The Marietta journal. [volume] (Marietta, Ga.) 1866-1909, 1896-07-30
AN ASTouNoED SPARROW.
1t Tickied the Rhinoceros' Nose. and the
Great B-.lst Sneezed.

| - ~A~Afco shS hAsii0OCeTOS' nose, and the
Great Beast Sneexed.
1t IS not easy 10 astonish a SPAR
row. Yen can scare it - "often
/, scared as oft return, a pert, vora-
cious kind and make it fly away.
but that is only because the sparrow
has the bump of self preservation
very prominently developed and
takes hint as to personal danger
| with extraordinary promptitude.
But. though it may remove its small
body out of harm S way for the time
being, it is not disconnected. You
can see that by the way in which it
Immediately goes on with its toilet.
Its nerves have not been shaken
that is evident from its obvious self
possession and the way it scratches
its head and makes a note of the fly
which went by. 1t would not COM
mence at once frivolous alteration
with another of its kind if it had
been disconnected.
And really it is not to be wondered
at that the sparrow should be be-
yond the reach of astonishment.
Think of what it sees, and sees quite
unconcernedly, in the streets of Lon
don. Put tiger into Fleet street or
a bear at the Bank, and the poor
beasts would go crazy with terror.
A single omnibus would stampede
troop of lions. Yet a sparrow sur
veys the approaching fire engine un-
dismayed and it sits with its back
| to the street when runaway van
comes laundering death down Lud-
gate hill. The small birds life is,
in fact, so made up of surprises that
it regards the astounding as COM
monplace. So fly. sitting down in
"a train, thinks nothing of finding
itself in the next county when it
gets up. Its whole existence is vol
canio and seismic. 1t cannot settle
on hand without the hand moving.
What would dog think if, on going
into ten acre field, the field sud-
denly turned over? But the fly is
not put out of countenance by such
phenomena" 1t comes back to
the hand. 1t is the same with the
sparrow. 1t thinks no moro of an
other wonder than the Seven Com.
panions did of another dragon in the
day s work.
All the same, I have seen a spar
row totally COMPOUNDED and all to
pieces. 1t was, / confess, only a
young one, with just the promise of
tail, nothing more, and some odds
and ends of fluff still clinging be-
tween the red feathers. l was look
ing at the rhinoceros, which was ~
ing down close to the ratings, and
very sleepy rhinceros it was. Ex-
cept for slight witches of the tail
and an occasional fidget of the ears
it was quite motionless. And the
young sparrow hopping about in
the Enclosure, coming to the beast,
hoped on to it, looking in the chinks
of it's skin for chance grains or in
sects. And it hoped all along its
back on to its head--the rhinceros
winked-and along its head to the
little horn, and from the little horn
on to the big one-and it blinked-
and then off the horn on to its nose.
And then the rhinoceros snorted.
The sparrow was sight to see. Ex-
ploded is no word for it. And it sat
all in q heap on the corner of the
house and ohirped the mournfulest
chirps. II hadn't the smallest no.
ton the thing was alive" it said.
"Oh, dear! Oh, dearv' And it
wouldn't be pacified for long time.
It's establishment had been severe
and had got Unto the system. I
remembered the story of the boy
who sat on the whales blowhole.
Behemoth had got stranded on the
Shetland coast. While the popula-
ton was admiring it an urchin
climbed on to the head of the dis
tressed monster and exultantly seat
ed his graceless person on its fore
head. He had but short time to
enjoy his triumph, and the next in
slant the whale, filling itself with
air, blew such blast through its
blowhole that the boy was blown up
into the air and out to sea. So said
the veracious chronicler of the day,
and / hope it was true, for little
boys should not under any circum-
stances sit on the blowhole of whales,
nor young sparrows on the nostrils
of rhinoceros. English Illustrated
Magazine.
The Gentle Japanese.
'There is one peculiarly about