34 OUR ROBINS.

year a robin has had a nest in that tree. I used to write
to father and inquire about it when I was gone; and
when he wrote to me, in the season of bird-nesting, he
always said something about the robins. So that this
morning, when I heard the robin's note, it seemed to me
like the voice of one of the family."
 "Have you taught your children, Mary," I asked, "to
love birds is well as flowers ?"
 "I belie e it is natural to them," she replied; but, I
suppose, they take more notice of them from seeing how
much I love them. I have not had much to give my
children, for we have had great disappointments in worldly
matters, and have been what are called very poor folks;
so I have been more anxious to give them what little
knowledge I had, and to make them feel that God has
given them a portion in the birds and the flowers, his
good and beautiful creation."
 Mother always says," said Lyman; and there, seeming
to remember that I was a stranger, he stopped. "What
does mother always say?" I asked.
 "She says we can enjoy looking out upon beautiful
prospects, and smelling the flowers, and hearing the birds
sing, just as much as if we could say 'they are mine!'"
 "Well, is it not just so?" said Mrs. Lyman; "has not
our Father in heaven given his children a share in all his
works ? I often think, when I look out upon the beauti-
ful sky, the clear moon, the stars, the sunset clouds, the
dawning day; when I smell the fresh woods and the per-
fumed air; when I hear the birds sing, and my heart is
glad,--I think, after all, that there is not so much difference
in the possessions of the rich and poor as some think:
'God giveth to us all liberally, and withholdeth not.'"
 "Ah !" thought I, "the Bible says truly, 'As a man,
thinketh, so is he.' Here is my friend, a widow and poor,
and with a sickness that she well knows must end in
death; and yet, instead of sorrowing and complaining, she
is cheerful and enjoying those pleasures that all may
enjoy if they will, for the kingdom of nature abounds
with them. Mrs. Bradly was a disciple of Christ; this