as though very much astonished, and 

 off I'd fly, as she made a dash for me, 

 to the window where I would hide be- 

 hind the ruffle of the sash curtain. 



'^ Cheep, cJieep," I'd cry, just as you 

 little folks cry "whoop," when all is 

 ready, '^cheep, cheep." 



"Where can my birdie be?" she would 

 say after awhile, dropping her pen. 

 "Wherecan she be?" and then she would 

 look here and there, 'till presently ap- 

 proaching my hiding-place, out I'd fly, 

 with a gurgle, into an adjoining room, 

 where I'd again crouch behind the cur- 

 tain. Between you and me I believe 

 she knew all the time where I was hid- 

 ing and only pretended to search for 

 me here and there. Anyway it was 

 capital fun, and I never tired of it, 

 though mistress did. 



"I can't play with you any more," she 

 would say, "you quite tire me out," and 

 then she would go to writing again and 

 so our game of "hide and seek" would 

 end for that day. 



"Everything needs companionship," 

 she said one morning to my master, 

 "birds, children and men," and so that 

 day he brought home a large wooden 

 cage in which was as handsome a can- 

 ary bird as you would want to see. 

 That was Jim, and oh, how happy I 

 was, when, a few days after, he asked 

 me to be his mate. I said "yes," almost 

 before he had got the song out of his 

 mouth — I didn't know what a tyrant 

 and bully he was till afterward, you 

 know — and so we went pretty soon to 

 housekeeping in the wooden cage. 



Mymistressunderstood what I wanted 

 when she saw me picking up threads 

 and pulling her chenille table cover to 

 pieces, and so in one corner of the cage 

 she put a nest made of wire and cov- 

 ered with a bit of muslin. Near by 

 were little heaps of cotton-batting, 

 wrapping-cord, and hair. Dear, dear, 

 how busy I was for days! Jim, as I 

 have said before, did nothing much 

 but sing — and criticise. More than 

 once I dragged all the furniture out of 

 our wire home, because he thought I 

 should have put the hair in first, and 

 the cotton and strings in afterward. 

 For a newly wedded couple, on their 

 honeymoon so to speak, we did a vast 

 amount of quarreling. The nest, how- 



ever, was at last made cozy enough to 

 suit us, and so one day I climbed in it 

 and sat for quite a while. Then I 

 called to Jim and I must say he seemed 

 to be just as proud as I was of the 

 little blue speckled egg which lay 

 there so sung in the cotton. The next 

 day but one I laid another, and then 

 one every day till I had laid five. My, 

 how I felt when I gathered them up 

 close under me and sat down to brood. 

 If all went well, after thirteen or four- 

 teen days, we would have five dear 

 birdlings. For fear the eggs might 

 get chilled I left them only a few 

 minutes at a time, hurriedly eating a 

 few seeds, then back on the nest again, 

 Jim could have helped me very much- 

 by brooding the eggs while I took ex- 

 ercise and my meals, but he was too- 

 selfish for that. All he did was to fly 

 about and sing, bidding me to keep 

 my spirits up. If it hadn't been for 

 my mistress I should have fared badly, 

 you may believe. She fed me crack- 

 ers soaked in milk, cracked hemp seeds 

 and placed them around the edge of 

 the nest, besides other delicacies in 

 the vegetable line too numerous to 

 mention. When the birdlings were 

 born Jim appeared to be very proud 

 indeed. He couldn't sing long or loud 

 enough, leaving me to feed the five 

 gaping, pleading red mouths every 

 day. Ah, no one knows better than a 

 mother how much trouble and worry 

 there is in bringing up a family. I'm 

 sure I have had experience enough, 

 for since that time I have had so many 

 birdlings I can't count them. One 

 season I had eighteen, three nests, and 

 six in the nest each time. They were 

 considered such fine birds that my 

 mistress had no , difificulty in selling 

 them as soon as they learned to sing. 

 Now I am coming to a period the 

 thought of which fills my heart with 

 sorrow. For some reason that I am 

 not able to tell you, my mistress con- 

 cluded to part with me and Jim. She 

 shed tears over it, I know, but never- 

 theless we felt ourselves being borne 

 away one night, and in the morning, 

 lo! we found ourselves in a large, bare 

 room, on the floor of which was painted 

 an immense ring or circle. I was sit- 

 ting on six blue, speckled eggs at the 



