that he might be content to remain in 

 the small space ; but no ! he climbed over 

 the barrier, longing for freedom, and 

 came toward me, opening his mouth to 

 be fed whenever I moved my fingers over 

 his head. I carried him to the field near 

 by and put him on the ground, thinking 

 that nature might assert herself in him, 

 and that he might look about, or peck 

 at something; he evidently took no inter- 

 est in his new surroundings, merely 

 waited until he was taken up. I had 

 partially succeeded in teaching him to 

 pick at a worm from the floor of my 

 room, but there the lesson ended. I 

 could not teach him to get it from the 

 earth, neither could I show him where 

 to find water. A dropper had supplied 

 his small needs. 



In a cage he would not, outside he 

 could not live ! Upon one occasion he 



grew desperate, and thrust his head be- 

 tween the imprisoning wires, in a vain 

 attempt to be free. I rushed to him and 

 rescued him, sending him back to the 

 confinement he so hated ; — but not for 

 long! I think it was the next morning 

 that he seemed to be sick refusing his 

 food. I knew then that the chance for 

 life was not to be his, and that the days 

 of his captivity were drawing to a close. 

 I left him and went to the breakfast 

 table. When I returned he was lying 

 quite still upon the floor of his cage. 



If there must be a moral to this story, 

 is it not that it would have been a wiser 

 and a kinder act to have chloroformed 

 the young birds when first found, rather 

 than to have subjected them to various 

 experiments with the vain hope of pro- 

 longing their lives? 



Emily R. Lyman. 



A CURIOUS NEST. 



Mrs. Goodno was very busy with her 

 spring house-cleaning. She took down 

 the white curtains from the windows 

 and washing them fresh and clean, laid 

 them with their cords and tassels on 

 the green grass to bleach in the bright 

 sunshine. 



When evening came and she went for 

 her curtains she could not find the 

 cords; and wondered very much who 

 could have taken them for she had seen 

 no one in the yard — but they were all 

 gone. 



Meanwhile Mrs. Green, who lived a 

 half-square away was much surprised 

 to see lying in her yard some white 

 cords and tassels. Where could they 

 have come from? She could not imag- 

 ine, but there they were. 



While she was sitting by the window 

 trying to solve the mystery she saw a 

 robin hopping about upon the grass, 

 turning his head wisely this way and 

 that; suddenly he seemed to have made 



up his mind for he hopped to the cords 

 and picking up one in his bill flew with 

 it to the grape-arbor near by. 



She followed quickly and there hang- 

 ing from the arbor were several tassels, 

 the cords having been woven into a 

 nest. It was a very curious nest to be 

 sure and when Johnny came home from 

 school she asked him to climb up and 

 investigate. 



There he found the strangest of 

 strange nests, for the robins had woven 

 the cords and some twigs quite firmly 

 together leaving the tassels hanging 

 below. 



In the fall when Mr. and Mrs. Robin 

 were through with the nest Johnny took 

 it down from the arbor so that his 

 mother could examine it more closely. 



Of course all the neighbors heard 

 about it and so Mrs. Goodno learned 

 who was the thief that had stolen her 

 property. 



Anna Yarnall. 



128 



