Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1955-12-11
Continued from page p

)aller. why naQ ne gone along win MIN.
Because he was tired, because he was worn to
the bone lying awake, thinking, why? why?
1t didn't occur to Jonathan TO investigate until
he heard all the noise from the porch corner.
There were dozens Of birds in the feeder, eagerly
attacking Jonathan's grain. . The innumerable
sparrows. :. He hardly knew one from another;
until he saw the little sparrow with the heavy
bill and the striped breast. sitting quietly the
picket fence, waiting He thought, that's patient
so and so. and watched family interested.
Presently the bigger birds, alarmed when car
rounded the corner, flew off; but the sparrow
stayed. and after a moment another bird came
sailing in. The sparrow stretched its wings and
placidly joined the newcomer.
Jonathan watched them feeding together Then
he went back into the house; somewhere on the
book shelves he had seen bird book
Bird watcher" he had once teased Emily,
giving her the new binoculars.
And Emily had said, There's something about
Them There's restlessness in flight mornings
when we wake there's tranquility in the sleepy
song. ] do like them, JON
Tie thumbed through the book Sparrows,
good Lord, there were hundreds Of them. Now
he came upon a page of birds in color. They
WcIc Ills pail - Tic IdSpUEIIy-OIppcu OHu, lIG
sedate, side by side on branch.
The purple finch,' he read and snorted. Non
sense, not purple at all. The female" he read
further, rs hard to identify, looking very like
sparrow. Some sparrows," he further read, were
really finches."
He tossed the book aside and yawned There
would be bourbon and Larry would give him
special canap&s before dinner and then he and
\ LII - L. ~ 0ka
I'm fool What am saving myself for? Better
die in the harness, better drop at the desk. in
the operating room
But he wouldn't. Jackson had promised him
that, and Jackson knew his stuff Crack up?
I'll crack up here, he thought, dismally, from
boredom .. you can't take man who's been
busy all his life and set him down to idleness. But
what was there to do? He couldn't, as many of
his confreres did, release himself in Sunday paint
ing. He loathed fishing: besides, he got seasck.
He had never hunted; he had been trained to
save, not take, life. Even in war.
The next morning, shortly after sunrise, he saw
his fnches again =. his sparrows, he called them
- the beautiful bird, the drab bird, feeding.
He took up his book then and reading, dis
covered his birds would feast on suet and peanut
butter He sent Larry to the village again.
You couldn't label the delcaces, For purple
finch only" You had to see the bigger birds
wolf them down, hoping that when the small
pair came there would be something left. He
took to standing quite still by the fence after he
put the feed out. The male was off in furry of
beauty, seeing him, but not the female. She
would sit placidly waiting her lords return. She
took no notice Of Jonathan except Tor did he
imagine it?), now and then, to turn her little
81 I1oL hAr krA'
eyes, almost as if she knew him.
How did it feel to have so handsome husband?
He'd asked Emily that once, laughing. She
was behind him, her arms around his neck,
tying the bow tie he had never quite mastered.