And who should it be but dear little Marion. And there
too was her aunty, Miss Dorothy, and the professor, and in the parlor I
caught a glimpse of Miss Katie and the colonel. They were having a
pleasant vacation together.
Marion looked inquiringly into the landlady's face. No doubt she was
thinking the mountain birds were very greedy to eat up all the cherries
and not leave one for the poor woman to can.
"Our birds always eat some of our cherries too," she said, "but they
always leave us plenty."
"There were bushels left on our trees," observed the landlady's
daughter. "We had all we wanted, mother. We couldn't possibly have
used the rest if the birds had not eaten them. We had a cellar full of
canned cherries left over from the year before, you remember, and that
is the way it is nearly every year."
"Yes, yes, I know," answered her mother impatiently; "but for all that
I don't believe in letting the birds have everything."
"I never begrudge a bird what it eats," commented the professor. "Of
course you can discourage the birds, drive them off, break up their
nests, starve them out, and have a crop of caterpillars instead of
cherries. But, beg pardon, madam, maybe you don't object to
caterpillars," and he bowed low to the landlady.
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