The Nest in the Honeysuckles

Nest in the Honeysuckles, The

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Title: The Nest in the Honeysuckles, and other Stories
Author: Various
Editor: American Sunday School Union
Release Date: July 2, 2005 [EBook #16185]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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Frontispiece.
[Illustration: Mrs. Dudley stood by her little boy, looking from the window.]

THE
Nest in the Honeysuckles,
AND OTHER STORIES.
[Illustration]
WRITTEN FOR THE AMERICAN SUNDAY-SCHOOL UNION.
Philadelphia: AMERICAN SUNDAY-SCHOOL UNION, No. 316 CHESTNUT STREET. _NEW YORK:_ No. 147 NASSAU ST. _BOSTON:_ No. 9 CORNHILL...._CINCINNATI:_ 41 WEST FOURTH ST. _LOUISVILLE_: No. 103 FOURTH ST.
_Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1855, by the AMERICAN SUNDAY-SCHOOL UNION, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania._
* * * * *
No books are published by the AMERICAN SUNDAY-SCHOOL UNION _without the sanction of the Committee of Publication, consisting of fourteen members, from the following denominations of Christians, viz. Baptist, Methodist, Congregational, Episcopal, Presbyterian, Lutheran, and Reformed Dutch. Not more than three of the members can be of the same denomination, and no book can be published to which any member of the Committee shall object._

CONTENTS.
PAGE
THE NEST IN THE HONEYSUCKLES. 7
"MAY I POP SOME CORN?" 33
"WHICH WOULD YOU RATHER I SHOULD DO?" 36
THE BIRDS AND THE SNOW-STORM. 40
THE FIRST STRAWBERRY. 43
"I PRAYED ALL DAY FOR HELP." 44
"EVER SO MANY BEAUTIFUL THINGS." 47
LILY AND HER DUCKLINGS. 51
PRAYING FOR RAIN. 56
THE GRAPE CLUSTERS. 62
"IT ALMOST MAKES ME CRY." 65
THE BOY WHO STEALS. 68
LOOK AT THE BIRDS. 73
THE LOST CHILD. 78
THE UNPLEASANT NEIGHBOUR. 83
THE BOY WHO KEPT HIS PURPOSE. 87
MARY'S STORY. 91
THE SUNNY FACE AND THE SHADY FACE; OR, JUNE AND NOVEMBER. 93
"IT ISN'T FAIR--I PEEPED." 96
THE CHRYSALIS. 99
CHRISTMAS AT THE COTTAGE. 102
I WILL CONQUER MYSELF. 106
SELFISH ELLA. 110
"OUR FATHER WHO ART IN HEAVEN." 114
HATTIE AND HERBERT. 117
THE TWO WILLS. 119
"BLESS GOD FOR THIS DOLL." 122
BESSIE HARTWELL. 126
"MARY'S GREAT TREASURE." 131
"SUSAN WILL BE HAPPIER IF I GO WITH HER." 133
THE NEWS-BOYS' BANK. 135
IDA'S DRESS. 144
WHAT MADE WILLIE HAPPY. 148
DO YOU INTEND TO BE A GENTLEMAN? (A QUESTION FOR BOYS.) 150
GENEROUS NELLY; OR, THE WILLING MIND. 153
LOVEST THOU ME? 155
MY LITTLE BAG. 158
DO YOU LIKE YOUR SEAT? 160
THE LITTLE BEGGAR. 164
LITTLE CHARLEY. 170
DARLING WILLIE. 173
WIDOW CAHOON AND HER GRANDSON. 178

THE
NEST IN THE HONEYSUCKLES.

CHAPTER I.
[Illustration]
"Do come here, mother," said Eddie, carefully tip-toeing from the window, and beckoning with his hand. "Here is something I want to show you. Come carefully, or I am afraid you will frighten it."
Mrs. Dudley laid aside her book, and stepped cautiously forward, Eddie leading the way back to the window. "What is it?" she inquired.
"It is a bird with straw in its mouth, and I do believe it is going to build a nest."
Mrs. Dudley stood by her little boy a few minutes, looking from the window. Presently a robin alighted on the walnut tree, directly before them, with a bunch of dry grass in its mouth. It rested a few seconds, and then flew in among the branches of a honeysuckle which twined around the pillars, and crept over the top of the porch. A fine, warm place it was for a nest, sheltered from the north winds, and from the driving rains, and from the hot rays of the noon-day sun.
Eddie and his mother watched the bird for some time. It would bring straws, and arrange them in its nest, as only a bird can; and then it would away again, and come back, perhaps, with its bill covered and filled with mud, which it used for mortar in fastening the materials in their places. Then it would get in the nest, and, moving its feet and wings, would make it just the right shape to hold the pretty eggs she would lay in it, and the little robins she would love so well, and feed so carefully.
The robin was industrious, and worked hard to get the house finished in season. I think she must have been very tired when night came, and she flew away to her perch to rest till morning. I do not see how she could balance herself so nicely on one foot, as she slept with her head turned back, and half-hidden beneath her wing.
Eddie often watched the robin during the day. He was careful not to frighten it. "I wonder how the robin could find so nice a place. I should not have thought it would have known about it,"--he said to his mother, as