66 
THE BROWN THRUSHES: 
of the Jury, what did the defendants when 
they found they were accused of kidnapping 
by the birds that they supposed had abandoned 
their child, and thrust him upon them ? Did 
they then turn him out into the cold world ? . 
No ! Did they refuse to support and feed him, 
as they clearly could ? No ! with a spirit of 
generosity and kindly love, far, far above the 
comprehension of the plaintiffs, they fed him, 
cared for him, and reared him as tenderly as 
their own. Even when many of the neighbors 
looked coldly upon them and apparently blamed 
them, not one word of complaint passed their 
bills ; but with a firm faith in the triumph of 
the right, with a heavenly conviction that the 
innocent would not be permitted to suffer, and 
the guilty be allowed to go free, they moved 
on in their accustomed paths, laboring in their 
work of love and charity, with a strength and 
devotion that challenge our admiration and 
respect. 
Birds of the Jury, we ask only that justice 
be done us, and that, although strong circum- 
stantial evidence is undoubtedly against us, 
