The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1906-04-17
Helen Gould Sends Man to To-
peka With Message.
His Name Is Isaac w. Brown of
Indiana.
TALKS TO SCHOLARS.
Makes Plea for Birds to Pupils
of High School.
How to Induce the Oriole to
Come.

Imagine a man who styles himself
tan endowed panorama" who IS six
feet tall and 50 years of age; who has
a cloud of pompadoured iron gray hair
on his head; who hasn't seen a. barber
for about a week: whose general ac-
lions are those of a happy, contented
good-natured grandfather, and you
have a composite picture of Isaac W.
Brown, the man who is being sent over
the United States on a salary and ex-
pense paid by Helen Gould, to teach the
children OF the common schools The
Value of Birds.
Mr. Brown Is in Topeka today. and
win stay here until probably the end
Of the week. The programme of his
itinerary gives him one month in Kan
sas, and he proposes to visit all of the
principal cities in the state. and talk
to the school children. This is the
twenty seventh state he has lectured in
this winter.
college professor? College profess
sor?" he laughed when asked if that
had not been the principal vocation Of
his life. No, bless you, no. he said
Il am a Hoosier, just a plain common
Indianian. I have been studying birds
ever since I was boy, everything
about birds. I have studied them with
my eyes. Observation is the greatest
educator in the world. Look about you
and see and you can learn. Out in the
fields, the woods, the open, the ilimita-
bic space of Gods universe-from there
I have gathered my philosophy of life
of bird life-of all life. When God made
that little Baltimore oriOle-what did
he think? What was the plan and
scope of his nind2 He thought that
bird Now we want to know the why
and wherefore of its creation. Just go
and look and you can find it out, find
it out for yourself I just wish to start
the children into thinking and looking
for themselves on these things Every
1a1r W a ne
Mr. Brown was standing in front OF
the First Presbyterian church on Har-
rison street when he said this, waiting
for an appointed hour to speak at the
high school this morning. A big IVY
frescoes the front of the church, and
on its bare vines could be counted ten
birds nests.
why are they there?" he asked.
ssWhy?'' echoed one of the listeners.
Because the birds just wanted to live
here"
Look here said Mr.. Brown. and
he pointed out several apple and
peach trees in that neighborhood just
breaking into the glory of bloom
THAT is the reason he said. THAT
is the reason. Into those flowers an
insect lays its eggs Unless that egg
is taken from there it remains in the
flower in the fruit. and if the apple
hangs until ripe its core Will be eaten
and rotted by a worm In most in
stances the apple falls from the tree
long before it is ripe. Now these birds
which nest here in this vine feed on
the egg which the insect lays in this
apple or peach blossom. It goes to
these blossoms and there hnds its
food If the blossoms were not here,
the birds would not build here-they
would go where trees are blooming.
That is the way they get their food this
away these birds, and what is the re-
sult7 The flowers on the fruit trees
are not saved by having the bugs
taken from tn en-, the fruit either drops
from the tree or ripens in a rotted and
ruined condition. This is just one lit
tie reason.
Then Mr.. Brown noticed an oriole
nest hanging at the corner of Ninth
and Harrison streets. Now let me
suggest something" he said. IF I
had some school children here,
would say to them, Save the strings,
/ just the little white cotton strings that
your papa brings home tied about
bundles or from butchers or grocers
/ packages. It won't take long for you
to have a hundred of them. In the
spring. just about this time of the
year, scatter them over the grass.
/ Then you will have orioles. They will
! gather these strings and build their
nests here Just try that It will
tried it. The Baltimore oriole is one
Of the greatest tree scavengers in all
the bird kingdom. Outside of getting
1t to build where you live. you will
find it of incommensurable value"
And in this way Mr.. Brown rambled
on. When he gets warmed up to his
subject he could make an Egyptian
mummy sit up and listen.
THAT is the philosophy of my life. -
he said Perhaps the teachers don't
like me I'm not dignifed enough.
But I'm after the boys and girls I
want them to go home with new ideas
in their heads, with eyes opened to
looking for things they never saw be
fore but which are about US every
day"
Mr. Brown was given 25 minutes to
talk to the students in the manual
training school this morning. He
crowded more in that space of time
than most snen do into two hours He
is brimful Of humor and fun At sne
job of entertaining Old Ezra Kendall
would have to polish up his spurs and
get a new riding whip 20 keep in the
Brown parallels his story and his plea
the protection Of birds for themsei fes
and for their value.
Birds are divided into four classes u
said Mr. Brown. ''scavengers of the air
the trees. the blossoms and leaves an
the ground. AS examples, I shall nam
the purple martin as a scayenger OF
the air. 1t lives on mosquitoes. In is
| mouth is a sieve and as 1t fits thronah
the air. It holds its bill apart and
/
il No, Ho;,.