he was so kind! When he saw Sammy he became very much alarmed.
"'Why didn't you tell me of this sooner?' said he.
"'Oh, what's the matter?' asked Sammy's mother. 'Is he really very ill?
We thought he had a little cold.'
"Dr. Crow took from his black medicine-bag a little thermometer and put
it in Sammy's mouth and at the same time felt his pulse. Then he pulled
the thermometer out. He looked very grave.
"'Mrs. Crow,' said he to Sammy's mother, 'his temperature is very high,
and he must be put right to bed. Put his feet in mustard and hot water
and bathe his head every three hours with witch hazel, and I'll call
around again this evening to see him.'
"'Oh, you don't think he is going to die, doctor?'
"'I think he'll live, but he is pretty sick and needs great care.'
"After Dr. Crow left Sammy he went to Jim Crow's mother and daddy. He
was very angry at what had been done to Sammy. When Jim's mother and
daddy saw Dr. Crow coming toward their nest they were afraid Jim had
been doing something awfully naughty, for he had stayed home very little
the past few days, and they suspected something had happened.
"At that moment Jim flew in boisterously, and the doctor told him how
ill Sammy was and of what he had done.
"For some days Sammy lay at the point of death, but with Dr. Crow's
skill he finally got well.
"And Jim Crow, who had felt like a murderer, became a good crow
and realized it was very, very cruel to tease any one smaller
and weaker than himself."
THE RESCUE OF THE CANARY BIRD
[Illustration: She Watched the Little Bird.]
"I am going to tell you a really true story," said daddy, "something
which happened to-day. I was walking along a rather poor part of the
city when I saw a number of children gathered in a group in a little
side yard of a tenement house. The children were screaming to one boy:
'Oh, catch him! Don't let the awful cat get him!'"
"Oh, was it a bird?" asked Jack eagerly.
"Yes," replied daddy; "it was a bird, but not just the usual kind of
bird that is seen around city streets, for only the sparrows like the
noise of a city. Most birds like the woods and the country, where they
can have homes in the trees and can sing all day long.
"But this was a tame yellow canary who had flown out of an open window
to pick up some goodies he saw on the ground, and a cat was after him."
"Did they get him from the cat?" asked Evelyn eagerly, for she was
devoted to animals and perhaps especially to birds.
"Yes," answered daddy; "the little boy succeeded in rescuing him, but
the poor canary had been so frightened that his little heart was
beating, oh, so fast, and the children were afraid he was not going to
live.
"They all followed the little boy who had caught the canary just in
time into the tenement house. The cat had knocked several feathers
from the bird's tail.
"Another child told me the canary belonged to a little girl who lived in
the tenement. He asked me to follow, too, for he said that the little
girl had trouble with her back and had to lie flat all the time. She
loved visitors, for so much of the time she was lonely. Her mother was
poor and out all day sewing, so the little girl's only companion was the
canary, who would sing for hours and hours. He seemed to know he must
keep her cheered up.
"So along I went too. We climbed some stairs until we came to a dingy
room where on a cot by the window lay a little girl about eight years
old. She had big dark eyes, and when I saw her her cheeks were bright
red from all the excitement.
"All her friends had gathered around, each giving her a special
description of how the bird had been rescued. She was smiling with joy
and watching the bird, who was now busily engaged nibbling at a little
piece of apple which had been given him. Before long he began to sing,
oh, so joyously, for he knew he was once more back in his happy home,
where he would take good care to stay in the future.
"I told the little girl of my Jack and Evelyn, and she said she wanted
to see you both. Shall we all go to see her and her little bird some
day?"
"We'd love to!" cried Jack and Evelyn delightedly.
SMALL FIRE DEPARTMENT RESCUES BIRDS
[Illustration: "We'll have our hose ready."]
"The salamanders," said daddy, "are little creatures very much like
lizards in looks, except their skin is not scaly as a lizard's. They
have four legs and a tail, and are very nice, kind and gentle.
"Well, these salamanders agreed that they would have a fire department,
and the next thing was to arrange for the hose and ladder. Finally it
was decided that their salamander cousins should be chosen to run the
hose and ladder.
"'We shall call ourselves the fire and water fire department,' said
one of the fire salamanders. 'It will be our business to rush in and
rescue the animals who are in danger of being burned to death, and it
will be your business to help them down to the brook, where we'll have
our hose ready to sprinkle them with good, cool water.'
"But days and days went by, and still no fire broke out.
"'I know what's the trouble,' said another one of the fire salamanders.
'We have no fire bell; there may have been fires that we knew nothing
of; you never can tell.'
"'Don't be gloomy,' said still another fire salamander. 'We'll have a
fire bell. I know where a kind old cow left her bell from last year.
We'll put it by the stump just at the edge of the brook and all the
animals can be told to move it when there is a fire. Then we will all
come out and stop the fire.'
"And soon notices were put up all over the woods and around the brook
which read:
"'To the Animals: Attention! In case of fire, ring the cow bell
by the brook. The Fire and Water Fire Department of the Salamanders
will PUT IT OUT.'
"These notices were read by all the animals, and the very next day the
salamanders heard the cow bell.
"'Where's the fire?' they all shouted.
"'Over there,' said Grandfather Frog, who was watching the fire
department start off.
"They wiggled and crawled as quickly as they could to the spot where the
fire was. It was the vireo family's nest. You know the vireos are those
beautiful, shy birds that live in the woods and have such lovely voices.
The fire salamanders rushed right into the fire and pulled out of the
nest the vireo children just in time before their little feathers got
burnt. And, of course, the Mother and Daddy Vireo were able to fly out.
"When they all reached the brook at last, the Mother and Daddy
Vireo sang the most wonderful song as a reward to the brave salamander
fire department."
* * * * *
Transcriber's note:
Illustrations have been moved from the middle of a paragraph to the
closest paragraph break.
"grown-ups" and "grownups" have been retained in both versions in
this project.
Opening quotation marks (") at the beginning of several chapters
have been added without comment.
"Well, I mean you to come" has been changed to "'Well, I mean you
to come" page 56.
"funny quack-quack talk." has been changed into "funny quack-quack
talk.'" page 59.
Printer's inconsistencies in spelling, punctuation, and hyphenation
have been retained.