Litchfield enquirer., 1865-01-19
Alisfellor,p.
From "Our Young Folks "l


 At Rye Beach, dnring our summers vaca- ,un, there came. as there always wI;l to sea- si.ie visitors. two or th,ec cold, chilly, rainy 'iays--days when the skies that long had no' raiued drop seeued su,idenly ,o be,hlnk themselves Ui their re,nissness, and to p,ui down water, not bY drops. but by p,.iiius. he chly w,hd blew aud whs,let tue water dashed aivng the ground. and caleered Ia foamy riils along the roadside. uui the bushes bent t,- uea,h the constant food. It Was plain tha, there was t& be no sea-ba,hing on such q day. ho walks, no rides; and su, sh,ering and drawing our hlankel-shawls close about us, we sat down to the window to watch the storm outside. lh he ross bushes under the window hung dripping under thelr load of mois' ure each spray shedding constaiH shuwer un the spray below it. Or one of these lower sprays under the perpetual drip, wha, should We eee tut poor little hu,nming bird, drawn up into the tiuIest shivering ball. and cingng with u desperute grasp to hls uncomorabl. prch. A humining -birl We knew hm to De at once, though his feathers were so matted and glued down by the rain that he looked not bigger than honey-bse. and as different Us possible from the smart, pert. airy htue character that we had 50 often seen flirting with the flowers. He was evidently hummiug-blrd iu adversiy, and whether feever would nun again locked to Us exceedingly doubtful. Immediately, how evei, W. seit out to have him taken in. When the friendly hand seized him, he gave little faint. watery squeak, evidently thinking that hs last hour was cume, and that grim Death was about to carry him of to the land of dead birds. What a time We have hal revivlag hlm bOding the lIttle wet thing In the warm hollow of our hands, and feeling hlm sh,ver and paIpl tate! iils eyes we're fast closed; his tiny claws which lookrd slender as c0bwebs, were knolled close tu his body, and it was long before one could feel the least uI0tion in ibeai. Flnaliy to our great joy, we felt br,sk littis kick, an, then hutter oi wings. and then determined lH-ck uf ihe beak, winch showed that there Was some bird in him Ye,, and that he meant ut any rate tO find out where he was
 Enclosing our hands a small space, out pop ped the little head with pair Uf round brill laiit eyes. Then we bethought ourselves o feeding him, and forthwith prepared him a 1 sN6 giass Ut sugar and water, drop uf wh eff we held to bis b,ll. Alter turning his head at. tenuvely, like a bird who knew what he was ] about and didn't mean to be chaffed, he brlskly put out long. flexible tongue. slightly forAe, at the emu, and licked of the comfortable bev 'srage with great. relish. Immediately he was pronoance'i out ot danger by the small human. society which had taken cllurse ut his res,ura tion, and we began tu cast about for .rttint him settled establishment in our apartment gave up my work-bux to hin as sleeping ru,nl, and it was medically ordered that h, should take a nap. So we filled the box witt cotton. and he Was formally put to bed with folded cambric handkerchief round Lis neck |, keep him from beating his wings. Out of hi whis w,appings be looked forth green aa' grave as judge with h,s bright round eyes Like blrd us dlscretion, he seemed to undei stand what Was done to him, and resigned him himself seHsibly to go to sleep.
 The box was covered wsth . sheet of papel perforated with holes for purposes of ventila ,iop; for even humming- -biris have u little pai of lungs. and need their own little portion C ar to hll them. so that they may make brigll scarlet l,ttie drops ot blood to keep hfe,s fr burning in th. ir tiny bodies. Our b,rd' iuu. manufactured brilliant bloud. as we found ou by exprnpnce; for in his frst nap he contrive to nestle himself into the cotton of which hi bed wss made, and to gst more of it than h needed into his long bill. We pulled it out . lcsrefnlly as we could. bat there cane ont of hi bull two round, bEighk lissls drops of bieod