Henry’s 
Magpie. 
(23) THE BIRD WORLD. 
“ Now we shall have her! ” cried 
Henry, as he made his way on his 
hands and knees along the sloping 
thatch; and again his hand was stretched 
out to seize the bird, when she made 
another upward hop, and was as far off 
as she had been when she sat on the edge 
of the thatch and he lay in the dust. 
“What a tiresome creature,” cried 
Henry. 
“ I am sure she does it on purpose,” 
said Emily, “ only to vex us; and there 
she sits looking down upon us, and cry¬ 
ing, 1 Oh, pretty Mag ! ’ I knew when 
she was in the hut that she was in a 
wicked humour.” 
“ Let us sit down here a little,” said 
Henry, “ and seem not to be thinking 
about her. Let us seem to be looking 
another way; perhaps she will then come 
near to us of her own accord.” 
“We will try,” replied Emily. And 
the children seated themselves quietly on 
the thatch; and if they had not been un¬ 
easy about the Magpie, would never have 
been better pleased with their seats. 
But it might seem that Mag did not 
choose to be thus passed over, and not 
to have her friends busy and troubled 
about her, for as soon as Emily and 
Henry had planned not to notice her, 
and to seem to look another way, she 
began to cry in her usual croaking voice, 
“ How do you do, sir ? ” “ Good morn¬ 
ing, sir ! ” Oh, pretty Mag ! ” “ Mag’s 
hungry.” 
“What a tiresome bird it is,” said 
Henry, impatiently. And Emily began 
to coax and invite her to come near, 
holding out her hand as if she had some¬ 
thing in it. 
Mag was not a bit behind in returning 
Emily’s empty compliments, for she 
hopped towards her, and very nearly 
within reach of her hand, still crying, 
“ Good morning. Oh, pretty Mag ! ” 
Emily now thought she had her, and 
was putting out her arm to catch her 
when the bird turned swiftly round, and 
hopping up the thatch, took her station 
on the very point of the roof. 
Henry lost no time, but, turning on 
his hands and knees, crept up the slope 
of the roof, and was followed by his 
sister, who was quite as active as him¬ 
self. They were not long in reaching 
the place where Mag was perched, but 
before they could catch hold of her she 
had walked down very leisurely on the 
other side, and hopped off into the field. 
Henry was after her, half sliding down 
the thatch, but Emily more wisely chose 
to go back bv the wood house as she had 
come, and in a very few minutes after¬ 
wards they were in the field. Henry had 
never lost sight of his biru since he had 
found her in the fold-yard, but he was 
none the nearer to catching her. 
She waited at a respectable distance 
till Emily came up, and then, between 
walking and hopping, made her way 
across the field, and perched herself on 
the upper bar of a gate. 
The children were now in serious 
trouble, because they were not suffered, 
when alone, to go beyond the bounds of 
the next field. Beyond the second field 
was the lane, into which they had 
followed the pig on that unfortunate day 
in which they had been left under the 
care of John, and if the Magpie should 
go over into this lane, what could they 
do ? They did wish to obey their 
parents this day. In order, however, to 
prevent this misfortune, Henry did the 
very worst thing he possibly could: he 
began to run and cry, “Mag!. Mag!” 
with a raised voice, whilst the bird, as if 
resolved to torment him, hopped forward 
across the other field, perched herself on 
the stile, and, as he drew near, flew right 
down from thence into the lane. When 
Emily came up, there was poor Henry 
sitting across the stile in the greatest 
possible trouble, being more than half 
tempted to break bounds, and yet feeling 
that he ought not to do it. And there 
was Mag, walking up and down, pecking 
and picking and wagging her tail, and 
now and then looking with one cunning 
eye towards her little master, as much as 
to say, “ Why don’t you come after me ? 
Here I am.” 
It is often by very small things that 
the strength of our resolutions to. be 
good is tested. Henry was hardly tried, 
yet strength was given him to resist the 
temptation; and by Emily’s persuasion 
he was induced to wait a little before he 
ventured to go down into the lane. And 
