Published by Roanoke Publishing Co.
fc,F0R GOD, FOR COUNTRY AND FOR TRUTH.'
W. FLETCHER AU8BOF, EDITOR..
C. V, W. AU8BON, BUSINESS MAHAOEB.
VOL.111.
PLYMOUTH, 0., FRIDAY, MARCH 4, 1892.
NO. 42.
Ought we not to be profoundly grate
ful to Mexico, isks the New York Press,
for solving the Mormon ' problem for us
by offering inducements to the men of
many wives to emigrate to that country?
The Civil Service records of the past
three years show that out of the number
of men applicants examined for Govern
nent offices only a little over one-halt
passed, Vbije four-fifths of the women
applicants passed.
. - lieutenant. G. L. Carden says the
recently accomplished voyage ' of .- the
United States revenue cutter. Morrill
ithrough inland waters from Charleston,
S. C, to Fernandina, Flo., is of an im
portance not easily to be estimated from
, fi military point of view. , He thinks it
y Remonstrates the ability of a war vessel
i-'drawing not? over tea feet of water to
' communicate along 155 miles at least of
cne Atlantic coast oetween tor pea o nests
and gunboats guarding against a block
ade. Lieutenant Carden doesn't say so,
jnddstbe New York World, but there
brief period, by means of the Chesapeake
ana Delaware Canal and other water
ways, such communication can be estab
lished and maintained inside the bar and
breaker lines between the National Cap
ital and the ports of the whole South
Atlantic coast.
. There never was a more hopeful sig
than the report of the recent Agricultural
Department which makes the aggregate
cereal crop for the last year 1,000,000,
T)00 bushels bigger than the previous
year. The figures for three years past
in thousands, 000s omitted, are :
I JWoI Btuh. 'BUfh. . J9u.
- Production. 1891. 1890. . 18S9.
-Corn 3,060,154 1.4S9.970 : : 2,112,832
y ueab. nil, o j
899,23 490,583
623,361 " 73LM8
Oats,;.... 733,391
Total.... 3,410,328 2,412,553 8,354,931
I The cotton crop last year was 8,655,518
bales, or 1,311,792 bales larger than the
year before. The production of anthra
cite was 5,000,000 tons more than the
year before, and of bituminous at least
10,000,000 tons more. " The run of pe
troleum was 5,000,000 barrels more in
1891 than 1S90. The output of copper
.was 30,000,000 pounds mote; of lead,
St9 AAA a . m SV rti a .
o,uuu tons more; oi zinc, xu,uuu tons
more, and of silver, 4,000,000 ounces
more. . With the exception of. pig iron,
estimated at 8.976,000 tons in 1891,
against 10,307,028 tons in 1890, the en -rtire
production of the countiy took a
great step forward in 1891. This means
Ugher prices sooner or latter.
i M. de Variffnv crives in the Baris
JRevue des deux Mondes a clear, succinct
account of the events of the Chilean war,
.which the conflicting reports of news,
rpaper correspondents have left vague in
most minds, While he blames the con
' duct of Balmaceda, he regards much of
" .what has happened as the almost in
evitable outcome of the opposition of
JSnglisn ana American laeas ana in
fluence, which, working as they have
worked together in the evolution of the
Chilean Republic,had created a condition
of things under' which it was impossible
for a people so jnaturally vigorous to con-1
tinue. - Chilean parliamentary - institu-'
tions are impregnated, according to M.
! de Varigny, wtyh. the monarchical spirit
'of England, from Which country they
.were copied. jSut this monarchical sys
tem' has for its wn;-crown an autocratic
President, whose powers were gi anted
in him nndp Amnrican influence, end
.whose position' in the' Constitution was
copied from th't of' the President of the
United ' State.' The two institutons
followed in his unconstitutional prac
tices the ''deplorable deviations" of all
bis predecessors, and' one of the results
of the war is likely to be a revision of
machinery of Government which may
bring fhe powers of the President and
the Parliament into a more logical re
lation to each other. The Chilean war,
in fact, has been, in M. Varigny's read
ing of it, a war between the force which
made for ; ploser union with the United
States and those which mado .for the
supremacy j of English influence ; the
English forces have won, and with their
victory the dreams of the three Americas
united against the world loses all chance
of realization. The indignation of
. Chile, 'he continues,' has been stirred
against, the United States, and too deeply
for the breach to be easily healed, and
the ambition of the Republic will for
the future be to maintain its independ
ence until it takea, in the southern con
tinent, the position of supremacy which
(be United State i hold? fa the north.
at lrwvrf. "
Each leaf, another wakening, sigh
, "Sweet sister, it ig day! . .
The last night-blooming glory die?,
And whereFoa'er a petal lie,
Tho east grows warm and gray,
"The birJs are still asleep; and jet,
Amid the silent throng,
Like dusky vapors that beget
The dew, dream-winged shades have set '
Tho germs of heavenly sonp."
; John B. Tabb, in Lippincott
A HILL COlTNTRr"ll)YL,
BIT THOMAS DCKN EKOLtSn.
1TTY M'KISSEM
looked at her broth
er and sighed, and
the Bigh was ac
compamea by a
glance of admira
tion. Hugh M'Kissen
was certainly a fine
specimen of young
mountain manhood.
Tall and muscular,
with a lithe and sin
ewy form, whose
graceful proportions
even the half-ccat,
b&lf-sack, tailed "a
huntin g-shirf,"
Could not disguise; a frank and pleasant
expression,' and a voice that, in spite of
a rather nasal tone when its owner was
excited,was full and musical Hugh was
worthy of feminine admiration. He was
singularly ignorant of hif"attractions,
and, though bold in pv-il, fearing
neither man, bear nor catamount in
single fight, was timid in the presence
of women, bis mother and his sister ex
cepted. " The owner, subject to his
mother's life-right, of a thousand acres
of mountain land, of which one-third
was rich "bottom," or level land, with
horses in stall, cattle in meadow and
steers on the hill-range, he was at seven-and-twenty
A bachelor, while his fellows
were heads of families by the time they
had come to manhood. He loved his
mother and sister, who worshiped him,
and he was content.
Kitty M'Kissen was not his sister, how
ever, nor was she his kinswoman. Eigh
teen years before, John Markham came
there from the East, and bought a little
bottom-patch" of sixty acres, and set
tled on it with his wife. He built a log
cabin, set to work awkwardly to culti--vate
a few girdled acres, and tried to ac
commodate himself to an unusual - posi
tion. Folk around, naturally suspicious
of strangers, thought he must have done
something wrong to make him leave
horccv He brought books, not over a
hundred in number, which the neighbors
deemed to be a great library. His house
was neat, owing to his young wife's taste,.
The neighbors said : "It's stuck roun'
with thing-a-majigs till it's a plom
sight!" - .
Markham worked hard, and so did his
wife, and, soon after their coming Kitty
was born. - She was christened Cath
arine .Burnett. Three months after her
birth' her mother died, and Mrs.
M'Kissen, who had just lost a child of
nearly the same age, offered to nurse
Kitty an offer thankfully accepted.
But John Alarkham caught cold by ex
posure, it settled upon has lungs, and in
less than a year he died, leaving his little
possessions to his child. Kitty thrived
and soon became known as a M'Kissen,
the circuit-rider '8 baptismal certificate to
the contrary notwithstanding. She and
Hugh,who'was a nine-year-old boy when
she came, had been brought up together.
When she was half-grown, Peter
M'Kissen was killed by "the fall of a
girdled tree, and Kitty became the main
stay of the house, for old Mrs. M'Kissen,
who was ten years 6eniof to ner hus
band, bad been half paralytic for years,
and passed her time in hobbling between
her bed, the kitchen-table and the ..fire
side. . - '
, Frank and good-natured, as well as
athletic, Hugh was a popular young man
his fellows accepting his lead and
young wort en receiving .his attentions
courteously.' But he never threw the
handkerchief at any particular fair one,
treating all with a shy deference. They
did nqt . come up to the standing of
Kitty, who had inherited some of the re
finement of her mother; and who, hav
ing read her father's books over and over
again, was credited with a vast amount
of learning. That kind of knowledge
did not interfere with her housewifely
qualities, for she was known to be the
best cook and baker as well as the best
buttcrmaker and neatest housekeeper
in the county. Huge measured all other
girls by her Procrustean standard. ! Be
side, Hugh was not matrimonially in
clined. His home was too comfortable,
and he was in no hurry to bring a
strange woman there. '.;',
But Mrs. 31 'Kis6en thought it high
time for her wn to marry, and spoke to
him about it. ' ' '
. "What's the need, mother?" ho re
sponded. "I'm comfortable, and so are
you. Why should I bring a strange girl
here one that ain't used to us and our
ways, upsetting things?"
"You needn't do that neither," said
his mother. 1
But Hugh was too obtuse to take the
hint and went out to salt the cattle. '.But
he communed with himself as he went.
"I might spark Lucy Campbell," he
thought. "She's been East to school,
and she's a sort of higa-flyer, but she's
pretty. Old Jim Campbell's well off,'
and he has only young Jim and Lucy.
I dunno. I'll speak to Kitty about it.
Aq4 there she is at the cow, now,"
til
Kitty was there with her milk pails, and
Hugh broached the Subject At once. She
looked Up, blushed a little and then
looked down, and listened.
"Lucy Campbelll" she Cried. "So,
Boss! Why don't the cre'tur keep
still? Lucy Campbell's a nice girl; a
little sharp-tempered, but you're not;
and she never turns a hand to anything
around the house; but you're not look
ing for a housekeeper. Give down,
Boss!" ;- ; ? '
"Well, there's Nancy Stallins. Nancy's
peoDle are not so well off as Lucy Camp
bell's ; but they do say that Nancy is the
most industrious girl in the neghh rd.
"Ye?," said Kitty; ; "yes, she's a
worker. She never cleans up her dirt,
though; and she she chews snuff. You
don't like tobacco in that way, do you,
Hugh?" - -
"M-mphl" ejaculated Hugh. "Well,
I dunno what to do. Mother, she's at
me to marry, and I declare, except the
two, I can't think of a girl I'd like to
have, unless well, there ain't one."
"You stupid!" said Kitty, pettishlv.
"Eh?" ,.V; .
"This Boss is the most stupid cow I
ever saw. Now, Bull face!"
And Kitty stooped ft her pail, and
began a fresh milking.
"See here," said Hugh: "Did you
ever see such an uncertain chap as that
Si Doss? ". He's been here four times
this week about buyin' a cow, stays
around hours at a time, aud ain't made
up his mind yet; 'Pears to me he don't
know a good thing when be sees it."
"There are a good many young men
in tho same fix, I allow," said Kitty.
'Si Doss appears to me not to be one of
that kind. . He knows what he wants,' I
fancy." -.
And then, with her filled pail, Kitty
moved off to the spring-house.
Hugh stood a minute, salt-bag in
hand, forgetful ' of his cattle,' when he
saw Si Doss riding up and then dis
mounting. Si tethered his horse to the
pendant limb of a beech tree, and then
strode forward. He had the reputation
of being the most forward young man in
the country; but he had nexy em
barrassed air now.
"Howdy, Hugh."
"Howdy, Si."
"Folks all well?"
"Yes. Your'n?".
"Fus'-rate, thank y.' Our best
brood, sow's sort o' limpish. I allow
she's been eatin' somethin' afore we
brought her outen the woods."
"Likely."
And-then ' the two stood like ex
hausted receiveis. At last Doss broke
out;' - ' . :
. "I've been allowin to git married."
"Yes?" .
' "I'd. -like you to put in a word for
me.'v - v -
"Me? Who's the girll"
"Kitty M'Kissen."
"Not our -Kitty!"
"Yes. I'm not quite sure whether
she favors me or not. I've been aroun'
some, but someho -v I ain't got the' nerve
to speak out. Couldn't you soun' her
an' find out?"
Our Kitty ! Why, Si, she's 'a little
girl. She's too young."
"She's eighteen year old. I hearn
Miss M'Kissen say so. You know,
though, I'm tol'rable well-to-do, an'
don't owe no man a dollar. I love the
very ground she walks on."
"Well," said Hugh, after a pause,
"we'll see about it. Anything new?" .
"There just is. There's a fellow down !
to the town a f urriner from the East
got up in store clothe an' mighty sassy
lookin', an' he's been inquirin' about j
John Markham's folks. Sez he's a kin
to 'em an 's gwine to come and hunt up
Kitty."
"No! - What's his name?"
"Calvin - Burnett. He's a lawyer
where he lives;? . j
. "Burnett? Must be kin to Kittys
mother. You told him whar she is?"
"Yes; and thar he comes now, on Sol
Dingess's clayband tnar.'."
It was a sprucely dressed stranger who
rode up, and, leading bis mare, came to
ward them. It was not necessary to tell
his kinship, for he "favored" Kitty, as
they say in the hills. The same eyes
and forehead, but he had a square chin.
He explained his business.
. "Come into the house, Mr. Burnett,"'!
said - Hugh. "Kitty will be back from
the spring house, presently."
Doss was anxious to learn everything,
but as no one asked him to remain,' went
off reluct sntly. Presently Kitty came
in, and the newcomer introduced himself
as her first cousin, the son of her mother's
brother.
' "Of course,' said Burnett, "I am
very glad to know a near relative, espec
ially when she's a pretty girl; but I did
not come for that. . I am here on busi
ness. - Do you know anything of. your
father's history?" "
.. "No, sir."
"Oh, ; don't 'sir me, Kitty; we are
own .cousins. Call me 'Cousin Cal.'
Your father ran off with my aunt, having
married her against grandfather's com
mand. Grandfather disowned her, and
was very bitter. But when he died, ho
left one-half of his property to father
absolutely, and the other half in trust.
The naturo of the trust was explained in
a sealed paper, not to be opened until
after father's death, and to be carried
out by his executor. I believe father
knew its nature. The trust money in
creased under my father's prudent man
agement, and that share of the estate
amounts to more than what I inherit. It
is nearly twice as much. I opened the
paper, and the instructions are that I
am to pay it over to the heir or heirs of
Catherine Markham. Iam satisfied from
inquiry, . that you are' tho heir, Kitty,
and Iam ready to transfer to you, under
tho proper legal form, , nearly ninety
thousand dollars. I congratulate you.
Kitty. You will be able to live East, as
comfortably as possible, on an income
sufficient, 1 suppose, for a single, gentle
woman." Ninety thousand dollars! The amount
dazed Kitty,' and struck the M'Kissens
dumb. ! It was a fairy tale, and the
young lawyer looked like an, enchanter.
HugV was considered rich there, with
less than a fifth of tho sum; but ninety
thousand dollars 1
At last Kitty asked : '
. "Mr. Burnett Cousin Calvin must I
live there to get the money?" '
"No.' " Y6u can' live where you like;
but if you want to enjoy life, the
East is thej)lace for you. You are your
own mistress, or, at least, will be at
twenty-one. In the meanwhile, the court
here will probably let you name your
own guardian and trustee."
"Thank you, cousia. I am glad to
know you glad to have this unexpected
fortune, and would be glad to see a place
that I have heard so much of, . But the
only kin I ever knew, though not of my
blood, are dear to me. This is my only
home. I may visit the East, but I could
not stay there."
. The news of Kitty's wonderful inherit
ance soon spread. Rumor increased it
by an additional cipher. It was heard
of with a thrill of awe and envy. It was
said that the dashing "f urriner". was to
marry Kitty, and take her away immedi
ately; and Josiah Doss was in the gulf of
despair. Hugh knew better, so far as
Kitty's views went, but he felt a sinking
at the heart. Kitty, would stay, but
with such a fortune in possession she
seemed out of the common sphere.
. Burnett, while thelegal forms going on,
amused himself by studying this cousin,
who was so readily accommodating her
self to circumstances and the M'Kissens,
especially Hugh. It required no pene
tration to see that the latter was in love
with Kitty, but seemed not to quite re
alize his own feelings; and that Kitty
loved Hugh and knew it.
"That young man is bright enough in
some things, but very stupid in this,"
said the lawyer to himself. 1 'Til play
the good genius,- for tho fun of ' the
thing." . '
' The court at Kitty's instance, appointed
Hugh' M'Kissen her guardian and trus
tee, to the scandal of the young folk,
who thought . she should have chosen
some older man. Hugh and Burnett had
divers conferences, before affairs were
over. At one of these the lawyer said:
V "What a very pretty girj Cousin
Kitty is! Don't you think so Mr.
M'Kissen?" .
X "Ye-es." f
"She'll make a figure when she gets
into society, too. She is one of the
rough gems that take to polish kindly."
",M-m." ,
I'The fact is, I admire her the more
the more I know her. -1 must try and
persuade her to leave the mountains. "
"Kitty M'Kissen " isn't one of that
kind," said Hugh. "You heard her say
that she would stay here, and she is the
one to keep her word." . '
"I beg your pardon, Mr. M Ktssen,
said Burnett. "Her proper name is
Catherine Markham, and she is not like
ly to change it in this place. No
offense to you; but the name is a good
one, and sounds well; but it would
sound better if it were changed to Bur
nett, in my judgment."
And then Burnett walked off, to take
a stroll through the bills, leaving Hugh
confused and indignant.
"Confound his impudence I", cried
Hugh. "Mrs. Burnett! He's after
Kitty's money. Kitty marry him !" -
Hugh walked out to cool himself and
met Kitty coming .' from the spring-
house; lor Kitty was born to love cows
and chickens, and her money had not
changed her ways. She nodded. Hugh
kept at her side, and as she reached the
porch he said :
"I L want to nave a tats witn you,
Kitty." . .-. .
"All right. Sit down ' on the porch,
then, and I'll listen."
"Kitty I the fact is ""
"Yes?" : -
"The fact is You don't care for
Burnett do you?" . ...
. "Care for him? Of course I do. He
brought me good fortune; he's my own
cousin, you know, and he's a very nice
man; too." k. -
"Are you going to marry with
him?" , -
"What a question! I suppose - you
can ask it ' as you're .my guardian. I
don't see how I couM; he's not a Mor
mora, and he has a wifo already."
"Ob, Kitty, you know I " '
? "Well, I don't know,:ti!l I know
what it is I know."
"Kitty, I love you." v
"Of course you do; we were brought
up together." , - " '
"It's not that, Kitty; but why can't
we marry?"' :
f "IVU iieicI WUSU UIO, AiUU.
; Hugh asked then witn a vengeance.
He poured out his feeling's fn a flood of
words. Kitty didn't interrupt him.
She liked it. ' But when he paused for
sheer want of breath, she quietly .put
her hand in his, and said: " '
.', "You ought to have known that I
loved you, Hugh."
When Burnett came back he divined
the state of affairs at once, v
'Mr. M'Kissen," he said, dryly, "I
cresuice IV.zs urnett will haje the ap-
proval of her guardian in this matter."
Kitty did go to the East, but it was as
Kitty M'Kissen, and wi(h her husband.
After their return there was a house put
up on the M'Kissen place which was
the wonder of the neighborhood, bcth
of itself and furnishings.
"Such doings!" said Nancy Stallins
to a gossip. "You know the house,
built outer bricks and rocks a sorter
cross atwix' a co't-house an' a meetin'
house; an enough rooms in it for a
tavern. But I was inside ; six wagon
loads o' things was put in ; the floors are
kivered all over. Yes!" continued
Nancy, with the : bitterest climax,
"kivered with kiverlids!' The Ledger.
SELECT SIFTINGS.
Oregon has a fifteen pound turnip, vv
The latest location for a watch is in a
door handle.
. The largest quadruped of California is
the grizzly bear.
A Texas man has three buttons worn
by Lord Corn wallis at Yorktown, Ya.
Willam Hanks, of Los Oros, New
Mexico, has three well defined tongues.
There are 208 students from North
America at the Berlin (Germany) Univer-.
sity.
A Texan's pony found the watch his
master had lost and brought it to him in
his mouth. '
A novel Yiking ship, supposed to be
one thousand years old, was unearthed
recently from a mound in Sweden,
An Oil City (Penn.) snake's eyes, on
being photographed, showed an exact
reproduction of the face of the farmer
who had killed it.
A Calif ornian is going to start an ele
phant ranch. He intends to train the
elephants to pick oranges and hire them
out to orange growers. '
The flat pieces of iron shaped like the
letter S which are frequently seen on the
is m -t -i a? e At
wans ox oia oncic Dunamgs is me an
cient symbol of the sun. O
The savant Tremer has asserted his be
lief that the celebrated library pf Ivan
the Terrible was not destroyed in the
burning of Moscow, Russia.
The women in Bridge ton, Penn., have
formally petitioned the - Mayor for per
mission to carry red pepper with them
when they go out after dark.
The month of February, 1886, . was
known among the lovers of the rare and
curious in nature as the "moonless
month" from the fact of it having no full
moon.' This can only occur eight times
in a century.
The finest white pearls are from India,
the Persian Gulf and Panama; the finest
black and gray pearls from the coast of
Lower California. Beautiful pink and
red pearls are often secreted by the com
mon creek mussels. :''-"..-.-.',
The deepest trustworthy sea-sounding
ever made was 2G,850 feet, this ; depth
being found twenty-three miles due north
of New Guinea. Deeper soundings have
been reported, but geographers do not
consider them reliable.
- Albinus, one who contended with Sev
erus for the . Roman Empire, we the
greatest glutton of antiquity. ; For one
breakfast he ate 500 figs, 100 peaches,
ten melons, twenty bunches of grapes,;
100 small birds and 400 oysters.
Parting the Hair In tho Middle.
The number of men who part their
hair in the middle i3 increasing every
day. The fashion has grown in the mat
ter of dressing hair so rapidly that it
would not be out of the way to say that
fully one-half the men who formerly de
rided this once much-condemned fashion
are gradually getting around to it.
"They begin," said a well known bar
ber yesterday, "by parting the hair a
little higher up on the head by degrees,
.until they finally get it exactly , in the
centre. I remember very well when it
was a very rare thing for a man to part
his hair directly over his nose, but all of
the contempt' and fun which such a
proceeding evoked are now replaced by
indifference as far as the public is con
cerned. Twenty years ago a politician
who parted his hair in the middlo
courted disaster at the polls. Now no
end of statesmen, prominent or other
wise, wear their hair in a dandified fash
ion and it does not even call for a re
mark. The only thing that the rank
and file strenuously and positively object
to is a masculine bang. They won't
have that at any price." National Bar
ber. ' i 1
Manufacture of Dyestuffs.
Few instances of modern industrial
growth in any one specialty are more
surprising than that of the manufacture
of artificial dyestuixs. in j cngiana,
France, Germany' and some other
countries, but especially in Germany,
this industry has attained such prodigidus
growth that in some cases the extensive
works resemble a small town or village.
This appears from the published statistics
that one of these plants that of the
Farowerke, at Hoechst-on-Nain, where
are employed some 1900 workmen, fifty
foremen, nine engineers, besides eighty
six clerks and fitty-seven chemists. The
works cover an area of 726,000 square
yards, and from one end of the works to
the other the distance is 3300 feet. Be
sides a great Variety of dyestuffs, the
acids employed in their production are
also manufactured amounting in one
year to 23,108,000 kilegrams of sulphuric
acid, 12,800,000 of other acids, and
3,624,000 of coal-tar products, New
York Telegram,
TEACHING BIRDS TO SMG
JDrLA-RGns-C nrATTJRE'3 GIFT TO
THE FEATHERED FOLK. -
Canaries May be Taaght a Variety of
Notes Best Methods of Teaching
Them to Sing. ' :
To think of music lessens for a bird
seems rather odd, for song is nature's
gift to the feathered folk. Undoubt
edly, says Olive Thome Miller in ' the
New York Recorder, a bird hatched in
solitude, and never allowed to hear the
voices of , his kind, would express his
pmntinn in unmfi unrt fit musir.al fnahfnn. '
But, as a matter of fact, many,' perhaps
all, birds are taught to sing. I have my
self beard several birds at what I believe
to be their singing lessons, notably the
American robin and the whip-poor-will.
In both these cases the old bird sang hii
full song and waited while the little one
with more or -less success imitated it.
Over and over the parent repeated the
notes and the infant tried . to copy
them. : V -'
These are the native teachers, bul
birds destined to the life of parlor mu
sicians, as the bullfinch and some others,
have human teachers, when their ' music
lessons are as regular and their instruc
tors as painstaking as the professors who
teach our daughters. , ;
The canary, our most familiar house
companion, is usually imitative and in
telligent, and a wonderful capacity for
song dwells within his tiny frame. I
may say hers also, for his pretty little
mate can sing, though not everyone
knows this.
There are three distinct ways in which
a bird may receive a musical education.'
He may be taught to sing our lunes,
opera airs or negro melodies, as is gener- -ally
done with the bullfinch; or,
second, he may be instructed in the
notes of another bird, as a lark or a rob
bin; or, thirdly, his capacity may, be
developed, his powers o' voice cultivated
and his song remain, the canary song
through all.
A seed diet gives the muscles compact
cess, therefore, according to this system,
seeds shdu! Tnot be the principal diet
until he "g oates," but a soft food of
hard-boiled egg grated with cracker or
bread, and boiled in . milk to the - con
sistency of stiff paste. ', Some, seed may
be added, and this may be varied by
bread and crackers in milk, and grated
egg, or a little , lean beef chopped very
fine. He should have variety of food .
and plenty of it, for he is growing and
must be well nourished. : It is good also
to let him fly about, for this helps to ex
pand the chest.
Now to teach him. If he is to sing
. "Annie Laurie or "The Last Rose of
Summer," he must bo placed in a quief
room, with the cage covered. Then a
few notes of the chosen air should be
whistled, or played on some instrument,
flute, bird organ or piano. They must
be played slowly and distinctly, in cor
rect; time, and over and over till tho
bird begins to try it himself. He must
sot see the teacher, nor hear the least
noise to distract his attention from the
notes so constantly repeated. The in- .
structor may have to spend hours, it may
be twelve, before the bird learns bis
lesson, but be must persist in reiterating:
those few notes and no others till tho :
pupil repeats tbem. When he sings his
notes he should be rewarded with some
thing he likes, for one a bit of food, for
another a little praise. . ,
No matter how well the bird has
learned his artificial song, he will forcret
it the first time he moults, unless it ia
carefully repeated to him every day
while moulting. ( . . '
If the bird's owner wishes her canary
to sing like a lark or robin, she must put
him under native instruction. He is to
be placed, with his cage covered closely,
in a room alone with his teacher, whose
cage is in a light,' sunny window, .The
lark sings for bis own pleasure, and the
canary, in his darkened cage, forced to
pay attention to it, learns to imitate it.
One man, who kept a large number of
canaries, tells of having one of them
trained by a wild English robin. Hei
cage for it was a female, a year old
hung alone near the window, outside
which was the robin's favorite singing
perch. The cage was uncovered, for ho
never thought of training her, and for
weeks she uttered no sound, but listened .
and looked at the singing bird, and one
day she surprised her master by giving
the robin song perfectly. Treated in
the way described, a canary will learn to
imitate almost any bird song. .
The third method, and the most natu
ral, is to have the young bird trained by
a fine singer of his own family a can
ary and all that is needed to do this is
to keep the young one during the learn
ing period in the room with the fine
singer alone, when he : will follow his
copy so far as his powers allow.
The things to remember are that he
should not be disturbed by other sounds,
especially other singing, and that be
learns more quickly if his cage is cov
ered, so that his attention may not bo
distracted by seeing anything.
One caution should be heeded How
ever annoying or untimely a bird's' son5
may be he should never be stopped by
violence, throwing something at him,
scolding or shaking the cage. These
little creatures are exceedingly sensitive,
and they are by terror sometimes thrown
into an epileptic fit, and ' occasionally
killed. If too noisy, his cage should 1x3
quickly covered, while a kind word is
spoken to sweeten the imprisonment ia
darkness which he must suffer that his
mistress may talk, ' , '