The Winslow mail., 1899-09-21
The SparrOWS on the Avenue
HUSHi Be quiet!" said Douselle
IT x-i+b ,ooranonforv i7nnofienoa
By s. Rhett Roman.
-%--

USH! Be quiet" said Douselle,
with peremptory impatience,
adding: "You never know when to
chatter or when to be still"
Whereat the sparrows laughed jeer-
:ngly.
For while, after a fashion, they ac-
knowledged Douselle's leadership
some one had to decide where to go and
what to do-still theirs was an unruly
nature, headstrong, quarrelsome and
hard to influence, and sorely did they
try her patience.
But for the pathetic recollection of
Mere Grisette, their mother, shot to
death last year in the Burning Bush as
the evening shadows gathered, and of
her wise and forbearing authority, not
for long would Douselle have consented
to be the leader of so ungrateful and
troublesome flock.
'Douselle thinks she knows it all, -
said Dick, mockingly.
Dicks sharp tongue and belligerent
tendencies made him always leader of
the opposition, whatever the debate
might be.
'Douselle believes she is poet and
musician" derisively supplemented
Wings, who was handsome young bird
with fashionable tendencies.
Wings always UOjected venemently
and complained shrilly whenever, with
democratic tendencies, the flock would
temporarily desert the pleasure grounds
and shade trees of the asphalted avenue
for a riotous escapade down in the old
French part of town.
Plunging among the carts and wag-
ons crowded about the French market
and fitting with disreputable glee along
Old Levee street, out and in between
freight trains, switch engines, cotton
floats and loaded wagons, picking with
indecent haste at grain dropped mad
yertently on the filthy stones of the
street, laughing at the swearing and
ugly oaths of sailors, wagoners and
fishmongers, the sparrows, throwing
off the habits of decorum painfully ac-
quired among the stately dwellings OF
the region they had left, would rush
with touseled feathers and unseemly
Joy into the rough life of the levee and
river front.
Wings objected for esthetic, not mora
reasons. She preferred the wind-swept
avenue and rich food so easily picked VI
in pasture and hothouse.
perhaps when they grow older,
said Douselle, perturbedly, in discuss
ing the matter with neighbor; per
haps when they are less turbulent anC
eager for excitement, for variety anC
pleasure, they will cease to care 81
much for the rude enjoyment of thu
levee, and will learn to appreciate th'
calm loveliness of this avenue. The rest
fulness of its towering trees, the sol
emn beauty of its church bells, ringing
in the Sabbath morn, or some noble
service for the dead.
with time, perhaps, they will come
TO understand that contention, haste
and broil, greed to snatch from Others
that which they toll for and heart
less disregard of all generous sentiment
induced by an endless struggle, do moi
bring the quiet content and glowing
happiness which belongs to life liveC
in these quiet solitudes.
'sWith more experience of life and {
larger appreciation of the value of it!
aims, keener knowledge of the little
worth of so much that youth strives for
and prizes-those glittering bauble
which crumble when snatched like tn,
ashen fruit of the dead sea-they will
relinquish their wanderings, their tur
bulent enjoyment and unworthy strug
giles and will consent to hnger the shor
wears of their existence among tn
tranquil beauty of this fiowerbedecker
region"
Douselle sighed with suppressed bit
terness- fully understanding how frai
was her hold on the mind and sentimen
of her flock, how uncertain her infiu
ence for good, when, impatient, hot
blooded and venturesome, the sparrow
would seek the dangers and unrealize
perils of the crowded, contentious quar-
ters of the city.
1t was a violin obligato, and organ az
compartment, Bach's music, which
swelling OUT sublime through the ope
windows of the church, had caused Dot
selle to try to abate the noise of tn
sparrows, their afternoon chirp an
chatter, as they gathered in the mag
nolia tree close by.
bah! That chanting is too solem
for mel" declared Wings, as she dance
and 'ffuttered ever the thick summe
grass, where th- firefiies were holdin
until night would come.
Lacks life. A hot time in the oil
town is a deuced sight better" con
mented Dick.