Parting Guests 



have settled himself upon his little haunches 

 before a supply of grain is under his quivering 

 nostrils. It takes bird or beast to find our 

 manners. 



When, thus, on our arrival for the summer, 

 we found a robin had installed herself upon the 

 porch we at once sm-rendered ownership. If 

 she had taken possession of the front door, well 

 then, as proper hosts we took the back. There 

 was a magnificence about that act of surrender 

 that should have been attended with a greater 

 pomp. No royal abdication could have wrought 

 more personal inconvenience. Bags, boxes, 

 trunks, were heaped up at the rear by an irate 

 expressman who had no patience with such fine- 

 ness of courtesy and who refused to manipulate 

 them through the smaller door. It seemed a pity 

 that it should look less like an act of hospitality 

 than an eviction. But that day no foot was set 

 upon the porch, and when night came, the cur- 

 tain was drawn early that the light might not 

 shine into the robin's eyes. 



Later we found that we had acted with an 

 excess of courtesy. Our guest was quite willing 



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