Bright-eyes sat in the corner of his cage, looking very sad. "I don"t know why he should look so sorry," said Jack, hislittle owner. "Even though it is cold outside, the sun is shining brightly, and all the world looks like spring.""I am afraid that is the reason," said Mother.
Jack looked rather puzzled. What did Mother mean? He picked up the cage, carried it outside the cottage, and hung it on its hook on the wall. "Now you can see all the other birds, Bright-eyes."Jack took away the little seed-trough, filled it up full, and even added a few scraps of meat, which mother had given him. But still Bright-eyes moped in the corner. Jack stood by the cottage door and watched him.
"Whatever else can he want? " he muttered to himself. He was only eight, and had a lot of things to learn. Suddenly a sunbeam, which had been shining on the wall for a long time, reached Bright- eyes" cage and peeped in. The poor little bird spread his wings, fluttering round and round eagerly.
"I wonder"-. Then Jack stopped.
A perky little sparrow, who was feeling very cold andhungry, flew to Bright-eyes" cage, and looked in. Jack listened to see if he could understand bird-talk. He told Mother afterwards that he was sure it ran something like this:
"What a lovely nest you have," said Mr. Sparrow. "And what a nice lot of food! Can I have a little of it, please? "Bright-eyes, who was a lovely blackbird, with a yellow bill and beautiful black feathers, looked at the brown visitor, just for a minute, with something like scorn. Then, feeling very lonely, he decided that even a sparrow was better than no one to talk to. He fluttered up to his perch, and looked at his visitor again. " It is a beautiful cage," he said slowly. "I suppose you do admire it. You never saw one just like it, did you?""Never,"said the sparrow, with his hungry little eye on the seed-box.
"Yes, you can have some," said Bright-eyes, seeing the very hungry look. "I shall scatter some where you can reach it.""Thanks, it is good!" gasped the hungry little visitor, as he swallowed grain after grain. "That"s better. Now let us talk.""I have a whole boxful like that every day," said Bright- eyes, " and plenty of scraps as well."The brown sparrow chirped out slowly, "Well-you don"t mean it, surely? Are not you a lucky bird? ""And, when the sun shines brightly in the hot summer days, Jack-that"s my little master-never forgets to give me plenty of nice, cool water.""Oh," said the sparrow, "that"s the sort of life for me! But I suppose no one would want a sparrow in a cage.""And I never have to hide from the hawk when he comes swooping silently along, and hangs up in the sky, looking for some one to kill."The sparrow sighed. Many of his family had died in that way.
"If Tabby looks at me," said Bright-eyes, "she is smacked and sent away at once, and sometimes has to go to bed without her supper for being so naughty.""She had my father when I was quite a youngster," said the visitor, " and we never knew where our mother went. Tabby broke down my nest three times last autumn, and ate all my nestlings.""Ah!" Bright-eyes looked thoughtful.
"There she is!" Mr. Brown Sparrow spoke nervously. "I think-I think I"ll call again. Good-bye. She can"t hurt you; but, if she caught me"-.
Tabby sat under the cage, and looked up at the little brown bird, which had fluttered into a tall tree near at hand. Then she glanced back at Bright-eyes, not noticing that Jack was wat-ching her.
"I shall have you some day," she said, licking her wicked little lips. "I will have you some day, Bright-eyes, and then Jack won"t have any other pet, and won"t smack me for being jealous. Oh,"-as Jack moved out of the shade, andtried to smack her- "bother! "
Brown Sparrow, up in his tall tree, chuckled with delight. As soon as Jack drew back again, he flew to the cage once more, and helped himself through the bars to two or three grains, which lay within reach of his beak.
"Gone again. I say, Mr. Blackbird, don"t you ever go out for a fly? "To Brown Sparrow"s surprise, the beautiful blackbird began to beat himself against the wicker bars, and to cry, in a little, heart-broken way, "I want to get out! I want to get out!" "But you would be hungry sometimes, and thirsty. And, perhaps, the hawk or Tabby would get you," said BrownSparrow, trying to comfort him.
Jack crept indoors, with big tears in his eyes, and told Mother all that he thought he had heard. "He wants to go," he sobbed. "He doesn"t love me a bit."Mother stroked the brown hair. "He doesn"t belong to a cage at all," she said softly. "He belongs to the fields, the hedges, and the big trees."Jack crept out slowly, and opened the cage-door. " Good- bye, Bright-eyes!"Brown Sparrow watched Bright-eyes flutter to the door, look out, and stretch his wings, which had been cramped so long, and he hurried up to his new friend. "What about being hungry, and thirsty, and frightened? " he said.
Bright-eyes stopped in the middle of the gladdest of gladsongs. "I"m free, free, free!" he said.
R. De Witt, in The Prize
Author.-Miss R. De Witt is not known except as the writer of the article quoted, which appeared in an English children"s magazine.
General Notes.-Who was Bright-eyes? How did he help the sparrow?
What were the troubles of Bright-eyes? How did the sparrow help him? Should we keep birds in cages? Discuss the question.
