The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1889-02-17

"A friend from the West was visiting me
eight or nine years ago, who had q good
deal of knowledge of ORTHODOXY. She
watched the birds in Prospect Park, n
before l knew it / found myself watching
them too. For years / spent day after day
in the wilder portions of the park, opera
glass in hand, noting their ways from UNI
der the trees. Early in the morning | would
start, taking my lunch with me, and some
times i was there. making notes or waiting
to see a little play ended, until the birds
had tucked their heads undertheir wings
at shutdown. The. park was my aviary un-
til it was overrun by boys"
You still spend your summers studying
birds in the wOOdsi"
"Yes. when / can tell by a birds note
whether he is in the dumps or in jocund
frame of mind then is the time to observe
1 have my scouts out. Boys bring me word
where the birds are building, and l can
look on at courtship and love and the
soberer family affairs. / went to North
Carolina at one time to see the hooking
bird through the mating season."
Gould you give any directions for the
care of birdsi"
1T would be easy to compile a manual of
'donts,' after the etiquette book fashion. l
passed. a house yesterday with a bird cage
covered to the very top with lace or muslin
hanging in the window. How would you
like that if you were q bird7 No chance to
see anything, no chance to breathe. The
meshes of the fabric become clogged, with
dust or other matters and a birds health
must suffer from lack of ventilation"
Doesn't it take a long time to care for o
bird-roOmf"
"At least an hour and a half every morn
ing. Every water-cup and food dish must
be washed in hot suds, the seed dishes must
be filled, the perches must be washed in
suds, the trays in the bottoms of the cages
taken out, emptied of their gravel, washed,
wiped dry, provided with clean gravel and
put back again. use wire cages only; and.
in addition to the suds bath, / scald the
perches occasionally and clean with car
bolic acid. That keeps off vermin e~ffectual-
ly. never allow a cage from a bird store
to come into my house. Perhaps it is i'm
| possible to keep birds clean in stores; at
condition. Then the dealer will put one
into O ~pasteboard box or a paper parcel,
where the poor thing, used to perching,
finds it hard to stand on the Hat surface,
want to buy a bird 1 take my own bird
basket with me. 1t is specially fitted with
perches and little conveniences for bring
ing the traveller home comfortably.
BY the way, do you know that one OF the
birds greatests pests is the mOsquitoi. l do
not know how the bird protects itself out
of doors living in mosquito-haunted woods,
or whether under natural conditions it is
not pestered; but in the house 1t 1T Is an
moved in the night it flutters its wings and
makes such a commotioD of protest that 1
cannot sleep until it is attended to. The
birds are shut into their cages before dark,
or rather they &c in of their own accord,
just as chickens go home to roOst at night
fall. Before the windows are opened for
fresh air in the sleeping room every cage is
covered with a shawl or a piece of flannel
to keep them warm. 1t is not a bad plan to
darken the windows very carefully, or in
of chirps and peepings, showing that the
birds are up and would like to be doing
long before it suits you to. acknowledge
that day has begun.
course in an aviary OF any room used
for no purpose but bookkeeping the birds
can spend the night on their fayorite
perches and cages need not be introduced
at ALL
to keep a roomful of birds in healthf''
seed-eaters. Birds which need the soft
food or hooking bird food sometimes make
a little less fuss at first about taking 1t;
but the greatest difficulty is the indiscre-
icate that O bit of fresh biscuit will kill
them, and yet people will give their pets
hot bread, cake or candies"
Mrs. Miller has had pets other than birds.
During the early part of this winter she
had a curious IN domiciled on her
%sitting-room mantle. Some time ago she
made a familiar friend of a lemur and be-
fore that of a South American kinkajOu.
| The bird-room, as l a described it, was an
institution of last winter and the winter be-
fore that, and very probable of the winter
after this. just at present she is so busy
| with pressing literary work that she is keep
ing fewer birds than usual.
Her literary habits are interesting. She
| likes to be at her desk early and to write
without interruption until lunch time. She
may take pen and paper again in the after
noon, but the afternoon usually and the
evening always belongs to her family.
Like Helen jackson, who never penned a
line for publication until she was a mature
woman at the zenith of her powers; like
| Mary Mapes Dodge, who did not write until
she was looking for an absorbing Occupa-
| ton after the death of her husband; like
Margaret Deland, who astonished her
Ward, Preacher" Olive Thorne did not
send out her first volume until she had some
experience of life and its ways. She was
ambitious as a girl H. am E,9ad GUS as a Young
other pleasant cares, and it was not until
she reached the leisure of a mother whose
little ones are growing fast into big ones
that she delighted the children of thou
in Fur and Feathers" a perfect book of its
kind. For eight or ten years now her chill
dren's books have beencoming out, Queer
Pets at Marcy's," Little People of ASIA"
and kindred charming volumes. Her later
work has been almost exclusively. bird
studies for the children's elders, though
she has q venture in q totally different di-
~rection, a history of Delaware, for ID.
Lothrop Company's Stories of the States"
series on the stocks this winter.
Personally Olive Thorne impresses one
first of all as a woman of healthy mind.
There is a rare and sweet sanity looking
out of her c~ountenance. VigOr is what
strikes you next. She has the mental
soundness and heartiness of one who looks
much on nature and whose ears listen to
voices out of doors. She is tall, has
bright eyes that lead you to expect a
Juno of kindly humor and a quantity
of hair turning slightly gray. She is nc
pessimist, her face tells you that. You
could not offend her more deeply than by
calling her q society woman, but at the
woman's clubs and in literary gatherings
no circle is complete without her. Thoreau,
Burroughs, Gilbert White and others of
that DELIGHTFUL line, older and younger, are
her favOrite reading, and her own books
are worthy companions of theirs On the
Students shelves.
For those TO whom whatever a woman
may do is emptiness and folly unless she
can also sew shirts. and make pies. Mrs
Miller is the presiding genius in a charm
ing home and possesses that crown of q
wOman's accomplishments, a thorough
knowledge of Housekeeping. Her husband,
Mr.. L. Watts Miller, is a well-known Wall.
street business man.
ELIZA PUTNAM HEAToN.
The Case of Joseph A. Moore.
To the Editor of the Indianapolis Journal: