Evening star., 1936-05-27

~ UGH q racket a. was going on
in and around . maple tree in
Farmer Browns dooryard. The
- Swallows had accused the
Wrens, or at least one Of them, Of q
very dreadful deed. They had ac-
cused Jenny Wrenn Of having entered
their house while they we're absent
for q few minutes, stealing one Of
their eggs and throwing 1t out on the
ground. OF course, Jenny Wren was
very indignant, or ut least pretended
to be, and, Of course, Johnny Wren
took her part. So the Swallows and
the Wrens became more and more
angry and excited and the angrier and
more excited they became the louder
the fuss they made. This brought the
other feathered folk from the Old
Ochard, every one Of whom had some
thing to say about the matter. The
result was o great deal Of noise and
commotion over there In Farmer
Browns dooryard.
Now, Farmer Browns Boy, when he
hears q lot Of birds excited as these
were, knows that there is something
unusual going on ard that there US
ually Is trouble of some sort. He al
ways goes to investigate. He did this
time. He had q suspicion that pos
sibly Mr.. Blacksnake might be out
there looking for eggs. When he ap-
peared all the feathered folk, except
of q short distance to look on. OF
course, the Swallows stayed by their
home, and the Wrens stayed by theirs.
Farmer Browns Boy walked over to
the tree. Jenny Wren was sitting in
the doorway of her house, while john
ny Wren was perched not far of.
Skinner the Swallow darted about.
swooping down close to Farmer
Browns Boy and twittering excited
ly. Mrs. SKINNER sat In the round
doorway of her home, which was in
the stub Of q limb just q few feet
above Jenny Wren's house Mrs.
Skinner was twittering In q tone Of
great distress.
In vain Farmer Browns Boy looked
around for some sign Of Mr.. Black
snake. The fact that both Mrs. Skim
mer and Jenny Wren were In their
doorways was proof that no Snake was
in either Of those houses He couldn't
have been wholly in anyway, for the
houses were not big enough for that.
Then Farmer Browns Boy discov-
cred that egg on the ground. He
picked 1t while Mrs. Skinner twit-
tered sorrowfully.
"Ha, hal" he exclaimed, as he dis
covered q hole in one side Of that egg.
"Ha. ha! So this Is the trouble. Jen-
ny When has been in mischief, I fear"
He looked over at Jenny, who had
flown over to the next tree and was
scolding vigorously and acting as II
she we're very much upset "Yes,
sir" he continued, this looks to me
very much like the work of one Of
those Wrens, and probably Jenny. I
know what she was up to. She doesn't
want these Swallows for such near
neighbors, and so she means to get rid
of them. Probably she would have
thrown all the eggs out had she not
been interfered with, and then the
Swallows would have deserted their
nest. That is what Jenny wanted.
II guess I am somewhat to blame
in this matter myself. but I don't
know as I am, either. When ! put
that house up for the Wrens the
Swallows had not moved into that
hole up above. might have guessed
that they would. Still, I didn't think
they would either. for thought they
would take one of the houses I put up
for them over in the Old Orchard.
Now a lot Of people do not believe
that Jenny Wren does such things,
but know that she does. The first
chance she gets she'll be back in that
nest and throw out another egg, or all
Of them II she can. 1t looks to me as
If 1t Is up to me to do something
about 1T"
He opened the house occupied by
Jenny Wren and discovered that there
were six eggs in the nest she had built
in there. That was all he wanted to
know. He carefully closed the house
up. Then he went over to the barn.
No sooner was his back turned than
Jenny was back at her house inspect
ing that nest. Those eggs hadn't
been touched. She was sure of that.
In a few moments Farmer Browns
Boy returned. He had q hammer and
a screwdriver. While Jenny and
Johnny Wren scolded as fast as their
tongues could 60, Farmer Browns Boy
removed that house from the trunk
of the tree and took it over to an