The sparrows often build their nests under the eaves of houses and
barns. A young lad saw one of the sparrows conveying materials for her
nest, which she was building under the eaves of a cottage adjoining his
father's house. He was told not to disturb it. But birds' eggs form a
temptation to many boys. At a favorable opportunity the lad climbed up
to the roof of the cottage and carried away the nest with the eggs in
it. Among the materials of which the nest was composed was a piece of
paper with some printed verses on it. The boy pulled it out and found it
to be a page of one of Dr. Watts' hymns, which had been picked up in the
yard by the poor bird for strengthening her nest. The boy unfolded the
paper and read:--
"Why should I deprive my neighbor
Of his goods against his will?
Hands were made for honest labor.
Not to plunder nor to steal."
The lad says, in his after years, "I never forgot the lesson presented
to me by that leaf of paper which had been fixed to the nest of the
poor sparrow." Let young people remember that when they do wrong they
will get reproved, and it may be by the means of a bird.