The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1908-08-24
MEN scARecRows.

not? II may seem queer and brutal to
an American, but here in England the
human scarecrow is common.
AS he stands out there, in the mid
die of the fiat Suffolk field, there is lit.
tie to show he is not the ordinary in.
animate scarecrow. He stands mo.
tionless for flve minutes at time, and
only when bird is tempted by the
fresh corn just appearing above the
ground does he show any sign or life.
From the road outside the field he
looks exactly like the conventional
collection of old clothes propped upon
a stick The ragged overcoat and the
misshapen hat can be seen any day, at
this time of the year, in almost any
field in England. Even the crows are
contemptuous of the figure, and every
now and then a number of them APP
pear leisurely above the hedge and set
tie on the field. But then Il is that
the scarecrow moves; he hits an old
tin can with the rusty handle of
shovel and frightens the birds, and
makes them fly quickly out Of sight,
So ne spends his day, this old bent
man, and at the end he Is paid 3G
cents. He is the village scarecrow.
Every morning now soon after the
light comes, he leaves his sons cot
tage in the meadow and walks through
the village street to the fields, mile
away. And then. for nearly l2 hours,
he keeps the birds from the corn ny
making a noise on his old tin can.
Whatever the weather may be, he
is expected to be there. In rain he
may shelter under the nearest hedge,
but he must watch the fields, and if
the birds take advantage of his alb.
sence he must go out into the open
and scare them from the corn.
For this old man knows well that
he is competing for his living against
the clothes propped upon stick or
( the dead crows scattered about the
field, and 1t is necessary that he should
| take n certain pride in his profession.
Unless he can show the farmer that
| he Is more effective than the conven-
tional scarecrow, he cannot make Il
living in the few months between the
sowing of the seed and the appearance
of the corn.
Fortunately for him he does not fear
lage. The days when they were will
| ing to earn a sixpence by frightening
| birds from the fields have gone. In
his day-that is, when he was young
any one in the village who was un-
der II was glad to earn PENNY day
| pocket money and fivepence for the
| home; but now there are the schools
| and the town close by and the rail.
way to London.
| So II is that he has almost a monop.
oily in his profession. While the boys
| of the village are in school he can
earn enough in these few months of
| the year to keep him from the work
house. He is still capable OF soaring
birds. His very clothes are n quallf.
cation. He looks exactly like a scare
crow, and he has the advantage of he.
/ ing able TO hit an old tin can with
the rusty handle OF shovel.
At | O'Clock he has his dinner of
bread and cheese by the side of the
hedge, but every now and then he gets
up and looks around to see that the
| fields are free from birds.
Sometimes, when the day Is colder
than usual his granddaughter from
the cottage a mile away brings him n
| hot dinner i'm basin covered with a
| cloth, and while he eats she talks to
him about her school, and IL bird APP
pears runs carefully onto the field and
claps her hands and frightens 1t. And
when the dinner is finished she gayly
says "Good-by," and goes back along
the road.
And then the old man-this shabby
| guardian of the 6elds-is left alone.
For the fields now are empty of every
thing except the growing corn. As far
| as the eye can see there is nothing
except old shapes by hedges and by
| roads. The only suggestion Of life Is
q collection OF old clothes propped up,
on stick in the field nearby a mile
away And when the old man looks
at this silent competitor of his he is
filled with new energy, and strides of
to the field. making Il great noise with
his old tin can.-LondOn Cor. Baltim'
more Sun.