"'No,' said Naomi, 'we don't wear birds any more in our family. My
sister and I used to have our hats trimmed with them, but we've quit.
I had a lovely one on my blue velvet hat last year. It was a beautiful
hat," and she smiled at the recollection. 'But we've quit now,' she
added gravely.
"'Why?' asked the other girls in a breath.
"'Oh, because my mother thinks it is wrong to wear them. Little boy,
little boy, be careful or you'll let the bird out,' she called hastily.
"But the warning was too late. While the girls had been talking the
small boy who was with them had been entertaining himself by slightly
opening my cage door and letting it spring back to its fastening.
Suddenly he was seized with fright at discovering that it had stuck
while half-way back, and refused to come together.
"Oh, dear!' he called. 'He's out.'
"'Mercy on us! Oh, dear!' screamed the girls as I made a dash through
the opening, and flew to the top of a picture frame. 'Johnny, Johnny,
your redbird's out,' they called.
"All was confusion in an instant. Boys and girls ran hither and
thither, tumbling over each other, and over the chairs and stools, and
all talking and screaming at once.
"'Bring a broom or a flagpole, Johnny,' called Philip. 'I'll shoo him
down for you while you stand underneath and catch him.
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