A BOY AND A SPARROW 9 



Let me quote some verses from an unknown 

 source respecting a Boy and a Sparrow, the moral 

 of which will, I am sure, come home to each one of 

 you. Here they are: — 



Once a sweet boy sat and swung on a limb ; 



On the ground stood a Sparrow-bird, looking at him. 



Now, the boy he was good, but the Sparrow was bad, 



So it shied a big stone at the head of the lad, 



And it killed the poor boy; and the Sparrow was glad. 



Then the little boy's mother flew over the trees. 

 " Tell me, where is my little boy. Sparrow-bird, please ? " 

 " He is safe in my pocket," the Sparrow-bird said; 

 And another stone shied at the fond mother's head. 

 And she fell at the feet of the wicked bird, dead. 



You imagine, no doubt, that the tale I have mixed; 

 But it wasn't by me that the story was fixed. 

 'Twas a dream a boy had after kilhng a bird ; 

 And he dreamed it so loud that I heard every word. 

 And I jotted it down as it really occurred. 



I wonder if any reader of this book has ever had 

 a dream anything like that recorded in the above 

 verses ? 



When you learn to know animals and plants 

 intimately you will no doubt come to love them, 

 and this reminds me that the present Queen of 

 Roumania, like our own beloved Queen Alexandra, 

 is a great lover of animals. 



The Roumanian Queen writes under the pen- 

 name of " Carmen Sylva," and besides being a 



