Doctor and Mrs. Jackson 139 



them in his esteem or respect, I might make shift 

 to fill the gap till they returned. When I went 

 to see him he would take my hand with all 

 kindness, and invariably point to the vacant 

 church tower. " I am glad to see you, my 

 lad : Dr. and Mrs. Jackson have gone for a 

 few days into the country with the children, but 

 they will be home again long before you leave 

 us." 



It is sad to me even now to think that such 

 an old friendship, which I am sure was felt in 

 equal strength by both men and birds, should 

 ever have come to an end. It had to be, but it 

 gives me pain to tell the story. 



The old Vicar fell into a drowsy decay, and the 

 murmur of his sermons was heard no more in the 

 church. A Curate took the work for him, and 

 the old Scholar came and listened as before ; but 

 the sweet old memories of a long friendship 

 were not to be found in those discourses, nor the 

 flashes of light from the world's great poets and 

 thinkers that had been wont to keep him awake 

 and cheer him. And at last the old shepherd 

 died, and slept among the sheep to whose needs 



