Two years passed on, and peace and quiet were again restored to France. The duke and his family were permitted to return to his castle, and the government made him ample reparation for all the losses that he had incurred. They took with them their little canary bird, which had lost none of its sweet notes by the lapse of time.
One day a magnificent new piano arrived from Paris, and after tea the duke said,—
“Now we will try the piano in our own quiet home. What shall we sing?” asked he.
The duchess, and Carl, and Lillie all answered with one voice,—
“We must sing our bird song.”
“Take courage, bird;
Our Father says,
In winter’s storms
And summer’s rays
You have no barns,
You sow no wheat,
But God will give you bread to eat.”
THE SHEEP AND THE GOAT.
NOT all the streets that London builds
Can hide the sky and sun,
Shut out the winds from o’er the fields,
Or quench the scent the hay swath yields
All night, when work is done.
And here and there an open spot
Lies bare to light and dark,
Where grass receives the wanderer hot,
Where trees are growing, houses not;
One is the Regent’s Park.