TEACHER'S LEAFLETS 



FOR USE IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 

 PREPARED BY 



SECOND EDITION. 



No. 10. 



JUNE 10, 1898. 



THE COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE, 

 CORNELL UNIVERSITY, 



ITHACA, N. Y. 



issued Under Chapter 67, 

 of the Laws of 1898. 



1. P. ROBERtS t)iRECt6R. 



The Birds and I. 



BY L. H, BAILEY. 



The springtime belongs to the birds and me. We own it. We 

 know when the Mayflowers and the buttercups bloom. We know 

 when the first frogs peep. We watch the awakening of the woods. 

 \Vg are wet by the warm April showers. We go where we will, and 

 \ve are companions. Every tree and brook and blade of grass is ours; 

 and our hearts are full of song. 



There are boys who kill the birds, and girls who want to catch 

 them and put them in cages; and there are others who steal their 

 eggs. The birds are not partners with them ; they are only servants. 

 Birds, like people, sing for their friends, not for their masters. I am 

 sure that one cannot think much of the springtime and the flowers if 

 his heart is always set upon killing or catching something. We are 

 happy when we are free ; and so are the birds. 



The birds and I get acquainted all over again every spring. They 

 have seen strange lands in the winter, and all the brooks and woods 

 have been covered with snow. So we run and romp together, and 

 find all the nooks and crannies which we had half forgotten since 

 October. The birds remember the old places. The wrens pull the 

 sticks from the old hollow rail and seem to be wild with joy to see 

 the place again. They must be the same wrens that were here last 

 year and the year before, for stratigers could not make so much fuss 

 Qver an old rail. The bluebirds and wrens look into every crack and 



