53 



woman enjoy the perquisite of this kind ; one grants 

 the last word to them, not for lack of repartee, but in 

 the humane spirit that dictates the gift of a doll to a 

 child or a bag of nuts to a squirrel ! 



They say that marriages are made in heaven — I 

 conclude bird marriages as well. But how my Pastors 

 ever came together puzzles me. I often think of what 

 an old man I knew remarked of a married neighbour, 

 who is a harassed worried-looking person. Someone 

 spoke of marriages being made in heaven, and Job 

 remarked that the idea ' alius bested him,' when he 

 saw such a couple as Mr. and Mrs. So-and-so. But 

 after a few moments thought his face brightened with 

 a sudden idea — ' Mayhap,' he said, ' the Almighty was 

 lookin' t'other way ! ' 



My Rose Pastors never sit together. If one 

 happens to alight on the other's perch, there is such 

 language used as is, as the papers say in Police Court 

 proceedings, unfit for publication. They always re- 

 mind me of the old man and woman who could not 

 even worship together. The last time I had visited 

 them they had frequented the same Bethel, but when 

 next I called all was changed. I said to the old chap, 

 'Where's missus?' 'Why,' he said, 'she's in the 

 next room.' 'What's she doing?' I said. 'Saying 

 her prayers,' was the answer. 'Why,' I said, 'you 

 always used to say them together ! ' ' Happen,' he 

 answered, ' but now we can't liit it off at all ; and so 

 she says 'em there and I says 'em here.' That is about 

 the position with my Rose Pastors and the perches. 



They say you can always get a man through his 

 stomach. That is how I won the affections of my 

 hen Pastor ; she loves not me, but vie dona feretitem. 

 When I appear at the window of her abode with 

 mealworms, she watches me with the tragic air of a 

 Cassandra. To note the varied expressions that flit 

 across her face— hope, fear, desire, greed, expectancy, 



