"What work did you do out of school hours?" asked Hans. The boy was thinking of the toys he had to carve.
"My mother raised canary-birds, and I used to help her a great deal. Nearly every woman in the village was busy at the same work. What concerts we did have in those days! Mother tended every young bird she raised with the greatest care. Would it become a good singer and bring a fair price? We waited anxiously for the first notes, and then watched to see how the voices gained in strength and sweetness.
"It was a pleasant life, and I was very happy among the birds in our little village. Would you like to hear a song I used to sing at that time? It is all about the birds and bees and flowers."
"Do sing it for us," cried every one.
Herr Abel had a good voice and they listened with pleasure to his song. This is the first stanza:
"I have been on the mountain
That the song-birds love best.
They were sitting, were flitting,
They were building their nest.
They were sitting, were flitting,
They were building their nest."
After he had finished, he told about the mines in which some of his friends worked. It was a hard life, with no bright sunlight to cheer the men in those deep, dark caverns underground.
"Of course you all know that the deepest mine in the world is in the Hartz Mountains."
His friends nodded their heads, while Hans whispered to Bertha, "I should like to go down in that mine just for the sake of saying I have been as far into the earth as any living person."
"The sun is setting, and there is a chill in the air," said Bertha's father. "Let us go home."