The Governor was there, and the children, the bird-boxes, and the young trees.  And was there ever a brighter or more fitting day for a children and bird jubilee!  The scene was so inspiring that Gov.  Tener made one of the best speeches of his life.

  The distribution of several hundred cherry and mulberry trees was
  the occasion, and the beautiful grounds of the Roosevelt school,
  Carrick, was the scene.

Mr. John M. Phillips, sane sportsman and enthusiastic friend of the birds, has been looking forward to this as the culmination of a scheme he has been working on for years, and he was more than pleased with the outcome.  The intense delight it afforded him more than repaid him for all it has cost in all the years past.

But it was impossible to tell who were the more delighted,—­he, or the Governor, or the children, or the visitors who were so fortunate as to be present.  County Superintendent of Schools Samuel Hamilton was simply a mass of delight.  And how could he be otherwise, surrounded as he was by 2,000 and more children fairly quivering with delight?

Children will care for and defend things that are their very own, fight for them and stand guard over them.  Realizing this Mr. Phillips undertook to show them how they could have birds all their own.  Being clever in devising schemes for achieving things most to be desired, he began giving out bird-boxes to those who would agree to put them up, and to watch and defend the birds when they came to make their homes with them.  And he found that no more faithful sentinel ever stood on guard than the boy who had a bird-house all his own.

Here was the solution to the vexed problem.  Provide boxes for those who would agree to put them up, care for the birds, and study their habits and needs.  The children agreed at once, and the birds did not object, so Mr. Phillips had some hundreds, four or five, blue-bird and wren boxes constructed during the past winter.  These were passed out some weeks ago to any boys or girls who would present an order signed by their parents, and countersigned by the principal of the school.

He knows enough about a boy to know that he does not prize the things that come without effort, nor will he become deeply interested in anything for which he is not held more or less responsible.  Hence the advantage in having him write an order, have it indorsed by his parents, and vouched for by his school principal.

That he had struck the right scheme was proven by the avidity with which the girls and boys rushed for the boxes.  The fact that a heavy rain was falling did not dampen their ardor for a moment, nor did the fact that they were tramping Mr. Phillips’ beautiful lawn into a field of mud.

Mr. Phillips, seeing the necessity of providing food for the prospective hosts of birds,