10 What Birds Have Done With Me 



Only once did he disobey his father's order to 

 keep away from the breaking. At an early hour 

 the next morning, he hurried out to the field to see 

 for himself if the mother bird had found the 

 young at the foot of a near-by stump where he 

 placed them. Joy of joys, there she was, brood- 

 ing them just as though nothing had happened. 

 For several days, the lad went about as if he had 

 something on his mind, and one evening after 

 bidding his mother good-night, he returned, and 

 lifting a puzzled face to hers, asked, "Mamma, 

 does a fellow have to be a mother before he can 

 understand how Mrs. Stumpy and Mrs. Whip- 

 poor-will feel, when they ask folks to come and 

 kill 'em if they will just leave their babies alone?" 

 She had at first smiled, but only for an instant, 

 then she gathered him into her arms with un- 

 wonted tenderness, and said tremulously, "I guess 

 not, my boy, my little boy!" 



