The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-09-15
COUNTRY OUTING.
(By Andrew James Milier.)

(By Andrew James Milier.)
 At the close of the holiday season, we can now begin to compare notes over experit nces that have passed into history. Each recurring summer usnefs In the de- Notee of country outing. lie is eloquent upon it's virtues as a medicine for both soul and body, where you breathe the fresh and uncorrupted air To him it really presents the last lingering cle-
 simplicity, natural harmonies, unassum- ing ruralists. with" their wholesome characteristics of honesty and hospitality. We are thus removed from the active
 pure i air, burdened with the music of birds and the odor of sweet flowers. We have pictures Of great pastures, watered
 by melodious streams and ailurinE strips recesses, which might suggest the verita-
 ble haunts of Pan and his Satyrs. Indeed, we have all had these beauties
 of the sylvan country retreats pointed out to us so often, that we could actually see
 the Arcadia, of which Cowley dreamed and that nothing was more natural than
 Shelley should compose the word music the Thames.
 But there are some cruel realities that fall to the lot of those in search of the
 sweets of country life" and country quiet,
 which do not coordinate with these poet ical fancies and extravagant anticipa- I tions. The farm house is not exactly the place for persons, who find sleep an un- pTOpltlOuS SOu ENcH 0Icch <AhNiiO~
 iogy, we find the lover of Rhodoclein | complaining of the swallows. which kept him awake in the dawn, and if, one is | made to listen to the birds when he fain | would be asleep. then their jargoning is | no better than any other kind of music. But there are far worse noises than this ! in the country-worse than the street
 organ for the Salvation Army. Dogs will | barking of their kind. Bats will get iii
 through the open lattice, and any one
 in the room. Then, there are always rats
 in the country, which, in the few still | watches, make you think of ghosts, and you feel sorry that you laughed at the relief to find that 1t is only bat, the noise that they make with their chat tering teeth and athletic spors around the
 room, Is not what you came to the coun- | try to seek.
 With the rats. bats and dogs out o. the question, however, you can still hear the
 bleating calf deprived of it's mother; or a
 mourning COW ''wailing for her demon lover" With the love-lorn COW and the
 bereaved calf wailing all night. in this elegiac manner you may drop lnto de-
 chanticleer. who comes out to salute the dawn under your window. You may
 arise in wour wrath and pslt him eway
 but he goes on the other side of the
 person opposite may be aroused and pelt
 him back, when a sort of tennis game
 can be indulged in driving the cock back
 and forth, until all old shoes and other
 missiles are exhausted. Worse than the
 rooster is the peacock, who comes upon
 the scene a little later. The rural pro-
 prietor will tell you that he screams just
 before a rain. but this is like many other
 statements of the ruralists, qnly true in
 part. Then comes the ducks and geese.
 with their copious. varied and energetic
 language. They quack. cackle and
 swear with prodigious Tapping and ciam-
 oring They are really an evil beyond
 cure of human ingenuity, and, with the
 guineas increase their noise. if you at tempt to stop them.
 ''FIe who in the cause of silence hoots.
 Too often makes the hubbub he imputes.' The only cure, in reality. is to own all of these fowls, and serve them at sub
 sequent meals If not too aged. As to other country nightjars. such as whip O.
 wills screech owls, croaking frogs, etc. etc, they cause only occasional turmoils and awakenings, like the praying donkey and catawauling of proving felines, which do not constantly persist and per severe in their clamors. But they add to the general din and with still more nameless "hags that ride your dreams, make you realize that silence Is only found in the grave.