Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1919-06-08
Special Scheme for Maintaining Continuity of Various Rambes
Wealthy Ancestors, Dead and Ave-A Meeting With Rev.
Parke Pondexter Fournoy Near the Church.

TINS entry: / see tanaSeT percheo
on one of the topmost twigs of a
hickory. holding by the tender leaflets,
now hve inches long. He Is between
me and the sun and his plumage Is
incredibly brilliant-all aglow. 1t is
our highest -colored bird-a deep
scarlet in the midst Of which his pure
black wings look high-colored also.
You can hardly believe that q living
creature can wear such colors."
The Rambler has saved an article
on the tanager written by Anna E.
Cobb, the irst paragraph Of which
follows:
The SCARLET tanager Is the most brilliant bird
that visits this part Of the world. The male
has q bright scarlet body, with black wings
and tail; the female, greenish upper parts.
brown wings and tail and yellowish underparts.
In autumn the plumage Of the male changes
gradually, becoming like the females, but
with black wings and tail. The nest is Of fine
twigs, loosely put together. often found in oak
trees. 1t is usually on 4 horizontal branch
twenty feet from the ground, but IL sometimes
found in saplings or orchard trees high as
ones head. There are three or four eggs,
blush with reddish markings. In Central and
South America there are said to be $50 species
Of tanager; Of this number five enter the south
ern part Of the United States, but only the
scarlet tanager reaches our northeastern states.
The males come north first, arriving early In
May, the females following later, and remain
until late September.
When the Rambler climbed the
wOoden sfeDa laa6in~ nm <ho u<oonar
parts of the ridge, passed under the
shade Of giant tulip poplars and old
red cedars and came to the grassy
fiat before the church, he met the
pastor, the Rev. Parke Poindexter
Flournoy. He carried in one hand .
sprig Of the red bloom Of the Scotch
hawthorn, plucked from q bush that
grows in the garden Of the manse.
and which was brought from Scotland
by a member Of the congregation. for
most of the Presbyterians Of Mont
gomery county, and perhaps, for that
their ancestry back to the land Of the
thistle, the plaid and the clan. The
pastor carried in his other hand a
well worn black bound book. Whether
1t was a Bible or prayer book the
Rambler cannot say. because he In
not as we'll informed on such things
as his good and pious friends would
have him. Service had been over
some time and the Rambler had missed
the spiritual refreshment which he
might have obtained. but, STILL he
ran into the scarlet tanager and that
helped in some small measure to take
the edge or his disappointment
As the Rambler has said before, DR..
Flournoy has been pastor Of this
church for forty-dve years, having
come to 1t and its sister church at
Rockville in April. 1876, from Elisa
BEETHOVEN, KY, which was his frst
passionate. He was born in Chester
in the historic James and AppomAt-
tox country. The Rambler Is not 60
ing to take the trouble to get out a
bunch Of dusty maps at this point,
but he can see in his minds eye a
cluster of counties-Henrico, Pow
hatan, Amelia, Nottaway, Dinwiddie
and Prince Georges-and he thinks
he sees in the midst Of this group
the county Of Chesterfield, with one
tip extending to the James opposite
Richmond and including the city Of
Manchester. OF course, the Rambler
may be little twisted about this,
and II he is there will come q food
Of letters to the editor tomorrow,
pointing out the Rambler's Grass stu
pidity,' "besotted ignorance" blind
laundering" etc. There is a class
which reads newspapers not for the
purpose Of educating themselves, but
for the purpose of picking out some
trivialities which do not accord with
their own recollection Of things.
The name "Flournoy" has a French
look and sound. The family was
Huguenot in France, and the first
member Of the family to come to yir-
ginia was Jaques Flournoy, who set
tied at Williamsburg in 100, and pre-
sumably soon after Joined the Hugue-
not settlement on the James river
above Richmond, and which was
called Manokin. The word "Hugue-
not Is interesting. Turning to the
Encyclopedias Britannica, the Rambler
nnds this: TT the nancy was former
~ explained as coming from the Ger
man Etdgen essen, the designation of