THE LITTLE MOURNER.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19780, 29 October 1927, Page 4 (Supplement)

THE LITTLE MOURNER.

"On a bright May morning, when I was a lad of thirteensays a wi iter fn a children's paper, "my father sent me to haw some work don® in a shop about two. miles from home. My paih led through fields ant! woods. In passing through a skirt of timber with thick underbrush, my ears were saluted by the singing of two beautiful little birds in the branches above me, I threw a stone and killed one pf them. I ran and picked it up, looked at its beautiful colours and soft, downy feathers, threw it down, and went on my way. Late in the day, on my return, I was attracted by the pitiful cry of a little mourner where I had killed the bird in the early morning. I halted and looked up, and there was the mate of the bird which lay dead at my feet. It flitted with drooping wings here and there, calling and calling for its companion, from which came no response. "As I looked and listened my heart - grew sad, and I bowed my head and said, 4 I wish I hadn't done it.' I went on home, leaving the little mourner calling in vain, for the innocent sleeper On the ground answered not. " Fifty years have come and gone, and still I can hear the cry of that little bird mourning for its lost mate. That cry has lingered with me all these years'. That my conduct brought sorrow and separation between two innocent companions singing sweetly together made me sad then, and I have never been able to hush the incident awav from the memories of my childhood. How often in my own life I have felt the sorrow of that little mourner in the woods."