Facts and Fancies

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: THE HAPLESS BIRDS. A. TRUE TALE. There came one day in early Spring, Two little birds of plumage fair, A timid, warbling, tuneful pair, And hovered 'round on cautious wing, As doubting whether it were best To make their home and build their nest Beneath the porch. There all secure Where column and...
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Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: THE HAPLESS BIRDS. A. TRUE TALE. There came one day in early Spring, Two little birds of plumage fair, A timid, warbling, tuneful pair, And hovered 'round on cautious wing, As doubting whether it were best To make their home and build their nest Beneath the porch. There all secure Where column and entablature Meet, in a corner snug and dry, The tiny warblers soon descry A fitting place where they might rear Their feathered brood with cautious care. But still they lingered, nor began As yet to build, but seemed to scan The quaint old house, as they would trace Some sympathy upon the face Of those, the dwellers of the place, ? But most the dark - eyed Julia; she Would bid them welcome, if could be. And why not ? Kindness may be shown As well as spoken; and be known By gentle look as well as tone. We may hold converse e'en with birds: Nature makes signs, while men form words. And so it seemed; for when a day Or two, or more, had passed away, The tiny pair seemed reassured; Then to their task. They soon procured Full many a twig, and, straw, and shred Of fine soft wool, and fibrous thread Of silken grass, and soon complete Their cosy dwelling, snug and neat: And soon five tiny eggs were there, So pure and white, so truly rare, Like snowy pebbles from the strand Of storied lake in Fairyland. But change is Nature and ere long These living pebbles (germs of song) Have disappeared, and in their place Five chirping birdlings lie apace. And Julia oft would linger there, And mark the kind provident care With which the mother watched her brood, Or winged her way in quest of food; Nor long until she would return With some choice morsel, bug or worm; Then welcoming with plea...