Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-06-13
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL.

articulate. Good luck to the Barefoot
Boy. 1 think that's a good nickname
for you. S. j. H.
D. S. S. of the United States Soldiers
Home sent copy of an interesting
article from the American Fruit Grower
on the japanese ounce as an orna-
mental bearing edible fruit. Mostly the
European Ounce is thought OF for fruit,
but the article states that under some
conditions the flowers of Cydonia are
followed by fruits.
The love for birds evidently goes back
to the childhood of the human race.
We believe the psychologists call this
sort of thing ataviStic.
The love of trees. for instance is said
to date to the earliest days, when the
great god Pan roamed the forests.
Bryant was more than poetical when
he said that the groves were Gods
first temples"
Each tree was thought to have q
spirit, some helpful, some inimical.
These who have delved into such
matters assert that the modern habit of
knocking on wood" is nothing more
than a superstitious effort to propitiate
the evil spirit CT wood
The use of holly and mistletoe and
such things goes bac.: to legendary
times. Il will be recalled that the
DFuidS, ancient English mystics, made
much of the oak tree.
There are few persons who do not
love the poem by the young lost poet
ending:
Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make tree"
Nothing SO arouSes the lis of hun
dreds Of city people. particularly in
Washington. as the destruction Of shade
trees to make way for progress.
Many honest. law-ab!ding persons
almost become fanatics on the subject
Of trees. end thus touch remote roots
OF conduct of the human race.
X
Birds which make their homes in
trees are sacred creatures to countless
millions all of whom might be willing
TO admit that there are aspects of re-
ligion almost in their devotion to them.
Jesus and St Francis noticed and
spoke Of them. There are few human
beings who at some time or other have
not loved the birds and found great
pleasure in watching them.
A good pair OF binoculars is a help
bat are not necessary for the ordinary
enjoyment OF bird study This is a
study which is not at all like school
lessons.
In the keen interest in birds which
so many persons take every day there
IS no taacher, no home work, no tasks
no examinations, but instead a g0-aS-
you-pleaSe devotion 10 the feathered
things OF the air.
This happy freedom is all the easier
and pleasant to many of us because it
is not always that We have had either
the opportunity or time 10 spend upon
this past,me.
1t IS one which most persons with an
@rllst.c sense take TO very readily. There
Is large Literature on birds, and the
interested person who always likes to
read about what he IS interested in. be
1t golf or rock gardens. tennis or birds
chess or gardening, will find that much
devotion and good hard work have
BEEN put on what to him is but an
honest pleasure Of the Summer DAYS.
There can be little question that
there are fewer birds TO watch this year
than last. Most OF us will think that
the drought is responsible. There are
still many birds. however, although per
heps each garden will have fewer kinds
than before. A few birds. however. are
great deal to the bird lover.