Newspapers / The News-Record (Marshall, N.C.) / Jan. 5, 1912, edition 1 / Page 2
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New News b Yesterday M7 " i By E. J. EDWARDS 1 ' 1 Mr i ? u . V," -1 :"' 4 TO HE greater battalion of the army of the bird i U In the southland (or the winter. The warblers were the pioneers In the march to escape the cold. The naturalists of the world would give much to know what It was In the torrid tlnre which told these daintiest of the feathered creatures that they must be moving on. There Is a puzzle for the scientists even more com plex than that offered by the spectacle of migration. It Is to get the solution of the problem of why some birds with the recurring autumns invariably seek warmer climes while others apparently much more poorly fitted by nature to withstand cold weather conditions, stay about the familiar nesting scenes when the snow lies deep and the cold Is like that of "St Agnes Eve." The titmouse, the Concord chickadee of Emerson, Is a little feathered gem which looks as though a breath of cold would set It all a-shlver. Yet this little fellow sticks by bis Northern friends all through the winter, when bigger, more heavily feath ered, and apparently more hardy species have sought out the orange and the magnolia groves of the gulf. There are scores of other birds which remain with us to pipe a cheerful note over the snow wastes while their southern-flying friends are silent amid their congenial surroundings. One of the most Interesting bird studies is that which leads to a personal knowledge of how the feathered species care for themselves during a time when exposed man, even though heavily clothed, at times freezes to dath. It is a question if many peo ple know how the despised English sparrow, whom we always have with us, manages to pull through a Northern winter without offering himself up as a sacrifice to Jack Frost It is a matter of current but mistaken belief among those who have noticed the great bulky nests which the sparrows have built In almost every tree that these bunches of straw, dried grass, and feathers form the abiding places of the sparrows during the coldwinter nights. As a mat ter of fact, a sparrow sel dom goes near a tree nest In winter. If he has found a lodging for his summer home In a cornice of a building be may go there to sleep away the long, cold nights, but the tree nest is deserted from the moment the last brood Is batched. If one wishes to know where thousands of the sparrows sleep In winter let him on some cold night take a stout club and rap with all his might upon an ' electric light pole that Is fitted with an overhanging hood. There is a little platform In some of these boods directly over the glass globe. Upon this as many sparrows as can conveniently crowd together rost throughout the cold weather nights. A club rapping experiment on an electric light pole at a Chicago avenue cor ner near the North Side water works lot during a howling blizzard one winter night resulted In the dislodgment of twelve frightened sparrows. Tbey Muttered about In the storm and hung like so many fascinated moths. When the pounding ceased they made their way back to their resting place and doubtless remained undisturbed until morning. Their flat was certainly modern In Its appointments, for it was heated and lighted by electricity. Take a trip through a thistle Held In July and there will be seen scores of goldfinches feeding on the seeds of the prickly plants. These little creatures have the appearance of the birds of the tropics. It would seem that barely a breath of the north wind would send them scurrying south ward. In truth, however, these birds, frail though they appear, stay with us all winter, yet not one person in fifty outside of the ranks of the bird students knows the fact. In late August the goldfinch drops his gold and black livery and puts on a sober sparrowlike garb. This is the reason why people think that the little thistle seed lover has left them and that another bird has taken its place. In the Chicago Academy of Sciences there is pathetic evidence of how the goldfinch keeps warm during the winter nights. The curator has there an oriole's nest from the outside of which hangs the body of a goldfinch caught by the neck and liter ally banged by one of the cords with which the oriole has fashioned its home. The goldfinch has sought refuge In the nest from the weather and on leaving it In the morning has thrust his head through the fatal noose. These birds utilize the deserted homes of all their brethren who build deep nests. The goldfinches return night after night to a nest which an oriole bad swung from the tips of an elm in Western Springs, 111. The chickadee of which something has been said, builds its nest somewhat after the manner of the woodpecker, but If observation goes for much, the bird does not use this absolutely safe and warm retreat for its winter night lodging. They have been startled time after time Just after sunset on cold nights from the vacated nests of many species of birds, the chickadee simply bury ing itself in the warm linings in which the sum-' mer before the yoccg of its friends had been cradled. By mid-September the swallows one and all had disappeared. It may be that If the appear ance of One swallow does not make a summer, the absence of the entire tribe may not make an autumn, but It is certain that the birds must feel something that bids them begone, tor they go In a body and they go In the twinkling of an eye. The swallows live upon insects, and there is no reason as far as food Is concerned, why tbey should not stay at least two weeks longer, for their homes are la sheltered nooks. The hum mingbirds, despite Its delicacy, stays longer than the swallow and complains not --. , If one can catch sight of a saucy little wood pecker going Into a hole in a tree on his lawn at this season of the year he may hope to have an interesting neighbor during the entire winter. All the downy -woodpeckers remain in the north the year through. Some of the red heads stay too. ' but most of them go a few score of miles to the south. All of these birds that remain pass their plghts til hole in trees, and at the time of the first fall month .they are busy locating proper cold weather habitations. If enough interest in l s - k mm . the woodpecker Is felt to keep him as a companion throughout the winter a piece of suet bound firmly to the limb of a tree and occasionally renewed will insure his presence as a guest as long as the snow files, and with htm, tempt ed by the suet, will be a goodly company of Jays, chickadees, and golden crowned kinglets. The kinglet, smaller than any of our birds, save the ruby throated humming bird alone, manages to live through all the cold Northern winter and be all the while as cheerful as a robin in April. The kinglet, as far as the experience of one per son Is concerned at least, prefers to get his sum mer food In the thick bushes, and seemingly has a preference for those which are near clambering vines. The kinglets caBt about for likely places In which to pass the winter. As far as can be ascertained they simply get into the heart of some thickly twigged bush through which run vine branches and there all night long they defy both cold and snow. The great northern shrike, which is due In the northern states from Its summer home In. the British possessions about October 1, spends his nights close to the bole of an evergreen tree. There is a little clump of evergreens well within the limits of the city of Chicago where a half dozen of these birds roost nightly from October to March. Inasmuch as they live on a diet of English sparrows and spend all the daylight hours In the laudable vocation of killing the imported feathered pest, the exact location of their roosting place will not be given for fear some champion of the sparrow might disturb the rest of these feathered friends, whom many are unkind enough to call butcher birds. As a matter of fact one need feel little anxiety for the welfare of the birds that stay with us in winter. The nursery ditty of "What will the robin do then, poor thing?" is tear-compelllng, but the robin, the bluebird, the Jay, and the chickadee will all care for themselves and will feel no envy of man in his steam-heated flat During the bitter weather of winter while peo- , pie with hearts in the right places are scattering crumbs and seeds at their doorsteps for the little feathered land visitors, the great city of Chicago as a whole is doing its best to feed the storm-' blown birds of Lake Michigan. Not all the sew age of the city, notwithstanding the completion of the drainage canal, is sent towards the Missis elppl. Some little of it still finds it way into the ' lakes with Its burden of garbage, and there the gull scavengers, by eating much of the output that from their point of appetite la edible, do tbelr best ' to aid in purifying the water supply. In the dead of winter when the cold 1 so In tense that it seems that no exposed creature can live, the waste of water between Chicago and St Joe. Mich., Is peopled with strange feathered visitors, who shun the same water stretches when the wind blow soft out of. the south. A storm which once rose and preceded a "spell" of sero weather brought with it from the north score of strange, beautiful arctic visitors known a long-tailed duck. They may be seen all through -the winter well out Into the open water of Lake Michigan. They fairly revel in cold weather and in cold water. It i highly probable that they would never come to the great lakes at all were it not for the fact that everything north ward 1 frcxen solid. The male "long-tail" la a beauty, with hi strongly contrasted black and white plumage and the two great sweeping tall feathers that give him his name. With bis wife he does not lack other names, and they are known In various places as ' "old Injun," "old wife." "old molly," "old granny." "old squaw," and "old south southerly." Because of the oily nature of their flesh these ducks are unfit for food, and yet the gunners on the Chicago break waters and on the government pier used to kill dozens of them. In the pure wantonness of sport. When the sloping stone abutment that pro tects the outer Lincoln Park driveway. Chicago, from the waves is piled high with ice during the winter the venturesome person who will scale the side of the pile may see In the dark water only a few yards beyond one of the most beauti ful ducks known to the bird kingdom. The golden eye. or whistle wing, frequents the cold waters of Lake Michigan all through the winter, and comes close to the shore. It Is seldom that more than four or five are seen together, and oftener a single pair will be found. If the pro tection which the male apparently tries to ex tend to the female during all times of the year be a basis for Judgment, these birds remain mated for life. The golden eye almost Invariably places him self between his gentler companion and danger, and when tbey are swimming or flying to new foraging places he Invariably leads the way. The movement of their wings Is so rapid that It produces a musical whistling audible at a great distance. Because of the rapidity of their flight the Indians call them spirit ducks, believ ing that some supernatural aid is given them to add to the swiftness of their Journeytngs. The "best of the bird scavengers acting as the allies of the Chicago health department In win ter are the herring, the ring-billed gulls. The herring gull la a big grayish creature, almost pure white If he Is three year old, with black tip to his wings. The young of the first year are mottled gray, entirely different In appearance from their parents. The result Of this difference Is that people looking at a winter flock of the gulls think that it contains several specie. The lagoon in Jackson and Lincoln Park are often fairly covered with these birds, provided a heavy storm 1 coming in from the eastward. A delicate-looking bird 1 the kittewake gull. It does not look a if it could stand the rigor of lake winter weather for a day, and yet neither storm nor cold succeed in chilling it optimism or in abating it Industry. The kittewake have been in the lake off Chicago in winter, and here they doubtless occasionally have remained until March. ' . -r.;- ': A bird lover consider it. aa ornithological epoch when be tee a great black-backed gull. The persistent and careful observer who care nothing for weather condition may And this rare creature, perhaps the largest of oar gull, if he will but keep a constant watch along the lake front The bird has . been seen here on several occasions in winter.. Its name give a good de scription of It It 1 sometime known grew someiy as the "coffin carrier.' , How Grant Made First Speech Persuaded by Rawlins, He Addressed a Meeting Near Galena to Re cruit Company After the Attack on Sumter. When General Grant became presi dent on March 4. 1869, he made John A. Rawlins secretary of war. Shortly after be bad become a major of volunteer Illinois regiment In the first year of the civil war, Rawlins re signed that post in order to assume the duties of assistant adjutant gen eral on General Grant's staff. From then on until the close of the war, Rawlins served on Grant's staff. He was the youngest of all .the men who served with the great commander, but nevertheless, be was pne of Grant's closest advisers in military matter. He also was his chief intimate friend; and it was most natural for Grant, when he knew for a certainty that be would be called, upon to make np a cabinet, to turn to General Raw Una as the one man to fill the office of secretary of war. But that post General Rawlins occupied for a few months only. He had contracted con sumption as the result of exposure during the war, and In September, 1869. be died. One afternoon in 1901 I met the late General A. C. 'Chetlaln, then of Chi cago, who, as a resident of Galena, 111.. In 1861. had enlisted In the first company of volunteer that left Grant's home town In defense of the Union. - I asked General Chetlaln it te bad known well General Rawlins, who was a resident of Galena at the time of the war. "Indeed I did," was the reply, "and I remember well the intimacy that existed between him and Grant prior to the outbreak of the war. I have only to shut my eyes now and see them In memory as they lt together In Grant' father' leather store earn estly discussing political questions, and, most earnestly of all, the one great question 6f the day would there be war between north and soutni But though they often differed on other questions, on the question of the possibility of war they were ruiiy agreed; and of all the men who gath ered In the leather store from time to time to talk the matter over they were the only two who felt that war was surely coming and that It would be a prolonged struggle. Rawlins thought that It would take a much as Ave years to overcome the south, while Grant would declare that no one could tell bow long It would take to do that. And then tbey would have a time of It trying to convince their fellow citi zens that they were wrong in tne se tef that. If war did come, the north would be able to subdue the south In 90 days an opinion commonly held throughout the north at that time. "And well I remember, too," contin ued General Chetlaln, "that It was Rawlins who persuaded Grant to make the first speech he ever delivered, "As soon a we bad received the new that Fort Sumter bad been fired on, I Immediately began to recruit our first Galena company, of which I was elected captain, and with which Grant went from Galena to Springfield, the state capital, where the company was mustered In. It was thought worth while to bave somebody go to a little suburb of Galena, some three or four miles beyond the city limits, and make a speech that would urge the young farmer round about to enlist In our, company. Rawlins was well known and liked In that community, and I asked blm If he would undertake this task. He replied that h would be glad to do o, adding, a an after thought that be'd take Captain Grant with him. ' We'll, at the appointed time Raw- ins and Captain Grant drove out to- suburb, and Rawlins told me after- rds that be made a brief speech then Introduced Captain Grant Ing that the captain had already Beted In the United States army In Ico and was therefor more compe- tban any civilian to address a. meeting called to secure recruit, iou knowlhow back ward I the captain I ex cept bVor hi friend,' laid Rawlins. 'Well. Without the slightest hesitation, be stool upon the rostrum and made a very plain and simple, but earnest speech, bout 15 minutes in length. After beuiad finished four or five or the farmer boy cam forward and said that j would, on the following da, comelo our recruiting office In. Galena and Wist' "So It was. John Rawltna who in duced Grant ip make hi first speech; and it waa Grant's success a a speak er In that littlto village which led to. our making blni chairman of the great mass meeting wWh a day or two later was held In our Oalena public hall." (Copyright mi, by B. J. Edwards. Alh RlChts tMrvM.) Arthur Wanted Western Man d-tory of a Chat With Him Just Before the Convention at Which He Wa Nominated for the Vice Presidency. One day in the first week of June, 1881, I was compelled to wait at the railway station at Albany, N. Y, for a train from the west that was reported two hours late. The day wa warm, and the station platform was almost deserted except by employe. At last I heard a tep approaching and, looking up. aw Gen. Chester A. Arthur. He carried a gripsack, which he set down In order to remove bis hat and wipe from bis forehead the profuse perspiration which the beat of the day bad brought out General Arthur seldom failed to recognize any one with whom be had acquaintance, even the slightest, and bis greeting of me. therefore, was most cordial. "1 suppose you are on your way to Chicago, general?" I asked, having in mind the fact that the Republican na tional convention was about to con vene In that city, x "Yes," he replied. "I am to take here the special train that Is running from New York city. I came up to Al bany yesterday to attend to some per sonal business and to visit my sister, Mrs. McElroy. whom I have not seen for some time." She was the Sister, who, a little over a year later, was to Odd Incident of War i In the Philippine portion of hi book. "The Memories of Two War." General Funston tells of a unique In stance st the siege of Malabon: "Com I'Rtiy L was firing a few volleys, and c e of the men, having Just discharged t s ! !'re felt a second blow against . ...m -. It t-''-g almost s hard of t r-"- t': trying . ' i t' r.t t h'wi t m f i it was laid aside to be examined by daylight which wa don In the pres ence of a number of as officers. "Upon forcing the breech open It wa found that the base of the copper shell of the cartridge that had been fired Just before the weapon bad been dis abled bad been shot away, while mixed e'i up in the breech mechanism we f .1 the remains of the steel Jacket t 1 the lead C"'ng of a Mauser bullet There was a very pronounced dent on the muxsle of the piece. "What had happened wa that while the ma ' had the gun extended In the firing position a bullet had gone down the mnazle. This -weapon is now in the Army Ordnance museum In Wash ington.". ' -.';', i- Outrageous. ; . . ' "Madam. I am very sorry that I can not release your son. While be was exceeding the speed limit he ran over and killed a child, and I shall be com- Velted to kep htm in custody nntll the coroner' verdict I : rendered, at least" r u!-, '' - ;';'-, v: ' "Do yon mean to tell me that yon are going to lock my boy in a cell to night T" :. r. ' )I am sorry, but that' what w shall have to da" -j 1 "Good heavens! Why, he may bave to be right next to some person whn ha been arrested for stealing a loar of bread ! This Is an outrage. Ton have no right td be holding a public position." ' ' ' Poet Who Peddled a Classic rVllllam Cullen Bryant Had a Hard Time Finding a Publisher for Richard Henry Dana's "Two Years Before the Mast" One of the great sea classics of English literature Is Richard Henry Dana, Jr.'s "Two Years Before the Mast" As Is well known, the book was the outcome of a voyage that its author made as a common sailor around the Horn and up the Pacific coast In the fifties of the last cen tury. He left college to make the trip In the hope that the hardly life on the deep would cure "his weakened eyesight, caused by an attack of measles. His father, Richard Henry Dana, the poet, was fully able to send bis son on a health seeking sea voy age as a passenger, even on one ex tending around the world. But young Dana, as a lad, bad conceived a great fascination for the sea, and It was his own Idea that he sail before the maat At that time be was still in bis teens. Young Dana wrote the story of his experience as a sailor partly on ship board and partly after be returned to his home. The story finished, he bowed the manuscript to Ms father. "The old gentleman waa delighted with It." said the late CoL George Bliss, for many year a prominent politician of New York state, and an intimate friend of the Dana family. "He wa so delighted with It that about the first thing be did after read ing it wa to bunt up his warm friend, William Cullen Bryant, and give blm the manuscript to read. Bryant grew almost a enthusiastic over the story as the boy's father had done, and when Dana, Sr.. asked Bryant If be could find a publisher for the story, Bryant gladly replied that be would make every effort to do so. since be "They are going the wrong way about it" wld Champ Clark, at a ban quet in Bowling Green of a tax that he opposed. -Tbey remind me. In this expensive scheme for raising revenue, of Mrs. Calhoun Webter. - - cai ald Mrs. Webster, one lovely morning In early pring. '1 wish you'd save up your money and get a biplane or a monoplane.' 'What torr the astonished Calhoun Webster asked. -O.' said the wife, we need so many things this summer bata and harem klrta and new carpets and talking me calne. and o on and winning aero plane prise seem such a quick way to earn money.' "-Washington Post Get Ayt , -The fall of the year alway toy a pedal train npon the nation' finan cial resources. For not only U there the money needed to move the crop, but also those great roll of bill which prudent men. la putting away tbelr light clothing, do not forget to forget la the pockets thereof. In order thai ibey may rome Joyfully to light ss considered the book a second 'Robin son Crusoe.' and wa equally ure that It would net it writer and it pub lisher each a fine profit "Bryant entered upon his love's er rand with great enthusiasm. But pub lisher after publisher refused to be tempted by the poet's enthusiastic praise of the story. They could see nothing In the book, they said, that would attract the public to it "At last Bryant carried the manu script to Fletcher Harper. He told Harper what he had told other pub lishers about the book;' among other things saying that though It was the work of a mere boy. It was, never theless. In his opinion, a second 'Rob inson Crusoe.' Harper wa decidedly reluctant at first to give the book any serious consideration, but at last he told Mr. Bryant that he would buy the manuscript outright. Including the copyright, .provided he did not have to pay over three hundred dollars for It. ' . - "Bryant, remembering what be had' been through,, thought that was a pretty fair bargain and be let Fletch er Harper have the manuscript tor two hundred and fifty doUars, 1 be lieve, and twenty-five copies of the book. You know the bit that the book made In this country a soon a It wa published. And it was the first American work to be widely translated. If Harper bad accepted It on a royalty basis that would bave meant a small fortune for young Dana. But Dana never regretted that t did not reap a fortune out of the book. He was satisfied with the fame that the story brought him much more satisfied than be would have been with any pecuniary suc cess." - '" " (Copyright '" by E. J. Edwards. All . Rights Reserved.) - --, become mistress of the White House. As we paced up and down the plat form, General Arthur, whose train also was late, spoke with great frankness of the probable result of the balloting for the presidential candidate. "I doubt," said he and he wa one of Roscoe Conkllng's stanch support ers In the Grant third term movement "I doubt whether we shall be able to secure the nomination of General r-snt' Judge William C. Robertson of this state seems to have his bolt ing delegates well In hand, and I am convinced that the delegates from Pennsylvania who have stated that they will not support Grant' nomina tion will stick to that determination. All this looks to me as if Grant can not be nominated." "In case you do not nominate Gen eral Grant," I asked, "who. then, la likely to be the choice of the conven tion? Blaine?" "No, not Blaine. But for him Grant would be nominated. If Grant can't be nominated, Blaine can't be." "Does that mean a dark horse?" I asked. "Or John Sherman r Bherman was an avowed candidate. General Arthur looked at me queer ly for a moment before replying. "Do you really think that the New York delegation ' would support the nomination of Sherman In view of what has happened?" be asked. He re ferred to the fact that It wa John Sherman, who. as secretary of the treasury under Hayes, had caused Arthur's removal from . the office of collector of the port of New York an act that greatly angered the New York organization. "For myself 1 sbould like to see some one nominated from one of the states west of the Mississippi river if we can not nominate General Grant" Arthur continued. "The temptation will be great. Gen eral Arthur," I said, "to publish the fact that you, and presumably your frlerds, have some Republican, who live west of the Mississippi In mind as second choice In case you cannot BomlnMe General Grant." "It wouldn't do at all," he replied, hastily; "it would mix everything all up." , "Well," I said, "In case you nomi nate a far western man for president, the convention will probably come east for its candidate for vice-president." , -; General Arthur smiled. 'The vice presidency Is so remote a contingency until the candidate for president Is nominated that we haven't given It a moment'a thought," he said. "Almost any good Republican who lives in the east would make a good candidate for vice-president Personally, I should be Inclined to name some one from Pennsylvania or New England, but the matter at this time Is not worth a mo- -ment's consideration." - That was the attitude of the man , who a few days later was himself to be nominated for vice-president and who, aa we paced the platform to gether, tacitly admitted to me that be was contemplating bis election on the following winter as United States sen-.' ator from New York to succeed Fran-. els Kernan. V v-'-- '' ''r ;" ".';' !' Who General Arthur far western choice for the presidential nomination ' was I never learned. (Copyright UH. by TO. J. Edwards. AD RlChts Reserved.) r Women can't think, but they sugat the brain of every man who can. Where Women Keep Hidden Practically Non-Exlstent, According to - the Custom, of the Country V. V'1 Sbould the women of Persia ever get a vote, they will doubtless see to It that the lot of their sex Is consider ably Improved, for at the present time they are regarded as nonentities.: A husband in Persia never apeak of bis wifa to hla acquaintances, and, if obliged to mention her. It la by some other, term than wife, a "mother of my son," or "my house." She must not exist for anyono but her husband, and from. all others she must be hid den non-existing, v For thla reason, when the harem of governor or very high personages pass through the streets of Persia, the men whom tbey meet either turn their back or slip down a by-street or Into some conven ient doorway. . On passing a European, If sure that none of her eo-religionists ee her, a woman, particularly if she be young and good-looking, will often raise bei veil, from under which 4 pair of darl eyes follow the stranger with a curt ous gate. - . ' Maiden wishing to get man-fed vis It the tomb of torn sacred woman There are many such tombs, and mo of them are considered a the patroni of virgin. , Marriage are contractec very early. Sometime, owing to fam lly reasons, one bear of a youth or 15 or 16 married to a girl much old er. The marriageable age for a gir la fixed at nine. ;;-. ' : . .." .' ' Her (Frugal Mind. A man who Illness threatened u develop into typhoid wa takes to U aospltai - Instead of growing worst be Improved, and at the end of ta fourth day, when bis wire visited bisa be asked to be takea borne "But yot Have paid lor a week." replied nil thrifty spouse "They wont refum the money : You had better stay you. week out v ' -
The News-Record (Marshall, N.C.)
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Jan. 5, 1912, edition 1
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