Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1883-09-19

Dawn, we are told Dy some OF your correspond
enta, Mr.. Editor, that we are INDECENT and
should thank the sparrow for awaking us. Ger
tainiy he Is q source Of economy in the matter
OF alarm clocks, and We should be duly grateful
to the birds II We were milkmen, newsbOys,
street-lamp extingulshers or policemen, but
these are not the only avOcatiOns In the world.
If the early bird would catch q worm we
wouldn't complain.
One writer against the sparrow has opened .
wide field Of thought In the suggestion that we
should not have expected anything good from
an English source; and 1t does seem that Of all
the blessings in impenetrable disguise which we
have received from the step mother country
taxation without representation the right Of
search, the denial of the right of search Hes
slams. slavery, lectures against slave-holding
blockade runners, privateers, British neutrality,
British free trade, the sparrow, Oscar Wilde.
etc, etc.,-the most numerous of these is the
sparrow. and if the American eagle would swoop
from his pride Of place and do to these last even
as unto the rest, he would be attending to his
duty Tinse0 Danaos ct dona ferentes,-beware
OF the Britisher though he brings gifts.
EVERY WAY A NUISANCE.
We have only begun to find out what a
nuisance the sparrow is; when he has worked
out compound multiplication he will become
much worse. Those who have passed through
Oriental markets have often seen sparrows dart
down upon the baskets Of grain on the counters,
swallow two or three beak-fulls, fly off with an
other and seek fertile shops and baskets new,
before the shOp-keeper could remove his pipe
and call upon Allah or Buddha to curse them.
When trees are not sufficiently numerous for
roOsting places at night they will enter public
edifices; thus the chandeliers in the Alabaster
Mosque in Cairo. are alive with them at night
and their chirping at sunset Is almost deafening,
while to pass below them is to risk ones gar
ments. Throughout the east it is quite usual
for one or more sparrOws to enter church dur
ing service or a court in session, perch in the
acoustic focus OF the building, and treat the
people to that well-knOwn, hOur-long chrp. 1t
Is true that recent English writer asks, what
would we do in London without the SPARROW"
But the question with US will soon be ''What
shall zoe do ,cih hm?"
We are admOnished to pause before destroying
the English sparrow, as the other birds CD may
become alarmed and leave US to the mercy of
the caterpillars. Dolefu fate! Will that solitary
robin sometimes seen in Lafayette square,-Will
that pair of backbirds occasionally heard in the
Presidents grounds,-will our two wrens, now
temporarily at Sandy Spring. take unto them
selves extra evolved wings and seek some more
secluded spot? Even so, we will never here
after be without birds, for we cannot destroy
the sparrow; him we will always have with us
(also the caterpillar), still, for every pair we
destroy there will be Thousand fewer in FIVE
years and million fewer in ten.
1t is objected that setting price on his head
would be teaching our boys cruelty. and yet if
the less harmful rat or snake were to multiply
We would probably urge the boys, to their ut
most. and flourish stick or two ourselves, kind
hearted as we all are. As to the amount to be
paid, we might return to first principles, when
two sparrOws were sold for farthing and pos
sibly they will be found worth that rate,
since the consoling news comes from
more than one source that the
birds are excellent eating; it is the firm belief
OF travellers that certain delicious small birds
served up daily to foreigners In northern China
fNri in mi Hyin yhnnf hoth bird
Is the only one to be seen the supply is contin-
uous So even those Of us who are not prin-
tiers may be glad to see them reduced, four-and-
twenty at time, to pi; then, how pleasant.
to sing the good old hymn, I'VE are passering
away. we are passering away" NICK