, 1923-04-01

she had been unable to face them in
one of the final ~close-ups without
gushing tears and stabbins pain.
During the night she had a mild
onset OF "Gllegl eyes" and had night.
mares OF blindness. Her career
would DO blasted al once. Her ter
rors added to her rcpentances and
her anguish made siumber impossible.
As h lay staring into the dark
the windows and the furniture be-
gan to wake from the black and take
on definition. The world in the
dawn was exactly like the film as she
a seen it developed in tho dun
geons of the laboratory. a sudden
faint revelation OF outlines, a gradual
clarity. and finally all the details.
She rose YEARLY from her bed.
flung On a wrap and stole to the
window. The little garden and the
orange tree were being developed
likewise by the chemistry of the
sunrise.
She felt an impulse to walk about,
and. thrusting her barr feet into
slippers. she went through the door
as stealthily as an escaping thief.
The morning was as yet only a
paler moonlight. She was surprised
to find the mountains missing from
the horizon. II seemed ID tina a
sierra should be removed overnight.
1t was a mist that hid them-so frau
a thing to conceal such bu,ksl
As she watched. the veil was with,
drawn into nothingness. The noun.
tains rolled up their mighty bllows.
They were as II created anew by the
original edict or by that long squeeze
the biologists imagine.
As they emerged suddenly from the
void. the rest OF The world opened
shop. Flowers began to waken;
vines to take thought OF further ex.
plorations; birds began to whet their
beaks. little butchers sharpening
their knives for the market.
Somewhere a bird was singing. It
is good poetry to praise the song OF
birds. But this one sounded like n
squeaking wheel. Yet It would be ri.
dicu,ous TO likcn an ungreased wheel
to the pipe of a half awakened bird.
In n vacan lot at the back. rab.
bits were sitting up and shivering
their noses in a posture Of amazed
stupidity. Across the walks n the
grass little herds Of snaIls were re.
turning to heir corrals. They had
the lock- OF having been out MI nigh;
and their k-napsacks were tipsily
awry. And they left shining wakes
wherever they went. as drunkards
leave footprints in the snow.
The flowers were putting on their
colors like robes. or like makeup
that night had removed. II was the
light that restored their beauty Of
hue.
Light They were its creatures ant
h was a child of light. Darkness,
was her death, and all her speecI
was reflected radiance from the sur
or from some OF the little suns thai
tiny mankind had devised for IL
amusement and convenience.
In tho yard next door blackbirdi
were breakfast hunting. She note,
that each glistening male was nag
ged and bullied by a fat brown fe
male. Whom no found n worm sh
ran md took it away from him
When he did not FIND one she nippe,
him with her bill or mado a pathet.
racket II he tried to swallow on
unobserved she made him disgorEe II
II she stumbled over one as she wac
died. she kept It herself. Her mott
seemed to be the old phrase Mer
had heard rs n child: What's your
g mine: what's mines m'own."
No wonfe the males were so slice.
and crisply alert. No wonder thei
womenfolk were SO obese and pctu
,ant.
Mem thought she saw the o,d-fash
Toned housewife In tho female black
bird. She grew plump on the toll @
her smart husband and contribute,
little but an appetite and a nun
Der of new beaks for him to feed.
She was glad that she would no
be such n woman She would fin
her own food n pay her way. an,
she would pay It handsomely. Sh,
filled her breast with a deep draugh
Of this pride. She had been wicked
once by inclination. but Their she ha.
been wicked as an old.fsshioned home
keeping girl. Now her wickednesi
was her own. at least. and she wou.C
not let C1aymore take tho blame; fol
when you take the blanc you tax,
the credit, too. and tho control.
She would be no mans chattel I,
make or mar.
Tho blackbirds gave her a con
tempt for the ideal woman of old, ar
exultance over being n real woman
of new.
She stood and watched the iustrou,
creatures for a long while. Vane,
Thompson had squandered some o.
the opulence of his style on the black
birds Of Los Angeles. knowing tn,
world as few men know II. he gave
the city supreme praise. above AL
giars. runis. Monte Carlo. or Paler
mo, And yet" he wrote, 1--WE faller
in love with the birds. Especially
those rsv and beautiful blackbirds
There are a dozen of them on M
lawn-I a see them from tho win
dow. The gentlemen wear blackly
purple oassocks and the ladies' ar,
dressed in soft ~nun-colored brown
And they are 20 friendly. nd clean
stepping. 80 busy nnd hllthe tina.
they look like predestlncd citizsns o
Los Angeles. Symbols md types
Every city has its birds. Venice hai
its pigeons OF Saint Marks; Moscow
Its crows. those secular monks OF tn,
Kremlin; Paris has 1t sparrows, ant
Stockholm Its swans-ah. thos,