The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1889-01-31
THE cLAR,N.s SONG.
| Music "Low and soft as the Soothing Fall
Of the Fountains Of Eden"


Of the Fountains Of Eden"
Who can describe the song OF a birdp
Poets and prose writer's alike have Law
ished epithets on nightingale and
mocking-bird, wood-thrush and veery,
yet who, till he heard one, could i'm
agine what its song was likeP Yet !
must speak OF 1t.
Singing was always serious matter
with my bird; that is, he never sang
while eating or flying about, interpo-
lating his exquisite notes between two
mouthfuls, or dropping them from the
air. He always placed himself delib-
erately, and waited for the room to be
still--or made it so, as already re-
lated. During the first few months of
his residence with me, he gave
one song of perhaps twenty
notes, ending in lovely tre-
molo. This had great variety Of ar
rangement but it bore unmistakable
resemblance to the original theme. 1t
was in quality totally unlike any bird
note I ever heard, and thrilling in an
extraordinary degree, though it was
uttered with the beak nearly closed. I
can readily believe what Mr.. Ober and
others assert, that 1t must have star
tling effect when poured out freely in
his native woods. This song alone
placed the clarin at the head Of all
songsters that have heard or heard
Of. But after nearly year of this, he
came out one memorable day with an
entirely new melody, much more intri-
cate and more beautiful, which for
some time he reserved for very special
and particular occasions, still CIV
ing the former one ordfnari-
ly. Some months later, to my
amazement, he added third chant,
which SO resembled that Of the wood
thrush that II he had been near one I
should have thought it a remarkable
mimicry. He delivered this with the
exquisite feeling Of the native bird,
even the delicious quivering tone at
the end, which indeed my bird often
repeated In low tone by itself. Some
times, when the room was very still,
and he sitting on his perch, feathers
pulled out, perfectly happy, he
breathed out this most bewitching
tremulous sound without opening his
beak-a performance enchanting be-
yond words to express.
These themes the clarin constantly
varied, and in the three years of his
life with me often noted down,
in q sort of phonetic way,
his songs, as he delivered them,
and l have six or seven that
are perfectly distinct and different. He
never mixed them together. or united
them; he rarely sang two on the same
day. All through, too, there seemed
SO much reserve power that one could
not resist the conviction that he could
go on and on, and break ones heart
with his voice. If he chose.
The birds own deep feeling was
shown by his conduct; the least move
ment in the room shut him up Instant
1y. One could heartily say with an
other bird-lover across the sea. If he
has not soul, who will answer to mo
for the human soulPn .-,e -
It was reserved for the last weeks OF
his life for my bird to give me the
most genuine surprise. One day, Isat
quietly at my desk. The bird stood
on a perch very near my head
SO near l could not turn to look
at him, when, without a mo-
ment's hesitation, without an
instant's preliminary practice, he
burst out into glorious, heavenly,
perfect song that struck me dumb and
breathless. Not daring to move hand
or foot, yet wanting some record of the
wonderful aria, jotted down. in the
page was writing, few Of the open
ing notes; could re-write my page,
but l could not bear to lose the music.
Three times, at intervals Of perhaps
one minute, he uttered the same mar
velous song, and then never heard 1t
again. After all. I had not record of
it, for though it was deliberate and
distinct at every repetition was SPELL
bound, and could not separate it into
tones.
Though I should live to be thou
sand years old, and visit every country
under Heaven, lam sure should never
hear such a rapturous burst OF song
again
Low and soft rs the soothing fall
OF the f0un tains of Eden; sweet as tho call
OF angels over the Jasper wall
That welcomes soal TO Heaven.
Olive Thorne Miller. in atlantic.
Largest Flume in the World.
The fume that conveys the water