Centre Democrat. [volume] (Bellefonte, Pa.) 1848-1989, 1880-03-04
THE POETS AND THE BIRDS.
WHAT MISS sANBoRS CHOSE FOR THE SUBJECT
or HER YESTERDAY MORNINGS
TALK TO LADIES.

WHAT MISS sASBoRS CHOSE FOR THE SUBJECT
or HER YESTERDAY MORNINGS
TALK TO LADIES.
From the New York World,
Having found the parlor of DIR.
Crosby's Church too small for the
many ladies who attend her Thursday
morning talks, Miss Kate Sanborn
yesterday spoke from the little plat
form at the end of the chapel or lec-
ture-room belonging to the same
church. Here, shut off from the
sound of horse.cars and elevated
trains, which on the occasion of her
first lecture last week proved imperti-
nently disagreeablc, everybody who
had the good fortune to be present
thoroughly enjoyed herself (for Miss
Sanb0rn's large audience contained
only two males. Miss Sanborn, who
is promptncss itself, entered the lee
| ture.room moment or two before ii
o'clock and depositing on the desk be-
fore her large pile Of manuscript,
| frankly told her hearers that the sub
/ iect she had chosen To talk TO them
about had run away with her. at is
so voluminous," said she, with de-
spairing sigh, that, try as will, prune
as I can, worry as I do, cannot get
it into shape for n lecture. This.
ladies desperately, is not lecture.
It's ramble-let's call it flight.
Birds as Sung by Poets That is the
title | have given to it. Its good
subject know it il. I'm in love
with it. But the difficulty is in par
/ ing il down into round little lecture
/ of an hours duration. 1t is difficult
/ ty which, as | said before, | have not
surmounted. My sister says it is too
'birdy.' Ny fear il that it will be
burdensome. Forgive me. Let us,
fly into the clouds at once.
"On a train one sunny morning in
June saw little bird fly by my win
dow and on and up into the illimitable
blue. Ny first thought was of this
airy freedom and graceful flight as
contrasted with the crampcd car and
snorting engine pulling along its load
of human luggage amid the heat and
dust. | sighed for wings, and then
came the thought, AS you cannot
very well be bird'-which was quite
true-'why not look up the many
beautiful things that poets have said
about them2 There you will find all
that you feel but have not disability
to express This has been my task.
Ruskin will certainly commend me
for it if nobody else does, for he grum-
bles that mo English gentleman in re-
cent times has ever thought of birds
except as flying targets or flavorous
dishes" Having made Aristophanes,
Chaucer, and Boccaccio responsible for
utterances concerning the winged sub
ject she had chosen, Miss Sanborn said !:
"The first English song about birds
that | have found is OH the owl and
the nightingale, as TO which had the
finer voice, and bear the date 1878.
This is important, as it is about Eng
lish bird poetry that | am chiefly 60
ing to talk. Which two birds do you
suppose are the most famous in Eng
Iish verse? Does anybody know ?"
Miss Sanborn paused for reply. "Come"
she continued, as nobody answered,
"as this cannot be a lecture let us
make il conversational Still none of
the ladies spoke, though all of them
looked interested enough to do so had
they dared. Miss Sanborn laughed.
"Well. pardon me" she said, IL can
not help taking a delicious and mali
cious delight in proving my superior
knowledge on this subject, since |
have been two whole years digging at
it. The birds to which / refer are the
nightingale and the lark. There are,
indeed, few poems of any length in
either of the languages Of Europe in
which allusion to one or other of these
birds has not place. The noblest poets
have been boon companions of these
birds, beneath skies saluted by the
lark. among groves haunted by the
nightingale. These little creatures
sang with Homer and Sappho among
the isles of Greece, for Virgil and
Horace on the plains Of Italy; they
cheered Dante in his lifelong wander.
ing exile and Petrareh in his solitary
hermitage" Miss Sanborn then read
many extracts from poems of oil ages
devoted to nightingales. As she is o
good reader, and had in the main Sc
Iected poems which might reasonably
7 be supposed to be familiar, the quota