The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1898-03-29
THE PEACOCK IS AN ARISTOCRATIC BIRD.
ELEGANT, GRACEr UL, BEAUTI-
FUL.
Bill Arp's Flock Causes the Neighbors
Trouble and He Gets ian Auony-
nous Letter.


Sic utre tuo ut alieum non toedas, 81
which means if your chickens get in
your nabor's garden he must sic the
dog on 'em, or words to that effect.
\ esterday | received a kind letter from
some unknown friend saying that our
peaiowls were annoying the neigh bor-
ing gardens and IL they were not put
up they would be killed. was run j.
mating about this anonymous letter and
my opiniOu is that this is not the best
way to make complaint. Our nabors
are all good and kind to us and | sup
pose 1t was the fear OF giving olfense
! that kept the. writers's name from the
letter, but really would have felt bet.
ter If the writer had told me face to
lace about the peafowls. As it is, |
am afraid several nabors have been
| feeling unkind and | don't know who
to apologize to. My wife has told me
several time that she feared the pea
fowls were trespassing and that we
had better get rid of thein. Well, we
have had four or five every year for
twelve years and they never did any
serious harm to our own garden-not
half as much as some of our nabors'
chickens and dogs have done, but folks
are folks about such things and nobody
likes to have other folks bipeds or
quadrupeds prowling around. The
peafowl is such nice, pretty, aristo-
| cratic bird that we thought the nabors
would like to see them occasionally,
and If they behaved badly a few stones
and clods and sticks and womanlv
''shoos" would drive them away for
good, for they are timid and easily in
suited. As for putting them up, we
can't do 1T, for we can't catch them and
they rost so high we can't2reach them.
a colored Methodist preacher couldn't.
And so when got the anonymous letter
| engaged friend TO come and shoot
them in the treetops, but they had
hown away before he got here We
then baited them into the workshop
and finally caught them and have sent
them to the country where nabors are
not SO near or so anonymous.
The peafowl is u historic bird.
Solomon sent his ships to Tarshish and
brought back ivory and gold and pea.
cocks. And the Lord said unto Job:
VINO gave to the peacock his goodly
wings" 1t is said to be the most
magnificent of all birds its form is
elegant; its movements graceful: its
plumagc rcsplcndent with tints OF
green, golden, bronze and blue: its
long buehy tail is beautiful beyond
description with its iridesccnt hues,
velvet centers and brilliant eve spots,
In their Incompatible robe we find all
that glistCns in the rainbow and
sparkles in the minc-the azure tints
ol heaven and the emerald Of the fields.
Now isent it pity to kill bird like
that? And yet the ancient Romans
killed them for their brains and
tongues and it took 600 to furnish
enough for great entertainment
The peafowl is gallinaceous bird.
but not graminiferous. How's that.
III belongs to the polyplectron genera
OF the sub-family OF pavoninc. Just
think of it, The bill is moderate with
the base OF the uulmen elevated, the
apical half arUhed and vaulted; tarsi
long and strong, spurs conical, anterior
toes united at the base and the tarsi in
the females tuberculate.
Mlraole dlctu Some people don't
know all that. Maybe my anonymous
friend didn't know it or he would have
had more consideration for the bird.
Their food is grain, seed and insects.
but they are -scratchibous. They
can't scratch for their legs are not
built that way. They sing but one
short strain of two notes that sounds
like "paon," and that word is its
French name. There is not much
melody in this song, especially when
oft in the stilly night it tries to play
upon It's gramaphone and begins and
finishes with wild Comanchee screech.
Like some children, they are to be
seen and not e.rd.
Bnt have long wondered WHY the
male was made so much more beauti-
ful than the female. This peculiar
distinction seems to maj k the males OF
all gallinaceOus birds and makes them
arrogant and vain. "As vain as a pea
cock" is one Of the oldest proverbs.
When one is in full array he will sit
upon the balustrade for an hour and
survey himself in the halt rejecting
window glass. What he would do
before large plate mirror | do not
know, but | found out long ago that
the best "ay to steal your neighbor's
pigeons was to set up small pieces of
looking glass on the shelf of the doye
cote.
But in mankind and most all ouadru-
peds the male is coarse, domineering
and unadorned. In fact, most all men
are positively ugly and unattractive,
and woman weds him only because she
can't do any better. 1t is woman who
wears the ornaments OF nature, and
when unadorned is adorned the most
Strange to say, she wants more than
the Creator gave her, and delights to
array herself in beautiful fabrics and
to wear pearls and diamonds and other
jew elry. This is her nature and she
cannot help 1T. She loves the heauti-
ful and would be miserable in a room
without mirror, though have seen
some who never had but one admirer.
wonder who were those sons OF God
who saw that the daughters of men
were fair and took wives from among
them and raised up giants and mighty
men OF renown. | wonder If the wo.
men OF that day were so beautiful that
the angels came down to mate with
them. There is no telling what men
or angels will do for a beautiful woman
! have never ceased to be sorry for
Jacob, who worked seven long years
for Rachel and then had to take her
homcly sister, and had to work seven
years more o get the girl OF his choice.
Bat tho sacred historian says these
seven years seemed to him but few
days Tor the love he had to her" Was
ever love like that? Not in these days.
Men must have been scarce in that
country or Rachel wouldn't have wait.
ed that long for Jacob. Old Laban was
sheep raiser, and reckon his nearest
nabor was another about ifty miles
away. and those poor girls never saw a
young man once year. Rachel let
Jacob kiss her on sight before she knew
his name or where he came from, and
that historic kiss has como down to us
through all the corridors of timc for
1000 years remember that a,vav