90 
THE NORTHLAND BIRD LIFE 
Well,” said her mother in a very gentle 
tone, “That is a hard problem, isn’t it? All 
little folks have problems which are much 
harder to solve than we older people think. 
This is the way it seems to me. Tommie 
Specks was quite right when he said a cheer¬ 
ful childhood stood for a cheerful old age. 
But,—” Mrs. Swan looked very thoughtfully 
at her young daughter, “does it really seem 
necessary to make a loud noise all the time to 
be cheerful?” 
No-o, I don’t believe it does,” said Miss 
Swan, after thinking hard. “I never thought 
of that.” 
“Well, then,” said her mother, “try being 
cheerful and not making much noise, espe¬ 
cially in places where there may be dangers 
lurking. Trumpet all you care to but trumpet 
softly. Some of the very sweetest notes in 
the world are so very soft that the least breath 
of wind bears them away and you do not hear 
them at all.” 
Miss Swan thought about what her mother 
had said all that evening, and next morning 
