Strolling down back of the barn, and seeing a fluttering of wings near
the ground, Fred and John discovered, upon coming closer, that a poor
little bird had fallen from its nest in the bough of a tree that stood
near them. The bird was young, too young to fly, and seemed more dead
than alive from the fall. The boys took the bird, fondly caressed it,
stroked its feathers, and were glad to see that it showed signs of
life and that it was only stunned by the fall it had received. The
boys were kind-hearted, they were boys full of life, the first-most in
a race, in climbing a hill they among the first who stood on its top.
Yet in all their sports they were never cruel. So with the bird, they
only thought of how to care for it. The tree was too tall to climb
with safety, and then they were forbidden to climb this tree because
John had once ventured to the first of its branches and by some
accident, such as will happen to boys, he lost his hold and tumbled to
the ground and he still remembered the days of pain it caused.