Hot Springs weekly star. (Hot Springs, S.D.) 1892-1917, 1893-07-07
THE SONGS OF THE BIRDS.
MANY LESSONS TAUGHT ny THEM
IN THEIR SONGS.

IN THEIR SONGS.
Melody That In DiviMely Taught
The birds Sing On. Although Dam
gers Surround Thenl-The Songs of
the Family.
Brooklyn, n. Y, Special.-Rev. d..
Talmage chose for the subject Of his
sermon 1.-THE Song of Birds" This,
like many Of his sermons, is suited to
the season of the year in which 1t is
preached. 1t is well fitted to be read
under the trees, and has in it the health
of outdoor life. Text-psalms CIV, ~:
by them shall the fowls of the heaven
have their habitatiOn, which sing
among the branches"
There is I'm important and improving
subject to which most people have
given no thought, and concerning which
this is the first pulpit discussion. name
~, the Song of Birds. Ii all that has
been written concerning music by hu-
man voice or about music sounded IN
instrument by finger or breath were put
together, volume by the side of volume,
1t would fill Il hundred alc0ves of the
national libraries. But about the song
of birds there IL as much silence lis
though, a thousand years ago. the last
lark had, with his wing, swept the door
latch of heaven, and as though "
q w~hippoorwill had sung its lullaby
to n slumbering forest at nightfall. We
give n passing smile to the call Of a
bOlolink or the chirp of u canary, but
about the origin. about the fiber, about
the meaning. about tho mirtli, about
the pathos, about the inspiration. aboat
the religion In the song of birds, the
most of us are either ignorant or
Indifferent. A caveat ] this morning
file in the high court of heaven against
that almost universal irreligion.
First, l remark that which will sur
prise many. that the song Of the birds
is a regulated and Systematic SONS
capable of being written out in lote
and staff and bar and clef, as much as
anything that Wagner or Schuman or
Handel yer put on paper. AS we pass
the groves where the flOcks are hold
ing matin or vesper service, we are apt
to think that the sounds are extem-
porized. the rising or falling tone is
a mere accident, it is flung up n down
by %haphazard, the bird did not know
what 1T was doing, it did not care
whether 1t was n long-meter psalm or
q madrigal. What a mistake! The mu-
sician never put on the music rack be-
fore him Mendelssolm's "Elijah," or
Becthoven's Concerto III G, or Spohr's
b fiat Symphony with more definite
idea as to what lie was doing than
| every bird that can sing at all confines
! himself to accurate and predetermined
| rendering. The oratorios. the chants,
| the carols. the ovcrtu:es, the inter-
ludes, the ballads, the canticles. that
| this morning We're heard or will this
evening be heard in the forest have
#! rolled down through the ages without Il
variation. Even the chipnonk's song
| was ordained clear back in the etcrni-
| ties. At the gates of paradise, it sang
! in sounds like the syllahles "lNuk."
"Kuk!!'' "Kuk!!" just rs this morning
in Il Long Island orchard it sans "kuk..'
"Kuk..' "Kuk.!' The thrush Mt the
creation uttered sounds like the word
"Teacher!!' '%'reachcr!!' "rcachcr..' as
now it utter sounds like "Tcachcr..'
sTeacher!!' %'.Teachcr." In the summer
of the year 1 the ycllow-halnmer
trilled that which sounded like the
word "If!!' If ''If..' as in this u,n
mer 1T trills "lf!' 'lf..' If. The
Maryland ycllow-throat inllclits and
bequcaths the tune sounding like the
words 'Pity me, pity me, pity me-"
The white sparrow's ''rsecp. tseep'
woke our great grandfatllcrs as it will
awaken our great grandchildren. Tile
Observation-Disclosures" Of the birds in
the first century was tho same as the
Observation-Disclosures Of the nineteenth
century.
Tie goldfinch has for 5000 years been
singing "De-ree dee-ee-reee." But these
sounds, which we put in harsh words,
they put in cadences, rhythmic. soul
full and enrapturing. Now. If there is
this order and systematization and rhy-
tim all through Gods creation. does it
not imply that we should have the
same characteristics in the music We
make or try to make? Is ii not Il wick
edness that SO many parents give no
opportunity for the culture of their
children in the art of sweet sound? If
God stoops to educate every bluchird.
OriOle and grosbeak in song, how can
parents be so Indifferent about the mu-
steal development of the immortals in
their household? While God will ac-
cept attempts to sing. though 1t
be only q hum or a drone, If we can
do no better, what a shame that. in
this last decade Of the nineteenth cen.
fury, when SO many orchestral batons
are waving and SO many academies
Of music are in full concert and SO
many skilled men and women are wait
ing to offer instruction, there are So
many people who can not sing with
any confidence in the house of God,
because they have had no culture In
this sacred art, OF, while they are able
to sing q fantasia mt a piano amid the
iutterng fans of social admirers, new.
ertheless feel utterly helpless when. in
church, the surges of an Ariel or nj
Antioch roll over them. The old-fasl.
toned country singing school, now
much derided and caricatured (and in.
deed sometimes it was diverted from
the real design into the culture of the
softer emotions rather than the voice,
nevertheless did admirable work, and
in u churches we need singing
schools to prepare our Sabbath audi.
ences for prompt and spontaneous and
multipOtent psalmody. This world
needs to be stormed with hallelujahs
1 M -.~-A