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Page 80
ALLIE BERTRAM.
AS IDLE AS A BIRD.
It is not so very long since I heard a little girl say that she "wished
she could only be as idle as a bird."
Now, this was not a very lazy sort of wish, if she had but known it.
There are very few little girls, or boys,--or grown-ups either, for the
matter of that,--who are as industrious as the birds. How many people
would be willing to begin their daily labors as early as the birds
begin theirs--at half-past three o'clock in the morning--and keep on
toiling away until after eight in the evening?
Think of it, my youngsters,--almost eighteen hours of constant work!
And the birds do it willingly, too; for it is a labor of love to bring
dainty bits to their hungry little ones and keep the home-nest snug and
warm.
One pair of birds that had been patiently watched from the first to the
last of their long, long day, made no less than four hundred and
seventy-five trips, of about one hundred and fifty yards each, in
search of food for their darling chicks!
As idle as a bird, indeed!--with all that hunting, and fetching, and
carrying, and feeding to do!
"OWN FIRST COUSINS."
Talking of birds, would you ever have thought it? The lovely and
brilliant Bird of Paradise, I'm told, is "own first cousin" to
the--Crows. And the Crows are not one bit ashamed to own the
relationship! Very condescending of them, isn't it?
ORANGE GROVES ON ST. JOHN'S RIVER.
Ocala, Marion County, Fla., 1877.
DEAR JACK: I was on the St. John's River at work with my father
about three years ago. There were real wild-orange groves there,
and the trees bore sour and bitter-sweet fruit. I will now tell you
what I was doing on that river. I was pressing out the juice of the
sour oranges and boiling it, for making citric acid. We used a
cider press for pressing out the juice, and a copper cauldron for
boiling it. We shipped the acid to Philadelphia, and I do not know
what was done with it next.
These groves were inhabited by wild beasts, such as opossums, wild
cats, raccoons, deer, and, occasionally, bears and panthers.
The groves were situated on high mounds, made ages and ages ago, by
people of an ancient race known as "mound-builders." There were
always shells on the mounds, which in some instances appeared to be
made entirely of shells. Some mounds were fifty feet, or more,
above the surrounding country, and from two hundred to four hundred
yards in length.
Now, I dare say, you would like me to say of what kind these shells
were; but, as I never could find out for myself, I cannot tell you
what kind they were. They are unlike any that I have seen
elsewhere, and I think they do not belong to any living species of
to-day. Farewell, dear Jack!--Yours truly,
TROPIC.
THE BLIND CLERK.
DEAR JACK: Ever so many millions of letters are dropped into the
London Post-Office every year, but some are so badly addressed that
they never get out again. When a direction is so ill-written that
the sorters can't make it out, the letter is taken to a man they
call the "Blind Clerk," and he generally deciphers it. Why they
call him "blind" I don't know, for few addresses are beyond the
power of his sharp eyes to make out. Here is one that did not give
him much trouble; but can any of your young folks tell what it
means?
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