BY THE WAYSIDE. 
ferent sections I now have forty-eight birds of 
nine different species. 1 have again placed 
a bathing trough and a food dish outside, and 
the yard lias many bird visitors every day. 
—Lucile Clas. 
What Ralph Saw. 
Ralph had been sick a month; and, now 
that he was able to sit up, he liked to have 
his chair by the window, where he could 
watch the men work on a new house which 
was being built next door. He was glad the 
men were at work; for the days seemed long, 
and he liked to see the house growing before 
his eyes. One day the funniest thing hap¬ 
pened. A strange workman appeared, but this 
workman hindered more than he helped. 
Ralph was at the window, watching a car¬ 
penter who was measuring pieces of lumber. 
Ralph saw him take out his measure and mark 
the length with a pencil. He then laid the 
pencil down beside him while he sawed the 
board. Pretty soon he looked around to get 
his pencil and it was gone. He looked about 
a few minutes; then he took another pencil 
from his pocket. He marked another board 
with this and laid it down as before; and, 
when he wanted it again, it, too, was gone. 
The man now began to look vexed, and he 
searched all about, probably expecting to find 
some mischievous boy, Ralph thought. But, 
finding no boy and no pencil, he borrowed 
another pencil of one of the workmen; and 
this time, when he got through using it, he 
put it in his pocket. Presently he seemed to 
have measured all the boards he needed, and 
then he began nailing them in place. He 
took a handful of nails from the pocket of a 
big apron that he wore and laid them down 
within easy reach. He used a few; and, when 
he reached around for more, there were no 
more there. Then he stood straight up, took 
off his cap and scratched his head. 
Ralph had been watching all the time, and 
knew where all the missing articles went; and 
now at the man’s perplexity he laughed aloud. 
Mamma heard the merry laugh, and deter¬ 
mined to go in as soon as she finished the dust- 
ing and see what was amusing Ralph. After 
the loss of the nails, the workman seemed to 
think something was wrong. He questioned 
some of the other carpenters, and finally -went 
to work once more; but this time he took the 
nails from his pocket only as he needed them, 
and once in a while he would look around as 
23 
if watching for somebody. But he seemed at 
last to forget his mysterious losses, and to 
work on in his usual manner. 
It was a warm day; and, as the sun rose 
higher, he began to feel warm, and finally he 
took out a large red handkerchief and wiped 
his forehead. Then he laid his handkerchief 
down beside him while he again turned to his 
work. 
“Mamma, come quick, quick!” Ralph shout¬ 
ed; and Mamma hurried to his side. He point¬ 
ed to the window. “Now watch that man’s 
handkerchief,” he said. “Don’t take your eyes 
off from it.” 
Mamma wondered what Ralph meant, but 
she did as he said; and pretty soon, when the 
man had gone to work and turned his back 
to his handkerchief, down swooped a big black 
crow, picked the handkerchief up and flew 
off with it. Then how Ralph did laugh and 
clap his hands! “It’s just too funny, Mamma, ’ 
he said. And then he explained how the crow 
had been playing jokes all the morning. Mam¬ 
ma laughed, too; and then she said: “I think, 
Ralph, we will have to arrest Mr. Crow. 
Shall we tell the man who his tormentor is?” 
“Yes,” said Ralph, “only please wait till he 
finds his handkerchief gone.” 
So they waited; and presently the man 
turned to take up his handkerchief, for he 
had grown very warm again. His look of 
blank astonishment when he found it was gone 
was too much for both Ralph and Mamma, and 
they laughed till the tears stood in their eyes. 
Then Mamma went out on the front steps 
and tried to call to the man, but he was 
shouting and gesticulating to the other work¬ 
men in such a frantic way that she had to go 
over to the building before she could make him 
hear her. 
Ralph watched from the window. He saw 
the man turn at last and listen to what Mam¬ 
ma had to say; and he saw them go around 
to the further end of a pile of lumber, wdiere 
there was a space between two boards, and 
there, safely stowed away, were the pencils, 
nails, and handkerchief, as they expected. 
Then Ralph saw Mamma point up into the 
branches of a tree which stood near, and from 
which, as she did so, there came a cry of 
“Caw! Caw! Caw!” 
The other workmen shouted with laughter. 
At first the subject of Mr. Crow’s practical 
jokes was inclined to be angry, but at last 
he laughed with the rest .—Southern Church- 
© 
man. 
