all up. An' if I'd a-been a hen redbird I wouldn't a-been so
long comin'. Had me pulverized in less'n no time! Then a little
hen comes 'long, an' stops with him; an' 'twas like an organ
playin' prayers to hear him tell her how he loved her. Now
they've got a nest full o' the cunningest little topknot babies,
an' he's splittin' the echoes, calling for the whole
neighbourhood to come see 'em, he's so mortal proud.

"Stake my life he's never been fired on afore! He's pretty near
wild with narvousness, but he's got too much spunk to leave his
fam'ly, an' go off an' hide from creatures like you. They's no
caution in him. Look at him tearin' 'round to give you another
chance!

"I felt most too rheumaticky to tackle field work this spring
until he come 'long, an' the fire o' his coat an' song got me
warmed up as I ain't been in years. Work's gone like it was
greased, an' my soul's been singin' for joy o' life an' happiness
ev'ry minute o' the time since he come. Been carryin' him grub
to that top rail once an' twice a day for the last month, an' I
can go in three feet o' him. My wife comes to see him, an'
brings him stuff; an' we about worship him. Who are you, to come
'long an' wipe out his joy in life, an' our joy in him, for jest
nothin'? You'd a left him to rot on the ground, if you'd a hit
him; an' me an' Maria's loved him so!

"D'you ever stop to think how full this world is o' things to
love, if your heart's jest big enough to let 'em in? We love to
live for the beauty o' the things surroundin' us, an' the joy we
take in bein' among 'em. An' it's my belief 'at the way to make