to lend them warmth, or may find my 
dear mate performing that office in my 
absence. I will pray that it may be so 
as I fly. Praises would be mockery 
from my throat to-day, mockery!" 
****** 
"Why, Jenny!" shrieked her mother 
as Mrs. B. sank down exhausted upon 
the threshold of her old home. "What- 
ever is the matter with you, and what 
has brought you here this time of 
day?" 
"I am hungry and sick, mother, and I 
feel as though, as though — I am going 
to die!" 
"And where is Mr. Britisher? You've 
no business to be hungry with a hus- 
band to care for you," tartly replied 
her mother, whilst bustling about to 
find a grub or two to supply her daugh- 
ter's wants. 
"I have no husband, I fear, mother. 
He is — " 
"Dead!"shrieked the old lady. "Don't 
tell me Mr. Britisher is dead!" 
"Dead, or worse," sadly replied her 
daughter. 
"Worse? Heaven defend us! You 
don't mean he has deserted you?" 
"He left me yesterday afternoon in 
anger, and has not returned." 
"Highty, tighty, that's it, is it? 
Well, you have brought it all upon 
yourself and will have to suffer for it. 
I am sure your father talked enough 
about idleness and vanity for you to 
have heeded, and time and time again 
I have told you that every husband in 
the sparrow family is a bully and a 
tyrant, and every wife, if she expects 
to live happily, must let her mate have 
his own way." 
Mrs. B. sighed, and wearily dropped 
her head upon her breast. 
"You must go back," emphatically 
said her mother, "before the neighbor- 
hood gets wind of the affair. Mr. 
Britisher may be home this very min- 
ute, and glad enough he will be to see 
you, I am sure. So go back, dear, be- 
fore the eggs grow cold and your 
neighbors will be none the wiser." 
"I am going, mother, but oh, I feel 
so ill, so ill!" said the bereaved little 
creature as she wearily poised for her 
flight. 
"She does look weakly and sick, poor 
thing," said the mother with a sigh 
watching her out of sight, "but 
I don't believe in interfering be- 
tween husband and wife. Mr. Brit- 
isher, indeed, gave me to understand 
from the first that the less he saw of 
his mother-in-law the better, remark- 
ing that if that class would only stay 
at home and manage their own house- 
hold affairs fewer couples, he thought, 
would be parted. I considered that a 
rather broad hint, and in consequence 
have never visited them since they be- 
gan housekeeping. He has only gone 
off in a huff, of course, and everything 
will come out all right, I am sure." 
Ere nightfall, however, motherly 
anxiety impelled her to fly over to her 
daughter's home. 
Alas, only desolation and ruin were 
there. At the foot of the tree lay the 
form of Mrs. B. Exposure, sorrow, 
and excitement had done their work. 
It was a lifeless form which met her 
tearful gaze. 
The fate of Mr. Britisher was never 
known. Rumor assigned his absence 
to matrimonial infelicity, but his more 
charitable neighbors, as they dropped 
a tear to his memory, pictured his 
mangled form a victim to the wanton 
cruelty or mischievous sport of some 
idle boy. 
A gentleman passing by one day saw 
the dismantled nest upon the ground 
and carelessly stirred it with his cane. 
"What is that, uncle?" queried a lit- 
tle maid of some five summers who 
walked by his side. 
"That, little one," came the answer 
slowly and impressively, "is an aban- 
doned home." 
"An abandoned home," I repeated, 
as his words floated up to my window. 
"Aye, truly to the casual observer that 
is all it seems, but, oh, how little do 
they dream of the folly, the suffering, 
the sad, almost tragic ending of the 
wee feathered couple whom I saw build 
that humble home." 
200 
