Tommie wondered what he could do with them. They could not go up the chimney, and the old birds would never come down. If he put them in the yard the cat would catch them.
Then Tommie told his mamma that he could carry them to the observatory on the house-top, and got his papa to put them in the chimney. He got a little basket, caught the poor little birds, and put them in it. His mamma tied a handkerchief over the top of the basket to keep the birds in. By noon the sun was out, and Tommie's papa came home to dinner. They went to the observatory, Tommie carrying the basket of "chimney-sweeps."
The little boy held the basket while his papa put the birds in the chimney-top, one at a time. They clung to the bricks and began to cry again.
Tommie was held up to see the little birds, and then they went down stairs, so that the old birds might take care of their little ones and not be frightened.
After Tommie had gone, the mamma and papa birds came up and showed the little ones how to get to their nest again.
One day last summer, down in Texas, there was a fearful storm. It was a windstorm. The wind was so strong that it earned roofs of houses, and such things, a great way.
When it was over, some men set out to follow the track of the storm. One of them told this true story. They thought they might find things that the wind had dropped; and they might find some one hurt and in need of help.
It was near night, and quite dark in the woods, when they heard a cry. They stopped to look heard the cry and then they saw some dark thing up in a tree.
"It is a panther!" said one. "Stand off! I will shoot!"
"No; stop!" said another; "it is not a panther. I will climb up and see what it is."
Up he went; and what do you think he found, lodged in the tree!
A cradle with a dear little baby in it! The fearful wind had blown down the baby's home. It had carried off baby, cradle and all. The cradle was caught by a branch of the high tree.
Then the wind blew against it so hard that the cradle was wedged in a crotch of the tree. It was so fast that the men had to saw away the boughs to get it down.
There was the dear baby, all safe and sound, in its cradle nest No one knew where the baby's friends were, or where its home had been. The men carried it to their home, and a kind woman took care of it.