Beautiful Joe [28]
at the same time every morning. Miss Laura filled the little white
dishes with water and put them in the cages, and then came and sat on a stool by
the door. Bella, and Billy, and Davy climbed into her lap, and I stood close by
her. It was so funny to watch those canaries. They put their heads on one side
and looked first at their little baths and then at us. They knew we were
strangers. Finally, as we were all very quiet, they got into the water; and what
a good time they had, fluttering their wings and splashing, and cleaning
themselves so nicely.
Then they got up on their perches and sat in the sun, shaking themselves and
picking at their feathers.
Miss Laura cleaned each cage, and gave each bird some mixed rape and canary
seed. I heard Carl tell her before he left not to give them much hemp seed, for
that was too fattening. He was very careful about their food. During the summer
I had often seen him taking up nice green things to them: celery, chickweed,
tender cabbage, peaches, apples, pears, bananas; and now at Christmas time, he
had green stuff growing in pots on the window ledge.
Besides that he gave them crumbs of coarse bread, crackers, lumps of sugar,
cuttle-fish to peck at, and a number of other things. Miss Laura did everything
just as he told her; but I think she talked to the birds more than he did. She
was very particular about their drinking water, and washed out the little glass
cups that held it most carefully.
After the canaries were clean and comfortable, Miss Laura set their cages in the
sun, and turned to the goldfish. They were in large glass globes on the window-
seat. She took a long-handled tin cup, and dipped out the fish from one into a
basin of water. Then she washed the globe thoroughly and put the fish back, and
scattered wafers of fish food on the top. The fish came up and snapped at it,
and acted as if they were glad to get it. She did each globe and then her work
was over for one morning.
She went away for a while, but every few hours through the day she ran up to
Carl's room to see how the fish and canaries were getting on. If the room was
too chilly she turned on more heat; but she did not keep it too warm, for that
would make the birds tender.
After a time the canaries got to know her, and hopped gayly around their cages,
and chirped and sang whenever they saw her coming. Then she began to take some
of them downstairs, and to let them out of their cages for an hour or two every
day. They were very happy little creatures, and chased each other about the
room, and flew on Miss Laura's head, and pecked saucily at her face as she sat
sewing and watching them. They were not at all afraid of me nor of Billy, and it
was quite a sight to see them hopping up to Bella. She looked so large beside
them.
One little bird became ill while Carl was away, and Miss Laura had to give it a
great deal of attention. She gave it plenty of hemp seed to make it fat, and
very often the yolk of a hard boiled egg, and kept a nail in its drinking water,
and gave it a few drops of alcohol in its bath every morning to keep it from
taking cold. The moment the bird finished taking its bath, Miss Laura took the
dish from the cage, for the alcohol made the water poisonous. Then vermin came
on it; and she had to write to Carl to ask him what do. He told her to hang a
muslin bag full of sulphur over the swing, so that the bird would dust it down
on her feathers. That cured the little thing, and when Carl came home, he found
it quite well again. One day, just after he got back, Mrs. Montague drove up to
the house with canary cage carefully done up in a shawl. She said that a bad-
tempered housemaid, in cleaning the cage that morning, had gotten angry with the
bird and struck it, breaking its leg. She was very much annoyed with the girl
for her cruelty, and had dismissed her, and now she wanted Carl to take her bird
and nurse it, as she knew nothing. about canaries.
Carl had just come in from school. He threw
dishes with water and put them in the cages, and then came and sat on a stool by
the door. Bella, and Billy, and Davy climbed into her lap, and I stood close by
her. It was so funny to watch those canaries. They put their heads on one side
and looked first at their little baths and then at us. They knew we were
strangers. Finally, as we were all very quiet, they got into the water; and what
a good time they had, fluttering their wings and splashing, and cleaning
themselves so nicely.
Then they got up on their perches and sat in the sun, shaking themselves and
picking at their feathers.
Miss Laura cleaned each cage, and gave each bird some mixed rape and canary
seed. I heard Carl tell her before he left not to give them much hemp seed, for
that was too fattening. He was very careful about their food. During the summer
I had often seen him taking up nice green things to them: celery, chickweed,
tender cabbage, peaches, apples, pears, bananas; and now at Christmas time, he
had green stuff growing in pots on the window ledge.
Besides that he gave them crumbs of coarse bread, crackers, lumps of sugar,
cuttle-fish to peck at, and a number of other things. Miss Laura did everything
just as he told her; but I think she talked to the birds more than he did. She
was very particular about their drinking water, and washed out the little glass
cups that held it most carefully.
After the canaries were clean and comfortable, Miss Laura set their cages in the
sun, and turned to the goldfish. They were in large glass globes on the window-
seat. She took a long-handled tin cup, and dipped out the fish from one into a
basin of water. Then she washed the globe thoroughly and put the fish back, and
scattered wafers of fish food on the top. The fish came up and snapped at it,
and acted as if they were glad to get it. She did each globe and then her work
was over for one morning.
She went away for a while, but every few hours through the day she ran up to
Carl's room to see how the fish and canaries were getting on. If the room was
too chilly she turned on more heat; but she did not keep it too warm, for that
would make the birds tender.
After a time the canaries got to know her, and hopped gayly around their cages,
and chirped and sang whenever they saw her coming. Then she began to take some
of them downstairs, and to let them out of their cages for an hour or two every
day. They were very happy little creatures, and chased each other about the
room, and flew on Miss Laura's head, and pecked saucily at her face as she sat
sewing and watching them. They were not at all afraid of me nor of Billy, and it
was quite a sight to see them hopping up to Bella. She looked so large beside
them.
One little bird became ill while Carl was away, and Miss Laura had to give it a
great deal of attention. She gave it plenty of hemp seed to make it fat, and
very often the yolk of a hard boiled egg, and kept a nail in its drinking water,
and gave it a few drops of alcohol in its bath every morning to keep it from
taking cold. The moment the bird finished taking its bath, Miss Laura took the
dish from the cage, for the alcohol made the water poisonous. Then vermin came
on it; and she had to write to Carl to ask him what do. He told her to hang a
muslin bag full of sulphur over the swing, so that the bird would dust it down
on her feathers. That cured the little thing, and when Carl came home, he found
it quite well again. One day, just after he got back, Mrs. Montague drove up to
the house with canary cage carefully done up in a shawl. She said that a bad-
tempered housemaid, in cleaning the cage that morning, had gotten angry with the
bird and struck it, breaking its leg. She was very much annoyed with the girl
for her cruelty, and had dismissed her, and now she wanted Carl to take her bird
and nurse it, as she knew nothing. about canaries.
Carl had just come in from school. He threw