thed noisy, boisterous people. And he disliked loud
clothes, too--no matter who wore them. He had even been known to speak
in a slighting way of his cousin, Jolly Robin, not only because he was
so sprightly and cheerful, but because he always wore a red waistcoat.

The Hermit himself clung to more sober colors. His coat was olive-brown,
his tail somewhat paler in hue, and his waistcoat of quite a light
shade, spotted with black.

As a rule he had little to say to his neighbors. But soon after Bobby
Bobolink came to the swamp to live the Hermit began to talk more freely.
He began to make complaints, saying that he had chosen Cedar Swamp as a
quiet place to live and it was upsetting to him to have any one as
harum-scarum as Bobby Bobolink settle in the neighborhood.

And one day the Hermit even spoke to Bobby Bobolink himself and took him
to task, although nobody had introduced Bobby to him. And generally the
Hermit wouldn't speak to anybody who hadn't made his acquaintance like
that.

"Young man!" said the Hermit solemnly, when he chanced to meet the
newcomer near the thicket where the Hermit lived, "I'm going to give
you a bit of advice. I'm going to warn you that if you don't behave
differently you'll come to some bad end."

Now, Bobby Bobolink supposed that of course the speaker was only joking.
He knew that some people could joke when they wore a long face. So he
laughed heartily. And thinking what a jolly chap the stranger in the
spotted waistcoat was, he began to sing.

"There you go!" the Hermit exclaimed as a look of pain crossed his
refined face. "You can't even keep still long enough to hear a little
valuable advice. Do stop that annoying noise of yours and listen to
what I have to say!"

Bobby Bobolink was so surprised to hear anybody speak in such a way of
his singing that he broke right off in the middle of a note, making a
squeaky sound that caused the Hermit to shudder.

"Now try to control yourself," said the Hermit. "And if you can only
learn to stop making that jingling, jangling music perhaps you'll be
able to save yourself from a sad fate."

Bobby Bobolink stared at the Hermit as if he couldn't believe what his
own ears told him.

"What are you talking about?" he demanded.

With great care the Hermit flicked a bit of moss off his waistcoat
before answering. And then he said, "Don't you know that some day when
you're in the midst of a frenzy of song you're going to explode? And
then there