out intruding cats and noisy neighbors, of the winding 
paths of the wilderness over the stile, behind the bird table, 
to be any other wren than Sammy, himself! His riotous 
joy at reaching familiar summer quarters, was always told 
to the whole neighborhood in such bubbling notes that no | 
other bird could have produced them. He never seemed 
- to mind the friendly humans gathered around the hospitable © 
table spread in the yard, so that ears and eyes could also 
feast in many ways. Instead, he supplied for these 
frequent festivals, music, that was fit for the other lovers — 
who sojourned there, and he showed that, like them, he 
found life running over with joy. 
Even when the bird bride of the fourth summer refused 
his earnest requests to remain in his safe accustomed attic, — 
he accepted her decision that the bird-house, which hung 
low in the maple tree near a tiny fern-circled sian was an 
ideal place to spend a honeymoon. 
How many times that summer did he spring out of his 
door to a neighboring branch, when he had been doing his 
part of the housekeeping, at the high call, which at first 
only his ears could catch, announcing the return of his little 
mate from her constitutional among the treetops! How 
eagerly he greeted her, with such a wonderful trill of 
' eascaded notes, and welcoming wings, as he sang of the 
many things that had happened during her absence: of his 
dreams, his visitors, his thoughts of her! She took it all 
as a matter of course, and, after an inquiry or two, flitted 
inside and outside of the home a half-dozen times before 
_ ghe settled to her part of the task of keeping the four to_ 
eight speckled white eges warm. 
| How he then announced from the Righis of the maples 
that this nook was the most beautiful spot in the town, that — 
life was a marvellous joy, and that he and his were mon- 
archs in their world! When his emotion had been partly 
told, down he dropped to lower levels, and woe be to prowl- 
_ Ing cat or dog if Sammy caught them on his premises! He 
52 
