Year: 1872

widow and her children; she was not
rich, and she was very delicate; she
could hardly ever get out of the house;
she was very fond of her children, and
they loved her dearly. Agnes, the
elder girl, was her nurse; and Jessy, the
little one, was her pet, and the pet of
| the whole family.


But there was another pet in the
! house, too; that was n Dicky-bird,
whose cage used to hang in the window,
near which the sick widows couch was
placed.


This Dicky-bird was very tame, and
would often hop out of the door of its
cage, and perch on the widows shoulder
or head, and would even take crumbs
from her fingers, or from between her
! lips. Sometimes, when the widow was
| too i'll TO do anything, she would smile
a faint smile as the little Dicky hoped
about on the coverlet of her bed putting
! its head on one side, its eyes shining like
! little black beads, and chirping and twit-
| tering gently, as if it We're sorry for its
| sick mistress and were asking her if she
were not better.


But the widow was not to get better,
and one sad summer day she died, and
her children wept sore. y few days
after, the neighboTs met together, and
the coffin was put into cart, for the
church-yard was a long way OIL, over
the hills, and the neighbOrs walked be-
/ hind the cart with the widows SONS,
who were the chief mourners, and for
| the first time in their lives the boys saw
an open grave, and they saw the body of
their dear mother let down into it, and
! they saw the sexton fill the grave with
earth, and sadly they came home in the
emDty cart


Then in a few days they had to leave
their own home, and go to live with an
aunt, in another part of the village.
They had not much to take with them,
but one thing they took much care of,
and that was the cage with Dicky i'm it;
for Dicky always reminded them of
their mother, who had been SO fond of
him and so good to them.


But Dicky did not seem to be the
same bird in the new home. He did not
care to hop out of his cage; he sat on the
perch with his feathers pulled out and
his eyes dull, and took no notice of the
ehirping or cheeping with which the
children tried to rouse him.


/ And few mornings after they had
moved to the new house Dicky was
found living on his back, at the bottom
of his cage, quite dead. Had Dicky
died of broken heart? Who can tell


The children were all very sad wheT
|. they found that poor Dieky was dead
, Little Jessy cried bitterly, and ever
Archie, the biggest boy, could hardly
keep his tears back, though his aun
had said to Jessy that it was foolish t
, cry about n dead bird. The aunt was
not unkind at heart, but she was {
bustling woman, with great deal to do
and she did not understand the chill.
dren's sorrow, or their love for Dicky
and so she said to them, as they stood
round the cage, "Now, children, of
with you; and you'd better take the
dead bird away, and throw it into the
ash-place in the yard"


Archie took up the poor dead Dicky
and went out, and the other children
followed him; but he could not bear tC
throw away the little bird that his
mother had been so fond of; so he went
to the garden and sat down on a seat
there, and the other children gathered
round him, and they all gazed with
fearful eyes at the little dead pet, and
smoothed and strOked its feathers.


These children could not do as some OF
the readers of Chdtter6Or have done
with their canary when it has died
send il to 4 bird-stufIer's to have ii
stuffed and put under n glass shade;
they knew nothing about this plan; but
they, too, felt that they would not like
to throw the dead bird among the ashes
and rubbish of the house.


Then Dayie, the youngest boy, pro-
posed that they should do with Dicly as
the men had done with their dear
mother when she died, and that they
should put it in "bury-hole."


So the boys went and got Jessy's little
cart, and filled it with leaves, and put a


towel over them, and arched some green


boughs over it; and then they laid the
dead bird on the towel, and they walked


in little procession to the corner of q


pretty field that was near wood, not
} far from the house; and one of the boys


dug n tiny grave, like that they haC
a seen in the church-yard, and there will
, real sorrow these simple children buried
} their mothers pet, and stuck in the
: green boughs all around to mark thu
: place.


And now that you have heard th'
p story of Dicky's funeral, / hope yoI
| don't think it was so silly of those biz
boys, and that rather big girl, to do a
a they did. At any rate, if you think so
! do not, for it was the thought of how
q often their mother had fondled DickN
/ that made them bury him so tenderly
/ and think that the love which childrei
2 show to mother, if she be living, AM
4 even more if she be dead, is never silly
I but is always beautiful.


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