Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-04-26

"As the sparrows grow less in numbers
in this city the song birds increase" OBJ
served one of the men who have spent
years in looking after the parks of the
city. Il suppose you have noticed at least
the advent of the songsters if you have not
had called to mind that the noisy sparrow
Is not much in evidence in the streets
and parks of the city was formerly the
case? The one is the cause and the other
the effect. for / believe that it has been
pretty we'll established that when the
sparrows are numerous birds of the smaller
species are noticeable for their absence.
The change is certainly pleasant one. i
should think In place of the strident chat
ter of the sparrow to hear the sweet notes
of the robins and other song birds The
other day | noticed black bird hopping
over the grass of the parks in search of
worms, and there are other varieties OF
birds which can be seen and to some extent
studied without going outside of the city
limits.
AT this time of the year the worms are
plentiful in the parks. and that is one rea-
son why they prove to be such attractive
resorts for the birds. The other evening as
i passed through of the smaller parks
| noticed two or three men with lanterns
going over the grass and picking up the
worms that had come out under the cover
of darkness. They each had a large pail
full of worms in readiness for the fishing
trip the next day
X < x +
There Is a young lady in the Navy De-
partment who has a fine sense of humor.
Part of her duties IS to index the official
mail signed by Judge Darling of Vermont.
assistant secretary of the navy. Two la
dies of her acquaintance dropped In upon
her at her office the other day. and in the
course of an interesting exchange of fem
mine views one of them exclaimed sud
denly. What I'd like to know IS, what do
you do with yourself here all day, any
how" 'Oh. not much" was the nom
chalant reply of the clerk. except to read
lot of letters signed Darling" Her WIS.,
itors were visibly astonished at the state
ment and sighed for additional details. but
they Were not forthcoming. and they took
their departure. much mystitied.
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They are five thousand years old three
hundred feet high. thirty feet through and
still growing" said a member of Congress
from California to a Star reporter the other
day They are the biggest living things
on earth and the oldest living things on
earth"
What are they?'
THE big trees of California. And I want
to say right here that public money could
not be spent in a better way than to pre-
serve the ten groves of big trees of the Sc
quota family which my state possesses.
These trees fOurished way back in the
MipCere period, he fore the ice age Then
they covered vast areas. both in Europe
and America. but now they are restricted
To narrow strip in California. The grove
In southern Placer county contains only
six. The Calaveras. the Stanislaus, the
TuOlumnc. the Fresno and the Dinkey
groves contain few hundreds each. There
are tracts of some thousands on Kings and
kaweah and Tulare rivers. but scarcely
five hundred of the survivors are giants.
Science says that the big tree is pract-
caliy immortal and Congress should see to
u that the ruthless hand of man shall not
interfere with this Immortality"
x x = x
81 got myself into trouble by attending a
'rumylage sale the other night" remarked
one Of the Police Court officials yesterday
"One OF the organiza tons at the church
which cur family attends gave a 'rummage
sale and my wife. who is member of the
organization, sent to the sale a number of
articles for which she had no further use
For some reason or other my wife did
not attend the sale when did. A woman's
wide brimmed straw hat displayed for sale
on one of the tables attracted my fancy
and had the headpiece transferred to my
possession in exchange for silver quarter
thinking il would be just the thing for the
women folks at the house to wear when
they go tinkering around the garden.
"On reaching home | removed the paper
covering from the headgear in the presence
of my wife. and was about to tell her how
nice and handy II would be for her to wear
in the garden. when she mentioned the fact
that the hat had been Worn by her last
summer. and TO get it out of the way she
had Sc Mt il to the sale.
Il might add that I'm out the price of a
new spring hat. he said, in conclusion.
<
The marked difference between the TO-
iiage outside the city limits and that down
town just at present has set me thinking"
remarked a man who lives in the suburbs.
1.-The trees here in the city are way ahead
of those in the country in the matter of
leaves. My home is only five miles dis
tant from the White House, but today the
trees out there are just beginning to bud
Il have also noticed that in the heart of
the city the foliage is more pronounced
than II is in the outSkirts-Mt Pleasant
for instance. Carrying the observation A
little further. trees on the north side of
streets running east and west are doing bet
ter than those on the south side of such
thoroughfares. The north side gets more
sunshine.
fay