Vol. 19, No. 6
Talk: Jack Miners Bird Sanctuary
Ix Canada, not far from Detroit, Michigan, Jack Miner has
established a haven for birds, especially ducks and geese, so
that every fall and spring they stop over with him while they
make their journeys north and south. Some of them stay with
him for life,
He has made a lake of shallow water, and each year feeds
theso wild birds, so that they know him for a friend. They
breed their young with him, and become so tame that they
let him walk among them and pick them up. He tags their legs
with Seripture verses, and every year hundreds of these fags
are sent back to him by hunters. Letters come to him con-
stantly, some from Australia and New Zealand, one even from
northern Russia, where a friend has started another hird
sanctuary. The tags are made of aluminum and are very light
and durable. Besides the brief verse, he cuts “BF” or “87
“fall” or “spring’—and his name and address.
One man wrote of a flock of twenty-five geesc lighting just
out of gunshot. A big gander seemed to be the leader, and
he evidently realized there was danger in the decoy. He tried
by every possible means to drive or coax the flock away.
Failing in this, he would not leave them. Because of his
unusual size, he was shot and killed, the others escaping by
flight. He was sending the tag from this gander’s leg. Sueh
self-sacrifice led the hunter to renounce hunting for sport.
Mr, Miner had two geese so devoted to each other that he
called them David and Jonathan, One fall David was wounded,
and could not go south. Jonathan refused to go without him,
and stayed all winter with his wounded friend.
Tt costs Mr. Miner about $10,000 a year to feed these wild
birds. He is not a rich man, but he somehow has managed to
get the money together to supply the needs of his bird friends,
and through them to send messages from God’s word to many
remote places.—Condensed from Christian Herald,
Only a Bird
ONLY 2 bird! and a vagrant boy
Fits a pebble with a joyous skill
Inte the folds of a supple sling,
“Watch me hit him; I can, and 1 will.”
Whir! and a silence chill and sad
Fallg like a pall on the vagrant air,
From a birchen trse whence a shower of song
Has fallen in ripples on the air,
Only a bird! and the tiny throat
With quaver and trill and whistle of flute,
Bruised and bleeding and silent lies
There at his feet, Its chords are mute.
And the boy with a loud and boisterous laugh,
Proud of his prowess and brutal skill,
Throws it aside with a careless toss—
“Only a bird! it was made to kill.”
Only a bird! and far away,
Little ones ery and clamor for food—
Clamor and ery, and the chill of night
Settles over the orphan brood.
Weaker and fainter the meaning call
For a brooding breast that ghall never come.
Morning breaks o’er a lonely nest,
Songless and lifeless, mute and dumb.
—Mary Morrison,
Getting Acquainted
I KNOW 2 jelly winter game—we’l] watch the birds, my dear;
We'll put some crumbs and suet out, and wateh them gather
here;
We'll look them up and learn their names, and maybe, in the
en
We'll come to know them very well, and count each one a friend.
—Helen Cowles le Oro.
My Renter
A cHEERPUL little renter has leased a house from me,
Ag satisfied a renter as you will ever see.
The rent? He pays in music, 8 dozen songs a day,
And often overpays me in quite a splendid way.
You wish you had a renter like mine? Then try te find
Another cheerful bluebird of just the same gay kind.
—Helen Cowles le Crow.
THE CHURCH OFFICERS’ GAZETTE 15
Story: The Wild Things Learn to Obey
A TORY of 2 young wild turkey is told by Archibald Rut-
ledge, who writes very interestingly on nature topics.
Wishing to observe a flock of young turkeys in their wood-
land home, he seated himself among the sheltering boughs of
a tree close to a fence along which he knew the flock came on
their way to the trees where they stayed at might, While he
was waiting for the turkeys to come, a fox trotted along the
path, hestiated, then crossed through the fence into the field
on the other side. This was a field of sedge just tall enough
te conceal the fox, except as he raised up to look about him.
Soon the turkeys could be heard coming through the dry
leaves, picking up small additions to their supper as they
came. Ope young gobbler was particularly lively and inclined
to dart away from the gromp in pursuit of tempting game,
The mother turkey was constantly on the alert, calling with a
sharp note of command those whe strayed toe far.
From his perch in the tree, the man saw the fox creep
stealthily toward the fenee. The thought of a feast of young
turkey was very inviting. As the turkeys neared the fence, the
young gobbler was pursuing a particularly fine grasshopper.
Again and again it eseaped him; then when it was almost within
his reach it crossed the fence, directly toward the eagerly
watehing fox. The yeung turkey was poised ready to follow
when the watehful mother, seeming to sense danger, gave her
sharp call. The young gobbler hesitated, looked wistfully into
the ficld, then dropped back into the flock, while the fox, still
unseen except by the watcher in the tree, crept silently away.
The young turkey had learned obedience, Mrs. M. E, K,
Story: Grandpa's “What Not” Tree
Bren gazed out of the window, She wondered if it would
ever step snowing, The little girl had just arrived at her
grandparents’ farm, and already she was homesick for her city
home. The door opened, and grandpa entered the room. He
was covered with snow. Glaneing toward the wistful-eyed little
girl, he eried merrily, “What’s wrong, Beth girl$”
“IL wish it would stop snowing, I want te go outdoors!”
Grandpa turned toward the little white-haired lady, who was
just entering the room, “Mother, put some warm wraps on this
girl; she and I are going cut for a little sleigh ride.”
“Oh, goody!” eried Beth, “where are we going, grandpa?”
“Over to the wood-lot pasture, my child; it is time I was
paying a visit to the “What Not’ tree,” he answered. “While
you are bundling up the child, mother, I'll hitch up old Fanny.”
“Grandma, what kind of tree did grandpa say?’
Grandma smiled mysteriously, “Wait and see, dear.”
It was great fun to go for a sleigh ride with grandpa. It was
such fun to feel the big soft snowflakes against one’s cheeks.
Beth laughed merrily as now and then a frightened little bunny
would dash across the narrow trail. Grandpa drew old Fanny
to a halt’ ¢lose to a small bushy evorgreen tree. Going td the
back of the sleigh, grandpa drew forth several bundles. Beth
stared at the tree, It was queer-looking indeed, From its
hranches hung many small pans. From the top branch swung
a big bone, Grandpa peered into the pans; then he said, “Is
time T was visiting the ‘What Not’ tree,” Carefully he opened
the packages. From them he took corn, cracked grain, and bits
of suet. He began te fill the pans with grain. With twine he
hung the suet on the branches. Then he chuckled softly. “How
do you like my tree, Beth?”
“What is it for?” asked the Little girl from the city,
Grandpa climbed into the sleigh, and drove off a little way;
then he said, “Look at the ‘What Not’ tree, Beth girl,”
Beth's eyes grew big as she leokod back at the tree. Tt was
covered with a multitude of little birds. How the hungry little
birds enjoyed their feast!
Grandpa explained, “Every year many of our birds die from
lack of food, for every year their food is eovered up by the
snow. I wish that others would have ‘What Not’ trees for our
little birds. In the summer they repay us with their songs.”
“Would it do to scatter crumbs aleng the window sill?”
“Yes, indoed,” grandpa answered,
As old Fanny turned hemeward, Beth tock a last glance.
“Grandpa,” she said, “it ig the most wonderful tree in the
world, for just think of the little lives it saves.”
And grandpa agreed~—Mrs., Nola Thessfeld (Abbreviated).
Save “Instructor of June 21 for M. V. Anniversary Program.