BIRD STORIES 



throated hummingbird darted quickly above the water- 

 parsnips straight to the cardinal throat of the other 

 flower, and found refreshment served in frail blossom- 

 ware of the glorious color he loved best of all. 



And it would be well for all children of men to know 

 that, although three bright active children of sandpipers 

 ran teetering about Cardinal-Flower Path many and 

 many a day, the place was as lovely to look upon at sun- 

 down as at sunrise, for not one wonderful spray had 

 been broken from its stem. So it happened, because the 

 children who played there were Sandy and Peter and 

 Pan, that the cardinal flowers lived their life as it was 

 given them by Nature, serving refreshments for hum- 

 mingbirds through the summer day, and setting seeds 

 according to their kind for other cardinal flowers and 

 other hummingbirds another year. 



But even the charms of Cardinal-Flower Path did not 

 hold Pan and Peter and Sandy many weeks. They 

 seemed to be a sort of gypsy folk, with the love of wan- 

 dering in their hearts ; and it is pleasant to know that, as 

 soon as they were grown enough, there was nothing to 

 prevent their journeying forth with Peter and Mother 

 Piper. 



Of all the strange and wonderful plants and birds and 

 insects they met upon the way I cannot tell you, for, in 

 all my life, I have not traveled so far as these three child- 



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