was never empty unless the owner of it was sleeping. In fact, the babe was 

 stuffed; though, strange to say, his stomach grew no bigger, but less and less, 

 as the rest of his body filled out. 



At the end of a couple of weeks he had a pretty fair shirt on his back, of 

 delicate down, softer than any shirt of wool that ever warmed a human baby's 

 body. And the mother stood on the edge of the basket and admired it. She 

 didn't make it, of course, but she was in some way responsible for it, and no 

 doubt felt proud of the bit of fancy Avork. She noticed, also, that the eyes of 

 the little one did not bulge so much as they did, and a tiny slit appeared at the 

 center, widening slowly, until one happy hour they opened fairly out, and "the 

 baby had eyes." But they were tired eyes to start with, like the eyes of most 

 young things, and they wearied with just a glimpse of the light. So the lids 

 closed, and it was several days before Dicky actually took in the situation as he 

 ought. 



There being no other baby to crowd, he kept to the nest longer than 

 birds commonly do, and when at last he got on his feet he was pretty well 

 fledged. 



Now, when he had obtained his first youthful suit of clothes, his mother 

 looked surprised, as did also his father, it is to be supposed, he in his solitary cage 

 hanging close to the other. Both parent birds were pure-bred TenerifiFe canaries, 

 the male as green as emerald and the female more dusky and lighter. By a 

 strange freak of nature, which happens sometimes by breeding these birds in 

 captivity, the young fellow was bright yellow, of the tint of a ripe lemon, 

 beak white, and eye black, while his feet and ankles retained their original baby 

 pinkness. Oh, he was a pretty bird ! But it was foreordained in his case, as in 

 similar cases, that he should not be so sweet a singer as though his color had been 

 like that of his parents. He was not conscious of this fact, however, and it 

 mattered not to him that he was yellow instead of green. Nor did he care in the 

 least that the price of him was marked down to a dollar and a half when it should 

 have been double. Away he went in a new cage, after his new mistress had 

 paid the sum named into the hand of his former owner. He peeked out of the 

 bars as he was carried along swinging at every step ; that is, he peeped out as well 

 as he could, considering that a cloth was covered over the cage. The wind blew 

 the cloth aside now and then and Dicky saw wonderful sights — sights that were 

 familiar and "so soul-appealing." Not that he, in his own short life, had ever 

 seen such sights, but that somehow in his little being were vague memories or 

 conceptions of what his ancestors had seen. It is hard to explain it, but every- 

 thing cannot be explained. When we come to one of these things we call it "in- 

 stinct," with a wise shake of our heads, just as we were told to say "Jerusalem" 

 when w^e came to a word we couldn't pronounce when we were very young and 

 read in the Second Reader. 



Well, Dicky had a good home of his own, and lived for a purpose, although 

 he never developed into a trained singer. In the heart of him he longed for a 

 mate, and often expressed his desires in low. musical notes. But no mate came 



378 



