Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-11-07

when bought my farm, did not
know what a bargain I had in the biue-
| birds, bobolinks and thrushes; as little
did I know what sublime mornings and
sunsets was buying" wrote Emerson,
in 1862.
Perhaps every one might feel the
bargain Of Nature more If he stopped
to think about 1t as the great American
philosopher did.
Today we so pride ourselves, as a
nation, on our noise and rush, that we
do not have time to consider what life
throws in gratis.
We buy a home and are concerned
| Immediately with its interior decora-
ton, without realizing how much extra
comes with it.
The mornings and evenings, the
SHOWS and rains, the winds, the birds,
| and squirrels and rabbits, if one is
| fortunate-theSe are some OF the gifts
of Nature to an observant home owner
There is a great deal to be found
that wasn't in the contract. Emerson
named a few of the things the enter
prising home owner may seek for, and
undoubtedly find. 1t Is not with these
things as with many others; they are
not products of fiery imagination, but
have been there always.
1t is noticeable that the philosopher
! phenomena. We have gone him sew
eral better, as it were, and included
rain, snow, wind, and two animals, the
tailed rodent, the squirrel, and the cared
rodent, the rabbit.
X X y
Emerson was a great lover of birds
, His trio could scarcely have been more
| happily selected. Every one loves the
bluebird, bobolink and the thrush The
first is a somewhat rare visitor to
Washington and vicinity, at least it
| does not come to these parts in such
numbers as to make it at all common
Usually two or three sights of a blue
bird are as much as one gets around
| here. The bobolink (Which some insist
on confusing with the Bob White, is
not so common, either. 1t is more ia
miliar up North, although it migrates
from Canada to Paraguay, 1t Is said
every year. Just why Paraguay, we dc
not know. When it settles in large
numbers in the rice fields of the far
| South, it is called the ricebird, or reed
| bird.
The thrush is not one, but many
| The different varieties look much alike
| to the Impractical eye, but the varie-
| ties differ greatly in size, and some
what in song, although the latter is
4dAly uIlllOIUl COL OIulIldIy 1lOI1e
consumption, via eyes and ears, there
| is no more pleasant bird than the
| thrush. His foolish way of hopping
| around in the shrubbery, beneath which
he loves to pick up his dinner, causes
constant perturbation on the part of
| his friends, when they know that cats
are lurking around.
Perhaps birds which insist in build
| ing their nests near the ground may
be termed the most foolish creatures In
the world, since they alone possess the
power to fly and to build and live
! high. Many songbirds insist on put
| ting their nests few feet from the
| ground, where they are the easy prey
Of maurauders, both two-legged and
| four-legged.
Mornings and evenings by no means
must be forgotten, in the estimate which
| the home owner puts on his property
It is too bad that many do not get up
in time to know anything about the
| former.
There is nothing which will put one
| in right mood for the day like watch
ing its inception. Dawn is still IA
nous time, as much so as in the days
when whole cities of ancient men
waited in the dark for the first 1llum-
mating streak of the sun.
They called it sun worship.
| Ankhnaton, unfortunate young Egyp-
| tian king, presided at many of these
| ceremonies, and was the first to pros
trate himself when the rays of the