Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1886-02-19
IDLE WoRDS
Their Hurt Lay Not in the Truth Itself, But
In It's Half-Told Tale.

Their Hurt Lay Not in the Truth Itself, But
In It's Half-Told Tale.
Only a spray of wild honeysuckle-
nothing more; and a very joyful
spray, too, for had it not at last
reached the top of a tall holly tree
round which it had twined, and now
swayed gracefully in the breeze as if
seeking new fields for conquest? How
happy it felt in the task accomplished,
how vigorously the sap coursed
through its veins, how brightly its flow
ers expanded to the rising sun!
'Here l am at last! Catch me now,
if you cant" it laughed gayly down to
the sweetbrier hedge which grew below.
"My climbing days are over,'' it re-
piled, contentcdly, ''since the shears
have trimmed me into shape, or |
would ere this have outstripped you in
the race; but then I should not have
been so bushy as I am now"
Cuckoo, cuckoo! what is the news
this morning??" asked a bird which
alighted suddenly on the holly.
"The woodbine has reached the sum-
init" murmured the tree; and the blue
bells and grasses in the meadow at its
foot bowed their innocent young heads
to the breeze, and rang a merry peel in
her honor.
"Pooh! %woodbine, indeed!' returned
the bird; "a weed like that" and she
pecked contemptuously at the flower as
she spoke. 'Poor struggling thing! a
flower here and there for a time, and
then they tell me, nothing but a bundle
of dead-looking twigs. Give me the
creepers of the South. They indeed
adorn the position they hold"
"Cuckoo, cuckoo!" it continued, as
it perched on the sweetbrier hedge.
"Well my poor old friend, you are in
a sad case this year! not shade enough
it? Frost OF the pruner's scissors? ALI,
they told me you were in a bad way,
and l fear it is true"
"Cuckoo, cuckoo!" it resumed, as it
hoped amongst the waving grass;
every pretty whilst it lasts, but they
tell me it will soon be cut down and
withered. Ah!' as a bird rose almost
at its side, 81 wonder if this will do
for my purpose? No, no; they tell me
the eggs are often crushed and trodden
under foot by those great clodhoppers
called men. No, 1 must seek else
where" And with many prolonged
"cuckoos," it flew off to a neighboring
wood.
What had happened that the lark
covered on her nest on the ground and
forgot to fly upward; the grass no long
Ell danced in the soft summer breeze;
the sweetbrier leaves seemed oppressed
with their weight of dew; the honey
sucklc hung limp and still from her
airy bowers?
"Dear me! how dull you all seem to-
day." hummed q bee as it flew busily
amongst the meadow grass.
$50 would you, if you were o to
be dried up and withcred," answered
a b]uebell, shaking her head saucily at
the intruder.
"Indeed! long may such fate be
averted from you, fair Lady Harobell,"
CALAMITY replied the insect, as it in
serted its proboscis deep into the heart
OF the flower; "but pray who may the
prophet of woe have been?:n
"The cuckoo; and she said 'they, had
told her; who are they Mr.. Bee?"
"Ah! fair lady, excuse me, but I
have no time for gossiping," replied
the insect, as he wended his way on
ward.
"Dear, dear! one would think it was
early May instead of nearly midsum-
mer," said a butterfly, as it fiuttered.
over the sweetbrier; s.you keep your
buds SO tightly folded out of sight,
''if you were in as bad a way as ! am"
SGRoI upou inJooJf nc,n. e,ur po,,
look fresher in my life, dear madam
returned the butterfly, as it deposited
its eggs on rosebud. "Who can have
SO maligned youg"
"The cuckoo, and she said they had
told her; who may they be?"
"Indeed, madam, I fear 1 have no
time to waste in speculation" an
swered the insect, as it danced away in
the sunlight.
"Well, Woodbine. you do not seem
over-pleased with your success" twit-
tered a robin, as it alighted on the top
most bough of a hollow tree.
"What is the use of it all, when I am
not fitted for my position, and shall
o o be a bunch Of dead-looking twigs?'
''Who could have said such a thing?"
queried the robin.
"Why, the cuckoo. and she said
they had said so; and who IA they
he, friend Robin?"
"Well, let me see; surely not" But
ere his ideas found words, his bright
little eyes detected q worm on the
ground below, and in the care of pro-
viding for the wants of his family, his
friends troubles were forgotten.
clark, wherefore on thy nest on the
ground instead Of ~cleaving me with thy
upward fiightp" whispered the morn
ing air.
"Ah! my nestlings will perish under
the foot of man if l protect them not"
Wherefore to-day more than yes
terday? Who has frightened thee UNI
duly?"
"The cuckoo, and she said they had
told her, SO it must be true. Air, YOU