Evening star., 1932-04-28
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES Z. TRACEWELL.

It is down a terrible road, narrow and
steep. with ruts almost two feet In
depth.
At some places there Is no passing.
so that a car coming in the opposite
direction would be forced to back up for
an eighth Of a mile or so.
Going along here one might think
himself in the Ozarks, or what ones
mental picture of the Ozarks Is, at any
rate. One does not fiatter them, evi-
IDENTIFY.
Then one enters the woods.
The trees here stand two or three
feet apart, or half a dozen at the most,
as far. as the eyes can see. One never
realized that there was such q thick
woods so close to the great city.
The first thrush Is not the type which
Will come later.
This one is larger, and of a more
lightly toned brown. Some people call
him the woods thrush although he
is no more from the forests than the
others.
His song Is more bubbling. more
varied. than that Of the later arriving
and smaller birds 1t does not, however.
contain the distinct song pattern
gurgles and chirps in it,
That other honest bird, the robin,
inceSsant in its search for worms. has
no real song at all, but his constant
chatterlrS and calling often fools hu-
man auditors into thinking that he has.
Robins and thrushes are closely re-
lated. Certainly they are both sedate,
well hammered fellows. not forever
screaming at the tops of their voices,
but going about their proper business
OF bird life as If they knew what they
were doing and exactly how to do it.
Few Springs have ever seen such
chesty specimens Of robins as this year
or Is 1t that one has forgotten just
how puffed out they look. with their
orange breasts, not red at all?
1t is queer thing that the word
thrush should have been applied to
two diseases. one of children'S threats
and the other Of the horses foot. Per-
hapS the former got its name from the
fancied resemblance between the white
spots on the breast of the thrush and
the pearl-colored fungus visible during
the course of the disease These two
meanings need not bother the American
reader, as they are mostly used In Eng
and.
As one listens. especially at twilight,
to the song Of the thrush 1t is impos-
sible to associate 1t with anything but
loveliness and happiness II one has
lived in the city and not been serenaded
by these birds, and then moves to the
country he may find at first that there
is a slight melancholy associated with
the clear, cool notes.
This aspect. however quickly fades
away, being. in fact. nothing more than
the ordinary sadness which is a part
Of beautiful music. Great music, prop
erly rendered, has certain tinge o.
sorrow TO 1t. Perhaps 1t recalls to the
brooding human mind. even more than
great writing the saddest facts OF man 8
estate in this curious world.
However that may be, the song of
the thrush, especially heard at dusk,
ultimately comes to have no meaning
in it but that Of beauty, that of happi-
ness, as those liquid tones flute out in
the still air.
Longer than almost any other bird.
the thrush sings In the cleaning, as II
understanding that few have a more
beautiful song than he, and rs II de-
termined to cheer the world of listeners
as long as he could.
The world has been waiting, all these
years, not for the sunrise. as the song
said, but for some great human muGj-
clan to turn the descending phrases OF
the thrush song into music of a huma n
kind. Even IL this were done, however,
the bird would reign supreme; no Cne
can take his song away from him. ard
no one would want to; 1t is creation S
composition. fresh and lovely in a de-
pressed world.