Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1883-04-26
A Canary Contest.

A stranger stepping from the slushy
streets into James DawsOn's saloon, at S23
Callowhill street, last night, would have
been considerably mystifed by the sights
to be seen in the large room in the rear
of the bar. Every seat in the place was
occupied by silent men, whose ewes were
all directed to the chimney piece On the
chimney piece was a small wooden cage,
and on the perch in the cage sat a canary.
The occasion was the decision of a sing
ing sweepstakes of g. 80 each. The con-
ditions provided that each canary should
be allowed ten minutes, and the bird
that did the most whistling and chirping
during that period of time was to be ad-
Judged the winner. There were original
" five entries, but when the contest was
called on last night, shortly after eight
o'clock, only three contestants were on
hand. George Barlow brought emusic"
in neat wooden cage, T. Gill produced
'Flute" from under his overcoat, with a
look of quiet confidence on his face,
while "mule," that the canary fanciers
pronounced a green ''sparrer," was intro
duced by Dawson, as it was understood,
on behalf of an unknown" hacker.
At $50 emusic" was placed on the
chimney piece in the full glare of a
naked gas jet. Dawson drew out his
watch, the taker of the singing time
pulled out fyback," and time was
called. The fifty spectators leaned back
in their chairs and stared at the cage.
The ticking of the clock was the only
sound to be heard, as emusic" remained
as dumb as an oyster. In less than half
a minute, however, the bird beginning
with a plaintiYe "tweet, tweet" burst
into full song, and might have chirped
out the ten minutes, but an unfor-
tunate individual in the corner
yneezed violently, and emusic" pulled
up short in the middle of what
an enthusiast afterward styled ga boss
trill," and cooking his artful little head
ON one side and tapping his tiny wings
wrathfully he declined to favor the COM
pany with another note. When the time
was up Dawson announced that emusic"
had 'piped' 593 second.
7. Gill then placed "Flute" and his
cage tenderly upon the chimney piece,
whisked off the cloth cover, and took up
his stand by the timekeeper, evidently
brimful of confidence. "Flute" hoped
around the cage for moment or so, then
settled on his perch, turned his head rap
idly from side to side, murmured ''tweet.
tweet," and became aggravatingly mute.
A little later and he began to sing sweet
ly, but the outer door closed with bang
when the bird had been Whistling twenty
four second, and the canary sang no
more. The nameless bird entered by the
unknown" was the last to go con the
shelf" His appearance was greeted with
derisiOn. He was a mOUrnful looking
bird, and it was stated by a person with
a husky voice and a sealskin cap that
'"Ed' scaped outer is cage afore Christ
mas, an been Twin in sparrer box in
Franklin square ever since, which as
corrupted i'm like, yer see." He con-
tinued: AN if he pipes at all, yer can
bet it'll be more of a sparrers note nor
canary's." Whether the gentleman was
right or not it is impossible to say, as the
obstinate mule" for it was a cross bred
bird, sang never a note, but stuck to his
perch and gazed curiously at the gas,
until, at the expiration of ten minutes,
Dawson called time and declared Music
the winner of the match and stakes.
These contests are new in Philadelphia
but they are very common in London
and the north of England. Dawson in
tends shortly to organize singing match
on large scale, which he thinks will
prove popular, as there are so many fine
singers in the city. 1t was explained at
the conclusion of the contest that the
reason the canaries would not sing
was because the cages were placed too
near the gas. The glare of the gas and
the heat of the room, it was thought, had
scared them Philadelphia Press.