The Atlanta constitution. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1885-19??, 1893-06-27

heaven. 1t was the highest result OF sweet
sound when under the playing of Paga.lini
one auditor exclaimed reverently, Oh
God"' and another sobbed out, "Oh Christi
Further, | remark in regard to the song
OF BIRDS, that 1t is trusttul, and without
ally fear OF what may yet come Will you
tel! he how it is possible fer that wren,
that sparrow, that chickAdee, to sing 50
sWeetIy when they may any time be pounc-
ed ON by hawk and torn wing from
wing? There are cruel beaks IN th,cker
and III Sky ready to Stay til" song birds.
f1crods ON the wing Mode IS OF the sky.
ASs;'ssns armed with iron claw. Murder
ers Of song floating ur a:.d down the
perils? Beside that, now is the bird sure
to get It's food! Millions of birds have
Eeen starved. Yet it sings in the dawn
without any certainty of breakfast or
dinner, or supper. Would it not be better
to gather its food fer the day before vo-
calMlng! Beside that, the huDtcrs ara
abroad. Bang. goes gun il. one direction.
Bang. goes Il gun in another direction.
The song will attract the shot and add to
the peril. Beside that yonder is Il thunder
cloud, and there may be hurricane and hail
to be let loose, and what then will become
of you, The poor warbler? Beside that,
winter will come, and it may be smitten
down before IL gets to the tropics. Have
you never seen the snow streNn with the
birds be.atcd i'll their migration? The
storms as Emerson describes the little
thing he found i'll tempestuous January:
Here was Tins atom III full breath
Hurting defiance at vast death;
This scrap of valor Just for play
Fronts the north wind in WaiStcOat gray
For every bird, a thousand perils and dis
aSterS lowering and sweeping round and
round Yet, there it sings, and it is II trust
full song The bird that has it the hardest,
sings the sweetest The lark from the
shape of her claws may not perch on II
tree. In the grass her nest is exposed to
every hoof that passes. One of the poor
est shelters of all the earth is the lark $
nest. If she sing at all, you will expect
her TO render the saddcst of threnodes.
No, no. She sings cXultingy an hour with
out Il pause and mounting three thousand
feet without losing note. Would God W"
might all learn the lesson. Whatever per-
lis whatever bcreavrmentS, whatever tri-
ais are yet to come. sing, sing with all your
heart and sing with all your lungs. If you
wait until all the hawks of trouble have
folded their wings and all the hunters of
hate. have unloaded their guns and all the
hurricanes of disaster have spent their fury
you will never sing at all. David the pur-
sued of AbsaCm, and the betrayed of
Ahithophcl, and the depicted of sores
that ran III the night presents us the best
songs of the Bible. John Milton, not able
to see his hand before his face. sings for
us the most famous poem of all literature,
and some of the most cheerful people |
have ever met have been Christian people
under physical, or domestic, or pubic tor
ment. The songs of Chares Wesley, which
we now calmly sing i'll church, were com
posed by him between mobs.
Further, in the sky galleries, there are
songs adapted to all moods The meadow
lark is mournful, and the goldfnch joyous,
and the SrOsbeak prolonged of note. But
the Hbretto of nature is voluminouS. Are
you sad; you can hear from the bowers the
echo of your grief. Are you glad; you can
hear an echo Of your happiness. Are YOU
thoughtful; you can hear that which will
plunge you into deeper profound. Are you
weary; you may catch Il reStful air. 50 the
songs of birds are administrative in all
circumstances. And we would 90 well to
have a hymnology for all changes of condi-
ton. You may sing your woes into peace
and arouse your joys into greater attitudes
Upon every condition of body and soul, let
Us try the power of song The multitude
nous utterances of grove and orchard and
garden and forest suggest most delightful
possibilities.
Further. / notice that the song of birds
is Il family song. Even those OF the feather
ed throngS which have 10 song at all, make
WHAT utteranceS they do i'll sounds of their
own family of birds. The boot of the owl,
the clatter of the magpie, the crow of the
chanticleer, the drumming of the grouse.
the laugh of the loon in the Adrondacks,
the cackle of the hen, the scream of the
eagle, the croak of the raven, are sounds
belonging 10 each particular family; but
when You come to those which have real
songs, how suggestive that it is always Il
family song. AN the skylarkS, all the night
ingalGS all the goldiinchcS. all the black
birds, all the cuckooS, prefer the song of
their own family and never sing anything
else. SO the most deeply impressive songs
we ever sing are family songs. Dley have
come down from generation 10 generation.
You We're sung to sleep i'll your infancy and
childhood by songs that will sing in your
soul forever. Where was it my brother or
sister, that you heard the family Song-on
the banks of the Ohio, or the Alabama or
the AndrOSCOgGin, or the Connecticut, or
the Tweed, or the Thames. or the Raritan?
That song at eventide, when you were tired
out-inC Fed too tired TO sleep, and YOU cried
with leg ache, and you We're rocked and sung
to sleep-y0u hear it now, the soft voice
from sweet lips, she as tired perhaps more
tired than you, but she rocked and YOU
sumbered. Oh, those family songs. The
songs that father sang, that mother sang,
tht.t sisters and brothers sang They roll on
us today with Il "Reminiscences that fllS thu
throat, as well as the heart, with emotion.
In our house i'll my childhood it was al
ways religious song, | do not think that
the old folks knew anything but religions
songs; at any rate, | never heard them
sing anything else. 1t was Jesus lover of
my soul or Rock of ages" or There
is a fountain filled with blood" or MARY
to the Sayior's tomb Mothers, be careful
what you sing your children to sleep with.
Let it be nothing frivolous or silly. Better
have i'll it something of Christ and heaven.
Better have III it something that will help
that Dog thirty years from now to bear
10 under the bombardmert of
temptation. Better have in ii something
that will he p that daughter thirty years
IRON now when upon her comes the cares
of motherhood and the agonieS of be-
reaYenent and the brutal treatment OF
one who sWore before high heaven that
he would cherish and protect. DO not
waste the best hour for making an i'm
preston upon your little one, the hour of
dusk, the beach between the lav and the
night Sing not dolnful song but a sur
geStive song, Il Christian song, a song
You viii not be ashamed To meet when if
comes TO YOU IL the eternal destiny of
your son and daughter. The oriolc has
loud song, and the chewinl Il long song,
and the bucbrd Il short song but il is
always Il family song, and Ter your gloam-
ing song to Your children. whether loud or
long or short, be Il Christian song These
family songs are about all we keep of the
old homestead. The house where YOU We're
born will 20 into the hands of strangers
'Che garments ;hlt Wee carefully kept
as relics Will become m0th-catcn. The
family Bible can go into the possession of
,II of HI, 10 I, q