STORIES ABOUT BIRDS. 827 



wool, and thistle down, curiously and beauti- 

 fully interwoven. It was a charming piece of 

 workmanship, that little sparrow's nest. Well, 

 as I stood there looking at it, I thought it 

 would be a fine thing to take those little spar- 

 rows home with us, nest and all. I had never 

 had any tame birds ; and I did not doubt that 

 I could soon make these sparrows so tame that 

 they would come and hop upon my shoulder, 

 when I called them. Forgetting every kind 

 and generous feeling, in this one selfish desire, 

 I was about to climb up the tree, and secure 

 the helpless sparrows, when my sister made 

 such an appeal to my better feelings, that my 

 arm was entirely unnerved. I did not violate 

 the peace of that happy family, but left them 

 chirping their gratitude and gladness. Boys 

 have often strong temptations to rob the nests 

 of the beautiful birds that cluster around the 

 abodes of men, so confidingly, so lovingly. I 

 have had some such temptations. But never, 

 since my sister's eloquent plea for the young 

 sparrows, have I yielded to this temptation. 

 That plea has secured the happiness of many a 

 forest warbler. I owe much of the good- will I 

 have ever cherished toward the birds, to the 

 tenderness with which she always treated them. 

 A clerical friend, residing in Connecticut, 



