The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-02-23
BIRDS A. LTFE-sAVERs.
How Lost Girl Found Her Way
Home by Means Of PIover.

Tor several weeks so III, ma TACT thai
the little fellows life was despared Of.
when a singular occurrence. ia which a
quail played conspicuous part. turned
the tide In his favor. The boy had made
brave struggle with death, but the slow.
wasting fever had almost exhausted his
powers Of endurance. and even his appe-
tite had left him. The mother and father
used every means in their possession 10
tempt him to eat but in vain. and the only
nourishment he received had 70 be forced
upon him.
Finally. one morning when, to the grief
stricken parents. the end seemed near at
hand, Edgar asked II he might have a
brOiled partridge. Quail are very plenti-
full in Louisiana, and Mr.. keener set out
gladly with his gun. never doubting that
he would kill one for his son. He searched
the fields and anjoinlng woods eagerly. bat
IN vain. At last he stopped all the hands
on the place and sent them IN every direc-
ton, securing the whole neighborhood,
yet not a. bird was started
Late In the afternoon, leaving the men
still hunting, he went home. sorroWful
fearing his child might have grown worse
from disappointment By ana by Mrs
Keener came and called him softly. ana
ilNNllAA iNA lllAV the SICK fO0Ils what
was his amazement TO see, sitting on the
footboard of Edgar's bed, "A round. plump
partridge. They shut the doors and VIM
dows, captured the bird. and Edgar was
soon smacklng his feeble lips over the
brOiled brown breast. The little fellow be-
gan TO improve from that moment, ana
still lives to tell the story of the bird that,
he says, saved his life"
Mary. the small daughter Of l.. c. Hew-
Oft "a cattle dealer of IgeII county sras-a
having gone with her parents and a
party of friends ON a picnic excursion,
TO one OF the neighboring mountain peaks.
got lost in playing about by herself being
the only child I'm The crowd Mrs. Hew-
EFT, 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 10 the
cretacean period, so that no tracks could
be seen IN the shaly soil Besides. tho
mountain. is literally enwrapt By a dense
growth of cedars, making an almost inn
penetrable thicSet When little Mary dis
covered that she was alone on the noun
tain top, she did just what any child would
do under the circumstances. that is. she
began to call her mother. But a strong
west Wlnt carried ntr voice away, and no
answer came from below.
Meantime, she had set about trying to
find the way by which she had come up
and when not a trace of her little foot
steps was 10 be seen she began TO cry.
Now, Mary was a good little Sunday
school girl and as she sat there DESC
late and alone on the mountain. she
remembered some of the sweet truths
she had heard of One who is ever ready
holm those "a
she do but put up a prayer in her little
baby way that he might help her AS
she prayed, she wondered in her inno-
cence how anything big could make its
way trough all those sprawling
scraggy cedars. so she asked that a little
bird might be sent TO guide her.
The words had scarcely left her lips
when she saw plover fitting about in
the cedars below her feet. Overjoyed at
the sight, the child at once began to scran-
BILE down. the bird leading the way over
rocks and cedar brush. 1t was "A lone
and totlsome descent, with her little feet
slipping and stumbling over the loose
stones, but the bird fitted back and forth
before her, but she did not despair.
By and by the journey came TO an
end, however. Mary heard voices, ana
presently caught sight of her friends
who had just become aware of her alb
sence. She ran TO them joyfully, telling
OF the bird that had brought her safely
down the mountain, and as they looked
they saw a plover mount high in air,
winging its way eastward.
A curious circumstance of a bird s
kinly assistance is thus related by Miss
Alice Moreland of Tennessee. who. for
the benefit of her health, spent the spring
of 9t at Lampassas Springs. Tex. Miss
MOreland says: Toward nightfall of an
Al r,o-Tv~ sss,NF
came sweeping down the mountains
bringing what IS termed in Texas a Wet
norther' The wind whlstled and shrieked
and howled shaking the house with its
force, and the rain came down in perfect
torrents.
u was in my room alone, trying TO
write some letters which 1t was neees-
sary for me to get off in next morning
mail, but / was constantly interrupted
by horrid little caterpillars which came
crawling under my door or between the
window sashes where they were i'm
perfectly joined. These disgusting little
pests had made my life a misery to me
ever since spring opened, and l really
began to feel that the whole state of
Texas was alive with them
They seemed to be in the heavens
above as well as the earth below. for
they fairly rained down upon YOU if Won
passed under a tree and crawled IN vou1.
skirts from the grass. There We're an
sorts and all shapes and all sizes of
them, green ones and yellow ones. black
ones and variegated ones. OF course. 7
was afraid Of them. What self-respect-
ing woman isn't afraid of a thing that
creeps?
and don't think any one, even a man.
E~lld find 1t altogether pleasant 10
rec little ridgey- backed caterpillar
peeping over the edge of his plate At
table, or looking one-sided at him from
comfortable chair on the veranda. NV
chief occupation after their advent vas
in keeping them out of my room. ana
this succeeded in doing only by untir-
ing effort and closing every door and
window. But this night that l speak 81
even this device failed. as the storm ac-
tually stripped them from the trees ana
vines outside, and they came in little ex-
ploring parties under the door, as [ sail
seeking shelter.
Now everybody, more or less. has seen
caterpillars. but l think no one who has
NOS visited Texas has a speaking acquair-
lance with the long hairy variety that
sometimes infests that unfortunate region
know. at least, / never saw one before
and 1 was horror struck at the sight OF