FLEET WING AND SWEET VOICE
MOTTO FOR THE MOTHER
Make the home-coming sweet!
The gladness of going,
The pleasure of knowing
Will not be complete
Unless, at the ending,
The home-coming's sweet.
Make the home-coming sweet!
No fear of the straying,
Or dread of the staying
Of dear little feet,
If always you're making
The home-coming sweet.
Mother and Father Pigeon lived with their two young pigeons in their home, built high on a post in the king's barnyard. Every bright morning they would fly away through the beautiful sunshine wherever they pleased, but, when evening came, they were sure to come to the pigeon-house again.
One evening, when they were talking together in their sweet, cooing way, Mother Pigeon said:—
"We each have a story to tell, I know; so let each one take his turn, and Father Pigeon begin."
Then Father Pigeon said:—
"To-day I have been down to the shining little stream that runs through the wood. The green ferns grow on either side of it, and the water is cool, cool, cool! for I dipped my feet into it, and wished that you all were there."
"I know the stream," cooed Mother Pigeon. "It turns the wheels of the mills as it hurries along, and is busy all day on its way to the river."