|
Main
- books.jibble.org
My Books
- IRC Hacks
Misc. Articles
- Meaning of Jibble
- M4 Su Doku
- Computer Scrapbooking
- Setting up Java
- Bootable Java
- Cookies in Java
- Dynamic Graphs
- Social Shakespeare
External Links
- Paul Mutton
- Jibble Photo Gallery
- Jibble Forums
- Google Landmarks
- Jibble Shop
- Free Books
- Intershot Ltd
|
books.jibble.org
Previous Page
| Next Page
Page 24
There are now four cables in working order, and the cost of messages
has been reduced twenty-five per cent. The New York newspapers now
contain nearly as much European news as the London newspapers
themselves.
THE CANARY THAT TALKED TOO MUCH
BY MARGARET EYTINGE.
Annette's canary-bird's cage, with the canary in it, was brought into
the library and hung upon a hook beside the window.
Out popped a mouse from a hole behind the book-case.
"Why, what are _you_ doing here, canary?" she said. "I thought _your_
place was the bay-window in the dining-room."
"So it is--so it is!" beginning with a twitter, answered the canary;
"but they said I talked too much!"--ending with a trill.
"Talked!" repeated the mouse, sitting up on her hind-legs and looking
earnestly at him. "I thought _you_ only sang!"
"Well, singing and talking mean about the same thing in bird-language,"
said the canary. "But goodness g-r-r-racious!" he went on, swinging
rapidly to and fro in his little swing at the top of his cage, "'t was
they that talked so much--my mistress and the doctor's wife, and the
doctor's sister--not me. I said scarcely a word, and yet I am called a
chatterbox, and punished--before company, too! I feel mad enough to
pull out my yellowest feathers, or upset my bath-tub. Now, you look
like a sensible little thing, mouse, and I'll tell you all about
it--what they said and what I said--and you shall judge if I deserved
to be banished.
"The doctor's wife and the doctor's sister called.
"'It's a lovely day!' said they.
"'A lovely, lovely, lovely day!' sang I. 'The sun shines bright--the
sky is blue--the grass is green--yes, lovely, lovely, lovely--and I'm
happy, happy, happy, and glad, glad, glad!'
"They went right on talking, though I sang my very best, without paying
the slightest attention to me; and when I stopped, I caught the words
'So sweet' from my mistress, and then I sang again: 'Sweet, sweet,
sweet, sweet, sweet, sweet, sweet is the clover--sweet is the
rose--sweet the song of the bird--sweet the bird--sweet the
clover--sweet the rose--the rose--the clover--the bird--yes, yes,
yes--sweet, sweet, sweet!' And as I paused to take breath, I heard some
one say, 'What a noise that bird makes! how loudly he sings!' 'How
loudly he sings!' repeated I, 'how loudly he sings!--the bird, the
bird, the beautiful bird--sweet, sweet, sweet, sweet----' But suddenly
my song ended, for my mistress got up, unhooked my cage, saying,
'Canary, you're a chatterbox; you talk too much,' and brought me in
here.
"And really, mouse, as you must see, I didn't say more than a dozen or
so words. What do you think about it?"
"Well," said the mouse, stroking her whiskers and speaking slowly, "you
_didn't say_ much, but it strikes me you talked a great deal."
"Oh!" said the canary, putting his head on one side and looking
thoughtfully at her out of his right, bright, black, round eye. But
just then the mouse heard an approaching footstep, and, without even
saying "good-bye," she hurried away to the hole behind the book-case.
A NIGHT WITH A BEAR.
BY JANE G. AUSTIN.
"Tell you what, Roxie, I wish father and Jake had some of those hot
nut-cakes for their dinner; they didn't carry much of anything, and
these are proper nice."
Previous Page
| Next Page
|
|