Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1919-05-05

NTRASBOURG is again the CITY
~ of Storks," and the Alsatians
~ are happy. For five years, from
before the beginning of the war un-
til after hostiIities ceased, these birds
have failed to make their annual pill
.grimage to the city, the symbol of
good fortune to the families on
whose roofs they nested. But now
the storks are returning to their
colony on the Place de Broglie.
OF the many pretty legends built
| around the story, one is that it can
foresee events. Stories are told and
generally believed in the countries 1T
visits of instances where the stork
has moved it's eggs or even it's young
several days before fire destroyed the
| building on which it neSted. Thus
Alsatians point out that the storks,
sensing the coming war early in the
spring of 1914, made their visit to
other lands.
The Dutch many centuries ago
asserted storks would never nest eX-
cept in republics and free countries.
But this" says Willughby, writing
in 1876, I'VE found by experience to
| be false, having observed them in
the territories of some princes in
| Germany. Great numbers breed IN
/ the Dobrudja and Turkey, where
the Turks, Bulgars and Greeks unite
in protecting them. In Thessaly they
have been Venerated from The earll-
| est time, for Pliny says that to kill
one was a capital offense; the life
| of a stork was worth as much as
! that of man."
Story of Storks and Babies
| In Holland, France, Denmark and
Germany numerous legends and
superstitions have gradually arisen
| concerning the storks. The most
widely known is that they bring the
babies-probably story told so
often to children that at last the
elders believed it to be part of the
good luck that stork's nest on the
house is believed to bring. Grimm's s
and Hans Andersen's fairy tales in
cIude many in which the long-legged
bird plays part.
The khool children of Strasbourg
Ihave pretty little songs which they
! sing in the spring when they are
looking for the appearance of the
first stork. In the olden time it was
customary to blow a horn to greet
| the first arrival. First would come
| the old bird. circling above the
housetops. looking for a good place
to begin the new nest. Below in the
street, the townsfolk would watch
eagerly, each hoping that it would
| be his house the stork would choose.
| In such Il case, he knew that light
ming would never strike and that
good luck would come to all under
his roof. In the older parts of
| Strasbourg, people would cast out
bundles of faggots. which served as
! foundations for the nests, and for
days after their arrival the morning
hours were melodious with the whis-
Ting of the birds as they went busi-
ly about their building operations.
AS soon as the nest was finished,
the birds would take turns in sitting
on the large eggs. and in a short
time the scrawny young we're hatch
ed out. Alsatians consider it great
fun to watch the parent birds teach
ing the young to balance and fly,
and later to steal anything edible
within their reach.
Sought Homes i'm Vain
A French writer tells touchingly
of the Alsatians' description of the
return of a flock of storks to Stras-
Ibourg in March, 1871, when they
flew distractedly over the ruins,
vainly seeking their old nesting
places, which had been destroyed in
the bombardment. Even in the very
oldest engravings of the tower, the
bird is shown on the chimney tops
of the quaint old timbered and
dorm houses.
A traveller through Alsace recently
found a new story concerning the
stork. In his talk with a pretty
little girl, he was informed, with an
air of great gravity and confidence,
that the stork came every year
from Prussia; that they bore on
their wings the Prussian colors.
black and white, but that it was not
their fault. lit was in punishment for
a sin which the first stork had COM
mitted-oh-ages and ages ago; that
they had also very large mouths,
tout CONNIE les Prussians. and that
they went away to find warm place
in the winter but returned in the
spring to count all the new babies
that arrived in their absence"
The birds often assemble in large
f1ocks at the end of August. before
1 commencing their southwark migra-
ton. Sometimes at these assemblies
4they hold what the Germans call a