JACK ROBIN'S LOVE.
All the while her brother had been relating his sad tale, poor Molly
stood on the side of the nest, shaking from head to foot. In the course
of an hour she was so ill that her parents feared she would die, and
thus that they should be deprived of two children in one day.
"To think," cried Mrs. Robin, "that we were singing so gayly while our
loved ones were in such danger and trouble!"
"We must contrive some means to rescue her," said Mr. Robin, sternly.
"I, for one, will perish before I will leave her to so horrible a fate."
Jack at this remark gave a cry of joy. He had the greatest confidence in
his father's capacity, and wondered he had not thought of this before.
"Why can't we go at once?" he exclaimed. "Mother will nurse sick Molly,
and I will show you the house."
Mrs. Robin and Molly added their entreaties, and the birds flew away.
When they reached the house, they found the cage already hung on a hook
over the front piazza.
Poor Katy was uttering the most piercing cries, and striking her wings
against the wires of the cage. As soon as she saw her father and
brother, she gave a scream of delight, and fell to the floor of her
prison house.
Jack alighted on the wires, and called her by the most endearing terms.
Mr. Robin perched on a bough hanging over the piazza, and contemplated
them with strong emotion. "O, how cruel!" he exclaimed, "to separate
such loving hearts."
At this moment the tall boy, with his sister, came to the door, and the
father listened earnestly to their voices, to learn whether they would
be friends to his imprisoned child.
"Good by, father; bid mother and Molly good by for me," cried Jack. "I
have determined to remain in captivity with Katy, rather than leave her
to pine and die alone. Yes, darling sister, I love you better than
freedom, or even than life. Here I will stay to comfort you with my
affection."
Dear little captive, how her heart beat and her bosom swelled when she
heard this! She flew to the upper perch of the cage, and put her beak
lovingly to his.
"I cannot deny such a wish, my dear Jack," said Mr. Robin, "though it
will pierce your mother's heart with sorrow to be deprived of two
children. I love you better for your ardent affection; but I do not at
all despair of your release. Good by, dear ones; I go to consult our
friends at the cottage."
As soon as he was fairly out of sight, the tall boy brought a stool, and
stood upon it, to take the cage down from the hook, and carried it into
the house, Jack still remaining perched upon the wires.
There were poor Katy's tail feathers still lying on the floor; but the
heroic bird cared not for those. He only longed to have the door opened,
that he might feel his sister's soft head nestling once more against his
own breast.
He did not have to wait long, for as soon as the room doors were
carefully secured, the cage was opened, when he flew in.
"Now, darling," said he, "we must be all the world to each other. Let
us forget every thing else in the joy of being reunited."
Katy was so happy, that she could only flutter her wings, and give
gentle cries of delight.
As soon as they became somewhat composed, Jack hopped down from the
perch to examine the cage. Like that in which Canary was confined, it
had conveniences for eating and drinking, and a nice bath tub. In
addition to this, the little girl soon stuck between the wires a piece
of cracker and a large lump of sugar.
"This stone, my dear," said Jack, "is, I suppose, for us to sharpen our
beaks upon."
"O, how sweet!" exclaimed Katy, as she tasted the sugar; and before they
left it, they had diminished it about one half.
When the tall boy thought they were a little wonted to their new home,
he hung them out in the sun again; and here we will leave them while we
return to their parents.
Mrs. Robin was indeed sorely grieved when her husband returned alone.
Molly still continued to suffer so much from the shock she had received,
that she could scarcely fly to the ground for her food.
"I still have hope," cried Mr. Robin, "that our friends may find a way
to relieve us, if we can make them understand what our trouble is."
It was in vain, however, that he chirped, and cried, and flew from the
door off in the direction of his distressed children; and thus day after
day and week after week went by, and still Jack and Katy remained in
captivity.
Mr. and Mrs. Robin, with Molly, visited them many times in a day, and
carried them fine worms. Nor did they wholly forsake Canary, whose fate
was even worse than their own. They carried many tender messages from
one cage to the other, thus enlivening the imprisonment of both.
Dick, to his parents' great sorrow, had expressed little sympathy for
his brother and sister, and had never once visited them, though he gave
as a reason that he feared himself being captured. He was joined now
almost wholly to Mrs. Bill's family, and seldom returned to his parents'
nest.
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