The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1896-03-20


With curtsey quaint and reyerent. smiling
Yes; sir; to let you ill.," she archly said. \
Sentinels of the No ,ds.
The sentinel of the woods is the we'll.
earned name given to our bold, agrees
sive, pert, brave hluejay. Many an ex-
pectant sportsman has paused in disnay
when his first stealthy entrance into a
ing screams that rang through the whole
region. Here! here! here"' the blue
coated Waterman seems to yell. At their
shrill warming every bird and beast sour
ries for a hiding place. No one seems
to know just why the alarm is given.
Whether 70 warn the jays own family
only or otherwise. Certainly the jay
causes, and if so one can we'll imagine
his often using it to spread false terror
just for fun. They will play all sorts of
FRANKS on one another, and practical
jokes are of hourly occurrence.
Winter has no terrors for them, and
through in our hospitable region. Ere
qucntly they use battered, loose-jont,
ca old barn for a roost at night and in
the day IT sorely pressed by hunger they
will come to door-yards for food
Through the chill autumn days they will
HSn' "ltu tue gray anu leu SQulrfclS
over the division of the nut crop and re-
pay all the thefts by giving bunny timely
Warming of the gunner's approach
Through the aisles of leatless trees the
jays can see the intruder at a great dis
lance, and render cores oondingly great
er service. Unless it is for the gunner
to sit quietly on a log and wait for the
Watchmen to cease their racket They
will continue to scream vehemently so
long as he is in sight
Unlike some human watchmen these
never sleep while on duty. Only one
weakness they show in common with
the human kind. They arc apt to wan>
der off their beat \ tryst with some
fair young girl blucjay in the neighhor
ing grove Il feast at some beautiful
chestnut or beech or a fight between
their clan and another, or a hawk to be
fought otf-all these allurements draw
them from duty and in their absence
the gunner will find his best fun with the
hushy-tails and the rabbits, and perhaps
wonder why he never had such luck be-
fore.-New York World.
Charming the Squirrels.
In Central park, New York city, girl
was observed, some months ago, going
among the trees and even where the pub
lie were prohibited from walking. When
the policemen warned her that she must
not go on the lawn, she laughed, and
sometimes sung, and seemed not to I'M
derstand. But she was so harmless and
innocent with it all that the park police
men relaxed their rule, and let her go
where she wished.
\ strange thing was noticed about her;
wherever she Went the squirrels and
birds seemed to assemble. She would
go among the trees and call or whistle,
and Immediately the squirrels and the
SparroWs would come scampering and
futtering about her
The squirrels would come into her lap.
and the birds would light on her shout
ders without fear; and yet she was not
seem to have enough to eat on her own
account. She was manifestly very poor.
She came to be known to the police
men and others rs the little squirrel
charmer," for there seemed to be some
thing mysterious in her power over the
animals, exercised as it was without
feeding or other indulgence.
She was regarded as not of sound
mind, and ere long, in fact, she began to
annoy passers-by in the park with talk
and strange actions: so that at length it
was necessary to take her before mag
istrate to examine into her mental condi-
ton.
1t is not unusual to find insane per-
sons that have certain influence over
animals not often possessed by those in
sound mind. The problem of animal
''charming' is a peculiar one; for al
though it generally means no more than
care, patience and kindness in dealing
with dumb creatures, there are undoubt-
eddy persons that possess a special gift
of this kind. Which renders animals Sim
gularly submissive to them almost with
out acQuaintance.-Youth Companion.
The Pet Cow
"A COW FOR Il pet-how funny!" OK
claimed .Ada's friends when they heard
of it.
But to the owner Of the COW it seemed
as natural as to have a puss or dog.
| will tell you how it happened.
One day Ada Sands father came in
and handed a letter to his wife, who read
as follows:
Mister Sands: tax this opertuniti ter
rite an say hey fine jersey caff an wood
| Xix tn eel it. i herd yu wandered tn bl one
so thott wood let yu no, plese let me no at
Ada had hobby for all kinds of pets,
and the thought of a gentle little calf
made her go into ecstacy.
''Oh, papa, please buy it, she begged.
IF it is brown I already know a name
for it.. You know l said the next pet
l had | would call Brownie"
to keep it,
"Oh. yes in Princes stable. Now. do,
papa" coaxed the little girl. SO that is
! the way Brownie became a pet
Brownie learned to love Ada, and was
never happier than when they were
roaming over the fields together.
Brownie would nibble the grass and Ada
would make chains of daisies, to be torn
up as soon as finished. Brownie be-
| came Ada's favorite of all her many
! pets.
One sultry night in August the family
were awakened by Brownies weird low
ing. Jumping into his clothes Mr.. Sands
ran down to the stable, and, to his utmost
surprise and great alarm, found Il pile
Of straw burning furiously.
| After a fierce fight the fire was ex-
tjnguished. and of course, Brownie was
awarded great praise. Notwithstanding
all possible coaXing. she would not be
persuaded to enter the stable again. Mr..
Sands finally had n new one erected for
her.-Our Animal Friends.
| Birds Versus Insects.
! 1t is the popular belief that the fight
| Of birds is much swifter than that of
insects, but some European scientists
who have been making study of the
| matter think that such is not the case.
\ common houSetiy, for example, is not
! particularly rapid in it's flight, but it's
! wings ma Ike 800 beats Il second and send
! It through the air twenty-five feet, I'M
| der ordinary circumstances, in that time.
| When the insect is alarmed, however.
| it has been found that If can inorao On