I don't suppose it's so very wrong to +wear bird trimming or our minister's wife wouldn't do it. You know her +black velvet hat with that big bird on it with the red points on the +wings, is one of the most striking hats that come to church. And her +feather muff is so elegant, awfully expensive too. And what would her +hat look like without that bird on it, I'd like to know? So if it +isn't wicked for her it isn't wicked for us, Nell, and I'm not going to +give up looking nice just to please papa. He'd like to have me dress +as antiquated as old Mrs. Noah when she came out of the ark, but I'm +not going to encourage him in his old-fashioned notions. And here, +Nell, just listen to this! Don't you think, he says the Episcopal +Prayer Book ought to be revised for the women worshipers and omit that +part of the litany where it says, 'From pride, vain-glory, and +hypocrisy, good Lord, deliver us.' What fol-de-rol!" And being out of +breath she stopped talking and they walked away down the street +together. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +DICKEY'S VISIT + + Kind hearts are more than coronets. + --_Tennyson._ + + +Plainly furnished and small was the house to which I was taken by Miss +Katharine to stay during Polly's absence at her grandmother's in the +country. But though it was destitute of fine furnishings, it was the +abode of peace and love, and its lowly roof sheltered noble and kindly +hearts. The two sisters lived there alone, supported mainly by +Katharine's earnings in the millinery store, though occasionally the +sister, who was lame, added something to their little income by making +paper flowers and other articles of bright tissues. It was her +business to keep the house while Miss Katharine was at the shop, and +very long and lonely the hours must have seemed to her while her sister +was away. + +The first day I was there a boy whom she addressed as John Charles came +to the house. Apparently he had been carefully trained, for he raised +his cap when the lame girl opened the door to his knock. His manners +were fine, for he remained standing after he entered until she had +first seated herself, as if to say, "A gentleman will not sit while a +lady stands." + +He had come to inquire if she wished to buy some cooking apples. + +"They are very nice," said John Charles briskly, quite as if he were an +old salesman. "No mashed or decayed ones among them." + +"I have been wanting some apples," said Eliza. "If I knew what yours +were like I might buy some." + +"I have a few here to show," and John Charles drew from a small paper +sack one or two bright rosy apples. "There, try one," he said. "You +will find them nice and juicy and sour enough to cook quickly." + +Eliza bit into one and expressed her approval of the fruit. "They will +make delicious apple-sauce, I'm sure," she said. After inquiring the +price she told the young merchant he might carry in a peck. + +With a business-like flourish John Charles took a small note-book and +pencil from his pocket and wrote something at the top of the leaf. + +"I'm not delivering now," he said as he returned the note-book to his +pocket. "I'm only taking orders; but I'll have your apples here in an +hour." + +Eliza bit her lip to keep back a smile. A boy in knee pants +transacting business like a grown man, appeared quite amusing to her. + +"Oh, I see," she said. "You take orders for your goods. You don't +sell from door to door." + +"No, indeed!" answered John Charles with a lofty air. "That's too much +like peddling. I won't peddle. I prefer to get regular customers and +take orders and fill them." + +While he had been talking he had been glancing toward me where I hung +in the window, and he now politely asked if he might come to look at +me. Eliza gave a surprised consent, but watched the boy closely as he +stood near and chirped to me calling me, "Po-o-o-r Dickey Downy," as +soon as he found out my name. I saw from the way Eliza kept her eyes +on his movements that she was expecting he would do something to hurt +me, but in this she was pleasantly disappointed, for he never once +touched my cage and cooed as softly when he spoke to me as Polly +herself might have done. + +I was quite afraid of him at first, for ever since my experience with +the wicked schoolboys who clubbed us in the linden trees, and my later +experience with Joe, I disliked boys very much. + +[Illustration: The Bobolink.] + +When John Charles had bidden Eliza "good-morning" and tipped his hat +again and the door closed after him, she said to me: "Why, Dickey, that +was a new kind of a boy! He never once tried to hurt you or to scare +you. It shows that all boys are not rough, and I shall always like +John Charles, for he is a little gentleman." + +To this sentiment I fully agreed, and I thought, "Alas! why are not all +boys as gentle as John Charles?" + +In a few hours I felt as much at home with Eliza as if I had always +lived there, and I was much pleased when I heard her tell Katharine at +the supper table the next evening how much she had enjoyed having me +with her. + +"A bird is ever so much better company than a clock," she said; "though +when I'm here by myself I always like to hear the clock tick. It seems +as if I were not so entirely alone. But a bird is better. I talked to +Dickey to-day and he twittered back. He has such a cute way of perking +his little head to one side just as knowing as you please, and he acts +exactly as if he were considering whether he should answer 'yes' or +no' to what I say, and then it is such fun to watch him smooth down his +feathers. He washes and irons them so nicely and works away as +industriously as if he were afraid he'd lose his 'job.'" + +Miss Katharine rose from the table and stuck a lump of sugar for me to +taste between the wires of my cage. + +"I am surrounded by poor dead birds in the store all day," she +observed, "and spend so much of my time sewing their wings and heads +and tails on hats and sort boxfuls of them for customers to look at, +that even a living bird saddens me." + +"Yes, it must be very depressing. What a shame to kill them; they are +so cute and pretty and such happy little creatures! See how cunning he +looks nibbling at that sugar," and the sister joined Miss Katharine in +watching me. + +"But do you know, Kathy, I don't believe that women would continue +wearing bird trimmings if they stopped a minute to think about it. It +doesn't seem wrong to them because they never considered the question. +They simply haven't thought about it at all." + +"Somebody set the fashion and they all followed like a flock of sheep," +answered the other with a sneering laugh. + +"Yes, that's just the way. They go along without thinking. They only +know it is the style, and they don't stop to inquire whether it can be +indulged in innocently or hurtfully. Now I believe that if their +attention was particularly called to it, the most of them would quit +it." + +Miss Katharine brightened into a smile and half unclasped her little +satchel. + +"If a bird could talk," pursued the lame girl, "what a revelation it +could make. What lovely things it could tell us of that upper kingdom +of the air where it floats and the distant land it sees! What sweet +secrets of nature it knows that man with all his wisdom can never find +out. And then its gift of song! Why, if thousands and thousands of +dollars were spent in training the finest voice in the world it could +never equal the notes of a bird. A woman who could perfectly imitate a +lark's carol would make her fortune in a month. The world would go +wild over her." + +"But as she can't do that she has the lark killed to stick on her hat, +and then she goes wild over it," interrupted Miss Kathy. + +Her sister smiled at this outburst and continued: "While I was working +at that morning-glory wreath to-day I couldn't help but watch this bird +of Polly's with its innocent little antics, and it made me see more +than ever how wrong it is to cage and kill them. I just felt as though +I ought to do something to help save the birds and, Kathy, I wonder if +we were to invite some of our friends here some evening and call their +attention to the subject, and explain the wrong to them, if we couldn't +do some good that way? Maybe they'd decide not to wear birds on their +hats." + +"We might try, sister, I would be perfectly willing to try; but I'm +afraid it wouldn't do much good, for we have but little influence. As +long as fashionable and wealthy ladies will do it, the poorer classes +will not give it up very readily." + +"But they have hearts which can be appealed to. They have feelings +which can be roused," answered the lame girl eagerly. "Being alone so +much I have more time to think over these things than the shop girls +who are hurried and busy all day, and perhaps nobody has ever tried to +show them how wrong it is; but I really believe some of them could be +influenced, if once they would seriously think of the wrong they are +doing. That is the reason, Kathy, I suggested to get a lot of them +together to talk about saving the birds." + +The gentle cripple had never even heard of the great Audubon. She did +not know that societies existed in many States called by the name of +the distinguished naturalist, engaged in the same merciful work. + +Miss Katharine drew from the satchel the paper clipping and handed it +to her sister, saying: "This is a coincidence surely; I cut this out of +the daily paper at the store some time ago, intending to give it to +you, but I always forgot it. It is an account of the proceedings of a +convention in one of the big cities. You will see by reading it that +somebody else has been thinking your identical thoughts." + +"How lovely that is!" exclaimed Eliza when she had carefully read the +notice. "How I should have enjoyed being at that meeting. We will +help those people all we can, Kathy, by stirring up our acquaintances +here. You invite the girls for tomorrow night and I'll have the house +ready for them." + +That I had been an inspiration to this gentle girl in her work of mercy +was a great joy to me, and all the next day I was constantly bursting +into a round of cheerful twitters and I swung myself in my hoop as fast +as I could make it go. + +The best room was swept and dusted with the greatest care, and a few +extra chairs moved in from other parts of the house. My cage was +transferred from its usual hook to the parlor, and about eight o'clock +the guests thronged in and soon every seat was filled. They were +principally girls who were clerks in stores, or worked in shops and +offices, and many of them were very smartly dressed. A few, like Miss +Katharine and her sister, were more plainly attired; but all were +lively and full of girlish fun and seemed to enjoy being together. My +cage hung in view of every one, and I was proud to be selected as an +object-lesson by the lame hostess in her introductory appeal to her +guests to help save the birds. She so presented the facts that before +the evening was over she had roused an enthusiasm in some of them +almost equal to her own, and several pledges were given not to wear +birds again. + +"There is something new in the way of womanly cruelty which isn't so +well known as the destruction of the birds," remarked one of the +company. "The humane society ought to get after the women who wear +baby lamb trimming." + +"The way sealskins are procured is also very cruel," said another girl. + +"I have never read much about it," answered Eliza, "but it surely +cannot be so wicked as killing song birds, because the sealskin is an +article of clothing which serves to keep the body warm, while a dead +bird sewed on your hat is merely for show and doesn't keep you warm or +cool or anything else." + +"It is not the use that is made of the sealskin that is wrong, but the +cruelty of the hunters in getting it," replied the young lady who had +first spoken. "They say when the parent seal is captured the young one +cries for it exactly as a human baby cries after its mother. It is +most pitiful to hear it wail. The branding of the poor creatures is a +most brutal thing." + +"Why are they branded?" asked Kathy. + +"Well, you know, for some years there has been a great strife between +the United States and Canada, principally over the seal fisheries. +Each was afraid the other would get more than its share. To put a stop +to the seals being entirely killed off, as was likely to be the case +since so many poachers were in the business, one of our government +agents suggested that the seals should be branded. They drive them +into pens and burn them with red-hot irons." + +"It isn't likely that any of us will be called upon to deny ourselves +the wearing of baby lamb, as it is quite expensive, but we can condemn +it by word if not by example," observed Kathy. + +The good-nights were said and the company dispersed, not so jolly and +noisy as they came, but with thoughtfulness arising from awakened +consciences. The humble lame girl had sowed the good seed. + +Polly was to come back from her grandmother's the next week and, though +I looked forward with pleasure to being with her again, I felt sorry to +leave this peaceful home. The worthy lives and beautiful aims of these +obscure girls of whom the world knew nothing was a sweet remembrance to +carry with me. + +"Thank Polly for me for Dickey Downy's visit and tell her whenever she +wants to go away anywhere I'll be glad to take care of him for her," +Eliza said when the time came for me to go. + +She gave the cage into Miss Kathy's hand. I chirped a farewell to her +and she whistled back to me and we parted to see each other no more. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +THE COUNTRY SCHOOL + + Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. + --_Bible._ + + +Polly's welcome to me was most cordial. She was bright as a cricket +and full of chat about her visit. With her usual care she examined my +cage closely to see that everything was in order and petted and praised +me for a little while to my full content, then ran to Miss Kathy to +tell her of the new story book which had been presented to her while +away. + +"And I am going to read you the stories some day," she added. + +Her young playmates flocked in to see her and as I listened to their +glad voices my heart yearned more than ever for my comrades of the +woods, for a thought of spring was in the air. + +As the days went by there were indeed signs all around that spring was +on the way. The wind no longer bellowed hoarsely in the treetops, but +had a mellow, musical sound and the raindrops that struck the window +pane trickled softly as if glad to come out of the clouds. + +Just after school one bright afternoon Polly came to the door on the +side porch and called in to Miss Katharine: + +"I'll be playing out in the yard awhile. Louise and Nancy have come to +stay till half-past five o'clock, so if mother needs me you'll know +where to find me." + +"All right" said Miss Kathy. "Go on and have a jolly time." + +And a jolly time they had, judging from the merry shouts that came in +through the open door. + +"I've got your tag! I've got your tag!" I could hear Polly say, and +then there was a great scampering of feet and roars of laughter as they +chased each other up and down the walks. This was kept up for some +minutes, then a voice began: + + "Intery-mintery, cutery-corn, + Apple-seed and briar-thorn, + Wire, briar, limber-lock, + Three geese in one flock; + One flew east and one flew west + And one flew over the cuckoo's nest." + +"Oh, Louise, you're out! It's your turn first." + +"I wonder if we are the geese?" said Nancy. Then they all giggled as +if what she had said was very funny. + +"Louise, Louise, look, look! You're going to have good luck," +presently shouted two voices. "A ladybird has lighted on your +shoulder." + +"Oh, goody!" said Louise. "I wonder what my good luck is going to be?" + +"Shake it off, Louise, let it light on me," said Nancy. "I want good +luck to come to me too." + +"It is just the color of my new crimson dress," declared Polly. + +"Only your red dress hasn't spots on it," corrected Louise. + +"No, but the red is about the same shade as my dress. Oh, girls, +wouldn't a row of ladybirds for buttons be pretty on my waist?" + +At this quaint conceit the three girls all giggled again. + +"I do think they are the cutest little bugs. I never get tired of +looking at them," observed Polly. + +"Bugs? You wouldn't call them bugs, would you?" inquired Louise. "I +think they are little beetles." + +"Beetles? No, no," said Polly and Nancy both in one breath, "A beetle +is a big black thing that flies around only at dusk." + +"Do you suppose your father would know?" asked Louise of Polly. "Let's +take it in the house and ask him, and so settle whether it is bug or +beetle." + +And they came running into the sitting room behind the store to show +the lady-bird to Polly's father, who was there looking over his paper. + +"Is it a bug or a beetle?" they asked. + +He laid down the paper and looked at the pretty little insect a moment. + +"It is a ladybird." + +"Yes, of course, we know that, papa; but Nancy and I say it is a bug, +and Louise says it's a beetle," explained Polly. + +"Louise is right," was his reply. "It is classed as a beetle. It is +one of the best friends the farmer has, and the fruit grower too." + +"How is it useful to him?" asked Nancy. + +"Why, it eats the lice that spoil certain plants and leaves and grain. +I notice that the Australian government is--Do you girls know where +Australia is?" he asked, interrupting himself. + +"Of course we do," they all shouted with much laughing, as if it were a +great joke to ask them such a question. + +"Well, I was going to tell you that the Australian government is taking +steps to encourage the ladybird on purpose to help the fruit farmers of +that country. Perhaps they have heard that it brings good luck," he +added with a smile. + +"Let's show it to Dickey Downy and then put it out of the door and let +it go home," said Polly. + +"Dickey Downy wouldn't know a lady-bird from a grasshopper," answered +Nancy teasingly. + +Polly retorted, "Don't be too sure! Dickey is a very intelligent bird, +a very extraordinary bird." + +She contented herself with paying me compliments, for instead of +bringing the crimson beetle into the store she opened the window and +let him fly away. + +"Well, I'm glad I have learned something new about ladybirds," remarked +Louise, as she tied her hat strings ready to go home. + +"And I too," chimed in Nancy. "I am glad the Australians prize the +pretty little creatures. It's nice to be useful and handsome too." + +Then both girls said good-bye and ran home. + +A few days later Polly announced to Miss Kathy that she was ready to +read the long promised tale. + +"Mother says you will be in the back room sewing this afternoon, so I +will bring my little rocker and sit here and read to you. My book is +full of beautiful stories about children and birds and bees." + +I too anticipated a pleasant afternoon, for my cage still hung within +the doorway where I could hear and see all that took place in both +apartments. Soon after dinner Miss Kathy appeared in the back room +with her thimble and scissors and seated herself at the work-table. +Polly drew up her chair beside her. The book she held was a pretty +little affair bound in red with a silver inscription on the covers, and +after being duly admired by both, Polly opened it and selected the +following story, which she read aloud: + + + THE MOUNT AIRY SCHOOL. + +The breath of blossoms was in the air and spicy scents from the woods +that lined the lane on each side came floating to the delighted senses +of a little girl who drove slowly along the road leading to Mount Airy +School. + +Young horses frisked in the pastures or came whinnying to the fence as +she passed. Lazy cows cropped the grass at the sides of the road, +pushing their heads into the zigzag corners of the rail fence in +pursuit of the tender clover that had crept through from the thrifty +meadows. + +The school was a little brick structure standing back a short distance +from the road, with a playground on each side as enchantingly beautiful +as it was novel to Alice Glenn, the little girl who had come from town +by invitation of the teacher to visit the school. Accustomed to the +severer discipline of the graded school of which she was a member, the +unconventional ways of these children amused the young visitor greatly. +But who could study on a morning like this, with the delicious warbling +of the birds sounding in one's ears? + +Who could be expected to take an interest in nouns and adverbs while +his heart was out in the woods with the bugs and bees or with the sheep +over in yonder field, whose ba-a, ba-a, was borne in distinctly through +the open door? + +"I'm sure I would never have my lessons if I went to school here in the +summer time," thought Alice as she glanced over the room. "The country +is too lovely to be spoiled by school books. Why, that boy has a +wounded bird in his desk! I wonder if Miss Harper knows?" And a +moment after, Alice met the bold, defiant look of the boy himself, +which seemed to say, "Well, what are you going to do about it? That +bird belongs to me." + +The history class being called at this moment the big boy got up, +shoved the little creature to the farthest corner of his desk and +giving Alice a parting scowl, went forward to recite his lesson. +Notwithstanding her desire to befriend the feathered captive she soon +became interested in the class and could scarcely refrain from laughing +outright at the answer to the teacher's question, "What happened at +Bunker Hill?" + +"Old Bunker died." + +This was bawled out by a freckled-faced boy, who reminded her of a +rabbit, owing to a fashion he had of twitching his nose and keeping it +in motion in some mysterious way. Even the teacher wanted to laugh, +but assuming her sternest manner she speedily restored order. + +It was during the arithmetic lesson that Alice's heart went out in pity +for the youthful instructor. The majority of the pupils were bright; +but an unruly fraction, one child, refused to comprehend. + +"If a family consume a barrel of flour in nine weeks, what part of a +barrel will they use in one week, Matilda?" + +Matilda rolled her blue eyes up to the ceiling as if to find the answer +there, then studied a board in the floor for several minutes, then +slowly shook her head and sat down. A dozen hands were raised, and the +teacher nodded permission to a small boy who analyzed it successfully. + +"Now, Matilda, you try it." + +But Matilda shook her head and fidgeted with her apron string. + +"Try it, and we will help you," persisted the teacher. + +Thus urged, Matilda cleared her throat, folded her arms and began: "If +nine persons use a barrel of flour in nine weeks, in one week they +would use nine times nine, which is eighty-one." + +"What! eighty-one barrels? But, Matilda, it makes no difference about +the number of persons. It may be one hundred or it may be twenty. +Suppose it were a bushel of potatoes they consumed in nine weeks. How +many would they use in one week?" + +The girl again shook her head and resumed her upward gaze. + +"Would they not use one-ninth of a bushel? Or, we'll take a peach for +instance." + +Matilda's face brightened perceptibly and almost lost its look of +dejection. The teacher noted the change and smiled encouragingly as +she said: + +"We'll suppose a peach will last you nine days. What part of it will +you eat in one day?" + +The expectant look faded out of the poor girl's face. One peach to +last nine days! No wonder the question seemed impossible of solution. + +"Well, then," said Miss Harper quite in despair and almost perspiring +in her effort to make it plain to the child, "we'll let the peach go. +Suppose instead, it were a watermelon. If you ate a carload of +watermelons in nine days, what part of a carload would you eat in one +day?" + +At the mention of her favorite fruit, Matilda's eyes glistened, her +features relaxed into a broader smile, and almost before the teacher +had finished she had her answer ready and gave a correct analysis. +Watermelons had won. + +At last the little clock that ticked away the hours on the teacher's +table pointed to the time for the noon intermission, and with a whoop +and halloo almost deafening, the pupils rushed out with dinner pails +and baskets to eat their luncheon in the shady woods. + +Miss Harper led Alice away to her boarding-place across the fields. +Scarcely taking time to taste the different kinds of jams, jellies, +grape-butter, and other sauces set out by the hostess in special honor +of the young visitor, Alice hastily dispatched her dinner and was soon +back at the playground, where she found a bevy of girls seated on a big +grapevine which one of the larger girls was swinging backward and +forward amid shouts of glee. Nearby two gingham sunbonnets bobbed up +and down as their owners bent their heads to watch a speckled lady-bug +crawl up a twig. + + "Lady-bug, lady-bug, fly away home, + Your house is on fire, your children will roam," + +repeated Esther in a low monotone. + +"See, it's going now. I wonder whether it really understands us?" + +"Of course it does," replied her companion positively. +"Daddy-long-legs are real smart too. I caught one last night and I +said over three times, 'Tell me which way our cow goes or I will kill +you,' and it pointed in the direction of our pasture lot every time." + +"You wouldn't really have killed the poor thing, though," exclaimed +Alice, who had drawn near to look at the crimson lady-bug. "A +daddy-long-legs is such a harmless creature. It has a right to live as +well as we have." + +"Oh, Caleb, did you catch it?" interrupted Matilda. "Bring it here!" +and she beckoned to a small boy who was busy near a large beech tree +some distance away. "He's been after a tree-frog," she explained. +"There's one up in that tree that sings the cutest every evening and +morning. I hear him when I am gathering bluebells." + +"It's pretty near dead," said the boy bringing his trophy. "I guess I +squeezed it too hard. We might as well kill it." + +"No, no! that would be cruel; the poor little thing will soon be all +right if you put it back on its tree. We'll go with you and help you +put it up," replied Alice. "Come on, girls." + +"It ain't hardly worth the trouble," and the boy looked at the frog +disdainfully. "It's uglier than a toad, if anything. But I never kill +toads; I know better'n to do that." + +"I am glad to hear it," said the visitor from town as they turned +toward the elm tree. "Toads enjoy life and it's wicked to molest 'em." + +"Oh, I don't know about their enjoyin' life. The reason I let 'em +alone is, coz if you kill a toad, your cow'll give bad milk." + +Alice did not dispute this wise statement. She could not help wishing +that the same law of retaliation protected all birds, beasts, and +insects. + +After seeing the frog deposited in safety in a hole in one of the big +boughs, she with Matilda and Esther scampered back to the swing +expecting to find the others there. To their surprise the big +grapevine was unoccupied, and the shouts and screams issuing from the +schoolhouse led them too, to hurry on to see what was the matter. + +"Maybe Jim Stubbs has got a mus'rat, or somethin' in there a-scarin' +the children," suggested Esther, as they entered the door. + +A crowd had gathered in front of the teacher's desk on which was placed +the large dictionary, and seated on the book was the boy who winked +with his nose. + +"Stand back!" he called, "I'm going to let it out, and then you'll see +fun." + +With that he jumped down, removed the dictionary, raised the lid of the +desk, and out popped a red squirrel. Round and round over the floor +flew the frightened animal, dodging here and there and wildly darting +into corners to evade the books and other missiles that were thrown at +it. Not only the boys took a part in the cruel sport, but some of the +girls helped with sticks, sunbonnets, and whatever they could lay their +hands on. Two or three times the little creature was struck. At last, +helpless, it stood panting while one of its tormentors dealt it a blow +that killed it. + +A cry of protest broke from Alice's lips, but her voice was lost in the +roar of applause that followed the big boy's action, as he tossed the +lifeless squirrel across the room into the face of another boy, who in +turn pitched the animal at his neighbor. + +"The poor little creature! How could they abuse it and take its life?" +cried Alice, turning to those nearest her. The other girls shrank back +abashed at her reproachful tones, which were noticed by Jim Stubbs, and +that hero felt called upon to make a speech. + +"Bah! boys, that girl is getting ready to cry over a dead squirrel. +What d'ye think of that?" And a heartless chorus echoed his laughter. + +"No, I'm too indignant to cry," replied Alice with spirit. "I never +knew boys could be so awfully wicked, yes, and girls too. I should +think you would love these dear little creatures, and pet and protect +them. They are what make country life pleasant. I wouldn't give a fig +for your pretty woods if there were no living things to be seen there." + +This was an aspect of the situation the boys had never before +considered. They did not realize that to a lover of nature the +humblest form of animal life is interesting. Did other people really +prize squirrels and frogs and lightning bugs and such things? + +Just at this moment the teacher entered, and the crestfallen pupils +busied themselves in gathering up the scattered books and other +articles used in storming the squirrel. + +"My young visitor is quite shocked by such an exhibition of cruelty," +said Miss Harper, when she had learned how matters stood. "Think what +the woods would be without the song of birds and the chirp and hum of +insects. Your playground teems with happy beings that love the warmth +and sunlight as well as you do. Would not the forests be robbed of +half their beauty and interest if the squirrels and chipmunks and birds +and butterflies were killed off?" + +"Wimmen folks are nice ones to talk about cruelty to birds," sneered +the big boy to his neighbor, "when they stick wings and tails and whole +birds on their hats and bonnets whenever they can raise a cent to buy +'em with. Oh, yes, wimmen are awful consistent! They are, for a fact." + +Had his words reached Miss Harper's ears she might have replied that +sensible and humane "wimmen folks" regarded the fearful slaughter of +birds as little less than a crime; but unfortunately she did not hear +this and resumed: + +"Yet you hunt out these harmless and beautiful creatures and wantonly +destroy them. Nearly every boy gives way to this savage, brutal +impulse to kill something. He couldn't tell why if you were to ask +him. Children, do you know there is a society whose members pledge +themselves to protect the birds? I wish we might organize one here +to-day. I am sure, from a spirit of kindness, you would like to unite +in a promise not to willfully harm any of these wonderful creatures +that God has placed around us." + +When Alice Glenn drove home that evening she carried with her a glad +heart, for in her pocket was a copy of the rules and by-laws of the +"Anti-Cruelty Society, of Mount Airy School," which Miss Harper had +organized that afternoon. And it was signed not only by the girls and +all the smaller boys, but by big Jim Stubbs and the boy who winked with +his nose. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +POLLY'S FAREWELL + + Happy little maiden, + Give, oh, give to me + The highness of your courage, + The sweetness of your grace, + To speak a large word in a little place. + --_E. S. Phelps-Ward._ + + +Closing the volume, Polly laid it in her lap. + +"That was a good story," observed Miss Kathy, as the child paused. The +little girl did not immediately reply, but leaned forward and looked +wistfully in her companion's face for a moment. + +"Do you think it is so very wicked to keep--that is, to--to deprive a +bird of its liberty?" she asked timidly. + +"Oh, I don't know that it could be called wicked. A canary bird, born +in a cage, that never knew any other home, would be apt to die if it +were turned loose to shift for itself and get its own living. It +possibly could not stand the exposure to the weather," replied Miss +Katharine. + +"But supposing it wasn't a canary," said Polly hesitatingly; "supposing +it might be a redbird, or a wren, or--or----" + +"Or a bobolink?" Miss Kathy smiled as she supplied the word. + +"Well--yes, a bobolink, for instance." And Polly glanced toward me. + +"Any captured bird certainly feels very bad to be shut up in a cage all +its life, though I have seen robins in captivity that grew to be as +tame as canaries. My aunt had one that lived twelve years in a cage. +It would peck her cheek, and pretend to kiss her, and do all sorts of +sweet little tricks. His cage door stood open, and he went in and out +as it suited him, but he never thought of flying away. However, it is +only natural to suppose that hopping about in a narrow space would be +dreadful to a bird accustomed to spreading its wings and soaring up +through the sky whenever and wherever it pleased." + +Miss Kathy looked at the clock. She saw it was time for her to go back +into the store, then gathered up her work and went into the front room. +When Polly was left to herself I could see she was thinking very hard. +The rocking-chair kept moving faster, and her forehead was drawn into a +little pucker between her eyes. She sighed too, occasionally, as if +she were sad. + +I noticed that Miss Katharine from her post behind the counter looked +in at the child from time to time, and I heard her say half-aloud: "If +the fashionable women of the land had hearts as merciful and +consciences as tender as that dear little Polly's, the slaughter of the +birds would soon come to an end." + +The birch chair finally ceased to rock. The deep-drawn wrinkle passed +away from Polly's forehead. She laid down her book and came to my +cage, then she stood for a moment looking at me tenderly. Then she +took the cage down from its hook and carried it to the door leading to +the garden. The air was pleasant, and a sunbeam slanted across the +porch making a yellow gleam on the lattice. How beautiful it looked to +my weary eyes! + +"Dearest Dickey Downy, good-bye," she said to me, and her voice had a +little tremor in it. "You had a right to be happy and live out of +doors among the trees, and I kept you a prisoner. Please forgive me +for it, and forgive me for wearing birds' wings on my Sunday hat. I +shall never do such cruel things again. It's coming spring now, +Dickey, so be happy and fly away to the beautiful clouds." + +She set the little wire door wide open. A warm zephyr swept by, laden +with the scent of wild flowers and all sweet growing things. My heart +fluttered with joy. I heard the far cry of the hills as I floated out +and upward, higher and higher, on joyous wing. I was free, free! + + + + + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Dickey Downy, by Virginia Sharpe Patterson + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DICKEY DOWNY *** + +***** This file should be named 16255-8.txt or 16255-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/2/5/16255/ + +Produced by Al Haines + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + +*** END: FULL LICENSE *** + diff --git a/16255-8.zip b/16255-8.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..5715439 --- /dev/null +++ b/16255-8.zip diff --git a/16255-h.zip b/16255-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..afd42b0 --- /dev/null +++ b/16255-h.zip diff --git a/16255-h/16255-h.htm b/16255-h/16255-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e6d2eda --- /dev/null +++ b/16255-h/16255-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,5529 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> +<HTML> +<HEAD> + +<META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> + +<TITLE> +Dickey Downy - The Autobiography of a Bird +</TITLE> + +<STYLE TYPE="text/css"> +BODY { color: Black; background: White; margin-right: 10%; margin-left: 10%; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; text-align: justify } + +P {text-indent: 4% } + +P.noindent {text-indent: 0% } + +P.poem {text-indent: 0%; margin-left: 10%; font-size: small } + +P.letter {font-size: small } + + +</STYLE> + +</HEAD> + +<BODY> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Dickey Downy, by Virginia Sharpe Patterson + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Dickey Downy + The Autobiography of a Bird + +Author: Virginia Sharpe Patterson + +Release Date: July 10, 2005 [EBook #16255] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DICKEY DOWNY *** + + + + +Produced by Al Haines + + + + + +</pre> + + +<H1 ALIGN="center"> +Dickey Downy +</H1> + +<BR><BR> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +The Autobiography of a Bird +</H2> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +by +</H4> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +VIRGINIA SHARPE PATTERSON +</H3> + +<BR><BR> + +<H5 ALIGN="center"> +AUTHOR OF +</H5> + +<H5 ALIGN="center"> +"The Girl of the Period," "All on Account of a Bonnet," <BR> +"The Wonderland Children," etc. +</H5> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +With Introduction by +<BR><BR> +HON. JOHN F. LACEY, M.C. +</H4> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +Drawings by +<BR><BR> +ELIZABETH M. HALLOWELL +</H4> + +<BR><BR><BR><BR> + +<H5 ALIGN="center"> +PHILADELPHIA +<BR><BR> +A. J. Rowland—1420 Chestnut Street +<BR><BR> +1899 +</H5> + +<BR><BR><BR><BR> + +<H5 ALIGN="center"> +Copyright 1899 by the +<BR><BR> +AMERICAN BAPTIST PUBLICATION SOCIETY +<BR><BR><BR> +From the Society's own Press +</H5> + +<BR><BR><BR><BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +To +<BR><BR> +my dear children +<BR><BR> +Laura, Virgie, and Robert George +<BR><BR> +this little Volume is +<BR><BR> +Affectionately Inscribed +</H4> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +INTRODUCTION +</H2> + +<P> +This beautiful volume has been written for a good purpose. I had the +pleasure of reading the proof-sheets of the book while in the +Yellowstone National Park, where no gun may be lawfully fired at any of +God's creatures. All animals there are becoming tame, and the great +bears come out of the woods to feed on the garbage of the hotels and +camps, fearless of the tourists, who look on with pleasure and wonder +at such a scene. +</P> + +<P> +"The child is father of the man," and this volume is addressed to the +heart and imagination of every child reader. If children are taught to +love and protect the birds they will remember the lesson when they grow +old. When children learn to prefer to take a "snap-shot" at a bird +with a camera, rather than with a gun, they will protect these +feathered friends for their beauty, even if they do not regard them for +their usefulness. +</P> + +<P> +Nature has supplied a system of balances if left to itself. Some forms +of insect life are so prolific that but for the voracity and industry +of the birds the world would become almost uninhabitable. +</P> + +<P> +Bird life appeals to the eye for its beauty, to the ear for its music, +and to the interest of man for its utility. Shooting-clubs have +foreseen the extermination that awaits many of the finest of the game +birds, and are taking much pains to enforce the laws enacted for game +protection. A selfish interest thus is called into activity, and one +class of birds is receiving protection through the aid of its own +enemies. +</P> + +<P> +But the birds of beautiful plumage are now threatened with extinction +by the desire of womankind for personal decoration. Against this +destruction Audubon societies are organizing a crusade, and Mrs. +Patterson's principal purpose in this book is to direct attention to +the wholesale slaughter of the birds of plumage and song. +</P> + +<P> +The Princess of Wales was requested to write in an album her various +peculiarities. Among the inquiries was: "What is your greatest +weakness?" She answered: "Millinery." +</P> + +<P> +When Napoleon was banished to Elba it is stated that the fallen monarch +was followed by Josephine's old millinery bills. How many of these +bills were for the plumage of slaughtered birds the historian does not +say. But the passion for the beautiful is very strong in the tender +hearts of women, and an earnest appeal to the natural gentleness of the +sex must be made to enlist them in the defense of the birds. +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Patterson enters upon this task with enthusiasm, and many a bird +will live to flutter through the trees or glisten in the sunshine and +gladden the earth with its beauty that but for this little book would +have perched for a brief season upon the headgear of some lovely woman. +</P> + +<P> +Let the good work go on until the mummy of a dead bird will be +recognized by all persons as an unfitting decoration for the head of +womankind. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +JOHN F. LACEY. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +CONTENTS +</H2> + +<CENTER> + +<TABLE WIDTH="80%"> +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top"><B>CHAPTER</B></TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> </TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">I. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap01">THE ORCHARD</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">II. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap02">DICKEY DOWNY'S MEDITATIONS</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">III. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap03">THE RULER WITH THE IRON HAND</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">IV. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap04">DICKEY'S COUSINS</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">V. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap05">"DON'T, JOHNNY"</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VI. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap06">THE PARROT AT A PARTY</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap07">A WINTER IN THE SOUTH</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VIII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap08">THE PRISON</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">IX. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap09">THE HUNTERS</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">X. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap10">A NEW HOME</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XI. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap11">THE ILL-MANNERED CHILD</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap12">TWO SLAVES OF FASHION</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XIII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap13">DICKEY'S VISIT</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XIV. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap14">THE COUNTRY SCHOOL</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XV. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap15">POLLY'S FAREWELL</A></TD> +</TR> + +</TABLE> + +</CENTER> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +List of Illustrations +</H2> + +<H3> +<a href="#img-016"> +The Indigo Bird +</A> +</H3> + +<H3> +<a href="#img-064"> +The Summer Tanager +</A> +</H3> + +<H3> +<a href="#img-144"> +The Baltimore Oriole +</A> +</H3> + +<H3> +<a href="#img-160"> +The Bobolink +</A> +</H3> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +Last night Alicia wore a Tuscan Sonnet<BR> +And many humming birds were fastened on it.<BR> +Caught in a net of delicate creamy crêpe<BR> +The dainty captives lay there dead together;<BR> +No dart of slender bill, no fragile shape<BR> +Fluttering, no stir of radiant feather;<BR> +Alicia looked so calm, I wondered whether<BR> +She cared if birds were killed to trim her bonnet.<BR> +Her hand fell lightly on my hand;<BR> +And I fancied that a stain of death<BR> +Like that which doomed the Lady of Macbeth<BR> +Was on her hand. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> + —Elizabeth Cavazza +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap01"></A> +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER I +</H2> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE ORCHARD +</H3> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +Bobolink, that in the meadow<BR> +Or beneath the orchard's shadow<BR> +Keepest up a constant rattle,<BR> +Joyous as my children's prattle,<BR> +Welcome to the North again.<BR> + —<I>Thos. Hill.</I> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +My native home was in a pleasant meadow not far from a deep wood, at +some distance from the highway. From this it was separated by plowed +fields and a winding country lane, carpeted with grass and fringed with +daisies. +</P> + +<P> +While it was yet dawn, long before the glint of the sun found its way +through the foliage, the air was musical with the twittering of our +feathered colony. +</P> + +<P> +It is true our noisy neighbors, the blue-jays, sometimes disturbed my +mother by their hoarse chattering when she was weary of wing and wanted +a quiet hour to meditate, but they disturbed us younger ones very +little. My mother did not think they were ever still a minute. +Constantly hopping back and forth, first on one bough, then on another, +flirting down between times to pick up a cricket or a bug, they were +indeed, a most fidgetty set. Their restlessness extended even to their +handsome top-knots, which they jerked up and down like a questioning +eyebrow. They were beautiful to look at had they only possessed a +little of the dignity and composure of our family. But as I said, we +little ones did not trouble ourselves about them. +</P> + +<P> +The air was so pleasant, our nest so cozy, and our parents provided us +such a plentiful diet of nice worms and bugs, that like other +thoughtless babies who have nothing to do but eat, sleep, and grow, we +had no interest in things outside and did not dream there was such a +thing as vexation or sorrow or crime in this beautiful world. When our +parents were off gathering our food, we seldom felt lonely, for we +nestled snugly and kept each other company by telling what we would do +when we should be strong enough to fly. +</P> + +<P> +At this stage of our existence we were as ungainly a lot of children as +could well be imagined. To look at our long, scrawny necks and big +heads so disproportioned to the size of our bodies, which were scantily +covered with a fuzzy down that scarcely concealed our nakedness, who +would have thought that in time we would develop into such handsome +birds as the bobolink family is universally considered to be? +</P> + +<P> +Our mother, who was both very proud and very fond of us, was untiring +in her watchful care. No human mother bending over the nursery bed +soothing her little one to rest, showed more devotion than did she, as +she hovered near the tiny cradle of coarse grass and leaves woven by +her own cunning skill—alert and sleepless when danger was near and +enfolding us with her warm, soft wings. Thus tenderly cared for we +passed the early sunny days of life. +</P> + +<P> +After we could fly we often visited a fragrant orchard that sent its +odors across the grain fields. From its green shade we made short +excursions to the rich, black soil in search of some choice tid-bit of +a worm turned up by the plow expressly for our dessert. We were indeed +glad to be of use to the farmer by devouring these pests so destructive +to his crops, but did not limit our labors to these places; we also +made it our business to pick off the bugs and slugs that infested the +fruit trees, and often extended our efforts to the tender young grape +leaves in the arbor and the rose bushes and shrubs in the flower garden. +</P> + +<P> +On a warm morning after a rain was our favorite time for work, and it +was pleasant to hear the tap-tap-tapping of our neighbor the +woodpecker, as he located with his busy little bill the bugs in the +tree limb. It was like the hammer of an industrious blacksmith +breaking on the still air. His jaunty red cap and broad white shoulder +cape made of him a very pretty object as he worked away blithely and +cheerily at his useful task. While the rest of us did not make so much +noise at our work, we were equally diligent in picking off the larvae +and borers that ruined the trees, and on a full crop we enjoyed the +consciousness of having aided mankind. +</P> + +<P> +On several occasions I had seen our enemy, the cat, slinking stealthily +on his padded feet from the direction of the great brick house which +stood on the edge of the orchard. Crouched in a furrow he would gaze +upward at us so steadily and for so long a time without so much as a +wink or a blink of his green eyes, that it seemed he must injure its +muscles. Aside from the many frights he gave us it is sad to relate +that he succeeded before many days in getting away with one of our +number. One morning he crept softly up to a young robin which had +flown down in the grass, but had not sufficient power to rise quickly, +and before the unsuspecting little creature realized its danger, the +cat arched his back, gave a spring, and seized it. A moment later he +softly trotted out of the orchard with the poor bird in his mouth and +doubtless made a dainty dinner in the barn off our unfortunate comrade. +This incident cast a deep gloom over us, and our songs for many days +held a mournful note. +</P> + +<P> +But while cats were unwelcome visitors from the great brick house, we +sometimes had others whom we were always glad to see. The two young +ladies of the family, together with their mother and little niece, +occasionally came out for a saunter under the trees, and it was very +delightful to listen to their merry chat. So affectionate toward each +other, so gentle and withal so bright and lively, they seemed to bring +a streak of sunshine with them whenever they came. Miss Dorothy, who +was tall and stately, seldom sat on the grassy tufts which rose like +little footstools at the base of each tree, but rambled about while +talking. This was perhaps because she disliked to rumple her +beautifully starched skirts. But Miss Katie—impetuous, dimple-cheeked +Katie, would fling herself down anywhere regardless of edged ruffles or +floating sash ribbons. +</P> + +<P> +"For it is clean dirt," she laughingly said, when Miss Dorothy +playfully scolded her for it. "This kind of dirt is healthful, and it +isn't going to hurt me if a few dusty twigs or a bit of dried grass or +weeds should cling to my gown. You must remember, Sister Dorothy, +there are different kinds of dirt. I haven't any respect for grease +spots or for clothes soiled from wearing them too long. I don't like +that kind of dirt, but to get close to dear old mother earth, and have +a scent of her fresh soil once in a while is what I enjoy. It is +delightful. I like nature too well to stand on ceremony with her." +</P> + +<P> +"You like butterflies too, don't you, aunty?" asked little Marian. +</P> + +<P> +"To be sure I do, dear. I love all the pretty things that fly." +</P> + +<P> +"And the birdies too?" asked the child. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, indeed; I love the birds the best of all." +</P> + +<P> +"And the old cat was awful naughty when he caught the baby robin the +other day and ate it up. Wasn't he, aunty?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes. Tom is a cruel, bad, bad cat," responded Miss Katie, as she +squeezed Marian's little pink hand between her own palms. "That +naughty puss gets plenty to eat in the house and there are lots of nice +fat mice in the barn, and yet he slips slyly out to the orchard and +takes the life of a poor, innocent little bird." +</P> + +<P> +"And it made the mamma-bird cry because her little one was dead," added +Miss Dorothy, who had drawn near. +</P> + +<P> +Little Marian heaved a deep sigh and her rosy lips trembled +suspiciously. "Poor mamma-bird! It can never have its baby bird any +more," she said, with a sob of sympathy. "Don't you feel sorry for it, +Aunt Dorothy?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, dear. I feel very sorry for it." +</P> + +<P> +"And I expect the poor mamma-bird cries and cries and weeps and grieves +when she comes home to supper and finds out her little children are +gone forever and ever." And with her bright eyes dimmed with tears of +pity, Marian, clasping a hand of each of the young ladies, walked +slowly to the house still bewailing the fate of the robin. +</P> + +<P> +My heart warmed toward these sweet young girls for their tender +sympathy. I almost wished I were a carrier pigeon, that I might devote +myself hereafter to their service by bearing loving messages from them +to their friends. +</P> + +<P> +But, alas! I was to have a rude awakening from this pleasant thought. +As we flew that evening to our roosting-place, I observed to my mother +that if there were no cats in the world what a delightful time we birds +might have. +</P> + +<P> +"You have a greater enemy than the cat," she responded sadly. "It is +true the cat is cruel and tries to kill us, but it knows no better." +</P> + +<P> +"If not the cat, what enemy is it?" I asked in surprise. "I thought +the cat was the most bloodthirsty foe the birds had." +</P> + +<P> +My mother dipped her wings more slowly and poised her body gracefully a +moment. Then she said impressively, "Our greatest enemy is man. No," +suddenly correcting herself, "not man, but women, women and children." +</P> + +<P> +"Women and dear little children our enemies?" said I, in astonishment. +"The pretty ladies who speak so sweet and kind! The pretty ladies who +gather roses in the garden! Would they deprive us of life?" +</P> + +<P> +My mother nodded. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," she answered, "the pretty ladies, the wicked ladies." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap02"></A> +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER II +</H2> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +DICKEY DOWNY'S MEDITATION +</H3> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +It hath the excuse of youth.<BR> + —<I>Shakespeare.</I> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +That night I pondered long upon what my mother had told me. Ever since +I left my shell I had been taught to respect my elders, and that it was +a mark of ill manners and bad breeding for children to question the +superior knowledge of those much older than themselves. +Notwithstanding this, in my secret heart I could not help thinking that +my mother was mistaken in her estimate of women when she called them +wicked. She had surely misjudged them. However, I took good care not +to mention these doubts to her. +</P> + +<P> +I had heard from my grandmother, who had traveled a great deal from the +tropics to the North and back again, that women were the leaders in the +churches and were foremost in all Christian and philanthropic work; +that they provided beautiful homes for orphan children, where they took +care of them and nursed them when they were sick. She told me about +the hospitals where diseased and aged people were kindly cared for by +them. She said they were active in the societies for the prevention of +cruelty to children and to animals. They fed armies of tramps out of +sheer pity; even the debauched drunkard was the object of their +tenderest care and their earnest prayers. They held out a friendly +hand to the prisoners in the jails and sent them flowers and Bibles; +they pitied and cheered the outcast with kind words. They offered +themselves as missionaries for foreign lands to convert the heathen and +bring them to Christ. They soothed the sick and made easy the last +days of the dying. +</P> + +<P> +On the battlefield, when blood was flowing and cannon smoking, my +grandmother had seen the Red Cross women like angels of mercy binding +up the gaping wounds and gently closing the glazed eyes of the expiring +soldier. In woman's ear was poured his last message to his loved ones +far away, and when death was near it was woman who spoke the words of +consolation and her finger that pointed hopefully to the stars. +</P> + +<P> +Did not all this prove her to be sweet and tender and loving and gentle +and kind? Yes—a thousand times yes. +</P> + +<P> +My grandmother once had her nest near a cemetery, and often related +pathetic incidents which had come under her observation at that time. +One in particular I now recalled. It was of a woman who came every day +to weep over the mound where her babe was buried. She was worn to a +shadow from her long watching through its illness, and when it was +taken from her, her grief was deep. The bright world was no longer +bright since she was bereft of her darling, and her moans for the lost +loved one were heartrending. +</P> + +<P> +This incident was only yet another instance of the tenderness of +woman's nature, and I could not reconcile it with what my mother had +told me. +</P> + +<P> +"No, no," I repeated as I cuddled my head under my wing, "never can I +believe that woman, tender-hearted woman, who is all love and mercy, +all gentleness and pity, never can I believe she is our enemy." And +resolving to ask my mother to more fully explain her unjust assertion I +fell asleep. +</P> + +<P> +But a source of fresh anxiety arose which for a time caused me to +forget the matter. +</P> + +<P> +The lindens which fringed the wood were now in full leafage, adorned +with their delicate ball-like tassels, and hosts of birds flitted among +them daily. Many of them were of the kind frequently known as indigo +birds, smaller than the ordinary bluebird. In color they were of the +metallic cast of blue which has a sheen distinct from the rich shade +seen on the jay's wings or the brilliance of the bluebird. Flashing in +and out among the hanging blossoms their beautiful blue coats made them +an easy target for the boys who attended the neighborhood country +school. +</P> + +<A NAME="img-016"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG SRC="images/img-016.jpg" ALT="The Indigo Bird" BORDER="2" WIDTH="589" HEIGHT="816"> +<H4> +[Illustration: The Indigo Bird.] +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<P> +To bring down a sweet songster with a shower of stones, panting and +bleeding to the ground, they thought was the best sport in the world, +and the woods rang and echoed with their whoops and cheers as each poor +bird fell to the earth. A mere glimpse of one of the blue beauties as +he hid among the leaves seemed to fire these cruel children with a wish +to kill it. +</P> + +<P> +One half-grown boy, who went by the name of Big Bill, was noticeable +for his brutality. He encouraged the others in cruelties which they +might not have thought of, for such is the force of evil example and +companionship. A distinguishing mark was a large scar on his cheek, +probably inflicted by some enraged animal while being tortured by him. +I always felt sure Big Bill would come to some bad end. My mother said +that a cruel childhood was often a training school for the gallows, and +the boy who killed defenseless birds and bugs deadened his +sensibilities and destroyed his moral nature so that it was easy to +commit greater crimes. +</P> + +<P> +So dreadful became the persecutions of the schoolboys that the indigo +birds finally held a council and determined to leave that part of the +country and settle far from the habitations of men, where they might +live unmolested and free from persecutions. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap03"></A> +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER III +</H2> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE RULER WITH THE IRON HAND +</H3> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +But evil is wrought by want of thought<BR> +As well as want of heart.<BR> + —<I>Hood.</I> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +One morning as we flew across the open space which lay between the wood +and the wheat fields, we noticed two gentlemen in the orchard who were +carefully examining the trees, peering curiously into the cracks of the +rough bark or unfolding the curled leaves. +</P> + +<P> +As we came nearer we discovered that one of them was the owner of the +place, the father of Miss Dorothy and Miss Katie. The other was a thin +gentleman in spectacles, who held a magnifying glass through which he +intently looked at a twig which he had broken off. +</P> + +<P> +After a few minutes' inspection he said: "Colonel, your orchard is +somewhat affected. This is a specimen of the <I>chionaspis furfuris</I>." +</P> + +<P> +"Is it anything like the scurfy-bark louse?" inquired the colonel. +</P> + +<P> +"The same thing exactly. It occurs more commonly in the apple, but it +infects the pear and peach trees. You will find it on the mountain +ash, and sometimes on the currant bushes," he answered. +</P> + +<P> +The colonel asked him if he would recommend spraying to get rid of the +pests, and was advised to begin immediately, using tobacco water or +whale-oil soap. +</P> + +<P> +"By the way," said the colonel, "there is a beetle attacking my shade +trees. They are ruining that fine row of elms in front of the lawn." +</P> + +<P> +"It is undoubtedly the <I>melolontha vulgaris</I>," said the professor. I +designate him in this way because he used such large words we did not +understand. My mother told us that she was positive he was president +of a college. "The _melolontha vulgaris_ is the most destructive of +beetles, but the larvae are still more injurious. They do incalculable +damage to the farmer. Fortunately enormous numbers of these grubs are +eaten by the birds." +</P> + +<P> +"Unfortunately the birds are not so numerous as they used to be. They +are being destroyed so rapidly, more's the pity! These grounds and +woods yonder were formerly alive with birds of all kinds. Flocks of +the purple grakle used to follow the plow and eat up the worms at a +great rate. You are familiar with their habits? You know they are +most devoted parents. I have often watched them feeding their young. +The little ones have such astonishingly good appetites that it keeps +the old folks busy to supply them with enough to eat. They work like +beavers as long as daylight lasts, going to and from the fields +carrying on each return trip a fat grub or a toothsome grasshopper." +</P> + +<P> +"I am a great lover of birds," returned the professor enthusiastically, +"and I find them very interesting subjects of study. By the way, I was +reading the other day a little incident connected with one of America's +great men which impressed me deeply. The story goes that he was one +day walking in company with some noted statesmen, busily engaged in +conversation. But he was not too much occupied to notice that a young +bird had fallen from its nest near the path where they were walking. +He stopped short and crossing over to where the bird was lying, +tenderly picked it up and put it back into its nest. There was a +gentleman of a noble nature! No wonder that man was a leader and a +liberator!" +</P> + +<P> +"Who was he?" +</P> + +<P> +"The grand, the great Abraham Lincoln," responded the professor +impressively. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, he'd be the very one to do just such a kind deed as that," was +the colonel's hearty response. "No man ever lived who had a bigger, +more merciful heart than 'Honest Abe.'" +</P> + +<P> +For myself I did not know who Abraham Lincoln was. I had never heard +the name before, but I was quite sure from the proud tone of the +professor's voice that he was a distinguished man, as I was equally +sure from the story of his pity for the helpless bird, that he was a +good man. +</P> + +<P> +"You mentioned the industry of the grakle a moment ago," resumed the +professor. "Do you know that the redwing is equally as useful, and +besides he is a delightful singer? +</P> + +<P> + "The redwing flutes his o-ka-lee. +</P> + +<P> +"Do you remember that line, colonel?" and the professor softly whistled +a strain in imitation of a bird's note. "The services of our little +brothers of the air are exceedingly valuable to the horticulturist. +And think of the damage done to arboriculture by the woodborers alone +were it not for the help given by the birds. Did you ever notice those +borers at work, colonel? Some writer has well described them as +animated gimlets. They just stick their pointed heads into the bark +and turn their bodies around and around and out pours a little stream +of sawdust. The birds would pick off such pests fast enough if people +would only give them a chance and not scare them off with shotguns." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, the birds earn their way, there is no denying it, and he is a +very stupid farmer who begrudges them the little corn and wheat they +take from the fields. The account is more than balanced by the good +they do." Then the conversation ceased, for the colonel and his friend +moved off to inspect the quince bushes. +</P> + +<P> +Pleased by the praises they had bestowed on us for our efforts in +cleaning the fruit trees and cornfields of injurious insects, I went to +work with new vigor to get out some bugs for my luncheon, and was thus +pleasantly employed when a sharp twitter from my mother attracted my +attention. +</P> + +<P> +"Look, children!" she exclaimed. "Here come our young ladies with some +company from the city. Be careful to notice what they have on their +heads and then tell me what you think of our sweet, pretty ladies." +</P> + +<P> +One of my brothers was swaying lightly on a little swing below me. I +flew down hastily and placed myself on the next bough, where I could +also get a good view of the ladies as they strolled toward us. They +were in a very merry mood and each one seemed striving to say something +more arousing than her companions. Miss Dorothy led the way, her arm +linked in that of one of the stranger guests. Then followed the others +with Miss Katie and Marian hand in hand in the rear. They were all +very handsomely dressed, and having just returned from a drive had not +yet removed their hats. +</P> + +<P> +As they came under the tree where we were perched, which was a favorite +spot with Miss Katie, they halted for some time and consequently I had +an excellent opportunity to look, as my mother had bidden me. +</P> + +<P> +And what did I see? +</P> + +<P> +I saw six ladies' hats trimmed with dead birds. Fastened on sidewise, +head downward, on one was a magnificent scarlet tanager, his body half +concealed by folds of tulle, his fixed eye staring into vacancy. On +another was the head and breast of a beautiful yellow-hammer; it was +surmounted by the tall sweeping plumes of the egret, which this bird +produces only at breeding time. Oh, how much joy and beauty the world +had lost by that cruel deed! A third hat had two song sparrows +imprisoned in meshes of star-studded lace. Their blithesome carol had +been rudely silenced, their cheer to the world cut short, simply that +they might be used for hat trimming. Of the remaining ones some were +as yet unknown to me, but my mother, who had an extensive acquaintance +with foreign birds, said that in that strange murderous mixture of +millinery, far-away Australia had furnished the filmy feathers of the +lyre bird which swept upward from a knot of ribbons, and that the +forests of Germany had contributed the pretty green linnet. Dove's +wings and the rosy breast of the grosbeak completed the barbarous +display. +</P> + +<P> +How my heart sickened as I gazed at these pleasant, refined, +soft-voiced women flaunting the trophies of their cruelty in the +beautiful sunlight. +</P> + +<P> +Had they no compassion for the feathered mother who had been robbed of +her young for the sake of a hat? +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, how can they do such dreadful, such wicked things!" I moaned. My +mother heard my lament and signaled for us to come up where she was +perching. +</P> + +<P> +"You see now who are our worst enemies," said she. "The cat preys on +us to satisfy his bodily hunger, but women have no such excuse. We are +not slaughtered to sustain their lives but to minister to their vanity. +For years the women of Christian lands have waged their unholy war +against us. We have been driven from our old haunts and forced to seek +new places. We have been shot down by thousands every season until now +many species are destroyed from the face of the earth. There is no +security for us in any place. The hunter with his gun penetrates into +the deepest forests, he perils his life in scaling the most dangerous +cliffs, he wades through bog and marsh and mud and tracks us to our +feeding grounds to surprise us with the deadly shot, and kills the +mother hovering over the nest of her helpless offspring with as little +compunction as if she were a poisonous reptile instead of a melodious +joy-giver. And all this horrible slaughter is for women." +</P> + +<P> +I grew feverish with excitement at this terrible arraignment of the +"gentler sex." +</P> + +<P> +"But why are they so cruel? Why do they do this wicked thing?" I asked. +</P> + +<P> +"For the sake of Fashion," said my mother. +</P> + +<P> +"Fashion, what is that?" +</P> + +<P> +My mother was very patient with me, so when I asked questions she did +not put me off by telling me she didn't know, or advise me to fly away +and play, or tell me she was busy and couldn't be bothered just then, +therefore she now took pains to make me understand. +</P> + +<P> +"You ask me what is Fashion," she began. "Well, Fashion is an exacting +ruler, a great, tyrannical god who has many, many worshipers, and these +he rules with an iron hand. His followers cannot be induced to do +anything contrary to his wishes. He sits on a high throne from which +he dictates to his slaves what they must do. Often they do the most +outrageous things, not because they like to, but because he demands it. +He is constantly laying down new laws for their guidance, and some of +these laws are so unreasonable and absurd that a part of his followers +frequently threaten to rebel. They do not hold out against him long, +for he manages to make it quite unpleasant for those who disobey him or +refuse to come under his yoke." +</P> + +<P> +"Has he any men slaves?" asked my brother. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, he has some slaves among men, but the larger number of those who +wear his most galling fetters are women. If he but crooks his little +finger these bond-women rush pell-mell in the direction he points. +They are thus keen to do his bidding, because each woman who is the +first to carry out his rules in her own particular town or neighborhood +acquires great distinction in the eyes of the other worshipers." +</P> + +<P> +"His slaves are nearly always rich women, aren't they?" asked my +brother. +</P> + +<P> +"By no means. Many of them are poor working women who have to labor +hard for a living. But they will rob themselves of necessities and +needed rest to get the means to follow his demands. Often it takes +them a long time to do this, and perhaps just as they have accomplished +the weary task he suddenly proclaims a new law, and all this toiling +and drudging and stinting must begin over again. In this way the +unhappy creatures have never a breathing spell. It is utterly +impossible for them to conform to the new law when it is first +proclaimed by the god, and so they are always struggling to keep up. +Their chains are never lifted or lightened a particle." +</P> + +<P> +"If the chain is so heavy why don't they break it?" I asked impatiently. +</P> + +<P> +"Because they are afraid," she replied. +</P> + +<P> +"Afraid of the god?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, no, child, they are afraid of each other. They are afraid the +richer slaves, who are able to comply with the demands will laugh at +them and ridicule them, and that is why they strain every nerve to +follow the god's wishes. A slave, whether she is rich or poor, grows +more cringing year by year, until at last she loses all her +individuality, and becomes a mere echo of the god." +</P> + +<P> +"What about the slaves who rebel at first and afterward yield?" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, they denounce the god very severely when he lays down some new law +they don't happen to like, but as all the other slaves are obediently +complying with it they dislike to be set off by themselves as +different, and so they reluctantly give in after a time. Sometimes +they try to compromise with the god by going half-way." +</P> + +<P> +I inquired what the other slaves thought of that. +</P> + +<P> +"They mildly tolerate them," said she. "Sometimes they look askance at +them when they meet, and try to show their superiority as being +obedient, full-blooded, genuine slaves, while the others are only +lukewarm servants of the monarch!" +</P> + +<P> +I wondered how the slaves regarded the woman who was independent and +wouldn't worship the god. +</P> + +<P> +My mother twittered softly at my question, and I knew she was smiling +to herself. "Why," said she, "they call that kind of a woman a +crank—whatever that is." +</P> + +<P> +It was very evident that this god Fashion was a cruel tyrant, and it +was clearly through his influence that we were killed, and I so told my +mother. She looked very sorrowful as she replied: +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, the women do not hate us. They do not dislike to hear our pretty +songs; they have no revenge to gratify; but the god orders them to have +us killed, and they do it. He tells them that to wear our poor +mutilated dead bodies will add to their appearance, and so we are +sacrificed on the altar of their vanity and silly pride. As members of +humane societies women have denounced the docking of horses' tails as +cruel, but from what I know of woman's indifference to the sufferings +of the innocent birds, I venture to assert that were Fashion to say +that she should trim her cloak with horse tails there would not be left +an undocked horse in the country." +</P> + +<P> +I knew my mother was very excited or she would never have been so +vehement. +</P> + +<P> +"Just hear how those birds twitter," remarked one of the ladies, +looking up into our tree. "One would think they were holding an +indignation meeting over something." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, the dear little things; I love to hear them chirp," commented +Miss Katie, turning a sweet glance toward us, and then the party moved +to go and we saw the six hats loaded with their mournful freight file +off to the house. We followed the retreating hats with sad eyes till +they were lost to view. +</P> + +<P> +My brother broke the silence by asking, "Are there any Christian women +who wear birds, and are among the god's worshipers?" +</P> + +<P> +My mother's manner grew very grave and solemn. "That is not for me to +say," she replied. "They know whether they are guiltless of our +wholesale slaughter, and they know too, how the gentle, merciful Christ +regarded us when he declared that 'not a sparrow is forgotten before +God.'" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap04"></A> +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER IV +</H2> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +DICKEY'S COUSINS +</H3> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +Another of my airy creatures breathes such sweet music out of her<BR> +little instrumental throat that it might make mankind to think that<BR> +miracles are not ceased. We might well be lifted up above the earth<BR> +and say, Lord, what music hast thou provided for the saints in heaven,<BR> +when thou affordest bad men such music on earth?—<I>Izaak Walton.</I> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +The fine pasture adjoining was a popular resort for some handsome birds +that often visited it as a playground. They were said to be relatives +of ours, but I do not think they were closer than seventh or eighth +cousins, which is so distant that it doesn't count—especially if one +doesn't want it to. +</P> + +<P> +All I know is that their family name was the same as ours, <I>Icteridae</I>, +and means something or other, I forget what. It was a good honorable +name, however, and our branch was as proud of our ancestry as any +Daughter of the American Revolution could possibly be. +</P> + +<P> +There were some tall weeds growing along the margin of a little stream +in the pasture which produced quantities of delicious seeds, and to +these we often repaired when we wanted a choice breakfast, as well as +to watch the playful pastimes of these queer bipeds. +</P> + +<P> +What would you think of a bird taking a bareback ride on a cow? They +were extremely fond of settling themselves on the cattle which browsed +in the field and presented a truly comical picture as they complacently +gathered in little groups on the backs of those huge animals. Moving +slowly along munching the dewy grass, first on one side, then on the +other, the cows did not seem particularly to mind their saucy bareback +riders. Occasionally they would toss their heads backward, when up all +the birds would fly into the air only to descend again as soon as the +cattle were quiet. +</P> + +<P> +As I said, they were very handsome. At a short distance they looked to +be clothed in black, but the breast and neck were really a very rich +brown, with the rest of the body like jet and as lustrous as satin. +They were not general favorites with the other birds on account of some +dishonorable tricks which they did on the sly. For instance, they +never troubled themselves to make nests, but watched their chance to +sneak in and lay their eggs, only one in a place, in the nests of other +birds. For some reason their eggs always hatch a little sooner than +the eggs rightfully belonging there, consequently the foster-parents, +not knowing of the deception, are quite delighted with the first little +one that comes out of the shell, and immediately fly off to get food +for it. This is very unfortunate, for during their absence their own +eggs get cold and will not hatch. After a time the old birds grow +disgusted and tumble the poor eggs all out of the nest and bestow their +whole attention to the juvenile cowbird, entirely ignorant of the fact +that they are the victims of a "put-up job." +</P> + +<P> +Once when we were dining in the pasture we found out the cause of the +booming noise we had often heard sounding through the woods. Two men, +each carrying in his hand a long club, shaped large at one end, +appeared in the meadow and began looking among the long grasses which +sheltered the nests of some meadow larks. A number of the larks were +on the wing, others sat on the rail fence rolling out cadenzas in +concert in a gush of melody from their downy throats. The men moved +cautiously nearer under cover of the weeds. Raising their long clubs +to their shoulders they gazed along their narrow points a moment. +Without exactly knowing why, we took alarm, and larks, bobolinks, and +cowbirds sped upward like the wind. At the same instant something +bright shimmered in the sunlight, and with it a horrid burst of noise +and a puff of smoke. We did not all get away, for some of the +beautiful larks fell to the ground pierced by the sportsman's deadly +hail. +</P> + +<P> +Again and again, all through that long, sad day we heard the ominous +booming crash, and knew the savage work of killing was going on. +</P> + +<P> +Among our acquaintances was a lame redbird who at one time had been +trapped and made a prisoner, confined behind the bars of a wire cell +for many weeks and months. Luckily he made his escape one day when his +grated door was accidentally opened, and he speedily made his way back +to his dearly loved forest. +</P> + +<P> +During the period of his imprisonment in the city he had picked up a +great deal of information regarding the bird trade, and some of the +facts recited by him of the terrible cruelties perpetrated and the +carnage which had been going on for years, almost caused our feathers +to stand upright in horror as we listened. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap05"></A> +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER V +</H2> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +"DON'T, JOHNNY" +</H3> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +Farewell happy fields, where Joy forever dwells.<BR> + —<I>Milton.</I> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +A very pleasant, sociable fellow was this redbird, and often when on +hot afternoons we were hiding in the treetops from the rays of the sun +he told us stories and anecdotes about the people he had seen while he +lived in the city. +</P> + +<P> +He and his brother had been caught in a trap in the woods set by a +farmer's boy. One cold spring morning when the boy came to look at his +trap he was overjoyed to find he had snared two redbirds, and forthwith +carried them to the village nearby and sold them to the grocer for five +cents apiece, which sum he said he was going to invest in a rubber ball. +</P> + +<P> +As he put the dime into his coat pocket he told the man that one of the +birds was named Admiral Dewey and the other Napoleon Bonaparte. The +groceryman agreed that these names were good enough names for anybody, +but he thought he'd change Bonaparte's name to Teddy Roosevelt, as +being easier to pronounce, and the two birds were accordingly given +these titles then and there. Not having any cage at hand to put them +in, the man thought that for a few days the new-comers could share the +quarters of an old sparrow he had in the rear end of the store until an +extra cage could be procured. +</P> + +<P> +But alas for Teddy Roosevelt! The very first night he was +ignominiously whipped by the spiteful occupant of the cage, who +resented having these country visitors thrust into his house without +his leave. Poor Teddy died the next day. Admiral Dewey stood the +battle better than his unfortunate friend, but he too was pecked at in +a way so threatening that the groceryman concluded it would be wise to +get rid of him immediately. Because the admiral had not defended +himself better from his pet's attack, the grocer regarded him with some +disgust. +</P> + +<P> +"Being as there was two of you and only one of the sparrow, 'pears as +if you hadn't much grit," he said. "I would better take your +high-soundin' name away from you and call you something else besides +Dewey, if you can't fight." +</P> + +<P> +For all the man's censure, the redbird knew that if Teddy Roosevelt had +killed the sparrow instead of being killed by it, the grocer would have +been much more grieved at the loss, for he had heard him say the +sparrow was like one of his family. The man forgot that the result +might have been different if the redbirds had been older. +</P> + +<P> +Having decided to dispose of the admiral, the grocer, who had an errand +in the city the next day, carried the bird with him. He knew of a +probable customer for it in a gentleman named Morris, who had been +advertising in the papers for a redbird. He soon found the street and +number where was located the gentleman's office, at which the +advertisement was to be answered, and displayed the admiral. +</P> + +<P> +"Your bird looks kind of ragged, as though he hadn't been treated +well," said Mr. Morris, as he examined the scarlet plumage. "My boy +wants a redbird, and I promised him one if he would get the highest +grade in arithmetic in his class this term and he did it, so of course +I must keep my word. What d'ye ask for this bird?" +</P> + +<P> +"He'd be cheap at five dollars," answered the groceryman. "A nice +redbird is hard to get, and they're powerful nice singers, but bein' as +it's for your boy that has earned it by studying his lessons so good—I +always like a boy that is fond of his books—you can have it for two +dollars and a quarter." +</P> + +<P> +As he had paid but five cents for it this advance in price would be a +fine business speculation. After a little further talk, Mr. Morris +counted out the money, and the man went back to his home doubtless +wishing he had a hundred more redbirds to sell at the same handsome +profit. After he had gone, Mr. Morris went to a box hanging against +the wall, and turning a handle began talking to the box as if it were a +human being. Though it was just a plain wooden box, the admiral said +there was something mysterious about it, for Mr. Morris actually seemed +to be carrying on a conversation with it, though the bird could not +hear what the box answered, but he felt sure it talked back. +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Morris' residence was a fine stone house with wide porches and +sunny bay windows, over which were trained graceful creeping vines. A +boy of about eleven years of age and a very pretty lady stood arm in +arm on the broad steps leading up to the front entrance that evening +when Mr. Morris and the admiral arrived. They were Johnny Morris and +his mother, who had already learned that Mr. Morris had bought the bird +and would bring it when he came to dinner. The admiral discovered the +next day that Mrs. Morris owned a box like the one at the office, into +which she talked, and that it was called a telephone. He often +mentioned this mysterious box as one of the most remarkable things he +saw during his stay among men. +</P> + +<P> +Johnny Morris capered and danced and jumped so hard in the exuberance +of his joy at receiving the redbird that all the way to the sitting +room his mother was coaxing him to be quiet. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't act so foolishly," she begged; but he only capered and kicked up +his heels still harder. When the cage was placed on a stand in the bay +window he pranced around it, whistled and chirped, threw the bottom of +the cage floor full of seed and splashed the water about so recklessly +in his attempts to be friendly as nearly to frighten the poor admiral +to pieces. +</P> + +<P> +"Now, Johnny, don't," pleaded his mother. +</P> + +<P> +"Johnny, don't do that," commanded his father every few minutes. +</P> + +<P> +It was a constant "Don't, Johnny, do this" and "Don't, Johnny, do +that," until, the admiral said, the conversation was so mixed up with +"Don't-Johnny's" as made it almost unintelligible. Of course these +expostulations made not a bit of impression on Johnny Morris. To be +sure, he might stop for the moment, but the next second he was doing +something else which brought a fresh round of "Don't-Johnny's" from +each parent. +</P> + +<P> +He was such a generous, affectionate, pretty boy, with his rosy cheeks +and wavy yellow hair, it was a great pity that he should keep a whole +household in a state of constant commotion by his habit of not promptly +minding when he was spoken to. His father and mother were very +indulgent to him, and the admiral believed he had every kind of a toy +known to the boy world. He also had a machine to ride on, which they +called a "wheel." On this he went out occasionally, although Mrs. +Morris declared she never felt at ease a minute while he was gone, +because he never came back at the hour he promised he would. Besides +this, he had a dear little pony, named Jock, on whose back he often +cantered about the big park. Frequently from the bay window the +admiral watched him as he mounted Jock and rode away, while his mother +stood on the house step and called after him as long as he was in +sight: "Don't ride in that reckless way, Johnny; you'll tumble off," or +"Don't, Johnny; the pony will throw you," at which Johnny would laugh +and make the pony go faster. +</P> + +<P> +Among the boy's other possessions was a parrot, which the admiral +asserted was the smartest bird in the world. She was a highly educated +parrot, and much time had been spent on her training, and she was +usually very willing to show off to company all her various +accomplishments. Occasionally she assumed an air of offended dignity +when asked to display her talents, and no amount of threats or coaxing +could change her purpose. At such times she impatiently flapped her +wings and croaked "No, no" in her harshest tones. +</P> + +<P> +Her favorite retreat when her temper was ruffled was on the back of an +armchair, where she would sit with her bill in the air and her head +cocked disdainfully on one side, pretending not to hear or see any one. +In her affable moods, however, no one could be more complaisant and +entertaining than Bessie. +</P> + +<P> +Her name was an uncommon one for a parrot. Strangers usually accosted +her as Polly, at which mistake she was greatly displeased. +</P> + +<P> +"No, no—not Polly; call me Bessie," she would scream, so angrily that +it always made people laugh, which angered her still more. +</P> + +<P> +Bessie could sing a verse of an old-time song, at least she thought she +could. The admiral said nothing could have induced him to sing for +company if his voice had been as harsh and cracked as hers, but he said +it was a fact that everybody seemed to enjoy her noise more than his +music; that when she took up her position on top of the piano to sing, +they crowded around and called her "nice Bessie," "nice lady," and +praised her, and gave her bits of sugar, as if she were the finest +singer in the world. The admiral thought they showed very poor taste, +for her music was simply horrid and couldn't compare with the warblings +of the woods birds. It is well, however, to make allowance for the +admiral's opinion, for musicians are proverbially jealous of each other. +</P> + +<P> +The song the parrot sang was "Listen to the Mocking Bird," to which +Mrs. Morris played a little gliding accompaniment on the piano. Great +hand-clappings always followed the performance. These Bessie accepted +with an air of studied indifference. But if for the purpose of teasing +her they did not applaud her performance, she shrilly screamed: +"Bessie's a good bird, a good bird I tell you," raising her voice +higher and higher at each repetition. +</P> + +<P> +Then she would wait a moment for some one to assure her that she was +indeed a very good bird, quite the smartest bird that ever breathed. +But if these soothing assurances were not quickly forthcoming, she +would retire to the back of her favorite chair and, elevating her bill +to show her disdain, sulk in silence. +</P> + +<P> +"Did she like you?" I asked the admiral one day when he was telling us +about her funny tricks. +</P> + +<P> +"No, she was a little bit jealous of me; yet she was not unfriendly, +except when Johnny or some other member of the family paid me +attention. She always wanted to be the center of attraction herself, +which showed she was a vain creature. No matter how silent she had +been or how firmly she might have refused to talk only the minute +before, if Johnny came to my cage and called, 'Hello, Admiral! you're a +daisy,' Bessie immediately struck up such a chattering as would almost +deafen one. +</P> + +<P> +"'Johnny dear, open my cage. I want to take a walk,' she would say in +her most coaxing manner. If she happened to be already out of her cage +and walking about the room, she endeavored to get him to leave me by +saying: 'Here, Johnny, boy, put me on your finger. Kiss poor +Bessie—p-o-o-r Bessie.' +</P> + +<P> +"Mrs. Morris used to laugh at these schemes of the parrot to attract +notice, and said Bessie reminded her of some people she had met who +always wanted to monopolize the conversation." +</P> + +<P> +"Monopolize?" said I. "That's a large word. I don't know the meaning +of it." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I think it means getting the most of anything and crowding other +people out," replied the admiral; "and it was true in Bessie's case, +for she always wanted the most attention. A gentleman friend of the +Morrises had this habit too. He had been a general in a war that took +place in the South a good many years ago, and was often entertained at +dinner at the Morrises'. Though he was a well-informed, genial man, he +was almost rude in making himself heard, so determined was he that +people should listen to his jokes and stories, which were generally +something about himself. At a large tableful of guests, General +Peterson's voice was always heard above that of every one else. He +seemed to compel the rest of the company to listen. His big voice +drowned the others out. Though Mr. and Mrs. Morris liked him very +much, when they were alone they often ridiculed this disagreeable habit. +</P> + +<P> +"'Bessie and General Peterson are just alike,' Mrs. Morris used to say +jokingly, when the parrot pushed herself into notice by her loud +jabbering. 'Neither of them can endure to have any one else receive +attention when they are present.' +</P> + +<P> +"Although Bessie had not a pony to ride on as Johnny had, she took a +great many jaunts around the parlors on the cat's back. This cat was a +great pet in the house. A very striking-looking cat he was too. He +was jet black with a flat face and long white whiskers. Johnny always +said he resembled an old colored man who used to be their coachman, and +he wondered if they were any relation to each other. +</P> + +<P> +"When Bessie was out of her cage the cat did not often visit the +parlor, because he was afraid of her. He always appeared to be much +relieved when she did not notice him. If she had decided to take a +ride, however, he never was quick enough to get away from her. With a +shrill laugh of triumph she would fly upon his back, and holding on by +digging her claws into his fur, around and around the room they would +go, the poor cat feeling so completely disgraced that he dragged his +body lower and lower at every step, until his legs could scarcely be +seen at all. +</P> + +<P> +"Bessie enjoyed it greatly. She seemed to take a wicked satisfaction +in making poor Jett ridiculous, and laughed and chuckled and scolded +till the cat looked as if he were ready to drop from very shame. +Urging him on with, 'Get up, get up, you lazy thing,' she refused to be +shaken off till his body was actually dragging on the floor, a sign of +his complete humiliation. As soon as he threw off his unwelcome +burden, Jett always ran away to hide. With his tail slinking, his ears +drooping, and crawling rather than walking, he was the most +abject-looking, miserable cat in existence. Bessie meanwhile flirted +herself saucily and chuckled with the conscious air of having done a +very smart thing." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap06"></A> +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VI +</H2> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE PARROT AT A PARTY +</H3> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +A parrot there I saw, with gaudy pride<BR> +Of painted plumes, that hopped from side to side. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"How did you happen to get away from the Morrises?" asked my brother. +</P> + +<P> +The red-bird laughed heartily, as if the recollection were exceedingly +amusing. +</P> + +<P> +"Well," said he, "it all came about through Johnny's having a tea +party. For months he had been coaxing and begging his mother to invite +his schoolfellows to the house and entertain them with games and plays +and music, ending with a fine supper. Early in the spring when he +began talking of it, it was too cold, his mother said. Then after a +while it was too rainy, or too warm, or they were house-cleaning, or +something, and so she kept putting him off from one time to another, +hoping by deferring it to make him forget it. The Morrises always +spent the month of August at their seaside cottage, and the night +before they left home, Johnny tried to get Mrs. Morris to promise that +he might have the party the very first thing on their return. +</P> + +<P> +"'I'll think about it, my dear,' she answered. +</P> + +<P> +"'Whenever you say you'll think about it then I'm pretty sure not to +get what I want,' sighed Johnny." +</P> + +<A NAME="img-064"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG SRC="images/img-064.jpg" ALT="The Summer Tanager" BORDER="2" WIDTH="624" HEIGHT="830"> +<H4> +[Illustration: The Summer Tanager.] +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<P> +"His mother seemed to be much amused at this statement. 'Oh, no, my +son, it doesn't always turn out that way; but you know it wouldn't do +for me to promise to have it just as soon as we get back,' she +objected. 'I am always very busy just at our return. It might be very +inconvenient for me to prepare for a children's evening at that time; +but when I am ready I shall take pleasure in getting up a nice party +for you sometime in the autumn.' +</P> + +<P> +"This sounded well, but it was not definite enough to suit Johnny. +However he said no more at that time. While the family were gone +Bessie and I had the back porch to ourselves, and no one being there +except the housemaid to whom she could display her superiority over me, +she grew to be quite agreeable. For some time before the Morrises had +bought her, which was years and years before, long before Johnny was +born, she had lived in a taxidermist's shop. The owner of the shop was +also a bird dealer in a small way. On account of her accomplishments +he had held her at a price that few were willing or able to pay, and so +she had been forced to stay with him a long time. She much preferred +being owned by a refined family to living in a dingy store, for she was +a bird of luxurious tastes, she said. +</P> + +<P> +"I too had never ceased being glad that the grocer had sold me to the +Morrises, for I was sure that life would not have been so comfortable +for me in the back part of a country store, inhaling the odors from +fish barrels and molasses kegs, and with the dreary outlook afforded by +shelves full of canned vegetables and cracker boxes. The only point in +favor of a life at the grocery was that I would have been nearer to the +woods; but if I could not be in the woods, of what avail was that? The +Morrises were people of elegance and refinement, and their home +expressed their culture. I had made a pleasant exchange, and I felt it +was wise to be as contented as possible. +</P> + +<P> +"August slowly passed, and Johnny came back. The big house that had +been so quiet for four weeks was suddenly wakened as from a sleep. His +noisy, joyous voice rang through the halls, and from cellar to garret. +</P> + +<P> +"'Bless the b'y! he's that plazed to git back, it does one's sowl good +to hear him,' said the housemaid. +</P> + +<P> +"Mrs. Morris was so busy for the first day or two that she saw little +of Johnny. He was sent on several errands, and took his own time in +returning, but every one had too much to do to inquire what kept him so +long. +</P> + +<P> +"'Can't I shine up Bessie's and the admiral's cages?' he asked his +mother after dinner the second day. +</P> + +<P> +"Mrs. Morris was delighted with her son's thoughtfulness. 'Why, +Johnny,' she said, 'I'll be so glad to have you do it.' +</P> + +<P> +"So master Johnny wiped and dusted our cages till we felt very clean, +although I own I did not enjoy having him work about me with his brush +and dust cloth. Just as he had finished and put us back in our places +the doorbell sounded, and presently we heard children's voices in the +hall asking the maid if Johnny Morris was at home. +</P> + +<P> +"'It is some one to see you,' said Mrs. Morris. But Johnny did not +reply. He was nowhere to be seen. At the first sound he had quietly +slipped out of the room and I could now see him hiding behind the +curtains in the library. Soon Sarah came ushering three or four little +barefooted children into the parlor. +</P> + +<P> +"'They've come to Johnny's party, ma'am,' she explained to Mrs. Morris, +who looked up from her work as the children entered. +</P> + +<P> +"'How do you do, my dears?' said Mrs. Morris sweetly, though I could +see she was greatly surprised. 'I believe I don't know your names, so +you will have to introduce yourselves.' +</P> + +<P> +"The children looked bashful, and made no reply. +</P> + +<P> +"'You are not Johnny Morris' schoolmates, are you?' she questioned. +</P> + +<P> +"'No, ma'am,' answered the tallest girl, as she gazed about the +handsome room with wide-open eyes, I could see that she was not +accustomed to such beautiful things. +</P> + +<P> +"Where did you get acquainted with him, then?' went on Mrs. Morris +kindly. +</P> + +<P> +"'We hain't acquainted at all, ma'am; but he seed us on the street this +morning, and said for us to come to his party to-day. He thought as +how maybe they'd be ice-cream to eat, and he told us where he lived, +and so we are here.' +</P> + +<P> +"'Well, we must try to make you have a pleasant time,' she replied. +'Sarah, please call Johnny and tell him his guests have arrived.' +</P> + +<P> +"But Sarah had been answering a second peal of the bell, and now +appeared with a very queer smile on her face at the head of a line of +three girls and a small boy, whom she introduced by saying: +</P> + +<P> +"'A few more children, ma'am, who have come to take tea with master +Johnny.' +</P> + +<P> +"'Why, really,' exclaimed Mrs. Morris, in a sort of flutter, as she +helped Sarah to seat the new arrivals. 'The house is hardly in order +for company.' +</P> + +<P> +"The children appeared quite embarrassed, and ranged themselves +silently and sedately on the chairs to which they had been directed. +</P> + +<P> +"'Dear me, Sarah, what a predicament to be in! Where do you suppose +Johnny scraped up all these youngsters? I don't know what I ought to +do to him for playing me this trick.' Mrs. Morris said this to the +maid as they came to my side of the room. 'Think of all the work to be +done, and which will have to be stopped for the day—the house all +upside down—no chance for preparations for an extra supper for his +company. And that big girl bespoke ice-cream as soon as she entered.' +And then Mrs. Morris and Sarah turned into the recess of the bay window +and laughed softly. Her vexation seemed to pass away in a few minutes, +for she added, 'We must make the best of it, since they are here, and +let everything else go. But there's the bell; I expect it's another +batch of Johnny's friends.' +</P> + +<P> +"And so it proved, for these were old acquaintances, eight or ten of +his schoolmates. Little misses dressed in fine style, in dainty +ruffled frocks and necklaces and bright hair-ribbons, tripped +gracefully in and advanced to meet Mrs. Morris, quite like grown ladies +in their manners. Behind them came several boys, spick and span in +fresh white linen waists and silk neckties and well-fitting shoes. +</P> + +<P> +"'Ah! here are Frances and Naomi and Justice and Karl and Mary Ethel +and Philip and Jessica and all the rest,' said Mrs. Morris, giving them +each a hand of welcome as they gathered about her in a pretty group. +'Will you make yourselves quite at home and help me to entertain these +other visitors till Johnny comes in? I don't know what keeps him so +long. If you'll excuse me I'll go and look for him. There are the +pictures in the portfolio that you might like to show to these little +girls. And there's the admiral, our redbird, and Bessie, the parrot. +Maybe they would like to look at them.' +</P> + +<P> +"The two girls whom she had designated as Jessica and Frances looked at +the strange children a minute but made no movement to carry out Mrs. +Morris' wishes. Instead they drew a little apart and began to talk to +each other. Mary Ethel, a round-faced girl who giggled a great deal +behind her fan, crossed over to where sat the large girl who had +mentioned the ice-cream, and started a conversation by remarking that +it was a warm day. The girl made no audible answer, only nodded. +</P> + +<P> +"'Do you like to go to school?' inquired Mary Ethel. +</P> + +<P> +"The girl again nodded. There was a little pause. Mary Ethel, who was +bent on carrying out Mrs. Morris' suggestion to help her entertain +them, began again on the weather. I suppose she couldn't think of +anything new to say, so she observed: +</P> + +<P> +"'It's a nice warm day for the first of September, don't you think?' +</P> + +<P> +"The girl's head once more wagged up and down in assent, but not a word +did she utter. At this a subdued titter came from Frances and Jessica. +Mary Ethel's face grew red and she frowned at them. +</P> + +<P> +"Just at this moment in ran Johnny. He had put on his best suit. His +yellow hair was freshly brushed and his face was wreathed in smiles. +He reminded one of a dancing sunbeam. It was wonderful to see how +quickly he set the social wheel moving in the parlor. In three minutes +he had them all acquainted and talking to each other. At one side I +noticed Naomi and Jessica who were trying to make the parrot talk for +the big girl. Mary Ethel was turning the crank of a small music box, +around which were clustered a group of the stranger children. On a +sofa three or four others had the portfolio of pictures spread out. +Others came to my cage coaxing me to whistle for them, while Johnny +capered hither and thither and joked and had more funny things to say +than anybody in the room. When he let Bessie out of her cage and put +her on the piano to sing the 'Mocking Bird,' the joy of the visitors +knew no bounds. +</P> + +<P> +"'Have you a parrot, Jeannette?' he asked one of the little barefooted +girls, whose dancing black eyes showed how much she enjoyed Bessie's +performance. +</P> + +<P> +"'No, but I have two lovely cats.' She made the announcement as if +very proud of their ownership. +</P> + +<P> +"'I have a cat too. He dresses in black and wears long white +whiskers, and looks just like a respectable old colored man.' This +description amused the children very much. +</P> + +<P> +"'What's your cat's name?' they shouted. +</P> + +<P> +"'Jett. What do you call your cats, Jeannette?' +</P> + +<P> +"'The big one is <I>Boule de Neige</I> and the little one is <I>Jaune +Jaquette</I>.' +</P> + +<P> +"'What queer names!' exclaimed Mary Ethel. 'How did you happen to +select such names for them?' +</P> + +<P> +"'Oh, miss, because the names do suit them so well.' +</P> + +<P> +"'They don't sound like any cats' names that ever I heard. I don't +understand how they would suit.' Mary Ethel looked perplexed. +</P> + +<P> +"'Why, miss, on account of the color of those cats, to be sure,' said +Jeannette in surprise. +</P> + +<P> +"'Pooh!' explained Johnny, 'that's easy. <I>Boule de neige</I> is the +French for snowball, and <I>jaune</I> means yellow, so <I>jaune jaquette</I> +means yellow jacket. I learned that in our French reader. I expect +one of the cats is all white and the other is a yellow one. Is that +it, Jeannette?' +</P> + +<P> +"'Yes, sir,' said the French child, and she tipped him a polite little +bow that was very pretty indeed. +</P> + +<P> +"'<I>Boule de Neige</I>! what a funny name. I haven't named our white +kitten yet. I believe I'll call it <I>Boule de Neige</I> for a change,' +said Karl. +</P> + +<P> +"Then Jett was brought in and Bessie pounced upon him for a ride, she +chuckling and singing and looking from side to side with proud +satisfaction, knowing she was being observed by everybody. The +children almost screamed with delight at this performance. +</P> + +<P> +"'Now, Bessie,' said Johnny, as the poor cat at last shook her off and +slank away. 'You did that beautifully, and you deserve something to +eat. I am going to let you have some bread and milk right here in the +parlor, and the company can see how nicely you can feed yourself with a +spoon.' +</P> + +<P> +"'All right,' croaked the parrot. Sarah brought in a saucer in which +was a little bread moistened with milk, and two spoons with it. A +cloth was spread over one corner of the table and Bessie crawled up to +the top of a chair which had been placed with its back close to the +table. This brought the bird almost in line with the saucer. Johnny +took his seat beside her and broke the bread into tiny pieces with his +spoon, shoving the particles into the other spoon as fast as Bessie +disposed of them. She gravely clasped her spoon with one claw and +brought it to her mouth quite dextrously and ate the contents with +evident relish, though it was plain that she enjoyed being admired for +being able to do it really more than she enjoyed the bread. Once in a +while her grasp was uncertain and the food was spilled on her breast +feathers or fell to the floor. At this she scolded herself roundly and +seemed quite ashamed. +</P> + +<P> +"'One of these days, when I get time, I am going to train her to use a +napkin when she eats,' said Johnny. +</P> + +<P> +"'She'll be a perfectly accomplished lady then,' added Mary Ethel. +</P> + +<P> +"By this time some of the stranger children had left the table and had +come over to my cage to look at me. +</P> + +<P> +"'The admiral's an awful purty feller,' said one. +</P> + +<P> +"'Wouldn't his tail be sweet on a Sunday hat?' suggested another. +</P> + +<P> +"'Oh, I choose his wings for my hat,' exclaimed a third. +</P> + +<P> +"'I choose his head and breast for mine,' said the first one who had +spoken. 'And Naomi chooses his whole body for her hat, I expect,' she +added as Naomi joined them. +</P> + +<P> +"'No,' said Naomi, 'we don't wear birds any more in our family. My +sister and I used to have our hats trimmed with them, but we've quit. +I had a lovely one on my blue velvet hat last year. It was a beautiful +hat," and she smiled at the recollection. 'But we've quit now,' she +added gravely. +</P> + +<P> +"'Why?' asked the other girls in a breath. +</P> + +<P> +"'Oh, because my mother thinks it is wrong to wear them. Little boy, +little boy, be careful or you'll let the bird out,' she called hastily. +</P> + +<P> +"But the warning was too late. While the girls had been talking the +small boy who was with them had been entertaining himself by slightly +opening my cage door and letting it spring back to its fastening. +Suddenly he was seized with fright at discovering that it had stuck +while half-way back, and refused to come together. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, dear!' he called. 'He's out.' +</P> + +<P> +"'Mercy on us! Oh, dear!' screamed the girls as I made a dash through +the opening, and flew to the top of a picture frame. 'Johnny, Johnny, +your redbird's out,' they called. +</P> + +<P> +"All was confusion in an instant. Boys and girls ran hither and +thither, tumbling over each other, and over the chairs and stools, and +all talking and screaming at once. +</P> + +<P> +"'Bring a broom or a flagpole, Johnny,' called Philip. 'I'll shoo him +down for you while you stand underneath and catch him.' +</P> + +<P> +"'Shoo, shoo!' said Jeannette, catching her dress skirt with both hands +and waving it back and forth rapidly. In a minute all the girls were +waving their dress skirts at me and saying 'shoo.' +</P> + +<P> +"'Oh, my pretty Admiral Dewey, my dear old admiral,' wailed Johnny, +almost in tears. +</P> + +<P> +"I didn't wait for the broom or the flagpole to help me from the +picture frame. I balanced myself steadily and then I flew out of the +open window and away into the world, without saying good-bye to +anybody. I suppose they all crowded to the window to look after me as +I disappeared, for the last thing I heard was Mrs. Morris' voice +saying, 'Don't, Johnny; you'll fall out if you lean over so far. Papa +will get you another bird. Don't grieve so hard. Don't, Johnny.'" +</P> + +<P> +"Did you ever see Johnny afterward?" we asked the redbird. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, once I saw him cantering along slowly on Jock. He could not go +very fast because he was holding a great bunch of red and pink roses in +one hand. His cheeks were as pink as the flowers and his yellow hair +curled up under the edge of his cap the same as it used to. I knew him +in a minute. A great many carriages were on the street trimmed in +flags and flowers. Little flags were fastened to the horses' harness. +Jock had one on each side of his head, which made him look very pretty. +Children were running about carrying wreaths. On a corner of the +street where a band was playing some men were holding banners. I heard +some one say it was Decoration Day, and that everybody strewed flowers +on the graves in the big cemetery that day. I thought it was a very +beautiful custom. Through all the buzz and confusion I kept an eye on +Johnny. He didn't seem to be riding anywhere in particular, but was +just looking around for the fun of the thing. Presently he drew up to +the sidewalk where a little ragged boy was leaning up against a tree. +He had a wistful look, as if he would like to be taking part. +</P> + +<P> +"'Hello!' said Johnny, as he reined Jock in. 'Aren't you going to help +to decorate?' +</P> + +<P> +"'Naw—ain't got any posies, I tell you.' The boy said this in a +sullen tone. +</P> + +<P> +"'Here, take these. I brought you a big bunch so you could divide 'em +with some of your friends. There's enough for all of you boys to have +a few flowers to take to the cemetery.' Johnny extended the roses with +a smile as he spoke. +</P> + +<P> +"The boy grabbed them eagerly. 'My! You're a jolly one, I'll say that +for you,' he said heartily by way of thanks, then he ran off with a +whoop. +</P> + +<P> +"I saw from this action that Johnny was the same generous, kind-hearted +boy he used to be, and I felt proud to have had the honor of his +acquaintance." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap07"></A> +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VII +</H2> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +A WINTER IN THE SOUTH +</H3> + +<P CLASS="poem"> + I was wrong about the Phoebe bird;<BR> +Two songs it has, and both of them I've heard;<BR> +I did not know those strains of joy and sorrow<BR> +Came from one throat. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +As the season advanced our May songs became less melodious until +finally our music was merely a metallic but pleasant, "chink, chink," +and we knew we would soon be putting on our new fall attire, as toward +the close of the summer our family exchange their pretty +black-and-white suits, so much admired, for a becoming yellowish-brown +one. The different flocks were also now arranging for their regular +winter trip to the sunny Southland, where their winters were spent. +</P> + +<P> +I was very glad to know that we bobolinks were to travel only in the +daytime, as that would afford us younger ones a better opportunity to +see the country. The return trip to the North is always made by night. +A great many people have wondered why we do this, and those who are +interested in our habits have tried to find out; but it is a secret the +birds have never yet divulged, and probably never will. +</P> + +<P> +The blue jays were going to remain behind, for the winters which we +dreaded so much had no terrors for them. Sometimes when we were +preening our feathers under the radiant skies near the Southern gulf, I +thought of our old neighbors the jays, and fancied them in their bleak +Northern home flitting about in the tops of the leafless trees, swayed +by the icy winds from the upper lakes, and with perhaps but little to +eat. I would not have exchanged places with them for the world. But +my older comrades assured me the jays were not in need of my sympathy +or pity. They liked the invigorating cold and chattered merrily in the +desolate boughs and enjoyed many a nice meal from under the melting +snow. The crimson dogwood berries, standing out like rosettes of +coral, at which they liked to peck, also furnished them an aesthetic +and sumptuous feast. Much more to be dreaded than the winter's cold +was the cruel sportsman, said my comrades. +</P> + +<P> +The day of our departure came. The concourse of birds setting out on +their annual journeys was immense, and oh, what joy it was to soar +aloft on buoyant pinion high up in the blue sky, over housetops and +tops of trees, skimming along above rushing waters or tranquil streams +in quiet meadows. Mere existence was a keen delight. The sense of +freedom, of lightness, of airiness, was gloriously exhilarating, a +delicious sensation known only to the feathered tribes of all God's +creation. +</P> + +<P> +Our trip took us across some densely wooded mountains, where we rested +for a time. A thick undergrowth of young saplings prevented any roads, +and only occasional narrow footpaths showed that people sometimes +passed that way. +</P> + +<P> +The mountain was grand in its loneliness; but doubtless was a desolate +spot to the settlers, whose cabins were scattered at long distances +from each other in the depths of the wood. I could imagine how cut off +from the whole world the women and children in these cabins would feel, +for it is natural for human beings to love society. The perpetual +stillness must have been hard to bear when months sometimes passed +away, especially in the winter season, without their getting a glimpse +of other human faces. +</P> + +<P> +The mountains were full of wildcats too, which made their situation +worse, as these fierce animals were frequently known to attack men as +savagely as wolves do. One day while we were there two travelers +camped under the tree where our family was roosting. They had +evidently had a hard time making their way through the tangled +undergrowth, for as one of the men flung himself down on the ground and +stretched himself out at full length, he exclaimed peevishly: +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I don't want any more such experiences. I'm dead tired; my face +is all scratched with the thorns and bushes; and I haven't seen a +newspaper for a week. If the railroad company needs any more work of +this kind done, they must get somebody else." +</P> + +<P> +"Fiddle-dee-dee! You mustn't be so easily discouraged," answered the +other young man, who had already set to work scraping up dry chips and +pieces of bark to make a fire, "Think of these poor mountaineers who +stay here all their lives. Your little tramp of a few days is nothing +to what they do all the time and never think of complaining. The half +of them are too poor to own a mule. They eat hog and hominy the year +around, and are thankful to get it. Their clothes are fearfully and +wonderfully made, but for all that they don't give up and think life +isn't worth living." +</P> + +<P> +As the two young fellows talked on in this strain I named them Growler +and Cheery, because the one was so determined to look on the dark side, +while the other took a cheerful view of everything. Growler continued +to lounge on the ground, looking with careless interest at Cheery, who +was preparing dinner. +</P> + +<P> +The dinner was in a small tin box which he took from his coat pocket. +Opening it he disclosed some eatables very compactly put in. He took +out several articles and set them on the ground in front of him. In +the box was a bottle stoutly corked containing a dark liquid, some of +which he poured into a flat tin cup which formed a part of the lid of +the box. This he set over the fire, which by this time was snapping +cheerily. +</P> + +<P> +"Come," he said. "Here's a lunch fit for a king. Get up and have your +share. Maybe when your stomach is warmed up with a few ham and mustard +sandwiches, some cheese and coffee, you'll be in better spirits. These +crackers are good eating too." +</P> + +<P> +"Fit for a king, eh? Mighty poor kind of a king, I should say," +growled Growler sarcastically; but he rose and flicked the leaves and +twigs from his clothing before he helped himself to the coffee which +was now hot. +</P> + +<P> +"One cup for two people is just one too few," laughed Cheery when it +came his turn to take some. "My! but it tastes good. There's nothing +like the open air to give one an appetite." +</P> + +<P> +"I don't like coffee without cream," objected Growler, chewing moodily +at his cracker. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, we'll get to Girard by to-night, and then possibly we will get a +good supper." +</P> + +<P> +While they were lunching I had observed another traveler slowly +approaching through the underbrush. Over one shoulder was slung a +leather strap in which were a few books. He carried a rifle, and from +his coat pocket bulged a small package. As he drew nearer the sound of +his footsteps startled Growler who nervously upset his coffee over his +shirt front. +</P> + +<P> +"What d'ye suppose he is?" he asked of Cheery as the stranger +approached. +</P> + +<P> +"I judge he's a parson, from the cut of his clothes," observed Cheery. +Then as the new-comer advanced he called: "Hello, friend! Who'd 'a +thought of meeting company this far back in these mountains?" +</P> + +<P> +"This is only about eight miles from the town where I live," answered +the gentleman, who now seated himself near them with his back against a +tree, "I know the paths through here fairly well, for I come this way +several times through the summer. But this will be my last trip for +the season, and I'm giving a little more time to it on that account. +I've taken it somewhat leisurely to-day." +</P> + +<P> +He was a delicate-looking, middle-aged man, with a mild voice and a +kind face. +</P> + +<P> +"You're a drummer for a publishing house, I take it?" said Growler, +nodding toward the books in the strap. "I've just been wondering where +you'd find any buyers in these infernal woods." +</P> + +<P> +The gentleman laughed. "No," said he, "this is my regular route; but +I'm not a commercial traveler in any sense. I'm a pastor at a town +near here, and I go out to these mountain families to hold services +every few weeks." +</P> + +<P> +"You don't mean you foot it through these bushes and among these +wildcats to preach to the mountaineers!" exclaimed Growler in +astonishment. +</P> + +<P> +"Certainly I do. These poor people would never hear the sound of the +gospel if some one did not take it to them. They have souls to be +saved, my friend. I feel it is my duty to carry the word to them. As +for the wildcats," he continued, smiling, "I have my rifle. Besides +the government offers a small bounty for every wildcat." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, yes, I see. You combine business with pleasure and have your +wildcat bounty to pay expenses as you go along—or else keep it for +pin-money," and Growler laughed good-humoredly at his own fun. +</P> + +<P> +"You're the parson from St. Thomas, I judge," said Cheery. +</P> + +<P> +The gentleman bowed, and said he was the pastor of that little church. +</P> + +<P> +"I've heard of your mission work, and I understand you've done a great +deal of good among the mountain whites." +</P> + +<P> +"How many churches have you in these mountains?" interrupted Growler. +</P> + +<P> +"I have but the one church organization, for outside through the +mountains there are no churches—no buildings, no organizations. +People ten and fifteen miles apart can't very well have churches. I +visit the families. I have three on this mountain side. I am well +repaid for all the sacrifice of comfort I make, in knowing how glad +they are to have me come. To many of them I am the connecting link +with the rest of mankind. Ah! the world knows nothing of the +privations and sorrows and ignorance of many of these poor creatures! +Through the winter I am obliged to stop my visitations, but I generally +leave a few books and papers for those who can read, and pictures for +the children." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, parson, I didn't know there was enough goodness in any man in +the United States to make him willing to tramp right into the wildest +part of the Allegheny. Mountains to preach the gospel to half a dozen +poor people!" exclaimed Growler, still more astonished. +</P> + +<P> +"My friend," responded the gentleman earnestly, "the world is full of +Christian men and women who are trying to help others." +</P> + +<P> +Just then my mother said to me, "When I hear the beautiful words that +minister speaks and see what he is doing, then indeed do I believe that +human beings have hearts." +</P> + +<P> +As we resumed our journey I wondered if Growler would profit by the +sunshiny example of Cheery and the devotion of the parson of St. Thomas. +</P> + +<P> +Later in our travels we came upon some old acquaintances. Our +stopping-place was near an ancient house on a mountain side. The +outlook was the grandest I had ever seen, and though I have traveled +much since then I have never found anything to exceed it in beauty. A +glistening river wound its way in a big loop at the foot of the +mountain, and beyond it lay stretched out a busy city. +</P> + +<P> +A good many years before a battle had been fought on these heights, +which people still remembered and talked about. I heard them speak of +it as the "Battle above the clouds." There was still a part of a +cannon wagon in the yard which visitors came to see and examined with +much interest. They also often requested the landlady to let them look +at the walls of an old stone dairy adjoining the house, because the +soldiers had carved their names there. +</P> + +<P> +To me it seemed strange that the guests would sit for hours on the long +gallery of this hotel, and go over and over the incidents of the +battle, telling where this regiment stood, or where that officer fell, +as if war and the taking of life were the most pleasant rather than the +most distressful subjects in the world. In the distance was a mammoth +field of graves, miles of graves, beautifully kept mounds under which +lay the dead heroes of that sad time. +</P> + +<P> +The days up here were beautiful, but it was at night that this was a +scene of surpassing loveliness. Far below the lights of the city +glowed like spangles in the darkness. Above us was the star-encrusted +sky. It was like being suspended between a floor and a ceiling of +glittering jewels. +</P> + +<P> +On this plateau grew the biggest cherry trees I ever saw, and they bore +the biggest and sweetest cherries, though I could not taste any at that +time, as the season was past. I heard the landlady complaining one day +to some of her guests that the rascally birds had hardly left her a +cherry to put up. +</P> + +<P> +"The saucy little thieves! they must have eaten bushels of the finest +fruit," she said. +</P> + +<P> +"And didn't you get any?" inquired a childish voice. There was +something familiar in the voice and I flew to the porch railing to see +who it was. And who should it be but dear little Marion. And there +too was her aunty, Miss Dorothy, and the professor, and in the parlor I +caught a glimpse of Miss Katie and the colonel. They were having a +pleasant vacation together. +</P> + +<P> +Marion looked inquiringly into the landlady's face. No doubt she was +thinking the mountain birds were very greedy to eat up all the cherries +and not leave one for the poor woman to can. +</P> + +<P> +"Our birds always eat some of our cherries too," she said, "but they +always leave us plenty." +</P> + +<P> +"There were bushels left on our trees," observed the landlady's +daughter. "We had all we wanted, mother. We couldn't possibly have +used the rest if the birds had not eaten them. We had a cellar full of +canned cherries left over from the year before, you remember, and that +is the way it is nearly every year." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, yes, I know," answered her mother impatiently; "but for all that +I don't believe in letting the birds have everything." +</P> + +<P> +"I never begrudge a bird what it eats," commented the professor. "Of +course you can discourage the birds, drive them off, break up their +nests, starve them out, and have a crop of caterpillars instead of +cherries. But, beg pardon, madam, maybe you don't object to +caterpillars," and he bowed low to the landlady. +</P> + +<P> +The laugh was against her and I was glad of it, for I didn't consider +it either kind or polite to call us "saucy little thieves." +</P> + +<P> +We were amused one morning when, flying over a piece of pretty country, +we saw a lady moving rapidly along on the red sandy path below. She +seemed to be neither exactly riding nor walking, as she was not on foot +nor had she a horse. On closer inspection it was seen that she was +propelling a strange-looking vehicle. Two of her carriage wheels were +gone, and between the remaining two the lady was perched. At sight of +it I was immediately reminded of the queer thing that Johnny Morris +rode which the admiral had described to us and called a "wheel." I +felt sure that this was the same kind of a machine. The lady looked +neither to the right nor to the left, but her glance was fixed intently +on the road before her. +</P> + +<P> +Farther along another lady leaned against the fence awaiting her +approach. As she bowled along the friend asked enthusiastically: "Is +it not splendid?" +</P> + +<P> +The rider called back to her: "It is grand! It is almost as if I were +flying. I know now how a bird feels." +</P> + +<P> +Think of comparing the sensation produced by moving that heavy iron +machine, with the rider but three feet from the ground, to the +exhilaration felt by a bird spurning the earth and soaring on delicate +wing through the fields of heaven! It was truly laughable! +</P> + +<P> +Our amusement was cut short, however, when we noticed that the lady's +hat was decorated with a dead dove. +</P> + +<P> +"Can we never get away from this millinery exhibition of death?" I +exclaimed in horror. +</P> + +<P> +"No," said my mother sorrowfully. "The god, Fashion, I told you of has +his slaves all over the land. We will find them wherever we go, north, +south, east, and west. No town is too small, no neighborhood too +remote, but there will be found women ready to carry out his cruel +laws." +</P> + +<P> +Had we not been haunted by this vision of death which we were +constantly meeting wherever women were congregated, we might have been +happy in the fair land of rose blossoms and magnolias where we now +sojourned. The air was soft and balmy, and the atmosphere filled us +with a serene, restful languor quite new to those who had been +accustomed to the brisker habits of a colder clime. Besides the birds +there were many human visitors from the North spending the winter +months here. Some sought this warmer climate for their health, others +for pleasure, and these also soon fell into the easy-going, +happy-go-lucky ways induced by the sluggish climate. +</P> + +<P> +Among the birds the waxwings most readily acquired this delightful +Southern habit of taking life easy. In fact the waxwings are inclined +to be lazy, except when they are nesting; they are the most deliberate +creatures one can find, but very foppish and neat in their dress. +Never will you find a particle of dust on their silky plumage, and the +pretty red dots on their wings and tails look always as bright as if +kept in a bandbox. They have, indeed, just reason to be proud of +themselves, for they are very beautiful. +</P> + +<P> +Hunters by scores were after them with bag and gun mercilessly killing +them for the New York millinery houses. The slaughter was terrible, +and made more easy for the hunters by reason of the poor birds flocking +together so closely in such large numbers when they alighted in circles +as is their habit. As they came down in dense droves to get their +food, the red dots on their wing tips almost overlapping those of their +fellows, dozens were slain by a single shot. They were very fond of +the berries of the cedar trees, and after the other foods were gone +they hovered there in great numbers. Here too, the hunters followed +them and made awful havoc in their ranks. One man made the cruel boast +that the winter previous he had killed one thousand cedar-birds for hat +trimmings. +</P> + +<P> +Many of our family had located for a time near the coast, but here too, +on these sunny plains, the death messengers followed us and slew us by +the thousands. +</P> + +<P> +We learned that one bird man handled thirty thousand bird skins that +season. Another firm shipped seventy thousand to the city, and still +the market called for more and yet more. The appetite of the god could +not be appeased. +</P> + +<P> +I am sure this account of the loss of bird life must have seemed +appalling to my mother, for I heard her moan sadly when it was talked +about. +</P> + +<P> +It was during my stay in the Southern islands that I first saw the +white egret, whose beautiful sweeping plumes, like the silken train of +a court lady, have so long been the spoils of woman, that the bird is +almost extinct. As these magnificent feathers appear upon the bird +only through the mating and nesting season, the cruelty of the act is +still more dastardly. The attachment of the parent birds for their +young is very beautiful to witness, yet this devotion, which should be +their safeguard, is seized upon for their destruction, for so great is +the instinct of protecting love they refuse to leave their young when +danger is near, and are absolutely indifferent to their own safety. +</P> + +<P> +Never shall I forget one sad incident which occurred while I was there. +Overhanging the water was an ancestral nest belonging to a family of +egrets which had occupied it for some seasons. Unlike the American +human species, in whom local attachment is not largely developed, and +who take a new house every moving day, the egret repairs and fixes over +the old house year after year, putting in a new brace there, adding +another stick here, to make it firm enough to bear the weight of the +mother and the three young birds which always comprise the brood. +</P> + +<P> +The three pale-blue eggs in this nest had been duly hatched, and the +fond mother was now brooding over her darlings with every demonstration +of maternal affection. She was a beautiful creature with her graceful +movement, her train of plumes, and her long neck gracefully curved. +</P> + +<P> +The quick sharp boom, boom of the guns had been echoing through the +swamp for some time, and the men were now coming nearer. The efforts +of the poor mother to shield her babies were piteous, but the hunters +did not want them. Their scant plumage is worthless for millinery +purposes. Possibly the mother might have escaped had she been willing +to leave her dear ones; but she would not desert them, and was shot in +the breast as the reward of her devotion. The nestlings were left to +starve. +</P> + +<P> +Would you think the woman who wore that bunch of feathers on her bonnet +could take much pleasure in it? +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap08"></A> +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VIII +</H2> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE PRISON +</H3> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +Like a long-caged bird<BR> +Thou beat'st thy bars with broken wing<BR> +And flutterest, feebly echoing<BR> +The far-off music thou hast heard,<BR> + —<I>Arthur Eaton.</I> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +This was my last day of liberty for many, many months. The very next +evening I was stunned by a stone thrown by a small boy who accompanied +a hunter. Picking me up he ran toward his father, who was coming back +from the neighboring swamp with his loaded gamebag. +</P> + +<P> +"This bird isn't dead," said the boy, holding me up to view, "and I'm +going to put it in a cage and train it to talk." +</P> + +<P> +"Crows are the kind that talk. That's no crow nor no starling +neither," answered the man. "Better give it to me to kill. I'll pay +you a penny for it." +</P> + +<P> +"Naw, you don't," and the boy drew back, at the same time closing his +hand over me so tightly that I feared I would be crushed. "I'm going +to keep him, I tell ye. He's mine to do what I please with, and I +ain't agoing to sell him for a penny, neither." +</P> + +<P> +So saying he ran along in front of his father till we reached the mule +cart. Into this clumsy vehicle they climbed and soon we were jogging +over the sandy road to their home. As we drove along the man computed, +partly to himself, partly aloud, how much money the contents of his +game-bag would bring him. The result must have been satisfactory, for +presently he observed: +</P> + +<P> +"Purty fair day's wages, but I believe I could make more killing terns +and gulls than these birds. Bill Jones and the hunters up on Cobb's +Island last year got ten cents apiece for all the gulls they killed. +Forty thousand were killed right there. Oh, it's bound to be a mighty +good business for us fellows as long as the wimmen are in the notion, +that is, if the birds ain't all killed off." +</P> + +<P> +"Air they getting scarce?" questioned the boy. The man ejected a +mouthful of dark, offensive juice from between his grizzled whiskers +before replying. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, purty tol'ble scarce. So much demand for 'em is bound to clean +the birds out. There used to be heaps of orioles an' robins an' larks +an' blackbirds an' waxwings through the country, but they're getting +played out too, since the wimmen tuk to wearin' 'em on their bunnets." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, no woman sha'n't have my bird for her bunnet," and the boy gave +me another friendly pinch that nearly broke my bones. "I'm a going to +put it in that old cage that's out in the shed and give it to Betty, if +she wants it." +</P> + +<P> +"Humph! she won't keer for it. You'd better kill it. Betty won't be +bothered with it." +</P> + +<P> +"She may give it away, or let it loose, or do what she pleases with it, +then," was the boy's reply. +</P> + +<P> +I learned from their further conversation that the hunter sold his game +to another man who cured the skins for shipment to the city. To this +dealer the bag which held my dead companions was taken and I saw them +no more. Arriving at the hunter's home I was put under a bucket that I +might not escape, while my captor prepared my prison for me. It was an +almost needless precaution for I had been so cramped between his +fingers that I feared I could never again use my legs or wings. Just +before putting me in my rude prison house he brought a pair of shears +and bade Betty clip my wings. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I'm afraid it will hurt it!" she exclaimed, pushing away the +extended scissors. +</P> + +<P> +"Nonsense, you ninny! What if it does hurt it?" and he roughly knocked +my bill with his hand. +</P> + +<P> +"Now that's real mean, Joe. You're a scaring it to pieces. Here, +Dickey Downy, I'm going to give you a pretty name if you belong to me; +let me hold you. Why, its little heart is a thumping as if 'twould +burst through its body." +</P> + +<P> +Joe was reluctant to loosen his grasp, and between being pulled first +one way and then the other by the two children, I was badly bruised. +Finally I was permitted by my young captor to enter the cage, where I +sank, trembling and exhausted, to the floor, and remained there all +night, being too sore to ascend the perch. +</P> + +<P> +As may be imagined I was very sorrowful and unhappy. The separation +from my mother and my dear companions, coupled with the fear that I +might never again wing my blithesome flight through the bright blue +sky, but spend the balance of my life in this miserable cell, filled me +with despair. Frantic but useless were my efforts to escape. In vain +I beat my head against the hard steel bars; in vain I endeavored to +crowd my body between them. My prison was too secure. +</P> + +<P> +At length I found that fluttering back and forth buffeting my wings +against the sides of my cell only injured me and availed nothing. Then +it was I wisely made the resolution to endure my imprisonment as +cheerfully as possible. I soon began to regain my strength and spirits +and, save that I was deprived of my liberty, I had no special fault to +find for some days with my treatment from Betty, who was now regarded +as my owner and keeper. +</P> + +<P> +I was always glad when Joe was absent from home, for he was vicious as +well as rough. One of his favorite tricks was to dash my cage hard +against the wall, laughing boisterously as he did so to see how it +frightened me. The concussion was frequently so great that my claws +could not hold to the perch, and I would be tossed helplessly from side +to side with my feathers ruffled and broken. There was but one thing +Joe liked better than this cruel sport, and that was gingerbread; and +my tortures were often stopped by Betty's producing a slice of this +delicacy which she had saved from her own luncheon for this particular +purpose. When I discovered that Joe could be bought off with +gingerbread it can be imagined that I was always glad on the days when +the pungent odors of cinnamon, ginger, and molasses issued from the +cook-stove. It was a surety of peace, of a cessation of hostilities as +long as the cake lasted. +</P> + +<P> +All went fairly well for a little while, but as the novelty of +possession gradually wore off, my little jailer grew negligent and left +me much of the time without water or food. Frequently my throat was so +parched from thirst that I could not utter a protesting chirp. I knew +no other way to attract attention to my wants than to flutter to the +bars and thrust out my head; unfortunately this action was attributed +to wildness and a desire to escape, and I was allowed to suffer on. +</P> + +<P> +"That bird is the most annoying, restless thing I ever saw," complained +Betty's mother one evening when I was thus trying to tell them my cup +was empty. "It spends all its time poking its head through the wires +or thrashing around in the cage, instead of getting up on its perch and +behaving itself quietly as a decent bird should." +</P> + +<P> +"Do you reckon it's sick?" suggested Betty, and she came to my cage and +looked at me attentively. +</P> + +<P> +"Reckon it's hungry, you mean," growled her father, who was in one +corner of the kitchen cleaning his gun. +</P> + +<P> +"She never feeds it any more," commented the mother. "What's the use +of keeping it? I'd wring its neck and be done with it. Betty don't +keer a straw for it." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, I do," cried the little girl. "I'll get it something to eat this +very minute." +</P> + +<P> +These spasms of attention only lasted a day or two, however, when my +young keeper would lapse into carelessness, and again I would be +allowed to go with an empty crop and a dry throat. My beautiful +plumage grew rusty from this irregularity and continual neglect, and +although I am not a vain bird, my dingy appearance was a source of +daily grief and mortification to me. When Betty was not too busy +playing she sometimes hung my cage outside the door of the cottage, but +often for days together through the pleasant summer I was left hanging +in the kitchen, sometimes half-choked with smoke or dampened with +steam. No wonder I drooped and ceased my cheerful song. +</P> + +<P> +The days when I was put out of doors were indeed gala days to me. Many +families of young chickens lived in the back yard, and the pipings of +the little ones and the scoldings of the mothers when their children +ran too far away from them, were always amusing to listen to and gave +me something to think about which kept my mind off my own troubles. +</P> + +<P> +I liked to watch the hens with their fuzzy broods tumbling about them, +or with the older chicks when they scratched the ground and ceaselessly +clucked for them to come to get their share of what was turned up in +the soil; meanwhile they kept a sharp lookout with their bright eyes to +see that no outsider shared in the feast. And how angrily did they +drive it away should a chick from another brood heedlessly rush in +among them to get a taste. +</P> + +<P> +One old hen in particular interested me very much. I noticed her first +because of her pretty bluish color and the dark markings around her +neck, but I soon came to pity her, for she made herself quite unhappy +and seemed to take no comfort in anything. She was usually tied to a +tree by the leg, and although her string was long it seemed always just +a little too short to reach the thing she wanted. To make matters +worse she had a bad fashion of rushing wildly around the tree and +getting her string wound up shorter and shorter until at last she could +not stir a step, but would hang by one foot foolishly pulling as hard +as she could. It always seemed to me that her chickens were more +disobedient than the rest, because they knew she could not get to them +nor follow them. +</P> + +<P> +Joe sometimes slyly threw pebbles at this blue hen to scare her and +make her jump and pull at the string, when he thought his mother was +not looking. As pay for his sport he often got his ears cuffed, for +though his mother did not seem to notice how cruelly he teased me, she +would not allow him to frighten her fowls. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't you know that a hen that's all the time skeered won't lay?" was +the lesson she tried to impress on him as she punished him. +</P> + +<P> +But the thing I liked best of all was to see Betty's seven white ducks +crowd up to the kitchen door every time any one appeared with a pan of +scraps. Such gabbling and quacking, such pushing and such stepping on +each other and on the chickens, in their eagerness to get there first, +was almost laughable. In fact, the pink-toed pigeons that walked up +and down the ridge of the barn roof, did make fun of them openly. Had +I not known the ducks were well fed and so fat they could scarcely +waddle, I might have thought they were really hungry, but I soon +discovered that they were simply greedy. +</P> + +<P> +Standing on tiptoe and stretching up their long necks they often seized +the food before it had a chance to fall to the ground. By this good +management they usually got more than the chickens. Joe accused Betty +of being partial to the ducks. +</P> + +<P> +"You allus give 'em the best of everything, and twice as much as you do +the chickens," he complained. +</P> + +<P> +"They get the most because they've got the most confidence in me," said +Betty, putting on a very wise look. "They come close up to me, while a +chicken shies off and misses the goodies coz she's silly enough to be +afraid. Besides, the ducks are mine. I raised 'em. I paid twenty +cents a setting for the eggs out of my own money, and when you raise a +thing you generally like it the best. Ducks are a heap smarter'n +chickens, anyway," she asserted. "I never can get one of the chickens +to feed out of a spoon, and the ducks like it the best kind." To +convince him she held toward them a large baking spoon of soured milk. +This milk was thickened into a paste or ball by being put on the stove +and separated from the whey, or watery part, by the action of the heat. +</P> + +<P> +It was a favorite dish with the fowls, and they all smacked their lips +when they saw it coming. +</P> + +<P> +As fast as Betty could fill the spoon it was emptied by the ducks, who +stuck their big yellow bills into it and devoured the contents, letting +the chickens below scramble and push and pick each other for any stray +bits that fell to the ground. +</P> + +<P> +"Didn't I tell you?" said Betty triumphantly. "Them chickens had just +as good a chance as the ducks, but they wouldn't take it." +</P> + +<P> +"Huh!" answered Joe. "Their necks ain't long enough, is what's the +matter." +</P> + +<P> +There were several trees in the yard, and often when the fowls were +fed, birds flew down from their leafy recesses to pick up the crumbs +left lying about. How I used to wish they would come near enough to my +cage that I might converse with them, but it always happened that just +at the time when one of them would settle close to the house, either +Joe's little dog, Colly, would run across the yard, or Betty or her +mother would appear at the door and frighten my feathered friend away. +Only once did I exchange a word with any of these birds, and that for +but a few short minutes. +</P> + +<P> +The bird did not belong to our family, nor had I ever met any of his +relatives before, but that made but little difference. He was a bird, +and that was enough. We did not wait for any formal introduction; but +as he balanced himself on the edge of my cage he hurriedly told me news +of the woods, and how he wished I might get free and come to live +there. He told of the lovely dragon flies, with purple, burnished +wings that floated in the forest, mingling their drowsy hum with the +chirping of the birds. He told of the great mossy carpet spread under +the trees; how at set of day the owls came out, and the moles rustled +in the fallen leaves, and the frogs raised their evening hymn to the +sinking sun. +</P> + +<P> +I could have listened for hours to the sweet familiar tale my feathered +brother told of life in the happy woodland, but Betty's mother suddenly +hurrying out to the pump to fill her bucket, cut short the story, and +away my bird friend skimmed out of sight without so much as saying +"good-bye." Though I saw him several times after that, he never came +so close again. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, what heaps and heaps of fireflies!" exclaimed Betty, as she +unhooked my cage to move me into the house that evening. "It looks as +if our door-yard was full of moving lanterns." +</P> + +<P> +"Nothin' but lightnen bugs!" said Joe contemptuously. "Here, see me +catch 'em," and in a few minutes he showed her a handful which he had +killed by crushing between his hands. +</P> + +<P> +"Hold on, I want to catch some too!" and hustling me into the kitchen, +Betty ran along with him and was soon engaged in catching and killing +the beautiful fireflies. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap09"></A> +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER IX +</H2> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE HUNTERS +</H3> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +Song birds, plumage birds, water fowl, and many innocent birds of prey,<BR> +are hunted from the everglades to the Arctic Circles for the barbaric<BR> +purpose of decorating women's hats. The extent of this traffic is<BR> +simply appalling.—<I>G. O. Shields.</I> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +When Joe and his father came back from their gunning expeditions, the +accounts they gave of the day's slaughter made me very homesick and +miserable, and wore sadly on my spirits in my captivity. +</P> + +<P> +The heartless indifference with which the woman would ask her husband +if it had been "a good day for killings," almost made me wail aloud. +</P> + +<P> +"Best kind of luck; I bagged nearly a hundred this trip," he replied +exultingly, one night when she put the usual question. "The birds were +as thick as blackberries in the high weeds along the creek, and were +havin' a mighty good time stuffing themselves with seeds. Joe fired +the old gun to start 'em and, great Jerushy! in a minute the sky was +dark with 'em; I just blazed away and they dropped thick all around us, +and it kept us tol'ble busy for a while a pickin' 'em up." +</P> + +<P> +"Pop, tell 'em about the old water bird down in the swamp," said Joe +with a wicked laugh. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, tell us; what was it, pop?" urged Betty. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, nothin' partickler, I reckon; just an old bird that hadn't the +grit to get away from me," and the man gave a low chuckle at the +remembrance. +</P> + +<P> +"My, oh! the way them old birds hung around and wouldn't scare worth a +cent when we was right up close to 'em was funny, I tell ye," and Joe +leaned back in his chair and slapped his knees in a fresh burst of +merriment. +</P> + +<P> +"There was eggs in the nest was the cause," said the man; "them birds +are always as tame as kittens then. You can go right up to 'em and +they won't leave the nest. Them birds has two broods in a season, and +then's the chance to get a good whack at 'em." +</P> + +<P> +Joe rubbed his hands together in delight as he turned to his sister, +"You'd ought to have seen 'em, Betty. There was pop in his rubber +boots a creepin' along—a c-r-e-e-p-i-n' along as sly as a mouse toward +'em, and there they stayed. The male bird he fluttered and' squawked, +and the female she stuck to the nest till pop he got right up and he +didn't even have to shoot her. He just clubbed her over the back and +down she went ker-splash as dead as you please. Them there eggs won't +hardly hatch out this year, I don't reckon," and at the prospect Joe +broke into a malicious guffaw. +</P> + +<P> +"I think to club it was meaner'n to shoot the poor thing," said Betty +indignantly. "And, anyway, I wouldn't a-killed it on the nest. It's +mean to treat an 'fectionate bird so." +</P> + +<P> +"Pshaw, you'd do big things!" was Joe's scornful reply. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I wouldn't be so tremenj'us cruel," persisted Betty; "I don't +believe in killing a pretty bird." +</P> + +<P> +"But what would the wimmen do without bunnet trimmen' if we didn't kill +'em, hey?" and Joe finished his question with a taunting whistle. +</P> + +<P> +As the shadows of each evening gathered around the cottage, the shadow +over my life seemed to deepen and grow more gloomy. Outside the door I +could hear the hum of the bees as they flew homeward, the wind-harp +played in the yellow pines its softest, sweetest music, and I scented +the odor of honeysuckles and roses far away. The rushing of the waters +over the stones in the creek tinkled dreamily, but in the midst of all +earth's loveliness I was desolate, because I was not free. +</P> + +<P> +And thus the summer days dragged wearily along, and the autumn came. +It is not surprising then that I was overjoyed when later on I learned +that I was to be given as a present to a young relative of Betty's, who +lived to the northward in a distant State. My present existence had +grown almost intolerable, and I felt that any change could scarcely +make my condition worse, and there was a chance of its being better. +The prospect put new life into me. +</P> + +<P> +Preening my feathers became a pleasant task once more. I whetted my +bill till it glistened, and my long-neglected toilet again became my +daily care. +</P> + +<P> +"I shall be mighty glad to get rid of the mopy creature," Betty's +mother had, said when they talked of my departure. "I wouldn't give +the thing house-room for my part." +</P> + +<P> +"Cousin Polly will like it, though," Betty answered her mother. "Polly +was always fond of pets, and she'll be powerful pleased to get it as a +present from her Southern kinfolks." +</P> + +<P> +"We'll have to go to the cost of a new cage, I reckon, and I don't feel +like spending the money, neither," mused the mother. "Polly might like +a bresspin better. I don't know as it will pay to send her the bird +after all." +</P> + +<P> +How my heart sank at this announcement! so fearful was I that I might +have to remain at the cottage; but Betty's answer gave me new hope. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, certain it will pay!" she exclaimed eagerly. "You know how many +nice things Cousin Dunbar's sent us off-and-on, and only last Christmas +Polly sent me my string of beads. As for giving her a bresspin for a +keepsake, she can get a heap nicer one out of their own store than any +we could send her, and I'm certain she'd like the bird best of all; +it's such a good chance to send it by Uncle Dan when he is going to +their town and can hand it right over to Polly." +</P> + +<P> +"I reckon you're right. Well, it will be only the cost of the cage," +said her mother, and so the matter was settled, much to my satisfaction. +</P> + +<P> +My new cage was very pretty, if anything can be said in praise of a +prison, and was much lighter and pleasanter than the old, heavy, +home-made structure in which I had been shut up so long. Its rim was +painted a cheerful green, and the wires were burnished like gold. +Ornamental sconces held the glass cups for my food and there were +decorated hoops to swing in. Altogether it was a very handsome house, +yet I could not forget it was a prison house. +</P> + +<P> +Betty busied herself in fixing it comfortably for me, and was full of +kind attentions. She begged me many times not to get frightened when +the cover would be put on my cage. The hood was necessary when I was +traveling, but Uncle Dan would be sitting right near me all the time +and would be very good to me. She further assured me that I would find +the motion of the cars delightful, and that all I would have to do was +to sit on my perch and munch my seed and have a good time. How jolly +it would be to go whizzing past fences and over bridges and through +tunnels and towns and never know it, she said. She also charged me +particularly not to be scared when I would hear an occasional horrible +shriek and a rumbling like thunder, as if the day of judgment was at +hand. I must remember it was only the locomotive, and it was obliged +to do those disagreeable things to make the cars go faster'n, faster'n, +faster'n——— +</P> + +<P> +How much faster I did not have time to find out, for Uncle Dan just +then called to get me. A light cover with a hole in the top was +slipped over my cage, and I started on my journey. Of my trip, of +course, I knew nothing. Part of the way we rode in a wagon through the +country to the station where we took the train, but as Uncle Dan did +not remove my cover in the railway car the time spent on the journey +was almost a blank to me. +</P> + +<P> +Right glad was I, after what seemed a long, long time of jarring and +jolting, to find the cage once more swinging from his hand and to hear +the click of his boot heels on the pavements as we went through the +streets of the town where Polly lived. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap10"></A> +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER X +</H2> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +A NEW HOME +</H3> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +Should it happen that the last egret is shot and the last bird of<BR> +paradise is snared to adorn a lady's dress, then—then I would not like<BR> +to be a woman for all that earth could hold.—<I>Herbert O. Ward.</I> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +When at last my covering was removed I found myself in a large, long +room, which I afterward learned was a millinery store. In fact the +store was the front part of the family residence, the living rooms +being behind and upstairs over it. My cage was hung near the wide +doorway at the end of the apartment and my new mistress at once ran to +fill my cup with fresh water and bring me a supply of clean millet. +After I had refreshed myself I began to look about me and study my +strange surroundings. +</P> + +<P> +My new home was so unlike the little log house in the South from which +I had come that it was many days before I could accustom myself to the +clatter of voices which buzzed monotonously all day through the store. +From ten o'clock in the morning, if the day were fine, till three in +the afternoon, the din at times was almost deafening; for it was the +busy season and customers were constantly coming and going, not all of +them to buy, merely to look over the ribbons and tumble up the goods, +as I heard the tired clerks say complainingly more than once. +</P> + +<P> +Numerous glass cases were placed near the walls, and running cross-wise +were a counter and shelves much frequented by ladies who stood eagerly +examining the array of bright gauzes, the glittering buckles, the +flowers and plumes displayed there. And what a chattering they kept +up! What a stir and a hubbub they made! So many "Oh-h's" and +"Ah-h's," so many "How lovely's," and other ecstatic exclamations, were +mingled with their conversation as was quite bewildering. In time, +however, I became accustomed to this and discovered it was simply a way +ladies have of expressing their approval of things in general. Around +the glass cases which held the trimmed hats the women buzzed like a +swarm of flies, their volubility assuming a more emphatic character as +they gazed within at the fashionable headgear placed on long steel +wires. Almost every hat held one, or a part of one, of my slaughtered +race. Frequently there were parts of two or three varieties on one +hat—a tail of one kind, a wing of another, or a head of a different +species. The ends of the world had been searched to make this +patchwork of blood. The women raved over the cruel display; they +gloated over our beauty; but they cared nothing for the pathetic story +the hats told of rifled nests and motherless young. +</P> + +<P> +My new owner was a soft-voiced, gentle child, from whom I soon found I +had nothing to fear. She was most careful to keep my cage in order and +never neglected to feed me. Unlike her little friend Betty, she never +allowed her sports or pleasures to interfere with this duty. Often her +playmates came for a romp in the garden behind the store, but she did +not join them till she had first attended to my wants. I was fond of +having her talk to me, for her voice was sweet and kind, and the little +terms of endearment she often used were very pleasing and made me feel +she was my true friend. She once tried to pet me by stroking my +feathers, but I did not like it. Although I knew she did not mean to +hurt me, the motion of her hand made me nervous. Instead of +persisting, she only said reproachfully, as she put me back on my perch: +</P> + +<P> +"Dear Dickey Downy, why are you afraid of me? Your own little Polly +wouldn't hurt you for the world. I wanted to softly stroke your pretty +plumage just out of pure love and, you dear little coward, you won't +let me." +</P> + +<P> +In her affection for me, Polly did not forget the wild birds outside, +which flew about in the big evergreen trees near the garden gate. She +showed her thoughtfulness for the little creatures by strewing bread +crumbs for them on the window sills on snowy days. She often gathered +up the tablecloth after the housemaid had removed the breakfast dishes +and, running out under the trees, would shake it vigorously that her +wild pets might get all the little pieces of food that fell. Not a +bird came down as long as she remained in the yard, but as soon as she +had tripped back to the house and the door closed upon her brown curls, +I could see a drove of hungry snowbirds swoop from the trees, and in a +minute every crumb would be picked up. I am sure they must have loved +dear little Polly, for many a choice bit did they get through her +kindness. +</P> + +<P> +While the majority of the customers at the store were well-dressed +women, there were many who came to buy hats who looked poor and +pinched. A few looked slatternly. +</P> + +<P> +A sudden swing of their dress skirts would disclose a badly frayed +petticoat or a tattered stocking showing above the shabby shoe. Their +gloveless hands were red and cold and coarse, and the milliner told the +clerk that she dreaded to have them handle her filmy laces or +glistening satins, because their rough fingers stuck to the delicate +fabrics and injured them. +</P> + +<P> +These poor women worked hard, early and late. Beyond the barest +necessities they had little to spare, and yet not a woman among them +would have bought an unfashionable or out-of-date hat could she have +had it at one quarter the price. Feathers were fashionable, and +feathers she must have. Might not one "as well be out of the world as +out of the fashion"? +</P> + +<P> +All this dreadful traffic in my murdered comrades, and their display in +the glass cases as well as on the heads of the customers, naturally +made me very sad, and I now looked with aversion at every woman who +entered the store. But that all were not heartless fiends who were +robed in feminine garb I found out another day when a daintily dressed +lady came in to purchase a winter hat. The contents of the glass cases +were looked over critically for some time before she selected one which +she tried on before the long mirror. The milliner, who deftly adjusted +it for her, tipping it first forward a little, then setting it back a +trifle, stood off now to view the effect, at the same time assuring her +how beautiful it was, and how vastly becoming to her. +</P> + +<P> +"I like this hat very much," said the lady; "or at least I shall like +it when the bird is taken off." +</P> + +<P> +"You think the oriole too gay? Orange is quite the vogue," answered +the milliner, who seemed reluctant to make any change, and yet was +anxious to please her customer. "Perhaps you'd prefer some wings; or +stay, here is a sweet little gull that will go all right with the rest +of the trimming. We will take off the oriole if you wish." +</P> + +<P> +"Thank you, but I have decided not to wear birds any more," said the +customer. +</P> + +<P> +"But the effect would be quite spoiled without a wing, or an aigrette, +or something there," exclaimed the milliner. "You wouldn't like it. I +wouldn't think of taking off the bird, if I were you." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, I shall like it much better with the bird off," returned the lady +quietly. "I have sufficient sins to answer for without any longer +adding the crime of bird slaughter to the list." +</P> + +<P> +The milliner bestowed on her a pitying smile, but evidently was too +politic to get into a discussion of an unpleasant subject. Having +given her final order for the hat, the lady crossed over to the other +side of the room and shook hands with a friend whom she addressed as +Mrs. Brown, who had just come in and was making a purchase at the lace +counter. +</P> + +<P> +"I have been putting my new resolution into effect," she remarked after +the first greetings; "I have just ordered my new hat, and it is not to +have a bird or a wing or a tail on it." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I'm glad to hear of one convert to the gospel of mercy," said Mrs. +Brown heartily. "The apathy of our women on this subject is +heart-sickening. Men are denouncing us; the newspapers are full of our +cruelty; the pulpit makes our heartlessness its theme; and yet we keep +on with our barbarous work with an indifference that must make the +angels weep." +</P> + +<P> +Her face glowed with righteous indignation. It was easy to see that +any cause to which she might commit herself was sure of an ardent and +untiring champion. +</P> + +<P> +"But they tell me that chicken feathers, and those of other domestic +fowls are being largely used now instead of birds," said the other lady. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, yes; they tell us so because they want to prevent us from getting +alarmed, since so much has been said against the destruction of the +birds. It is true that chicken feathers always have been used to some +extent, the straight quills for instance. I know it is frequently +broadly asserted that the most of the birds used are made birds, but +the manufactured creatures are poor deceptions; they are mixed with +bird feathers, and are sold only to the less fastidious customers. The +demand for genuine birds is as great as ever." +</P> + +<P> +"But do you think as many are used now as formerly?" questioned her +companion. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, indeed! Just think of the feather capes and muffs and +collarettes made of birds. The market for them is increasing all the +time. It takes from eighteen to twenty-five skins for each collar, and +I don't know how many for the muffs. Oh, I tell you, women are heaping +up judgment on themselves." +</P> + +<P> +The other lady looked grave. "I understand," said she, "that in many +places down on the New Jersey coast the boatmen have given up fishing, +as they can make so much more money killing terns and gulls for women's +use. They earn fifty dollars a week at it, at ten cents apiece for the +birds. Isn't that a horrible record for women?" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't doubt they earn that much, and perhaps more," answered Mrs. +Brown; "for one season there were thirty thousand terns killed in one +locality alone. And at Cape Cod, and up along the shore near where I +lived, they are slain by thousands every season and shipped to New +York. Oh, I can't tell you how distressing it used to be to hear the +report of the guns day after day and know that every piercing sound was +the sign that more innocent lives were being taken. I used to cover up +my ears and try not to hear them. It made me shiver to know that those +poor gulls were being shot down for nothing. Their only crime +consisted in being beautiful." +</P> + +<P> +Both women turned at that moment attracted by the sight of a young lady +who was standing on the pavement outside in an animated talk with +another girl. +</P> + +<P> +"There's Miss Van Dyke, with her new feather collar on," observed Mrs. +Brown, in a low voice. +</P> + +<P> +The young lady in question was a dashing, radiant creature, bright with +smiles and a face like a picture. On her shapely shoulders was a +magnificent cape, lustrous as satin, of silvery white, into which pale +dark lines softly blended at regular intervals. Twenty-two innocent +lives had been taken to make that little garment. Twenty-two beautiful +grebes slain that their glossy breasts might lend splendor to a lady's +wardrobe. +</P> + +<P> +The two friends looked at Miss Van Dyke in silence for a moment, then +sighed as she passed along out of their view. +</P> + +<P> +"When I see such perversion of woman's nature I wonder that the very +stones do not cry out against us," exclaimed Mrs. Brown. "And mark my +words, the slaughter will go on; the unholy traffic will not long be +confined to grebe's breasts for muffs and cape trimmings. Other birds +will be used. The gentle creatures are not all put on hats." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh! I must not forget to tell you that the new preacher over at the +Second Church has begun a course of lectures on the work of mercy that +women might do. He says that as mothers in the homes, and as teachers +in the public schools and the Sabbath-schools, we have a grand +opportunity." +</P> + +<P> +"So we have; but what avails our opportunity if our eyes are blinded so +that we do not see it?" assented Mrs. Brown. +</P> + +<P> +"Last night," resumed the lady, "he spoke particularly of the crime of +wearing birds; and he accuses us of being more cruel than men." +</P> + +<P> +"He does?" questioned Mrs. Brown, in great surprise. "Why, we all know +that woman's part in this wickedness comes from her desire to look +pretty; at least she thinks that wearing birds adds to her beauty. Her +wickedness does not come from actual love of butchery. But men and +boys have shot innocent creatures since the world began for the mere +brutal pleasure of killing something. It seems as though they were +born with a blood-thirsty instinct, a wanting to destroy life, to hunt +it and shoot it down. They beg to go gunning almost before they are +out of dresses and into trousers. Every mother knows there is a savage +streak in her boy's nature. No," continued Mrs. Brown, with a decisive +nod of her head, "I say let the man who is without sin among them be +the first to cast stones now. Perhaps this very preacher spent all his +Saturdays robbing birds' nests and clubbing birds when he was a little +boy, and kept it up until he was big enough to kill them with a gun. +Of course there are some who do not; not all boys are cruel. But this +cruelty does not excuse ours. Man's wickedness does not make us the +less guilty. We will be held responsible all the same." +</P> + +<P> +The other woman looked thoughtful. "Well," she said at last, "I +haven't quite lost all faith in womanly mercy. Women don't mean to be +cruel; the trouble is they don't think." +</P> + +<P> +"Don't think!" echoed Mrs. Brown scornfully. "Don't think! That is an +excuse entirely too babyish for women to offer in this age of the +world. Do they want to be regarded as irresponsible children forever? +Don't you know that childish thoughtlessness on a subject as important +as the needless taking of life argues tremendously against us? Here we +are at the twentieth century, and with all our boasted advancement we +are as cruel and savage as Fiji Islanders. Oh, don't talk to me about +women!" and she made an outward motion of her hand as if pushing away +an imaginary drove of them that was coming too near. "I haven't a +particle of patience with them. If they're not in the habit of +thinking, let them begin it right off. Let them begin it before the +birds are all destroyed. If they have the least spark of tenderness +left in their hearts———" +</P> + +<P> +The rest of the sentence was lost in the louder tones of a pert little +miss, who in company with her mother was rummaging over a box of +trimmings on the counter nearest my cage. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap11"></A> +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XI +</H2> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE ILL-MANNERED CHILD +</H3> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +O wad some power the giftie gie us<BR> +To see oursel's as ithers see us.<BR> + —<I>Burns.</I> +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +There lived of yore a saintly dame,<BR> +Whose wont it was with sweet accord<BR> +To do the bidding of her Lord<BR> +In quaintly fashioned bonnet<BR> +With simplest ribbons on it. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"I won't have ribbon loops, I tell you," exclaimed the child. "I want +an owl's head and I'm going to have it." +</P> + +<P> +"Why, my dear, the ribbon is ever so much prettier," urged the mother +soothingly. "An owl's head is too old a trimming for your hat, dear. +It wouldn't do at all. Here, select some of this nice ribbon." +</P> + +<P> +"Didn't I say I wouldn't have it?" answered "dear" pettishly, as she +reached into another box containing an assortment of wings, quails, +tails, and parts of various birds jumbled up together. Picking out a +pair of blackbird's wings she placed them jauntily against the rim of +an untrimmed hat which her mother held. +</P> + +<P> +"There, that looks nice," was her comment. "If I can't have an owl's +head I'm going to have these wings." +</P> + +<P> +Her mother mildly assured her that the ribbon was more suitable only to +be met with the reply: "You can wear it yourself then, for I sha'n't +wear it." +</P> + +<P> +This shocking disrespect caused two old ladies who were pricing hat +pins to turn quickly and view the offender. +</P> + +<P> +"Goodness gracious!" ejaculated one of them, drawing a deep breath. +"If that youngster belonged to me for about twenty minutes, wouldn't I +give her something wholesome that she'd remember? I'd take the +tantrums out of her in short order." +</P> + +<P> +"She deserves it, sure," said her companion. "But the mother is more +to blame than the child for letting it grow up with such abominable +manners. I dare say the woman at first thought it was cute and smart +in the little thing, and now she can't help herself. La, sakes! just +listen to that." She re-adjusted her spectacles and gazed with added +interest at the pair in altercation. +</P> + +<P> +With the hat poised on her finger the milliner was bending smilingly +toward the little girl who was giving her order in a very peremptory +tone. +</P> + +<P> +"I want those wings put on my hat. I won't wear it if you trim it only +in ribbon." +</P> + +<P> +The mother seemed a little embarrassed as she told the milliner that +she supposed the hat would have to be trimmed in the way Elsie wanted +it. +</P> + +<P> +"Humph! I knew the child would get what she wanted," observed the old +lady who had first spoken. "I felt all the time that the mother would +have to give in. What on earth did she let her take those big black +wings for? Two of those little yellow sugar birds would have been +better for a child's hat. The idea of letting a youngster rule you +that way! My!" and then she took another deep breath. "She needs a +trouncing, if ever a child did," and with that she and her friend +resumed their shopping. +</P> + +<P> +The cloud had vanished from Elsie's face, and all was serene again. +Her mother seemed somewhat ashamed of her little girl's bad manners, as +was shown by her apologetic air when she observed to the trimmer that +Elsie was as queer a child as ever lived. When she set her mind on a +thing, it was so hard for her to give it up. +</P> + +<P> +They waited for the new hat to be trimmed, and on its completion Elsie +seized it and put it on her head, much against her mother's wishes, who +preferred not to have it displayed until the next day at Sunday-school; +but the insistence of the child was so vehement that again the mother +thought it wise to yield, and Elsie tripped off in triumph to the other +end of the store with the black wings showing out stiffly on each side +of her head. The mother remarked, with forced playfulness, as she +watched her, "Elsie's a g-r-e-a-t girl, I tell you. You can't fool +her." +</P> + +<A NAME="img-144"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG SRC="images/img-144.jpg" ALT="The Baltimore Oriole" BORDER="2" WIDTH="630" HEIGHT="857"> +<H4> +[Illustration: The Baltimore Oriole.] +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<P> +As the trimmer returned the boxes to the shelves, I overheard her +mutter, "Oh, yes, Elsie is a g-r-e-a-t girl, a perfect little jewel, so +well-behaved. Her polite manners show her careful home training; quite +a reflection on her dear mamma." But from the peculiar laugh she gave +I didn't believe she really meant it as praise. +</P> + +<P> +When the nights grew longer and the store was closed for the evening, +the milliner and her husband usually spent an hour or two in the back +room looking over the newspaper which came every day from the city. +The man always turned at once to the wheat reports, and the price of +wool, which he read aloud to his wife, though I could see she did not +care very much to hear about them; but she hunted first for the fashion +notes and the bargains in millinery before she read the other news. +One night while thus engaged she suddenly exclaimed: +</P> + +<P> +"Here's something that is bound to hurt trade." +</P> + +<P> +By trade she meant the millinery business. +</P> + +<P> +"What is it?" her husband inquired, looking over the top of the page he +held. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, here's a lot of women who have been meeting in a convention in +Chicago and getting excited and losing their heads, and passing some +ridiculous resolutions." +</P> + +<P> +"What kind of resolutions?" he inquired. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, they've been denouncing the fashion of wearing birds. They belong +to a society called—called—something or other, I forget what. Let me +see," and she ran her eye down the column. "Oh, yes, here it is. They +are members of the O'Dobbin society, and they got so wrought up on the +subject they took the feathers out of their hats right there in the +meeting and vowed never to wear bird trimming again. Well, if such +outlandish notions spread, you'll soon see how it will injure the +millinery trade." +</P> + +<P> +"Pshaw! you needn't worry. The protests of a handful of fanatical +women can't do your business any harm," he answered carelessly, and +turned to his paper again. +</P> + +<P> +She shook her head. "I'm not so sure of that. I think there are some +women in this very town just cranky enough to endorse such foolishness. +There's Mrs. Judge Jenkins for one. I've never yet been able to sell +her a real stylish hat. She won't wear birds, because she thinks it's +wicked. I hope to goodness she won't consider it her duty to start an +O'Dobbin society here." +</P> + +<P> +From the depths of my heart I blessed those kind women who had shown +their disapproval of the nefarious traffic in bird life, and had +pledged themselves to our protection. True, they were but a handful +compared with the millions whom the god Fashion still held in bondage, +only a handful who were fighting the good fight; but would not the +influence of their noble example and their pledge of mercy be spread +abroad till all the women in Christian lands would join in the crusade +against the wrong? +</P> + +<P> +In my joy at the thought I chirped so loudly that the lady looked up +from her reading. She seemed suddenly to recall a thought as she +glanced at my cage, for she said, "I must not forget to ask Katharine +if she can take the bird home with her next week and keep it while +Polly is gone to the country. I'll be sure to forget to feed it. +Anyway, I haven't time to bother with it." +</P> + +<P> +The day before Polly left for the country I heard her inquiring for the +"Daily," which I remembered was the name they called the newspaper +containing the account of the noble city ladies who had pledged +themselves not to wear us any more. +</P> + +<P> +"Tuesday's paper?" her mother asked; she was busy at the time fastening +a poor, little, mute swallow on a rich hat. "Perhaps it was thrown +behind the counter. Did you want it for any special purpose?" +</P> + +<P> +Polly replied that she wanted to read something in it. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, it is probably torn up by this time," said her mother. "If it +isn't on the table in the back room, or on the shelf by the window, or +behind the counter, I'm sure I don't know where it is." +</P> + +<P> +The young clerk who was arranging the goods on the counter had heard +Polly's inquiry, and she now asked if it was the newspaper that told +about the women who thought it wrong to wear birds. It seemed to me +that Polly hesitated a little as she replied that that was the very +paper she wanted. +</P> + +<P> +"Goodness, child, is that the piece you want to read?" Her mother's +voice sounded rather sharp, as if she were vexed. "I hope that subject +hasn't turned your head too," but she said no more, for just then a +customer coming in, she laid down her work and went forward to greet +her. +</P> + +<P> +Polly looked troubled, but she confided to Miss Katharine that she +wanted very much to read the account. +</P> + +<P> +"Fortunately I cut the piece out to give to my sister. I knew she'd be +interested in it, but I have always forgotten to give it to her," said +the clerk. She seemed to be very much in earnest as she continued, "I +do wish something could be done to save the birds. If women must have +feathers, why can't they content themselves with wearing ostrich tips +and plumes? There is nothing cruel or wicked in the way they are +procured." +</P> + +<P> +She opened the little satchel hanging at her belt, and from it took a +folded slip of paper which she handed to Polly, telling her she might +have it to read, and when she had finished it to please bring it back +to her. Polly thanked her, and ran away to a quiet corner of the back +room, where I saw her slowly reading the clipping as she rocked herself +in her pretty birch chair. When she had read it through, she sat for +some time looking very thoughtful. At last she rose and carried the +paper back to Miss Katharine, halting a moment as she passed my cage, +to whisper softly: +</P> + +<P> +"Dickey Downy, you dear little fellow, I'm going upstairs right this +very minute to take the feathers off my best Sunday hat and I'm never, +never going to wear birds any more." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap12"></A> +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XII +</H2> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +TWO SLAVES OF FASHION +</H3> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +I do not like the fashion of your garments.<BR> + —<I>Shakespeare.</I> +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +I'm sure thou hast a cruel nature and a bloody.<BR> + —<I>Shakespeare.</I> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Two young ladies, fashionably dressed, met each other that afternoon +just in front of our side window, which had been raised to let in the +air. From the warmth of their greeting I saw that they were on terms +of friendly intimacy. +</P> + +<P> +One of the girls stood a little out of the range of my vision, +therefore I could not hear her voice when she talked, if, indeed, she +had a chance to say anything, but the vivacious monologue carried on by +her friend was amply sufficient to show the theme which interested them. +</P> + +<P> +How glibly that pretty creature chattered! How fast the words flew! +How she arched her eyebrows and shrugged her shoulders and winked her +eyes and wrinkled her forehead and pursed her rosy lips and tilted her +nose and gesticulated with her slender hand and tapped the pavement +with her umbrella point, passing from each phase of expression to the +next with a rapidity truly wonderful. Occasionally she went through +with these strange grimaces all at once. She was indeed a whirlwind of +language, an avalanche of emotion. +</P> + +<P> +Her voice was high pitched and shrill, so that every one on the street +must have heard her as she exclaimed: +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Nell, how perfectly lovely your new hat is! Turn around so that I +can see the other side. Oh-h, ah-h, that darling little bird with its +glossy plumage among the velvet is too sweet for anything! If anything +it is prettier than Kate Smith's hat with the thrush's head and wings, +although I'll admit hers is awfully stylish. You ought to see my new +hat. Ah, I tell you it's a beauty; soft crown of silvery stuff, and on +one side a tall aigrette and a dear little cedar-bird, and toward the +back is the cutest, cunningest humming-bird with its tiny green body +and long bill. It looks as if it were ready to fly or to sing. I +selected the trimming for sister May's new hat too. It is brown velvet +and has an oriole on it; you know they are so showy and bright it makes +you almost think you are in the woods. At Madame Oiseau Mort's, where +I get my millinery, there was another hat I had a notion to take. It +was built up with robins' wings and part of a tern was on it too, I +believe—just lovely! but afterward I was glad I didn't buy it, for +that decoration is more common. I counted nine hats in church last +Sunday trimmed with gulls. Of course they were pretty, for a handsome +bird makes any hat pretty. +</P> + +<P> +"By the way, Nell, I must tell you something perfectly ridiculous! Do +you know papa pretends it's wicked for women to wear birds on their +hats or trim their gowns with feather trimming? Did you ever? I told +him we'd be a mighty sorry-looking set going around like a lot of +female Dunkards or Salvation Army women, without a bit of style, and he +said those women hadn't the sin on their souls of wearing birds that +had been killed on purpose to minister to their vanity; that he'd +rather be a peaceful-faced Dunkard woman or Salvationist with her plain +bonnet and her gentle heart than a gay society butterfly with her empty +head loaded down with dead birds. +</P> + +<P> +"Isn't it perfectly horrid for him to talk like that? He is such an +old fogy in his ideas he actually makes me tired. Then he went on to +say that never again could he believe that women are the tender-hearted +creatures they have always been supposed to be, when they show +themselves so eager to be decked with the innocent songsters whose +lives are sacrificed by the million on the altar of fashion; the men +have always been taught that woman's nature was morally superior to +theirs, but we'd have to give up this criminal fad which we have +persisted in at such a fearful price of bird life before we could be +regarded as other than monstrously cruel and bloody. However, he +prophesied that the fashion can't continue much longer anyway, because +there soon won't be any birds left, and then, he says, we'll have a +world without its sweetest music. It will be hushed by the folly of +woman. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Nell, don't you dislike to have anybody lecture you like that? It +makes one feel so uncomfortable. I don't suppose it's so very wrong to +wear bird trimming or our minister's wife wouldn't do it. You know her +black velvet hat with that big bird on it with the red points on the +wings, is one of the most striking hats that come to church. And her +feather muff is so elegant, awfully expensive too. And what would her +hat look like without that bird on it, I'd like to know? So if it +isn't wicked for her it isn't wicked for us, Nell, and I'm not going to +give up looking nice just to please papa. He'd like to have me dress +as antiquated as old Mrs. Noah when she came out of the ark, but I'm +not going to encourage him in his old-fashioned notions. And here, +Nell, just listen to this! Don't you think, he says the Episcopal +Prayer Book ought to be revised for the women worshipers and omit that +part of the litany where it says, 'From pride, vain-glory, and +hypocrisy, good Lord, deliver us.' What fol-de-rol!" And being out of +breath she stopped talking and they walked away down the street +together. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap13"></A> +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XIII +</H2> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +DICKEY'S VISIT +</H3> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +Kind hearts are more than coronets.<BR> + —<I>Tennyson.</I> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Plainly furnished and small was the house to which I was taken by Miss +Katharine to stay during Polly's absence at her grandmother's in the +country. But though it was destitute of fine furnishings, it was the +abode of peace and love, and its lowly roof sheltered noble and kindly +hearts. The two sisters lived there alone, supported mainly by +Katharine's earnings in the millinery store, though occasionally the +sister, who was lame, added something to their little income by making +paper flowers and other articles of bright tissues. It was her +business to keep the house while Miss Katharine was at the shop, and +very long and lonely the hours must have seemed to her while her sister +was away. +</P> + +<P> +The first day I was there a boy whom she addressed as John Charles came +to the house. Apparently he had been carefully trained, for he raised +his cap when the lame girl opened the door to his knock. His manners +were fine, for he remained standing after he entered until she had +first seated herself, as if to say, "A gentleman will not sit while a +lady stands." +</P> + +<P> +He had come to inquire if she wished to buy some cooking apples. +</P> + +<P> +"They are very nice," said John Charles briskly, quite as if he were an +old salesman. "No mashed or decayed ones among them." +</P> + +<P> +"I have been wanting some apples," said Eliza. "If I knew what yours +were like I might buy some." +</P> + +<P> +"I have a few here to show," and John Charles drew from a small paper +sack one or two bright rosy apples. "There, try one," he said. "You +will find them nice and juicy and sour enough to cook quickly." +</P> + +<P> +Eliza bit into one and expressed her approval of the fruit. "They will +make delicious apple-sauce, I'm sure," she said. After inquiring the +price she told the young merchant he might carry in a peck. +</P> + +<P> +With a business-like flourish John Charles took a small note-book and +pencil from his pocket and wrote something at the top of the leaf. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm not delivering now," he said as he returned the note-book to his +pocket. "I'm only taking orders; but I'll have your apples here in an +hour." +</P> + +<P> +Eliza bit her lip to keep back a smile. A boy in knee pants +transacting business like a grown man, appeared quite amusing to her. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I see," she said. "You take orders for your goods. You don't +sell from door to door." +</P> + +<P> +"No, indeed!" answered John Charles with a lofty air. "That's too much +like peddling. I won't peddle. I prefer to get regular customers and +take orders and fill them." +</P> + +<P> +While he had been talking he had been glancing toward me where I hung +in the window, and he now politely asked if he might come to look at +me. Eliza gave a surprised consent, but watched the boy closely as he +stood near and chirped to me calling me, "Po-o-o-r Dickey Downy," as +soon as he found out my name. I saw from the way Eliza kept her eyes +on his movements that she was expecting he would do something to hurt +me, but in this she was pleasantly disappointed, for he never once +touched my cage and cooed as softly when he spoke to me as Polly +herself might have done. +</P> + +<P> +I was quite afraid of him at first, for ever since my experience with +the wicked schoolboys who clubbed us in the linden trees, and my later +experience with Joe, I disliked boys very much. +</P> + +<A NAME="img-160"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG SRC="images/img-160.jpg" ALT="The Baltimore Oriole" BORDER="2" WIDTH="630" HEIGHT="809"> +<H4> +[Illustration: The Bobolink.] +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<P> +When John Charles had bidden Eliza "good-morning" and tipped his hat +again and the door closed after him, she said to me: "Why, Dickey, that +was a new kind of a boy! He never once tried to hurt you or to scare +you. It shows that all boys are not rough, and I shall always like +John Charles, for he is a little gentleman." +</P> + +<P> +To this sentiment I fully agreed, and I thought, "Alas! why are not all +boys as gentle as John Charles?" +</P> + +<P> +In a few hours I felt as much at home with Eliza as if I had always +lived there, and I was much pleased when I heard her tell Katharine at +the supper table the next evening how much she had enjoyed having me +with her. +</P> + +<P> +"A bird is ever so much better company than a clock," she said; "though +when I'm here by myself I always like to hear the clock tick. It seems +as if I were not so entirely alone. But a bird is better. I talked to +Dickey to-day and he twittered back. He has such a cute way of perking +his little head to one side just as knowing as you please, and he acts +exactly as if he were considering whether he should answer 'yes' or +no' to what I say, and then it is such fun to watch him smooth down his +feathers. He washes and irons them so nicely and works away as +industriously as if he were afraid he'd lose his 'job.'" +</P> + +<P> +Miss Katharine rose from the table and stuck a lump of sugar for me to +taste between the wires of my cage. +</P> + +<P> +"I am surrounded by poor dead birds in the store all day," she +observed, "and spend so much of my time sewing their wings and heads +and tails on hats and sort boxfuls of them for customers to look at, +that even a living bird saddens me." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, it must be very depressing. What a shame to kill them; they are +so cute and pretty and such happy little creatures! See how cunning he +looks nibbling at that sugar," and the sister joined Miss Katharine in +watching me. +</P> + +<P> +"But do you know, Kathy, I don't believe that women would continue +wearing bird trimmings if they stopped a minute to think about it. It +doesn't seem wrong to them because they never considered the question. +They simply haven't thought about it at all." +</P> + +<P> +"Somebody set the fashion and they all followed like a flock of sheep," +answered the other with a sneering laugh. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, that's just the way. They go along without thinking. They only +know it is the style, and they don't stop to inquire whether it can be +indulged in innocently or hurtfully. Now I believe that if their +attention was particularly called to it, the most of them would quit +it." +</P> + +<P> +Miss Katharine brightened into a smile and half unclasped her little +satchel. +</P> + +<P> +"If a bird could talk," pursued the lame girl, "what a revelation it +could make. What lovely things it could tell us of that upper kingdom +of the air where it floats and the distant land it sees! What sweet +secrets of nature it knows that man with all his wisdom can never find +out. And then its gift of song! Why, if thousands and thousands of +dollars were spent in training the finest voice in the world it could +never equal the notes of a bird. A woman who could perfectly imitate a +lark's carol would make her fortune in a month. The world would go +wild over her." +</P> + +<P> +"But as she can't do that she has the lark killed to stick on her hat, +and then she goes wild over it," interrupted Miss Kathy. +</P> + +<P> +Her sister smiled at this outburst and continued: "While I was working +at that morning-glory wreath to-day I couldn't help but watch this bird +of Polly's with its innocent little antics, and it made me see more +than ever how wrong it is to cage and kill them. I just felt as though +I ought to do something to help save the birds and, Kathy, I wonder if +we were to invite some of our friends here some evening and call their +attention to the subject, and explain the wrong to them, if we couldn't +do some good that way? Maybe they'd decide not to wear birds on their +hats." +</P> + +<P> +"We might try, sister, I would be perfectly willing to try; but I'm +afraid it wouldn't do much good, for we have but little influence. As +long as fashionable and wealthy ladies will do it, the poorer classes +will not give it up very readily." +</P> + +<P> +"But they have hearts which can be appealed to. They have feelings +which can be roused," answered the lame girl eagerly. "Being alone so +much I have more time to think over these things than the shop girls +who are hurried and busy all day, and perhaps nobody has ever tried to +show them how wrong it is; but I really believe some of them could be +influenced, if once they would seriously think of the wrong they are +doing. That is the reason, Kathy, I suggested to get a lot of them +together to talk about saving the birds." +</P> + +<P> +The gentle cripple had never even heard of the great Audubon. She did +not know that societies existed in many States called by the name of +the distinguished naturalist, engaged in the same merciful work. +</P> + +<P> +Miss Katharine drew from the satchel the paper clipping and handed it +to her sister, saying: "This is a coincidence surely; I cut this out of +the daily paper at the store some time ago, intending to give it to +you, but I always forgot it. It is an account of the proceedings of a +convention in one of the big cities. You will see by reading it that +somebody else has been thinking your identical thoughts." +</P> + +<P> +"How lovely that is!" exclaimed Eliza when she had carefully read the +notice. "How I should have enjoyed being at that meeting. We will +help those people all we can, Kathy, by stirring up our acquaintances +here. You invite the girls for tomorrow night and I'll have the house +ready for them." +</P> + +<P> +That I had been an inspiration to this gentle girl in her work of mercy +was a great joy to me, and all the next day I was constantly bursting +into a round of cheerful twitters and I swung myself in my hoop as fast +as I could make it go. +</P> + +<P> +The best room was swept and dusted with the greatest care, and a few +extra chairs moved in from other parts of the house. My cage was +transferred from its usual hook to the parlor, and about eight o'clock +the guests thronged in and soon every seat was filled. They were +principally girls who were clerks in stores, or worked in shops and +offices, and many of them were very smartly dressed. A few, like Miss +Katharine and her sister, were more plainly attired; but all were +lively and full of girlish fun and seemed to enjoy being together. My +cage hung in view of every one, and I was proud to be selected as an +object-lesson by the lame hostess in her introductory appeal to her +guests to help save the birds. She so presented the facts that before +the evening was over she had roused an enthusiasm in some of them +almost equal to her own, and several pledges were given not to wear +birds again. +</P> + +<P> +"There is something new in the way of womanly cruelty which isn't so +well known as the destruction of the birds," remarked one of the +company. "The humane society ought to get after the women who wear +baby lamb trimming." +</P> + +<P> +"The way sealskins are procured is also very cruel," said another girl. +</P> + +<P> +"I have never read much about it," answered Eliza, "but it surely +cannot be so wicked as killing song birds, because the sealskin is an +article of clothing which serves to keep the body warm, while a dead +bird sewed on your hat is merely for show and doesn't keep you warm or +cool or anything else." +</P> + +<P> +"It is not the use that is made of the sealskin that is wrong, but the +cruelty of the hunters in getting it," replied the young lady who had +first spoken. "They say when the parent seal is captured the young one +cries for it exactly as a human baby cries after its mother. It is +most pitiful to hear it wail. The branding of the poor creatures is a +most brutal thing." +</P> + +<P> +"Why are they branded?" asked Kathy. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, you know, for some years there has been a great strife between +the United States and Canada, principally over the seal fisheries. +Each was afraid the other would get more than its share. To put a stop +to the seals being entirely killed off, as was likely to be the case +since so many poachers were in the business, one of our government +agents suggested that the seals should be branded. They drive them +into pens and burn them with red-hot irons." +</P> + +<P> +"It isn't likely that any of us will be called upon to deny ourselves +the wearing of baby lamb, as it is quite expensive, but we can condemn +it by word if not by example," observed Kathy. +</P> + +<P> +The good-nights were said and the company dispersed, not so jolly and +noisy as they came, but with thoughtfulness arising from awakened +consciences. The humble lame girl had sowed the good seed. +</P> + +<P> +Polly was to come back from her grandmother's the next week and, though +I looked forward with pleasure to being with her again, I felt sorry to +leave this peaceful home. The worthy lives and beautiful aims of these +obscure girls of whom the world knew nothing was a sweet remembrance to +carry with me. +</P> + +<P> +"Thank Polly for me for Dickey Downy's visit and tell her whenever she +wants to go away anywhere I'll be glad to take care of him for her," +Eliza said when the time came for me to go. +</P> + +<P> +She gave the cage into Miss Kathy's hand. I chirped a farewell to her +and she whistled back to me and we parted to see each other no more. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap14"></A> +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XIV +</H2> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE COUNTRY SCHOOL +</H3> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.<BR> + —<I>Bible.</I> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Polly's welcome to me was most cordial. She was bright as a cricket +and full of chat about her visit. With her usual care she examined my +cage closely to see that everything was in order and petted and praised +me for a little while to my full content, then ran to Miss Kathy to +tell her of the new story book which had been presented to her while +away. +</P> + +<P> +"And I am going to read you the stories some day," she added. +</P> + +<P> +Her young playmates flocked in to see her and as I listened to their +glad voices my heart yearned more than ever for my comrades of the +woods, for a thought of spring was in the air. +</P> + +<P> +As the days went by there were indeed signs all around that spring was +on the way. The wind no longer bellowed hoarsely in the treetops, but +had a mellow, musical sound and the raindrops that struck the window +pane trickled softly as if glad to come out of the clouds. +</P> + +<P> +Just after school one bright afternoon Polly came to the door on the +side porch and called in to Miss Katharine: +</P> + +<P> +"I'll be playing out in the yard awhile. Louise and Nancy have come to +stay till half-past five o'clock, so if mother needs me you'll know +where to find me." +</P> + +<P> +"All right" said Miss Kathy. "Go on and have a jolly time." +</P> + +<P> +And a jolly time they had, judging from the merry shouts that came in +through the open door. +</P> + +<P> +"I've got your tag! I've got your tag!" I could hear Polly say, and +then there was a great scampering of feet and roars of laughter as they +chased each other up and down the walks. This was kept up for some +minutes, then a voice began: +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +"Intery-mintery, cutery-corn,<BR> +Apple-seed and briar-thorn,<BR> +Wire, briar, limber-lock,<BR> +Three geese in one flock;<BR> +One flew east and one flew west<BR> +And one flew over the cuckoo's nest." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Louise, you're out! It's your turn first." +</P> + +<P> +"I wonder if we are the geese?" said Nancy. Then they all giggled as +if what she had said was very funny. +</P> + +<P> +"Louise, Louise, look, look! You're going to have good luck," +presently shouted two voices. "A ladybird has lighted on your +shoulder." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, goody!" said Louise. "I wonder what my good luck is going to be?" +</P> + +<P> +"Shake it off, Louise, let it light on me," said Nancy. "I want good +luck to come to me too." +</P> + +<P> +"It is just the color of my new crimson dress," declared Polly. +</P> + +<P> +"Only your red dress hasn't spots on it," corrected Louise. +</P> + +<P> +"No, but the red is about the same shade as my dress. Oh, girls, +wouldn't a row of ladybirds for buttons be pretty on my waist?" +</P> + +<P> +At this quaint conceit the three girls all giggled again. +</P> + +<P> +"I do think they are the cutest little bugs. I never get tired of +looking at them," observed Polly. +</P> + +<P> +"Bugs? You wouldn't call them bugs, would you?" inquired Louise. "I +think they are little beetles." +</P> + +<P> +"Beetles? No, no," said Polly and Nancy both in one breath, "A beetle +is a big black thing that flies around only at dusk." +</P> + +<P> +"Do you suppose your father would know?" asked Louise of Polly. "Let's +take it in the house and ask him, and so settle whether it is bug or +beetle." +</P> + +<P> +And they came running into the sitting room behind the store to show +the lady-bird to Polly's father, who was there looking over his paper. +</P> + +<P> +"Is it a bug or a beetle?" they asked. +</P> + +<P> +He laid down the paper and looked at the pretty little insect a moment. +</P> + +<P> +"It is a ladybird." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, of course, we know that, papa; but Nancy and I say it is a bug, +and Louise says it's a beetle," explained Polly. +</P> + +<P> +"Louise is right," was his reply. "It is classed as a beetle. It is +one of the best friends the farmer has, and the fruit grower too." +</P> + +<P> +"How is it useful to him?" asked Nancy. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, it eats the lice that spoil certain plants and leaves and grain. +I notice that the Australian government is—Do you girls know where +Australia is?" he asked, interrupting himself. +</P> + +<P> +"Of course we do," they all shouted with much laughing, as if it were a +great joke to ask them such a question. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I was going to tell you that the Australian government is taking +steps to encourage the ladybird on purpose to help the fruit farmers of +that country. Perhaps they have heard that it brings good luck," he +added with a smile. +</P> + +<P> +"Let's show it to Dickey Downy and then put it out of the door and let +it go home," said Polly. +</P> + +<P> +"Dickey Downy wouldn't know a lady-bird from a grasshopper," answered +Nancy teasingly. +</P> + +<P> +Polly retorted, "Don't be too sure! Dickey is a very intelligent bird, +a very extraordinary bird." +</P> + +<P> +She contented herself with paying me compliments, for instead of +bringing the crimson beetle into the store she opened the window and +let him fly away. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I'm glad I have learned something new about ladybirds," remarked +Louise, as she tied her hat strings ready to go home. +</P> + +<P> +"And I too," chimed in Nancy. "I am glad the Australians prize the +pretty little creatures. It's nice to be useful and handsome too." +</P> + +<P> +Then both girls said good-bye and ran home. +</P> + +<P> +A few days later Polly announced to Miss Kathy that she was ready to +read the long promised tale. +</P> + +<P> +"Mother says you will be in the back room sewing this afternoon, so I +will bring my little rocker and sit here and read to you. My book is +full of beautiful stories about children and birds and bees." +</P> + +<P> +I too anticipated a pleasant afternoon, for my cage still hung within +the doorway where I could hear and see all that took place in both +apartments. Soon after dinner Miss Kathy appeared in the back room +with her thimble and scissors and seated herself at the work-table. +Polly drew up her chair beside her. The book she held was a pretty +little affair bound in red with a silver inscription on the covers, and +after being duly admired by both, Polly opened it and selected the +following story, which she read aloud: +</P> + +<BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE MOUNT AIRY SCHOOL. +</H3> + +<P> +The breath of blossoms was in the air and spicy scents from the woods +that lined the lane on each side came floating to the delighted senses +of a little girl who drove slowly along the road leading to Mount Airy +School. +</P> + +<P> +Young horses frisked in the pastures or came whinnying to the fence as +she passed. Lazy cows cropped the grass at the sides of the road, +pushing their heads into the zigzag corners of the rail fence in +pursuit of the tender clover that had crept through from the thrifty +meadows. +</P> + +<P> +The school was a little brick structure standing back a short distance +from the road, with a playground on each side as enchantingly beautiful +as it was novel to Alice Glenn, the little girl who had come from town +by invitation of the teacher to visit the school. Accustomed to the +severer discipline of the graded school of which she was a member, the +unconventional ways of these children amused the young visitor greatly. +But who could study on a morning like this, with the delicious warbling +of the birds sounding in one's ears? +</P> + +<P> +Who could be expected to take an interest in nouns and adverbs while +his heart was out in the woods with the bugs and bees or with the sheep +over in yonder field, whose ba-a, ba-a, was borne in distinctly through +the open door? +</P> + +<P> +"I'm sure I would never have my lessons if I went to school here in the +summer time," thought Alice as she glanced over the room. "The country +is too lovely to be spoiled by school books. Why, that boy has a +wounded bird in his desk! I wonder if Miss Harper knows?" And a +moment after, Alice met the bold, defiant look of the boy himself, +which seemed to say, "Well, what are you going to do about it? That +bird belongs to me." +</P> + +<P> +The history class being called at this moment the big boy got up, +shoved the little creature to the farthest corner of his desk and +giving Alice a parting scowl, went forward to recite his lesson. +Notwithstanding her desire to befriend the feathered captive she soon +became interested in the class and could scarcely refrain from laughing +outright at the answer to the teacher's question, "What happened at +Bunker Hill?" +</P> + +<P> +"Old Bunker died." +</P> + +<P> +This was bawled out by a freckled-faced boy, who reminded her of a +rabbit, owing to a fashion he had of twitching his nose and keeping it +in motion in some mysterious way. Even the teacher wanted to laugh, +but assuming her sternest manner she speedily restored order. +</P> + +<P> +It was during the arithmetic lesson that Alice's heart went out in pity +for the youthful instructor. The majority of the pupils were bright; +but an unruly fraction, one child, refused to comprehend. +</P> + +<P> +"If a family consume a barrel of flour in nine weeks, what part of a +barrel will they use in one week, Matilda?" +</P> + +<P> +Matilda rolled her blue eyes up to the ceiling as if to find the answer +there, then studied a board in the floor for several minutes, then +slowly shook her head and sat down. A dozen hands were raised, and the +teacher nodded permission to a small boy who analyzed it successfully. +</P> + +<P> +"Now, Matilda, you try it." +</P> + +<P> +But Matilda shook her head and fidgeted with her apron string. +</P> + +<P> +"Try it, and we will help you," persisted the teacher. +</P> + +<P> +Thus urged, Matilda cleared her throat, folded her arms and began: "If +nine persons use a barrel of flour in nine weeks, in one week they +would use nine times nine, which is eighty-one." +</P> + +<P> +"What! eighty-one barrels? But, Matilda, it makes no difference about +the number of persons. It may be one hundred or it may be twenty. +Suppose it were a bushel of potatoes they consumed in nine weeks. How +many would they use in one week?" +</P> + +<P> +The girl again shook her head and resumed her upward gaze. +</P> + +<P> +"Would they not use one-ninth of a bushel? Or, we'll take a peach for +instance." +</P> + +<P> +Matilda's face brightened perceptibly and almost lost its look of +dejection. The teacher noted the change and smiled encouragingly as +she said: +</P> + +<P> +"We'll suppose a peach will last you nine days. What part of it will +you eat in one day?" +</P> + +<P> +The expectant look faded out of the poor girl's face. One peach to +last nine days! No wonder the question seemed impossible of solution. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, then," said Miss Harper quite in despair and almost perspiring +in her effort to make it plain to the child, "we'll let the peach go. +Suppose instead, it were a watermelon. If you ate a carload of +watermelons in nine days, what part of a carload would you eat in one +day?" +</P> + +<P> +At the mention of her favorite fruit, Matilda's eyes glistened, her +features relaxed into a broader smile, and almost before the teacher +had finished she had her answer ready and gave a correct analysis. +Watermelons had won. +</P> + +<P> +At last the little clock that ticked away the hours on the teacher's +table pointed to the time for the noon intermission, and with a whoop +and halloo almost deafening, the pupils rushed out with dinner pails +and baskets to eat their luncheon in the shady woods. +</P> + +<P> +Miss Harper led Alice away to her boarding-place across the fields. +Scarcely taking time to taste the different kinds of jams, jellies, +grape-butter, and other sauces set out by the hostess in special honor +of the young visitor, Alice hastily dispatched her dinner and was soon +back at the playground, where she found a bevy of girls seated on a big +grapevine which one of the larger girls was swinging backward and +forward amid shouts of glee. Nearby two gingham sunbonnets bobbed up +and down as their owners bent their heads to watch a speckled lady-bug +crawl up a twig. +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +"Lady-bug, lady-bug, fly away home,<BR> +Your house is on fire, your children will roam," +</P> + +<P> +repeated Esther in a low monotone. +</P> + +<P> +"See, it's going now. I wonder whether it really understands us?" +</P> + +<P> +"Of course it does," replied her companion positively. +"Daddy-long-legs are real smart too. I caught one last night and I +said over three times, 'Tell me which way our cow goes or I will kill +you,' and it pointed in the direction of our pasture lot every time." +</P> + +<P> +"You wouldn't really have killed the poor thing, though," exclaimed +Alice, who had drawn near to look at the crimson lady-bug. "A +daddy-long-legs is such a harmless creature. It has a right to live as +well as we have." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Caleb, did you catch it?" interrupted Matilda. "Bring it here!" +and she beckoned to a small boy who was busy near a large beech tree +some distance away. "He's been after a tree-frog," she explained. +"There's one up in that tree that sings the cutest every evening and +morning. I hear him when I am gathering bluebells." +</P> + +<P> +"It's pretty near dead," said the boy bringing his trophy. "I guess I +squeezed it too hard. We might as well kill it." +</P> + +<P> +"No, no! that would be cruel; the poor little thing will soon be all +right if you put it back on its tree. We'll go with you and help you +put it up," replied Alice. "Come on, girls." +</P> + +<P> +"It ain't hardly worth the trouble," and the boy looked at the frog +disdainfully. "It's uglier than a toad, if anything. But I never kill +toads; I know better'n to do that." +</P> + +<P> +"I am glad to hear it," said the visitor from town as they turned +toward the elm tree. "Toads enjoy life and it's wicked to molest 'em." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I don't know about their enjoyin' life. The reason I let 'em +alone is, coz if you kill a toad, your cow'll give bad milk." +</P> + +<P> +Alice did not dispute this wise statement. She could not help wishing +that the same law of retaliation protected all birds, beasts, and +insects. +</P> + +<P> +After seeing the frog deposited in safety in a hole in one of the big +boughs, she with Matilda and Esther scampered back to the swing +expecting to find the others there. To their surprise the big +grapevine was unoccupied, and the shouts and screams issuing from the +schoolhouse led them too, to hurry on to see what was the matter. +</P> + +<P> +"Maybe Jim Stubbs has got a mus'rat, or somethin' in there a-scarin' +the children," suggested Esther, as they entered the door. +</P> + +<P> +A crowd had gathered in front of the teacher's desk on which was placed +the large dictionary, and seated on the book was the boy who winked +with his nose. +</P> + +<P> +"Stand back!" he called, "I'm going to let it out, and then you'll see +fun." +</P> + +<P> +With that he jumped down, removed the dictionary, raised the lid of the +desk, and out popped a red squirrel. Round and round over the floor +flew the frightened animal, dodging here and there and wildly darting +into corners to evade the books and other missiles that were thrown at +it. Not only the boys took a part in the cruel sport, but some of the +girls helped with sticks, sunbonnets, and whatever they could lay their +hands on. Two or three times the little creature was struck. At last, +helpless, it stood panting while one of its tormentors dealt it a blow +that killed it. +</P> + +<P> +A cry of protest broke from Alice's lips, but her voice was lost in the +roar of applause that followed the big boy's action, as he tossed the +lifeless squirrel across the room into the face of another boy, who in +turn pitched the animal at his neighbor. +</P> + +<P> +"The poor little creature! How could they abuse it and take its life?" +cried Alice, turning to those nearest her. The other girls shrank back +abashed at her reproachful tones, which were noticed by Jim Stubbs, and +that hero felt called upon to make a speech. +</P> + +<P> +"Bah! boys, that girl is getting ready to cry over a dead squirrel. +What d'ye think of that?" And a heartless chorus echoed his laughter. +</P> + +<P> +"No, I'm too indignant to cry," replied Alice with spirit. "I never +knew boys could be so awfully wicked, yes, and girls too. I should +think you would love these dear little creatures, and pet and protect +them. They are what make country life pleasant. I wouldn't give a fig +for your pretty woods if there were no living things to be seen there." +</P> + +<P> +This was an aspect of the situation the boys had never before +considered. They did not realize that to a lover of nature the +humblest form of animal life is interesting. Did other people really +prize squirrels and frogs and lightning bugs and such things? +</P> + +<P> +Just at this moment the teacher entered, and the crestfallen pupils +busied themselves in gathering up the scattered books and other +articles used in storming the squirrel. +</P> + +<P> +"My young visitor is quite shocked by such an exhibition of cruelty," +said Miss Harper, when she had learned how matters stood. "Think what +the woods would be without the song of birds and the chirp and hum of +insects. Your playground teems with happy beings that love the warmth +and sunlight as well as you do. Would not the forests be robbed of +half their beauty and interest if the squirrels and chipmunks and birds +and butterflies were killed off?" +</P> + +<P> +"Wimmen folks are nice ones to talk about cruelty to birds," sneered +the big boy to his neighbor, "when they stick wings and tails and whole +birds on their hats and bonnets whenever they can raise a cent to buy +'em with. Oh, yes, wimmen are awful consistent! They are, for a fact." +</P> + +<P> +Had his words reached Miss Harper's ears she might have replied that +sensible and humane "wimmen folks" regarded the fearful slaughter of +birds as little less than a crime; but unfortunately she did not hear +this and resumed: +</P> + +<P> +"Yet you hunt out these harmless and beautiful creatures and wantonly +destroy them. Nearly every boy gives way to this savage, brutal +impulse to kill something. He couldn't tell why if you were to ask +him. Children, do you know there is a society whose members pledge +themselves to protect the birds? I wish we might organize one here +to-day. I am sure, from a spirit of kindness, you would like to unite +in a promise not to willfully harm any of these wonderful creatures +that God has placed around us." +</P> + +<P> +When Alice Glenn drove home that evening she carried with her a glad +heart, for in her pocket was a copy of the rules and by-laws of the +"Anti-Cruelty Society, of Mount Airy School," which Miss Harper had +organized that afternoon. And it was signed not only by the girls and +all the smaller boys, but by big Jim Stubbs and the boy who winked with +his nose. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap15"></A> +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XV +</H2> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +POLLY'S FAREWELL +</H3> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +Happy little maiden,<BR> +Give, oh, give to me<BR> +The highness of your courage,<BR> +The sweetness of your grace,<BR> +To speak a large word in a little place.<BR> + —<I>E. S. Phelps-Ward.</I> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Closing the volume, Polly laid it in her lap. +</P> + +<P> +"That was a good story," observed Miss Kathy, as the child paused. The +little girl did not immediately reply, but leaned forward and looked +wistfully in her companion's face for a moment. +</P> + +<P> +"Do you think it is so very wicked to keep—that is, to—to deprive a +bird of its liberty?" she asked timidly. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I don't know that it could be called wicked. A canary bird, born +in a cage, that never knew any other home, would be apt to die if it +were turned loose to shift for itself and get its own living. It +possibly could not stand the exposure to the weather," replied Miss +Katharine. +</P> + +<P> +"But supposing it wasn't a canary," said Polly hesitatingly; "supposing +it might be a redbird, or a wren, or—or——" +</P> + +<P> +"Or a bobolink?" Miss Kathy smiled as she supplied the word. +</P> + +<P> +"Well—yes, a bobolink, for instance." And Polly glanced toward me. +</P> + +<P> +"Any captured bird certainly feels very bad to be shut up in a cage all +its life, though I have seen robins in captivity that grew to be as +tame as canaries. My aunt had one that lived twelve years in a cage. +It would peck her cheek, and pretend to kiss her, and do all sorts of +sweet little tricks. His cage door stood open, and he went in and out +as it suited him, but he never thought of flying away. However, it is +only natural to suppose that hopping about in a narrow space would be +dreadful to a bird accustomed to spreading its wings and soaring up +through the sky whenever and wherever it pleased." +</P> + +<P> +Miss Kathy looked at the clock. She saw it was time for her to go back +into the store, then gathered up her work and went into the front room. +When Polly was left to herself I could see she was thinking very hard. +The rocking-chair kept moving faster, and her forehead was drawn into a +little pucker between her eyes. She sighed too, occasionally, as if +she were sad. +</P> + +<P> +I noticed that Miss Katharine from her post behind the counter looked +in at the child from time to time, and I heard her say half-aloud: "If +the fashionable women of the land had hearts as merciful and +consciences as tender as that dear little Polly's, the slaughter of the +birds would soon come to an end." +</P> + +<P> +The birch chair finally ceased to rock. The deep-drawn wrinkle passed +away from Polly's forehead. She laid down her book and came to my +cage, then she stood for a moment looking at me tenderly. Then she +took the cage down from its hook and carried it to the door leading to +the garden. The air was pleasant, and a sunbeam slanted across the +porch making a yellow gleam on the lattice. How beautiful it looked to +my weary eyes! +</P> + +<P> +"Dearest Dickey Downy, good-bye," she said to me, and her voice had a +little tremor in it. "You had a right to be happy and live out of +doors among the trees, and I kept you a prisoner. Please forgive me +for it, and forgive me for wearing birds' wings on my Sunday hat. I +shall never do such cruel things again. It's coming spring now, +Dickey, so be happy and fly away to the beautiful clouds." +</P> + +<P> +She set the little wire door wide open. A warm zephyr swept by, laden +with the scent of wild flowers and all sweet growing things. My heart +fluttered with joy. I heard the far cry of the hills as I floated out +and upward, higher and higher, on joyous wing. I was free, free! +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR><BR> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Dickey Downy, by Virginia Sharpe Patterson + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DICKEY DOWNY *** + +***** This file should be named 16255-h.htm or 16255-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/2/5/16255/ + +Produced by Al Haines + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Dickey Downy + The Autobiography of a Bird + +Author: Virginia Sharpe Patterson + +Release Date: July 10, 2005 [EBook #16255] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DICKEY DOWNY *** + + + + +Produced by Al Haines + + + + + + + + + + +Dickey Downy + + +The Autobiography of a Bird + + + +by + +VIRGINIA SHARPE PATTERSON + + + +AUTHOR OF + +"The Girl of the Period," "All on Account of a Bonnet," "The Wonderland +Children," etc. + + + + + +With Introduction by + +HON. JOHN F. LACEY, M.C. + + + + +Drawings by + +ELIZABETH M. HALLOWELL + + + + + + +PHILADELPHIA + +A. J. Rowland--1420 Chestnut Street + +1899 + + + + +Copyright 1899 by the + +AMERICAN BAPTIST PUBLICATION SOCIETY + + +From the Society's own Press + + + + +To + +my dear children + +Laura, Virgie, and Robert George + +this little Volume is + +Affectionately Inscribed + + + + +INTRODUCTION + +This beautiful volume has been written for a good purpose. I had the +pleasure of reading the proof-sheets of the book while in the +Yellowstone National Park, where no gun may be lawfully fired at any of +God's creatures. All animals there are becoming tame, and the great +bears come out of the woods to feed on the garbage of the hotels and +camps, fearless of the tourists, who look on with pleasure and wonder +at such a scene. + +"The child is father of the man," and this volume is addressed to the +heart and imagination of every child reader. If children are taught to +love and protect the birds they will remember the lesson when they grow +old. When children learn to prefer to take a "snap-shot" at a bird +with a camera, rather than with a gun, they will protect these +feathered friends for their beauty, even if they do not regard them for +their usefulness. + +Nature has supplied a system of balances if left to itself. Some forms +of insect life are so prolific that but for the voracity and industry +of the birds the world would become almost uninhabitable. + +Bird life appeals to the eye for its beauty, to the ear for its music, +and to the interest of man for its utility. Shooting-clubs have +foreseen the extermination that awaits many of the finest of the game +birds, and are taking much pains to enforce the laws enacted for game +protection. A selfish interest thus is called into activity, and one +class of birds is receiving protection through the aid of its own +enemies. + +But the birds of beautiful plumage are now threatened with extinction +by the desire of womankind for personal decoration. Against this +destruction Audubon societies are organizing a crusade, and Mrs. +Patterson's principal purpose in this book is to direct attention to +the wholesale slaughter of the birds of plumage and song. + +The Princess of Wales was requested to write in an album her various +peculiarities. Among the inquiries was: "What is your greatest +weakness?" She answered: "Millinery." + +When Napoleon was banished to Elba it is stated that the fallen monarch +was followed by Josephine's old millinery bills. How many of these +bills were for the plumage of slaughtered birds the historian does not +say. But the passion for the beautiful is very strong in the tender +hearts of women, and an earnest appeal to the natural gentleness of the +sex must be made to enlist them in the defense of the birds. + +Mrs. Patterson enters upon this task with enthusiasm, and many a bird +will live to flutter through the trees or glisten in the sunshine and +gladden the earth with its beauty that but for this little book would +have perched for a brief season upon the headgear of some lovely woman. + +Let the good work go on until the mummy of a dead bird will be +recognized by all persons as an unfitting decoration for the head of +womankind. + +JOHN F. LACEY. + + + + +CONTENTS + +CHAPTER + + I. THE ORCHARD + II. DICKEY DOWNY'S MEDITATIONS + III. THE RULER WITH THE IRON HAND + IV. DICKEY'S COUSINS + V. "DON'T, JOHNNY" + VI. THE PARROT AT A PARTY + VII. A WINTER IN THE SOUTH + VIII. THE PRISON + IX. THE HUNTERS + X. A NEW HOME + XI. THE ILL-MANNERED CHILD + XII. TWO SLAVES OF FASHION + XIII. DICKEY'S VISIT + XIV. THE COUNTRY SCHOOL + XV. POLLY'S FAREWELL + + + + + +List of Illustrations + +The Indigo Bird + +The Summer Tanager + +The Baltimore Oriole + +The Bobolink + + + + + Last night Alicia wore a Tuscan Sonnet + And many humming birds were fastened on it. + Caught in a net of delicate creamy crepe + The dainty captives lay there dead together; + No dart of slender bill, no fragile shape + Fluttering, no stir of radiant feather; + Alicia looked so calm, I wondered whether + She cared if birds were killed to trim her bonnet. + Her hand fell lightly on my hand; + And I fancied that a stain of death + Like that which doomed the Lady of Macbeth + Was on her hand. + + --Elizabeth Cavazza + + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE ORCHARD + + Bobolink, that in the meadow + Or beneath the orchard's shadow + Keepest up a constant rattle, + Joyous as my children's prattle, + Welcome to the North again. + --_Thos. Hill._ + + +My native home was in a pleasant meadow not far from a deep wood, at +some distance from the highway. From this it was separated by plowed +fields and a winding country lane, carpeted with grass and fringed with +daisies. + +While it was yet dawn, long before the glint of the sun found its way +through the foliage, the air was musical with the twittering of our +feathered colony. + +It is true our noisy neighbors, the blue-jays, sometimes disturbed my +mother by their hoarse chattering when she was weary of wing and wanted +a quiet hour to meditate, but they disturbed us younger ones very +little. My mother did not think they were ever still a minute. +Constantly hopping back and forth, first on one bough, then on another, +flirting down between times to pick up a cricket or a bug, they were +indeed, a most fidgetty set. Their restlessness extended even to their +handsome top-knots, which they jerked up and down like a questioning +eyebrow. They were beautiful to look at had they only possessed a +little of the dignity and composure of our family. But as I said, we +little ones did not trouble ourselves about them. + +The air was so pleasant, our nest so cozy, and our parents provided us +such a plentiful diet of nice worms and bugs, that like other +thoughtless babies who have nothing to do but eat, sleep, and grow, we +had no interest in things outside and did not dream there was such a +thing as vexation or sorrow or crime in this beautiful world. When our +parents were off gathering our food, we seldom felt lonely, for we +nestled snugly and kept each other company by telling what we would do +when we should be strong enough to fly. + +At this stage of our existence we were as ungainly a lot of children as +could well be imagined. To look at our long, scrawny necks and big +heads so disproportioned to the size of our bodies, which were scantily +covered with a fuzzy down that scarcely concealed our nakedness, who +would have thought that in time we would develop into such handsome +birds as the bobolink family is universally considered to be? + +Our mother, who was both very proud and very fond of us, was untiring +in her watchful care. No human mother bending over the nursery bed +soothing her little one to rest, showed more devotion than did she, as +she hovered near the tiny cradle of coarse grass and leaves woven by +her own cunning skill--alert and sleepless when danger was near and +enfolding us with her warm, soft wings. Thus tenderly cared for we +passed the early sunny days of life. + +After we could fly we often visited a fragrant orchard that sent its +odors across the grain fields. From its green shade we made short +excursions to the rich, black soil in search of some choice tid-bit of +a worm turned up by the plow expressly for our dessert. We were indeed +glad to be of use to the farmer by devouring these pests so destructive +to his crops, but did not limit our labors to these places; we also +made it our business to pick off the bugs and slugs that infested the +fruit trees, and often extended our efforts to the tender young grape +leaves in the arbor and the rose bushes and shrubs in the flower garden. + +On a warm morning after a rain was our favorite time for work, and it +was pleasant to hear the tap-tap-tapping of our neighbor the +woodpecker, as he located with his busy little bill the bugs in the +tree limb. It was like the hammer of an industrious blacksmith +breaking on the still air. His jaunty red cap and broad white shoulder +cape made of him a very pretty object as he worked away blithely and +cheerily at his useful task. While the rest of us did not make so much +noise at our work, we were equally diligent in picking off the larvae +and borers that ruined the trees, and on a full crop we enjoyed the +consciousness of having aided mankind. + +On several occasions I had seen our enemy, the cat, slinking stealthily +on his padded feet from the direction of the great brick house which +stood on the edge of the orchard. Crouched in a furrow he would gaze +upward at us so steadily and for so long a time without so much as a +wink or a blink of his green eyes, that it seemed he must injure its +muscles. Aside from the many frights he gave us it is sad to relate +that he succeeded before many days in getting away with one of our +number. One morning he crept softly up to a young robin which had +flown down in the grass, but had not sufficient power to rise quickly, +and before the unsuspecting little creature realized its danger, the +cat arched his back, gave a spring, and seized it. A moment later he +softly trotted out of the orchard with the poor bird in his mouth and +doubtless made a dainty dinner in the barn off our unfortunate comrade. +This incident cast a deep gloom over us, and our songs for many days +held a mournful note. + +But while cats were unwelcome visitors from the great brick house, we +sometimes had others whom we were always glad to see. The two young +ladies of the family, together with their mother and little niece, +occasionally came out for a saunter under the trees, and it was very +delightful to listen to their merry chat. So affectionate toward each +other, so gentle and withal so bright and lively, they seemed to bring +a streak of sunshine with them whenever they came. Miss Dorothy, who +was tall and stately, seldom sat on the grassy tufts which rose like +little footstools at the base of each tree, but rambled about while +talking. This was perhaps because she disliked to rumple her +beautifully starched skirts. But Miss Katie--impetuous, dimple-cheeked +Katie, would fling herself down anywhere regardless of edged ruffles or +floating sash ribbons. + +"For it is clean dirt," she laughingly said, when Miss Dorothy +playfully scolded her for it. "This kind of dirt is healthful, and it +isn't going to hurt me if a few dusty twigs or a bit of dried grass or +weeds should cling to my gown. You must remember, Sister Dorothy, +there are different kinds of dirt. I haven't any respect for grease +spots or for clothes soiled from wearing them too long. I don't like +that kind of dirt, but to get close to dear old mother earth, and have +a scent of her fresh soil once in a while is what I enjoy. It is +delightful. I like nature too well to stand on ceremony with her." + +"You like butterflies too, don't you, aunty?" asked little Marian. + +"To be sure I do, dear. I love all the pretty things that fly." + +"And the birdies too?" asked the child. + +"Yes, indeed; I love the birds the best of all." + +"And the old cat was awful naughty when he caught the baby robin the +other day and ate it up. Wasn't he, aunty?" + +"Yes. Tom is a cruel, bad, bad cat," responded Miss Katie, as she +squeezed Marian's little pink hand between her own palms. "That +naughty puss gets plenty to eat in the house and there are lots of nice +fat mice in the barn, and yet he slips slyly out to the orchard and +takes the life of a poor, innocent little bird." + +"And it made the mamma-bird cry because her little one was dead," added +Miss Dorothy, who had drawn near. + +Little Marian heaved a deep sigh and her rosy lips trembled +suspiciously. "Poor mamma-bird! It can never have its baby bird any +more," she said, with a sob of sympathy. "Don't you feel sorry for it, +Aunt Dorothy?" + +"Yes, dear. I feel very sorry for it." + +"And I expect the poor mamma-bird cries and cries and weeps and grieves +when she comes home to supper and finds out her little children are +gone forever and ever." And with her bright eyes dimmed with tears of +pity, Marian, clasping a hand of each of the young ladies, walked +slowly to the house still bewailing the fate of the robin. + +My heart warmed toward these sweet young girls for their tender +sympathy. I almost wished I were a carrier pigeon, that I might devote +myself hereafter to their service by bearing loving messages from them +to their friends. + +But, alas! I was to have a rude awakening from this pleasant thought. +As we flew that evening to our roosting-place, I observed to my mother +that if there were no cats in the world what a delightful time we birds +might have. + +"You have a greater enemy than the cat," she responded sadly. "It is +true the cat is cruel and tries to kill us, but it knows no better." + +"If not the cat, what enemy is it?" I asked in surprise. "I thought +the cat was the most bloodthirsty foe the birds had." + +My mother dipped her wings more slowly and poised her body gracefully a +moment. Then she said impressively, "Our greatest enemy is man. No," +suddenly correcting herself, "not man, but women, women and children." + +"Women and dear little children our enemies?" said I, in astonishment. +"The pretty ladies who speak so sweet and kind! The pretty ladies who +gather roses in the garden! Would they deprive us of life?" + +My mother nodded. + +"Yes," she answered, "the pretty ladies, the wicked ladies." + + + + +CHAPTER II + +DICKEY DOWNY'S MEDITATION + + It hath the excuse of youth. + --_Shakespeare._ + + +That night I pondered long upon what my mother had told me. Ever since +I left my shell I had been taught to respect my elders, and that it was +a mark of ill manners and bad breeding for children to question the +superior knowledge of those much older than themselves. +Notwithstanding this, in my secret heart I could not help thinking that +my mother was mistaken in her estimate of women when she called them +wicked. She had surely misjudged them. However, I took good care not +to mention these doubts to her. + +I had heard from my grandmother, who had traveled a great deal from the +tropics to the North and back again, that women were the leaders in the +churches and were foremost in all Christian and philanthropic work; +that they provided beautiful homes for orphan children, where they took +care of them and nursed them when they were sick. She told me about +the hospitals where diseased and aged people were kindly cared for by +them. She said they were active in the societies for the prevention of +cruelty to children and to animals. They fed armies of tramps out of +sheer pity; even the debauched drunkard was the object of their +tenderest care and their earnest prayers. They held out a friendly +hand to the prisoners in the jails and sent them flowers and Bibles; +they pitied and cheered the outcast with kind words. They offered +themselves as missionaries for foreign lands to convert the heathen and +bring them to Christ. They soothed the sick and made easy the last +days of the dying. + +On the battlefield, when blood was flowing and cannon smoking, my +grandmother had seen the Red Cross women like angels of mercy binding +up the gaping wounds and gently closing the glazed eyes of the expiring +soldier. In woman's ear was poured his last message to his loved ones +far away, and when death was near it was woman who spoke the words of +consolation and her finger that pointed hopefully to the stars. + +Did not all this prove her to be sweet and tender and loving and gentle +and kind? Yes--a thousand times yes. + +My grandmother once had her nest near a cemetery, and often related +pathetic incidents which had come under her observation at that time. +One in particular I now recalled. It was of a woman who came every day +to weep over the mound where her babe was buried. She was worn to a +shadow from her long watching through its illness, and when it was +taken from her, her grief was deep. The bright world was no longer +bright since she was bereft of her darling, and her moans for the lost +loved one were heartrending. + +This incident was only yet another instance of the tenderness of +woman's nature, and I could not reconcile it with what my mother had +told me. + +"No, no," I repeated as I cuddled my head under my wing, "never can I +believe that woman, tender-hearted woman, who is all love and mercy, +all gentleness and pity, never can I believe she is our enemy." And +resolving to ask my mother to more fully explain her unjust assertion I +fell asleep. + +But a source of fresh anxiety arose which for a time caused me to +forget the matter. + +The lindens which fringed the wood were now in full leafage, adorned +with their delicate ball-like tassels, and hosts of birds flitted among +them daily. Many of them were of the kind frequently known as indigo +birds, smaller than the ordinary bluebird. In color they were of the +metallic cast of blue which has a sheen distinct from the rich shade +seen on the jay's wings or the brilliance of the bluebird. Flashing in +and out among the hanging blossoms their beautiful blue coats made them +an easy target for the boys who attended the neighborhood country +school. + +[Illustration: The Indigo Bird.] + +To bring down a sweet songster with a shower of stones, panting and +bleeding to the ground, they thought was the best sport in the world, +and the woods rang and echoed with their whoops and cheers as each poor +bird fell to the earth. A mere glimpse of one of the blue beauties as +he hid among the leaves seemed to fire these cruel children with a wish +to kill it. + +One half-grown boy, who went by the name of Big Bill, was noticeable +for his brutality. He encouraged the others in cruelties which they +might not have thought of, for such is the force of evil example and +companionship. A distinguishing mark was a large scar on his cheek, +probably inflicted by some enraged animal while being tortured by him. +I always felt sure Big Bill would come to some bad end. My mother said +that a cruel childhood was often a training school for the gallows, and +the boy who killed defenseless birds and bugs deadened his +sensibilities and destroyed his moral nature so that it was easy to +commit greater crimes. + +So dreadful became the persecutions of the schoolboys that the indigo +birds finally held a council and determined to leave that part of the +country and settle far from the habitations of men, where they might +live unmolested and free from persecutions. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE RULER WITH THE IRON HAND + + But evil is wrought by want of thought + As well as want of heart. + --_Hood._ + + +One morning as we flew across the open space which lay between the wood +and the wheat fields, we noticed two gentlemen in the orchard who were +carefully examining the trees, peering curiously into the cracks of the +rough bark or unfolding the curled leaves. + +As we came nearer we discovered that one of them was the owner of the +place, the father of Miss Dorothy and Miss Katie. The other was a thin +gentleman in spectacles, who held a magnifying glass through which he +intently looked at a twig which he had broken off. + +After a few minutes' inspection he said: "Colonel, your orchard is +somewhat affected. This is a specimen of the _chionaspis furfuris_." + +"Is it anything like the scurfy-bark louse?" inquired the colonel. + +"The same thing exactly. It occurs more commonly in the apple, but it +infects the pear and peach trees. You will find it on the mountain +ash, and sometimes on the currant bushes," he answered. + +The colonel asked him if he would recommend spraying to get rid of the +pests, and was advised to begin immediately, using tobacco water or +whale-oil soap. + +"By the way," said the colonel, "there is a beetle attacking my shade +trees. They are ruining that fine row of elms in front of the lawn." + +"It is undoubtedly the _melolontha vulgaris_," said the professor. I +designate him in this way because he used such large words we did not +understand. My mother told us that she was positive he was president +of a college. "The _melolontha vulgaris_ is the most destructive of +beetles, but the larvae are still more injurious. They do incalculable +damage to the farmer. Fortunately enormous numbers of these grubs are +eaten by the birds." + +"Unfortunately the birds are not so numerous as they used to be. They +are being destroyed so rapidly, more's the pity! These grounds and +woods yonder were formerly alive with birds of all kinds. Flocks of +the purple grakle used to follow the plow and eat up the worms at a +great rate. You are familiar with their habits? You know they are +most devoted parents. I have often watched them feeding their young. +The little ones have such astonishingly good appetites that it keeps +the old folks busy to supply them with enough to eat. They work like +beavers as long as daylight lasts, going to and from the fields +carrying on each return trip a fat grub or a toothsome grasshopper." + +"I am a great lover of birds," returned the professor enthusiastically, +"and I find them very interesting subjects of study. By the way, I was +reading the other day a little incident connected with one of America's +great men which impressed me deeply. The story goes that he was one +day walking in company with some noted statesmen, busily engaged in +conversation. But he was not too much occupied to notice that a young +bird had fallen from its nest near the path where they were walking. +He stopped short and crossing over to where the bird was lying, +tenderly picked it up and put it back into its nest. There was a +gentleman of a noble nature! No wonder that man was a leader and a +liberator!" + +"Who was he?" + +"The grand, the great Abraham Lincoln," responded the professor +impressively. + +"Well, he'd be the very one to do just such a kind deed as that," was +the colonel's hearty response. "No man ever lived who had a bigger, +more merciful heart than 'Honest Abe.'" + +For myself I did not know who Abraham Lincoln was. I had never heard +the name before, but I was quite sure from the proud tone of the +professor's voice that he was a distinguished man, as I was equally +sure from the story of his pity for the helpless bird, that he was a +good man. + +"You mentioned the industry of the grakle a moment ago," resumed the +professor. "Do you know that the redwing is equally as useful, and +besides he is a delightful singer? + + "The redwing flutes his o-ka-lee. + +"Do you remember that line, colonel?" and the professor softly whistled +a strain in imitation of a bird's note. "The services of our little +brothers of the air are exceedingly valuable to the horticulturist. +And think of the damage done to arboriculture by the woodborers alone +were it not for the help given by the birds. Did you ever notice those +borers at work, colonel? Some writer has well described them as +animated gimlets. They just stick their pointed heads into the bark +and turn their bodies around and around and out pours a little stream +of sawdust. The birds would pick off such pests fast enough if people +would only give them a chance and not scare them off with shotguns." + +"Yes, the birds earn their way, there is no denying it, and he is a +very stupid farmer who begrudges them the little corn and wheat they +take from the fields. The account is more than balanced by the good +they do." Then the conversation ceased, for the colonel and his friend +moved off to inspect the quince bushes. + +Pleased by the praises they had bestowed on us for our efforts in +cleaning the fruit trees and cornfields of injurious insects, I went to +work with new vigor to get out some bugs for my luncheon, and was thus +pleasantly employed when a sharp twitter from my mother attracted my +attention. + +"Look, children!" she exclaimed. "Here come our young ladies with some +company from the city. Be careful to notice what they have on their +heads and then tell me what you think of our sweet, pretty ladies." + +One of my brothers was swaying lightly on a little swing below me. I +flew down hastily and placed myself on the next bough, where I could +also get a good view of the ladies as they strolled toward us. They +were in a very merry mood and each one seemed striving to say something +more arousing than her companions. Miss Dorothy led the way, her arm +linked in that of one of the stranger guests. Then followed the others +with Miss Katie and Marian hand in hand in the rear. They were all +very handsomely dressed, and having just returned from a drive had not +yet removed their hats. + +As they came under the tree where we were perched, which was a favorite +spot with Miss Katie, they halted for some time and consequently I had +an excellent opportunity to look, as my mother had bidden me. + +And what did I see? + +I saw six ladies' hats trimmed with dead birds. Fastened on sidewise, +head downward, on one was a magnificent scarlet tanager, his body half +concealed by folds of tulle, his fixed eye staring into vacancy. On +another was the head and breast of a beautiful yellow-hammer; it was +surmounted by the tall sweeping plumes of the egret, which this bird +produces only at breeding time. Oh, how much joy and beauty the world +had lost by that cruel deed! A third hat had two song sparrows +imprisoned in meshes of star-studded lace. Their blithesome carol had +been rudely silenced, their cheer to the world cut short, simply that +they might be used for hat trimming. Of the remaining ones some were +as yet unknown to me, but my mother, who had an extensive acquaintance +with foreign birds, said that in that strange murderous mixture of +millinery, far-away Australia had furnished the filmy feathers of the +lyre bird which swept upward from a knot of ribbons, and that the +forests of Germany had contributed the pretty green linnet. Dove's +wings and the rosy breast of the grosbeak completed the barbarous +display. + +How my heart sickened as I gazed at these pleasant, refined, +soft-voiced women flaunting the trophies of their cruelty in the +beautiful sunlight. + +Had they no compassion for the feathered mother who had been robbed of +her young for the sake of a hat? + +"Oh, how can they do such dreadful, such wicked things!" I moaned. My +mother heard my lament and signaled for us to come up where she was +perching. + +"You see now who are our worst enemies," said she. "The cat preys on +us to satisfy his bodily hunger, but women have no such excuse. We are +not slaughtered to sustain their lives but to minister to their vanity. +For years the women of Christian lands have waged their unholy war +against us. We have been driven from our old haunts and forced to seek +new places. We have been shot down by thousands every season until now +many species are destroyed from the face of the earth. There is no +security for us in any place. The hunter with his gun penetrates into +the deepest forests, he perils his life in scaling the most dangerous +cliffs, he wades through bog and marsh and mud and tracks us to our +feeding grounds to surprise us with the deadly shot, and kills the +mother hovering over the nest of her helpless offspring with as little +compunction as if she were a poisonous reptile instead of a melodious +joy-giver. And all this horrible slaughter is for women." + +I grew feverish with excitement at this terrible arraignment of the +"gentler sex." + +"But why are they so cruel? Why do they do this wicked thing?" I asked. + +"For the sake of Fashion," said my mother. + +"Fashion, what is that?" + +My mother was very patient with me, so when I asked questions she did +not put me off by telling me she didn't know, or advise me to fly away +and play, or tell me she was busy and couldn't be bothered just then, +therefore she now took pains to make me understand. + +"You ask me what is Fashion," she began. "Well, Fashion is an exacting +ruler, a great, tyrannical god who has many, many worshipers, and these +he rules with an iron hand. His followers cannot be induced to do +anything contrary to his wishes. He sits on a high throne from which +he dictates to his slaves what they must do. Often they do the most +outrageous things, not because they like to, but because he demands it. +He is constantly laying down new laws for their guidance, and some of +these laws are so unreasonable and absurd that a part of his followers +frequently threaten to rebel. They do not hold out against him long, +for he manages to make it quite unpleasant for those who disobey him or +refuse to come under his yoke." + +"Has he any men slaves?" asked my brother. + +"Yes, he has some slaves among men, but the larger number of those who +wear his most galling fetters are women. If he but crooks his little +finger these bond-women rush pell-mell in the direction he points. +They are thus keen to do his bidding, because each woman who is the +first to carry out his rules in her own particular town or neighborhood +acquires great distinction in the eyes of the other worshipers." + +"His slaves are nearly always rich women, aren't they?" asked my +brother. + +"By no means. Many of them are poor working women who have to labor +hard for a living. But they will rob themselves of necessities and +needed rest to get the means to follow his demands. Often it takes +them a long time to do this, and perhaps just as they have accomplished +the weary task he suddenly proclaims a new law, and all this toiling +and drudging and stinting must begin over again. In this way the +unhappy creatures have never a breathing spell. It is utterly +impossible for them to conform to the new law when it is first +proclaimed by the god, and so they are always struggling to keep up. +Their chains are never lifted or lightened a particle." + +"If the chain is so heavy why don't they break it?" I asked impatiently. + +"Because they are afraid," she replied. + +"Afraid of the god?" + +"No, no, child, they are afraid of each other. They are afraid the +richer slaves, who are able to comply with the demands will laugh at +them and ridicule them, and that is why they strain every nerve to +follow the god's wishes. A slave, whether she is rich or poor, grows +more cringing year by year, until at last she loses all her +individuality, and becomes a mere echo of the god." + +"What about the slaves who rebel at first and afterward yield?" + +"Oh, they denounce the god very severely when he lays down some new law +they don't happen to like, but as all the other slaves are obediently +complying with it they dislike to be set off by themselves as +different, and so they reluctantly give in after a time. Sometimes +they try to compromise with the god by going half-way." + +I inquired what the other slaves thought of that. + +"They mildly tolerate them," said she. "Sometimes they look askance at +them when they meet, and try to show their superiority as being +obedient, full-blooded, genuine slaves, while the others are only +lukewarm servants of the monarch!" + +I wondered how the slaves regarded the woman who was independent and +wouldn't worship the god. + +My mother twittered softly at my question, and I knew she was smiling +to herself. "Why," said she, "they call that kind of a woman a +crank--whatever that is." + +It was very evident that this god Fashion was a cruel tyrant, and it +was clearly through his influence that we were killed, and I so told my +mother. She looked very sorrowful as she replied: + +"Yes, the women do not hate us. They do not dislike to hear our pretty +songs; they have no revenge to gratify; but the god orders them to have +us killed, and they do it. He tells them that to wear our poor +mutilated dead bodies will add to their appearance, and so we are +sacrificed on the altar of their vanity and silly pride. As members of +humane societies women have denounced the docking of horses' tails as +cruel, but from what I know of woman's indifference to the sufferings +of the innocent birds, I venture to assert that were Fashion to say +that she should trim her cloak with horse tails there would not be left +an undocked horse in the country." + +I knew my mother was very excited or she would never have been so +vehement. + +"Just hear how those birds twitter," remarked one of the ladies, +looking up into our tree. "One would think they were holding an +indignation meeting over something." + +"Yes, the dear little things; I love to hear them chirp," commented +Miss Katie, turning a sweet glance toward us, and then the party moved +to go and we saw the six hats loaded with their mournful freight file +off to the house. We followed the retreating hats with sad eyes till +they were lost to view. + +My brother broke the silence by asking, "Are there any Christian women +who wear birds, and are among the god's worshipers?" + +My mother's manner grew very grave and solemn. "That is not for me to +say," she replied. "They know whether they are guiltless of our +wholesale slaughter, and they know too, how the gentle, merciful Christ +regarded us when he declared that 'not a sparrow is forgotten before +God.'" + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +DICKEY'S COUSINS + +Another of my airy creatures breathes such sweet music out of her +little instrumental throat that it might make mankind to think that +miracles are not ceased. We might well be lifted up above the earth +and say, Lord, what music hast thou provided for the saints in heaven, +when thou affordest bad men such music on earth?--_Izaak Walton._ + + +The fine pasture adjoining was a popular resort for some handsome birds +that often visited it as a playground. They were said to be relatives +of ours, but I do not think they were closer than seventh or eighth +cousins, which is so distant that it doesn't count--especially if one +doesn't want it to. + +All I know is that their family name was the same as ours, _Icteridae_, +and means something or other, I forget what. It was a good honorable +name, however, and our branch was as proud of our ancestry as any +Daughter of the American Revolution could possibly be. + +There were some tall weeds growing along the margin of a little stream +in the pasture which produced quantities of delicious seeds, and to +these we often repaired when we wanted a choice breakfast, as well as +to watch the playful pastimes of these queer bipeds. + +What would you think of a bird taking a bareback ride on a cow? They +were extremely fond of settling themselves on the cattle which browsed +in the field and presented a truly comical picture as they complacently +gathered in little groups on the backs of those huge animals. Moving +slowly along munching the dewy grass, first on one side, then on the +other, the cows did not seem particularly to mind their saucy bareback +riders. Occasionally they would toss their heads backward, when up all +the birds would fly into the air only to descend again as soon as the +cattle were quiet. + +As I said, they were very handsome. At a short distance they looked to +be clothed in black, but the breast and neck were really a very rich +brown, with the rest of the body like jet and as lustrous as satin. +They were not general favorites with the other birds on account of some +dishonorable tricks which they did on the sly. For instance, they +never troubled themselves to make nests, but watched their chance to +sneak in and lay their eggs, only one in a place, in the nests of other +birds. For some reason their eggs always hatch a little sooner than +the eggs rightfully belonging there, consequently the foster-parents, +not knowing of the deception, are quite delighted with the first little +one that comes out of the shell, and immediately fly off to get food +for it. This is very unfortunate, for during their absence their own +eggs get cold and will not hatch. After a time the old birds grow +disgusted and tumble the poor eggs all out of the nest and bestow their +whole attention to the juvenile cowbird, entirely ignorant of the fact +that they are the victims of a "put-up job." + +Once when we were dining in the pasture we found out the cause of the +booming noise we had often heard sounding through the woods. Two men, +each carrying in his hand a long club, shaped large at one end, +appeared in the meadow and began looking among the long grasses which +sheltered the nests of some meadow larks. A number of the larks were +on the wing, others sat on the rail fence rolling out cadenzas in +concert in a gush of melody from their downy throats. The men moved +cautiously nearer under cover of the weeds. Raising their long clubs +to their shoulders they gazed along their narrow points a moment. +Without exactly knowing why, we took alarm, and larks, bobolinks, and +cowbirds sped upward like the wind. At the same instant something +bright shimmered in the sunlight, and with it a horrid burst of noise +and a puff of smoke. We did not all get away, for some of the +beautiful larks fell to the ground pierced by the sportsman's deadly +hail. + +Again and again, all through that long, sad day we heard the ominous +booming crash, and knew the savage work of killing was going on. + +Among our acquaintances was a lame redbird who at one time had been +trapped and made a prisoner, confined behind the bars of a wire cell +for many weeks and months. Luckily he made his escape one day when his +grated door was accidentally opened, and he speedily made his way back +to his dearly loved forest. + +During the period of his imprisonment in the city he had picked up a +great deal of information regarding the bird trade, and some of the +facts recited by him of the terrible cruelties perpetrated and the +carnage which had been going on for years, almost caused our feathers +to stand upright in horror as we listened. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +"DON'T, JOHNNY" + + Farewell happy fields, where Joy forever dwells. + --_Milton._ + + +A very pleasant, sociable fellow was this redbird, and often when on +hot afternoons we were hiding in the treetops from the rays of the sun +he told us stories and anecdotes about the people he had seen while he +lived in the city. + +He and his brother had been caught in a trap in the woods set by a +farmer's boy. One cold spring morning when the boy came to look at his +trap he was overjoyed to find he had snared two redbirds, and forthwith +carried them to the village nearby and sold them to the grocer for five +cents apiece, which sum he said he was going to invest in a rubber ball. + +As he put the dime into his coat pocket he told the man that one of the +birds was named Admiral Dewey and the other Napoleon Bonaparte. The +groceryman agreed that these names were good enough names for anybody, +but he thought he'd change Bonaparte's name to Teddy Roosevelt, as +being easier to pronounce, and the two birds were accordingly given +these titles then and there. Not having any cage at hand to put them +in, the man thought that for a few days the new-comers could share the +quarters of an old sparrow he had in the rear end of the store until an +extra cage could be procured. + +But alas for Teddy Roosevelt! The very first night he was +ignominiously whipped by the spiteful occupant of the cage, who +resented having these country visitors thrust into his house without +his leave. Poor Teddy died the next day. Admiral Dewey stood the +battle better than his unfortunate friend, but he too was pecked at in +a way so threatening that the groceryman concluded it would be wise to +get rid of him immediately. Because the admiral had not defended +himself better from his pet's attack, the grocer regarded him with some +disgust. + +"Being as there was two of you and only one of the sparrow, 'pears as +if you hadn't much grit," he said. "I would better take your +high-soundin' name away from you and call you something else besides +Dewey, if you can't fight." + +For all the man's censure, the redbird knew that if Teddy Roosevelt had +killed the sparrow instead of being killed by it, the grocer would have +been much more grieved at the loss, for he had heard him say the +sparrow was like one of his family. The man forgot that the result +might have been different if the redbirds had been older. + +Having decided to dispose of the admiral, the grocer, who had an errand +in the city the next day, carried the bird with him. He knew of a +probable customer for it in a gentleman named Morris, who had been +advertising in the papers for a redbird. He soon found the street and +number where was located the gentleman's office, at which the +advertisement was to be answered, and displayed the admiral. + +"Your bird looks kind of ragged, as though he hadn't been treated +well," said Mr. Morris, as he examined the scarlet plumage. "My boy +wants a redbird, and I promised him one if he would get the highest +grade in arithmetic in his class this term and he did it, so of course +I must keep my word. What d'ye ask for this bird?" + +"He'd be cheap at five dollars," answered the groceryman. "A nice +redbird is hard to get, and they're powerful nice singers, but bein' as +it's for your boy that has earned it by studying his lessons so good--I +always like a boy that is fond of his books--you can have it for two +dollars and a quarter." + +As he had paid but five cents for it this advance in price would be a +fine business speculation. After a little further talk, Mr. Morris +counted out the money, and the man went back to his home doubtless +wishing he had a hundred more redbirds to sell at the same handsome +profit. After he had gone, Mr. Morris went to a box hanging against +the wall, and turning a handle began talking to the box as if it were a +human being. Though it was just a plain wooden box, the admiral said +there was something mysterious about it, for Mr. Morris actually seemed +to be carrying on a conversation with it, though the bird could not +hear what the box answered, but he felt sure it talked back. + +Mr. Morris' residence was a fine stone house with wide porches and +sunny bay windows, over which were trained graceful creeping vines. A +boy of about eleven years of age and a very pretty lady stood arm in +arm on the broad steps leading up to the front entrance that evening +when Mr. Morris and the admiral arrived. They were Johnny Morris and +his mother, who had already learned that Mr. Morris had bought the bird +and would bring it when he came to dinner. The admiral discovered the +next day that Mrs. Morris owned a box like the one at the office, into +which she talked, and that it was called a telephone. He often +mentioned this mysterious box as one of the most remarkable things he +saw during his stay among men. + +Johnny Morris capered and danced and jumped so hard in the exuberance +of his joy at receiving the redbird that all the way to the sitting +room his mother was coaxing him to be quiet. + +"Don't act so foolishly," she begged; but he only capered and kicked up +his heels still harder. When the cage was placed on a stand in the bay +window he pranced around it, whistled and chirped, threw the bottom of +the cage floor full of seed and splashed the water about so recklessly +in his attempts to be friendly as nearly to frighten the poor admiral +to pieces. + +"Now, Johnny, don't," pleaded his mother. + +"Johnny, don't do that," commanded his father every few minutes. + +It was a constant "Don't, Johnny, do this" and "Don't, Johnny, do +that," until, the admiral said, the conversation was so mixed up with +"Don't-Johnny's" as made it almost unintelligible. Of course these +expostulations made not a bit of impression on Johnny Morris. To be +sure, he might stop for the moment, but the next second he was doing +something else which brought a fresh round of "Don't-Johnny's" from +each parent. + +He was such a generous, affectionate, pretty boy, with his rosy cheeks +and wavy yellow hair, it was a great pity that he should keep a whole +household in a state of constant commotion by his habit of not promptly +minding when he was spoken to. His father and mother were very +indulgent to him, and the admiral believed he had every kind of a toy +known to the boy world. He also had a machine to ride on, which they +called a "wheel." On this he went out occasionally, although Mrs. +Morris declared she never felt at ease a minute while he was gone, +because he never came back at the hour he promised he would. Besides +this, he had a dear little pony, named Jock, on whose back he often +cantered about the big park. Frequently from the bay window the +admiral watched him as he mounted Jock and rode away, while his mother +stood on the house step and called after him as long as he was in +sight: "Don't ride in that reckless way, Johnny; you'll tumble off," or +"Don't, Johnny; the pony will throw you," at which Johnny would laugh +and make the pony go faster. + +Among the boy's other possessions was a parrot, which the admiral +asserted was the smartest bird in the world. She was a highly educated +parrot, and much time had been spent on her training, and she was +usually very willing to show off to company all her various +accomplishments. Occasionally she assumed an air of offended dignity +when asked to display her talents, and no amount of threats or coaxing +could change her purpose. At such times she impatiently flapped her +wings and croaked "No, no" in her harshest tones. + +Her favorite retreat when her temper was ruffled was on the back of an +armchair, where she would sit with her bill in the air and her head +cocked disdainfully on one side, pretending not to hear or see any one. +In her affable moods, however, no one could be more complaisant and +entertaining than Bessie. + +Her name was an uncommon one for a parrot. Strangers usually accosted +her as Polly, at which mistake she was greatly displeased. + +"No, no--not Polly; call me Bessie," she would scream, so angrily that +it always made people laugh, which angered her still more. + +Bessie could sing a verse of an old-time song, at least she thought she +could. The admiral said nothing could have induced him to sing for +company if his voice had been as harsh and cracked as hers, but he said +it was a fact that everybody seemed to enjoy her noise more than his +music; that when she took up her position on top of the piano to sing, +they crowded around and called her "nice Bessie," "nice lady," and +praised her, and gave her bits of sugar, as if she were the finest +singer in the world. The admiral thought they showed very poor taste, +for her music was simply horrid and couldn't compare with the warblings +of the woods birds. It is well, however, to make allowance for the +admiral's opinion, for musicians are proverbially jealous of each other. + +The song the parrot sang was "Listen to the Mocking Bird," to which +Mrs. Morris played a little gliding accompaniment on the piano. Great +hand-clappings always followed the performance. These Bessie accepted +with an air of studied indifference. But if for the purpose of teasing +her they did not applaud her performance, she shrilly screamed: +"Bessie's a good bird, a good bird I tell you," raising her voice +higher and higher at each repetition. + +Then she would wait a moment for some one to assure her that she was +indeed a very good bird, quite the smartest bird that ever breathed. +But if these soothing assurances were not quickly forthcoming, she +would retire to the back of her favorite chair and, elevating her bill +to show her disdain, sulk in silence. + +"Did she like you?" I asked the admiral one day when he was telling us +about her funny tricks. + +"No, she was a little bit jealous of me; yet she was not unfriendly, +except when Johnny or some other member of the family paid me +attention. She always wanted to be the center of attraction herself, +which showed she was a vain creature. No matter how silent she had +been or how firmly she might have refused to talk only the minute +before, if Johnny came to my cage and called, 'Hello, Admiral! you're a +daisy,' Bessie immediately struck up such a chattering as would almost +deafen one. + +"'Johnny dear, open my cage. I want to take a walk,' she would say in +her most coaxing manner. If she happened to be already out of her cage +and walking about the room, she endeavored to get him to leave me by +saying: 'Here, Johnny, boy, put me on your finger. Kiss poor +Bessie--p-o-o-r Bessie.' + +"Mrs. Morris used to laugh at these schemes of the parrot to attract +notice, and said Bessie reminded her of some people she had met who +always wanted to monopolize the conversation." + +"Monopolize?" said I. "That's a large word. I don't know the meaning +of it." + +"Well, I think it means getting the most of anything and crowding other +people out," replied the admiral; "and it was true in Bessie's case, +for she always wanted the most attention. A gentleman friend of the +Morrises had this habit too. He had been a general in a war that took +place in the South a good many years ago, and was often entertained at +dinner at the Morrises'. Though he was a well-informed, genial man, he +was almost rude in making himself heard, so determined was he that +people should listen to his jokes and stories, which were generally +something about himself. At a large tableful of guests, General +Peterson's voice was always heard above that of every one else. He +seemed to compel the rest of the company to listen. His big voice +drowned the others out. Though Mr. and Mrs. Morris liked him very +much, when they were alone they often ridiculed this disagreeable habit. + +"'Bessie and General Peterson are just alike,' Mrs. Morris used to say +jokingly, when the parrot pushed herself into notice by her loud +jabbering. 'Neither of them can endure to have any one else receive +attention when they are present.' + +"Although Bessie had not a pony to ride on as Johnny had, she took a +great many jaunts around the parlors on the cat's back. This cat was a +great pet in the house. A very striking-looking cat he was too. He +was jet black with a flat face and long white whiskers. Johnny always +said he resembled an old colored man who used to be their coachman, and +he wondered if they were any relation to each other. + +"When Bessie was out of her cage the cat did not often visit the +parlor, because he was afraid of her. He always appeared to be much +relieved when she did not notice him. If she had decided to take a +ride, however, he never was quick enough to get away from her. With a +shrill laugh of triumph she would fly upon his back, and holding on by +digging her claws into his fur, around and around the room they would +go, the poor cat feeling so completely disgraced that he dragged his +body lower and lower at every step, until his legs could scarcely be +seen at all. + +"Bessie enjoyed it greatly. She seemed to take a wicked satisfaction +in making poor Jett ridiculous, and laughed and chuckled and scolded +till the cat looked as if he were ready to drop from very shame. +Urging him on with, 'Get up, get up, you lazy thing,' she refused to be +shaken off till his body was actually dragging on the floor, a sign of +his complete humiliation. As soon as he threw off his unwelcome +burden, Jett always ran away to hide. With his tail slinking, his ears +drooping, and crawling rather than walking, he was the most +abject-looking, miserable cat in existence. Bessie meanwhile flirted +herself saucily and chuckled with the conscious air of having done a +very smart thing." + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE PARROT AT A PARTY + + A parrot there I saw, with gaudy pride + Of painted plumes, that hopped from side to side. + + +"How did you happen to get away from the Morrises?" asked my brother. + +The red-bird laughed heartily, as if the recollection were exceedingly +amusing. + +"Well," said he, "it all came about through Johnny's having a tea +party. For months he had been coaxing and begging his mother to invite +his schoolfellows to the house and entertain them with games and plays +and music, ending with a fine supper. Early in the spring when he +began talking of it, it was too cold, his mother said. Then after a +while it was too rainy, or too warm, or they were house-cleaning, or +something, and so she kept putting him off from one time to another, +hoping by deferring it to make him forget it. The Morrises always +spent the month of August at their seaside cottage, and the night +before they left home, Johnny tried to get Mrs. Morris to promise that +he might have the party the very first thing on their return. + +"'I'll think about it, my dear,' she answered. + +"'Whenever you say you'll think about it then I'm pretty sure not to +get what I want,' sighed Johnny." + +[Illustration: The Summer Tanager.] + +"His mother seemed to be much amused at this statement. 'Oh, no, my +son, it doesn't always turn out that way; but you know it wouldn't do +for me to promise to have it just as soon as we get back,' she +objected. 'I am always very busy just at our return. It might be very +inconvenient for me to prepare for a children's evening at that time; +but when I am ready I shall take pleasure in getting up a nice party +for you sometime in the autumn.' + +"This sounded well, but it was not definite enough to suit Johnny. +However he said no more at that time. While the family were gone +Bessie and I had the back porch to ourselves, and no one being there +except the housemaid to whom she could display her superiority over me, +she grew to be quite agreeable. For some time before the Morrises had +bought her, which was years and years before, long before Johnny was +born, she had lived in a taxidermist's shop. The owner of the shop was +also a bird dealer in a small way. On account of her accomplishments +he had held her at a price that few were willing or able to pay, and so +she had been forced to stay with him a long time. She much preferred +being owned by a refined family to living in a dingy store, for she was +a bird of luxurious tastes, she said. + +"I too had never ceased being glad that the grocer had sold me to the +Morrises, for I was sure that life would not have been so comfortable +for me in the back part of a country store, inhaling the odors from +fish barrels and molasses kegs, and with the dreary outlook afforded by +shelves full of canned vegetables and cracker boxes. The only point in +favor of a life at the grocery was that I would have been nearer to the +woods; but if I could not be in the woods, of what avail was that? The +Morrises were people of elegance and refinement, and their home +expressed their culture. I had made a pleasant exchange, and I felt it +was wise to be as contented as possible. + +"August slowly passed, and Johnny came back. The big house that had +been so quiet for four weeks was suddenly wakened as from a sleep. His +noisy, joyous voice rang through the halls, and from cellar to garret. + +"'Bless the b'y! he's that plazed to git back, it does one's sowl good +to hear him,' said the housemaid. + +"Mrs. Morris was so busy for the first day or two that she saw little +of Johnny. He was sent on several errands, and took his own time in +returning, but every one had too much to do to inquire what kept him so +long. + +"'Can't I shine up Bessie's and the admiral's cages?' he asked his +mother after dinner the second day. + +"Mrs. Morris was delighted with her son's thoughtfulness. 'Why, +Johnny,' she said, 'I'll be so glad to have you do it.' + +"So master Johnny wiped and dusted our cages till we felt very clean, +although I own I did not enjoy having him work about me with his brush +and dust cloth. Just as he had finished and put us back in our places +the doorbell sounded, and presently we heard children's voices in the +hall asking the maid if Johnny Morris was at home. + +"'It is some one to see you,' said Mrs. Morris. But Johnny did not +reply. He was nowhere to be seen. At the first sound he had quietly +slipped out of the room and I could now see him hiding behind the +curtains in the library. Soon Sarah came ushering three or four little +barefooted children into the parlor. + +"'They've come to Johnny's party, ma'am,' she explained to Mrs. Morris, +who looked up from her work as the children entered. + +"'How do you do, my dears?' said Mrs. Morris sweetly, though I could +see she was greatly surprised. 'I believe I don't know your names, so +you will have to introduce yourselves.' + +"The children looked bashful, and made no reply. + +"'You are not Johnny Morris' schoolmates, are you?' she questioned. + +"'No, ma'am,' answered the tallest girl, as she gazed about the +handsome room with wide-open eyes, I could see that she was not +accustomed to such beautiful things. + +"Where did you get acquainted with him, then?' went on Mrs. Morris +kindly. + +"'We hain't acquainted at all, ma'am; but he seed us on the street this +morning, and said for us to come to his party to-day. He thought as +how maybe they'd be ice-cream to eat, and he told us where he lived, +and so we are here.' + +"'Well, we must try to make you have a pleasant time,' she replied. +'Sarah, please call Johnny and tell him his guests have arrived.' + +"But Sarah had been answering a second peal of the bell, and now +appeared with a very queer smile on her face at the head of a line of +three girls and a small boy, whom she introduced by saying: + +"'A few more children, ma'am, who have come to take tea with master +Johnny.' + +"'Why, really,' exclaimed Mrs. Morris, in a sort of flutter, as she +helped Sarah to seat the new arrivals. 'The house is hardly in order +for company.' + +"The children appeared quite embarrassed, and ranged themselves +silently and sedately on the chairs to which they had been directed. + +"'Dear me, Sarah, what a predicament to be in! Where do you suppose +Johnny scraped up all these youngsters? I don't know what I ought to +do to him for playing me this trick.' Mrs. Morris said this to the +maid as they came to my side of the room. 'Think of all the work to be +done, and which will have to be stopped for the day--the house all +upside down--no chance for preparations for an extra supper for his +company. And that big girl bespoke ice-cream as soon as she entered.' +And then Mrs. Morris and Sarah turned into the recess of the bay window +and laughed softly. Her vexation seemed to pass away in a few minutes, +for she added, 'We must make the best of it, since they are here, and +let everything else go. But there's the bell; I expect it's another +batch of Johnny's friends.' + +"And so it proved, for these were old acquaintances, eight or ten of +his schoolmates. Little misses dressed in fine style, in dainty +ruffled frocks and necklaces and bright hair-ribbons, tripped +gracefully in and advanced to meet Mrs. Morris, quite like grown ladies +in their manners. Behind them came several boys, spick and span in +fresh white linen waists and silk neckties and well-fitting shoes. + +"'Ah! here are Frances and Naomi and Justice and Karl and Mary Ethel +and Philip and Jessica and all the rest,' said Mrs. Morris, giving them +each a hand of welcome as they gathered about her in a pretty group. +'Will you make yourselves quite at home and help me to entertain these +other visitors till Johnny comes in? I don't know what keeps him so +long. If you'll excuse me I'll go and look for him. There are the +pictures in the portfolio that you might like to show to these little +girls. And there's the admiral, our redbird, and Bessie, the parrot. +Maybe they would like to look at them.' + +"The two girls whom she had designated as Jessica and Frances looked at +the strange children a minute but made no movement to carry out Mrs. +Morris' wishes. Instead they drew a little apart and began to talk to +each other. Mary Ethel, a round-faced girl who giggled a great deal +behind her fan, crossed over to where sat the large girl who had +mentioned the ice-cream, and started a conversation by remarking that +it was a warm day. The girl made no audible answer, only nodded. + +"'Do you like to go to school?' inquired Mary Ethel. + +"The girl again nodded. There was a little pause. Mary Ethel, who was +bent on carrying out Mrs. Morris' suggestion to help her entertain +them, began again on the weather. I suppose she couldn't think of +anything new to say, so she observed: + +"'It's a nice warm day for the first of September, don't you think?' + +"The girl's head once more wagged up and down in assent, but not a word +did she utter. At this a subdued titter came from Frances and Jessica. +Mary Ethel's face grew red and she frowned at them. + +"Just at this moment in ran Johnny. He had put on his best suit. His +yellow hair was freshly brushed and his face was wreathed in smiles. +He reminded one of a dancing sunbeam. It was wonderful to see how +quickly he set the social wheel moving in the parlor. In three minutes +he had them all acquainted and talking to each other. At one side I +noticed Naomi and Jessica who were trying to make the parrot talk for +the big girl. Mary Ethel was turning the crank of a small music box, +around which were clustered a group of the stranger children. On a +sofa three or four others had the portfolio of pictures spread out. +Others came to my cage coaxing me to whistle for them, while Johnny +capered hither and thither and joked and had more funny things to say +than anybody in the room. When he let Bessie out of her cage and put +her on the piano to sing the 'Mocking Bird,' the joy of the visitors +knew no bounds. + +"'Have you a parrot, Jeannette?' he asked one of the little barefooted +girls, whose dancing black eyes showed how much she enjoyed Bessie's +performance. + +"'No, but I have two lovely cats.' She made the announcement as if +very proud of their ownership. + +"'I have a cat too. He dresses in black and wears long white +whiskers, and looks just like a respectable old colored man.' This +description amused the children very much. + +"'What's your cat's name?' they shouted. + +"'Jett. What do you call your cats, Jeannette?' + +"'The big one is _Boule de Neige_ and the little one is _Jaune +Jaquette_.' + +"'What queer names!' exclaimed Mary Ethel. 'How did you happen to +select such names for them?' + +"'Oh, miss, because the names do suit them so well.' + +"'They don't sound like any cats' names that ever I heard. I don't +understand how they would suit.' Mary Ethel looked perplexed. + +"'Why, miss, on account of the color of those cats, to be sure,' said +Jeannette in surprise. + +"'Pooh!' explained Johnny, 'that's easy. _Boule de neige_ is the +French for snowball, and _jaune_ means yellow, so _jaune jaquette_ +means yellow jacket. I learned that in our French reader. I expect +one of the cats is all white and the other is a yellow one. Is that +it, Jeannette?' + +"'Yes, sir,' said the French child, and she tipped him a polite little +bow that was very pretty indeed. + +"'_Boule de Neige_! what a funny name. I haven't named our white +kitten yet. I believe I'll call it _Boule de Neige_ for a change,' +said Karl. + +"Then Jett was brought in and Bessie pounced upon him for a ride, she +chuckling and singing and looking from side to side with proud +satisfaction, knowing she was being observed by everybody. The +children almost screamed with delight at this performance. + +"'Now, Bessie,' said Johnny, as the poor cat at last shook her off and +slank away. 'You did that beautifully, and you deserve something to +eat. I am going to let you have some bread and milk right here in the +parlor, and the company can see how nicely you can feed yourself with a +spoon.' + +"'All right,' croaked the parrot. Sarah brought in a saucer in which +was a little bread moistened with milk, and two spoons with it. A +cloth was spread over one corner of the table and Bessie crawled up to +the top of a chair which had been placed with its back close to the +table. This brought the bird almost in line with the saucer. Johnny +took his seat beside her and broke the bread into tiny pieces with his +spoon, shoving the particles into the other spoon as fast as Bessie +disposed of them. She gravely clasped her spoon with one claw and +brought it to her mouth quite dextrously and ate the contents with +evident relish, though it was plain that she enjoyed being admired for +being able to do it really more than she enjoyed the bread. Once in a +while her grasp was uncertain and the food was spilled on her breast +feathers or fell to the floor. At this she scolded herself roundly and +seemed quite ashamed. + +"'One of these days, when I get time, I am going to train her to use a +napkin when she eats,' said Johnny. + +"'She'll be a perfectly accomplished lady then,' added Mary Ethel. + +"By this time some of the stranger children had left the table and had +come over to my cage to look at me. + +"'The admiral's an awful purty feller,' said one. + +"'Wouldn't his tail be sweet on a Sunday hat?' suggested another. + +"'Oh, I choose his wings for my hat,' exclaimed a third. + +"'I choose his head and breast for mine,' said the first one who had +spoken. 'And Naomi chooses his whole body for her hat, I expect,' she +added as Naomi joined them. + +"'No,' said Naomi, 'we don't wear birds any more in our family. My +sister and I used to have our hats trimmed with them, but we've quit. +I had a lovely one on my blue velvet hat last year. It was a beautiful +hat," and she smiled at the recollection. 'But we've quit now,' she +added gravely. + +"'Why?' asked the other girls in a breath. + +"'Oh, because my mother thinks it is wrong to wear them. Little boy, +little boy, be careful or you'll let the bird out,' she called hastily. + +"But the warning was too late. While the girls had been talking the +small boy who was with them had been entertaining himself by slightly +opening my cage door and letting it spring back to its fastening. +Suddenly he was seized with fright at discovering that it had stuck +while half-way back, and refused to come together. + +"Oh, dear!' he called. 'He's out.' + +"'Mercy on us! Oh, dear!' screamed the girls as I made a dash through +the opening, and flew to the top of a picture frame. 'Johnny, Johnny, +your redbird's out,' they called. + +"All was confusion in an instant. Boys and girls ran hither and +thither, tumbling over each other, and over the chairs and stools, and +all talking and screaming at once. + +"'Bring a broom or a flagpole, Johnny,' called Philip. 'I'll shoo him +down for you while you stand underneath and catch him.' + +"'Shoo, shoo!' said Jeannette, catching her dress skirt with both hands +and waving it back and forth rapidly. In a minute all the girls were +waving their dress skirts at me and saying 'shoo.' + +"'Oh, my pretty Admiral Dewey, my dear old admiral,' wailed Johnny, +almost in tears. + +"I didn't wait for the broom or the flagpole to help me from the +picture frame. I balanced myself steadily and then I flew out of the +open window and away into the world, without saying good-bye to +anybody. I suppose they all crowded to the window to look after me as +I disappeared, for the last thing I heard was Mrs. Morris' voice +saying, 'Don't, Johnny; you'll fall out if you lean over so far. Papa +will get you another bird. Don't grieve so hard. Don't, Johnny.'" + +"Did you ever see Johnny afterward?" we asked the redbird. + +"Yes, once I saw him cantering along slowly on Jock. He could not go +very fast because he was holding a great bunch of red and pink roses in +one hand. His cheeks were as pink as the flowers and his yellow hair +curled up under the edge of his cap the same as it used to. I knew him +in a minute. A great many carriages were on the street trimmed in +flags and flowers. Little flags were fastened to the horses' harness. +Jock had one on each side of his head, which made him look very pretty. +Children were running about carrying wreaths. On a corner of the +street where a band was playing some men were holding banners. I heard +some one say it was Decoration Day, and that everybody strewed flowers +on the graves in the big cemetery that day. I thought it was a very +beautiful custom. Through all the buzz and confusion I kept an eye on +Johnny. He didn't seem to be riding anywhere in particular, but was +just looking around for the fun of the thing. Presently he drew up to +the sidewalk where a little ragged boy was leaning up against a tree. +He had a wistful look, as if he would like to be taking part. + +"'Hello!' said Johnny, as he reined Jock in. 'Aren't you going to help +to decorate?' + +"'Naw--ain't got any posies, I tell you.' The boy said this in a +sullen tone. + +"'Here, take these. I brought you a big bunch so you could divide 'em +with some of your friends. There's enough for all of you boys to have +a few flowers to take to the cemetery.' Johnny extended the roses with +a smile as he spoke. + +"The boy grabbed them eagerly. 'My! You're a jolly one, I'll say that +for you,' he said heartily by way of thanks, then he ran off with a +whoop. + +"I saw from this action that Johnny was the same generous, kind-hearted +boy he used to be, and I felt proud to have had the honor of his +acquaintance." + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +A WINTER IN THE SOUTH + + I was wrong about the Phoebe bird; + Two songs it has, and both of them I've heard; + I did not know those strains of joy and sorrow + Came from one throat. + + +As the season advanced our May songs became less melodious until +finally our music was merely a metallic but pleasant, "chink, chink," +and we knew we would soon be putting on our new fall attire, as toward +the close of the summer our family exchange their pretty +black-and-white suits, so much admired, for a becoming yellowish-brown +one. The different flocks were also now arranging for their regular +winter trip to the sunny Southland, where their winters were spent. + +I was very glad to know that we bobolinks were to travel only in the +daytime, as that would afford us younger ones a better opportunity to +see the country. The return trip to the North is always made by night. +A great many people have wondered why we do this, and those who are +interested in our habits have tried to find out; but it is a secret the +birds have never yet divulged, and probably never will. + +The blue jays were going to remain behind, for the winters which we +dreaded so much had no terrors for them. Sometimes when we were +preening our feathers under the radiant skies near the Southern gulf, I +thought of our old neighbors the jays, and fancied them in their bleak +Northern home flitting about in the tops of the leafless trees, swayed +by the icy winds from the upper lakes, and with perhaps but little to +eat. I would not have exchanged places with them for the world. But +my older comrades assured me the jays were not in need of my sympathy +or pity. They liked the invigorating cold and chattered merrily in the +desolate boughs and enjoyed many a nice meal from under the melting +snow. The crimson dogwood berries, standing out like rosettes of +coral, at which they liked to peck, also furnished them an aesthetic +and sumptuous feast. Much more to be dreaded than the winter's cold +was the cruel sportsman, said my comrades. + +The day of our departure came. The concourse of birds setting out on +their annual journeys was immense, and oh, what joy it was to soar +aloft on buoyant pinion high up in the blue sky, over housetops and +tops of trees, skimming along above rushing waters or tranquil streams +in quiet meadows. Mere existence was a keen delight. The sense of +freedom, of lightness, of airiness, was gloriously exhilarating, a +delicious sensation known only to the feathered tribes of all God's +creation. + +Our trip took us across some densely wooded mountains, where we rested +for a time. A thick undergrowth of young saplings prevented any roads, +and only occasional narrow footpaths showed that people sometimes +passed that way. + +The mountain was grand in its loneliness; but doubtless was a desolate +spot to the settlers, whose cabins were scattered at long distances +from each other in the depths of the wood. I could imagine how cut off +from the whole world the women and children in these cabins would feel, +for it is natural for human beings to love society. The perpetual +stillness must have been hard to bear when months sometimes passed +away, especially in the winter season, without their getting a glimpse +of other human faces. + +The mountains were full of wildcats too, which made their situation +worse, as these fierce animals were frequently known to attack men as +savagely as wolves do. One day while we were there two travelers +camped under the tree where our family was roosting. They had +evidently had a hard time making their way through the tangled +undergrowth, for as one of the men flung himself down on the ground and +stretched himself out at full length, he exclaimed peevishly: + +"Well, I don't want any more such experiences. I'm dead tired; my face +is all scratched with the thorns and bushes; and I haven't seen a +newspaper for a week. If the railroad company needs any more work of +this kind done, they must get somebody else." + +"Fiddle-dee-dee! You mustn't be so easily discouraged," answered the +other young man, who had already set to work scraping up dry chips and +pieces of bark to make a fire, "Think of these poor mountaineers who +stay here all their lives. Your little tramp of a few days is nothing +to what they do all the time and never think of complaining. The half +of them are too poor to own a mule. They eat hog and hominy the year +around, and are thankful to get it. Their clothes are fearfully and +wonderfully made, but for all that they don't give up and think life +isn't worth living." + +As the two young fellows talked on in this strain I named them Growler +and Cheery, because the one was so determined to look on the dark side, +while the other took a cheerful view of everything. Growler continued +to lounge on the ground, looking with careless interest at Cheery, who +was preparing dinner. + +The dinner was in a small tin box which he took from his coat pocket. +Opening it he disclosed some eatables very compactly put in. He took +out several articles and set them on the ground in front of him. In +the box was a bottle stoutly corked containing a dark liquid, some of +which he poured into a flat tin cup which formed a part of the lid of +the box. This he set over the fire, which by this time was snapping +cheerily. + +"Come," he said. "Here's a lunch fit for a king. Get up and have your +share. Maybe when your stomach is warmed up with a few ham and mustard +sandwiches, some cheese and coffee, you'll be in better spirits. These +crackers are good eating too." + +"Fit for a king, eh? Mighty poor kind of a king, I should say," +growled Growler sarcastically; but he rose and flicked the leaves and +twigs from his clothing before he helped himself to the coffee which +was now hot. + +"One cup for two people is just one too few," laughed Cheery when it +came his turn to take some. "My! but it tastes good. There's nothing +like the open air to give one an appetite." + +"I don't like coffee without cream," objected Growler, chewing moodily +at his cracker. + +"Well, we'll get to Girard by to-night, and then possibly we will get a +good supper." + +While they were lunching I had observed another traveler slowly +approaching through the underbrush. Over one shoulder was slung a +leather strap in which were a few books. He carried a rifle, and from +his coat pocket bulged a small package. As he drew nearer the sound of +his footsteps startled Growler who nervously upset his coffee over his +shirt front. + +"What d'ye suppose he is?" he asked of Cheery as the stranger +approached. + +"I judge he's a parson, from the cut of his clothes," observed Cheery. +Then as the new-comer advanced he called: "Hello, friend! Who'd 'a +thought of meeting company this far back in these mountains?" + +"This is only about eight miles from the town where I live," answered +the gentleman, who now seated himself near them with his back against a +tree, "I know the paths through here fairly well, for I come this way +several times through the summer. But this will be my last trip for +the season, and I'm giving a little more time to it on that account. +I've taken it somewhat leisurely to-day." + +He was a delicate-looking, middle-aged man, with a mild voice and a +kind face. + +"You're a drummer for a publishing house, I take it?" said Growler, +nodding toward the books in the strap. "I've just been wondering where +you'd find any buyers in these infernal woods." + +The gentleman laughed. "No," said he, "this is my regular route; but +I'm not a commercial traveler in any sense. I'm a pastor at a town +near here, and I go out to these mountain families to hold services +every few weeks." + +"You don't mean you foot it through these bushes and among these +wildcats to preach to the mountaineers!" exclaimed Growler in +astonishment. + +"Certainly I do. These poor people would never hear the sound of the +gospel if some one did not take it to them. They have souls to be +saved, my friend. I feel it is my duty to carry the word to them. As +for the wildcats," he continued, smiling, "I have my rifle. Besides +the government offers a small bounty for every wildcat." + +"Oh, yes, I see. You combine business with pleasure and have your +wildcat bounty to pay expenses as you go along--or else keep it for +pin-money," and Growler laughed good-humoredly at his own fun. + +"You're the parson from St. Thomas, I judge," said Cheery. + +The gentleman bowed, and said he was the pastor of that little church. + +"I've heard of your mission work, and I understand you've done a great +deal of good among the mountain whites." + +"How many churches have you in these mountains?" interrupted Growler. + +"I have but the one church organization, for outside through the +mountains there are no churches--no buildings, no organizations. +People ten and fifteen miles apart can't very well have churches. I +visit the families. I have three on this mountain side. I am well +repaid for all the sacrifice of comfort I make, in knowing how glad +they are to have me come. To many of them I am the connecting link +with the rest of mankind. Ah! the world knows nothing of the +privations and sorrows and ignorance of many of these poor creatures! +Through the winter I am obliged to stop my visitations, but I generally +leave a few books and papers for those who can read, and pictures for +the children." + +"Well, parson, I didn't know there was enough goodness in any man in +the United States to make him willing to tramp right into the wildest +part of the Allegheny. Mountains to preach the gospel to half a dozen +poor people!" exclaimed Growler, still more astonished. + +"My friend," responded the gentleman earnestly, "the world is full of +Christian men and women who are trying to help others." + +Just then my mother said to me, "When I hear the beautiful words that +minister speaks and see what he is doing, then indeed do I believe that +human beings have hearts." + +As we resumed our journey I wondered if Growler would profit by the +sunshiny example of Cheery and the devotion of the parson of St. Thomas. + +Later in our travels we came upon some old acquaintances. Our +stopping-place was near an ancient house on a mountain side. The +outlook was the grandest I had ever seen, and though I have traveled +much since then I have never found anything to exceed it in beauty. A +glistening river wound its way in a big loop at the foot of the +mountain, and beyond it lay stretched out a busy city. + +A good many years before a battle had been fought on these heights, +which people still remembered and talked about. I heard them speak of +it as the "Battle above the clouds." There was still a part of a +cannon wagon in the yard which visitors came to see and examined with +much interest. They also often requested the landlady to let them look +at the walls of an old stone dairy adjoining the house, because the +soldiers had carved their names there. + +To me it seemed strange that the guests would sit for hours on the long +gallery of this hotel, and go over and over the incidents of the +battle, telling where this regiment stood, or where that officer fell, +as if war and the taking of life were the most pleasant rather than the +most distressful subjects in the world. In the distance was a mammoth +field of graves, miles of graves, beautifully kept mounds under which +lay the dead heroes of that sad time. + +The days up here were beautiful, but it was at night that this was a +scene of surpassing loveliness. Far below the lights of the city +glowed like spangles in the darkness. Above us was the star-encrusted +sky. It was like being suspended between a floor and a ceiling of +glittering jewels. + +On this plateau grew the biggest cherry trees I ever saw, and they bore +the biggest and sweetest cherries, though I could not taste any at that +time, as the season was past. I heard the landlady complaining one day +to some of her guests that the rascally birds had hardly left her a +cherry to put up. + +"The saucy little thieves! they must have eaten bushels of the finest +fruit," she said. + +"And didn't you get any?" inquired a childish voice. There was +something familiar in the voice and I flew to the porch railing to see +who it was. And who should it be but dear little Marion. And there +too was her aunty, Miss Dorothy, and the professor, and in the parlor I +caught a glimpse of Miss Katie and the colonel. They were having a +pleasant vacation together. + +Marion looked inquiringly into the landlady's face. No doubt she was +thinking the mountain birds were very greedy to eat up all the cherries +and not leave one for the poor woman to can. + +"Our birds always eat some of our cherries too," she said, "but they +always leave us plenty." + +"There were bushels left on our trees," observed the landlady's +daughter. "We had all we wanted, mother. We couldn't possibly have +used the rest if the birds had not eaten them. We had a cellar full of +canned cherries left over from the year before, you remember, and that +is the way it is nearly every year." + +"Yes, yes, I know," answered her mother impatiently; "but for all that +I don't believe in letting the birds have everything." + +"I never begrudge a bird what it eats," commented the professor. "Of +course you can discourage the birds, drive them off, break up their +nests, starve them out, and have a crop of caterpillars instead of +cherries. But, beg pardon, madam, maybe you don't object to +caterpillars," and he bowed low to the landlady. + +The laugh was against her and I was glad of it, for I didn't consider +it either kind or polite to call us "saucy little thieves." + +We were amused one morning when, flying over a piece of pretty country, +we saw a lady moving rapidly along on the red sandy path below. She +seemed to be neither exactly riding nor walking, as she was not on foot +nor had she a horse. On closer inspection it was seen that she was +propelling a strange-looking vehicle. Two of her carriage wheels were +gone, and between the remaining two the lady was perched. At sight of +it I was immediately reminded of the queer thing that Johnny Morris +rode which the admiral had described to us and called a "wheel." I +felt sure that this was the same kind of a machine. The lady looked +neither to the right nor to the left, but her glance was fixed intently +on the road before her. + +Farther along another lady leaned against the fence awaiting her +approach. As she bowled along the friend asked enthusiastically: "Is +it not splendid?" + +The rider called back to her: "It is grand! It is almost as if I were +flying. I know now how a bird feels." + +Think of comparing the sensation produced by moving that heavy iron +machine, with the rider but three feet from the ground, to the +exhilaration felt by a bird spurning the earth and soaring on delicate +wing through the fields of heaven! It was truly laughable! + +Our amusement was cut short, however, when we noticed that the lady's +hat was decorated with a dead dove. + +"Can we never get away from this millinery exhibition of death?" I +exclaimed in horror. + +"No," said my mother sorrowfully. "The god, Fashion, I told you of has +his slaves all over the land. We will find them wherever we go, north, +south, east, and west. No town is too small, no neighborhood too +remote, but there will be found women ready to carry out his cruel +laws." + +Had we not been haunted by this vision of death which we were +constantly meeting wherever women were congregated, we might have been +happy in the fair land of rose blossoms and magnolias where we now +sojourned. The air was soft and balmy, and the atmosphere filled us +with a serene, restful languor quite new to those who had been +accustomed to the brisker habits of a colder clime. Besides the birds +there were many human visitors from the North spending the winter +months here. Some sought this warmer climate for their health, others +for pleasure, and these also soon fell into the easy-going, +happy-go-lucky ways induced by the sluggish climate. + +Among the birds the waxwings most readily acquired this delightful +Southern habit of taking life easy. In fact the waxwings are inclined +to be lazy, except when they are nesting; they are the most deliberate +creatures one can find, but very foppish and neat in their dress. +Never will you find a particle of dust on their silky plumage, and the +pretty red dots on their wings and tails look always as bright as if +kept in a bandbox. They have, indeed, just reason to be proud of +themselves, for they are very beautiful. + +Hunters by scores were after them with bag and gun mercilessly killing +them for the New York millinery houses. The slaughter was terrible, +and made more easy for the hunters by reason of the poor birds flocking +together so closely in such large numbers when they alighted in circles +as is their habit. As they came down in dense droves to get their +food, the red dots on their wing tips almost overlapping those of their +fellows, dozens were slain by a single shot. They were very fond of +the berries of the cedar trees, and after the other foods were gone +they hovered there in great numbers. Here too, the hunters followed +them and made awful havoc in their ranks. One man made the cruel boast +that the winter previous he had killed one thousand cedar-birds for hat +trimmings. + +Many of our family had located for a time near the coast, but here too, +on these sunny plains, the death messengers followed us and slew us by +the thousands. + +We learned that one bird man handled thirty thousand bird skins that +season. Another firm shipped seventy thousand to the city, and still +the market called for more and yet more. The appetite of the god could +not be appeased. + +I am sure this account of the loss of bird life must have seemed +appalling to my mother, for I heard her moan sadly when it was talked +about. + +It was during my stay in the Southern islands that I first saw the +white egret, whose beautiful sweeping plumes, like the silken train of +a court lady, have so long been the spoils of woman, that the bird is +almost extinct. As these magnificent feathers appear upon the bird +only through the mating and nesting season, the cruelty of the act is +still more dastardly. The attachment of the parent birds for their +young is very beautiful to witness, yet this devotion, which should be +their safeguard, is seized upon for their destruction, for so great is +the instinct of protecting love they refuse to leave their young when +danger is near, and are absolutely indifferent to their own safety. + +Never shall I forget one sad incident which occurred while I was there. +Overhanging the water was an ancestral nest belonging to a family of +egrets which had occupied it for some seasons. Unlike the American +human species, in whom local attachment is not largely developed, and +who take a new house every moving day, the egret repairs and fixes over +the old house year after year, putting in a new brace there, adding +another stick here, to make it firm enough to bear the weight of the +mother and the three young birds which always comprise the brood. + +The three pale-blue eggs in this nest had been duly hatched, and the +fond mother was now brooding over her darlings with every demonstration +of maternal affection. She was a beautiful creature with her graceful +movement, her train of plumes, and her long neck gracefully curved. + +The quick sharp boom, boom of the guns had been echoing through the +swamp for some time, and the men were now coming nearer. The efforts +of the poor mother to shield her babies were piteous, but the hunters +did not want them. Their scant plumage is worthless for millinery +purposes. Possibly the mother might have escaped had she been willing +to leave her dear ones; but she would not desert them, and was shot in +the breast as the reward of her devotion. The nestlings were left to +starve. + +Would you think the woman who wore that bunch of feathers on her bonnet +could take much pleasure in it? + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE PRISON + + Like a long-caged bird + Thou beat'st thy bars with broken wing + And flutterest, feebly echoing + The far-off music thou hast heard, + --_Arthur Eaton._ + + +This was my last day of liberty for many, many months. The very next +evening I was stunned by a stone thrown by a small boy who accompanied +a hunter. Picking me up he ran toward his father, who was coming back +from the neighboring swamp with his loaded gamebag. + +"This bird isn't dead," said the boy, holding me up to view, "and I'm +going to put it in a cage and train it to talk." + +"Crows are the kind that talk. That's no crow nor no starling +neither," answered the man. "Better give it to me to kill. I'll pay +you a penny for it." + +"Naw, you don't," and the boy drew back, at the same time closing his +hand over me so tightly that I feared I would be crushed. "I'm going +to keep him, I tell ye. He's mine to do what I please with, and I +ain't agoing to sell him for a penny, neither." + +So saying he ran along in front of his father till we reached the mule +cart. Into this clumsy vehicle they climbed and soon we were jogging +over the sandy road to their home. As we drove along the man computed, +partly to himself, partly aloud, how much money the contents of his +game-bag would bring him. The result must have been satisfactory, for +presently he observed: + +"Purty fair day's wages, but I believe I could make more killing terns +and gulls than these birds. Bill Jones and the hunters up on Cobb's +Island last year got ten cents apiece for all the gulls they killed. +Forty thousand were killed right there. Oh, it's bound to be a mighty +good business for us fellows as long as the wimmen are in the notion, +that is, if the birds ain't all killed off." + +"Air they getting scarce?" questioned the boy. The man ejected a +mouthful of dark, offensive juice from between his grizzled whiskers +before replying. + +"Yes, purty tol'ble scarce. So much demand for 'em is bound to clean +the birds out. There used to be heaps of orioles an' robins an' larks +an' blackbirds an' waxwings through the country, but they're getting +played out too, since the wimmen tuk to wearin' 'em on their bunnets." + +"Well, no woman sha'n't have my bird for her bunnet," and the boy gave +me another friendly pinch that nearly broke my bones. "I'm a going to +put it in that old cage that's out in the shed and give it to Betty, if +she wants it." + +"Humph! she won't keer for it. You'd better kill it. Betty won't be +bothered with it." + +"She may give it away, or let it loose, or do what she pleases with it, +then," was the boy's reply. + +I learned from their further conversation that the hunter sold his game +to another man who cured the skins for shipment to the city. To this +dealer the bag which held my dead companions was taken and I saw them +no more. Arriving at the hunter's home I was put under a bucket that I +might not escape, while my captor prepared my prison for me. It was an +almost needless precaution for I had been so cramped between his +fingers that I feared I could never again use my legs or wings. Just +before putting me in my rude prison house he brought a pair of shears +and bade Betty clip my wings. + +"Oh, I'm afraid it will hurt it!" she exclaimed, pushing away the +extended scissors. + +"Nonsense, you ninny! What if it does hurt it?" and he roughly knocked +my bill with his hand. + +"Now that's real mean, Joe. You're a scaring it to pieces. Here, +Dickey Downy, I'm going to give you a pretty name if you belong to me; +let me hold you. Why, its little heart is a thumping as if 'twould +burst through its body." + +Joe was reluctant to loosen his grasp, and between being pulled first +one way and then the other by the two children, I was badly bruised. +Finally I was permitted by my young captor to enter the cage, where I +sank, trembling and exhausted, to the floor, and remained there all +night, being too sore to ascend the perch. + +As may be imagined I was very sorrowful and unhappy. The separation +from my mother and my dear companions, coupled with the fear that I +might never again wing my blithesome flight through the bright blue +sky, but spend the balance of my life in this miserable cell, filled me +with despair. Frantic but useless were my efforts to escape. In vain +I beat my head against the hard steel bars; in vain I endeavored to +crowd my body between them. My prison was too secure. + +At length I found that fluttering back and forth buffeting my wings +against the sides of my cell only injured me and availed nothing. Then +it was I wisely made the resolution to endure my imprisonment as +cheerfully as possible. I soon began to regain my strength and spirits +and, save that I was deprived of my liberty, I had no special fault to +find for some days with my treatment from Betty, who was now regarded +as my owner and keeper. + +I was always glad when Joe was absent from home, for he was vicious as +well as rough. One of his favorite tricks was to dash my cage hard +against the wall, laughing boisterously as he did so to see how it +frightened me. The concussion was frequently so great that my claws +could not hold to the perch, and I would be tossed helplessly from side +to side with my feathers ruffled and broken. There was but one thing +Joe liked better than this cruel sport, and that was gingerbread; and +my tortures were often stopped by Betty's producing a slice of this +delicacy which she had saved from her own luncheon for this particular +purpose. When I discovered that Joe could be bought off with +gingerbread it can be imagined that I was always glad on the days when +the pungent odors of cinnamon, ginger, and molasses issued from the +cook-stove. It was a surety of peace, of a cessation of hostilities as +long as the cake lasted. + +All went fairly well for a little while, but as the novelty of +possession gradually wore off, my little jailer grew negligent and left +me much of the time without water or food. Frequently my throat was so +parched from thirst that I could not utter a protesting chirp. I knew +no other way to attract attention to my wants than to flutter to the +bars and thrust out my head; unfortunately this action was attributed +to wildness and a desire to escape, and I was allowed to suffer on. + +"That bird is the most annoying, restless thing I ever saw," complained +Betty's mother one evening when I was thus trying to tell them my cup +was empty. "It spends all its time poking its head through the wires +or thrashing around in the cage, instead of getting up on its perch and +behaving itself quietly as a decent bird should." + +"Do you reckon it's sick?" suggested Betty, and she came to my cage and +looked at me attentively. + +"Reckon it's hungry, you mean," growled her father, who was in one +corner of the kitchen cleaning his gun. + +"She never feeds it any more," commented the mother. "What's the use +of keeping it? I'd wring its neck and be done with it. Betty don't +keer a straw for it." + +"Yes, I do," cried the little girl. "I'll get it something to eat this +very minute." + +These spasms of attention only lasted a day or two, however, when my +young keeper would lapse into carelessness, and again I would be +allowed to go with an empty crop and a dry throat. My beautiful +plumage grew rusty from this irregularity and continual neglect, and +although I am not a vain bird, my dingy appearance was a source of +daily grief and mortification to me. When Betty was not too busy +playing she sometimes hung my cage outside the door of the cottage, but +often for days together through the pleasant summer I was left hanging +in the kitchen, sometimes half-choked with smoke or dampened with +steam. No wonder I drooped and ceased my cheerful song. + +The days when I was put out of doors were indeed gala days to me. Many +families of young chickens lived in the back yard, and the pipings of +the little ones and the scoldings of the mothers when their children +ran too far away from them, were always amusing to listen to and gave +me something to think about which kept my mind off my own troubles. + +I liked to watch the hens with their fuzzy broods tumbling about them, +or with the older chicks when they scratched the ground and ceaselessly +clucked for them to come to get their share of what was turned up in +the soil; meanwhile they kept a sharp lookout with their bright eyes to +see that no outsider shared in the feast. And how angrily did they +drive it away should a chick from another brood heedlessly rush in +among them to get a taste. + +One old hen in particular interested me very much. I noticed her first +because of her pretty bluish color and the dark markings around her +neck, but I soon came to pity her, for she made herself quite unhappy +and seemed to take no comfort in anything. She was usually tied to a +tree by the leg, and although her string was long it seemed always just +a little too short to reach the thing she wanted. To make matters +worse she had a bad fashion of rushing wildly around the tree and +getting her string wound up shorter and shorter until at last she could +not stir a step, but would hang by one foot foolishly pulling as hard +as she could. It always seemed to me that her chickens were more +disobedient than the rest, because they knew she could not get to them +nor follow them. + +Joe sometimes slyly threw pebbles at this blue hen to scare her and +make her jump and pull at the string, when he thought his mother was +not looking. As pay for his sport he often got his ears cuffed, for +though his mother did not seem to notice how cruelly he teased me, she +would not allow him to frighten her fowls. + +"Don't you know that a hen that's all the time skeered won't lay?" was +the lesson she tried to impress on him as she punished him. + +But the thing I liked best of all was to see Betty's seven white ducks +crowd up to the kitchen door every time any one appeared with a pan of +scraps. Such gabbling and quacking, such pushing and such stepping on +each other and on the chickens, in their eagerness to get there first, +was almost laughable. In fact, the pink-toed pigeons that walked up +and down the ridge of the barn roof, did make fun of them openly. Had +I not known the ducks were well fed and so fat they could scarcely +waddle, I might have thought they were really hungry, but I soon +discovered that they were simply greedy. + +Standing on tiptoe and stretching up their long necks they often seized +the food before it had a chance to fall to the ground. By this good +management they usually got more than the chickens. Joe accused Betty +of being partial to the ducks. + +"You allus give 'em the best of everything, and twice as much as you do +the chickens," he complained. + +"They get the most because they've got the most confidence in me," said +Betty, putting on a very wise look. "They come close up to me, while a +chicken shies off and misses the goodies coz she's silly enough to be +afraid. Besides, the ducks are mine. I raised 'em. I paid twenty +cents a setting for the eggs out of my own money, and when you raise a +thing you generally like it the best. Ducks are a heap smarter'n +chickens, anyway," she asserted. "I never can get one of the chickens +to feed out of a spoon, and the ducks like it the best kind." To +convince him she held toward them a large baking spoon of soured milk. +This milk was thickened into a paste or ball by being put on the stove +and separated from the whey, or watery part, by the action of the heat. + +It was a favorite dish with the fowls, and they all smacked their lips +when they saw it coming. + +As fast as Betty could fill the spoon it was emptied by the ducks, who +stuck their big yellow bills into it and devoured the contents, letting +the chickens below scramble and push and pick each other for any stray +bits that fell to the ground. + +"Didn't I tell you?" said Betty triumphantly. "Them chickens had just +as good a chance as the ducks, but they wouldn't take it." + +"Huh!" answered Joe. "Their necks ain't long enough, is what's the +matter." + +There were several trees in the yard, and often when the fowls were +fed, birds flew down from their leafy recesses to pick up the crumbs +left lying about. How I used to wish they would come near enough to my +cage that I might converse with them, but it always happened that just +at the time when one of them would settle close to the house, either +Joe's little dog, Colly, would run across the yard, or Betty or her +mother would appear at the door and frighten my feathered friend away. +Only once did I exchange a word with any of these birds, and that for +but a few short minutes. + +The bird did not belong to our family, nor had I ever met any of his +relatives before, but that made but little difference. He was a bird, +and that was enough. We did not wait for any formal introduction; but +as he balanced himself on the edge of my cage he hurriedly told me news +of the woods, and how he wished I might get free and come to live +there. He told of the lovely dragon flies, with purple, burnished +wings that floated in the forest, mingling their drowsy hum with the +chirping of the birds. He told of the great mossy carpet spread under +the trees; how at set of day the owls came out, and the moles rustled +in the fallen leaves, and the frogs raised their evening hymn to the +sinking sun. + +I could have listened for hours to the sweet familiar tale my feathered +brother told of life in the happy woodland, but Betty's mother suddenly +hurrying out to the pump to fill her bucket, cut short the story, and +away my bird friend skimmed out of sight without so much as saying +"good-bye." Though I saw him several times after that, he never came +so close again. + +"Oh, what heaps and heaps of fireflies!" exclaimed Betty, as she +unhooked my cage to move me into the house that evening. "It looks as +if our door-yard was full of moving lanterns." + +"Nothin' but lightnen bugs!" said Joe contemptuously. "Here, see me +catch 'em," and in a few minutes he showed her a handful which he had +killed by crushing between his hands. + +"Hold on, I want to catch some too!" and hustling me into the kitchen, +Betty ran along with him and was soon engaged in catching and killing +the beautiful fireflies. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE HUNTERS + +Song birds, plumage birds, water fowl, and many innocent birds of prey, +are hunted from the everglades to the Arctic Circles for the barbaric +purpose of decorating women's hats. The extent of this traffic is +simply appalling.--_G. O. Shields._ + + +When Joe and his father came back from their gunning expeditions, the +accounts they gave of the day's slaughter made me very homesick and +miserable, and wore sadly on my spirits in my captivity. + +The heartless indifference with which the woman would ask her husband +if it had been "a good day for killings," almost made me wail aloud. + +"Best kind of luck; I bagged nearly a hundred this trip," he replied +exultingly, one night when she put the usual question. "The birds were +as thick as blackberries in the high weeds along the creek, and were +havin' a mighty good time stuffing themselves with seeds. Joe fired +the old gun to start 'em and, great Jerushy! in a minute the sky was +dark with 'em; I just blazed away and they dropped thick all around us, +and it kept us tol'ble busy for a while a pickin' 'em up." + +"Pop, tell 'em about the old water bird down in the swamp," said Joe +with a wicked laugh. + +"Yes, tell us; what was it, pop?" urged Betty. + +"Oh, nothin' partickler, I reckon; just an old bird that hadn't the +grit to get away from me," and the man gave a low chuckle at the +remembrance. + +"My, oh! the way them old birds hung around and wouldn't scare worth a +cent when we was right up close to 'em was funny, I tell ye," and Joe +leaned back in his chair and slapped his knees in a fresh burst of +merriment. + +"There was eggs in the nest was the cause," said the man; "them birds +are always as tame as kittens then. You can go right up to 'em and +they won't leave the nest. Them birds has two broods in a season, and +then's the chance to get a good whack at 'em." + +Joe rubbed his hands together in delight as he turned to his sister, +"You'd ought to have seen 'em, Betty. There was pop in his rubber +boots a creepin' along--a c-r-e-e-p-i-n' along as sly as a mouse toward +'em, and there they stayed. The male bird he fluttered and' squawked, +and the female she stuck to the nest till pop he got right up and he +didn't even have to shoot her. He just clubbed her over the back and +down she went ker-splash as dead as you please. Them there eggs won't +hardly hatch out this year, I don't reckon," and at the prospect Joe +broke into a malicious guffaw. + +"I think to club it was meaner'n to shoot the poor thing," said Betty +indignantly. "And, anyway, I wouldn't a-killed it on the nest. It's +mean to treat an 'fectionate bird so." + +"Pshaw, you'd do big things!" was Joe's scornful reply. + +"Well, I wouldn't be so tremenj'us cruel," persisted Betty; "I don't +believe in killing a pretty bird." + +"But what would the wimmen do without bunnet trimmen' if we didn't kill +'em, hey?" and Joe finished his question with a taunting whistle. + +As the shadows of each evening gathered around the cottage, the shadow +over my life seemed to deepen and grow more gloomy. Outside the door I +could hear the hum of the bees as they flew homeward, the wind-harp +played in the yellow pines its softest, sweetest music, and I scented +the odor of honeysuckles and roses far away. The rushing of the waters +over the stones in the creek tinkled dreamily, but in the midst of all +earth's loveliness I was desolate, because I was not free. + +And thus the summer days dragged wearily along, and the autumn came. +It is not surprising then that I was overjoyed when later on I learned +that I was to be given as a present to a young relative of Betty's, who +lived to the northward in a distant State. My present existence had +grown almost intolerable, and I felt that any change could scarcely +make my condition worse, and there was a chance of its being better. +The prospect put new life into me. + +Preening my feathers became a pleasant task once more. I whetted my +bill till it glistened, and my long-neglected toilet again became my +daily care. + +"I shall be mighty glad to get rid of the mopy creature," Betty's +mother had, said when they talked of my departure. "I wouldn't give +the thing house-room for my part." + +"Cousin Polly will like it, though," Betty answered her mother. "Polly +was always fond of pets, and she'll be powerful pleased to get it as a +present from her Southern kinfolks." + +"We'll have to go to the cost of a new cage, I reckon, and I don't feel +like spending the money, neither," mused the mother. "Polly might like +a bresspin better. I don't know as it will pay to send her the bird +after all." + +How my heart sank at this announcement! so fearful was I that I might +have to remain at the cottage; but Betty's answer gave me new hope. + +"Oh, certain it will pay!" she exclaimed eagerly. "You know how many +nice things Cousin Dunbar's sent us off-and-on, and only last Christmas +Polly sent me my string of beads. As for giving her a bresspin for a +keepsake, she can get a heap nicer one out of their own store than any +we could send her, and I'm certain she'd like the bird best of all; +it's such a good chance to send it by Uncle Dan when he is going to +their town and can hand it right over to Polly." + +"I reckon you're right. Well, it will be only the cost of the cage," +said her mother, and so the matter was settled, much to my satisfaction. + +My new cage was very pretty, if anything can be said in praise of a +prison, and was much lighter and pleasanter than the old, heavy, +home-made structure in which I had been shut up so long. Its rim was +painted a cheerful green, and the wires were burnished like gold. +Ornamental sconces held the glass cups for my food and there were +decorated hoops to swing in. Altogether it was a very handsome house, +yet I could not forget it was a prison house. + +Betty busied herself in fixing it comfortably for me, and was full of +kind attentions. She begged me many times not to get frightened when +the cover would be put on my cage. The hood was necessary when I was +traveling, but Uncle Dan would be sitting right near me all the time +and would be very good to me. She further assured me that I would find +the motion of the cars delightful, and that all I would have to do was +to sit on my perch and munch my seed and have a good time. How jolly +it would be to go whizzing past fences and over bridges and through +tunnels and towns and never know it, she said. She also charged me +particularly not to be scared when I would hear an occasional horrible +shriek and a rumbling like thunder, as if the day of judgment was at +hand. I must remember it was only the locomotive, and it was obliged +to do those disagreeable things to make the cars go faster'n, faster'n, +faster'n------ + +How much faster I did not have time to find out, for Uncle Dan just +then called to get me. A light cover with a hole in the top was +slipped over my cage, and I started on my journey. Of my trip, of +course, I knew nothing. Part of the way we rode in a wagon through the +country to the station where we took the train, but as Uncle Dan did +not remove my cover in the railway car the time spent on the journey +was almost a blank to me. + +Right glad was I, after what seemed a long, long time of jarring and +jolting, to find the cage once more swinging from his hand and to hear +the click of his boot heels on the pavements as we went through the +streets of the town where Polly lived. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +A NEW HOME + +Should it happen that the last egret is shot and the last bird of +paradise is snared to adorn a lady's dress, then--then I would not like +to be a woman for all that earth could hold.--_Herbert O. Ward._ + + +When at last my covering was removed I found myself in a large, long +room, which I afterward learned was a millinery store. In fact the +store was the front part of the family residence, the living rooms +being behind and upstairs over it. My cage was hung near the wide +doorway at the end of the apartment and my new mistress at once ran to +fill my cup with fresh water and bring me a supply of clean millet. +After I had refreshed myself I began to look about me and study my +strange surroundings. + +My new home was so unlike the little log house in the South from which +I had come that it was many days before I could accustom myself to the +clatter of voices which buzzed monotonously all day through the store. +From ten o'clock in the morning, if the day were fine, till three in +the afternoon, the din at times was almost deafening; for it was the +busy season and customers were constantly coming and going, not all of +them to buy, merely to look over the ribbons and tumble up the goods, +as I heard the tired clerks say complainingly more than once. + +Numerous glass cases were placed near the walls, and running cross-wise +were a counter and shelves much frequented by ladies who stood eagerly +examining the array of bright gauzes, the glittering buckles, the +flowers and plumes displayed there. And what a chattering they kept +up! What a stir and a hubbub they made! So many "Oh-h's" and +"Ah-h's," so many "How lovely's," and other ecstatic exclamations, were +mingled with their conversation as was quite bewildering. In time, +however, I became accustomed to this and discovered it was simply a way +ladies have of expressing their approval of things in general. Around +the glass cases which held the trimmed hats the women buzzed like a +swarm of flies, their volubility assuming a more emphatic character as +they gazed within at the fashionable headgear placed on long steel +wires. Almost every hat held one, or a part of one, of my slaughtered +race. Frequently there were parts of two or three varieties on one +hat--a tail of one kind, a wing of another, or a head of a different +species. The ends of the world had been searched to make this +patchwork of blood. The women raved over the cruel display; they +gloated over our beauty; but they cared nothing for the pathetic story +the hats told of rifled nests and motherless young. + +My new owner was a soft-voiced, gentle child, from whom I soon found I +had nothing to fear. She was most careful to keep my cage in order and +never neglected to feed me. Unlike her little friend Betty, she never +allowed her sports or pleasures to interfere with this duty. Often her +playmates came for a romp in the garden behind the store, but she did +not join them till she had first attended to my wants. I was fond of +having her talk to me, for her voice was sweet and kind, and the little +terms of endearment she often used were very pleasing and made me feel +she was my true friend. She once tried to pet me by stroking my +feathers, but I did not like it. Although I knew she did not mean to +hurt me, the motion of her hand made me nervous. Instead of +persisting, she only said reproachfully, as she put me back on my perch: + +"Dear Dickey Downy, why are you afraid of me? Your own little Polly +wouldn't hurt you for the world. I wanted to softly stroke your pretty +plumage just out of pure love and, you dear little coward, you won't +let me." + +In her affection for me, Polly did not forget the wild birds outside, +which flew about in the big evergreen trees near the garden gate. She +showed her thoughtfulness for the little creatures by strewing bread +crumbs for them on the window sills on snowy days. She often gathered +up the tablecloth after the housemaid had removed the breakfast dishes +and, running out under the trees, would shake it vigorously that her +wild pets might get all the little pieces of food that fell. Not a +bird came down as long as she remained in the yard, but as soon as she +had tripped back to the house and the door closed upon her brown curls, +I could see a drove of hungry snowbirds swoop from the trees, and in a +minute every crumb would be picked up. I am sure they must have loved +dear little Polly, for many a choice bit did they get through her +kindness. + +While the majority of the customers at the store were well-dressed +women, there were many who came to buy hats who looked poor and +pinched. A few looked slatternly. + +A sudden swing of their dress skirts would disclose a badly frayed +petticoat or a tattered stocking showing above the shabby shoe. Their +gloveless hands were red and cold and coarse, and the milliner told the +clerk that she dreaded to have them handle her filmy laces or +glistening satins, because their rough fingers stuck to the delicate +fabrics and injured them. + +These poor women worked hard, early and late. Beyond the barest +necessities they had little to spare, and yet not a woman among them +would have bought an unfashionable or out-of-date hat could she have +had it at one quarter the price. Feathers were fashionable, and +feathers she must have. Might not one "as well be out of the world as +out of the fashion"? + +All this dreadful traffic in my murdered comrades, and their display in +the glass cases as well as on the heads of the customers, naturally +made me very sad, and I now looked with aversion at every woman who +entered the store. But that all were not heartless fiends who were +robed in feminine garb I found out another day when a daintily dressed +lady came in to purchase a winter hat. The contents of the glass cases +were looked over critically for some time before she selected one which +she tried on before the long mirror. The milliner, who deftly adjusted +it for her, tipping it first forward a little, then setting it back a +trifle, stood off now to view the effect, at the same time assuring her +how beautiful it was, and how vastly becoming to her. + +"I like this hat very much," said the lady; "or at least I shall like +it when the bird is taken off." + +"You think the oriole too gay? Orange is quite the vogue," answered +the milliner, who seemed reluctant to make any change, and yet was +anxious to please her customer. "Perhaps you'd prefer some wings; or +stay, here is a sweet little gull that will go all right with the rest +of the trimming. We will take off the oriole if you wish." + +"Thank you, but I have decided not to wear birds any more," said the +customer. + +"But the effect would be quite spoiled without a wing, or an aigrette, +or something there," exclaimed the milliner. "You wouldn't like it. I +wouldn't think of taking off the bird, if I were you." + +"Yes, I shall like it much better with the bird off," returned the lady +quietly. "I have sufficient sins to answer for without any longer +adding the crime of bird slaughter to the list." + +The milliner bestowed on her a pitying smile, but evidently was too +politic to get into a discussion of an unpleasant subject. Having +given her final order for the hat, the lady crossed over to the other +side of the room and shook hands with a friend whom she addressed as +Mrs. Brown, who had just come in and was making a purchase at the lace +counter. + +"I have been putting my new resolution into effect," she remarked after +the first greetings; "I have just ordered my new hat, and it is not to +have a bird or a wing or a tail on it." + +"Oh, I'm glad to hear of one convert to the gospel of mercy," said Mrs. +Brown heartily. "The apathy of our women on this subject is +heart-sickening. Men are denouncing us; the newspapers are full of our +cruelty; the pulpit makes our heartlessness its theme; and yet we keep +on with our barbarous work with an indifference that must make the +angels weep." + +Her face glowed with righteous indignation. It was easy to see that +any cause to which she might commit herself was sure of an ardent and +untiring champion. + +"But they tell me that chicken feathers, and those of other domestic +fowls are being largely used now instead of birds," said the other lady. + +"Oh, yes; they tell us so because they want to prevent us from getting +alarmed, since so much has been said against the destruction of the +birds. It is true that chicken feathers always have been used to some +extent, the straight quills for instance. I know it is frequently +broadly asserted that the most of the birds used are made birds, but +the manufactured creatures are poor deceptions; they are mixed with +bird feathers, and are sold only to the less fastidious customers. The +demand for genuine birds is as great as ever." + +"But do you think as many are used now as formerly?" questioned her +companion. + +"Yes, indeed! Just think of the feather capes and muffs and +collarettes made of birds. The market for them is increasing all the +time. It takes from eighteen to twenty-five skins for each collar, and +I don't know how many for the muffs. Oh, I tell you, women are heaping +up judgment on themselves." + +The other lady looked grave. "I understand," said she, "that in many +places down on the New Jersey coast the boatmen have given up fishing, +as they can make so much more money killing terns and gulls for women's +use. They earn fifty dollars a week at it, at ten cents apiece for the +birds. Isn't that a horrible record for women?" + +"I don't doubt they earn that much, and perhaps more," answered Mrs. +Brown; "for one season there were thirty thousand terns killed in one +locality alone. And at Cape Cod, and up along the shore near where I +lived, they are slain by thousands every season and shipped to New +York. Oh, I can't tell you how distressing it used to be to hear the +report of the guns day after day and know that every piercing sound was +the sign that more innocent lives were being taken. I used to cover up +my ears and try not to hear them. It made me shiver to know that those +poor gulls were being shot down for nothing. Their only crime +consisted in being beautiful." + +Both women turned at that moment attracted by the sight of a young lady +who was standing on the pavement outside in an animated talk with +another girl. + +"There's Miss Van Dyke, with her new feather collar on," observed Mrs. +Brown, in a low voice. + +The young lady in question was a dashing, radiant creature, bright with +smiles and a face like a picture. On her shapely shoulders was a +magnificent cape, lustrous as satin, of silvery white, into which pale +dark lines softly blended at regular intervals. Twenty-two innocent +lives had been taken to make that little garment. Twenty-two beautiful +grebes slain that their glossy breasts might lend splendor to a lady's +wardrobe. + +The two friends looked at Miss Van Dyke in silence for a moment, then +sighed as she passed along out of their view. + +"When I see such perversion of woman's nature I wonder that the very +stones do not cry out against us," exclaimed Mrs. Brown. "And mark my +words, the slaughter will go on; the unholy traffic will not long be +confined to grebe's breasts for muffs and cape trimmings. Other birds +will be used. The gentle creatures are not all put on hats." + +"Oh! I must not forget to tell you that the new preacher over at the +Second Church has begun a course of lectures on the work of mercy that +women might do. He says that as mothers in the homes, and as teachers +in the public schools and the Sabbath-schools, we have a grand +opportunity." + +"So we have; but what avails our opportunity if our eyes are blinded so +that we do not see it?" assented Mrs. Brown. + +"Last night," resumed the lady, "he spoke particularly of the crime of +wearing birds; and he accuses us of being more cruel than men." + +"He does?" questioned Mrs. Brown, in great surprise. "Why, we all know +that woman's part in this wickedness comes from her desire to look +pretty; at least she thinks that wearing birds adds to her beauty. Her +wickedness does not come from actual love of butchery. But men and +boys have shot innocent creatures since the world began for the mere +brutal pleasure of killing something. It seems as though they were +born with a blood-thirsty instinct, a wanting to destroy life, to hunt +it and shoot it down. They beg to go gunning almost before they are +out of dresses and into trousers. Every mother knows there is a savage +streak in her boy's nature. No," continued Mrs. Brown, with a decisive +nod of her head, "I say let the man who is without sin among them be +the first to cast stones now. Perhaps this very preacher spent all his +Saturdays robbing birds' nests and clubbing birds when he was a little +boy, and kept it up until he was big enough to kill them with a gun. +Of course there are some who do not; not all boys are cruel. But this +cruelty does not excuse ours. Man's wickedness does not make us the +less guilty. We will be held responsible all the same." + +The other woman looked thoughtful. "Well," she said at last, "I +haven't quite lost all faith in womanly mercy. Women don't mean to be +cruel; the trouble is they don't think." + +"Don't think!" echoed Mrs. Brown scornfully. "Don't think! That is an +excuse entirely too babyish for women to offer in this age of the +world. Do they want to be regarded as irresponsible children forever? +Don't you know that childish thoughtlessness on a subject as important +as the needless taking of life argues tremendously against us? Here we +are at the twentieth century, and with all our boasted advancement we +are as cruel and savage as Fiji Islanders. Oh, don't talk to me about +women!" and she made an outward motion of her hand as if pushing away +an imaginary drove of them that was coming too near. "I haven't a +particle of patience with them. If they're not in the habit of +thinking, let them begin it right off. Let them begin it before the +birds are all destroyed. If they have the least spark of tenderness +left in their hearts------" + +The rest of the sentence was lost in the louder tones of a pert little +miss, who in company with her mother was rummaging over a box of +trimmings on the counter nearest my cage. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +THE ILL-MANNERED CHILD + + O wad some power the giftie gie us + To see oursel's as ithers see us. + --_Burns._ + + There lived of yore a saintly dame, + Whose wont it was with sweet accord + To do the bidding of her Lord + In quaintly fashioned bonnet + With simplest ribbons on it. + + +"I won't have ribbon loops, I tell you," exclaimed the child. "I want +an owl's head and I'm going to have it." + +"Why, my dear, the ribbon is ever so much prettier," urged the mother +soothingly. "An owl's head is too old a trimming for your hat, dear. +It wouldn't do at all. Here, select some of this nice ribbon." + +"Didn't I say I wouldn't have it?" answered "dear" pettishly, as she +reached into another box containing an assortment of wings, quails, +tails, and parts of various birds jumbled up together. Picking out a +pair of blackbird's wings she placed them jauntily against the rim of +an untrimmed hat which her mother held. + +"There, that looks nice," was her comment. "If I can't have an owl's +head I'm going to have these wings." + +Her mother mildly assured her that the ribbon was more suitable only to +be met with the reply: "You can wear it yourself then, for I sha'n't +wear it." + +This shocking disrespect caused two old ladies who were pricing hat +pins to turn quickly and view the offender. + +"Goodness gracious!" ejaculated one of them, drawing a deep breath. +"If that youngster belonged to me for about twenty minutes, wouldn't I +give her something wholesome that she'd remember? I'd take the +tantrums out of her in short order." + +"She deserves it, sure," said her companion. "But the mother is more +to blame than the child for letting it grow up with such abominable +manners. I dare say the woman at first thought it was cute and smart +in the little thing, and now she can't help herself. La, sakes! just +listen to that." She re-adjusted her spectacles and gazed with added +interest at the pair in altercation. + +With the hat poised on her finger the milliner was bending smilingly +toward the little girl who was giving her order in a very peremptory +tone. + +"I want those wings put on my hat. I won't wear it if you trim it only +in ribbon." + +The mother seemed a little embarrassed as she told the milliner that +she supposed the hat would have to be trimmed in the way Elsie wanted +it. + +"Humph! I knew the child would get what she wanted," observed the old +lady who had first spoken. "I felt all the time that the mother would +have to give in. What on earth did she let her take those big black +wings for? Two of those little yellow sugar birds would have been +better for a child's hat. The idea of letting a youngster rule you +that way! My!" and then she took another deep breath. "She needs a +trouncing, if ever a child did," and with that she and her friend +resumed their shopping. + +The cloud had vanished from Elsie's face, and all was serene again. +Her mother seemed somewhat ashamed of her little girl's bad manners, as +was shown by her apologetic air when she observed to the trimmer that +Elsie was as queer a child as ever lived. When she set her mind on a +thing, it was so hard for her to give it up. + +They waited for the new hat to be trimmed, and on its completion Elsie +seized it and put it on her head, much against her mother's wishes, who +preferred not to have it displayed until the next day at Sunday-school; +but the insistence of the child was so vehement that again the mother +thought it wise to yield, and Elsie tripped off in triumph to the other +end of the store with the black wings showing out stiffly on each side +of her head. The mother remarked, with forced playfulness, as she +watched her, "Elsie's a g-r-e-a-t girl, I tell you. You can't fool +her." + +[Illustration: The Baltimore Oriole.] + +As the trimmer returned the boxes to the shelves, I overheard her +mutter, "Oh, yes, Elsie is a g-r-e-a-t girl, a perfect little jewel, so +well-behaved. Her polite manners show her careful home training; quite +a reflection on her dear mamma." But from the peculiar laugh she gave +I didn't believe she really meant it as praise. + +When the nights grew longer and the store was closed for the evening, +the milliner and her husband usually spent an hour or two in the back +room looking over the newspaper which came every day from the city. +The man always turned at once to the wheat reports, and the price of +wool, which he read aloud to his wife, though I could see she did not +care very much to hear about them; but she hunted first for the fashion +notes and the bargains in millinery before she read the other news. +One night while thus engaged she suddenly exclaimed: + +"Here's something that is bound to hurt trade." + +By trade she meant the millinery business. + +"What is it?" her husband inquired, looking over the top of the page he +held. + +"Why, here's a lot of women who have been meeting in a convention in +Chicago and getting excited and losing their heads, and passing some +ridiculous resolutions." + +"What kind of resolutions?" he inquired. + +"Oh, they've been denouncing the fashion of wearing birds. They belong +to a society called--called--something or other, I forget what. Let me +see," and she ran her eye down the column. "Oh, yes, here it is. They +are members of the O'Dobbin society, and they got so wrought up on the +subject they took the feathers out of their hats right there in the +meeting and vowed never to wear bird trimming again. Well, if such +outlandish notions spread, you'll soon see how it will injure the +millinery trade." + +"Pshaw! you needn't worry. The protests of a handful of fanatical +women can't do your business any harm," he answered carelessly, and +turned to his paper again. + +She shook her head. "I'm not so sure of that. I think there are some +women in this very town just cranky enough to endorse such foolishness. +There's Mrs. Judge Jenkins for one. I've never yet been able to sell +her a real stylish hat. She won't wear birds, because she thinks it's +wicked. I hope to goodness she won't consider it her duty to start an +O'Dobbin society here." + +From the depths of my heart I blessed those kind women who had shown +their disapproval of the nefarious traffic in bird life, and had +pledged themselves to our protection. True, they were but a handful +compared with the millions whom the god Fashion still held in bondage, +only a handful who were fighting the good fight; but would not the +influence of their noble example and their pledge of mercy be spread +abroad till all the women in Christian lands would join in the crusade +against the wrong? + +In my joy at the thought I chirped so loudly that the lady looked up +from her reading. She seemed suddenly to recall a thought as she +glanced at my cage, for she said, "I must not forget to ask Katharine +if she can take the bird home with her next week and keep it while +Polly is gone to the country. I'll be sure to forget to feed it. +Anyway, I haven't time to bother with it." + +The day before Polly left for the country I heard her inquiring for the +"Daily," which I remembered was the name they called the newspaper +containing the account of the noble city ladies who had pledged +themselves not to wear us any more. + +"Tuesday's paper?" her mother asked; she was busy at the time fastening +a poor, little, mute swallow on a rich hat. "Perhaps it was thrown +behind the counter. Did you want it for any special purpose?" + +Polly replied that she wanted to read something in it. + +"Well, it is probably torn up by this time," said her mother. "If it +isn't on the table in the back room, or on the shelf by the window, or +behind the counter, I'm sure I don't know where it is." + +The young clerk who was arranging the goods on the counter had heard +Polly's inquiry, and she now asked if it was the newspaper that told +about the women who thought it wrong to wear birds. It seemed to me +that Polly hesitated a little as she replied that that was the very +paper she wanted. + +"Goodness, child, is that the piece you want to read?" Her mother's +voice sounded rather sharp, as if she were vexed. "I hope that subject +hasn't turned your head too," but she said no more, for just then a +customer coming in, she laid down her work and went forward to greet +her. + +Polly looked troubled, but she confided to Miss Katharine that she +wanted very much to read the account. + +"Fortunately I cut the piece out to give to my sister. I knew she'd be +interested in it, but I have always forgotten to give it to her," said +the clerk. She seemed to be very much in earnest as she continued, "I +do wish something could be done to save the birds. If women must have +feathers, why can't they content themselves with wearing ostrich tips +and plumes? There is nothing cruel or wicked in the way they are +procured." + +She opened the little satchel hanging at her belt, and from it took a +folded slip of paper which she handed to Polly, telling her she might +have it to read, and when she had finished it to please bring it back +to her. Polly thanked her, and ran away to a quiet corner of the back +room, where I saw her slowly reading the clipping as she rocked herself +in her pretty birch chair. When she had read it through, she sat for +some time looking very thoughtful. At last she rose and carried the +paper back to Miss Katharine, halting a moment as she passed my cage, +to whisper softly: + +"Dickey Downy, you dear little fellow, I'm going upstairs right this +very minute to take the feathers off my best Sunday hat and I'm never, +never going to wear birds any more." + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +TWO SLAVES OF FASHION + + I do not like the fashion of your garments. + --_Shakespeare._ + + I'm sure thou hast a cruel nature and a bloody. + --_Shakespeare._ + + +Two young ladies, fashionably dressed, met each other that afternoon +just in front of our side window, which had been raised to let in the +air. From the warmth of their greeting I saw that they were on terms +of friendly intimacy. + +One of the girls stood a little out of the range of my vision, +therefore I could not hear her voice when she talked, if, indeed, she +had a chance to say anything, but the vivacious monologue carried on by +her friend was amply sufficient to show the theme which interested them. + +How glibly that pretty creature chattered! How fast the words flew! +How she arched her eyebrows and shrugged her shoulders and winked her +eyes and wrinkled her forehead and pursed her rosy lips and tilted her +nose and gesticulated with her slender hand and tapped the pavement +with her umbrella point, passing from each phase of expression to the +next with a rapidity truly wonderful. Occasionally she went through +with these strange grimaces all at once. She was indeed a whirlwind of +language, an avalanche of emotion. + +Her voice was high pitched and shrill, so that every one on the street +must have heard her as she exclaimed: + +"Oh, Nell, how perfectly lovely your new hat is! Turn around so that I +can see the other side. Oh-h, ah-h, that darling little bird with its +glossy plumage among the velvet is too sweet for anything! If anything +it is prettier than Kate Smith's hat with the thrush's head and wings, +although I'll admit hers is awfully stylish. You ought to see my new +hat. Ah, I tell you it's a beauty; soft crown of silvery stuff, and on +one side a tall aigrette and a dear little cedar-bird, and toward the +back is the cutest, cunningest humming-bird with its tiny green body +and long bill. It looks as if it were ready to fly or to sing. I +selected the trimming for sister May's new hat too. It is brown velvet +and has an oriole on it; you know they are so showy and bright it makes +you almost think you are in the woods. At Madame Oiseau Mort's, where +I get my millinery, there was another hat I had a notion to take. It +was built up with robins' wings and part of a tern was on it too, I +believe--just lovely! but afterward I was glad I didn't buy it, for +that decoration is more common. I counted nine hats in church last +Sunday trimmed with gulls. Of course they were pretty, for a handsome +bird makes any hat pretty. + +"By the way, Nell, I must tell you something perfectly ridiculous! Do +you know papa pretends it's wicked for women to wear birds on their +hats or trim their gowns with feather trimming? Did you ever? I told +him we'd be a mighty sorry-looking set going around like a lot of +female Dunkards or Salvation Army women, without a bit of style, and he +said those women hadn't the sin on their souls of wearing birds that +had been killed on purpose to minister to their vanity; that he'd +rather be a peaceful-faced Dunkard woman or Salvationist with her plain +bonnet and her gentle heart than a gay society butterfly with her empty +head loaded down with dead birds. + +"Isn't it perfectly horrid for him to talk like that? He is such an +old fogy in his ideas he actually makes me tired. Then he went on to +say that never again could he believe that women are the tender-hearted +creatures they have always been supposed to be, when they show +themselves so eager to be decked with the innocent songsters whose +lives are sacrificed by the million on the altar of fashion; the men +have always been taught that woman's nature was morally superior to +theirs, but we'd have to give up this criminal fad which we have +persisted in at such a fearful price of bird life before we could be +regarded as other than monstrously cruel and bloody. However, he +prophesied that the fashion can't continue much longer anyway, because +there soon won't be any birds left, and then, he says, we'll have a +world without its sweetest music. It will be hushed by the folly of +woman. + +"Oh, Nell, don't you dislike to have anybody lecture you like that? It +makes one feel so uncomfortable. I don't suppose it's so very wrong to +wear bird trimming or our minister's wife wouldn't do it. You know her +black velvet hat with that big bird on it with the red points on the +wings, is one of the most striking hats that come to church. And her +feather muff is so elegant, awfully expensive too. And what would her +hat look like without that bird on it, I'd like to know? So if it +isn't wicked for her it isn't wicked for us, Nell, and I'm not going to +give up looking nice just to please papa. He'd like to have me dress +as antiquated as old Mrs. Noah when she came out of the ark, but I'm +not going to encourage him in his old-fashioned notions. And here, +Nell, just listen to this! Don't you think, he says the Episcopal +Prayer Book ought to be revised for the women worshipers and omit that +part of the litany where it says, 'From pride, vain-glory, and +hypocrisy, good Lord, deliver us.' What fol-de-rol!" And being out of +breath she stopped talking and they walked away down the street +together. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +DICKEY'S VISIT + + Kind hearts are more than coronets. + --_Tennyson._ + + +Plainly furnished and small was the house to which I was taken by Miss +Katharine to stay during Polly's absence at her grandmother's in the +country. But though it was destitute of fine furnishings, it was the +abode of peace and love, and its lowly roof sheltered noble and kindly +hearts. The two sisters lived there alone, supported mainly by +Katharine's earnings in the millinery store, though occasionally the +sister, who was lame, added something to their little income by making +paper flowers and other articles of bright tissues. It was her +business to keep the house while Miss Katharine was at the shop, and +very long and lonely the hours must have seemed to her while her sister +was away. + +The first day I was there a boy whom she addressed as John Charles came +to the house. Apparently he had been carefully trained, for he raised +his cap when the lame girl opened the door to his knock. His manners +were fine, for he remained standing after he entered until she had +first seated herself, as if to say, "A gentleman will not sit while a +lady stands." + +He had come to inquire if she wished to buy some cooking apples. + +"They are very nice," said John Charles briskly, quite as if he were an +old salesman. "No mashed or decayed ones among them." + +"I have been wanting some apples," said Eliza. "If I knew what yours +were like I might buy some." + +"I have a few here to show," and John Charles drew from a small paper +sack one or two bright rosy apples. "There, try one," he said. "You +will find them nice and juicy and sour enough to cook quickly." + +Eliza bit into one and expressed her approval of the fruit. "They will +make delicious apple-sauce, I'm sure," she said. After inquiring the +price she told the young merchant he might carry in a peck. + +With a business-like flourish John Charles took a small note-book and +pencil from his pocket and wrote something at the top of the leaf. + +"I'm not delivering now," he said as he returned the note-book to his +pocket. "I'm only taking orders; but I'll have your apples here in an +hour." + +Eliza bit her lip to keep back a smile. A boy in knee pants +transacting business like a grown man, appeared quite amusing to her. + +"Oh, I see," she said. "You take orders for your goods. You don't +sell from door to door." + +"No, indeed!" answered John Charles with a lofty air. "That's too much +like peddling. I won't peddle. I prefer to get regular customers and +take orders and fill them." + +While he had been talking he had been glancing toward me where I hung +in the window, and he now politely asked if he might come to look at +me. Eliza gave a surprised consent, but watched the boy closely as he +stood near and chirped to me calling me, "Po-o-o-r Dickey Downy," as +soon as he found out my name. I saw from the way Eliza kept her eyes +on his movements that she was expecting he would do something to hurt +me, but in this she was pleasantly disappointed, for he never once +touched my cage and cooed as softly when he spoke to me as Polly +herself might have done. + +I was quite afraid of him at first, for ever since my experience with +the wicked schoolboys who clubbed us in the linden trees, and my later +experience with Joe, I disliked boys very much. + +[Illustration: The Bobolink.] + +When John Charles had bidden Eliza "good-morning" and tipped his hat +again and the door closed after him, she said to me: "Why, Dickey, that +was a new kind of a boy! He never once tried to hurt you or to scare +you. It shows that all boys are not rough, and I shall always like +John Charles, for he is a little gentleman." + +To this sentiment I fully agreed, and I thought, "Alas! why are not all +boys as gentle as John Charles?" + +In a few hours I felt as much at home with Eliza as if I had always +lived there, and I was much pleased when I heard her tell Katharine at +the supper table the next evening how much she had enjoyed having me +with her. + +"A bird is ever so much better company than a clock," she said; "though +when I'm here by myself I always like to hear the clock tick. It seems +as if I were not so entirely alone. But a bird is better. I talked to +Dickey to-day and he twittered back. He has such a cute way of perking +his little head to one side just as knowing as you please, and he acts +exactly as if he were considering whether he should answer 'yes' or +no' to what I say, and then it is such fun to watch him smooth down his +feathers. He washes and irons them so nicely and works away as +industriously as if he were afraid he'd lose his 'job.'" + +Miss Katharine rose from the table and stuck a lump of sugar for me to +taste between the wires of my cage. + +"I am surrounded by poor dead birds in the store all day," she +observed, "and spend so much of my time sewing their wings and heads +and tails on hats and sort boxfuls of them for customers to look at, +that even a living bird saddens me." + +"Yes, it must be very depressing. What a shame to kill them; they are +so cute and pretty and such happy little creatures! See how cunning he +looks nibbling at that sugar," and the sister joined Miss Katharine in +watching me. + +"But do you know, Kathy, I don't believe that women would continue +wearing bird trimmings if they stopped a minute to think about it. It +doesn't seem wrong to them because they never considered the question. +They simply haven't thought about it at all." + +"Somebody set the fashion and they all followed like a flock of sheep," +answered the other with a sneering laugh. + +"Yes, that's just the way. They go along without thinking. They only +know it is the style, and they don't stop to inquire whether it can be +indulged in innocently or hurtfully. Now I believe that if their +attention was particularly called to it, the most of them would quit +it." + +Miss Katharine brightened into a smile and half unclasped her little +satchel. + +"If a bird could talk," pursued the lame girl, "what a revelation it +could make. What lovely things it could tell us of that upper kingdom +of the air where it floats and the distant land it sees! What sweet +secrets of nature it knows that man with all his wisdom can never find +out. And then its gift of song! Why, if thousands and thousands of +dollars were spent in training the finest voice in the world it could +never equal the notes of a bird. A woman who could perfectly imitate a +lark's carol would make her fortune in a month. The world would go +wild over her." + +"But as she can't do that she has the lark killed to stick on her hat, +and then she goes wild over it," interrupted Miss Kathy. + +Her sister smiled at this outburst and continued: "While I was working +at that morning-glory wreath to-day I couldn't help but watch this bird +of Polly's with its innocent little antics, and it made me see more +than ever how wrong it is to cage and kill them. I just felt as though +I ought to do something to help save the birds and, Kathy, I wonder if +we were to invite some of our friends here some evening and call their +attention to the subject, and explain the wrong to them, if we couldn't +do some good that way? Maybe they'd decide not to wear birds on their +hats." + +"We might try, sister, I would be perfectly willing to try; but I'm +afraid it wouldn't do much good, for we have but little influence. As +long as fashionable and wealthy ladies will do it, the poorer classes +will not give it up very readily." + +"But they have hearts which can be appealed to. They have feelings +which can be roused," answered the lame girl eagerly. "Being alone so +much I have more time to think over these things than the shop girls +who are hurried and busy all day, and perhaps nobody has ever tried to +show them how wrong it is; but I really believe some of them could be +influenced, if once they would seriously think of the wrong they are +doing. That is the reason, Kathy, I suggested to get a lot of them +together to talk about saving the birds." + +The gentle cripple had never even heard of the great Audubon. She did +not know that societies existed in many States called by the name of +the distinguished naturalist, engaged in the same merciful work. + +Miss Katharine drew from the satchel the paper clipping and handed it +to her sister, saying: "This is a coincidence surely; I cut this out of +the daily paper at the store some time ago, intending to give it to +you, but I always forgot it. It is an account of the proceedings of a +convention in one of the big cities. You will see by reading it that +somebody else has been thinking your identical thoughts." + +"How lovely that is!" exclaimed Eliza when she had carefully read the +notice. "How I should have enjoyed being at that meeting. We will +help those people all we can, Kathy, by stirring up our acquaintances +here. You invite the girls for tomorrow night and I'll have the house +ready for them." + +That I had been an inspiration to this gentle girl in her work of mercy +was a great joy to me, and all the next day I was constantly bursting +into a round of cheerful twitters and I swung myself in my hoop as fast +as I could make it go. + +The best room was swept and dusted with the greatest care, and a few +extra chairs moved in from other parts of the house. My cage was +transferred from its usual hook to the parlor, and about eight o'clock +the guests thronged in and soon every seat was filled. They were +principally girls who were clerks in stores, or worked in shops and +offices, and many of them were very smartly dressed. A few, like Miss +Katharine and her sister, were more plainly attired; but all were +lively and full of girlish fun and seemed to enjoy being together. My +cage hung in view of every one, and I was proud to be selected as an +object-lesson by the lame hostess in her introductory appeal to her +guests to help save the birds. She so presented the facts that before +the evening was over she had roused an enthusiasm in some of them +almost equal to her own, and several pledges were given not to wear +birds again. + +"There is something new in the way of womanly cruelty which isn't so +well known as the destruction of the birds," remarked one of the +company. "The humane society ought to get after the women who wear +baby lamb trimming." + +"The way sealskins are procured is also very cruel," said another girl. + +"I have never read much about it," answered Eliza, "but it surely +cannot be so wicked as killing song birds, because the sealskin is an +article of clothing which serves to keep the body warm, while a dead +bird sewed on your hat is merely for show and doesn't keep you warm or +cool or anything else." + +"It is not the use that is made of the sealskin that is wrong, but the +cruelty of the hunters in getting it," replied the young lady who had +first spoken. "They say when the parent seal is captured the young one +cries for it exactly as a human baby cries after its mother. It is +most pitiful to hear it wail. The branding of the poor creatures is a +most brutal thing." + +"Why are they branded?" asked Kathy. + +"Well, you know, for some years there has been a great strife between +the United States and Canada, principally over the seal fisheries. +Each was afraid the other would get more than its share. To put a stop +to the seals being entirely killed off, as was likely to be the case +since so many poachers were in the business, one of our government +agents suggested that the seals should be branded. They drive them +into pens and burn them with red-hot irons." + +"It isn't likely that any of us will be called upon to deny ourselves +the wearing of baby lamb, as it is quite expensive, but we can condemn +it by word if not by example," observed Kathy. + +The good-nights were said and the company dispersed, not so jolly and +noisy as they came, but with thoughtfulness arising from awakened +consciences. The humble lame girl had sowed the good seed. + +Polly was to come back from her grandmother's the next week and, though +I looked forward with pleasure to being with her again, I felt sorry to +leave this peaceful home. The worthy lives and beautiful aims of these +obscure girls of whom the world knew nothing was a sweet remembrance to +carry with me. + +"Thank Polly for me for Dickey Downy's visit and tell her whenever she +wants to go away anywhere I'll be glad to take care of him for her," +Eliza said when the time came for me to go. + +She gave the cage into Miss Kathy's hand. I chirped a farewell to her +and she whistled back to me and we parted to see each other no more. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +THE COUNTRY SCHOOL + + Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. + --_Bible._ + + +Polly's welcome to me was most cordial. She was bright as a cricket +and full of chat about her visit. With her usual care she examined my +cage closely to see that everything was in order and petted and praised +me for a little while to my full content, then ran to Miss Kathy to +tell her of the new story book which had been presented to her while +away. + +"And I am going to read you the stories some day," she added. + +Her young playmates flocked in to see her and as I listened to their +glad voices my heart yearned more than ever for my comrades of the +woods, for a thought of spring was in the air. + +As the days went by there were indeed signs all around that spring was +on the way. The wind no longer bellowed hoarsely in the treetops, but +had a mellow, musical sound and the raindrops that struck the window +pane trickled softly as if glad to come out of the clouds. + +Just after school one bright afternoon Polly came to the door on the +side porch and called in to Miss Katharine: + +"I'll be playing out in the yard awhile. Louise and Nancy have come to +stay till half-past five o'clock, so if mother needs me you'll know +where to find me." + +"All right" said Miss Kathy. "Go on and have a jolly time." + +And a jolly time they had, judging from the merry shouts that came in +through the open door. + +"I've got your tag! I've got your tag!" I could hear Polly say, and +then there was a great scampering of feet and roars of laughter as they +chased each other up and down the walks. This was kept up for some +minutes, then a voice began: + + "Intery-mintery, cutery-corn, + Apple-seed and briar-thorn, + Wire, briar, limber-lock, + Three geese in one flock; + One flew east and one flew west + And one flew over the cuckoo's nest." + +"Oh, Louise, you're out! It's your turn first." + +"I wonder if we are the geese?" said Nancy. Then they all giggled as +if what she had said was very funny. + +"Louise, Louise, look, look! You're going to have good luck," +presently shouted two voices. "A ladybird has lighted on your +shoulder." + +"Oh, goody!" said Louise. "I wonder what my good luck is going to be?" + +"Shake it off, Louise, let it light on me," said Nancy. "I want good +luck to come to me too." + +"It is just the color of my new crimson dress," declared Polly. + +"Only your red dress hasn't spots on it," corrected Louise. + +"No, but the red is about the same shade as my dress. Oh, girls, +wouldn't a row of ladybirds for buttons be pretty on my waist?" + +At this quaint conceit the three girls all giggled again. + +"I do think they are the cutest little bugs. I never get tired of +looking at them," observed Polly. + +"Bugs? You wouldn't call them bugs, would you?" inquired Louise. "I +think they are little beetles." + +"Beetles? No, no," said Polly and Nancy both in one breath, "A beetle +is a big black thing that flies around only at dusk." + +"Do you suppose your father would know?" asked Louise of Polly. "Let's +take it in the house and ask him, and so settle whether it is bug or +beetle." + +And they came running into the sitting room behind the store to show +the lady-bird to Polly's father, who was there looking over his paper. + +"Is it a bug or a beetle?" they asked. + +He laid down the paper and looked at the pretty little insect a moment. + +"It is a ladybird." + +"Yes, of course, we know that, papa; but Nancy and I say it is a bug, +and Louise says it's a beetle," explained Polly. + +"Louise is right," was his reply. "It is classed as a beetle. It is +one of the best friends the farmer has, and the fruit grower too." + +"How is it useful to him?" asked Nancy. + +"Why, it eats the lice that spoil certain plants and leaves and grain. +I notice that the Australian government is--Do you girls know where +Australia is?" he asked, interrupting himself. + +"Of course we do," they all shouted with much laughing, as if it were a +great joke to ask them such a question. + +"Well, I was going to tell you that the Australian government is taking +steps to encourage the ladybird on purpose to help the fruit farmers of +that country. Perhaps they have heard that it brings good luck," he +added with a smile. + +"Let's show it to Dickey Downy and then put it out of the door and let +it go home," said Polly. + +"Dickey Downy wouldn't know a lady-bird from a grasshopper," answered +Nancy teasingly. + +Polly retorted, "Don't be too sure! Dickey is a very intelligent bird, +a very extraordinary bird." + +She contented herself with paying me compliments, for instead of +bringing the crimson beetle into the store she opened the window and +let him fly away. + +"Well, I'm glad I have learned something new about ladybirds," remarked +Louise, as she tied her hat strings ready to go home. + +"And I too," chimed in Nancy. "I am glad the Australians prize the +pretty little creatures. It's nice to be useful and handsome too." + +Then both girls said good-bye and ran home. + +A few days later Polly announced to Miss Kathy that she was ready to +read the long promised tale. + +"Mother says you will be in the back room sewing this afternoon, so I +will bring my little rocker and sit here and read to you. My book is +full of beautiful stories about children and birds and bees." + +I too anticipated a pleasant afternoon, for my cage still hung within +the doorway where I could hear and see all that took place in both +apartments. Soon after dinner Miss Kathy appeared in the back room +with her thimble and scissors and seated herself at the work-table. +Polly drew up her chair beside her. The book she held was a pretty +little affair bound in red with a silver inscription on the covers, and +after being duly admired by both, Polly opened it and selected the +following story, which she read aloud: + + + THE MOUNT AIRY SCHOOL. + +The breath of blossoms was in the air and spicy scents from the woods +that lined the lane on each side came floating to the delighted senses +of a little girl who drove slowly along the road leading to Mount Airy +School. + +Young horses frisked in the pastures or came whinnying to the fence as +she passed. Lazy cows cropped the grass at the sides of the road, +pushing their heads into the zigzag corners of the rail fence in +pursuit of the tender clover that had crept through from the thrifty +meadows. + +The school was a little brick structure standing back a short distance +from the road, with a playground on each side as enchantingly beautiful +as it was novel to Alice Glenn, the little girl who had come from town +by invitation of the teacher to visit the school. Accustomed to the +severer discipline of the graded school of which she was a member, the +unconventional ways of these children amused the young visitor greatly. +But who could study on a morning like this, with the delicious warbling +of the birds sounding in one's ears? + +Who could be expected to take an interest in nouns and adverbs while +his heart was out in the woods with the bugs and bees or with the sheep +over in yonder field, whose ba-a, ba-a, was borne in distinctly through +the open door? + +"I'm sure I would never have my lessons if I went to school here in the +summer time," thought Alice as she glanced over the room. "The country +is too lovely to be spoiled by school books. Why, that boy has a +wounded bird in his desk! I wonder if Miss Harper knows?" And a +moment after, Alice met the bold, defiant look of the boy himself, +which seemed to say, "Well, what are you going to do about it? That +bird belongs to me." + +The history class being called at this moment the big boy got up, +shoved the little creature to the farthest corner of his desk and +giving Alice a parting scowl, went forward to recite his lesson. +Notwithstanding her desire to befriend the feathered captive she soon +became interested in the class and could scarcely refrain from laughing +outright at the answer to the teacher's question, "What happened at +Bunker Hill?" + +"Old Bunker died." + +This was bawled out by a freckled-faced boy, who reminded her of a +rabbit, owing to a fashion he had of twitching his nose and keeping it +in motion in some mysterious way. Even the teacher wanted to laugh, +but assuming her sternest manner she speedily restored order. + +It was during the arithmetic lesson that Alice's heart went out in pity +for the youthful instructor. The majority of the pupils were bright; +but an unruly fraction, one child, refused to comprehend. + +"If a family consume a barrel of flour in nine weeks, what part of a +barrel will they use in one week, Matilda?" + +Matilda rolled her blue eyes up to the ceiling as if to find the answer +there, then studied a board in the floor for several minutes, then +slowly shook her head and sat down. A dozen hands were raised, and the +teacher nodded permission to a small boy who analyzed it successfully. + +"Now, Matilda, you try it." + +But Matilda shook her head and fidgeted with her apron string. + +"Try it, and we will help you," persisted the teacher. + +Thus urged, Matilda cleared her throat, folded her arms and began: "If +nine persons use a barrel of flour in nine weeks, in one week they +would use nine times nine, which is eighty-one." + +"What! eighty-one barrels? But, Matilda, it makes no difference about +the number of persons. It may be one hundred or it may be twenty. +Suppose it were a bushel of potatoes they consumed in nine weeks. How +many would they use in one week?" + +The girl again shook her head and resumed her upward gaze. + +"Would they not use one-ninth of a bushel? Or, we'll take a peach for +instance." + +Matilda's face brightened perceptibly and almost lost its look of +dejection. The teacher noted the change and smiled encouragingly as +she said: + +"We'll suppose a peach will last you nine days. What part of it will +you eat in one day?" + +The expectant look faded out of the poor girl's face. One peach to +last nine days! No wonder the question seemed impossible of solution. + +"Well, then," said Miss Harper quite in despair and almost perspiring +in her effort to make it plain to the child, "we'll let the peach go. +Suppose instead, it were a watermelon. If you ate a carload of +watermelons in nine days, what part of a carload would you eat in one +day?" + +At the mention of her favorite fruit, Matilda's eyes glistened, her +features relaxed into a broader smile, and almost before the teacher +had finished she had her answer ready and gave a correct analysis. +Watermelons had won. + +At last the little clock that ticked away the hours on the teacher's +table pointed to the time for the noon intermission, and with a whoop +and halloo almost deafening, the pupils rushed out with dinner pails +and baskets to eat their luncheon in the shady woods. + +Miss Harper led Alice away to her boarding-place across the fields. +Scarcely taking time to taste the different kinds of jams, jellies, +grape-butter, and other sauces set out by the hostess in special honor +of the young visitor, Alice hastily dispatched her dinner and was soon +back at the playground, where she found a bevy of girls seated on a big +grapevine which one of the larger girls was swinging backward and +forward amid shouts of glee. Nearby two gingham sunbonnets bobbed up +and down as their owners bent their heads to watch a speckled lady-bug +crawl up a twig. + + "Lady-bug, lady-bug, fly away home, + Your house is on fire, your children will roam," + +repeated Esther in a low monotone. + +"See, it's going now. I wonder whether it really understands us?" + +"Of course it does," replied her companion positively. +"Daddy-long-legs are real smart too. I caught one last night and I +said over three times, 'Tell me which way our cow goes or I will kill +you,' and it pointed in the direction of our pasture lot every time." + +"You wouldn't really have killed the poor thing, though," exclaimed +Alice, who had drawn near to look at the crimson lady-bug. "A +daddy-long-legs is such a harmless creature. It has a right to live as +well as we have." + +"Oh, Caleb, did you catch it?" interrupted Matilda. "Bring it here!" +and she beckoned to a small boy who was busy near a large beech tree +some distance away. "He's been after a tree-frog," she explained. +"There's one up in that tree that sings the cutest every evening and +morning. I hear him when I am gathering bluebells." + +"It's pretty near dead," said the boy bringing his trophy. "I guess I +squeezed it too hard. We might as well kill it." + +"No, no! that would be cruel; the poor little thing will soon be all +right if you put it back on its tree. We'll go with you and help you +put it up," replied Alice. "Come on, girls." + +"It ain't hardly worth the trouble," and the boy looked at the frog +disdainfully. "It's uglier than a toad, if anything. But I never kill +toads; I know better'n to do that." + +"I am glad to hear it," said the visitor from town as they turned +toward the elm tree. "Toads enjoy life and it's wicked to molest 'em." + +"Oh, I don't know about their enjoyin' life. The reason I let 'em +alone is, coz if you kill a toad, your cow'll give bad milk." + +Alice did not dispute this wise statement. She could not help wishing +that the same law of retaliation protected all birds, beasts, and +insects. + +After seeing the frog deposited in safety in a hole in one of the big +boughs, she with Matilda and Esther scampered back to the swing +expecting to find the others there. To their surprise the big +grapevine was unoccupied, and the shouts and screams issuing from the +schoolhouse led them too, to hurry on to see what was the matter. + +"Maybe Jim Stubbs has got a mus'rat, or somethin' in there a-scarin' +the children," suggested Esther, as they entered the door. + +A crowd had gathered in front of the teacher's desk on which was placed +the large dictionary, and seated on the book was the boy who winked +with his nose. + +"Stand back!" he called, "I'm going to let it out, and then you'll see +fun." + +With that he jumped down, removed the dictionary, raised the lid of the +desk, and out popped a red squirrel. Round and round over the floor +flew the frightened animal, dodging here and there and wildly darting +into corners to evade the books and other missiles that were thrown at +it. Not only the boys took a part in the cruel sport, but some of the +girls helped with sticks, sunbonnets, and whatever they could lay their +hands on. Two or three times the little creature was struck. At last, +helpless, it stood panting while one of its tormentors dealt it a blow +that killed it. + +A cry of protest broke from Alice's lips, but her voice was lost in the +roar of applause that followed the big boy's action, as he tossed the +lifeless squirrel across the room into the face of another boy, who in +turn pitched the animal at his neighbor. + +"The poor little creature! How could they abuse it and take its life?" +cried Alice, turning to those nearest her. The other girls shrank back +abashed at her reproachful tones, which were noticed by Jim Stubbs, and +that hero felt called upon to make a speech. + +"Bah! boys, that girl is getting ready to cry over a dead squirrel. +What d'ye think of that?" And a heartless chorus echoed his laughter. + +"No, I'm too indignant to cry," replied Alice with spirit. "I never +knew boys could be so awfully wicked, yes, and girls too. I should +think you would love these dear little creatures, and pet and protect +them. They are what make country life pleasant. I wouldn't give a fig +for your pretty woods if there were no living things to be seen there." + +This was an aspect of the situation the boys had never before +considered. They did not realize that to a lover of nature the +humblest form of animal life is interesting. Did other people really +prize squirrels and frogs and lightning bugs and such things? + +Just at this moment the teacher entered, and the crestfallen pupils +busied themselves in gathering up the scattered books and other +articles used in storming the squirrel. + +"My young visitor is quite shocked by such an exhibition of cruelty," +said Miss Harper, when she had learned how matters stood. "Think what +the woods would be without the song of birds and the chirp and hum of +insects. Your playground teems with happy beings that love the warmth +and sunlight as well as you do. Would not the forests be robbed of +half their beauty and interest if the squirrels and chipmunks and birds +and butterflies were killed off?" + +"Wimmen folks are nice ones to talk about cruelty to birds," sneered +the big boy to his neighbor, "when they stick wings and tails and whole +birds on their hats and bonnets whenever they can raise a cent to buy +'em with. Oh, yes, wimmen are awful consistent! They are, for a fact." + +Had his words reached Miss Harper's ears she might have replied that +sensible and humane "wimmen folks" regarded the fearful slaughter of +birds as little less than a crime; but unfortunately she did not hear +this and resumed: + +"Yet you hunt out these harmless and beautiful creatures and wantonly +destroy them. Nearly every boy gives way to this savage, brutal +impulse to kill something. He couldn't tell why if you were to ask +him. Children, do you know there is a society whose members pledge +themselves to protect the birds? I wish we might organize one here +to-day. I am sure, from a spirit of kindness, you would like to unite +in a promise not to willfully harm any of these wonderful creatures +that God has placed around us." + +When Alice Glenn drove home that evening she carried with her a glad +heart, for in her pocket was a copy of the rules and by-laws of the +"Anti-Cruelty Society, of Mount Airy School," which Miss Harper had +organized that afternoon. And it was signed not only by the girls and +all the smaller boys, but by big Jim Stubbs and the boy who winked with +his nose. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +POLLY'S FAREWELL + + Happy little maiden, + Give, oh, give to me + The highness of your courage, + The sweetness of your grace, + To speak a large word in a little place. + --_E. S. Phelps-Ward._ + + +Closing the volume, Polly laid it in her lap. + +"That was a good story," observed Miss Kathy, as the child paused. The +little girl did not immediately reply, but leaned forward and looked +wistfully in her companion's face for a moment. + +"Do you think it is so very wicked to keep--that is, to--to deprive a +bird of its liberty?" she asked timidly. + +"Oh, I don't know that it could be called wicked. A canary bird, born +in a cage, that never knew any other home, would be apt to die if it +were turned loose to shift for itself and get its own living. It +possibly could not stand the exposure to the weather," replied Miss +Katharine. + +"But supposing it wasn't a canary," said Polly hesitatingly; "supposing +it might be a redbird, or a wren, or--or----" + +"Or a bobolink?" Miss Kathy smiled as she supplied the word. + +"Well--yes, a bobolink, for instance." And Polly glanced toward me. + +"Any captured bird certainly feels very bad to be shut up in a cage all +its life, though I have seen robins in captivity that grew to be as +tame as canaries. My aunt had one that lived twelve years in a cage. +It would peck her cheek, and pretend to kiss her, and do all sorts of +sweet little tricks. His cage door stood open, and he went in and out +as it suited him, but he never thought of flying away. However, it is +only natural to suppose that hopping about in a narrow space would be +dreadful to a bird accustomed to spreading its wings and soaring up +through the sky whenever and wherever it pleased." + +Miss Kathy looked at the clock. She saw it was time for her to go back +into the store, then gathered up her work and went into the front room. +When Polly was left to herself I could see she was thinking very hard. +The rocking-chair kept moving faster, and her forehead was drawn into a +little pucker between her eyes. She sighed too, occasionally, as if +she were sad. + +I noticed that Miss Katharine from her post behind the counter looked +in at the child from time to time, and I heard her say half-aloud: "If +the fashionable women of the land had hearts as merciful and +consciences as tender as that dear little Polly's, the slaughter of the +birds would soon come to an end." + +The birch chair finally ceased to rock. The deep-drawn wrinkle passed +away from Polly's forehead. She laid down her book and came to my +cage, then she stood for a moment looking at me tenderly. Then she +took the cage down from its hook and carried it to the door leading to +the garden. The air was pleasant, and a sunbeam slanted across the +porch making a yellow gleam on the lattice. How beautiful it looked to +my weary eyes! + +"Dearest Dickey Downy, good-bye," she said to me, and her voice had a +little tremor in it. "You had a right to be happy and live out of +doors among the trees, and I kept you a prisoner. Please forgive me +for it, and forgive me for wearing birds' wings on my Sunday hat. I +shall never do such cruel things again. It's coming spring now, +Dickey, so be happy and fly away to the beautiful clouds." + +She set the little wire door wide open. A warm zephyr swept by, laden +with the scent of wild flowers and all sweet growing things. My heart +fluttered with joy. I heard the far cry of the hills as I floated out +and upward, higher and higher, on joyous wing. I was free, free! + + + + + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Dickey Downy, by Virginia Sharpe Patterson + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DICKEY DOWNY *** + +***** This file should be named 16255.txt or 16255.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/2/5/16255/ + +Produced by Al Haines + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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