Evening star., 1949-12-06
This and That
By Charles E. TyacsweU

While you are looking around for some
thing to admire In the cold. do not over
look the common sparrows.
Admiration warns one.
The world has too much spleen. Nations
are envious Of nations. cities attack cities
and people growl at people.
This is going on all over the world. with
results easily seen. One does not have to be
q philosopher to lament II, nor an artist to
see the ugly effects.
We all need more admiration. and one
Of the easiest ways to work 1t up Is to select
some simple thing, such Is sparrow.
Looked at honestly, this common little
bird is seen to be songster rs well as any.
Songster he Is, as any one may know by
listening to him.
His "harsh chirp" as some critics call it..
is then understood at It's best. which Is sweet
music.
AS soloist he is not bad, as singer with
his friends he is superb.
Every one has heard some church singer
whose voice scared over the congregation.
Every listener admires 1t, at times to the
exclusion Of the hymn.
"She should 60 into OPERA" her friends
insist.
Actually she had better stay in her church.
She had better let opera and concert work
alone.
In choir. or in simple congregational
singing, her voice stands out, charms,
soothes. praises. In concert work her voice
might not seem so good, even to friendly
critics, for there is a world Of difference. On
the stage singing alone to piano or orches-
ira, the voice is heard to be unequal to the
more difficult music. Whereas the plain
melodies Of old it handled easily. these more
flowing melodies demand different style,
q large voice. more carefree intonation.
Well, now the sparrows are something like
that.
They have good voices despite some Of
their critics. but not voices for recording, let
us say. .~.
with other bird voices they 60 very well.
Few choral "sings" sound better than 80
common sparrows in . rose vine.
Let us insist on the rose vine.
Perching on fence sparrows sound well,
but In rose vine they seem like little angels
Of the everyday.
Carp who will, let us admire them, and
insist forever that they are as good birds as
any. ~
Redbirds. their cousins. feel exactly that
way, we may feel sure.
In the cold the redbirds fly down into q
natural thing in the world to do. as 1t is,
of course The sparrows greet them as rela-
tiyes, as they are. II the old saying that
birds Of feather flock together means
anything. 1t is right here that 1t means most
II sparrows are good enough for redbirds.
they are good enough for most OF us. whose
feathers may be more or less suspect having
been torn from sheep, foxes mink. etc.
Sparrows and redbirds chum around to-
gethef in the cold, thinking nothing Of It,
We who watch may marvel at the spectacle.
which costs nothing more than a crust OF
bread or handful Of sunfower seed or even
chicken feed.
And when the sparrows cut loose in the
rose vine. singing because their little tun-
mics are full and they feel warm. we may
feel sure that it is musical spectacle, one
with q symphony of Beethoven or the camp
fire singing OF the Spanish gypsies. Ola!
Music is music, wherever you find It, Per-
haps the music Of the spheres" is not Just
Imagination. It may be that worlds do sing
together. Stranger things happen IN this
strange universe.
Ask not for hidden sights IN the STRAIT
osphere. BE satisfied with common sparrows
In .; rose vine. Be sure that this little
admiration yields large rewaxdA