Iowa territorial gazette and advertiser. [volume] (Burlington, Iowa Territory [Iowa]) 1840-1846, 1845-09-06

IL said. to be an innocent little bird, and
Mr.. Preston gave il i very good character
in the General Court. II was indeed Z
general favorite in that august assembly;
for even the gentleman froth Goifstown,
who did not make it his business always to
chime in with the gentlemen frotp New
Ipswich, agreed with him that the robin
sung well enough IN the morning, and was
. respectable sort ola bird compared with
the crow, the bobalink and the musqusto.
But even the robin has its failings. II was
but few days since that one of,hem in d
neighboring town was detected in an act
but little short Of larceny. "A good lady in
New Market had lost from her scloih3s
yard nice collar and hsr. husbands dicky.
The loss grievsd her; and it grieyed
her more to suspect her neighbors Of pill
fering. But how could she avoid il? The
collar and dicky were gone;. and collars
and diokies. she was very sure, could not
90 without hands. Nc gentleman passed
Her with dicky particularly stiff-no La
dy with collar part'e ilarly fine-but they
were narrowly watched and carefully, ex-
amined. In about fortnight after the loss,
. boy discovered piece Of white cloth
curiously suspended from the limb Of =
tree in the open field. Ajury Of boys " as
called ut once to- inquire into the affair."
II was found that rascally robin had fslo-
niously entered the clothes yard AFORESAID,
and therefrom wicksdly, felonionsly and
in evil example to others in like cases to
offend, had taken the good mans dicky---
conveyed it to the tree aforesaid-wound
and twisted, and, with some glutinous sub
stance, fastened its strings around : branch
Of the lrce,-and, within the folds Of the
linen. built nest for its young. 1t was a
very pretty nest and a very pretty swing.
But that was not an, The robin had also
found . use for the lady's collar. The lace
was neatly Interviewer in the exterior 'oi
the nest, .or furnished materials to enrich
the interior,--inaking the do:nicils Ct the
red breast remarkably neat and elegant
a sort Of cottage ornee Of the first class, like
some oftbose with which the Dons Of Ros-
ton have adorned the villages in the vicini-
ty Of the city. The lady from whom the
valuahles were taken, on hearing the use
that had been made Of them, was, Of course,
indignant, and without consultinga law
yer or even asking the decision Of the Sn-
perior Court (Which was then about to sit,
and in fact held asession here only last
week, at which cases were decided quite d
important as hers) she took the law into
her own hands---tore the nest into thou
sand pieces secured the fragnen ts Of the
dicky and collar killed three robins in
embryo, by breaking as many eggs-and
would have wrung the neck Of the old rob-
in itself, if she could have laid hands upon
1t. But the BIRD was asharncd uf herself
as was evident BY the burning blush OF
her breast, and kept out Of the way. Iti.
thought however, that she still keeps ar
eye on the dicky and collar, and;looks sus.
piciously upon their wearers., We should
not be much surprised, unless the owners
hold them on with both hands, If one Of
these days, they should again, as riches
sometimes do, take to theipselveswings and
fly away. "A sentimetal young lady in the
rieighborhood, who understands the Ian
guage Of. biz as well as Esop did, is ofthe
opinion that the morning song Of the be-
reaved. robin is peculiarly rlaintive--its
recitive being Of dickies and collars and its
chorus ofbrsken eggs!-Erter Nescs-Let-
ter.