was pouring forth such a rapture of ringing melody as I
have never listened to before or since. Sometimes he would
perch motionless for many minutes, his body quivering and
thrilling with the outpour of music. Then he would drop
softly from twig to twig till the lowest limb was reached,
when he would rise, fluttering and leaping through the
branches, his song never ceasing for an instant until he
reached the summit of the tree and launched into the warm
scent-laden air, floating in spirals, with outspread wings,
until, as if spent, he sank gently back into the tree and
down through the branches, while his song rose into an
ecstasy of ardor and passion. His voice rang like a
clarionet in rich, full tones, and his execution covered the
widest possible compass; theme followed theme, a torrent of
music, a swelling tide of harmony, in which scarcely any two
bars were alike. I stayed till midnight listening to him; he
was singing when I went to sleep; he was still singing when
I woke a couple of hours later; he sang through the livelong
night.--THEODORE ROOSEVELT.

Amid the thunders of Sinai God uttered the rights of cattle,
and said that they should have a Sabbath. "Thou shalt not do
any work, thou, nor thy cattle." He declared with infinite
emphasis that the ox on the threshing-floor should have the
privilege of eating some of the grain as he trod it out, and
muzzling was forbidden. If young birds were taken from the
nest for food, the despoiler's life depended on the mother
going free. God would not let the mother-bird suffer in one
day the loss of her young and her own liberty. And he who
regarded in olden time the conduct of man toward the brutes,
to-day looks down from heaven and is interested in every
minnow that swims the stream, and every rook that cleaves
the air.--DEWITT TALMAGE, D.D.

And how refreshing is the sight of the birdless bonnet! The
face beneath, no matter how plain it may be, seems to
possess a gentle charm. She might have had birds, this
woman, for they are cheap enough and plentiful enough,
heaven knows; but she has them not, therefore she must wear
within things infinitely precious, namely, good sense, good
taste, good feeling. Does any woman imagine these withered
corpses (cured with arsenic), which she