Ever on the alert to do good the Witch stopped at a rickety tenement,
with nothing to recommend it but a climbing rose-bush, set out by some
flower-loving tenant a number of years before, and which twined its
long branches in full bloom over one end of the dilapidated structure;
it was an illustration of extremes meeting, this perfectly beautiful
rose-bush and the unsightly old porch. The landlady did not care to buy
a bird, and none of the occupants of her rooms were at home during the
day, except one, who poor boy, was always in, and a visitor would be
sure to cheer him up a bit, though it would be useless to try and sell
a bird there. She led the way up a flight of stairs to the room where a
little cripple was amusing himself with a few marbles that he was
rolling about on the table by which he was sitting.
He was delighted with the birds, but knew that his sister could not
afford to buy him one. He said she was employed up town in a store,
naming the business block of a well-known and very wealthy merchant,
and he could not go out and play like other boys, and the days seemed
very long sometimes.
Yes, thought our Witch, a day must be a long time to this poor weakling
with little to amuse him.
She gave him his choice of the birds, and after promising to bring it
back in the evening with a new cage which she would buy for him, the
Witch took her leave.