arth." At the same time, He gave
them a wonderful instinct and skill, such as man's reason cannot
imitate. The birds must keep their eggs very warm for a certain number
of days, to bring to life the little creatures that are forming within
them; and the eggs being so very delicate and brittle, they must also
have a soft place to lie in, close enough for the bird's body to cover
them all; and be out of reach of rats, and other enemies. So, when the
bird is going to lay, she and her mate set to work, and what wonderful
work it is! These little creatures, without any hands, or even paws like
four-footed animals, to help them, and with only the bits of stick, hay,
grass, dead leaves, wool, hairs, and moss, that they can pick up with
their bills, presently form a soft, snug, warm, strong apartment, as
round as a tea-cup, and exactly of the proper size; placed, too, where
it will be little seen, sheltered above from the wet, yet airy enough to
keep it fresh and wholesome, and so smooth on the inside that even the
delicate naked body of a bird just hatched cannot be made uneasy by a
rough point. It costs the parent-birds a great deal of trouble; and if
you leave a nest untouched from one year to another, neither disturbing
the eggs nor the nestings, you will find it the next spring nicely
repaired and new lined, and a new family in it. Oh! I do wish that boys,
remembering how, by the goodness of our equal laws, a poor man's house
is his castle, would let a poor bird's little nest be its castle too! He
is the bravest boy who will defend the weak from the strong; and he is
the best boy who loves and is kind to the least of God's creatures for
the sake of the glorious Creator.

But perhaps you may say, "Well, I will not spoil the nest; I will only
take the eggs." No, pray do not take the eggs. What pleasure in the
world can a parcel of little eggs afford you, compared with the delight
that the poor harmless mother takes in them as she sits in her warm
house, of her own making, listening for the first faint chirp of the
tiny creature within? Birds only bring up one family in a year; and if
you take from them the eggs that are to produce that one, you rob them
of all the happiness for which they took so much trouble. You are not
enough of a hen to hatch the eggs, though you may be enough of a goose
to try: then think, and be too much of a man to do such a silly, cruel
thing. You like, perhaps, to blow the inside out, and string the