The Project Gutenberg EBook of Dickey Downy, by Virginia Sharpe Patterson

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Title: Dickey Downy
The Autobiography of a Bird

Author: Virginia Sharpe Patterson

Release Date: July 10, 2005 [EBook #16255]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DICKEY DOWNY ***

Produced by Al Haines

Dickey Downy

The Autobiography of a Bird

by

VIRGINIA SHARPE PATTERSON

AUTHOR OF

"The Girl of the Period," "All on Account of a Bonnet," "The Wonderland
Children," etc.

With Introduction by

HON. JOHN F. LACEY, M.C.

Drawings by

ELIZABETH M. HALLOWELL

PHILADELPHIA

A. J. Rowland--1420 Chestnut Street

1899

Copyright 1899 by the

AMERICAN BAPTIST PUBLICATION SOCIETY

From the Society's own Press

To

my dear children

Laura, Virgie, and Robert George

this little Volume is

Affectionately Inscribed

INTRODUCTION

This beautiful volume has been written for a good purpose. I had the
pleasure of reading the proof-sheets of the book while in the
Yellowstone National Park, where no gun may be lawfully fired at any of
God's creatures. All animals there are becoming tame, and the great
bears come out of the woods to feed on the garbage of the hotels and
camps, fearless of the tourists, who look on with pleasure and wonder
at such a scene.

"The child is father of the man," and this volume is addressed to the
heart and imagination of every child reader. If children are taught to
love and protect the birds they will remember the lesson when they grow
old. When children learn to prefer to take a "snap-shot" at a bird
with a camera, rather than with a gun, they will protect these
feathered friends for their beauty, even if they do not regard them for
their usefulness.

Nature has supplied a system of balances if left to itself. Some forms
of insect life are so prolific that but for the voracity and industry
of the birds the world would become almost uninhabitable.

Bird life appeals to the eye for its beauty, to the ear for its music,
and to the interest of man for its utility. Shooting-clubs have
foreseen