clawing at the glass jars till I thought I 

 should die of fright. "It must be behind 

 those jars, the way Zip acts," she said; 

 and she took the broom and knocked over 

 all the jars with a crash. Well ! I thought 

 my time had surely come. My eyes filled 

 with tears and my heart almost broke 

 as I thought of my dear mother and all 

 my sisters and brothers so happy at 

 home. 



But just in that terrible moment I hap- 

 pened to remember what my mother had 

 said about running into that other hole 

 in case anything should happen, so with 

 one bound I was on the* floor and the 

 funny thing with long, white wool and 

 sharp teeth made a grab for me. I could 



feel his hot breath close upon me and I 

 could almost feel his sharp teeth when I 

 heard the big giant with dresses on say : 

 "Catch him, Zip." 



But surely a kind fate must have been 

 with me for I was too quick for them. 

 I never ran so fast in my life. I fairly 

 flew till I found the hole behind the door 

 and jumped in and ran along till I found 

 myself once more at home, where all the 

 family were frightened almost to death at 

 my absence. 



After that terrible experience I shall al- 

 ways do what my mother tells me to, for 

 after all, she knows best. 



Jessie Juliet Knox. 



ABOUT A SPARROW. 



There have been tales told about this 

 curious little rowdy among birds. He 

 was a nuisance ; he drove our song and 

 grub-eating birds away; he also littered 

 the cornices of buildings and made of 

 himself a pest in general. There have 

 been other tales told about the cute chap 

 who perches upon a wire near the win- 

 dow and rocks his clever head toward 

 you when you tap against the pane; and 

 still another story is told concerning the 

 lynching of one by a flock of the brisk 

 chaps. Some say they took a bit of twine, 

 fastened it to a wire, secured the victim, 

 and induced him to put his head through 

 a loop; then drew the twine and scat- 

 tered, leaving a lot of wise men to gaze 

 upon the wonderful spectacle, which the 

 newspapers took up and printed. I have 

 watched birds for years and I never saw 

 an incident of the sort — the lynching of a 

 sparrow by his fellow sparrows ! A spar- 

 row has been caught in the loop of a bit 

 of twine fastened to a wire or a cornice ; 

 but no sparrow ever deliberately put the 

 twine up and lynched one of his rowdy 

 brood. He wouldn't do it simply because 

 he hasn't got bird instinct enough to fol- 

 low out such a tragedy. I will tell you 

 a little incident concerning a sparrow 

 which I know to be true. It didn't find 

 a place in any newspaper, either, simply 



because I never gave it much thought un- 

 til now, hence never mentioned it be- 

 fore. 



I had noticed upon arising for several 

 mornings in the early spring a half dozen 

 or so of sparrows congregated in a sunny 

 spot of the roof below. At first I paid 

 no attention to it, for the sparrow is apt 

 to go where he pleases, man's wishes to 

 the contrary notwithstanding. But the 

 little chaps were there every morning, 

 and in the same sunny spot. I was cu- 

 rious to know why they came there, and I 

 went down stairs one morning to watch 

 them from a more close point of observa- 

 tion. I got there before they came. I 

 stood back of a closed blind, peeped 

 through the slats and waited. When the 

 sun-rays fell upon the spot close to the 

 window the little fellows began to come — 

 each with a morsel of food. They twit- 

 tered and hopped about as if they were 

 enjoying the morning fancy. Then they 

 scattered and took wings to chimneys, 

 cornices and wires. I opened the blinds 

 and looked out. I saw one lone, little 

 sparrow feeding. I bent over the sill. 

 He did not fly away. I reached out and 

 took him in. He fluttered and struggled. 

 His eyes were covered with a film. He 

 was blind. H. S. Keller. 



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