birds ; no one else ever instructed the younger. 

 Yet somehow both felt, and still feel after 

 many years, that there is a difference. It is (^'deedee'loKh-^ 

 always so with boys. They are friends of 

 whatever trusts them and is fearless. Chick- 

 adee's own personality, his cheery ways and 

 trustful nature had taught them, though they 

 knew it not. And among all the boys of 

 that neighborhood there is still a law, which 

 no man gave, of which no man knows the 

 origin, a law as unalterable as that of the 

 Medes and Persians : Never kill a chickadee. 

 If you ask the boy there who tells you 

 the law, " Why not a chickadee as well 

 as a sparrow ? " he shakes his head as of 

 yore, and answers dogmatically: "'Cause 

 you must n't." 



CHICKADEE'S SECRET 



If you meet Chickadee in May with a bit 

 of rabbit fur in his mouth, or if he seem 

 preoccupied or absorbed, you may know that 

 he is building a nest, or has a wife and chil- 

 dren near by to take care of. If you know 



