The little bird wouldn't budge.
The parent birds knew it was time for him to learn, so they pushed the foolish little fellow out of the nest, and watched him spread his wings, and flutter to the ground. There he found more courage, and after a while he flew up to join his brothers on the tree.
"I was sitting at my window," Mother told Johnnie Jones, "and saw it all happen. Of course I can't understand the language of birds, and I am not sure I have repeated exactly what the parent birds said to the babies, or what the babies said to each other, but only what they seemed to say. Anyway, everything happened as I have told you."
"Soon the babies could fly nearly as well and as far as the old birds, and after that the little nest was left quite empty, rocked by the wind in the old tree top."
The Coming of Little Brother
Almost all of the children who attended the kindergarten where Johnnie Jones spent his mornings, had a baby brother or sister at home. They spoke of "their babies" so often and enjoyed so much making presents to take them, that Johnnie Jones wished for a baby at his house, and talked to Mother about it.
One night, Mother said she had a secret to tell him. He was glad, for he liked to have secrets with Mother, who told him a great many, because he could keep them so well.
"It is the most beautiful secret in all the world," Mother said. "Spring-time is coming very fast, and next month, when the trees and the flowers wake up because winter is over and gone, a dear little baby is coming to live with us."