The most common food given to parrots is hempsecd, corn and crackers, of which they are extremely fond. Some parrots are brought up on black coffee instead of water, while others never drink, but simply eat bread or cracker soaked in water, the moisture of which is sufficient to satisfy their thirst. Canary seed is the chief food for • parroquets, though some will eat hempseed and unhulled rice (Paddy) in addition to canary seed. Mocking-birds. — In purchasing a mocking-bird a nestling is pre- 348 THE hearthstone; or, life at home. ferable to one trapped, from the fact of its being the tamest of the two. It feels also more contented in its cage, and soon becomes very docile and greatly attached to mankind. The prepared food sold by bird dealers is the best, and, by way of a change, a small quantity of ants' eggs soaked in water. About one meal-worm a day will greatly promote the song of a bird. Grasshoppers and spiders should only be given to such birds as the mocker, thrush, starling or black- bird, or to birds of that size. Small birds not being able always to digest them, they are apt to bring on disease. Fine gravel mixed with beach sand for the bottom of the cage is preferable to gravel alone. All soft-billed birds require spacious cages, as they are generally more active and swifter than seed-eatincf birds. ■ THE MOTHER IN THE HOME. " I know thou art gone where thy forehead is starred With the beauty that dwelt in thy soul, Where the hght of thy loveliness cannot be marred. Nor thy spirit flung back from its goal." ^HE bravest woman I ever knew, and by brave I mean that steady courage that could not be stampeded — that led its possessor to make the long pull and the steady pull and to be as unflinching at the last as at the first of a trial — was the mother of several children and the wife of a man too unlike her to know her character any betteir at the end of her life than he did when he married her. She was a type of woman rare it is true, but not so rare that the generality of my readers will not find in her portrait a likeness to some friend or acquaintance. At the time of which I write her hus- band had been unfortunate, and the family had been compelled to remove from the city where they had lived to a small farm they owned several miles away. Not one of the children but felt they would be exiled from all the delights of life, and so expressed them- selves. The mother met the change quietly, saying it would benefit the children to be in the country for a while, and that she saw good in what was considered an evil. And, indeed, she saw good in every- thing; it was one of her characteristics. She pictured the beauties of hillside and of dale, and recounted the pleasures she had known as a child in the country. To the sons she talked of the fishing, the horses and the dogs they would have, and to the daughters she promised flowers, picnics and the companionship of their friends when the place was all fixed up. " Fixing-up " was a work that no (349) 350 THE hearthstone; or, life at home.

AI-modernized reading of the original text

The most common food given to parrots is hempsecd, corn and crackers, of which they are extremely fond. Some parrots are brought up on black coffee instead of water, while others never drink, but simply eat bread or cracker soaked in water, the moisture of which is sufficient to satisfy their thirst. Canary seed is the chief food for • parroquets, though some will eat hempseed and unhulled rice (Paddy) in addition to canary seed. Mocking-birds. — In purchasing a mocking-bird a nestling is pre- 348 THE hearthstone; or, life at home. ferable to one trapped, from the fact of its being the tamest of the two. It feels also more contented in its cage, and soon becomes very docile and greatly attached to mankind. The prepared food sold by bird dealers is the best, and, by way of a change, a small quantity of ants' eggs soaked in water. About one meal-worm a day will greatly promote the song of a bird. Grasshoppers and spiders should only be given to such birds as the mocker, thrush, starling or blackbird, or to birds of that size. Small birds not being able always to digest them, they are apt to bring on disease. Fine gravel mixed with beach sand for the bottom of the cage is preferable to gravel alone. All soft-billed birds require spacious cages, as they are generally more active and swifter than seed-eatincf birds. ■ THE MOTHER IN THE HOME. " I know thou art gone where thy forehead is starred With the beauty that dwelt in thy soul, Where the hght of thy loveliness cannot be marred. Nor thy spirit flung back from its goal." ^HE bravest woman I ever knew, and by brave I mean that steady courage that could not be stampeded — that led its possessor to make the long pull and the steady pull and to be as unflinching at the last as at the first of a trial — was the mother of several children and the wife of a man too unlike her to know her character any better at the end of her life than he did when he married her. She was a type of woman rare it is true, but not so rare that the generality of my readers will not find in her portrait a likeness to some friend or acquaintance. At the time of which I write her husband had been unfortunate, and the family had been compelled to remove from the city where they had lived to a small farm they owned several miles away. Not one of the children but felt they would be exiled from all the delights of life, and so expressed themselves. The mother met the change quietly, saying it would benefit the children to be in the country for a while, and that she saw good in what was considered an evil. And, indeed, she saw good in everything; it was one of her characteristics. She pictured the beauties of hillside and of dale, and recounted the pleasures she had known as a child in the country. To the sons she talked of the fishing, the horses and the dogs they would have, and to the daughters she promised flowers, picnics and the companionship of their friends when the place was all fixed up. " Fixing-up " was a work that no (349) 350 THE hearthstone; or, life at home.

The hearthstone; or, Life at home