IN THE NORTH COUNTRY 



My heart has ached over robins and " topneys " 

 (cedar-birds), over indigo buntings and vesper- 

 sparrows, grackles and meadow-larks, warblers 

 and vireos, and I cannot say how many other 

 feathered innocents under sentence of imprison- 

 ment for life; but the male goldfinches stand to 

 the other prisoners in about the ratio of three to 

 one. 



I do not think the custom is permitted nowa- 

 days, but years ago captured song-birds were 

 among the commodities trundled over the long, 

 weary miles intervening between the outlying vil- 

 lages and farms and the market-stands in Quebec. 

 With flowers and fruits and vegetables and 

 dairy and poultry-yard products conspicuous 

 among the latter expostulating fowls tied by the 

 legs in bunches of half a dozen with straw hats 

 and spruce gum and maple sugar and Indian 

 hay and brilliantly colored home-made toys 

 with the whole heterogeneous stock of a Canadian 

 market-woman's cart, in short the poor, terrified 

 little prisoners made the journey to the beautiful 

 city set on a hill. No doubt many of the fright- 

 ened creatures died before the glittering roofs 

 came in sight, but unfortunately others sur- 

 vived, and if not sold were trundled back to 



[22 9 ] 



