138 Ways of Wood Folk. 



but the insects are plenty, and to-morrow the sun 

 will shine." His cheerfulness is contagious. Your 

 thoughts are better than before he came. 



Really, he is a wonderful little fellow ; there is no 

 end to the good he does. Again and again I have 

 seen a man grow better tempered or more cheerful, 

 without knowing why he did so, just because Chicka- 

 dee stopped a moment to be cheery and sociable. I 

 remember once when a party of four made camp 

 after a driving rain-storm. Everybody was wet ; every- 

 thing soaking. The lazy man had upset a canoe, and 

 all the dry clothes and blankets had just been fished 

 out of the river. Now the lazy man stood before the 

 fire, looking after his own comfort. The other three 

 worked like beavers, making camp. They were in 

 ill humor, cold, wet, hungry, irritated. They said 

 nothing. 



A flock of chickadees came down with sunny greet- 

 ings, fearless, trustful, never obtrusive. They looked 

 innocently into human faces and pretended that they 

 did not see the irritation there. " Tsic a dec. I wish 

 I could help. Perhaps I can. Tic a dcc-c-e ? " — with 

 that gentle, sweetly insinuating up slide at the end. 

 Somebody spoke, for the first time in half an hour, 

 and it was n't a growl. Presently somebody whistled 

 — a wee little whistle ; but the tide had turned. 

 Then somebody laughed. " Ton my word," he said, 



