The Tupelo journal., 1903-06-26
The SpurroWs
in the Square
By s. RHETT ROMAN


y RISETTE felt well ~contented.
II She was growing elderly and
somewhat overstout, and was by nc
L means as active as she used to be.
and she had fallen into tn. lazy habit
of sitting aloof on some swaying
branch overlooking her flock from a
vantage ground of actual as well as
mental elevation.
Grisette, this bright spring after
noon, quite plumed herself on The
wisdom of her diplomacy one year
ago., when she had induced the riot-
Gus, turbulent sparrows to take lef-
uge in the square facing the ca
thedral, the day there had been Sc
much rioting and ~bloodshed along the
levee front, when a large number OF
men, all dressed alike Soldiers, peo-
pie said they were), had marched up
with guns on their shoulders and,
standing in a long line across the
street, had fired into the crowd,
wounding and killing many.
Then they swept down the levee,
dllNlHS CNCi ypouy, d 1llSulChtu, huu
died herd, before them.
The sparrows rushed helter-skelter,
f1uttering to right and left, trying
to get out of their way and the reach
of their horrid guns, but several had
fallen dead, and had been trampled
underfoot in the dust, for how could
they guess the soldiers were going
to shoot?
Well, she had hurried them af-
frighted and panic-stricken into the
quiet, beautiful garden, where orange
trees were budding and all the spring
flowers had begun to open their eyes
and breathe our their fragrance.
Two or three of the flock were
missing when she called them around
her.
The sparrows were very quiet that
afternoon and unhappy and thor
"a oughly willing TO stay inside the tall
iron railing of the garden, where they
could get rich food in the dark loan
of the flower beds, and there were
quantities of seeds which the gar
deners took so much pains to scat
to- around, ready to be picked up.
Grisette remembered how she had
preached to her flock, of the many
dangers of . the turbulent levee,
where men so often fight, and quar-
rel and give death blows, and street
boys were always chasing them with
sticks and stones.
So she coaxed them to stay in the
beautiful square, where only we'll
dressed children came to play and
run up and down, and people sat
on benches under the trees and read
books.
the square which kept the sparrows
there, or the crumbs of cake the
children threw around so p~rofusely,
or the attractiveness of the branches
of the big Worm tree in the corner,
where they perched at night, as it
was the of security they all
felt inside the garden by contrast
to the stormy scene of bloodshed
and riot they had witnessed on Old
Levee street that day when three of
them had been done to death by the
cruel soldiers. :
Grisette had taken advantage OF
their fright, and would lecture and
remind them how reluctantly she
came back from the respectable, de-
cent life they led on the clean we'll
shaded avenue, back to the noise,
confusion and dirt of the wicked, dis
reputable levee.
And gradually. when the organ
pealed out and beautiful church mu.
sic filled the square, Grisette would
coax and lead them in the cathedral
through an open window, and they
would perch on the acanthus leaves
of the tall columns supporting the
galleries OF in the rich molding OF
the inches where the statues OF
saints and apostles stood silent and
motionless; or. if brave enough, ur
in the organ loft, where the singers
practiced, and the pretty girl who
sang Gounod's ave Marie" so well
whispered and laughed with the
tenor, while the organist played the
opening fuge.
Grisette's hope was that her flock
had learned to appreciate the delights
of a calm, unruff1ed existence, secure
from harm and molestation, and that
never again would they care to leave
the square, so full of delights, and
the old cathedral, where they could
listen to words of wisdom from a
noble-looking old man, in white vest
ments, who was always preaching
"peace and good will towards men,
The wind, blowing in from the
river, swayed the branches of the
towering almond where Grisetts
sat, giving tia pleasant rocking mo-
tion, and looking around ii the spar
rows, some picking up crumbs under