University of South Carolina Libraries
HAPPY^ The Story of a By ROBEf Written for The Yorkville Rnquirer. CHAPTER I. God made all the creatures and gave mem our iuve umu uui ?,, To give sign, we and they are His creatures, one family here. ?Robert Browning. Happy Heart was a mocker. But his mockings were free from hint of evil and void of any reminder of satire or hatred. Wild, yet passionately sweet they were, and fraught with such varied melody that one's very heart was captivated with the active beauty which ever permeated the mockings of this friend who, in freedom, served me with his heart songs, and not with labor. Could I expect or exact else of service when It seemed, as a, little child listener had said, as if the angels were singing In the trees? To hear Happy Heart was to become, without hesitation, his lover, for he was a southern mocking bird? the king of singers and singer for kings. Of him It could be said: "Those silver songs, so sweet, so clear, The listener held his breath to hear." Of Happy Heart's early life I knewnothing. The first time I saw him was one snowy morning in March. Looking oat my window, I saw him hopping disconsolately about in the frozen garden, and seeking. I thought, for food. I at one time tried to make friends with him; but he was exceedingly distrustful, and seemed to prefer remaining alone and hungry in the barren garden rather than respond to my friendly advances?even though I had arranged a tempting array of bread crumbs and grass seed on a board near the garden gate. So long as I stood near the food, even though I stood motionless as a statue, Happy Heart continued to remain afar from It?a bird likeness of hunger and distrust. I was aware Immediately that my presence would hinder him from accepting my friendship's offering and therewith appease his hunger. So quietly I left the garden and, entering the house, watched him closely from the window. After several minutes of seeming inattention to the food, Happy Heart slowly and cautiously came nearer and nearer, stretching his silveryfeathered neck this way and that in an attempt to convince himself that no hidden Imp of treachery lurked near the feast-laden board. After a few pauses and a few moments of instinctive deliberation and lessening hesitancy, hunger mastered curiosity and dispelled all fear. Straight to the board he hopped, and forthwith began to gobble up the food with steady celerity and never-decreasing avidity. Just at this Juncture a pair of impudent pewees, observing him from their perch on a half-decayed limb of a nearby tree, flew down, boldly seeking a share in the unsolicited feast. But Happy Heart spread his beautiful wings, all dusky gray and tipped with white, and so suddenly put himself Into such a threatening attitude that the pewees' hasty flight betokened that he of the happy heart was devourer of all that was before him?for that morning at least. His repast was soon over; and the little girl, who had been watching with me, exclaimed, as Happy Heart shook the flakes of snow from his back and fluttered to the garden gate: "Oh, Just look! He's too greedy to show his manners!" But when Happy Heart lifted his voice in song, the little girl clapped her hands in glee, and thought it no act of graciousness to overlook the breech of good manners. What a thank offering! What a volume of music poured with delightsome ease from his little throat! The school children who were then on their way to school, stopped to listen to the marvelous melody. "Hurrah for' snow and song!" shouted a boy, as he scudded away on snow shoes. "My, what a happy heart!" called one of a trio of sweet-faced girls who went hurrying arm In arm. With the window open, I listened, enraptured, to the songs of all the birds of the summer. Though the meadow lark was far away I heard its carols sung by the songful heart. The lively little wren trilled, the sparrows twittered and wild hawks called right at the garden gate. "He is a happy heart!" I murmured in ecstasy. "The school children have named him aright. Happy Heart henceforth shall be his name." Just as I was thinking what a power Happy Heart would be to "drive dull care away," a sudden gust of wind shook the garden gate, and he was gone. I watched him. newly named and newly loved, disappear through the densely falling snow and enter me sweet soutuue 01 me soiemn woods. He did not appear again that day. Would I ever see hbn again? This was my mental query as I awoke next morning and opened the shutters. I looked out. There was nothing but snow wherever I looked: and there was only one sign of life In the garden. Happy Heart had. remembering me. I hoped, returned! Or was it merely the remembrance of the feast of the previous day and anticipation of another that had brought him again to the garden? I could not tell: and was inclined to believe that Happy Heart was unconsciously bent on the hindrance of the longed-for promotion of our friendship. He would come no nearer me than on the previous morning, though he seemed less distrustful. He began to show intentions of flight when 1 attempted to get near him or lure him near me: so I sprinkled some food near the garden gate and stepped back a few feet. Hut it was not till I was again in the house that he partook of the food. He ate every bit of it undisturbed: and I was very much disappointed when he left without a ohirtv of ?onc Hut mv /1l?_ appointment was keener when he did not appear the next day. Every day 1 watched for him, listened for him, but all in vain. The snow began to melt and soon none of it could be seen save in the shadowy alcoves. But in the garden no Happy Heart greeted the dawn. Perhaps the cold winds of winter had opened his wings for flight to sunnier climes where food is not sought for at the gates of strangers. Weeks went by. Wintry winds no longer moaned over the frosty plains and among the leafless trees. Spring showers atid breezes, sweet with the breath of fragrance, kissed the mead _H_EART Mocking Bird *T O. LEE . owlands and touched the earth with green. Feathered home-builders were busy in every hedge and sheltered cove, flowers were unfolding in bloom; beauty had come to earth and joy to all earth's creatures. Would Happy Heart come back to me? I lived In hope and watched. And one morning, just at sunrise, there came one with a song and, as I learned a few hours later, a lover? bewitchlngly beautiful and shy. Only one greatly befriended by the "dear little feathered pets of earth" can know my delight when I heard Happy Heart's boisterously sweet greeting as he sat, half-buried 'mid the white blossoms of a pear tree that grew right beside my window. I scattered some food on the window ledge and on the ground beneath; but Happy Heart would not notice it. What cared he for the renewal of my friendship's offering when "all the world was running over with Joy!" What power had bread crumbs, dropped from the hand of a friend, to tempt him when the fields and orchards were redundant with cut-worms and Insects of many kinds? "Why," he seemed to sing, "should I seek a stranger's friendship when I. with my loyal lover, am dwelling in love's paradise!" It was true that Happy Heart's actions were no promotion to our friendship; but he was my friend, even .i- v. rno? hovo hnon unconscious UlUUfell tie- II1UJ MM?V of it, inasmuch as he feasted on the pests of the garden. Often have I seen him capture a cut-worm that was fastening itself around some tender lily or rose to leave it, when its work was done, a wreck of fragrance and blossom. As the days went by Happy Heart charmed me with his voice; and his mate Interested me intensely. She was In the scuppernong arbor when first I saw her; and she was working among the shadows that kept the sunlight from the nest she was building, unaided by Happy Heart. Though I she, like most female mocking birds, could not sing, she could build a home worthy the praise of any singer. And it was because of her diligence at home building that I named her Busy. The name was no honor to her; but the newly completed nest in the scuppernong vines was. But it seemed to me as if the little home had at once deprived Happy Heart and Busy of each other's companionship. For I seldom saw Busy at any place save the little home, while Happy Heart was "taking in all the world," as it were. He was here awhile and there awhile, swinging on the swaying vines, singing in the tree tops and feeding on the insects which he found in the gardeq. Thus occupied he seemed to have forgotten the little house in the vines and the timid housekeeper guarding her prospective family. And even when, a few days later, Busy's frequent trips to the garden in search of food betokened that other mouths?little mouths which opened hungrily at her call?were to be filled, Happy Heart went but seldom to the nest. Ever he sang?never weary and never wearisome. Ever T3usy worked?and often wearied alI most to exhaustion. But hers was a I weariness that brought joy, for she [ was a mother. But though Happy lived as if he were made for singing only, that was no proof that he could do nothing else besides. Perhaps he knew not as he sat singing on a bough burdened with blossoms that the care of his offspring would devolve upon him, and that if he sang he would have to sing as he worked. He learned it soon, however, for a strange mishap befell industrious little Busy. One day she was' seeking food for her ever-hungry children, when she chanced upon a humming-bird's nest on top of a gnarly old limb of a magnolia. The owner of this unique little home spied Busy immediately and, with the old mother-love strong in her wee heart, determined, without hesitancy, to protect her possessions knowing not that Busy was no destructive intruder. Busy had paused for a moment and tonkins ut thp yvpp philrlrpn of her unknown neighbor when a varicolored ball of life darted straight at her, and with such force as to almost hurl her off the limb. The next instant it returned, humming shrilly, and Busy felt a keen pain in her left eye. Frightened, she flew towards her own home; but ere she was half way there and while in mid-air, the almost invisible, but never invincible, body sped downward, swift as a sunbeam. towards her. Ere Busy could swerve aside and avoid the onslaught, the trenchant, needle-like bill of the infuriated humming bird was plunged Into her other eye. Then the swift little body returned the way it came? homeward. But Busy could not find her home. O. what was the matter? In her flight she flew against a tree and fell, stunned and bruised to the ground. She heard her little one calling for the unfound food; but she could not go to them. The bright sunlight had fled from her as quickly as the awful darkness had come. She dared not try to fly, for flight perished from her wings when confidence in them had Deen lost. All was dark, palnrully dark, everywhere she tried to go. Busy was blind! Few people, and not all birds, know that though the ruby-throated humming bird sucks the honey from flowers with the touch of its slender bill, that it also takes the sight from the eyes of many birds, in an attempt to wreak vengeance for an injury, real or imaginary, and leaves them to grope out the remainder of their life in the misery and helplessness of blindness. This was the pitiful state of Busy as she wandered about?lost in her own little world of darkness, when the beautiful sunlight was all about. She felt its warm touch upon her back: she heard the call of the hungry in the home which she could not find; but still she strayed farther from the place she loved. The little home was lost, for it was night to her. even though the sun was yet high in the heavens. Wandering. Busy grew hungry: but no food could she find. Darkness impenetrable and painful clung to her, and pain racked her body so terribly that each wandering irretraceable foot step was a throb of agony. Faintly she could hear Happy Heart singing In the far garden of bloom; ever and anon she could hear the flutter and whir of the wings of the free; but the old. old darkness held In Its imprisoning grasp. She needed not to feel the cool night air nor to hear the hoot of the owl to know that night had come to earth; and to know also, that when the day dawned again that she would still be a prisoner of the darkness. How hungry she was, and thirsty! If she could only And the brook which was gurgling so musically she would quench her thirst and sleep, not till the dawn, but?till death. Even the night should not deny her of this pleasure. Away she went, led only by the music of the brook. The briars which * * 1" KHr*/l uonroH Busy ran ugamsi n^i - ? tore the feathers from her body, caught in her feet and tripped her up again and again. But on she went; soon she would find water and drink and drink. But her eagerness was too Intense for caution. Before Busy hardly knew it, the brook was reached; she went too far?and into the stream! The swirling waters swept her from her feet, raced and tumbled her along. Soon the speckled trout gathered cautiously and curiously around her body in the dark depths of the old trout pool. Never again would Busy be busy. But Happy Heart would. CHAPTER II. It was not long till Happy Heart > nn/l rsonnniloil lnvnllv to the little birds' cries of hunger and loneliness. He flew to the nest and, finding Busy away, sought to quiet his noisy children. But this was no easy task. Peace was a stranger to the little home until Happy Heart had satisfled the cravings of hunger, which had beset the little ones, by going out and finding food for them. After this new responsibility had been thrust upon the care-free Happy Heart, he sang but little until the birdies were ready and eager to test [ their wings in flying. But after the | nest was abandoned and Happy Heart had, with fatherllne8s and accompanying love, guided the little ones on their first perilous flight, he again began to fling his \ery heart away in melody. Never to my knowing did he return to the old nest which Busy had builded. Always he remained in the j __j 1 a garden, unu uaiiuiu, anu he made trips to the house. But with all my coaxing, with crumbs, worms, and flies, offered with gentle words of enticement, I could not convince him that no harm would come to him if he would have sufficient confidence in me to eat out of my hand. It was with music that I promoted our friendship and inspired him with confidence in his often-shunned friend. I found that if "music hath power to soothe the savage breast," that it also has power to make friends closer friends. One evening, when the breath of the night was sweet upon the roses, I was on the front veranda, listening to Happy Heart's singing as' he sat 'mid the thick foliage blossoms of the honeysuckle vine that clung to one end of the porch. Taking my guitar, I stole softly to that end of the porch. For once I was only in a few feet of him. As I sat down in the hammock, I could see him through a slight opening in the vines; his white-tipped tall was moving slightly as he sang and there was a happy light In his beautiful eyes. Gently?Oh, so gently!?I touched the vibrant strings of the guitar. Instantly Happy Heart stopped singing; but, much to my pleasure, did not fly. Softly I continued to pick the strings of the guitar, and Happy Heart sal listening. Then, turning quickly, he peered through the foliage of the vines. He seemed surprised, but not a bit afraid. I sat still, scarcely dar ing to breathe, and Happy Heart hopped nearer. Yet he seemed dissatisfied with his cautious investigation, and came so near that I could easily have reached out my hand and touched him. But I dared not, for he moved slightly, then paused again, and listened. From whence came that marvelous sound? Could danger lurk near such melody? Surely an enemy could not mask his face behind such beauty! Greatly to my astonishment, Happy Heart, after some hesitancy, threw aside distrust, and he showed no sign of fear as he fluttered from the vines to my shoulder. Fearing that I might frighten him, I barely touched the strings of the guitar; they responded faintly to my touch, and Happy Heart was unafraid. But, O, flight of pleasure, a string snapped discordantly! Swift as a voice Happy Heart was gone, out into the silken moonlight, and away from a friend disappointed and regretful. I missed him the next day. For a whole week he stayed away, and the little girl came' to me and asked it Happy Heart was not coming back. "I hope so, little girl," I answered, with a doubtful little smile. "If I ask God to send our Happy Heart back to sing for us and make us glad. He will do it?won't He?" she asked, with' a look of sweet seriousness in her eyes. "Maybe He will." I assured her. But it seemed as if my hopes would be shattered; and the little girl came to me with tears in her eyes: 'I don't believe Uod is going to answer my prayers," she said with a sigh. And it did seem so, for we watched the garden and orchard, and when we went rambling through the woods we listened, hoping to hear the dear voice we loved. But nothing of Happy Heart did we see; nor did we hear him singing. Where had he gone? it was not till the end of summer that we knew. I was passing the house of a near neighbor one morning when 1 noticed a bird cage hanging from the limb of a maple tree near the gate. The cage held a prisoner, dejected and songless. As I looked it seemed to me that the prisoner?a mocking-bird?was familiar, despite the ruffled feathers and drooping head. 1 stopped my horse, to be convinced. "Happy Heart, Happy Heart!" I called softly, as 1 often did while Haptiv Hwirl wine outside mv window. Instantly the imprisoned bird began to beat against the bars of the gilded cage with its cramped wings, uttering peculiar cries all the while. My recognition of Happy Heart and my calling to him had caused him to recognize me. No wonder he had never returned! How could he come back to the friends who loved him, when his wings, like his body, were imprisoned behind the cruel bars of a cage'' Leaving my horse. 1 climbed to the top of the gate post and stuck the tips of my fingers between the bars of the cage. Happy Heart rubbed hla head against them, and I talked soothingly all the while. I could not bring myself to believe that Happy Heart belonged to any one else, even though he had been captured and Imprisoned by them. Thinking thus, I determined to release him. I Jumped from the gate, walked up the broad, flower-begirt walk, and rapped loudly on the doorsteps with my riding whip. Soon a young girl, fair and winsome, came to the door. Without undue hesitation and unnecessary words I made known my wish. Of course I could release him! "I was just thinking, only this morning, of doing so myself," the girl ??T oVtsvitlrl novor hovp ImnrlannoH r?txiu. x uin/uiv. nv?v? , w him, and would not have done so if the bird's own peculiar actions had not led me to believe him perfectly used to a cage and human companionship. Near the first of the summer I was sitting, early one morning out on the lawn, practicing my violin lesson. I had hardly started when I saw, to my surprise, a mocking bird ?your mocking bird, as it proves to be?sitting near me on a low-hanging limb of the tree under which I sat. Instead of flying, as I expected him to do, he hopped nearer me and sat very still all the time I was practicing. I thought if a bird was so unafraid of a human as he seemed to be of me, that he had previously been used to a cage. So when he hopped to my shoulder I caught him and put him In a cage, lest the cat should catch him. nnt a annar hnvo T henrd from him since I put him In there, and I am so glad you have come to claim and, best of all, to release him." What the girl told me prompted me to relate the Incident of the guitar, besides strengthening my belief that of all his enjoyments Happy Heart liked music the best. I regretted that his love for music had caused him to suffer all the long, hot summer In the misery of confinement in a life-sapping cage. But as. he sat on my shoulder and strung his rippling rhymes all the way home, I knew he had suffered no severe Injury. The little girl was all smiles when I rode up to the gate with Happy Heart sitting on my shoulder and singing, and her eyes were bright with Inexpressible Joy as she took him from my shoulder when I dismounted, and went flying into the house to tell her mother. Back in the garden of bloom and back in the orchard where the trees were bending under their burdens of ripening fruit, Happy Heart sang with a passionate vigor. I have known h,ro to sing for hours without stopping once. Even the nights were made delightful to each ever-ready listener, for Happy Heart sang by starlight as much as by sunlight. And it seems to me that his sweetest songs were sung in the darkest hours, teaching me to be happy and hopeful when the things of life are darkest. It was fortunate for Happy Heart that he had been released from the confinement of a cage, but, a few nights later I thought it more fortunate for the liberator than the liberated. Wearied by a day's tramp through the fields and "over the hills 1 afar," I was early to bed and?early to sleep. I was awakened near midnight by the distant rumble of thunder, which rattled the shutters slightly. I laid awake listening, for some time, to the varied storm sounds. Then the noise of the thunder and the wild shrieks of the wind grew drowsily monotonous; and I again lost con' sclousness In sleep. I do not know how long I had slept when I was awakened by a sound sweetly familiar. It was Happy 1 Heart's song, sweetly audible 'mid the lessening noise of the fast abating 1 storm. Suddenly, as the rain ceased, his song grew louder, and I could tell he was not far off. But where was he? A flash of lightning revealed the secret. Perched on a heavy glass vase, which was full of flowers, was Happy I Heart, singing as though his life deI pended upon it. Prefering sleep, just t then, to song, I called softly to him, hoping he would quit making merry the gloomy night, for I could not i sleep while he sang. But this he did i not seem inclined to do, for in an instant after I had caled him he was on my pillow and beating my face with his wings. Then he would flutter r frantically from the bed to the wini dow and back again. Once I saw him i clinging desperately to the mullion of ; the window frame, and drumming imi patiently on the glass with his bill. He did this repeatedly, much to my mystification. I endeavored to quiet him, but he would not quiet. Sleepily I came to the conclusion , that he had. by mischance, been shut i up In my room during the day and was now wanting out. But I thought It bent that he should stay In the room . till morning. So I called to him again in a gentler tone, and he flutter' ed back to the bed and stood on my pillow. 1 put my hands on him and stroked his back as he liked for me to do; but even this did not quiet him. From the bed to the window and back again he fluttered, creaming wildly all the while. It was only after I had gotten up and pulled the dainty lace curtains aside that he grew quieter. I had scarcely returned to bed when I heard, despite Happy Heart's singing, a noise that caused me to forget for an instant the presence of my little friend. The sound I heard was a sharp, sudden "creak, right close to the window. as if the shutter had been i wrenched loose and the clasp broken. I laid still and listened, vaguely conscious that Happy Heart was singing. The storm was over by this time; light from the moon struggled through the Hying cloudlets and shone beautifully in through the cracks In the shutters. Watching closely, I saw one of the shutters swing siowiy, very siowiy open, and as noiselessly as the rusty, stubborn-moving hinges would permit. The silvery moonbeams poured In through the curtained window and carpeted the floor with silken light. I was glad of this smile from the "maiden moon," for I could more satisfactorily see what was going on outside. I was aroused to alertness when I saw the other shutter swing open, still more slowly than the other, and with less noise. Just at this moment I saw a great hairy hand clutching the shutter and pushing it back. It was bright outside, and I saw a man, standing, barely visible?and, oh, so still?beneath the window ledge. Suddenly a breath of breeze, growing gradually stronger, blew against my face; the cries of the katydids in the rain-wet grass grew more distinct, and though no noise was made, I knew the window was being slowly and deftly raised. I began to wish for something with which to defend myself, and I tried to think of a way to get it without alarming the man outside, for I wished to know, if possible, who he was. Happily for me, I saw my little pocket rifle on the table near the window. Eagerly and quickly I reached out and got it. Then I waited, unafraid. Silently the window was raised, and the gentle breze was stirring the flowers which the little girl had placed In a vase on the table. Unconsciously I clutched the handle of the trusty little pocket rifle, for a man was crawling stealthily In through the open window. His face was hidden by a hideous mask, and a long knife hung at his belt. I cocked my rifle; the click was loud and ominous. The man paused, only half way in. Instinctively I knew that the man was aware that I was awake and aware of his presence. "Come to hear my mocking bird sing, did you?" I asked calmly. "Have a seat and listen awhile. My bird is a marvelous singer." But evidently the man did not come to hear Happy Heart sing, and if he cared to listen awhile he did not take time to tell me. For, at the sound of nay voice, there was a heavy thud on the ground, followed quickly by a scurrying of hasty footsteps. I jumped from the bed, put my head out of the window, and saw the bent, familiar figure of old Joe Tanty, the hermit?whom I had reported the day before for the repeated slaughter of quail before the hunting season opened?slinking away In the dark shadow of the lawn hedge. The next morning I found on the ground beneath the window a razorsharp butcher's knife, dropped there unintentionally, I thought, by the old hermit. I knew at once that robbery was not his intention. I shuddered to think of what would have been my -" ~u* 1 * T nr\t Kaon Q Vl'fl IfPnPfl hV pilBHl li l imu ?iv?i Happy Heart! CHAPTER III. After Happy Heart had saved me from the old hermit's clutches, he was very Intimate with me. The little girl herself could not have been more friendly. Often he came to my "den" and sang while 1 read or wrote. In time, he acted as if the room belonged as much to himself as to me. One day I found several valuable documents and choice clippings, which 1 had stored away In one of the pigeon holes In my desk, scattered around in the back yard. I wondered who had been meddling with the things I took pains to keep; and I at once went to my room to Investigate. I found the pigeon holes that I had put the document in full of a heterogeneous mass of trifles. In one of the pigeon holes I found eight snails, besides several blackberries. In the other was stored a number of wasp nests and grass-hoppers. Then I knew why the clippings I valued so much were out in the yard. And I knew, also, why Happy Heart had been so busy underneath the eaves of the great red * * flm/Hno- onrl IpQ r. Darns, ne imu uecu iiiiuimb ing away those little homes, which had cost their owners so much toll, to hoanj, miser-like, so that he could feast on the undeveloped young of the wasps and dirt-daubers, that these nests?these little homes?contained. I felt that Happy Heart had amply repaid me for the use of the pigeon holes he was now occuping, so I did not dispute the ownership or disturb the owner In any way. Happy Heart would have lived happily In his new possessions, had it not been for a tresspasser. This dangerous trespasser was none other than the house cat, that had often attempt- | ed to catch Happy Heart. She seemed not to tire of her uselss attempts; and one day while Happy Heart was on top of the desk, and while picking out the young wasps from a nest, she sprang at him. Terribly frightened, Happy Heart flew out of the window. But he was minus a tail; the cat had that! After this narrow escape from death, Happy Heart went to the orchard and took up his abode In an old hollow apple tree. This old tree was fairly wrapped in caterpillar webs, which were full of caterpillars that were stripping each green leaf from the old tree. On these caterpillars Happy Heart feasted; and in a month's time there were but very few to be found. This great old tree was a home to Happy Heart. The caterpillars furnished him daily bread, and a hollow i trunk of the old tree gave him "shelter sweet from foes and storms." But the home of others was in the old tree, also. Fastened between two limbs was a huge hornet nest. This caused me to fear that my Happy Heart's life was endangered, for these hornets?thousands of them there ? ..? u...... houn?htwl dinner to death Ill 1131 11a ? i. wwi. . ? ? w a pair of mated crows, that had budded their nest iti the fork of the tree. I feared that if Happy Heart continued to have his home so near the home of the hornets that they would not be good neighbors. So. in order to prevent my singer from going the way of the poor crows, I suffocated the hornets with burnt sulphur one morning when it was too cold for them to fly. There was fully a peck of hornets in the nest. I let them Stay on the ground just as they had fallen from the nest, and for a week Happy Heart did not go far to get dinner. He seemed to relish his new diet and, when it was all gone, he managed, after considerable prying, to get a few more from the nest. I took the old nest and hung it up right near my room window. One afternoon, a few days later, I discovered that Happy Heart had dug a hole almost through .it. in searching for more hornets. To say he liked hornets?to eat?would be a mild expression. But. indirectly, the nest was a source of great sorrow and pain to Happy Heart. For every time he saw a hornet nest he thought it the place for a feast. Now, down in the meadow was a great, gray lump, fastened to a gnarly 11mh of a maple tree. This lump re sembled the one in the old apple tree, only it was much larger. Though In plain view of every passer-by. It had always been unmolested?even more than Happy Heart's home In the apple tree. Peneath it. the harebells grew untrampled by the feet of the cows, as they roamed the pasture, and blossomed unplucked by the hands of the boys and girls. All avoided going near the nest, which hung so low to the ground, lest they arouse and bring from its dark recesses the easily angered inmates, whose sinister hum told, plainer than words, that they were quick to assail anything that came near their home. Happy Heart was the molester of this home. Unaware that Its owners were enemies to all and friends to none, he lit on the nest, and began to pry for food. Tearing at the nest with all his might, he heeded not m> attempts to lure or scare him away. With the first rap on the nest, a deep, roaring buzz was heard Inside Again I called to Happy Heart; and again he heeded not! Disobedience brings Its own reward. Finding the nest Imperforable, Happy Heart, nothing daunted, found the entrance to the nest and squeezed himself into It. Then It seemed as If a spasm of terror and pain had seized him. He flop ped out of the nest, scores or tne nornets clinging to his head and breast, and stinging furiously. Across the meadow and straight for the shelter of the old apple tree he flew, followed and surrounded by hordes of the infuriated hornets. They buzzed stormllj about him, burying themselves among his feathers and setting his body or Are with the pain of their continuous stinging. When Happy Heart reached th? shelter of the old apple tree he could hardly see his way. He sought safetj in the shadowy depths of the old tree's trunk. But still the hornets followed him, making his refuge insecure and unbearable. Wild with pain and fright, anc reaming wildly, he scrambled ou and flew to the woods. Surely his tor mentors would not follow him there Rnf a hornet's anarer Is inappeasable Fainter grew dear Happy Heart'i wild screams as he was driven farthci and farther from the little home. Sev eral minutes later as I stood near th< apple tree in the orchard, I heard i discordant hum. The colony of hor nets were returning singly, In pair and by the hundreds to their nest. And now, down in the meadow thi nest of the terrible ones hangs low unmolested always by bird and beas and human passerby. The caterpillars spin their dens webs amonfc the limbs of the old ap pie tree and rob It of Its blossom; promise of fruitage, for? Happy Heart?the singer?has no returned. (The End.) THE HOUSE OF LORDS. Checks It has Received at ~the Hand of the Commons. There Is an Idea in the minds o very many persons that the Britlsl house of lords is supreme and can d pretty well what it pleases. Thii however, is a mistake. On severe notable occasions their noble lord ships have been paralyzed and hav got very much the worst of It In stor my arguments with the gentlemen o the house of commons. The first occasion In which thi happened was when the peers ven tured to differ with fong parHament which was at the time engaged in i life and death struggle with Charle I. The commons on this occasioi wasted no valuable time in talking but promptly abolished the lords al together and turned them, archbish ops, dukes, belted earls and all th rest of the gorgeous coroneted crowd into the streets. The gilded chambe was vacant. For half a dozen years or so thi country got on without any house o lords. All the checks the house of lord: have received have not been of such i drastic nature as this, of course. Various ministers, finding that lh< peers were unwilling to pass their pro posed bills, have resorted to the threa to create enough new peers to swam) the house of lords. These new peer would, of course, have been pledge* beforehand to vote for the mlnlstr; creating them. In 1111 the prime minister of thi day, the daring and unscrupulous via count Bolingbroke, was anxious to ter minate the desolating and ruinous wa with France, which had been ragini on and off for twent> vears. To effect this purpose he had drawn up the treaty of Utrechi. It was necet sary at that time that lords and com mons should agrefc to a treaty befor it would become valid. The common assented to the treaty, but the lord declared that they would have non of It and that the war must go or whereupon Bollngbroke coolly bu firmly Informed them that, rather thai see himself defied by them, he woul create a whole army of new peers t vote for the treaty. The story goes that he had a regl ment of the Life guards paraded unde the windows of the house of lords am threatened to make every trooper lnt a noble lord If driven to It. He di< make twelve new peers, and then thi lords gave In. The Liberal government of 1832, wltl Earl Grey as prime minister, used th< same threat. They wished to pass thi first reform bill. The lords hated thli bill bitterly. Until then they had been practically an oligarchy, with all the real powe in their hands. The franchise had beei on limitoH that nnlv rich men. and gen erally only the nominee of somegrea nobleman could get Into parliament. The reform bill altered that. It gavi the smaller men a chance. The lordi expressed their deliberate intention o wrecking the bill. Earl Grey retorted by extorting fron King William IV?who didn't like re form bills, but dared not oppose th< wish of the nation for fear of a revo Iutlon?permission to call up to th< house of lords as many new peers ai should be necessary to carry his bill. The mere threat was enough for th< lords. They had no wish to see theli order made cheap and ridiculous, a.1 would have been the case had peers become as plentiful as blackberries. It used to be the custom In the British army for all officers' commissions to be purchased. That Is, an offices Instead of getting Into the army bj means of a competitive examlnatlor and rising by iqerlt, came stralgh from school, without knowing anythlnt of the new duties he was about to assume, and had a commission bought for him. After that, Instead of belnf promoted as a reward for his services he used to buy each promotion. If he had no money his chances ol being promoted were about a thousam to one. The result was that officers who had grown gray in the service anc fought in many battles remained subordinates all their lives, while the soni of wealthy families who had not seer a quarter of their service Jumped ovei their heads by having their way pur chased up for them to be colonels an< generals. Mr. Gladstone decided to do awa] with this purchase system. The lord) did not wish it to be abolished. Con sequently, when Mr. Gladstone Intro duced a bill to abolish purchase in th< army the house of lords was not dls posed to give it a kind reception. They threw out the bill and imaginet that they had won a glorious victory But Mr. Gladstone found that Queet Victoria had the power to abolish pur chase in the army by her own act i she pleased. He induced the queen t( do this by means of a royal warrant. And the house of lords could no mor< interfere with a royal warrant thai they could knock the dome off St Paul's by throwing their coronets at it ?Pearson's London Weekly. ittisccUatuous grading OLD TIME CIRCUS CLOWN. Dan Rice's Recipe For Making People ^ Laugh. h ! "The funny papers and the three ring 1 circus have about busted up the clown business," said Henry W. Wilson the t; other day. Wilson was for many years || a circus clown and one of the best and n funniest In the business, says the Kan- a , sas City Star. s "The blacked up end man still lives, h but the real circus Jester has passed v I Into history like Georgre Washington, u Napoleon and other famous charac- s ' ters." J : "In the days of Dan Rice and Yan- v i kee Robinson the crowds went to see b i the clown and they felt when there was a good one that they got their v i money's worth whether there was t I much else to the show or not. There I ' was an individuality about the old t time jester, just as there is today about ? I the actor. Some dlowns were greater ' 1 than others. Today the ten or twelve 1 monkeys that jump around in the t 1 three ring circus are all alike to the J t spectators. For all they know the per- s - formers are graduates from the tramp 1 ! class, and they probably are. The big r . circus has developed the real Jester t s out of a job. I am not complaining, ( r because I quit the clown business be- 1 - fore the days when they began to use j ? monkeys for clowns. I got converted 1 i and went to lecturing. It doesn't pay 1 - quite as well, but I retained my indl- ( ? vlduallty, and that Is something. I "Every now and then I run across ] e one of our old Jokes in a newspaper or l ma era 7lnp a nH It brines back fond I t memories*. Dan Rice was famous for i creating unique situations which would I e set the crowd to roaring with laughter. - In the rural districts it was a common y thing, to see a young couple perched high up on the seat?In the sky line I t row?the boy with his arm around the girl and both eating candy or popcorn in supreme content. Dan's keen eyes | never missed such splendid subjects i and he would turn to the ring master. : Then would follow a dialogue about I like this, Dan taking the lead: I " 'Say, Mr. Smith, do you know that I I'd rather be one of those people up f there than to be president of the Unit- | h ed States?' 0 "'What!' exclaimed the ringmaster '? In great astonishment 'I can't imagine i any man In this crowd who is luckier " than the president of the United i e States.' 1 "'Well, there is; come here and I'll < 1 show him to you.' I "Dan takes the ringmaster by the I 9 arm and rushes him to the side of the " ring and then points to his victims up t ' > on the high seats. i a "'There he is!' he shouts. 'I'd t 8 rather be that young man up there n with his arm aroung his girl than to I > be the president.' * J "If you don't think that brbught a I * laugh down you never attended a cir- I e cus. But Dan made it worse yet. He : ' would start to go up the steps with his ' r hand pointed to the miserable couple I and say as if trying to soothe them: J " "rnais an npi, yuuug una, ju?? f go on like you was and we won't say any more about It I had no idea these 3 people would be so unmannerly as to 1 laugh.' "This is one of my Jokes which enB tered upon this life about the year 1866, " and is still doing time In some of the 1 almanacs. I rush up to the ringmas? ter crying as if my heart was being 3 shivered to pieces. The ringmaster * sympathetically wants to know: y " 'What on earth are you howling gbout? You act like you had lost evB ery friend on earth.' "Fkirly roaring out my sobs, I would ' reply: r 'You'd cry, too, if you had had the f miserable luck that came to me today.' " 'Well, well, there is r.o use going on i* that way; tell ma what yt>tirlTeuW4.l? * and maybe I can help yon.' "'Nobody can help me! It's too ter? riblef ? "Tell It, man! Tell it!' commands 3 .the ringmaster. e ? 'They had a wreck on the Santa Fe . i. railroad yesterday. Two trains thai 1 were trying to pass on the same track I butted into each other and every man, < d woman and child on both trains was 0 killed In a minute,' ^ "More howls. " 'Well,' says the ringmaster, 'I don't r see what you're blubbering about. You 1 didn't have any people on those trains D did you?' 3 " 'No; that's what's the matter with e me. My mother-in-law had a ticket to go on one of them, but was late to l the depot and missed It.' . e "You know how the ringmaster pops b his whip at the clowns. It sounds like 9 he's whullng the life out of them, but he don't need to hurt them unless he i wants to. But once we had a rlngrr master who not only pretended to l strike me with his whip, but he did It - so realistic that he raised great black t and blue marks on my back. It happened that this ringmaster had b an uncle In one of the northern cities, b who was not rated as strictly honest, f It was said that he had contracted some heavy obligations with friends, i and by some clever transfers of his property had evaded payment. Nearly b everybody In that town knew about his dishonest transaction and was b down on him. When we reached that b place I saw a chance to even up with my tormenter for the slashing he had 5 given me. Mr. Ringmaster didn't r know what was coming and It seemed 3 like he was trying to pay me up that . 3 night for all the feeling the people had expressed against his saintly uncle. So you'll understand what follows. I'll 5 explain that the ringmaster didn't get r up the jokes in those days; he was r simply to follow the clown's lead. His 1 part was very easy, and could be pre1 pared without any previous study. By r and by my time came and I fired an old conundrum at him which every ' schoolboy in the land has heard over s and over again: * "'Say Mr. Smith, did you ever see j me jump?' j " 'No, I never saw you jump. Can s you Jump high?' 1 " 'That don't express it. Why, I can j jump as high as that 200 foot centre i pole there!' r "'Impossible! I'll bet you $100 j against a nickel that you can't do It,' he says. r "The alleged money Is put up Into 3 the hands of a general utility man and j \ then I Jump a foot or two In the air. t i The ringmaster In great glee demands ' his money, but I tell the stakeholder 1 . to hold onto It until we see how high | the pole Is going to Jump. That's the ( l end of the gag, but on this occasion, i in order to get my revenge, I Introduc- 1 j ed this one: I "'Mr. Smith, did you ever hearabout i i me Jumping with your uncle?' 1 " 'Why, no. Did you ever jump with ' I my uncle?' t " 'Yes, I did that.' 1 " 'How far did you Jump?' " 'Oh, I jumped about eight and onealf feet on the level.' "He hesitated before the next quesion. I think some Intuition told him .hat was coming, but he dared not top with the big audience waiting to ear him ask It: "'And how far did my uncle Jump?' " 'Well, sir; he made one of the mighlest Jumps you ever saw In all your fe, and landed $15,000 In debt, but I ever heard whether he jumped out gain or not.' "The audience enjoyed the Joke ugely because many in it had been ictlmized by the ringmaster's rascally ncle. They led the cheering and eemed to think it was the prize ' ump of the show. The ringmaster /anted me discharged, and when the loss wouldn't do It he left. "Dan Rice's first instructions to me ^ vere about like this: 'You're the man o make them laugh; that's your Job. f you're sick, distressed in mind or >ody, owe any bills, or are dodging mybody who is going to lick you. forret it until after the show is over, ifou must go Into the ring with only >ne thought In view. You must keep rour mind and body healthy and clean j tnd then you win feel like you want to augh yourself, and It will be easy to nake your audience laugh. The mater of making people laugh is largely >ne of magnetism, they should feel In their bones that when they look at four face they are going to smile whether you say anything or not I lave known clowns who could keep an ludlence In an uproar Just by the way they would move their mouths. People would rather laugh than do anything else on earth, and If you can nake them laugh until their sides ache they will be your friends for life.' " FIGHTING SNOW. Methods of Northern Railways In Removing TNs Obstruction. The first big tie-up came with a leavy fall of snow December 8-10, says the World today. The Great Northern and 800 had the most trouble. The lines were cleared up, and were In fairly good running order. Then came the fall in temperature and a fall of mow that stunned the Soo. Una completely and tied up things on the Great Northern and Northern Pacific so that deepless nights were spent by magnates and officials. This was on December 12. The Soo line, Kenmare branch, cutting the Red River valley, and part of the line from the .astern part of the state, were snowed n. This line was opened February 4. [n two solid months not a train passed >ver It. Rotarles worked against the mows from the Kenmare and Thief -Iver ends, but It was like fighting Iron tvith glass. Then President Hill grew busy. He leard that his Rocky k untaln divisions were blocked as badly as his Dacota lines. Papers were telling the people that passenger trains from the :oast were held for hours and sometimes days before drifts. Traffic was paralyzed. So Mr. Hill hied himself to (few York. Going from one rotary jcnstructor to the other he found no ihance to get new ones built In time to fight drift this winter. Hundreds of passengers stalled by inow were being fed at hotels along he road at company expense. It was 4 costing thousands. Rotarles must be had at any coat, finally Mr. Hill located some rotarles in route to the Erie to New York. They were to go to a German railroad, rhen wires got hot with bidding. Finally Mr. Hill secured the German iompany's consent to sell the machines in condition tnat others were built for :he company later. And the plows were rushed to Dakota and the Dacota plows to the Rock!as. Then all tvailable laborers were rushed to Dacota and the battle began on both he Great Northern and Northern Pacific, the 800 giving up In desperation iifteT-- exhausting every available Deans. ^ ROYALTY AND OLD AGE. Eleven Living Members of Ruling Houses Art Past Eighty. When the Princess Clementine of Saxe-Ooburg.' mother of Prince Fer linand of Bulgaria, died a couple of freeks ago she wan generally spoken >f as having been the oldest living nember of any royal family in Europe. This was an error. She was >nly the second oldest, although she ivould have completed her ninetieth reaV had she lived to June 3. The oldest is Princess Charlotte\maiie of Schwartsburg-Sonderh&usjn, who was born on September 7, 1816, at Arnstadt, and is therefore 91 rears old. She was married at Glock?nthal In 1856 to Jean Henri, Baron le Jud. and she has been a widow ilnce 1864. She lives in Berne, Switzerland. Royalty seems to be conducive to ong life. Including the Princess rharlotte-Am&lie, there are eleven nembers of royal families who have eached 80 years and upward. The lecond oldest at present is the Prince Regent Luitpold of Bavaria, who was 16 years old on March 12. Next comes the Dowager Grand Duchess of Mecklenburg-streuiz, wno ,vlll be 85 on July 9. The Duchess of \delgunde of Modena, her sister of Luitpold, is the fourth, having been >orn on March 9, 1823. There is no survivor in the "Almalach de Gotha" from 1824; but Prince Tohann zu Holstein-Glucksburg represents 1825; his birthday is Decem)er 17. He is the last surviving prother of King Christian IX, of Dennark. George, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen, vill be 81 on April 26, and next in >rder comes Eugenie, once empress pf the French, who first saw light on day 5, 1826, and who now divides her ime between her house in Hampshire, England, and her villa at Cap Martin n the south of France. The Grand Duke Friedrlch of Bad>n is a sturdy man nearly 81 years >ld. He was born on September 9, 1826. Ernest, Duke of Sachsen-Alenburg, is seven days younger, and he Princess Mathilde of Schwartzpurg, mother of the reigning Prince >f Schwartzburg-Ludolstadt, was born >n November 18, 1826. Finally, tne Vrchduke Ralner of Austria was born >n Januray 11, 1827. There are at least fifty members of oyal houses whose ages range from leventy to eighty years. W In Mexico all vehicles, be they landcart, automobile, or anything beween, must carry a light at night. This rule of law is rigidly enforced. Even the drivers of the poor little >urro or mule carts, on their two vheels, must carry a light. So, rath>r than buy lanterns, which cost noney, they take a dip candle, and vrapplng It In a bit of newspaper to ihleld It from the wind, carry It In heir left hand as they drive along tome from work after evening has alien. The effect Is striking, as the Ight, falling strongly on the Indian Irlver, throws the face of the man Ino strong relief against the darkness.?' Modern Mexico. ?