242 THE IMMORTALITY OF ANIMALS 



and the little birds all dead ; and the father bird 

 was crying on a bush, and the mother bird was cry- 

 ing on a tree, as if their little hearts would break. 

 Then little Channing tried to tell them that he did 

 not kill their poor little children, that he never could 

 do such a mean, cruel thing as that, but that it was 

 some wicked boy that did it. He said he tried to 

 feed them and help them along, so they might fly. 

 But it was of no use ; he could not console them. 

 They kept on crying until this kind-hearted little 

 boy could not contain his feelings any longer, but 

 sat down and wept with such agony that he was 

 found and taken home in an unconscious stupor. 

 No wonder, that with such an early impulse 

 of kindness he grew up to be a man noted 

 for kindness of heart and a great religious 

 teacher. 



"While Abraham Lincoln was President, and dur- 

 ing the darkest hours of the war, he was walking 

 in company with others near a hedge, and saw a 

 young bird fluttering in the grass near by. He 

 stopped, picked it up, and while he was walking up 

 and down the grove to find its nest, his companions 

 walked on, but the great and kind-hearted man con- 

 tinued his search until he found the place from 



