The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1881-08-20
THE STORY Of A BAD BIRD.


1t is painful to think that any bird
could be really wicked; for birds-es-
specially chubby birds-almost always
seem good and innocent, and look as if
their fat little breasts grew so because
there were warm little hearts inside.
And bird has way of looking you
straight in the face with his bright little
eye, that makes you believe he is honest
and is not ashamed of it. Birds have
made splendid record in the world.
never knew bird to tell lie, except
ing this bad bird, and certainly no bird
was ever known to rob bank or forge
q check.
But, sad as it to think so, there have
been birds, and this one, whose story l
am about to tell, was SO very bad that,
in fairness to other birds, it should be
understood that he was very unlike
them. The fact is, he was downright
cheat. He was nothing but common
blackbird, who had never been to school
day in his life, and yet he set himself
up for a bird-doctor, called himself DR..
Black, and put on all sorts of medical
airs. He even went so far as to pretend
that he was q crow, and had studied
medicine, and been made a doctor at
the famous Crow College out West, al
though he had never so much as seen it.
Perhaps you have never heard of
Crow College beforeP Well, that is not
strange, for if had not had some very
highly-educated birds among my friends
believe should never have heard of
it myself. A great deal depends upon
the kind of birds you associate with. 1t
is college where crows study to be
doctors. (The bird-doctors are always
crows-did you know thatP) There are
forty teachers in the college, all of them
crows, very learned and very black,
and the head of the facultyis a solemn
old raven, who came over from the
Raven University in Arabia Just to be
the head of this college. He is SO old
that he can't remember how many
hundred years it is since he was born,
and, as he has never been known to
open his mouth, excepting to eat, he is
believed by everybody to be wonder
fully wise.
The college classes meet in the upper
branches of the trees in u great West
ern forest. If you passed by there you
would think, of course, that it was
merely flock of noisy crows chatter
ing together. But if you could see up
To the tops of the trees you would see
the old raven DOING, with his specta-
Ges on his nose, and the teachers
explaining, all at once. about the
bones and veins of birds and their
tiny diseases. and all the classes
studying hard, like good little crows.
But there is one sad thing about the
Crow College. Crow-doctOrs have
trouble sometimes in getting paid. and,
as crows must live, there is one crow
professor who gives his whole time to
teaching the best way to steal corn.
And am sorry to add that the corn
class is always the largest class of all.
The way DIR. Black set himself up in
practice will show you what clever
little rogue he was. Have you ever
seen Stuyvesant Square in New York;
A good many Of you must have seen it.
1t is one of the Oldest parks in the city;
st. Georges Church stands beside it,
and away up in the great towers of the
church the clock strikes every few min
utes with agentle, friendly sound, as if
it were telling the children playing be-
low that another quarter of an hour has
gone. and they must enjoy all the hours
and minutes that are left.
In this pleasant old park there is a
fountain, and in the fountain there is q
little raft of wood about foot square.
This raft is anchored with stone, and
one end runs under the water Just
enough to let the birds skip down upon
it into the water and have a splendid
bath, and skip back upon the dry part
Of the board. Now it so happened
that the park policeman was putting q
new raft in its place when DIR. Black
came flying over the park. That
caught his wicked little eve, and he
stopped; he alighted on tree right at
the edge of the fountain and seemed to
be thinking very hard. 1t was a sign
that he was doing this when he
scratched himself as near to his head as
he could get his foot, and he scratched
himself several times.
Finally, when his mind seemed to be
made up, and the policeman had gone
away, DIR. Black few down to the board
and stood on it. Meanwhile, he care
fully stroked his feathers until he
looked so smooth. so black and so re-
spectacle that you would have said
he was q bird-doctor the minute
you looked at him, and you would have
thought him one of the most respecta-
BILE birds alive. Now, down came the
sparrows for their bath; they had been
waiting and they were impatient Who
was this dark stranger standing in their
wayp They few around and around
him, chirping to one another, and won
dering, in their little brains, what it
could all mean; and all the while DR..
Black stood on the board. silent and
black. and pretended to take no notice