"BUT" AND "WILL."
FARMER SMITH was fond of birds. When he was young, married and settled in his new house, he planted trees about his home for the birds to live in. He made several pretty cages for the martins. Here and there he put small boxes among the tree-tops to draw certain birds that love to occupy houses that other folks have built.
When boxes failed he would take old oyster cans instead. One day he picked up a leaky glue-pot and tied that on a young elm-tree.
THE HOME OF THE WREN FAMILY.
The next day it was "rented" by a wren. There she continued year after year, taking a vacation in the winter in Florida for her health's sake. She had a way of paying her rent that quite satisfied Farmer Smith, as he never ejected or annoyed her. He probably got his rent in music.
As the years went by, the young elm grew and grew till its top branches seemed almost to touch the sky. It spread, some said, over a half acre nearly.
The glue-pot, or wren's nest, had gone up too, beyond the reach of bad boys that are not happy in seeing birds happy.
One summer, when Mother Wren and Father Wren had gone away on a short visit, the children looked down from the door of their cottage and saw some strangers approaching. Among them was Farmer Smith. He was showing them over the grounds and pointing out this thing and that.