Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1907-05-22
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THE SPARRows LIVES AND
OJTRS


OURS.
Il would not said Prof. Won Joggle-
by, like to be sparrow.
"Sparrows lead utterly uneventful
lives. There's big bunch of then,
that roost at night on tree in ont
of the back yards in view from my
study window. Every day, as night
fall approaches, hear great cheep-
ing and chirping in the air outside,
made by that flock of sparrows, as
they come sailing in from wherever
they have spent the day and settle
themselves for the night on the twigs
and branches.
''Cheep, cheep, cheep, a regular
chorus of cheepings as they settle
themselves down, the sounds dwindl-
ing and dwindling as the darkness
deepens. and when it is quite dark
the birds are still
why they don't freeze to death
roosting there in the tree in the open
air in winter l don't understand, but
they seem to get through the night
all right. and in the morning, at the
approach of day they wake up and
begin to cheep. their cheepings COM
ing into full chorus with the growing
light, and then they may scatter for
their days work-if l open my win
dow little before their appointed
time they all start up and fly away
in a bunch.
"And that's all they do. They spend
the day in a search for food, and
come back at night to sleep in the
tree, to start out again in the morn
ing on the same search; and this
they do, endlessly, over and over
again, day after day, always the same,
aas long as they live. True, they fight
a little. Once when the ground WAS
covered with snow and SO ordinary
food supplies were cut off l saw two
sparrows fighting on the snow for
little crust of bread, and that seem
ed rather pitiful; but even with what
fighting they do the sparrows lead
utterly monotonous lives. devoted
solely to their daily search for food,
the same thing over and over again,
with unending repetition, while they
live.
But do not millions, millions and
millions of us live our lives in just
the same way, in endlessly unvarying
routine? We certainly do; and mil
lions of us live that way from choice,
engendered by force of habit, and life
comes easiest and most comfortable
for us so, and We hate to be disturbed
in it. know, for one, that it is so
with me. l live life as regular
as the sparrows, and that Is the life
that suits me best.
II rise in the morning always at
the same hour, and in due time l
set about the abstruse studies in
which l am engaged. and in due
course pursue the various other reg
ular duties that occupy me, always
the same, through the day. And at
night l go to bed to sleep, to wake
refreshed. and placidly and evenly in
due time to set about another days
duties; and SO day after day, and in
this am happy. ~ @
'But, if am interrupted in these,
my regular daily pursuits, am dis
turbed. New or different tasks, and
however simple and easy these Nigh.
be as compared with those with which
am familiar seem difficult to me;
and 7 don't 1ilo IN bo t,,rpad ocido
from my regular routine duties or in.
terrupted in these for anything.
Il am happiest so, when let alone.
to follow my regularly ordered life;
and is it not so with many of us, what
ever our pursuits? We are all crea-
lures of habit
I'VE are not so different from the
sparrows. All things in nature live
their lives in their severally appoint
ed ways, disturbed if they are put out
of them, happy If they are let alone;
and suppose the sparrows must get
some fun out of life.
Just the same, wouldn't want to
be sparrow."-New York Sun.
TOLD STORIES OF ANIMALS.
In his lecture at the Harvard
Union on "The Natural History of the
Ten Commandments, Ernest Thomp-
son-Seton, the naturalist, presented a
new conception of the civilization and
mortality of dumb animals. Were it
not for obedience to the command not
to steal, the habit of hiding food and
providig for time of famine would
be broken, This would lead to suffer
ing and extinction of wild animals.
Elk are guilty of covetolsness and
the foolish ones have been known to
perish with hunger and exposure
while gazing with envy at stacks of
hay that have been fenced in by farm
ers. Wolves kill the one of their
number that leads the pack in search
of quarry which hunters have hidden
during the finders absence; and thus
he is punished for lying. Those ami
mails that obey the command regard
ing social purity are by far the more
healthy and the more likely to sur
vive
AS an evidence that animals have
faith in the help of beings superior
to themselves, Mr.. Thompson-Seton
related moose story which he him
self had verified Some years ago a
mail carrier in Manitoba started out
on new route, armed as usual with
nothing bat Ratchet Soon. he met
large COW moose. apparently very
angry, she mad for him; and he
dropped his mail pouch and Ratchet
and ran for dear life. Feeling her
hot breath on the back of his head,
he climbed small sapling for safety.
Still she could reach him with her
heavy club-like hoofs, but she did
not. With fiery eye and lolling tongue
she stood whining. In response to
the mans call two hunters came and
shot the brute. On cutting open the
carcass. they found the animal had
been gored by bull moose month
before. Inflammation had set in and
the result was peritonitis, which
caused the COW intense suffering
Boston Transcript.