The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-07-21

l generally followed me on my tramps. He always ran ahead in my walks This 1 evening l found that the mountaineer was right. There were literally hundreds of 1 squirrels around. Then I solliloquized thus "Ah, now l understand why l did not see the ground squirrel beforel My dog with his hunting blood would run ahead. Then whenever he saw ground squirrel he would dart after it. Then that squirrel and all the other squirrels about would seek safety by running into their holes, which they had dug into the i ground where the dog could not follow them,' God gives the squirrel a hole in the ground for his place of safety. The ants are a people not strong, yet they l prepare their meat in the summer. The comics are but a feeble folk, yet make their homes in the rocks. The locusts have no king, yet go they forth all of l them by hundreds The spider taket h l hold with her hands and is in kings pal 1 aces" God gives to all of his creatures not only means of subsistence, but also means of defense or escape from their enemies. Thus it is with the sparrow. Thus it is with man.
 When l see the little birds building their nests high in the trees to escape the dangers of earth I seem to hear God say, Child, come and build thy nest high up
 in the tree of Calvary to escape the dan gers of sin" Oh, ye who are weak and helpless, why will ye try to rest amid the deep entangled grasses and thicl1ets of earth when the great broad beam of the cross is such a safe place upon which to rest?
 Nests High Up.
 But. though I am struck with many wonderful characteristics of the little birds of the woods. after all, their ab- ot in of impress me just as much as the blessings with which they are surrounded in the spring and the summer and the autumn. November slips into December The beau- tifu tapestries of the woods have faded away and been destroyed. Now, instead of the leaves of the trees rustlng with gladness. each tree trunk covered with white snow looks like a column of spot less marble. Where are the birds? Where are the little birds that used to make the welllin ring with their never ending cho- ulses? "Oh," you answer. they have goner' They have migrated No sooner did the blizzards of the arctic begin to howl than God seemed to call: Come little birds-come. l want you to come with me to the land of flowers. It is too cold for your little wings and your tender threats. Come with me to the sunny south" And away they fly. Yes, they fly out of the arctic colds. They fly away from the white shrouds of frost. They fly to where the sun is never cloud ed. where the springs and brooks are never turned into ice. They fly to where they will not shiver and where they will not die. Thus God has called to some of our little birds called children and some of our big birds called men and women. He called and said; Come, father; come mother; come, wife; come, hus- band come child. Come into the land of flowers Come into the land of eternal sunshine. Come into the land where you will never be troubled and never fear again" Oh. the land of the eternal sun shine, called heaven how many of our dear ones are being blessed in thee! Oh land of flowers. so far away and yet so near, How much thou hast reioiced the redeemed of heaven with the infinite and