io6 ARBOR DAY 



been done; but they found very little food, and were 

 not a little cold. 



"Piep!" said one of them to another; "they call 

 this a new year, and it is worse than the last! We 

 might just as well have kept the old one. Pm 

 dissatisfied, and I've a right to be so." 



"Yes; and the people ran about and fired off 

 shots to celebrate the new year," said a little shivering 

 sparrow; "and they threw pans and pots against 

 the doors, and were quite boisterous with joy, because 

 the old year was gone. I was glad of it too, because 

 I hoped we should have had warm days; but that 

 has come to nothing it freezes much harder than 

 before. People have made a mistake in reckoning 

 the time!" 



"That they have!" a third put in, who was old, 

 and had a white poll; "they've something they call 

 the calendar it's an invention of their own 

 and everything is to be arranged according to that; 

 but it won't do. When Spring comes, then the year 

 begins, and I reckon according to that." 



" But when will Spring come ? " the others inquired. 



"It will come when the stork comes back. But 

 his movements are very uncertain, and here in towns 

 no one knows anything about it; in the country they 

 are better informed. Shall we fly out there and wait ? 

 There, at any rate, we shall be nearer to Spring." 



And away they flew. 



Out in the country it was hard Winter, the snow 



