180 BIRDS' NESTS. 



taste out of his mouth for an hour or 

 more." 



It is no doubt a most unkind thing to do, 

 to laugh at another person's distress ; yet 

 Mr. Miller could not help thinking that the 

 accident was just of that kind that the mis- 

 chievous boy deserved to meet with, being 

 one which caused him a good deal of incon- 

 venience at the time, but was attended with 

 no permanent injury. Had he fallen and 

 broken an arm, or a leg, he would have been 

 among the first to offer assistance, and would 

 have instantly checked his son, had he shown 

 any inclination to speak lightly of the sufferer. 

 But that an impudent boy, who had broken 

 through a park fence, and attempted to steal 

 eggs from a private rookery, should be punished 

 through the instrumentality of an egg, seemed 

 so just a retribution that he did not hesitate to 

 join in the laugh. He therefore added, 



" I think that Johnson was punished as he 

 deserved, and I should be very glad to believe 



