Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1859-09-07
MORNING LEADER.
ABLAoKRIRD HOLIDAY.


| a DlfAOhhLnO lOhAOAl.
Brb. .. TAYLOR.
| tN EI
Oountryward the sky seems TO have fallen,
and iG according TO the sarcastic proverb, they
are not catching lafks, at least they are pepper
ed with blackbirds. Not the fellows with red
epauleltes, hut blaok blsckbrds, all In glossy
satin, though getting little rusty, and worse
for the summers wear, just now. The new
shoFn and tawny feds.and the yellow wigwams
Of stacked grain are dotted with them.
These colofed gentry were quite domestic in
the spring They paired as honest blsckbirds
should They built summer houses, Ike the
thrifty folks they are, and they brought up fam
lilies each mother thinking. with her big cousin
the crow, cher own young the whitest." These
duties done, they have broken up housekeeping
/ aud gone into "a committee Of the WHOLE" and
there were al least 2,H00 Of them in sight at one
time, yesterday, as they held grand conven-
| ton over the aheaves Of new oats--fOr they eat
oats like horses and Hiablandera. and feel them
too, if one may infer anything from the frolio
they seemed 10 be in,s-now dashing away to
the right aud tlle left---now whiriing up into
tree, bird to every twig.--now like the esle
brated four and twenty "all in a TOW" upon the
fences, and now rising like a spotted cloud,
only to come down like fast. falling snow upon
the orchard. s.t E.
But they do make havoc among the oats. TO
be sUre, and we feel Reometre sympathy TIL
angular and cquilaterali we are pittully sorry
for the farmer and his horses but We are won
derlully glad for the birds. There must, we
are convinced, be more poetry thsn profit in
mans oat harvest taking thousand pair of
wings and Aying away; bot why not SOW lit
tie broa Ter breadth Of grain than man wants
IF such a thing is possible-so as TO have
little margin for blackbirdsl Nobody will DO
auy such thing TO be sure, and least Of all for
the sooty fellows we arc writing about We
know they have no frieDds,- everybody burns
"yillainous saltpetre' at them. throws stones
at them, and prOfane people swear round oaths
at them Children are taught that it is vir
tue TO kill blackbrd, and small bounties are
offered for their unlucky heads There must
be Saint and Fortune aAoat over the oat field
just now
Our client is chsrged with pulling up the corn
in the spring. The soft impeachment is not
,tenied, but we plead for Offset the noxious
worms and insects that he devours. When he
exhumes rne kernel of corn who can say that
he does not destroy two enemies of the growing
grain, that lurking in the mellow earth, are
more in nsidiOus aud more to be feared than hei
But, undeniaby the blackbird is fond Of
oats-a very simple, heahhful Diet for which
we commend him; though there is "per con-
tra"-a shady side TO his character. Dark, in.
deed, must the shady side of a blackbird be =
The fact is, he drinks Drinks "harJ"-drinks
all the time No duck loves water better Than
he. In seventeen minutes, yesterday, party
of them flew down to a little pond eight times
J aud drank, and back to the oats again for one
little kernel more They were happy as the
day was long; they had finished their years
work, and had gathered for feast and froic.
Natures facilities for board and lodging"
seem TO us perpetual miraclc--it is the feed.
ing Of the multitude over again every dry.-
] There, on a single farm, how many myriads are
satisfied, from the creatures that dwell in sub.
tcrranean habitatious to the birds ON the top of
the air. The lodger that breakiasted like a
prince tlis morning, furnished another with a
capital dinner at noon. and while he took his
t siestG in shady place, perhaps our friend, the
: backbird, nude dainty supper of them both.
4. But every dog Of them mas his day. per.
n hups the creature that only lived to breakfast
. reached his three score years and ten before
high noon. 1t is a system Of compensation all
tho way through--the shorter life is the more
there are of them to enjoy it, The farther
n down you 90 in the scale of being, the denseI
I, life is-it is thick atmosphere Of gay exist
ence. The throngs that threaten the city
i streets with congestion are but handful com
pared with the mutitudos that crowd the mar
. row, olden street of a sunbeam.
Tho farme is a second hand Providence Ia
all these hosts, aud he fances than he and bis
b cattle only, Of them oil. work Tor living, and
/, therein he commits placent error They all
! labor in ways unfeen, perhaps, Tor the general
good, except mosquitoes; they oil do something
or are something to something that does DO and
It cannot be spared. Could the two looted Pro-
1t pretor have his own way with the insects, the
r, birds would cat up his grain and destroy his
fruit. Could he have his Owa way with tho
birds, the insects would destroy his trees crop
T. close his green pastures and leave him but hall
: a harvest; creeping things w0u have the
freedom Of his fields and for buds his orchard,
!, would bear bugs. But as il is, the baaI ce 4
= preserved, "the union is saved" his trees ar,
y thrifty his orchards are laden his pastures are
= rank and cen, bis grain stands stout, and al
Il above and below are fed and are satisfied
J, Not at the expense of the farmer is all this
4, Mature is the landlord and has placards pos
" ted everywhere, setting forth in characters ou
10 great dull eyes cannot discern on the grseI
10 savanna of every leaf, "PGsturage for flock
+ aud herds on liberal terms :" and underneatl
every little stone and fallen log-"Cellars /,
let :" aud by every brook" Water privilegei
free :" and on numberess buds and ilowers--
" Furnished chambers with board # desired :
and on the under side of the blades Of grass
a" lodgings !" and on every clover blossom
Honey in welcome |" s.
+ to write hinder feet, that he might look up
- and il is about time he began to look dOl1n
,f little, to become better acquainted with grea
commonwealth Of being around biz feet-tha
, be may act as LeathcTstocking would say, &C
= cording to "his gifts Flies annoy him, bu
d he drives from his house bro m in hand. tn,
10 black wosp that ventures in TO help him TO gel
4, rid Of the little brown legion. He hates mos
/ quitoes, buthe gives an Opproblous spithet tC
about the only creature that loves mosquitoes
to eat them and calls il "the DEVILS Darning
D. needle" and expsis it from his neghbiThood Il
he can, He will burn dupont any day &c
r kill that red capped carpenter, the wOodpecker
who does him loyal service in ejectnR Ill man
h. nered tenants from bis trees, that damage theil
- chambers and pay beggarly rent
T. You will see him in the grove or In the or
Q, chard making calls from tres TO tree Now
r, he is in the Rhode Island Greening, aud now ia
"a the russet lie ays hls respects TO the folks in
., the Maydukc, and hunts up the people in your
pet eveTpIeens Nav, he knocks softly upon a
J. trunk and listens there is no one stirring, and
ID he goes 10 the neighbor's. There he knocks
once-twee--thTic Il rings like little ham
4. mer in the stiffness Depend upon IL, he never
% knocks very loudly unless he is sure there ID
y somebody "at home" He knocks and waits a
little. Perhaps they didn't hear, and so he
, knocks again All, there is tenant moving. -
p Our carpenter has qiek car and he hears the
fellow stealing from one small wooden cham.
4 Der 10 another, and through the little wooden
halls along the grain, and he IS III not be denied
The oeeupsnt must come Out, death Is at the
rn,orI, bark 1oor in the shane of a red .hRaded