somest and proudest "pouters"
and "tumblers" and "fan-tails" will not willingly come and strut and
coo about them as long as they receive good treatment and plenty of
food.

But apart from the pleasure and profit which these beautiful birds
ordinarily afford to their owners, some of them--the carriers--are
often of the greatest value, and perform important business that would
have to be left undone if it were not for them. The late war in France
has fully proved this. I remember hearing persons say that now, since
telegraph lines had become so common, they supposed carrier-pigeons
would no longer be held in esteem, and that the breed would be
suffered to die out.

[Illustration]

But that is a mistake. There are times, especially during wars, when
telegraphic and railroad lines are utterly useless, and then the
carrier-pigeon remains master of the situation.

The doves are such near relations of the pigeons that we might suppose
they would resemble them in their character as much as in appearance.
But they are not very much alike. Doves are not ambitious; they don't
pout, or tumble, or have fan-tails. As to carrying messages, or doing
anything to give themselves renown, they never think of it. They are
content to be affectionate and happy.

And that is a great deal. If they did nothing all their lives but set
examples to children (and to their parents also, sometimes), the doves
would be among our most useful little birds.

[Illustration]

I suppose we all have some friends whom we are always glad to see,
even if they are of no particular service to us. And this is right; we
should not value people's society in exact proportion to what we think
we can get out of them. Now, the swan is a feathered friend, and a
good one, but I must say he is of very little practical use to us. But
there is something more to be desired than victuals, clothes,
feather-beds, and Easter-eggs. We should love the beautiful as well as
the useful. Not so much, to be sure, but still very much. The boy or
man who despises a rose because it is not a cabbage is much more
nearly related to the cows and hogs than he imagines. If we accustom
ourselves to look for beauty, and enjoy it, we will find it, after
awhile, where we never supposed it existed--in the caterpillar, for
instance, and in the snakes. There is beauty as well as practical
value in almost everything around us, and we are not the lords of
creation that we suppose we are, unless