She was sick and dizzy , and looked like a drowned kitten ; but a kind lady took her home in a carriage . After that mishap grandpa thought he would n't keep her any longer , for fear she should come to some worse harm . So Miss Poppy was sent home , much to her delight and much to mamma 's also ; for no matter where she went , or how naughty she was , mamma was always glad to see the little wanderer back , and to forgive and forget all Poppy 's pranks . VII . WHAT THE SWALLOWS DID . A man lay on a pile of new-made hay , in a great barn , looking up at the swallows who darted and twittered above him . He envied the cheerful little creatures ; for he was n't a happy man , though he had many friends , much money , and the beautiful gift of writing songs that everybody loved to sing . He had lost his wife and little child , and would not be comforted ; but lived alone , and went about with such a gloomy face that no one liked to speak to him . He took no notice of friends and neighbors ; neither used his money for himself nor others ; found no beauty in the world , no happiness anywhere ; and wrote such sad songs it made one 's heart ache to sing them . As he lay alone on the sweet-smelling hay , with the afternoon sunshine streaming in , and the busy birds chirping overhead , he said sadly to himself : `` Happy swallows , I wish I were one of you ; for you have no pains nor sorrows , and your cares are very light . All summer you live gayly together ; and , when winter comes , you fly away to the lovely South , unseparated still . '' `` Neighbors , do you hear what that lazy creature down there is saying ? '' cried a swallow , peeping over the edge of her nest , and addressing several others who sat on a beam near by . `` We hear , Mrs. Skim ; and quite agree with you that he knows very little about us and our affairs , '' answered one of the swallows with a shrill chirp , like a scornful laugh . `` We work harder than he does any day . Did he build his own house , I should like to know ? Does he get his daily bread for himself ? How many of his neighbors does he help ? How much of the world does he see , and who is the happier for his being alive ? '' `` Cares indeed ! ''
XXXXX another ; `` I wish he 'd undertake to feed and teach my brood .
Did agree build cried darted lay live see twittered wish