20 BIRD PARADISE 



I have seen him give up on the demand of others 

 until he had nothing left for himself. Not a 

 word of complaint did he utter ; on the contrary 

 he seemed more and more the embodiment of the 

 very spirit of patient, genial good nature. As 

 he does no striking, of course, he never strikes 

 back. If, as Burroughs says, "the bluebird is 

 the bird of nature, being earth brown below, and 

 sky blue above," he is certainly most heavenly 

 through the pure white within. The old saying 

 that "it takes two to make a quarrel" is illus- 

 trated nicely in this bird's behavior. He goes 

 about owning in fee simple everything, just happy 

 in the ownership, and yet never proclaims his 

 rights in any way only by letting the other fellow 

 have them all. Ah ! what grace there is in this 

 one bird of all the birds. He is a preacher of 

 righteousness that needeth not to be ashamed. 

 The parson gives him the right hand of fellow- 

 ship as one sent by the Master in whom there is 

 indeed no guile. 



Sitting in my porch last evening I noticed, 

 when it had become quite dark, not only my pair 

 of bats on duty but several chimney swifts circling 

 about with them, the entire company Intent on 

 securing a sumptuous supper. They continued 



