director said he had the house of correction
decline, and indeed it was so. The poor thing
coughed and groaned all night. Spring came,
and I thought him saved, when the month of
May brought with it much cold. The bird had
lost almost all his feathers, and must have felt
cold; but he was always sitting in the water
as if he would quench an inward fire. One
morning, when I came from the yard, I found
him dead. I would not bury my friend in a
gaol, but wrapped him in moss and laid him
in a box, which I sent to Frankfort, where he
slept by the side of a faithful dog.

When my wife came, in the summer, she
brought with her two other canary birds, a
male and female. They were selected from
among a great many pairs with great care,
and were very beautiful. The golden yellow
male was named by me "Hans," and his
little wife, who had a beautiful crown, and
was a first-rate beauty, was called, after a
fair friend, "Fritzchen." These two
companions were a source of lasting joy and
comfort. To observe them, and to become
acquainted with all their little particularities,
was an amusement of which I never tired;
and if the dark spirit threatened to possess
me, the warbling of my little David smoothed
my brow.

I had now friends near me to love, to
observe, to care for, and to nurse. What a
pleasure when they began to build a nest!
When it was finished, there came nice little
eggs, and Fritzchen sat upon them, sneezing
in a small way quite softly, which I never
had heard yet of female birds, and which
they only do in expectation of the mother's
joys. Hans often inspected his treasure, and
both then sat upon the brim of the nest,
chatting tenderly.

When I could reasonably expect young
birds, I looked every morning in the nest, while
the young mother was away for a moment to
drink, to make a hurried toilet, or to nibble a
few dainties which honest Sebastian the
overseer had brought. At last my hope was fulfilled,
and I saw the young bird earlier than its
own mother. The egg was burst just in the
middle, and between the two hollows moved
a little thing with a head as big as the body.
When the mother came back to the nest, she
took one of the egg-halves into her beak, and
flew with it upon the other cage, where Hans
was sitting. When he had seen the eggshell,
she dropped it, and both flew to the
nest, where the father with evident pleasure
looked at his first-born. Then was there for
a time much soft chatting and billing, and
then Fritzchen nestled happily upon their
new-born. No king could have more pleasure
than I had in observing the joy of my little
birds.

When the hen sits upon her nest, the male
must feed her; for, if she were to go away
for food, the eggs would become cold. This
feeding seems a great amusement to them
both; and if they are very sociable during
their courtship, the hen always flutters with
her wings, and begs food, which her lord and
master gives her playingly. The feeding of
the young ones also is the business of the
father, as long as they are in the nest; and I
have often seen Hans pushing aside his little
wife when she has offered to meddle with his
duties.

Hans became very tame, and learned
various tricks. I laid him upon his back
and he must lie still, as if he was dead. I
could take him by both his wings, by one
wing, or by his tail or feet, without his giving
a sign of life. His little head hung down, and
you would have thought him dead, but for
his dark little roguish eyes, which he would
never shut. Sometimes I made a tube of
paper, and loaded him in it, as if he were the ball
in a pistol, as I had seen done by jugglers. At
first he tried to escape me, and I always had
trouble to catch him again; therefore I made
and fastened to his foot a little tongue of soft
leather, like the shoe of a falcon. When the
poor fellow saw himself thus fettered, he laid
himself upon his back, and played through
all his little tricks unbidden. I could not find
it in my heart to fetter him again.

The two finest of my three young birds I
lost. They were very wild, and, in playing, they
ran against the cage, fell down, and broke
their necks. The youngest one was never
flurried. If there was some bird of prey seen
through the window, and his father warned,
the little clever thing looked needfully about
before it flew through the door of the cage.
If it had not done so, it would not have been
here in London now, while I write,
attentively examining my paper.

Hans made a trip into the world, but the
poor fellow came badly off. Every Saturday
I cleaned my window, and it was always a
great pleasure to me, for then I stood upon
a step inside my cell, and could look far into
the country. Only once, I was led, after
much entreating, by an overseer into the
schoolroom: from the windows of which I
could look upon the town and the delicious
landscape. I enjoyed the sight for five
minutes only; but it was one of the greatest
pleasures I had in all these six years. When
I was cleaning my window once, Hans got
out of his cage and came to me, fluttered a
little, amazed by the open air, and, before I
could close the window, flew through it and
directly over the roof of the house. What
hours of anxiety were those that followed!
But it was summer time, and he would
not perish of the weather.

I was not to lose the father of my little
family. Having seen enough of the world
in an hour or so, he sat down upon the wall
near the sentry, and there sang. The soldier
tried to catch him with his helmet, but
failed. The bird, who was used to be caught,
did not fly away, and when the soldier tried to
catch him with his hands he succeeded. It
was a Baden soldier, and he knew that the