Too Muck of a Good Thing 2 1 1 



repeated, as another blackbird came scurrying out 

 of the hedge a little further down. 



At this point Joseph broke off his discourse, 

 thrust his arm into the hedge, lifting the thick 

 branches here and there, and pulled out a lump 

 of fresh green moss, the first preparations for 

 a blackbird's nest 



"Ah, ye blackguards," he cried, "at it already, 

 are ye? Til be bound there are a dozen or 

 two of ye somewhere or another on the premises. 

 You see, Sir, 'tis their natcr, when they've had 

 it all their own way so long, and no one to look 

 after 'em, a year come next June, They take 

 it as the garden belongs to them ; they're like 

 rats in a stack-yard, and you won't have a thing 

 to call your own by summer. But don't you 

 take on, Sir," he went on, seeing the Poet's 

 visage lengthening ; " we'll nip 'em in the bud 

 in no time. There's my grandson Dan. a won- 

 derful smart lad to find nests you give him 

 a sixpence, Sir, or what you please, and hell 

 have every nest in the garden in an hour or twa 

 Take it in time. Sir, as the doctor says to my 

 wife when her rheumatics is a coming on." 



r a 



