Toward the English sparrow she positively declines to harden her heart,
in spite of my having repeated the story of its encroachments and
crimes. She listens and merely shakes her head, saying, "We 'vited them
to come, didn't we, mother? When we 'vites people, we always feed 'em;
'sides, they're the only ones'll let me put them in my pocket," which is
perfectly true, for having learned this warm abiding-place of much oats
and cracked corn, they follow her in a flock, and a few confiding
spirits allow themselves to be handled.
At the birthday dinner party, arranged by the Infant, a number of these
guests were present. We must have looked a motley crew, in whose company
Old King Cole himself would have been embarrassed, for Bart wore a
wreath of pink asters, while a gigantic sunflower made my head-dress,
and the cake, made and garnished with red and white peppermints, an
American and an Irish flag, by Anastasia, was mounted firmly upon a
miscellaneous mass of flowers, with a superstructure of small yellow
tomatoes, parsley, young carrots, and beets, the colour of these
vegetables having caught the Infant's eye.
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