‘Ihc RURAL NEW-YORKER 
As time went on the little birds grew 
to be ns large as bumblebees, and were 
eovered with a fine black down. One day 
the mother bird did not come back after 
she left in the morning. She did not 
come at noon. At night she was still 
away. The little ones were very hungry. 
My friend did not know what to do, but 
finally he cut the branch off some distance 
below the nest and took the whole thing 
ever to a near-by store, where he was 
working. lie carefully hung it up out 
of reach of cats, or rate, or mice. Next 
he opened a jar of extracted honey. He 
put a little of the honey into his mouth 
to mix it with saliva. Then he took a 
toothpick and drop by drop let the honey 
fall into the open mouths. So the baby 
humming-birds had their supper. The 
next morning they had breakfast in the 
same way. 
About noon the second day my friend 
learned that the mother bird was back 
again and nearly wild because she could 
not find her nest or her babies. What 
could he do now? The branch was cut 
o|f and was hanging over in the store. 
Could he give the bird her nest again? 
lie decided to try, anyway. So he went 
and got the nest and a piece of stout 
twine. It. needed great care not to spill 
out the little birds., who all this time had 
lived safely in the nest, and had not been 
touched, lie lapped the cut ends of the 
branch together and bound them tightly. 
Then he w T cnt inside to watch. 
The mother bird was troubled. There 
was her nest and in it were her babies. 
But something was different. What was 
that strange bump? She would hop along 
fhe branch to within a few inches of the 
cut place, but she would not cross it to 
the nest. All that long afternoon she 
took to gain courage enough to cross the 
binding But at evening she fed her ba¬ 
bies once more. After that she raised 
them without any more trouble until they 
left tile nest themselves. 
Is not that an interesting story? I 
think it is the most interesting bird story 
I have every heard. I know that it is 
true, because T know my friend would not 
lie. even to make a good story. Where 
could the mother humming-bird have been 
that day when she stayed away from her 
nest? I think we may be sure that she 
did not stay away of her own accord. 
Something must have kept her. Once I 
knew of a boy who caught a humming¬ 
bird and kept it in a fruit jar all of one 
day. lie did not hurt it. nor did he mean 
to hurt it. At night he let it go again. 
But perhaps that bird had a nest. too. 
Perhaps something like that happened to 
the bird in our story. At any rate, it 
makes us think that we may be breaking 
np homes when we capture the wild things 
and hold them, even for a few hours. 
Most times it is better to leave them free, 
and to study them that way all we can. 
How You Can Help Our Page 
We are all enjoying Our Page, I think. 
It belongs to us—boys and girls, young 
and old. We want to make Our Page 
better and better. You must not expect 
me to do it alone. Nor should most of you 
expect a few to help me. Every one of 
you can find a way to help. Here are a 
■ew of the ways I think of. No doubt 
you will think of many others: 
1. Write a Letter. 
Do not hesitate because you are afraid 
your letter will not be good enough. Every 
letter is good enough if it Is really your 
own letter. I read them all. Of course, 
I cannot print them all. but every one 
helps me to know what to print. One 
Crowing Up Together 
girl from out in Missouri wrote: “I 
guess this letter won't be fit to print, be¬ 
cause I did it myself.” Does she think, 
do you suppose, that the letters on Our 
Page are not written by boys and girls 
themselves? That is the only kind we 
want. Of course, sometimes very little 
folks have father or mother do the writ¬ 
ing. I understand that, but always 1 
want the thoughts to be your own. There 
are so many things to write about! Each 
month brings more. So do not forget 
that this is Our Page, and that it wiil 
be just what we make it. Do your part 
to help. 
2. Send a Good Picture. 
Our Page would not be half as inter¬ 
esting without any pictures, would it? I 
can take a few and find a few myself, but 
I must depend on you for most of them. 
One picture is not much for each of you 
to send, but if you all did that I would 
have enough for months and months. Of 
course, not every picture can be used. 
You will have to trust me to decide which 
are best for Our Page. To print a pic¬ 
ture in the paper, the photograph you 
send must be clear and distinct. Any 
picture that interests you will be likely 
to interest all of us. 
3. Send a Verse. 
Send a verse that you think will be a 
good one to put on Our Page for all boys 
and girls to learn. 
4. Fill the Box. 
Send 2.1 words for the box at the top 
of Our Page, as is suggested in another 
place. 
5. Follow Suggestions. 
Try to carry out some of the sugges¬ 
tions that are given on Our Page each 
month, and report how you succeed. 
0. Send a Nature Puzzle. 
Send a short, clear description of some 
out-of-door object with which you are fa¬ 
miliar. You may choose an animal, an 
insect, a bird, a tree, a shrub, a flower, 
a crop, a weed, or anything else that yon 
wish. Do not tell what the object is in 
your description, but tell me at the end 
of it. I will print one or two of these 
each month for the rest of you to name 
Then the following month I will give the 
first two or three correct answers to reach 
me. This will be a kind of nature puzzle 
game. It will be interesting, and at the 
same lime we will learn a good deal. In 
order to show you what I mean by this 
plan. I have written the first “What is 
it?” and you will find it on this page 
It will bo for you to set your brains at 
work to keep new ones coming. 
7. Find New Readers. 
Lastly, I am sure that you can help 
Our Page by telling other boys and girls 
about it, and by lending them your copies 
to read. We are fast becoming a big 
group of friends. We want our group to 
grow larger and larger. We want to 
share our pleasures. One girl wrote: 
“A neighbor made us a present of TriE 
R. N.-YT I like it very well, especially 
the Boys’ and Girls’ page. I read it every 
mouth. I like to hear what .the other 
hoys and girls say.” There are many 
boys and girls in country districts who 
would like to join us. You can find them ! 
What Is It? 
Two years it takes from seed to seed. 
In some old field or fence corner the tiny 
seed starts to grow in Springtime. If 
no one disturbs it. by Fall a mat of thick, 
light green, woolly leaves lies close to the 
ground. All Winter it rests beneath the 
snow, and those who know say that many 
insects find a snug warm hiding place 
among the leaves. Spring comes again. 
Growth starts once more. But this time 
the growth is very different. Out of the 
center of the mat of leaves thei-e springs 
a tall, strong stalk. Sometimes it branches 
once or twice, but mostly it is straight. 
It may grow to he taller than we are. 
Along the stalk are other leaves, not so 
large, hut just as woolly. Nearly the top 
of the stalk flowers form. The flowers 
are yellow. Each one blooms but a single 
day. As the stalk grows new flowers 
bloom higher and higher up. The older 
ones below give way to seed capsules filled 
with tiny brown seeds, which pour out 
when the capsules crack open. Whenever 
a seed falls in a good place the story be¬ 
gins once more the next Spring. Two 
years later seed has come from seed again. 
What is this thing? 
The Box 
Alice R., a 12-year-old New York State 
girl, was the first one to send a suggestion 
for the box at the top of Our Page. I am 
printing it this month. Already I have 
several others, but T hope that a lot of 
you will try your hand at this. The more 
I have to choose from the better the ones 
presented will be. Send your suggestion. 
Work in new ideas. Write the lines so 
that they will belong to us all. Do not 
give more than 25 words. 
From a Group of Girls 
We found the chipmunk and think it 
was a nice story. I think that he has 
another home and a playmate. 
I am going to try to do as you said last 
month about picking out verses and writ¬ 
ing them down. I like to memorize the 
verses in The R. N.-Y.. and I am goiug 
to write them down, as I have a book 
started already. 
My sister and I have a garden. It is 
quite a big one. We planted three bush¬ 
els of potatoes, and they are doing fine. 
We have one row of onions and 25 rows 
of beans, and also a few cucumbers. 
I want to can some strawberries this, 
year. They are right in their prime here 
now. 
We had a school picnic June 24. We 
had three swings, and the table was uu- 
der the trees. Each scholar brought 
something. In the afternoon we had 
speaking. I spoke "Asleep at the Switch.” 
Maybe you have heard of it. or read it. 
1273 
There were about 40 present. Well, I 
guess you will get tired reading this, so 
good-by till next time. carrie p. 
New York. 
As other children are writing letters, 
I will write, too. I enjoy the Boys and 
Girls’ page very much. I like The R. 
N.-Y. ever so much better now, as there 
is a page for us, too. 
I am 12 years old and in the eighth 
grade at school. I am sending you my 
“signs of Spring.” I don't suppose I’ll 
get the most, but I got all I could. 
I like to bake cake, corn bread and gra¬ 
ham gems. I help my mother or sister 
do the barn chores when my father 
isn’t home. Our two cows give us quite 
a bit of milk, which tires me out if I 
separate it. 
Inclosed find a picture of my little 
Paula and Her Brother. Smile —TF7fo 
Wouldn’tf 
brother and myself, with a large water¬ 
melon that he raised last year. It weighed 
22 pounds. paula r. 
Michigan. 
Spring is here for sure. Yesterday I 
found almost half a cup of wild ripe 
strawberries. Think of that for the third 
day of June! 
The May memory verse is one of my 
favorites, and although I never had 
thought of a notebook, I think it a very 
good plan, and intend to start one. 
I am very glad Ruth Y. wrote from 
Florida. It is so interesting to know 
what it is like and what they are doing in 
different parts of our own country. I 
thought Sallie M.'s letter very interesting, 
too. 
I also play the piano, and am very 
fond of it, although sometimes when the 
girls are out having a good time it is hard 
to stay in and practice. 
I have enjoyed all you have written 
about your flying squirrel, as I am sure 
all the boys and girls of Our Page must 
have. It is so nice to have pets. We 
have eight baby pigs, and they are so 
cute you can hardly help making pets of 
them, although you feel bad when they are 
sold and butchered. 
This is a good, long letter, and I hope 
you have time to read it all. 
As ever, your friend, ruth f. 
Pennsylvania. 
So your letters come pouring into the 
city office of our paper, and then they are 
sent out to me here at the farm in 
bunches. I enjoy reading them between 
times after coming from the fields. Then 
I go back with so much to think about. 
What a big family we are, to be sure! 
Address your letters to me at 333 West 
30th street. New York City, care of The 
Rural New-Yorker. 
On the Doorstep in the Sunshine 
Frank M. Driers the Team to Water 
