Evening journal., 1888-07-03
expects, in due course of time, to enter into

expects, in due course Of time, to enter into
Nirvana.
A male ostrich Of good development can
reach over a large horse and get an orange
out Of the stirrup on the other side Having
done so, he swallows it whole; AID you can
see the globe majestically and slowly de-
scending the gullet. Doubtless the ostrich
has longer taste than any other living
creature, excepting the giraffe He viii
swallow five or six such trines as oranges
one after another, and you can see the pro-
truding knots in his long and twisted oesoph-
agus as they gradually work their way down
stairs. He could perform several curves of
minuet before the last disappears from sight.
What is an ostrich farm fora 1t is for the
production of ostriehes. And what are the
ostriches forg They are for the production
Of feathers, and the feathers are for sale.
Your vigorous well grown ostrich may be
plucked every six months, aud the less thrifty
birds every eight or nine months The
yield OF feathers from each is from
one to one and half pounds and
the farmer receives for his product from
$40 to 500 a pound. An extra bird some-
times yields 800 worth of feathers at a time.
When the plucking season arrives, tho birds
are harnessed up ia a narrow stall and care
fully blindfolded for fear the officiating
clergyman may be kicked through the fence.
The ostrich becomes exceedingly angry with
the pulling of his feathers, and his kick is
one OF the most swift and dangerous reac-
tions ever excited among the muscles and
tendons Of animated nature When the bird
is angry he lifts his wings, throws forward
his head somewhat, and utters a sort of hiss,
which he bites Off with a snap Of his bill.
About this time look out for action.
After our visit to the ostrich farm we
made our way down to the beach and spent
some hours on the shore OF the Pacific.
Here, for the first time in my life, / had an
opportunity to study and compare this
majestic water with the other seas and
oceans. Ono might ns wen suppose that
an ocean is an ocean, without its
characteristics features; that one is as
the other; but not so. The ocean is
glorious in its individuality as in its
strength and grandeur In the first place,
the shore has an ever varying condition.
The Pacific coast is totally different from
that OF the Atlantic, in that it is almost
everywhere precipitous broken off square
down TO the deep Sometimes the precipiee
is hundreds Of feet in height Sometimes
the square wall, which is thus far of the
have the gentle sloping beach peculiar to
the Atlantic shores. II you stand upon the
precipice of the Pacific and look down to the
surf you shall find almost everywhere a quar-
ter or a half mile of shingle which is the de
batable ground alternately covered and un-
covered by the tide At high tide the ocean
roars against the foot Of the eprecipice, and no
beach is seen; but at the low tide the surf
lineis eut at a considerable distance and thou-
sands OF people may gather down there a.
the strand between the ocean wall and TIE
break Of the sea. Such is the general aspect
Of all those parts of the Pacific coast which
have visited.
The next fact is that of the greater
grandeur of the Pacific as to the visual ex-
panse, the length and height of the billows
and the majesty Of the ocean symphony l
do not know how it is that the Pacific can
suggest its extent and aln,ightiness to the be-
holder on the shore; it may be his own knowl-
edge that infinity is before him; but the scene
does inform him, in some way, that the inf
mite is there. The incoming billows, even
when the sea is most calm, are, according to
my estimate, from ten to twenty feet in per-
pendicular height Each wave stretches
laterally for miles and miles,
The ocean rhythm has its mathematical and
musical succession. 1t has it's mighty poeti-
cal feet It has an mapest or a dactyl an
amphibrach or molossus, according to the
mood of the spirit that broods upon the
waters
Break break, break
AT the foot Of thy crags, 0 sea:
But the tender grace of the day that is dead
VIII never come back to me.