THE MESSAGE OF A MOCKING-BIRD. 2 
of it and preen its feathers and look about at us below 
in a very pretty way. ‘So you see the little thing really 
washed and dried and ironed its clothes. 
One day when it was perched on the top of the hall 
door, as happy as could be, a gust of wind quickly blew 
the door shut, with a loud noise. The bird gave a sharp 
scream and flew to the window. We looked and saw a 
strange sight, —a mocking-bird without a tail. 
The little bundle of feathers had been shut in at the 
top of the door when the wind closed it; and there sat 
poor birdie, a mere chunk of a darling, turning its head 
from side to side and looking sadly back at the place 
where its tail had once been. 
We opened the door, and down fluttered every one of 
the beautiful feathers. Birdie eyed them with a puz- 
zled look, canting its head, as though it were saying, 
“T don’t understand it at all.””. Then it looked back- 
ward again in a very pitiful way. We couldn’t help 
laughing, though we were so sorry for the bird. Ina 
short time the feathers grew again, and the little fellow 
showed great care in preening them and placing them 
just as it thought they ought to grow. 
After a while there came to be a little baby in the 
house, and the mocking-bird seemed to understand. 
Two grown-up people had been its only friends before, 
but it was never afraid of the stranger baby from the 
first time it saw him. It would fly from any perch to 
where the baby lay, and peep into the baby’s face in 
the sweetest way, as if saying, “Glad to see you, little 
