A Family on My Hands. 



19 



''collector, " who had become quite as much 

 interested in the little family as myself. 

 He advised me to move them a few feet 

 at a time until I had them under the shel- 

 ter of a fence some twenty feet distant. 

 But before this could be accomplished, their 

 hiding place had been discovered by two of 

 the worst boys in Coralville. 



I felt that it was all over with my pro- 

 teges then, but I would make one last efort 

 for their lives. So, calling the boys to me, 

 we had a conversation something as follows: 



"Now Joe," I said, addressing myself to 

 the elder, "these little birds have had and 

 are likely to have a perilous time of it; and 

 I am going to ask you to help me protect 

 them from bad boys and other enemies, if 

 you will. It is very interesting to watch 

 them grow and feather out, and you may 

 come and look at them every day if you 

 like. Of course you will not hurt them, 

 will you? I know Jesse will not." "No," 

 said Joe, "I will not touch 'em, I told Ma- 

 bel I would, but I was just a foolin', 'an I'd 

 just like to see a boy try to molest 'em, I 

 bet he wouldn't do it again." "Course I 

 won't hurt 'em," Jesse said. Satisfied that 

 the birds had two valuable champions in 

 those whom I had naturally expected would 

 be their greatest enemies, I resolved to 

 leave them where they were for the present. 

 In about half an hour I heard an outcry, 

 and voices raised in angry altercation. Step- 

 ping out to ascertain the cause, I beheld 

 these two boys most unceremoniously, not 

 to say savagely, conducting a little red- 

 haired, freckle-faced culprit out of the 

 grounds. Not until they had taken him 

 safely beyond temptation and all the fences, 

 did they vouchsafe me a word of explana- 

 tion. "What doyous'pose he was doin'?" 

 said Joe. "He was a sneakin' up and 

 crawlin' along under the fence to try to get 

 at them birds, that is what he was; but I 

 give it to 'im, I did; he won't try it again, 

 he won't." He did not try it again; nor 



did any other boy dare venture near those 

 birds without our consent thereafter. 



Feeling that the birds were comparative- 

 ly safe, yet telling Mabel to look out for 

 them a little, engrossed with other duties 

 I scarcely thought of them again until dusk 

 that evening, when they were brought to my 

 mind by Mabel remarking, " I do not think 

 that mamma bird found her little ones this 

 evening, she was not on them the last time 

 I looked and they were quite cold." "Why, 

 I did not know that she had lost them," I 

 replied. "Oh, I moved them over to the 

 fence this evening, so the bad boys and 

 things couldn't find them, and I s'pose she 

 couldn't either." I hastened out and found 

 that it was too true. The mother bird was 

 fluttering about wholly unable to find her 

 little ones, who were almost perishing with 

 cold. Of course we could not catch her 

 and put her over them, so we brought the 

 little family into the house, wrapped them 

 in flannel and placed them under the kitch- 

 en stove; in the morning I found that they 

 had crept out of the nest and were lying on 

 the floor half dead with hunger and cold. 

 I warmed and fed them; then took the nest 

 to its former place, where the mother bird 

 soon discovered it. We did not move 

 them again. One died from the exposure; 

 but the others grew so rapidly that in a few 

 days they had filled the nest to overflowing; 

 how they managed to stay in it as long as 

 they did I cannot imagine. One day Ma- 

 bel brought one of them to me to show me 

 how large it had grown. I told her to take 

 it back and put it in the nest; she was gone 

 some time when she came running to me 

 with a troubled face, to tell me that she 

 "did not know whatever we were to do with 

 those naughty birdies, every time I put 

 them in the nest they get out again," she 

 said, "and run all over the stubble field." 

 It was then that I breathed a sigh of infin- 

 ite relief, and felt that my adopted family 

 was safely and happily off my hands at last. 



Violet S. Williams. 



