"Ay, love it; 'tis a sister that will bless, And teach thee patience when the heart is lonely; 'Sigh for it;-clasp it when 'tis in thy way! Thy parents bent to it, and more than they; "Some boast its presence in a Grecian face; Then seek it everywhere. "Thy bosom is its merit, the workmen are Thy thoughts, and they must coin for thee: believing The beautiful exists in every star, Thou mak'st it so; and art thyself deceiving, "Thou seest Beauty in the violet's cup; I'll teach thee miracles! Walk on this heath, "One thing I warn thee: bow no knee to gold; Less innocent it makes the guileless tongue, It turns the feelings prematurely old; And they who keep their best affections young, CHAPTER IX. OUR CINNAMONS. HE first cinnamon, or fawn-coloured canary we ever saw, was one in the old bird-fancier's cage who stood in the market at the time of our visit recorded in our second chapter. At that time we had not yet formed any definite idea in our minds as to breeding, or indeed of having an aviary at all. But now this had taken place, and become as the French say un fait accompli, we sorely regretted the opportunity we had missed in not making a purchase. As our plan of operations developed itself, and breeds of different localities and countries, as well as varieties of colour, were decided upon, we sighed to think that we might never have such a chance again. Weeks and months passed on without our seeing anything of the kind, when, calling one day at Mr. M-'s shop, what should we see in a cage just brought in by a countryman for sale, but the very bird we had let slip in the market some months before! Here was a piece of good luck, I thought, which could never have been expected! Unfortunately, however, Mr. M- was out of town, and the stranger had only contingently offered the birds for sale in a lot, and had now departed. As he was an entire stranger, and they knew neither his name nor address, I left word with the man in charge of the shop to be sure and tell Mr. M to buy the cinnamon bird specially for me. The next day we all went down to look at this charming bird again, and highly delighted we all were at the thought she would soon be our own, as we did not doubt about easily coming to terms as to her price. The day following Mr. M― had returned, but the owner of the birds had not been. Saturday, and he was sure to come, when our fondest wishes would be realised! Judge then of our disappointment when, on calling the first thing on Monday morning, we heard that Mr. M- had not been able to comply with our wishes, as the man insisted that all his birds were cocks, whereas Mr. M— considered them to be all hens, which made a considerable difference in their value! The worst of it was the man was quite a stranger to Mr. M― also, who knew not who he was, or where he came from, and now the birds were gone, and our much coveted cinnamon was, to all appearance, a second time, if not for ever, again beyond our reach! Great was the lamentation over this mishap; Mr. M— tried to console our chagrin by telling us the bird would have done us no good, as it had been kept in too warm a place, and was already beginning to moult, and consequently would not breed this season. No doubt what he said was in some measure true, but we felt it was but sorry comfort after all. We had set our hearts upon having so rare and beautiful a specimen of canaria, and just as we thought we had secured the prize there came the unexpected "slip betwixt the cup and the lip!" Time passed on, but instead of bringing balm to our wounded feelings, it rather increased our grief. The more we thought about the matter, the more beautiful |