Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1910-05-06
THE LITTLE CROW OF PARA Disc.

; tale of how his happiness was at
tanned
Once q year, as we know, the rob-
in goes to hell, bearing drop of
water in its beak. The water is for
some poor soul in torment whom the
robin loves in spite of his sins; the
power to take the journey and to
return from it unscorched having
been granted by Christ to the robin
for it's kindness to Him when He
hung upon the cross.
But to no other bird is this grace
Extended, and into their songs there
creeps, in consequence, a strangely
sOrrowful note.
Now the crow at the crucifxion-
he has been, the Devils bird always
did nothing but cry mockingly,
Ha! ha! hal And though he co I'D
speak then as we'll as you or THE
Devil having granted him the gift of
speech-ever since that day when he
Knocked the Saviour he has been re-
duced to q hoarse and melancholy
Icaw.
But not all the crows have cinder
for a heart. Here and there one has
a heart indeed.
And one day such a one loved
man, and loved him faithfully. But
the man was so stepped in sins that
his soul, when it went to judgment
vas rs black as the feathers of its one
sole friend; and no other portion
could be granted to it but he'll.
And when the crow heard, sway
ing in his nest among the elms, that
the friend who had fed and fondled
him was in torment-with the lidless
eyes of Satan unsleepingly upon him
|-ah. then the crows heart was hu-
manized by sorrow; and he grieved
for his friend as woman might have
grieved.
"Will you take him a drop of
water ?" said the crow to the robin.
He has done nothing to deserve
it," said the robin. "He must
thirst"
"Then 1 will take him a drop of
water myself" said the crow.
So he went to the spring among
the elm trees, where the water
bubbled coolingly, and with drop
of water in his beak he flew down
the world to hell.
AS he dipped below the horizon
into the dreary world of darkness he
could hear, floating up from the
fathomless pit beneath him. the lam
entable moaning and signing of the
Lost" and the crows heart swelled
with pity as he listened. That far
off world, with its nest among the
elm trees, he would give up gladly, if
he might only ease his friend.
Down the vast black depths the
crow sank heavily; down, and ever
down, unrestingly downward; down
-down-down-til az last he was in
hell.
In the black Pit of Thirst his friend
moaned helplessly; his throat and
lips parched into horrible blackness,
and the sharp brine running through
his veins instead of blood.
Water! Give me water p he
gasped to the crow.
The crow sank down and, alighting
on his shoulder, poured the cherished
drop of water bet ween the black,
parched lips.
A hundred years of agony have
rolled away from mel" gasped the
man. Now cav to me once, that |
may remember the woodlands ="
"Caw!" cried the little black
crow; Cav! Cav =
But at that moment the Ancient
One-who is of Stone and without a
heart-thrust his huge claws forward,
and the crow was in his palm!
| Then God, Who seeth all things,
was moved to compassion; and, as
His thought became deed, Satan's
huge claws opened and up few the
little crow straight to Paradise;
alighting, singed and painting, on
the vast golden walls.
Except the dove. no bird has ever
entered heaven. The crow might
not be admitted to the shining
streets of pearl, but within sight of
heaven he should live forever, said
the Merciful One. And on the great
golden walls, against which the water
of life ripples musically, the Little
Crow of Paradise still builds his nest.
HORSES can hear sounds that are
imperceptible to human ears. For
days previous to great earthquake
:hey show every symptom of abject
fear.
MORE steel is used in the manufac-
ture OF pins than in all the sword and
gun factories of the world.
TOBACCO seeds are so minute that q
thimbleful will furnish enough plants
for an acre Of ground.
JUST under one-third of the people
of England and Wales are under fifteen
years of age.
THERE is only one sudden death