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About The Oregon daily journal. (Portland, Or.) 1902-1972 | View Entire Issue (March 8, 1908)
HE;0RECHnrSUin5AY " JOURNAL, ' rOinXAND," SUNDAY. MORNING, MAUClI 8 1 f ' -' : ' ' ,., n.,,,,1, , hum )llf I 'M " V' 'I" ""' IV'T I'Vl" mimvmwnm vvnm,mm'Hrm'f twin if w I'iilllliiii'iii'iiiiiil'iiilii' 1111111111111 i i . ; j, 'lini'iji v..'u .hi-..-,; iM.wvi-1!! (t,r.!ln .!,.. ;; iiHilMMMII ' U'i S7 . Jingle. , ' By Joel Stacy.. v There once was a knowing raccoon Who didn't-believe In tho moon. "Every month don't you see f ' "There's a new one." said he. ' "No real moon could wear out so soon!' ' . r .7, TIIREK LITTLE RULES,, : ' v Three little rules we all should keev To malts life happy- and bright -Vi Smile in the morning; smile at Boon; , .' . t And keep on jHnJHng at .night!. . ; , . ' . Stella. George Stera. fffi- PIGEONS OF PEKING Alfred D? Sheffield r.; r.. ii '' i I "' 'hi ill HI it . i if (Jt " y.(T :' 'I "JiL" CJu'ni's? hate made pigeon-flying the rfemyi, f. Camo that if Is because they ill any kind of "playing tor- keeps." Ev.'n 4 i.i kite-flying, they fix little hooks .')-' - "if'r kite-strings and try to pull in .. leach o(b'.r' kites, and count it fair to keep any kite ' Uhat drop Into (h :.lr yards. They will tell you that a kite or a Etrang pigeon that comes to your place, it given up, takes away your "family luck." So you 'must tear the kite and keep 'the pigeon. But when you seo the town dandles sauntering out wilh their ifans and bird-cages to watch the noon kite-flying, criticising the flocks nod their tactics, and arguing the fine points of decoying, you guess that "family luck" has tcry little to do with their game. . To decoy sfange 'pigeons, pigeon-keepers must first train their flocks to "fly In spirals" that is, to rise steadily In circles without straying far from the home roof. Pigeons naturally fly together In circles. Even wild pigeons wheel about in flocks before strag gling oil to the fields. Chineea,jnake their birds i.-.-f . for circling by keeping them shut up In a Yrifjtfcr house built on the ground around the dove '. cote; and they cure their birds of straggling by pelt ing them, with pebbles when they try to alight any ;trher except on one spot the ridge-pole of the roof faring their wicker house. The 'flock must alight here la a.' bunch, and Immediately walk down to the eaves. This is done to bring any strange pigeon aaong teem down within sight of the grain, which is then scattered on the floor of the wicker house. Pigeons are fed only after .flying, for unless hungry they are lazy and unmanageable. In Peking, flocks are sent up at sunrise, at noon, and just before sundown. Neighboring flocks always foin and their keepers .then try each to draw apart Lis Cock with call-birds, so as to bring with It any unwary pigeons from the other flocks. If a stranger is brought to the roof, tho keeper coaxes it down with his own birds by throwing millet Into the wicker cage. No one ever demands back a pigeon (lost in this tray. Two friends will sometimes "play live pigeon." that .to, five back each other's birds that may be captured from tho flotk during the game; but the rule ia to "play dead pigeon," or, as boys say, "for keeps." '.' TIIC CAPTURE AND RECAPTURE OF "MU WHA . , "' , fOLV t Every morning, when the crows were all back from the cemetery pines, and the sun rose upon the polished liouGetops that stretched unbrokenly for miles to the Ifuet-black city walls, "Little American" had watched "smalf clouds of white-winged pigeons circling high overhead so high, sometimes, that he would not have found them but for the faint singing of the reed "whistles at heir tails. Mu Wha Tou was one of Little American's first ten i'geons, , They were all tientses white with black tails, and each with a black spot like a watermelon Seed Oq. Us forehead. On all of them, as high-bred jvigeons must have it, the white and black met in regular lines (without a straggling black feather among ,the white or a white among the black), ex rept.on Mu Wha Tou, whose name, meaning "She p i'ctTc-1iE3ad "was given her for some rings uf Mack ca ller neck. These rings, which grew out myste riously, some weeks after Little American had bought tier,' Very much cheapened her in the eyes of LI Loo, tho old- gatekeeper, who had charge of the flock, and svhb'.' -taught Little American the secrets of pfgeon fceeplng. But the rings caused no loss of caste with the other pigeons or with Little American, and be 'was. sorely .-grieved when on her very first flight Ehe was decoyed into captivity, by his sly old neigh bor Kao Chun. -1 k 1 :;ov:, dollv; IT'S time tou begaH to talk. T'VH SEEN A WAS. DOLL NO OLDKRTHak vnrr , A n FHE SLIY8 'PAFA- AND 'MAMA.' EVEN ;(CAN EriiAK, .VW A LUAltf OF SUGAE." 1 jmkf:nMf? SMs Mir wic i w lift r 'u 1 ' ' 1 r it v Li LOO, STEPPING TP NOISELESSLY AS A CAT, The enemie8.of the pigeons arts three the weasnl, the hawk, and the cat. Of these the weasel is dead liest, for Jt can work Into a pigeon-house by tho merest crack, and its rule Is to kill all. The hawk i3 a gallant robber, for he takes but one, and that by fair strategy in the open sky. The slyest enemies of the pigeons, however, and those they most dread, are the cats. They will spring into a pigeons-house at sundown, when the pigoons have gone to their cells to be shut in for the night. When this happens the flock is stampeded and num bers are lost, for pigeons are blind in the dark, and cannot be called down. So when, one dark night, several months after the flight of Mu Wha Tou, Little American was wakened by tho sudden acreech of a pigeon-whistle passing overhead in the darkness, and saw from his window a red glow over Kao Chun's roof, he knew that some est had scared out hia rival's flock at roosting-time, and that Kao Chun was trying the "fire decoy" burning corn-stalks soaked in oil to draw down his panic-stricken birds. He kn'ew, too, that after a night flying, Mu Wha Tou might be tempted to alight with his flock again. . The rule is that after three algntlngs a strange pigeon will never be drawn down again, and Mu Wha Tou had twice been brought to roof by .Little American's pigeons without being taken. The first time nhe had followed them to' the' eaves, and had just poked over her head and drooped her wings to join tho birds feeding in the wicker cage, when pne of Kao Chun's call-birds, cleverly thrown over the house, etartled her up and led her to its home. The second time she alighted wa3 by a misleading flurry at the splitting of the two flocks. .This time she knew her niiptake, and could not be coaxed from the ridge-pole. .'jjri A v But there was now a chance that by morning she would be scared and hungry enough to alight on the ground if she saw pigeons feeding in the open court in front of the wicker house speclally if she saw red corn; for sorghum-fed pigeons are giattonous after red porn. ' "v . r At daylight Little American saw by the waving trees that it, was a morning pf west wind. The yel iow edge or a great dust-cloud was moving np the, sky, threatening a day of closed windows and lamp- "ni - Aireaay me copper SKy was njtly for flvtnr Little American's flock struggled up in slantiur lir. .(., e-u . , . , , , , - clea.whlrllng high Into the air when It stemmed the . A 7- 1 - 1 .' ""v'A". v;.T""'t,.",!","i V :y i k NADDED HER FROM THE GROUND. wind, turn. nnd dipping to the very housetops on the The whistles sounded out only at the dipping, be cause in the teeth of the wind they bcame choked; but they sounded enough to call back some of .Kao Chun's stragglers, which could be see'n rising and falling in the storm, as they cut their way toward the flock. Little American would not stop for these, and chased his flock back from the roof again and again, until he saw, as they mounted from a long sweep behind the great temple, that a new tientse was among his birds, one with the long wings and spotted neck of Mu Wha Tou. LI Loo knew her at once. He had climbed the wall to watch for her, and now ran for the corn bag, shouting to Little American to hold back the call-birds until the flock should careen directlv over the brick -paved yard by the pigeon-house. On they came, laboring ovter the housetops, keeping together in perfect order, but whipping their half-shut wings unwillingly, and turning down their hungry little eyes as they drew close overhead. This was the moment. Little American chased out the call-birds just as Li Loo threw a handful of big red kernels dancing upon the pavement. The greedy call-birds flung themselves upon it, and the flock, Mu Wha Tou and all, dropped straight between the houses to the ground. Mu Wha Tou stood a-tiptoe as she touched ground, as if scared to find herself there, and ready to spring into the air at a movement. No one moved, however, so she began warily to snatch up the kernels within ( reach. Li Loo held his hands together without stirring, and Little American, now saw some new-fledged squabs poking out their heads from his big sleeves. He kept his eyes on a little heap of corn, around which ha had scattered the handful which the flock were eat ing. The birds, quickly pecking up every stray corn, now began to draw Into a close circle around this little pile, Mu Wha Tou even forgetting to look up at LI Loo, who quietly set the young pigeons loose upon the ground. Seeing the corn, the eager squabs ran squeal ing and 'shaking' their wings among the other birds. Then Little American saw what waa to h Squabs lways spread their wings when they squeal to toe fed. Even when they can nick tin for thfim- 'selves, they begin by squealing and fanning at tho other pigeons. So these squabs pushed among the unneeomg leeaers, ciujnsny Bnaning their Billy fans over their heads. In a moment Mu Wha Tou was "hooded" between two of them, and as If blindfolded; whereupon Li - Loo, stepping up behind the three, noiselessly as a cat, nabbed her from the ground. Little American was eo happy at the "babv-Die-eon trick" that he gave Mu Wha Tou as a present to Li Loo, who clipped "out her speckled feathers, and glued in proper white feathers so neatly that no one .,"" "V1 "" wu V ovBUilBU ua. Ana sne w"!?Id J :V!J5 L..1!".4" uuaukuut, uvuvu; tuua nuu u9 cilia wncn the" black feathers grew out again. ' - " " I di cti DEER ON SNOWSHOES d ... ' - '- BJ WILLIAM J. LONG" - - . '- . The title sounds queer, I know; but if you ever have the chance to examine a caribou's feet you will see what Is meant 4a a moment In the first place, tho hoof Is very large, ,and ti'e: cleft between the halves very deep, so that the feet spread widely when the caribou's weight Is on them. Tho hoof of a large bull that I saw once on the Renous Barrens measured five and one-half inches across; and when (with far less force-than the caribou's weight would have exercised) I pulled apart the halves, the spread was nearly ten'inches. Beslds this, the carlbou'9 ankle-joint Is exceeding ly flexible, so that the large,, dew-claws, which are five or six inches above the hoof and behind, bend down easily and rest on the snow, spreading like the hoofs when they touch. This gives to the caribou a broad supporting surface on which to travel very much wider than that cf his great cousin, the moose. The "Soap-Babblers'" First Reception By MEREDITH NUGENT HE "Soap-Bubblers'" reception was a suc cess from the start. The Soap-Bubblers but recently or ganized, with Phil Thompson as Head Oubbler. Harry Baker as Chief Cornucopia, the minor Bubblers occupying minor odd-titled pogl tions, as well as Bubblers occupying no positions at all had resolved that the ancient and honorablo amusement of blowing soap-bubbles was sadly in need of, reformation; and, further, that it was their mis sion to cform it. Thus it came to pass that on this late blustery winter evening the Interior of Masonic Hall presented such a scene of brilliancy as had rarely been equaled within Its historic wall3. The magician's wand had hardly fallen when there arose forty-seven large bubbles from, forty-seven golden cornucopias, held in the hands of forty-seven rosy-cheeked boys and girls standing by twenty-four little oblong tables. A cry of delight swept round the hall, and forty-seven more bubbles arose, and still another shower of the iridescent spheres glit tered in the'surroundlng brilliancy before the Bub blers settled down to the business of the Evening. For this occasion every member had promised to perform at least one bubble trick, and lo perform it well. Eddie Stark showed a top spinning within a bubble, and Minnie Sargent seated opposite a beau tiful rose within another. Freddie Wilder did fully as well at the table allotted to him, while "Little Vic tor" cleverly dropped all sorts of objects through some beautiful bubbles blown by Frank Burt. Then Phil, the Head Bubbler, stepped on the plat form and was uproariously greeted. . He announced he would show the Bubblers how to make large bub bles without blowing them! , Ti,ir-.u v '-yy FIRST KITTEN EVER INSIDE Tne -pandemonium increased when six Bubblers, with Harry Baker leading, formed in procession, and walked on to the platform, carrying , between them two large galvanlzed-lron pans (each measuring nine feet in circumference), five children's wooden hoops, a number of copper and "brass rings, two shining palls full of soap and water already mixed, and think of It! not a pipe, tube, or cornucopia of any 'kind!'- -'-- ; After a few words explanatory of the evolution of the soap-bubble from the clay-pipe stage to its pres ent one, Phil dipped a wire ring into the solution, and, gently sweeping it before him, cast oft a bubble fully twice the bIzo of fats' head. Every Bubbler boy gave a cry of satisfaction at this, and it looked as though all the Bubblers might fling their golden cornucopias on to the stage, wthen the master of the soap and water tossed oft five large bubbles in succession, not only from the same ring, but from the same film! Almost immediately Phil's assistants there were five of them followed his example, and from that time on the stage was continually "aglow with the brilliant spheres. . . v Harry Baker now came forward" with the club's two kittens, and set them n a dry block of wood resting In the centre of one of the large nine-foot ,v pans-rhow filled with soapy water, - Before the ani- It is Indeed a kind of natural snowshoe, not unlike) that which grows on the grouse's foot every winter: to;heli him ovfer the snow, v "'"'' ' T ; ' The result of this, wise provision on the part of nature Is to give the caribou an enormous advantage; over me rest or nis iamuy. wane aeer ana moot are half prisoners in their yards, unable" to leave tha paths which they have made in the snow, the caribou wanders where he will, kept from sinking too deep by his widespreading snowshoes. - There is another curious thing about a caribou's hoofs. The edges, In winter, are sharp and convex,1 like a bell's rim, so that he can travel on the Ice with out 'slipping. He likes this kind of traveling, and 1 often seen trotting far out on the northern lakes, tm pure fun apparently, for there is nothing to eat on the Ice, and he drinks no water in winter, contenting him self 'with, a little snow when he la thirsty. m mals could move, Phil quickly lifted a hoop from the) pan, and in a twinkling covered both kittens over with a glorious bubble. "First kittens ever Inside of a soap-bubble!" Harry Baker announced, just as the) little kits started to v:de about within the iridescent, dome. Phil sphered them over a second and even a third, time,, when the pussies, excited by their uproariou surroundings, offered decided objections to being imx prisoned any more. Then Bubblers and audience were treated to an exhibition of what were perhaps the largest bubbles that have ever been made. Harry Baker was especially fortunate, and, at the end of a very exciting contest with Phil, succeeded in spher ing the pan oyer from brim to brim! Realiie, if you please, that this bubble measured over nine feet in, clrcumfererice! ( ' Phil now turned his attention to the hoops and rings again, and drew forth storms of applause by Borne wonderful "film tricks." One in particular, the giant letter S, was especially brilliant. It looked like a serpentine tongue of flame, and the manner in which Phil whirled the flashing light above his head fairly thrilled the audience. "Leroy Kimball!" now shouted out Harry Baker, "Leroy Kimball!" And a minute later there walked , on to the stage the youngest, shortest, and Jolliest Bubbler in the club. Everybody knew Roy, and as) the little fellow blushingly stepped on to the square block of wood set fast in the middle of the big pan, he was greeted with loud cheers and cries of "What are you going to do there, Roy?" , Phil promptly began to answer this volley of ques tions by lowering a hoop over the little Bubbler until it lay Immersed in the pan of soap mixture. "Oh!" cried the Bubblers in unison, "Phil's going to put Roy In a soap-bubble!" And the excited audience OF A SOAP BUBBLE. , rose to their tiptoes. Amid a profound silence Phil started to lift thai hoop; but after raising It a short distance, the flimi broke with a peculiar noise, sounding like "w-h-e-e-p."j "W-h-e-ep" went the film again, "w-h-e-e-pj w-h-e-ep." , ' Suddenly there was a swish, a flashing gleam ofi silvery light, and Leroy Kimball, the jolliest of the Bubblers, looked smilingly upon the. audience fromj within a soap-film house! . " A FIGURATIVE TALE, , By Grace Fraser. ' Once an Elfin, 1-drous "cute, , Came un-2 my cottage door; There he jplayed wi-3-d and lute. As no elf had played be4. ' . "If-5 pleased thee, lady fair. Speak," said he. "thy mu-6 grand! ' - " Ni-7-ts like this are rare' - Thusr as with 8-ender hand , On the youth be-9, I spoke". ( ; - l loh, o-y fate!)-awoket V- i i - Copyright, bv Century Ccb
