Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1890-1895, 1895-03-25
BLESSINGS ON WINGS.
elRcs THAT SEEMED TO HAVE BEEN
SENT AS BENEFAcToRS.
How the Quail Saved Little Edgar's Life.
The PIover That Guided a Little Girl 10
Her Parents-A Sparrow Protected La.
dy From Caterpillars.


dy From Caterpillsrs.
Edgar, the youngest son of James Keen.
or of Claiborne parish, La, had been very
I'll for. several weeks, so Ill, In fact, that
the little fellows life was despaired of,
when a singular occurrence in which
quail played a conspicuous part, turned the
tide In Ids favor. The boy had made a
brave struggle with death, but the slow,
wasting fever had almost exhausted his
powers of endurance, and even his appe-
tito had left him. The mother and father
used every means In their possession to
tempt him to eat, but in vain, and the
only nourishment he received had to he :
forced upon him. - = =
Finally, one morning, when, to tho grief
stricken parents, tho end seemed nf9r az
hand, Edgar asked If he might have a
broled partridge. Quail are very plenti.e
full in Louisiana, and Mr.. Keener set out
gladly with his gun, never doubling that
he would kill one for his son. He search
ed the,felds and adjoining woods eagerly,
but in vain. AT last he stopped all tho
hands on the place and sent them inaevery
direction, securing the whole neighbor..
hood, yet not bird wns started - -. * -
still hunting, he went homo sorrewfui,
fearing his child might havo grown worse
from disappointment. BY and byIcMrs.
Keener came and called him softly, and
following her into the sickroom what was
his amazement to sec sitting on tho foot
board of Edgars bed a round, plump par
fridge They shut the doors and windows,
captured tho bird, and Edgar was soon
smacking his feeble lips over the broiled
brown breast. The little fellow began to
improve from that moment and still lives
to tell the story of the bird that, as he
says, saved his life. ="
$50 Mary, the small daughter of L. G.
Hewett, cattle dealer of Boil county,
Tex, having gone with her parents and
party of friends on picnic excursion to
one of the neighboring mountain peaks,
got lost in playing about by herself, being
the only child in the crowd. Mrs Hewett,
being busily engaged with her friends,
had suffered little Mary to wander about
at her own sweet WILL and ere long the
unsuspecting child had climbed with her
nimble young feet quite to the summit of
the mountain. Like all the outcroppings
of the region, this peak is composed of the
rocks and fossils belonging to tho creta-
cean period, SO that no tracks might be
left in the shaly soil. Besides the noun
tain is literally inwrapped by dense
growth of scrubby low growing cedars,
making an almost impenetrable thicket
When little Mary discovered that she was
alone on the mountain top, she did just
what any child would do under the cir
cumstances--that is, she began to call her
mother. But strong west wind carried
her voice away, and no answer came from
beows Z
Now, Mary was good little Sunday
school girl, and as she sat there desolate
and alono on the mountain she remember
ed some Of tho sweet truths she had heard
of one who is ever ready to help those that
are lost, SO what did she do but put up a
prayer in her little baby way that he
might help her. AS she prayed she won
dered in her Innocence how anything big ?
could mako it's way through all those
sprawfing, scraggy cedars, so she asked
that little bird might be sent to guido
her.
The words had scarcely left her lips
when she saw ployer lifting about in
the cedars below her feet Overjoyed at
tho sight, tho child at once began to
scramble down. the bird leading the way
over rocks and cedar brush. 1t was long
and toilsome Descent with her little feet
slipping and stumbling over the loose
stones, but tho bird Fitted back and forth
before her, and she did not despair.
BY and by tho journey came to an end,
however. Mary heard voices and presently
caught sight of her friends, who had just
become aware of her absence. She ran to
them joyfully, telling of tho bird that had
brought her down the mountain, and as
they looked they saw aNplover mount In
air, winging its way eastward.
A curious circumstance of a birds
kindly assistance is thus related by Miss
Alice Moreland of Tennessee, who, for the
benefit of her health, spont the spring of
1894 at Lampasas Springs, Tex Miss
Moreland says: Toward nightfall of an
exceedingly sultry April day a force wind
came sweeping down the mountains,
bringing what is termed in Texas wet
norther.' The wind whistled and Shrek
ed and howled, shaking tho house with
its force, and the rain camo down in per
feet torrents.
II was in my room alone trying to write
como letters which it was necessary for me
to get of in next mornings mail, but
was constantly Interrupted by horrid little
caterpillars which came crawling under
my doer or between the window Eashes
where they were imperfoctly Joined. These
disgusting little pests had made my life
misery to me ever since spring opened,
and really began to feel that the whole
great state of Texas was alive with them.
do you wonder. then, that l relished
seeing one of these bristly follows perched
atop Of my paperweight or crawling up
TIE leg OF my tablet You may imagine
that, with tho storm raging without and
the caterpillars within, my nerves were in
L.