murderer!" said the policeman, harshly.

"I know," she replied, in a sweet voice; "but he is blind."

"Well, fly along," said her husband; "but hurry back again."

And the robin-redbreast and his wife filled a cup-shaped flower with
water from the brook, and then carried it in their bills to the
pine-tree, without spilling a drop.

"Where are you going?" asked the oriole, as they passed.

"We're just taking some water to Jim Crow," replied Mrs. Robin.

"He's a thief and a scoundrel!" cried the oriole, indignantly.

"That is true." said Mrs. Robin, in a soft, pitiful voice; "but he is
blind."

"Let me help you." exclaimed the oriole. "I'll carry this side of the
cup, so it can't tip."

So Jim Crow, blind and helpless, sat in his nest day after day and week
after week, while the little birds he had so cruelly wronged brought him
food and water and cared for him as generously as they could.

And I wonder what his thoughts were--don't you?

PRAIRIE-DOG TOWN

PRARIE-DOG TOWN

List of Chapters PAGE
I The Picnic...........................137
II Prairie-Dog Town.....................145
III Mr. Bowko, the Mayor.................150
IV Presto Digi, the Magician............158
V The Home of the Puff-Pudgys..........166
VI Teenty and Weenty....................174
VII The Mayor Gives a Luncheon...........181
VIII On Top of the Earth Again............189

Chapter I
The Picnic

ON the great western prairies of Dakota is a little town called Edgeley,
because it is on the edge of civilization--a very big word which means
some folks have found a better way to live than other folks. The Edgeley
people have a good way to live, for there are almost seventeen wooden
houses there, and among them is a school-house, a church, a store and a
blacksmith-shop. If people walked out their front doors they were upon
the little street; if they walked out the back doors they were on the
broad prairies. That was why Twinkle, who was a farmer's little girl,
lived so near the town that she could easily walk to school.

She was a pretty, rosy-cheeked little thing, with long, fluffy hair, and
big round eyes that everybody smiled into when they saw them. It was
hard to keep that fluffy hair from getting tangled; so mamma used to tie
it in the back with a big, broad ribbon. And Twinkle wore calico slips
for school days and gingham dresses when