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 ! '' cried another ; `` I wish he 'd undertake to feed and teach my brood . Much he knows about the anxieties of a parent . '' And the little mother bustled away to get supper for the young ones , whose bills were always gaping wide . `` Sorrows we have , too , '' softly said the fourth swallow . `` He would not envy me , if he knew how my nest fell , and all my children were killed ; how my dear husband was shot , and my old mother died of fatigue on our spring journey from the South . '' `` Dear neighbor Dart , he would envy you , if he knew how patiently you bear your troubles ; how tenderly you help us with our little ones ; how cheerfully you serve your friends ; how faithfully you love your lost mate ; and how trustfully you wait to meet him again in a lovelier country than the South . ''
As Skim spoke , she leaned down from her nest to kiss her neighbor ; and , as the little beaks met , the other birds gave a grateful and approving murmur , for Neighbor XXXXX was much beloved by all the inhabitants of Twittertown .
Dart Skim South afternoon children chirp daily day fourth neighbors