The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1899-08-15
AN ORlOLE ROMANCE.
TFrom the New York Sun I

From the New York Sun.
Among the newcomers to Fair Ha-
ven, N. J., this spring We're a pair Of
Baltimore orioles, who built their nest
and decided to spend their honeymoon
in tail tree near the home of PitEan
WOrthIey. For a time all was needless
joy and singing, but as the weeks pass
ed by the foreshadOwings of domestic
responsibilities subdued the merry bride
into more sober, but none the less
agreeable, matron. The household Of
two became a family of seven, five of
whom had to be watched and fed, shell
tered from foe and storm and brought
up in the way they should go.
But it takes more than five young
sters to ruff1e the course of true love in
birdland. The brave father and moth
er were the earliest of all early seekers
after the worm, and their cupboard
was never bare. The children escaped
the WhoOping cough, just now so preVa-
lent in many parts of Jersey, their ba-
by COLES yielded readily to the simple
remedies that nature has for such case
made and provided, they chirped all
day slept soundly at night, and, it is
said, crowded as they necessarily were,
not one of them was ever known to fall
out of bed. 1t goes without saying that
Mr.. Orlole was proud and happy
father and that his friends were in
formed of the many rare and engaging
traits of the little brood, not once or
twice, or even three times, but so fire.
quently and persistently that when he
appeared at his club in neighboring
meadOW-fOr he still found time to visit
the club-his friends would sigh and f Y
YEARLY to a cherry tree to escape the
oft-told tale. 1t must be admitted that
the fond parent was becoming a tire
some companion.
Returning one day from an annoying
experience of this kind, puzzled as well
as panied at the conduct of his friends,
Mr.. Oriole had it in mind to confide his
trouble to his faithful wife and ask her
what she thought was the reason for
the unseemly conduct of the boys
For" he unused, women will talk to
one another and the man who isn't
ashamed to learn of his wife is likely
to be the wiser for it -
But his good resolution was destined
never to be carried out For him a
greater sorrow was about to swallow
up the less. Mrs. Oriole, as he had sur
missed, had been paying calls, the ba-
bies having been put to bed for their
afternoon nap. Stopping only to pluck
a dainty morseI for the evening meal.
she winged her way hOmeward, prirned
with the freshest gossip of the smart
est set and happy to be nearing the
nest. Persons who have observed the
ways of young mothers Will tell you
that after an absence of this kind they
invariably hurry home, just little
anxious lest something may have gone
wrong and often rather accusing them
selves of negIecting the children So it
was with Mrs. Oriole.
Now, it CHANGED that when the nest
d
left hanging from itThen the bride and
groom were too much engaged with
the pure happiness of living to care for
horsehairS or anything else merely ma
terial, and later, when the babies az
rived, they admitted that it wasn't
tidy, but promised they would fix it af
ter the youngsters learned to fly. And
thereby hangs a tragic tale.
Madame, speeding faster and faster
as the shadows fell, reached the home
tree with glad call and was almost
in the nest when the neglected horse
hair caught in one Of her wings, wound
itself around her neck and brought her
up with a jerk. Her husband, return
ing half an hour later. found himself
a widoWer.
With five little ones to feed and ed
ucate and no one to lend helping hand
there is no time for the Indulgence of
private grief. The bereaved young
husband bore his affiiction like a man,
found another supper for the children,
tucked them snugly in their coy couch
and watched them sadly as they closed
their eyes and scared away to dream
land. Morning came, and with it the
double duty of being father and mother
presented itself again.
As the drOwsy lids of the youngsters
opened their hungry mouths began to
clamor, so off went their papa for
breakfast, and presently back he came
with enough and to spare. So it went
for about three weeks. Meal time
came around wieh remorseless regulari-
ty, but the wolf never got near enough
to the door to make himself heard, let
prospered, and. as the way of the world
is, forgot their mamma, before night of
the second day and came to believe
that they had always been brought up
to futters and their father gave them