The Watertown weekly leader. [volume] (Watertown, Jefferson County, Wis.) 1912-1917, 1913-10-03

the front bedroom to bring box that
arrived shortly before from Nine. Ca
pote's. Mrs. Sparks opened the box,
lifted the wonderful creation and said
the usual womanly thing: isn't it a
dream?"
Henry Sparks looked at the hat
quizzically. There was not perhaps
expressed in his face the admiration
and entire approval that Mrs. Sparks
had hoped for.
Henry" she said, 81 know there is
a birds head or two and a lot Of feath-
ers in It, but Nine. Capote told me that
they were all made-up things, mostly
barnyard fowls This head with the
slate-bIue neck and just touch of
brown at the place where it was sep
arated from the breast, was the head
of a common domestic fowl in China.
Now don't look that way. Everybody
is wearing feathers, and I don't see
why shouldn't wear them"
Henry Sparks rose from the table
and took the befeathered hat out of
his wife's hand and looked at it
through his glasses. This" he said,
pointing with his finger at the birds
head with beautiful steel blue feath-
ers, ais, as I understand Nine. Capote,
the head of common Chinese do
nestle fowl. Eliza, when you wander
along by some tumbling stream in the
springtime you will hear now and
then a rafting cry. 1t is birds voice.
1t Is as much a part Of the time and
place and of the wildness Of it all as
are the trees, the stream or even the
April clouds overhead. Wander along
the same stream in the heat Of sum-
mer and you hear the same rafting
cry. A bird form dashes by, then
stops in midfight and hovers lightly
over a pool beneath. Then there is a
sound Of the plash Of waters as a
feathered form descends and plunges.
There is a sensation of GOODNESS In
the sound Of that plunge that tempers
the heat of the August day to the way
farer. Perhaps you have legal right
to wear this bird because it may have
been killed in New York, where the
wise legislators withdrew from this
creature the protection of the law. The
men who urged that it be exempt from
protection were men of the kind who
go into the northern woods and drag
seines, dynamite streams and catch
and kiH thousands Of fish that they
may pick out the big ones for the
market. The souls of these men are
in their pockets. This bird catches
a few small fish for the sustenance of
itself and its young. 1t adds, when not
on a bonnet, living interest to every
waterside. Eliza, your Chinese do
nestle fowl Is an American kingfsh-
er.
Henry, Nine"
eliza, this bird that has been eat
ing up the crops in India. thus causing
famine in that country, was hatched
in a nest in an Illinois tree. Perhaps
you have the legal right to wear 1t.
The wise legislators of Illinois re-
Gently added this bird to the game list,
so that it may be slaughtered and
made into pies. The souls Of the leg
islators were situated In their stom-
echS. This bird has stood as an en-
blem of peace since the world was, and
yet every pot and millinery hunter in
the land makes war upon it. You are
good Episcopalian and you some
times tell me that there is nothing
more beautiful than all that pertains
to the church and it's teachings. Do
you, Trinitarfan that you are, know
that it was in the living form Of one
of these murdered innocents in your
bonnet that the Holy Spirit descended
upon our Savior as he stood at the
side Of the Baptist by the waters OF
| Jordan? Eliza, this East Indian crop
destroying. starvation producing bird,
is an Illinois mourning dove.
Doubtless Nine Capote told you
that this little bunch Of feathers that
| clasps the upturned brim of the hat
came from a bird harpy OF some re-
mote region whose daily practice it Is
to carry OF and devour the sweet
! babes Of doting mothers. Well, these
cinnamon brown feathers with these
soft gray dotted with darker color rep
resent all that Is left Of hermit
thrush, a bird that sings its seraphic
| song in the twilight northern wilder
ness. L is the note of this bird that
Burroughs says suggests a serene re-
| ugious beatitude."
"But. Henry, Nine. Capote said"
ELIZA, there are thousand Mma
Capotes, and most of them are II"
But Mrs. Sparks was In tears.