"What madness is it to take upon us to know a thing by that it is
not? Shall we perswade our selves that wee know what thing a Camell
is, because wee know it is not a Frogge?"
--Barckley's _Felicitie of Man_. 1603.
To console me for the loss of the chicks, Joy-of-Life went into a
Boston bird-store one day and, in defiance of all her principles and
mine, bought me a Japanese robin. When she presented him, the daintiest
little fellow, mouse-color, with touches of red and gold on wings and
throat and the prettiest pink bill, I met her guilty look with one of
sheer astonishment.
"A Robin Redbreast in a cage
Puts all Heaven in a rage,"