Chapter 6

Well, little (S. 10, N. 2) Channing knew the birds did not gape because he preached a long sermon, but (S. 6, N. 10) because they were hungry. So what did he do? He ran straight home (S. 63, N. 8), got some nice soft crumbs of bread, and fed the little birds with them (S. 4, N. 5, B); and after that he fed them regularly every day after having come home from school. But one day (S. 19, N. 2), when he went to the nest, there it lay on the ground, torn and bloody, and the little birds all dead; and the father-bird was crying on a wall, and the mother-bird was crying on a tree. Then little Channing tried to tell them that he did not kill their poor young brood; that he never could do such a mean, cruel thing as that, and that, on the contrary, he had tried to feed them. But it was no use; the little birds could not understand him, and kept on crying; and at last he sat down, and wept bitterly.

Supply here the conj. +daß+.

Say ‘What did he therefore (+also+) do?’

+stracks.+

+holte sich.+

and — that, +und von da an+.

+so bald er von der Schule nach Hause gekommen war.+

This passage will read more elegantly by beginning with the conj. ‘when’, which must be followed by the subject ‘he’. ‘But’ should then be rendered by +jedoch+, which takes the third place.

+nach.+

+das Männchen.+

+jammern+; on = upon.

+das Weibchen.+

+sich bemühen.+

Use the Perf. Subj. according to App. §§ 28 and 30.

+daß er eine so gemeine Grausamkeit nie begehen könne.+

=In subordinate clauses, the subject stands in most cases immediately after the conjunction or relative pronoun.=

+im Gegenteil+. See S. 15, N. 3.

+und jammerten weiter.+

Section 67.

TENDER, TRUSTY, AND TRUE.