No doubt
she often heard the story of how God had saved her from a double danger,
and by-and-by she felt that she must ask Him to make her His servant all
her life long, God heard her prayer, and allowed her to go as a missionary
to a far-off land.
There is a beautiful verse in the thirty-second chapter of Deuteronomy, in
which God compares His care for His people to the way in which the eagle
cares for its young ones, and teaches them to fly.
I do not know whether you know many of the second group, the
Perching-birds; but I am sure you have seen parrots, and heard them too.
These clever, gay birds must look beautiful indeed in their forest home
in tropical countries, as they flash and gleam in the sunshine; but their
screaming--you know what it is like if you have ever paid them a visit
at the Zoo--takes something away from their charm. They have been called
"feathered monkeys," because they are so well able to climb trees. Look at
their dark grey toes, and you will see that two of them are turned forward
and two backward, so as to enable them to take a firm hold upon branch or
twig. They have such hard bills because they live upon nuts and seeds. You
have seen how Polly holds a nut, and shells it with the sharp point of her
beak, keeping her eye on you all the time.
[Illustration: "FEATHERED MONKEYS."]
Perhaps you would not think it, but parrots are affectionate birds. A story
is told of one that was very fond of a servant girl in the house where he
lived.
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