work. Hers was the real interest, tlie real anxiety ; 

 and hers the initiative. To be a male and show oil ! 

 That 's the thin<^. To be a male and let your wile 

 carry the baby ! The final distinctive difference be- 

 tween a truly humanized, civilized man and all other 

 males of every order, is a willingness to push the 

 baby carriage. 



The finer the feathers or the song among male 

 birds the less use they are in practical, domestic ways. 

 Fine beaux, captivating lovers, they become little else 

 than a nuisance as husbands. One of my friends has 

 been watching a pair of bluebirds building. The male 

 sat around for a week without bringing in a feather. 

 Then one day he was seen to enter the hole, after his 

 busy mate had just left it, and carry out a beakful of 

 grass which he scattered to the winds in pure per- 

 versity, criticising her bungling work, maybe ! More 

 likely he was jealous. 



Chickadee was no such precious fool as that. He 

 was doing something ; trying to drown his regret for 

 the departing honeymoon in hard labor, not, however, 

 to the danger of his health, 



I sat a long time watching the work. It went on in 

 perfect silence, not a chirp, not the sound of a llut- 



85 



