The image he saw was that of two rather ragged, untidy-looking birds; but he knew it was a reflection of himself and his brother, and he thought it was about as beautiful as anything that could be imagined.
"There! that is what I call a good-looking bird; not too young, nor yet too old; a good-shaped head, delicate feet, and a coat that will be just about perfect after I get through moulting."
Then the two looked at the reflections very critically, seeing points of beauty in each that had never even been suspected by their mother, and praising themselves and each other until the flowers almost hung their heads in shame that their cousins the birds could be so vain. If they had thought they saw the image of any one but themselves, they would very soon have discovered that the tails were not as long or broad as they should have been, that the wings were ragged-looking because of the pin-feathers, that they were untidy, and a dozen other glaring faults; but as it was, they thought it was not possible any other birds could be so beautiful.
"I'll tell you what we can do," said the elder, after he had satisfied himself that what made him look cross-eyed was the rippling of the water rather than a personal defect; "we can go over to the city for one day without letting father or mother know anything about it. We will start early, and if we don't create a sensation, I am very much mistaken in my ideas of the world."
Both these young Sparrows knew that it was very wrong for them to go away without their parents' permission; but the desire to show their beautiful figures to the city birds, and see a bit of the world at the same time, caused them to put such an idea out of their minds as far as possible. It was not such a very long journey, and there seemed to be hardly a chance that they would be missed; but even if they were, it was quite certain no one would mistrust where they had gone.
While they were making preparations for the journey—and they had considerable to do in the way of consulting some friends as to the best course to fly, laying by a store of food in order not to be delayed in the start, and attending to their toilets—they said nothing to their parents relative to their desire to live in the city. This pleased their mother greatly, for she hoped they had given up such a foolish idea.
At last everything was in readiness, and making some excuse to their parents, such as that they were going out for berries or on a butterfly-hunt, they started toward the city. It was a much longer journey than they had supposed, for from their home it seemed as if the city was close at hand; but neither of them thought of turning back, even though they were terribly tired.
The younger was in favor of alighting on Broadway, where they could be seen by every one, but the elder was much wiser.
"We will fly to the top of the City Hall, and we shall not have been there many moments before half the Sparrows in town will know of our arrival, and after that I do not fancy we shall have much trouble in making the acquaintance of the most distinguished birds in town."
Therefore they did not stop in their flight until the building in question was reached, although they saw many strange and curious things that they were anxious to investigate.