her mother; and he replied, "Well, little girl, it didn't cost me any
thing, and so you may have it for nothing."

"Oh, I thank you ever so much!" cried Laura. So she took the nest, with
the birdies in it; and then she and her mother found a safe place in the
notch of a tree, hidden from the road, and there they placed it.

Then they walked away, and stood at a distance, and watched till they
saw the parent-birds fly down from a high branch to their own nest, and
again begin to feed their little ones. How they twittered and chirped
with joy! The feeling that she had made the birds happy made Laura happy
too.

Every day, for a week, she came to see how the little family were
getting on. On the eighth day the nest was empty. They had all flown
away.

EMILY CARTER




THE FIRST BLUE-BIRD.


Gold-Locks thought just now,
Out on the apple-bough
Had fallen a bit of the sky.
"Blue it is; oh, blue!
And large as my hand," she cried.