Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1883-05-05
A Canary Contest.

A stranger stepping from the slushy
streets into James Dawson's saloon, at 823
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 eyes we're
all directed to the chimney piece. On the
chimney piece was q small wooden cage,
and on the perchin the cage sat a canary.
The occasion was the decision of a sing
ing sweepstakes of ST. so 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
ly 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 a neat wooden cage, 7. Gill produced
"Flute" from under his ~overcoat, with a
look of quiet confidence on his face,
while a "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 $3.50 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 q ~"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 "Music'' remained
as dumb as an oyster. In less than half
a minute, however, the bird beginning
with a plaintive "tweet, tweet," burst
into full song, and might have chirped
out the ten minutes, but an unfor-
tunate individual in the corner
sneezed violently, and emusic" pulled
up short in the middle of what
ap enthusiast afterward styled "a boss
trill," and cooking his artful little head
on mi 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.
T. Gill then placed "Flute" and hi.
cage tenderly upon the chimney piece
w6isked off the Cloth cover, and took W
his stand by the timekeeper, evidentl!
brimful of confidence. "Flute" hoped
around the cage for moment or so, thel
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 a ban!
when the bird had been whistling twenty
four second, and the canary sang Il
more. The nameless bird entered by tn
unknown" was the last to go con tn
shelf" His appearance was greeted wit
derision. He was q mournful lookin
bird, and it was stated by a person wit
a husky voice and a sealskin cap tina
"Ed' scaped outer lis cage afore Chris
mas, an been a livin' in a sparrer box i
Franklin square ever since, which 8
corrupted i'm like, yer see." He COZ
tinued: can if he pipes at all, yer ca
canary's." Whether the gentleman VIZ
right or not it is impossible to say, as th
obstinate mule for it was a cross-bre
bird, sang never a note, but stuck to h
perch and gazed curiously at the ga
until, at the expiration of ten minute
Dawson called time and declared Mus
the winner of the match and stakes.
These contests are new in Philadelphi;
but they are very common in Londo
and the north Of England. Dawson il
tends shortly to organize a singing mate
on a large scale, which he thinks wi
prove popular, $ there are SO many fiji
singers in tbs city. 1t was explained
the conclusion of the contest that til
reason the canaries would not sin
was because the cages were placed tc
near the gas. The glare Of the gas an
the heat Of the room, it was thought, ha
scared them.-Philadelphia Press.