240 A Kindergarten Experiment 



a singing canary and a beautiful bullfinch. They 

 seemed very bright and apparently happy in their new 

 brass cages quite aristocratic, in fact, although 

 I fancied now and then I could detect a note in their 

 voices that was not altogether one of contentment. 

 But we got along quite well together. My man- 

 servant was attentive enough to them, and I supple- 

 mented his efforts by little kindnesses that they 

 apparently appreciated. And yet something seemed 

 to be not quite right with them. To this day I 

 cannot tell positively what it was, and only assume 

 it was simply the want of freedom. 



Cage life is necessarily an irksome, monotonous 

 existence. Carniverous animals chafe under it, even 

 when completely tamed. Why, then, should not 

 those winged creatures whose very being is freedom 

 and blitheness, who dwell in the air more than on 

 the earth, and whose free nature cannot brook con- 

 finement, have all the freedom their Creator de- 

 signed ? I can see those birds now, as they sat upon 

 their perches or hopped about the cages, trying hard 

 to be happy, but with a cloud of unrest about them 

 all the while. Poor little things ! 



