217] TO THE LITTLE BIRDS. 9 it so carelessly, that it was evident he cared very little for his poor prisoners. Louisa, who could not bear to see the pretty little creatures used so roughly, asked the boy what he was going to do with those birds. The boy replied that he would sell them if he could, but if he could not, his cat should have a dainty meal of them, and they would not be the first she had munched alive. “ O fie,” said Louisa, “give them to your cat! What, suffer such innocent things as those to he killed by the merciless talons of a cat?” “Even so,” said the boy, and, giving the cage a careless swing that tumbled the poor birds one over another, off he was setting, when Louisa called him back, and asked him what he would have for his birds. “ I will sell them,” said he, “ three for a penny, and there are eighteen of them.” Louisa struck the bargain, and ran to beg the money of her papa, who not only cheerfully gave her the money, but allowed her an empty room for the reception of her little captives. The boy, having thus found so good a market for his birds, told all his companions of it; so that, in a few hours, Louisa’s yard was so filled with little bird-merchants, that you would have supposed it to be a bird market. How
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