36 Bird Day Book 



WINGS AND NO WINGS 



(Mother's Story) 



Introduction 



tfpvO YOU like Maisie, Agatha?" asked Mrs. Drew of her little 

 1--^ girl just home from school one afternoon. "You used to 

 walk home with Katie Fay, but now you seem always to wish to be 

 with Maisie, and Katie comes home alone." 



"O mother, I'm just crazy about her !" declared Agatha. "She's 

 so interesting! She's been to so many places, and she knows how 

 to do such a lot of things! Tomorrow noon she has promised to 

 teach me a new dance she learned in town, and she told me all about 

 a picture show coming home this afternoon. It was terribly excit- 

 ing I I wish I could go sometimes !" 



Mrs. Drew opened her lips quickly as if to speak, then thought 

 better of it, and said nothing for a moment or so. Finally she 

 remarked : "You haven't known her very long, have you ?" 



"No, mother, but she is so much fun, and I do get awfully tired 

 of trying to be just perfect, and speak just so, and get every lesson 

 exactly right, like Katie. Maisie is more comfortable than Katie, 

 and we get along well enough at school without being so particu- 

 lar." 



Agatha spoke in a rather petulant and defensive tone. She 

 felt that neither she nor Maisie had her mother's approval, and she 

 was not really happy about it. 



But her mother was a wise woman. "Come, sit down here 

 beside me, little-girl-who-doesn't-see-straight," she said, with a 

 smile. "I will treat you as if I were an ancient philosopher and 

 you were my disciple. I will tell you a story, and it is called 'Wings 

 and No Wings.' " 



I. Wings. 



"Away up among the thick branches of the big maple tree in 

 the lane was once the cozy home of a gray squirrel family. Five 

 babies there were, all lively and active, finding the summer days 

 almost too short for their merry business of frolicking and of learn- 

 ing all the wise squirrel ways of their father and mother. Some- 



