She said that a bad-tempered housemaid, in cleaning the cage that
morning, had gotten angry with the bird and struck it, breaking its leg.
She was very much annoyed with the girl for her cruelty, and had
dismissed her, and now she wanted Carl to take her bird and nurse it, as
she knew nothing about canaries.
Carl had just come in from school. He threw down his books, took the
shawl from the cage and looked in. The poor little canary was sitting in
a corner. It eyes were half shut, one leg hung loose, and it was making
faint chirps of distress.
Carl was very much interested in it. He got Mrs. Montague to help him,
and together they split matches, tore up strips of muslin, and bandaged
the broken leg. He put the little bird back in the cage, and it seemed
more comfortable "I think he will do now," he said to Mrs. Montague,
"but hadn't you better leave him with me for a few days?"
She gladly agreed to this and went away, after telling him that the
bird's name was Dick.
The next morning at the breakfast table, I heard Carl telling his mother
that as soon as he woke up he sprang out of bed and went to see how his
canary was.
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