 
1. 'Mother,' cried Harry, running in one day, 'Jack Denny says he shoots sparrows!' 'I am very sorry to hear it. Why does he shoot them?' '"They steal fruit and corn," he says. He wanted me to throw stones at them!' 2. 'Well, you can tell him about some silly men who killed the sparrows and other birds, and the next year their fruit and corn were eaten up by grubs. Even the leaves on the trees were eaten.' 3. 'Is this true?' 'Quite true. They had to send for little birds from other places to live in their fields and gardens. Do you know that a sparrow kills four thousand grubs in one day when her babies are in the nest? 4. 'One wise man who grows fruit says 5. 'He loves to see sparrows in an apple-tree in blossom-time; he knows they are saving the apples for him.' 'But Jack says he has seen them pecking at fruit.' 6. 'Yes, they like fruit, just as you and I do. But there would be no fruit at all, if the birds did not eat the grubs. 7. 'The man I was telling you about puts nets over his trees when the fruit begins to ripen. And I heard only the other day that it is a good plan to put pans of clean fresh water close to the trees and bushes. Then the birds will not go so often to the fruit. They are thirsty and hot, poor things! 8. 'And there would be no corn, if the birds did not kill the wheat-fly's grubs.' 9. When Harry heard all this, he made up his mind not to throw stones at the sparrows, as Jack wanted him to do. |
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