The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-03-09
MEN, WOMEN
 AND THINGS

read my story about the unpleasant | publicity which Thomas Dixon got | during his New York pastorate for | killing enough for a pie.
 A friend in speaking to me about 1 the matter. who was reared in south l Alabama. stated that he himself had | passed the age of 60 before he knew | any better, and. only found out that | a robin could sing last summer when cn visit to his son at Annapolis.
 He asked me why it was that robins | did not sing while on their visit to i Dixie. and for answer I could only | cite him to the verses of Edith Thomas. who gives for reason the following:
 If I ever tried note
 Something rose within my throat
 Twas because my heart was true.
 To the North and springtime new:
 My minds eye nest could see
 In'yon old forked apple tree"
 
 It is a bit strange that such noted songster should for scores and scores of years flock to the south in untold millions without it's ever being found out that they had many more notes in their repertoire besides the cheery chirps which brought such gladness to the heart of every boy with sling shot, parlor rifle. or single muzzle- loader.
 Tn these days of patient investiga- ton. it's hard to find sanytihng too seemingly trivial but what some enthusiastic investigator will set him- self to work to master it. A man Of science devoted many hours of study to learn the great variety of sounds | made by common barnyard chickens in expressing their entire range of feel ing. from the egg shell to the final ! w ringing of their neck for the pot by the old negro nanny.
 | I had in mind the morning after the rooster sale at Demopolis, for when I arrived early. where hundreds Of cocks of all sizes and breeds were growing lustily. would have beer pleased to have him attempt to inter- bret their mass feelings for having participated in such an unusual per formance as being sold in the interest of good roads,
 I would also have liked for him to have ridden in the airship with me from Birmingham to Demopolis in or der to interpret of what my red York game from the Mountains of east Ten nessee was thinking as he uttered his squawks as he flew higher and further than his own wings would ever have been able to carry him.
 It would have been of interest to have given him chance to study and to try and initiate the conscious pose of Woodrow Wilson. Lloyd George and iClemenceau. and to endeavor to put. into words what was passing through their minds while they were struttins on the stage Tn the role of the three great premiers. Had he been able tc do it successfully. we might have got the rosters view of the peace con gross. But most of all. I would have en- joyed his studying the attidundizing of Helen Kellers little blue hen and set out in chickenology her precise
 psychological status of overweening
 feminine pride in befng the only fe- male in a chicken world made up oth- 1 erwise of males. I am sure if the sci
 enlist of whom have been writing
 could have caught Ar thoughts he
 would have revealed the fact that she
 was tickled to death over being the
 undisputed belle of the sale
 Now, there are those who have made } a scientific study of the cries and , singing of birds. and even gone so ! far as to set them to music. A bird , authority states that no other bird has so varied repertoire as Robin Good . Fellow Now this is hard for us who } live fin the south to believe. for while
 our guest he harps on one string.
 I
 Those who have heard him in all of his singing moods say that his soft lIy warbled salute to the sunrise dif- . fers from his lovely even-song, just
  his courting days differ from the mote
 subdued tranquil love song to his i, breeding mate It is certainly beau- I tiful thought that in the feathered g world that love like in our own lives has it's own peculiar language. sss
 . In speaking of the versatility of the T. robin as song bird. Neltje Blachan
 says: 1T do not believe that any boy : or girl alive could recognize him by . every one of his songs and calls f. indignation. suspicion. interrogation < peace of mind. hate. caution to take flight. these and a host of othel :. thoughts are expressed through his = flexible thoughts.
 n Children. for know some boys and
 girls who read this column. when youl heart danced with joy at the sight ol n trees filled with redbreasts. did yot t every stop to think what drear, , time it is for the lads and lassies ir
 the north when the last robin hal 7 started on his way southward to spent Q the winter? We'll. don't let 1t troubl, Il you overmuch for the little American | cn the upper side of the Mason ant
 D.xon line will only have to abid n their time.
 a Margaret Sangster gave them thi