THE FRAME OF THE PICTURE 323 



leaves and various grains and small fruits, from straw- 

 berries to mulberries, for which she has had a daily 

 hunt through the Opal Farm land the season 

 through. 



Toward the English sparrow she positively declines 

 to harden her heart, in spite of my having repeated 

 the story of its encroachments and crimes. She 

 listens and merely shakes her head, saying, "We 

 'vited them to come, didn't we, mother? When we 

 'vites people, we always feed 'em; 'sides, they're the 

 only ones'll let me put them in my pocket," which is 

 perfectly true, for having learned this warm abiding- 

 place of much oats and cracked corn, they follow her 

 in a flock, and a few confiding spirits allow themselves 

 to be handled. 



At the birthday dinner party, arranged by the In- 

 fant, a number of these guests were present. We 

 must have looked a motley crew, in whose company 

 Old King Cole himself would have been embarrassed, 

 for Bart wore a wreath of pink asters, while a gigan- 

 tic sunflower made my head-dress, and the cake, 

 made and garnished with red and white peppermints, 

 an American and an Irish flag, by Anastasia, was 

 mounted firmly upon a miscellaneous mass of flowers, 

 with a superstructure of small yellow tomatoes, parsley, 



