Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1893-07-06

The feathered songsters learned all
their music direct from God. He gave
them the art In n nest Of straw or moss
or sticks, and them how to lift that
song into the higher heavens and sprin-
kle the earth with It's dulcet enchant-
ments. God-fashioned. God-tuned. God
launched. God-lifted music. And there
Is q kind of music that the Lord only
can 1mpart TO you, my nearer. There
nave been dep aved, ~reprobate and
blasphemous souls which could sing till
great auditoriums were in o
There have been soloists and bassos,
IND balitones and sopranos whose bril-
liancy in concert halls has not been
more famous than their d~ebaucheries.
But there is a king Of song, which.
like the song Of birds. is diyinely
fashioned. Songs Of pardon. Songs of
divine comfort. Songs Of worship.
Songs in the night Ike those which
David and Job mentioned. Songs full
OF faith and tenderness and prayer,
like those which the christian mother
sings yer the sick cradle. Songs of
a broken heart being healed. Songs of
the dying flashed upon by opening por-
tails of amethyst. Songs like that
which Paul commended to the Colo
SLAMS, when ne said, "Admonish one an
other in psalms and hymns and spiri-
tual songs, singing, with grace in your
hearts, TO the Lord" Songs like Moses
sang after the tragedy Of the Red Sea.
Songs like Deborah and Barak sang
at the overthrow of Sisera. Songs like
Isaiah heard the redeemed sing as they
came TO Zion. Oh, God, teach us that
Kind Of song which thou only canst
teach, and help us to sing Ii on earth
and sing il in heaven. 1t was the high
est result Of sweet sound when under
the playing Of Paganini one auditor
exclaimed r%everently, "Oh God." aud
another sobbed out, "Oh Christi
Further, l remark in regard to the
song of birds, that it is Irustful, end
without any fear of what may yet
come. win you tell me how it is posi-
Die Tor that wren, that sparrow, that
chickadee, 10 sing 81 sweetly when
they may any time be bounced on by
q hawk and torn wing from wing?
There are cruel beaks in thicket and
sky ready TO Stay the song birds. Her
DDS on the wing. Moiocs Of the sky.
Assassins armed with iron claws. Muc-
derers OF song floating up and down the
heavens. How can the birds sing amid
such perils? Beside that, how is the
bird sure to get its food? Millions Of
birds have been 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 for
the day before vocalizing? Besides that
the hunters are abroad. Bang, goes a
gun in n direction. Bang! goes a
p11n in another Iipantinn HNlln SON
will attract the shot and add to the
peril. Beside that, yonder is a thunder
cloud and there may be hurricane and
hail TO be let loose, and what then
will become of you, the poor warbler?
Besides that, winter will come, and it
may be smitten down before it gets To
the tropics. Have you never seen rhe
snow Strewn with the birds beiated
in their migration? The titmouse min
giles its voice with the snow storms as
Emerson describes the little thing he
found iii tempestuous January:
Here was this atom in full breath
Hurting defiance at vast death;
This scrap of valor just for play
Fronts the north wind in waistcoat
gray.
For every bird. n thousand perils and
disasters lowering and sweeping round
and round. Yet, there it sings, end
it is q truthful song. The bird that has
it the hardest sings the sweetest. The
lark from the shape Of her claws may
not perch on n tree. In the grass her
nest is exposed to every hoof that
passes. One Of the poorest shelters
of all the earth is the lark's nest. If
she sings at all, you will expect her
to render the saddest of threnodias.
No, no. She sings exultingly an hour
without a pause II mounting 5000
feet without losing n note. Would God
we all might learn the lesson. What
ever perils. whatever b~ereavements,
whatever trials 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 CT hate have
unlOaded their guns and all the hufri-
canes Of disaster have spent their fury,
you will never sing at all. David, the
pursued of Absolum, and the betrayed
of Ahithophel, and the depleted of
sores that ran in 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 get some Of
the most cheerful people ] have yer
met have been Christian people under
physical. or domestic. or public tor
ment. The songs of Charles Wesley,
which we now calmly sing in church,
were composed by him between nobs.
/ preach this sermon just before many
of you will go out TO pass days or
weeks in the country. Be careful how
YOU treat the birds. Remember they
are Gods favorites, and If you offend
them you offend him. He is so fond
of their voices that there are forests
where for a hundred miles no human
foot has ever trod and no human ear
has ever listened. Those interminable
forests are concert halls with only one
auditor-the Lord God Almighty. He
builded those auditoriums of leaves and
sky and supports all that infinite min
strelsy for himself alone. Be careful
how you treat his favorite choir. In
Deuteronomy, he warns the people:
"If q birds nest chance to be before
thee in the way in any tree or on the
ground, whether they be young ones
or eggs thou shalt not take the dam
with the young, that 1t may be well
with thee and that thou maypSt urO-