himself on the tester, to the no small risk of breaking that slender
frame work, and injuring himself severely by a fall. Soon the
compass of the room became too narrow, and the elevation of the
bed-posts too trifling for his expanding ideas. He went to the
window, and, opening it, looked forth. Here was a new temptation.
The roof of a piazza, built out from a second story, came up to
within a foot of the window-sill. He had often ventured upon this
roof, and he sprung out upon it again without a moment's hesitation
or reflection, and running along, with the lightness of a cat,
gained the roof of the back building, which he ascended to the very
apex, and then placed himself astride thereof. Here he sat for some
minutes looking around him and enjoying the prospect. On the end of
the back building was fastened a strong pole, running up into the
air some ten feet. On the top of this pole was a bird-box, in which
a pair of pigeons had their nest. Two young pigeons had been hatched
out, and now nearly full-fledged and ready to fly, they were
thrusting their glossy heads from the box, and looking about from
their airy height.

A fluttering of wings, as the mother-bird returned with food for her
young ones, attracted the attention of Andrew, and looking up, he
saw the young pigeons. Instantly came a desire to remove them from
their nest. But the way to that nest was too difficult and perilous
for him to think of securing his wish. This was the first
impression. Then he fixed his eye on the nest, and watched the old
bird, as she sat on a ledge that projected from the box, while she
distributed to her younglings the food she had brought. Thus sat the
boy at the moment his mother left the dining-room with the
comfortable supper she had prepared for him, and there she would
have found him in comparative safety, had she not been prevented