FIVE LITTLE SPARROWS.
Five little sparrows sitting in a row
Under a bench, in the darkness and the snow,
Homeless and cold in the lonesome city square:
What are the little birdies doing there?
Huddled up close in a wretched little heap,
Uttering only a soft and plaintive "cheep,"
Crowding together to keep each other warm,—
Poor little birdies hiding from the storm!
Up in the tree-boughs, high above their heads,
Are their pretty houses with straw and feather-beds:
Why do the birdies leave their shelter warm
To cuddle on a snow-bank, and shiver in the storm?
But, in the morning when the sun came out,
Then we could see how the trouble came about:
Several saucy squirrels, the very day before,
Had moved into their houses, and turned them out of door!
ELIZABETH AKERS ALLEN.
