AN ABANDONED HOME. 



BY ELANORA KINSLEY MARBLE. 



"Say, was thy little mate unkind, 

 And heard thee as the careless wind? 

 Oh! nought but love and sorrow joined 

 Such notes of woe could waken." 



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CHAPTER II. 

 ELL, I'm glad to get over to 

 this tree again out of the 

 soundof mother'svoice. Duty 

 to my husband; that's all she 

 could talk about. All wives help to 

 build the home-nest," she says, "and 

 indeed do the most toward making it 

 snug and comfortable, and that I must 

 give up my old pastimes and pleasures 

 and settle down to housekeeping. Well. 

 if I must, I must, but oh! how I wish I 

 had never got married." 



Not a word was exchanged between 

 the pair that night, and on the follow- 

 ing morning Mrs. B., with a disdainful 

 toss of her head, ironically announced 

 her willingness to become a hod-car- 

 rier, a mason, or a carpenter, according 

 the desires of her lord. 



They elected to build their nest in the 

 maple-tree, and you can imagine the 

 bickerings of the pair as the house pro- 

 gressed. Mrs. B's. groans and be- 

 moaning over the effect, such "fetch- 

 ings and carryings" would have upon 

 her health, already delicate. How 

 often she was compelled from weak- 

 ness and fatigue to tuck her head un- 

 der her wing and rest, while Mr. B. car- 

 ried on the work tireless and uncom- 

 plaining. 



"She may change when she has the 

 responsibility of a family," he mused, 

 "and perhaps become a helpmeet after 

 all. I must not be too severe with her, 

 so young and thoughtless and inexper- 

 ienced." 



So the nest at length was completed. 



"My!" said a sharp-eyed old lady 

 bird, whose curiosity led her to take a 

 peep at the domicile one day while 

 Mrs. B. was off visiting with one of her 

 neighbors, "such an uncomfortable, rag- 

 ged looking nest; it is not even domed 

 as a nest should be when built in a tree. 

 And then the lining! If the babies es- 

 cape drowning in the first down-pour. 



I am sure they'll be crippled for life, if 

 not hung outright, when they attempt 

 to leave the nest. You know how dan- 

 gerous it is when they get their feet en- 

 tangled in the rag ravelings and coils 

 of string, and if you'll believe me that 

 shiftless Jenny has just laid a lot of it 

 around the edges of the nest without 

 ever tucking it in. The way girls are 

 brought up now-a-days! Accomplish- 

 ments indeed! I think," with a sniff, 

 "if she had been taught something 

 about housekeeping instead of how to 

 arrange her feathers prettily, to dance 

 and sing, and fly in graceful circles it 

 would have been much better for poor 

 Mr. B. Poor fellow, how I do pity 

 him," and off the old lady flew to talk 

 it over with another neighbor. 



Unlike some young wives of the spar- 

 row family, Mrs. B. did not sit on the 

 first almost spotless white egg which 

 she deposited in the nest, but waited 

 till four others, prettily spotted with 

 brown, and black, and lavender lay be- 

 side it. 



"Whine, whine from morning till 

 night!" cried her exasperated spouse 

 after brooding had begun. "Sitting 

 still so much, you say, doesn't agree 

 with you. Your beauty is departing! 

 You are growing thin and careworn! 

 The little outings you take are only 

 tantalizing. I am sure most wives 

 wouldn't consider it a hardship to sit 

 still and be fed with the delicious grubs 

 and dainty tid-bits which I go to such 

 pains to fetch for you. That was a 

 particularly fine grub I brought you 

 this morning, and you ate it without 

 one word of thanks, or even a look of 

 gratitude. Nothing but complaints 

 and tears! It is enough to drive any 

 husband mad. I fly away in the morn- 

 ing with a heavy heart, and when I see 

 and hear other sparrows hopping and 

 singing cheerfully about their nests, re- 

 ceiving chirps of encouragement and 



lOS 



