The weekly Ottumwa courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1857-1872, 1857-01-01
From Arthar's Mag for January
THE WHITE SPARROW.
sleep, heis the wors, Of thieves;

lie steals the half Of lfe.' -
No more common complaint is to be heard
rtsSsa-days. from the lips Of house wives, than
that OF the laziness aud u,ihrifty habits Of
domestic servants. Mrhers and grandmothers
ss.re often want to tell the young housekeeper
that matters were otherwise in their days: aud
j, has sometimes occurred TO us. whether the
fault may not lie a. much in the degenerate
habits Of The masters and mistresses Of The pre-
sept generation. as from any fault peculiar to
thei. dependants. Were the lady Of the house
morerrequently to rise at FIVE or six in the
morning. as in the 'sgood d DAYS OF lang syne,' y
prrchsnce she would not SO often have to COM
plain that rooms were carelesslv swept, that
work was left undone, or fires lighted too late
A useful hint on this subject may we think,
be gathered from proveIbial tale, related by
afavorite German writer, and entitled
lie who would thrive
Must the White sparrow see y
The meaning Of this proyerb isnot at erst sight
so apparent as that Of some other which cirau-
late amongst US such ass Early habits make the
man" or 8 Honesty is the best policyn &C.;
but the moral Specification 1t is intended to
convey Is not the less true aud important.
will. therefore, here relate the s.sry connected
With its origin. even az I received /, myself
from the lips of an old friend.
IkEe Was ceitsin GARNER, with whom every
fling seemed To grow worse from year to year
Ills cattle died one by one--the product of his
/, Yard was not half what it ought to be--in fact
Ill L., 1rf,, -f<,x n
soNs going TO the dogs" Scarcely week
passed by that either the tax-gafherer or the
pawnbroker did not come to his window, and !
addressing him with courteous bow, say, ssI
an really very sorry, Herr Rnckwarts, TO put
you to Inconvenience, but sm compelled 10
90 my drty." The old friends Of Herr Ruck-
! warts also tried tkeir best to do their duty
! by hm-they advised, they entreated and
they helped him, bnt alt in vain; and one
after another gave him up in despair, declaring
with sigh tina. ..as for poor Ruckwarts, there
was no use Of trying 10 help him,-he ras post
being helped"
He had one friend. however, whose heart was
4 IN the right place. and n ho was not only good
/ nau, but very prudent and cledr-sighted u,an
| This friend thought he would not give Herr
Rnckwarts up altogether, without making one
more attempt TO save him; so one day, as they
were drinking their glass of beer together, he
| .e, the conversation, as though accidentally,
| to the subject of sparrows, related many anec-
do.es Of these birds. and observed how mech
they had multiplied OF late, and how very cum
4 ming and yoracious they had become.
Herr Ruckwarts shook his head gravely IN
answer 10 this observation, and said "They
were indeedmost destructive ecreatures--for hi.
mart, he had not the least doubt that it was en-
4 tirely owing 10 them his harvest had been Of
4 late years so nnproductive.n y ssss sa
T,,6his conjecture, the good Friend made no
4 reid .de, ;sbat after moments pause he con-
Ii. .ued the conversation BY inquir,ng; sNeigt-
I for, have you ever. seen =. white sparrow?"
Y nNo,n replied Ruckwarts, "the sparrows
whSek alight in nv fields are all quite grey =
| THAT isyery probable" !" rejoined has friend,
| a,he habits OF the white sparrow are peculiar
4 itself. Only one comes into the world every
year, and being so different from its fellows
the other sparrows take dislike TO il, and peck
I 4, il when it appears anougst them. For this
reason it seeks Its food early in the morning,
before the rest of the featheIed tribe are astir,
and then goes back to its nest for the rest Of
the day, ee = s - =
"Thst is very stranee!'' exclaimed Ruck-
warts. Z" mustreally try and get a sight ct
,bat sparrow and il possible will catchit toe. -
1 ON ths morning which followed this CONVEX
cation. the farmer rose with the sun, and sal
lied forth into his felds;he walked around his
| EARN searched his farm-yard in every corner.
examined the roofs Of his gamers, and the
/ ,,.es a his orchsd, to see whether he could
N,cover any traces Of the wonderful white
.n.r,ow. But the white sparrow. to the great
disappointment Of the farmer, would not show
;,..lf Or stir from It's imaginary nest. What
,.redths farmer, howeyer, still more was, that
n Nhoush the sun stood high IN ths heavens bv
yse tine he had canplstsd his rcands, not one
ofthe farm hands were astir- they too seemed
c..olved nst to lsass their nests. Mean
while, the cattle IN their stalls were bslIewing
.ith hunger, and not ! soul was near to give
them their fodder. ssa ..asssa e.ss - ass4 -
4 -. 49, s. <sssA As