her head
in her lap, and she soon fell asleep. Just as the minister sat down,
after finishing his sermon, Fanny turned restlessly, and said, "poor,
dear little birdie." The church was so still, that though she spoke
low, she was heard all around. It made the children smile, but Frank
blushed, and felt almost as badly as his grandmother did. She woke
Fanny up, and soon after service was over, and they walked slowly home
again. Then Frank and herself sang little hymns, and read their
Sabbath school books until sundown, when their grandmother gave them
permission to walk in the garden. They talked a great deal about the
bird. Frank said he would make a coffin for it, and Fanny picked
mullen leaves to wrap around it.

The next morning they woke up very early, and Frank nailed some pieces
of shingles together, and Fanny folded the leaves about the bird, and
laid it in. Then she picked rose buds, and put them around, and every
thing was prepared for the little bird's funeral.

But their grandmother said there was too much dew on the grass for
them to go down through the meadows that morning; so they borrowed a
piece of black cambric from Sally, and spread it over the little box,
which they called the coffin; and Frank darkened the windows, as he
remembered they had done when his mother died. Then they left the bird
alone, and went down stairs to breakfast, after which they studied
their lessons until school time.

At school, they looked very solemn all the forenoon. Their teacher
noticed it, and asked Fanny what was the matter.

"We are going to a bird's funeral, Miss Norton," said Fanny, "and we
feel very afflicted." The teacher had to bite her lips to keep from
smiling. Frank noticed it, and said,

"It was Sally, Miss Norton, that put that into Fanny's head; but we
have reason to feel badly, for if it had not been for us, the little
bird would have been alive now."

When they had told Miss Norton about it, she said that she did not
wonder that they should feel bad, and the children saw that they had
her sympathy also.

At noon, their grandmother thought there would scarcely be time for
them to go down to the woods, and back, between dinner and school
time; so the funeral was again postponed.

But after school was out in the afternoon, the children hastened home,
and bearing the little box, still covered with the black cambric, they
walked slowly down through the meadows, stopping just at the edge of
the woods, a