ARTHUR SCOTT BAILEY

Author of
"Sleepy-Time Tales"
(Registered Trademark)

Illustrated by Harry L. Smith

New York
Grosset & Dunlap
Publishers

Made in the United States of America

Copyright, 1917, by
Grosset & Dunlap

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

I. A PLEASANT HOME 1

II. JOHNNIE GREEN'S IDEA 6

III. THE ALARM CLOCK 11

IV. RUSTY IS JEALOUS 16

V. THE NEW BIRD 21

VI. MR. CROW TO THE RESCUE 27

VII. A NEAT HOUSEKEEPER 33

VIII. RUSTY IN TROUBLE 38

IX. ALL'S WELL AGAIN 42

X. BAD NEWS 47

XI. THE NOISE ON THE ROOF 52

XII. THE UNWELCOME VISITOR 57

XIII. BOY WANTED! 62

XIV. TOO MANY CALLERS 67

XV. MR. CHIPPY'S SON 72

XVI. THE ACCIDENT 77

XVII. HELP! HELP! 82

XVIII. THE PUZZLE 87

XIX. A FRIEND, INDEED 92

XX. AN INVITATION 99

XXI. OFF TO BLACK CREEK 104

XXII. THE FORGOTTEN GUEST 109

XXIII. A STRANGE MISTAKE 114

THE TALE OF RUSTY WREN

I

A PLEASANT HOME

Now, Rusty Wren had found--and shown to his wife--a hollow apple
tree and a hole in a fence-rail, either of which he thought would
make a pleasant place in which to live.

But since the little couple were _house wrens_, Rusty's wife said
she thought that they oughtn't to be so far from the farmhouse.

"Why not build our nest behind one of the shutters?" she
suggested.

But Rusty shook his head quickly--and with decision.

"That won't do," said he. "Somebody might come to the window and
close the shutter; and then our nest would fall to the ground. And
if we happened to have six or eight eggs in it, you know you
wouldn't like that very well."

Rusty's wife agreed with him on that point. But she still insisted
that she wanted to live near the farmhouse; and she said that she
expected her husband to find a good spot for their nest, for she
certainly wasn't going to spend the summer in a hole in a
fence-rail, or in an old apple tree, either.

Rusty Wren saw at once that there was no sense in arguing with her.
If he wanted any peace, he knew that he might as well forget the
old hollow apple tree and the hole in the fence-rail