The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1900-09-25
Strange Story of Vina Gar
land and a Partridge
WHICH SEEKS HUMANKIND
Neighbors Believe 1t a Case
of Transmigration.


railroads. and rarely visited by strangers
from the outside world, except in the
summer time, when the vacarionist seeks
the tonic of its wind-swept hills, has a
sensation in supposed spirit NANTES ia
ton of the strangest kind that ever dis
turbed the peace of superstitious man
A simple bird, a wood partridge, by its
phenomenal actions, has led half the peo-
pie for miles around to believe that il is
ruled by the spirit of the dead, and the
the other half to shake their heads in
wonder at that which they cannot under
stand.
The bird appears only in the vicinity Of
lonely burying ground, the tiny private
cemetery of the family on whose ances-
trail farm 1t is located, and where a beau
tiful girl was laid to rest few months
ago. Those of the neighbors who speak
their thoughts openly declare that her
soul has been transmigrated to the hum
bic body Of the bird that she may come
back to earth and be near loved ones
Vina Garland. the young woman whose
sad death is so much talked about today,
was a character distinctly apart from
that of the ordinary country girl She
was the daughter of Charles Garland, a
well-to-do farmer. and though she was
physically somewhat frail, she developed
a tender beauty that increased as she ad-
vanced in years toward womanhood.
But it was her intellectual l attachments
that made her most remarkable. F rom
the days when, little tot, she followed
her father to his work in the fields, she
showed tendency to observation and
study that surprised her elders, and when
later on, she took her books to the little
country school Of her district, she early
made such progress as to set her far
ahead of her schoolmates.
At the age when other girls were plod-
ding through the intermediate grades, she
was made an assistant in the staid old
Northwood Seminary, Of which Professor
Loren G. Williams is principal
Alas! the career which began with such
promise was but short The duties of the
position so far beyond her years proved
too arduous for the young teacher, and
her health, never robust, gradually de-
clined. She was taken i'll and was
brought back to the old home, never TO
leave it again in life.
All the countryside turned out to her
funeral, and many eyes were wet with
tears as they looked for the last time on
the sweet face that rested so peacefully
in the fower-lined casket- She was bur-
led as her fathers had been before her
for generations, back in the walled-in
yard that lay with its messy headstones
and overhanging trees on the hill above
her childhoods home.
Several weeks had passed after the
young teachers death when the myster-
ious bird made its appearance. Farmer
Garland was at work one day, plying
with his team between the farm house
and a, field that lay short distance be-
yond the cemetery, when he was aston
ished, as he was passing the spot where
his daughter was buried, to see full
grown partridge appear in front of his
horses.
At first Mr.. Garland thought It was a
mother bird defending her young. and re-
membering how fond his lost daughter
was of the wild birds that lived about her
home he tried to scare it away from it's
dangerous proximity to the horses hoofs.
of fear, and when the driver sprang to
the ground. it stopped with strangely
appealing air, as If waiting for him TO
come to it. It even allowed him to push
it bodily from the path.
Wondering at its strange actions. Of
which the farmer, in his experience in
woodcraft and in country life, had never
heard the like, he mounted his cart and
| proceeded on to the field. The bird fol-
lowed along beside his team like a dog,
and when he started 70 return it still kept
! beside his horses But when he arrived
! back near the burying ground, it left him
as suddenly as it had first appeared.
I Mr. Garland returned shortly with a
! second load and again the bird appeared
and accompanied him to the field and
back as before. All day it followed him
to and fro, and when night came the
farmer who had been impressed to the
| poin Of nervousness by the birds actions
went back alone TO the spot where the
/ bird had shown itself
/ Instantly II appeared. and the farmer
seating himself on the grass. called softly
TO it As readily as If 1t had always
known his voice, the bird responded. and
walking TO his side, hoped To his knee.
|. On the instant the man felt a strange
1 thrill shoot over him-a peculiar feeling
/ such as he had never known before. Il
was not faintness. but It seemed as II
! some mystical influence was holding him
( in a spell He threw out one han5 - sup
port himself and had just strength "a
raise the other and say Come"
2
hand. andbrushing its beak softly on hls
wrist, uttered low note that sounded e
/ his strained senses like a wall q suffer
Ing.
Putting the bird from him With trerrb-
ing hand hands. he farmer hastily arose
ard returned - his home.
/ The strange story sam spread about
I neigborhood and created q profound Een-
j sation n this section the partridge S.
one ~ the shyest of birds. ard a tame
partridge was before uaheard Of 70 ere
would believe the facts until they had
seen the partridge fcr themselves and
had seen Nr. Garland fon6le f IS -
would kitten.
/ Ever since tho day when Il frS: a79sar-
Cd. the bird has beer ? part = TIE NE o.
the farmer daily. He hss visited e cor
stan-ly ard has never tt-ed - ss7=i1E &
% visitors. No matter h7T hs1sy = naas
be. vhen a stranger calls and asks zeoz'
: The mysterious BIZ ~ viz lar cVs-gt'.ss17
else aside and lese TIE VISITOR - TIE s7a'
where Il g always f5ua6
Ire presence q stranger reTsv Fep-rs
- have any sTsct OF TIE gs~trEs- i ~
rs-z chem zs.h apparent Indifference, eu'
e---Fe =
Il s,s1iays Al arec:aoa mat i Gurussyaiz-