Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1893-07-06
THE SONGS OF THE BIRDS.
" TAUGHT ny THEM
IN THEIR SONGS.
ihnt Is Di,ineIy Taught
"a nirds Sing On, Although Dan
gers Them-rh. sonps of
the Family.

brooklyn, \, Y, Special.-Rey. DR.
Aaiilose chose for the subject Of his
sermon The Song of BIRDS ,r,;s
IKE many Of his sermons, is suited TO
une season of the year in which ii is
preached. 1t is well fitted to be read
unuef the trees, and has in it the health
OF outdoor life. Text-Psalms civ 10.
by them shall the fowls of the heaven
nave their habitation. which sinr
among the branches"
tnere Is an important and improving
SUBJECT 70 which most people have
even no thought, and concerning which
.hls IS the first pulpit discussion. name
~, the Song of Birds. Ii all that has
oeeh written concerning music by hui
man voice or about music sounded On
instrument by finger or breath were put
!oSether, volume by the side of volume,
1t would fill n hundred alcoves of the
national libraries. But about the song
OF DirdS there in as much silence SIS
though, a thousand years ago. the last
lark had, with his wing, swept the door
latch OF heaven, and as though never
q W|hippoorwill had sung it's lullaby
TO 4 ~slumbering forest at nightfaI. We
give Il passing smile to the cali of a
boDohnk or the chirp Of n canary, but
o the origin, about the fiber, about
the meaning, about tho mirtlI, about
the path0S, about the inspiration, about
the religion III the song of birds, the
most of us are either ignorant CT
indifferent. A caveat / this morning
file in the high court of heaven against
that almost universal irreligion.
First, / remark that which will sur
prise many, that the sons of the birds
Is a regulated and systematic song,
capable of being written out in lote
and staff and bar II clef, ms much as
anything that Wagner or Schuman or
Handel ever put on paper. As we pass
the groves where the tiocks are hold
Ing matia or vesper service, we are apt
TO think that the sounds are extern
p0riZcd, the rising or falling tone is
a mere accident, it is flung up and down
by haphaZard, the bird did not know
what it was doing, it did not care
whether it was a long-meter psalm or
a madrigal. What a mistake! The mu-
stefan never put on the music rack be-
fore him Memberships Elijah Or
BeethOven's Concerto III G., or SpOhr's
Il fiat symphony with more definite
idea as to what he was doing than
every bird that can sing at all confines
himself TO accurate and predetermined
rendering. The OratOriOs, the chants,
the carols, the OvcrtureS, the inter-
ludCS. the ballads. the canticles, that
this morning were heard or will this
| evening be heard in the forest have
rolled down through the ages without a
variation. Even the ~chipmOnk's song
was ordained clear back in the eterni-
ties. At the gates Of paradise, it sang
in sounds like the SyllahleS "l\uk.'
"Kuk!' "Kuk!' just as this morning
in a Long Island orchard it sang "kuk!'
"kuk.' 'Kuk!' The thrush at the
| creation uttered sounds like the word
'"Teacher!' "Teacher..' Teacher! as
now it utter sounds like Teacher"
Teacher" "Teacher.' In the summer
| of the year l the yellow-hallm1r
| trilled that which sounded like the
word "If!' If If" us in this sum
mer it trills If "If!.' IT, The
| MARYLAND yellOw-thrOat inLcrits and
beQueaths the tune sounding like the
words PITY me, pity me, pity me-
The white sparrow's ''Tseep, tSe2p
woke our great grandfatherS as it will
awaken our great grandchildren. The
Observation-Disclosures of the birds III
the first century was the same rs me
Observation-Disclosures" Of the nineteenth
| century.
The goldinch has for 5000 years been
| singing Decree ~dee-ce-reee." But these
| soun's, which we put in harsh words,
they put in cadences, rhythmic, soul
full and enrapturing. Now II there Is
| this order and syStematizatlon n rhy-
| thin all through Gods creation, does 1t
| not imply that we should have the
| same characteristics in the music we
| make or try TO make? Is ii not a wick
edness that so many parents give no
| onnortunity for the culture OF their
| children in the art Of sweet sound? II
God stoops to educate every bluebird,
orioIe and grosbeak in song, how can
n~arents be so indifferent about the mu-
! steal development of the immortals in
their household? While God will ac-
cent our attempts to sing, though ii
he only q hum or a drOne, II we IAN
do no better. what "A shame that, in
this last decade of the nineteenth CEN
| tlfV. witch ~ many p"NNS
are waving and SO many academies
of music are in full concert and so
MANY skilled men and women are wait
inc 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, or, while they are able
TO sing a fantasia ut a piano amid the
duttering fans of social admirers, new
ertheless feel utterly helpless when, in
church. the surges of an Ariel or an
Antioch roll over them. The old-fash-
toned country singing school, now
much derided and caricatured land in
! decd sometimes it was diverted from
tho real design into the culture of the
softer emotions rather than the voice.
nevertheless did admirable work, and
In II churches we need singing
schools to prepare our Sabbath audi
ances for prompt and spontaneous and
m~ultipotent psaImOdy. This world
needs TO be stOrmed with hallelujahs.
We want a hemisphere campaign Of
bosannabs. From hearing a blind beg
car sing Martin Luther went home
st AZ years of z to write his first
hymn In the autumn | hope to have
a congregational singing school here
during the week, which shall prepare
tha neople for the songs OF the holy
tN~ - b NJ IfnLt