The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1914-05-23

the bird, but very close to me; he was
grooming to the bird and calling it by
name, in loving tones, as a mother
bushes her baby to sleep. When the
bird discovered the child, the little
throat swelled out in wondrous burst
of song. The boy was SO close to me
| could reach out and touch him. Again
he broke into sobs, he was shaking so
feared he would lose his balance and
fall to the stone pavement below. I
could not restrain myself longer, and
| said:
Little boy, what is the matter?"
He did not answer, again | said, Lit
tie boy, out there in the tree, what is
the matter? Maybe | can help you,
does the little bird belong to your"
ooh, yes, Signora, the bird was mine,
but not any more, for one whole day
he has left me, he belongs to me no
more. A rich American lady bought
my Cara for little girl, and she is
going to take him far across the sea
to America. Oh, Cara will never live
without mel" he sobbed. "She will
die away across the sea. It is so cold,
so cold. They have never any warm
sunshine, never any bright stars or
moonlight and Cara sings best when
the moon shines brightest"
Little boy, what is your name?"
"My name is Letsano Nestola.'
"Do you live near here?"
"See, look down, Signora, do you see
the great wide street over there where
the green lights burn on the Plazzo
Reale, near the harbor There's my
home"
''Do you live alone, and why did you
sell your nightingale to the American
lady? You surely could not have given
it to her when you loved the bird so
much"
''No, Signora, I do not live alone;
have my mother and father with
me. Father has little shop and he
sells everything, lines, oranges, null
berries and bananas. He sells shells,
goldfish and birds, but he never sold
my bird until today. Father was in
great anger with me. I brought no
money home for two days. For all
day | sell Shines for shoes, but no
one wanted to buy shine for shoes
yesterday, because it splashed rain
all day; so when I went home last
night my bird was gone. A great lady
driving by during the day heard my
Cara sing, so she gave father little
pile of silver for it, and told him to
buy cage for it, too. Father brought
the bird here last night and followed
him. Oh, Signora, did not sleep last
night, want my Cara back"
His face was very pale and his
brown eyes flashed like bits of fire.
and looking appealingly at me, he
said, "Ah, good lady, I want my Cara
back"
"Letsano, if you promise me you
will go home, I will try to have your
bird returned to you. I am afraid to
have you slide down the tree, for the
porter is standing beneath it and his
voice seems very cross. If you are
very careful you can step over on
this heavy branch and then on to the
balcony. I will take you through my
room, then you will have an oppor-
tunity to say = good night to your
Cara
Poor little fellow, he talked to the
little bird as little girl would talk
to her first doll Cara was his one
bit of sunshine. AS we passed down
the staircase, Letsano glanced up to
a little niche in the wall I noticed
him raising his hat most respectfully
very old statue of Our Lady smiled
down at us. AS l passed out through
the corridor of the hotel, | asked the
porter if it would be safe to walk
with the boy short distance and il
the little shop was far away. He told
me he knew the place well and il
would be perfectly safe to accompany
the boy. To make sure he would per
nit me to walk through the gardens
of the hotel, then I would have only q
step to the fathers store.
Letsano ran away for moment anG
to my surprise found he was disap
pearing up the tree, but with one
bound he was down again at my feet
He had hung his blackening box or
one of the lower limbs. Waiting tt
. strap it over his back, he reached be
meath the collar of his open shirt ant
brought out tiny velvet bag. He
counted over his earnings for the day
, and trotted on contentedly by my side
but he hadn't forgotten Cara, for every
few moments he would turn back anG
with his fingers to his lips gave long
peculiar whistle, which sounded like
the call of night bird to his mate.
When we reached the bird store, as
| stepped to the door, the father came
out of the living room where the fam
lily were having their evening meal
told him wanted to buy some mul
berries, beautiful branches heavily
laden which draped the door. l also
wanted tiny goldfish.
Such wonderful place, flowers and
fruit, singing birds and sea-gulls
chattering monkeys, strangely shaped
shells, almost everything conceivable
that the sea could wash into them. On
the floor of the living room huddled
in bunch of rags with canopy of
cobwebs overhead, an old, old grand
mother was mumbling to herself, as
she tossed over a string of fish. big
black devil, Strombola-worse than
Vesuve- sneaking fingers, great gray
arms reaching out, gathering every
- - q