AT THE GARDEN PARTY. 129 
linings looked so much lke fire that the boys ran 
away. 
Just then Mr. Mocker set up such a noise, squalling 
like a chicken when it is caught, that the birds all flew 
away to their houses, all but the hummer. He wasn’t 
afraid of a chicken, and he sat still in the lap of the 
sweet rose. 
CHAP TER X20v. 
AT THE GARDEN PARTY. 
THE morning dew was not off from the hlacs and 
the sweet calamus in the garden when the birds began 
to come to the party. 
They came in pairs, and in groups, and in whole 
families. They were turning their heads this way and 
that, whispering and chatting and showing off their 
new spring suits, and looking shyly at the different 
kinds of food, like people at a picnie. 
“Good morning,” said old Mrs. Goldfinch to Mrs. 
Hummer. “I see you have a son almost as large as 
yourself. I do not understand how that can be so early 
in the season.” 
“Oh, I am very proud of my son,” remarked Mrs. 
Hummer. “I have a daughter almost as large as my 
son. They are both very much like their father. I 
had good luck in raising them. It stormed once right 
into the nest, when they were very small and weak, 
K 
