crumbs on the ground. Down they would dart on his head
and feet to catch them as they fell from his hand.
8 He showed me how they loved him. He put a crust of
bread in his mouth, with one end of it out of his lips. Down
they came like bees at a flower, and flew off with it crumb
by crumb.
9. When they thought he slept too long in the morning,
they would fly in and sit

THIRD READER. 51
on the bedpost, and call him up with their chirp.
10. They went with him to church, and while he said his
prayers and sang his hymns in it, they sat in the trees, and
sang their praises to the same good God who cares for them
as he does for us.
11. Thus the love and trust of birds were a joy to him all
his life long; and such love and trust no boy or girl can fail to
win with the same kind heart, voice, and eye that he had.

Adapted from Elihu Burritt.



LESSON XVII.

WHAT THE MINUTES SAY.

1. We are but minutes--little things!
Each one furnished with sixty wings,
With which we fly on our unseen track,