AN ABANDONED HOME. 
BY ELANORA KINSLEY MARBLE. 
"Say, was thy little mate unkind, 
And heard thee as the careless wind? 
Oh! nought but love and sorrow joined 
Such notes of woe could waken." 
CHAPTER II. 
"T TELL, I'm glad to get over to 
|A| this tree again out of the 
jf X soundof mother's voice. Duty 
to my husband; that's all she 
could talk about. All wives help to 
build the home-nest," she says, "and 
indeed do the most toward making it 
snug and comfortable, and that I must 
give up my old pastimes and pleasures 
and settle down to housekeeping. Well, 
if I must, I must, but oh! how I wish I 
had never got married." 
Not a word was exchanged between 
the pair that night, and on the follow- 
ing morning Mrs. B., with a disdainful 
toss of her head, ironically announced 
her willingness to become a hod-car- 
rier, a mason, or a carpenter, according 
the desires of her lord. 
They elected to build their nest in the 
maple-tree, and you can imagine the 
bickerings of the pair as the house pro- 
gressed. Mrs. B's. groans and be- 
moaning over the effect, such "fetch- 
ings and carryings" would have upon 
her health, already delicate. How 
often she was compelled from weak- 
ness and fatigue to tuck her head un- 
der her wing and rest, while Mr. B. car- 
ried on the work tireless and uncom- 
plaining. 
"She may change when she has the 
responsibility of a family," he mused, 
"and perhaps become a helpmeet after 
all. I must not be too severe with her, 
so young and thoughtless and inexper- 
ienced." 
So the nest at length was completed. 
"My!" said a sharp-eyed old lady 
bird, whose curiosity led her to take a 
peep at the domicile one day while 
Mrs. B. was off visiting with one of her 
neighbors, "such an uncomfortable, rag- 
ged looking nest; it is not even domed 
as a nest should be when built in a tree. 
And then the lining! If the babies es- 
cape drowning in the first down-pour, 
I am sure they'll be crippled for life, if 
not hung outright, when they attempt 
to leave the nest. You know how dan- 
gerous it is when they get their feet en- 
tangled in the rag ravelings and coils 
of string, and if you'll believe me that 
shiftless Jenny has just laid a lot of it 
around the edges of the nest without 
ever tucking it in. The way girls are 
brought up now-a-days! Accomplish- 
ments indeed! I think," with a sniff, 
"if she had been taught something 
about housekeeping instead of how to 
arrange her feathers prettily, to dance 
and sing, and fly in graceful circles it 
would have been much better for poor 
Mr. B. Poor fellow, how I do pity 
him," and off the old lady flew to talk 
it over with another neighbor. 
Unlike some young wives of the spar- 
row family, Mrs. B. did not sit on the 
first almost spotless white egg which 
she deposited in the nest, but waited 
till four others, prettily spotted with 
brown, and black, and lavender lay be- 
side it. 
"Whine, whine from morning till 
night!" cried her exasperated spouse 
after brooding had begun. "Sitting 
still so much, you say, doesn't agree 
with you. Your beauty is departing! 
You are growing thin and careworn! 
The little outings you take are only 
tantalizing. I am sure most wives 
wouldn't consider it a hardship to sit 
still and be fed with the delicious grubs 
and dainty tid-bits which I go to such 
pains to fetch for you. That was a 
particularly fine grub I brought you 
this morning, and you ate it without 
one word of thanks, or even a look of 
gratitude. Nothing but complaints 
and tears! It is enough to drive any 
husband mad. I fly away in the morn- 
ing with a heavy heart, and when I see 
and hear other sparrows hopping and 
singing cheerfully about their nests, re- 
ceiving chirps of encouragement and 
198 
