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Show HP"PtjtDjfsyy " " n,rd "' "r, ! ho ancient and rather ofcattful declaration of tho tparrow. that h bad killed Cock Robin, a large 'portion of mankind ha believed thai I the aparrow, the English aparrow, I'thould pay the full penalty for tht -rime, and hla aelf-appolnt'd Judgea and executlontra have been legion. Ilut , he haa lived and thrived In tplte ol them. Other crime of many klndt have been charged agalnat him In many countrlta, a price haa tx-n put on hla head In Ihla land of the free, and he haa been declared an outlaw by Kate government and municipalities The department of agriculture hai fulminated lit llghtnlnga agalntt hla from Washington, and learned aocletlei have thundered hla doom. Ilut every prlng ha chirps and twltlera with renewed re-newed vigor, and nates and neata and grow in number amailngly. Now however, the'cablo brlnga tho nowi that he haa ben condemned In thi houae of his friends. In Merry Eng. land lltelf Mr William II. Teget-meler, Teget-meler, a naturalist of renown and an author whoso word on scientific aub. Ject carries great weight, ho pub-llahrd pub-llahrd a book about the aparrow, and In It declare that the bird la a peat, and that In Ungland alone ho Indicts damage which amounts yearly to mil-llona mil-llona of pounda atrellng Through all hla trial and during all the crutadet agalntt him the pert and chipper sparrow spar-row hat had hoala of warm friends who have defended him gallantly and havo met tho ontlaughta of hla enemlci with all the vigor and often with tbe bitterness bitter-ness of Jealous partltana, Ilut what can tbey say now? Found guilty by a Judge. In hit own home, what remains but to pass the tentenco of death upon him Anally and forever? It aecmt clear that the contested murderer of Cock Robin It doometl for good and all and that at laat tbe aparrow mutt to. That lookt simple and eaay, but It lan't, for little Mr Sparrow In antwer to the condemnation, and tht tentenco ot tho court will tlmply cock his bead on ono aide and ntk' "Well, what nro you going to do about It?" And hit au-premo au-premo confidence la Juatlflcd by experience, experi-ence, liver alnco he waa flrat Introduced Intro-duced Into thla country from hla native na-tive heath, about fifty yrart ago, ho hat protpered and multiplied Immensely In tplte ot all effort! to keep him In check, and agalntt convultlona of ru-turo ru-turo and the machtnatlona of "powers and principalities." The billiard of 1SSS came, and ho waa troxen by tho tens of thousands. Dnn storm In fha summer ot 1893 scattered dead tpar-rowi tpar-rowi through the city parka and In country lanes "as thick aa leavca that ttrew the valea of Vallombroaa." Pot huntert have tought hla life and aold htm by thousands at reed birds. Small boya with air gum and pea shooteri have been bla acourge, and the man who tpread neta under hla rooatlng place at night and thook him down to death In hundreda haa been hla bam. Ilut he haa lived on and brought up hla wonderfully Increasing families year by year l'olion baa been tried, but It waa found that other blrdt and anlniala wero hurt mors than the spar row, who Jutt winked and pasted by on the other aide from the envenomed mortel. Doaton haa lately been atlrred up agalnat the aparrow Tho American Ameri-can Society of Illrd Dettroyert, whose headquartera are there, and whote ob ject It la to bring back native totii blrda which have been driven out bj one meant or another, has taken up tbe cudgola agalnat tho alaycr ot Cock Rob-In, Rob-In, and la carrying on a lively crutade agalnat him, A petition thirty feet long waa presented to Mayor Qulncy aaklng that atepa be taken to exterminate extermi-nate the hated bird, and the mayor went Into the work with a will Tht method which la being tried In lloaton lloa-ton to execute the rondemned crlmlnali la to destroy bla nests and eggs, and the enemlea of tho bird hope for great rcaulta from the warfare. The notion not-ion Indictment agalnat the sparrow In-cludca In-cludca hit crime! agalnat Cock Robin nnd other mild-mannered blrda, whom ho drlvea away with hla vicious and nagging tactics, aa woll as hla deatrue-tlveneaa deatrue-tlveneaa to treea and ahruba and hla general course as a public nuisance New York Herald. |
