breathed hard, curtseyed, and very sweetly recited,

A little bird sat on a tree,
And waved his little wing at me.
He said, "This seems a pleasant day,
I think perhaps I'll fly away."
He bent his pretty little head,
"I don't see any worms," he said.
He shook his pretty feathers out.
"It's growing cold without a doubt.
When all the leaves have fallen down
And all the trees are bare and brown,
When snow is deep on dell and hill,
And wintry winds are cold and chill,
This would not be the place for me,"
He said, and teetered on his tree.
"I know a land far, far away,
Where winter is as warm as May."
He waved a wing and winked an eye,
And off he flew, "Good-bye, good-bye!"

CHAPTER VIII

All the children except Tommy clapped their hands when Luella finished.
It did indeed sound sweet and she spoke it very prettily, waving her
hand and winking her own eye at the end.

Rosanna and Myron felt that their time had come. They looked at each
other, but Minnie settled the question.

"Now it is Miss Rosanna's turn," she said, "and then Myron's. Ladies
first. Give us a real nice story, Miss Rosanna."

"About robbers," said Tommy, chewing on a grass stem.

"I don't know any about robbers," said Rosanna pleasantly, "but I do
know one about a cat, or a kitten rather, and it really happened. Helen
told one about a dog, and this is about a cat.

"Once there were two little boys, Walter and Harold, and they were going
a long, long way to their new home in the West where they were going to
live. And they had a pet kitten that they wanted to take along so badly
that fin'ly their mother and father said they might take it if they
would carry it in its basket all the way and never ask anyone else to
take care of it. So they said they would, and by-and-by they had
everything packed up and ready, and when the time came, they started
off and got on the train, kitten and all.

"They had things for it to eat and milk for it to drink, and when the
conductor was not in the car they used to take it out of its basket and
pet it and play with it. And the kitten didn't mind it a bit.

"Well, when they had been on the train a couple of days they let the
kitten out, and Harold had it on his lap sound asleep.

"But just when they were at a station and the train was standing still,
something awfully exciting happened outside the window, and both boys
forgot the kitten. She jumped down from Harold's lap and went a