produce them. Ah, there comes his mate. You can tell her by the lighter
blue of her plumage, and the tinge of brown on her head and back. She is
a cold, coy beauty, even as a wife; but how gallant is her azure-coated
beau! Flirt away, my little chap, and make the most of your courting and
honeymoon. You will soon have family cares enough to discourage anybody
but a bluebird;" and the doctor looked at his favorites with an exulting
affection that caused a general laugh.

"I shall give our little friends something better than compliments," said
Mr. Clifford, obeying his hospitable instincts, and he waded through the
snow to the sunny side of an evergreen, and there cleared a space until
the ground was bare. Then he scattered over this little plot an abundance
of bread-crumbs and hay seed, and they all soon had the pleasure of
seeing half a dozen little bobbing heads at breakfast. Johnnie and Alf,
who on account of the deep snow did not go to school, were unwearied in
watching the lovely little pensioners on their grandfather's bounty--not
pensioners either, for, as the old man said, "They pay their way with
notes that I am always glad to accept."

The work of path-making and shovelling snow from the doors and roofs of
the out-buildings went on vigorously all the morning. Abram also attached
the farm horses to the heavy snow-plow, to which he added his weight, and
a broad, track-like furrow was made from the house to the road, and then
for a mile or more each way upon the street, for the benefit of the
neighbors. Before the day was very far advanced, the south wind, which
had been a scarcely perceptible breath, freshened, and between the busy
shovels and the swaying branches the air was full of glittering crystals.
The bride-like world was throwing off her ornaments and preparing for the
prose of every-day life; and yet she did so in a cheerful, lightsome
mood. The sunny eaves dropped a profusion of gems from the melting snow.