218 THE WILES OF A WARBLER. The work over that nest was one of the prettiest bits of bird-life I ever watched. Never was a scrap of a warbler, a mere pinch of feathers, so perfectly delighted with anything as she with that dear little homestead of hers. It was pretty; it looked outside like the dainty hanging cradle of a vireo, but instead of being suspended from a horizontal forked twig, it was held in an upright fork made by four twigs of the sapling. ger than one's thumb. He was a wary little full length, and composed himself to sleep. sprite, and though he looked down upon us as we turned opera-glasses toward him-a battery that puts some birds into a panic-he was not alarmed. He probably made up his mind then and there, that it should be his special business to keep us away from his nest, for really that seemed to be his occupation. No sooner did we set foot in the woods than his sweet song attracted us. We followed it, and he, carelessly as it seemed, but surely, led us on around and around, always in a circle without end. One morning she tracked him inch by inch till she was fortunate enough to trace him to a wild corner in the woods given up to a tangle of fallen trees, saplings, and other growth. She went home happy, sure she was on the trail. The next day we turned our steps to that quarter and penetrated the jungle till we reached a moderately clear spot facing an impenetrable mass of low saplings. There we took our places, to wait with what patience we might for the blue. Our lucky star was in the ascendant that day, for we had not been there three minutes before a small, inconspicuous bird dropped into the bushes a few feet from us. My friend's eye followed her, and in a second fell upon the nest the little creature was lining, in a low maple about two feet from the ground. But who was she? For it is one of the difficulties about nests, that the brightly-colored male whom one knows so well, is very sure not to show himself in the neighborhood, and his spouse is certain to look just like everybody else. However there is always some mark by which we may know, and as soon as the watcher secured a good look she announced in an excited whisper, "We have it! a female blue, building." So it proved to be, and we planted our seats against trees for backs, and arranged ourselves to stay. The dog seeing this preparation, and recognizing it as somewhat permanant, with a heavy sigh laid himself out The little creature's body seemed too small to hold her joy; she simply could not bring her mind to leave it. She rushed off a short distance and brought some infinitesimal atom of something not visible to our coarse sight, but very important in hers. This she arranged carefully, then slipped into the nest and molded it into place by pressing her breast against it and turning around. Thus she worked for some time, and then seemed to feel that her task was over, at least for the moment. Yet she could not tear herself away. She flew six inches away, then instantly came back and got into the nest, trying it this way and that. Then she ran up a stem, and in a moment down again, trying that nest in a new way, from a fresh point of view. This performance went on a long time, and we found it as impossible to leave as she did; we were as completely charmed with her ingenuous and bewitching manners as she was with her new home. Well indeed was it that we stayed that morning and enriched ourselves with the beautiful picture of bird ways, for like many another fair promise of the summer it came to naught. We had not startled her, she had not observed us at all, nor been in the least degree hin dered in her work by our silent presence, twenty feet away and half hidden by her leafy screen. But the next day she was not there. After we had waited half an hour, my friend could no longer resist a siren voice that had lured us for days (and was never traced home, by the way). I offered to wait for the little blue while she sought her charmer. We were near the edge of the woods, and she was obliged to pass through part of a pasture where sheep were kept. Her one terror about her big dog, was that he should take to making himself disagreeable among sheep, when she knew his days would be numbered, so she told him to stay with me. He had risen when she started, and he looked a lit THE WILES OF A WARBLER. 219 tle dubious, but sat down again, and she went my comrade never ceased longing to find the away. elusive nest of that blue warbler, and our revenge came at last. Nests may be deserted, little brown spouses may be hidden under green leaves, homesteads may be so cunningly placed that one cannot find them, but baby birds cannot be concealed. They will speak for themselves; they will get out of the nest before they can fly; they will scramble about, careless of being seen; and such is the devotion of parents that they must and will follow all these vagaries, and thus give their precious secret to whoever has eyes to see. He watched her so long as she could be seen and then turned to me for comfort. He came close and laid his big head on my lap to be petted. I patted his head and praised him a while, and then wished to be relieved. But flattery was sweet to his ears, and the touch of a hand to his brow,-he declined to be put away; on the contrary he demanded constant repetition of the agreeable sensations. If I stopped, he laid his heavy head across my arm, in a way most uncomfortable to one not accustomed to dogs. These methods not availing, he sat up close beside me, when he came nearly to my shoulder and leaned heavily against me, his head resting against my arm in a most sentimental attitude. At last finding that I would not be coaxed or forced into devoting myself wholly to his entertainment, he rose with dignity, and walked off in the direction his mistress had gone, paying no more attention to my commands or my coaxings than if I did not exist. If I would not do what he wished, and pay the price of his society, he would not do what I asked. I was, therefore, left alone. I was perfectly quiet. My dress was a dull woods tint, carefully selected to be inconspicuous, and I was motionless. No little dame appeared, but I soon became aware of the pleasing sound of the blue himself. It drew nearer, and suddenly ceased. Cautiously, without moving, I looked up. My eyes fell upon the little beauty peering down upon me. I scarcely breathed while he came nearer, at last directly over my head, silent, and plainly studying me. I shall always think his conclusion was unfavorable, that he decided I was dangerous, and I, who never lay a finger on an egg or a nest in use, had to suffer for the depredations of the race to which I belong. The pretty nest so doted upon by its little builder, was never occupied, and the winsome song of the warbler came from another part of the wood. We found him, indeed, so often near this particular place, a worse tangle-if possible than the other, that we suspected they had set up their household gods here. Many times did my friend and her dog work their way through it, while I waited outside, and considered the admirable tactics of the wary warbler. The search was without result. Weeks passed, but though other birds interested us and filled our days with pleasure, One day I came alone into the woods, and as I reached a certain place, sauntering along in perfect silence, I evidently surprised somebody for I was saluted by low "smacks" and I caught glimpses of two birds who dived into the jewel-weed and disappeared. A moment later I saw the blue take flight a little farther off, and soon his song burst out, calm and sweet as though he had never been surprised in his life. I walked slowly on up the road, for this was one of the most enchanting spots in the woods, to birds as well as to bird-lovers. Here the cuckoo hid her brood till they could fly. In this retired corner the tawny thrush built her nest, and the hermit filled its aisles with music, while on the trespass notices hung here, the yellow-bellied woodpecker drummed and signaled. It was filled with interest and with pleasant memories, and I lingered here for some time. Then as the road lead me still farther away, I turned back. Coming quietly, again I surprised the blue family and was greeted in the same manner as before. They had slipped back in silence during my absence, and the young blues were, doubtless, at that moment running about under the weeds. Thus we found our warbler, the head of a family, hard at work as any sparrow, feeding a beloved, but somewhat scraggy-looking,. youngster, the feeble likeness of himself. There too we found the little brown mammathe same, as we suppose-whose nest building we had watched with so much interest. She also had a youngster under her charge. But. how was this! a brown baby clad like herself! Could it be that the sons and daughters of this warbler family outrage all precedent. by wearing their grown-up dress in the cradle? We consulted the authorities and found our conclusion was correct. 220 THE CONSERVATISM OF GERMAN WOMEN. Henceforth we watched with greater interest than before. Every day that we came into the woods we saw the little party of four, always near together, scrambling about under the saplings or among the jewel-weed, or running over the tangled branches of a fallen tree, the two younger calling in sharp little voices for food, and the elders bustling about on low trees to find it. as is often the case, the most greedy secures the greatest amount. We had now reached the last of July, and the woods were full of new voices, not alone the peeps or chirps of birdlings impatient for food. There were baffling rustles of leaves in the tree tops, rebounds of twigs as some small form left them, flits of strange colored wings,-migration had begun. Now, if the bird-student wishes not to go mad with problems she cannot solve, she will be wise to fold her camp-stool and return to the haunts of the squawking English sparrow and the tireless canary, the loud-voiced parrot and We soon noticed that there was favoritism in the family. Papa fed only the little man, while mamma fed the little maid, though she too, sometimes stuffed a morsel into the mouth of her son. Let us hope that by this arrangement both babies are equally fed, and not, the sleep-destroying mocking-bird. I did. T THE CONSERVATISM OF GERMAN WOMEN. BY FRAULEIN H. BUZELLO-STÜRMER. HE character of woman in general is This conservative character embraces truth and constancy but also stubbornness and aversion to any change. The German woman opposes woman's emancipation from principle. She does not know why the question has arisen and she does not care to know. It is a peculiar phenomenon that Germany, said to lead the world, shows no interest in the woman question, which has become one of the burning topics of civilized nations. The opinion that the unjust position of woman is inconsistent with human dignity and foolish in its consequences, has permeated continually broadening strata, so that more or less, in the United States, in England, France, Denmark, Sweden, India, Australia, woman is granted a right to every thing for which she shows ability. And Germany?-Can this be woman's El Dorado? Is every woman here cherished in the home of a loving husband, a guardian father, or fond relative? It seems not, since some of them beg bread or fill madhouses. No well-intentioned thinking men appear in behalf of these victims of ingratitude and indifference as has happened in neighboring states within the last ten years; and it is owing to the German woman's lack of interest for her own affairs. life who showed no interest in the great question of their race, ignorance might serve as an excuse; but it is incomprehensible that also independent and self-dependent women should neglect it. However if the German woman's indifference is national, it must in some way be confirmed in her character. In determining the character of a people it will aid to notice the situation of its land as well as the events which have taken place in its development. Germany has been called the heart of Europe, because of its central location. Compare it with China, the middle kingdom of Asia. To the superficial observer these two mid-kingdoms may seem to possess several resemblances. "The pig-tailed Chinese and we!" Both kingdoms are inclined to extremes in their continental climate and in the disposition of their inhabitants. The Chinese is the most practical, the most material of all peoples, the German the most ideal, a people of dreamers! And the most ideal of all peoples has three things in common with the most material : first, its distribution over the whole earth; second, its invulnerability to any passing advantages; third, the pride that it is worthy of imitation by its successors and needs no change. The Chinese women, too, are renowned house-wives, but, quite in contrast to German women, they have an influence in public life-such, perhaps, as women in no other If it were only the women not in active land have; the Chinese considers his mother THE CONSERVATISM OF GERMAN WOMEN. 221 a most judicious being, without whose ad- the entire people and became invested with vice nothing can be done. On the most new centrifugal power. France is the home weighty affairs of state the emperor of China of the Revolution; but the ideas which, enconfers with his mother, and with his decision acted, brought it about were first elaborated announces her ratification of it. In China, in Germany. so long as a man's mother lives, even if he is gray himself, he must advise with her if he wishes to be respected. Backwardness, modesty, and delicacy are charming and prominent traits of the German woman; but these charming qualities have also their reverse side as we see. Of all things the foundation of character is hardest to change; but steadfast will and insight can conquer custom and prejudice. If the German woman would but interest herself in the woman question, the result of her study would be a change of opinion. The German woman is the housewife par excellence. There is no place more cheery and pleasant than her home. But in her care for her home she forgets her relation to the wider circle of humanity. Exclusive activity in one thing makes her one-sided. The English woman's home also is praiseworthy yet she always has time to engage in politics and religion; the French woman's salon is celebrated, and she shines in literature; everywhere else woman is showing active interest in public affairs; but in Germany she fondly imagines that she can be truly womanly only by enduring all the arrangements of life made by men, so she renounces all independence. But it may be said that woman's influence is much greater than appearances indicate. That is an open secret. On an average, however, her influence only serves as a hindrance; for so long as she has no share in the management of the state, she will not comprehend its greatness, and into her narrow circle she will drag her husband, who cannot escape her influence. Thus every sin of omission is avenged. It suggests two horses in harness, before one of which a barrier is placed while the other pulls forward; both remain on the same spot. The German woman's passive nature, her fear of publicity, her objection to all independent employments for woman, little fit her to take the initiative; but her perseverance, firmness, and patience, especially fit her to carry out an idea when received. This peculiarity is a national trait. The idea of the Reformation came from Italy and France to Germany where alone it gained that reforming character by which it finally affected So some time the woman question will find its best solution in Germany. But before that time the German woman must have conquered her horror of woman's independence, and must no longer consider fear, indecision, and ignorance womanly virtues. In Germany there has been no Jean d'Arc, no Queen Elizabeth, no Katharine Second, but there is a long list of important women. Their lives, however, have not been accorded due honor, they are not talked of, and when on account of unusually prominent position or some rare and able achievement they can be ignored no longer, they are praised preferably for housewifely or motherly qualities, as Maria Theresa, or for great piety, as Annette Droste-Hülshoff, but far less for those qualities by which they have come into the world's notice. After the emancipation of the Jews the Germans began to realize the great influence of certain women. But these women were Jews,-Henrietta Herz, Rahel Levin, Dorothea Mendelssohn, and others. Oriental blood flowed in their veins. All of Germany's suggestions come from somewhere else. German women never take the first step in any thing; in their history they have no advocates of public advance, they have in their culture no patterns of independent actions. Saint Elizabeth, Queen Louise, were great in patience and endurance. The German poets' ideal women are the pale Louise, the industrious, housewifely Dorothea, the deceived and frantic Gretchen; if they seek models of energetic women they must look for them in other lands; in Germany there are none. It is not to be expected that the foundations of character which have been gathering strength for centuries will change suddenly; neither is it to be expected that German women will burst forth at once into the full fire and flame of woman's emancipation. But she is expected to remove the evils which lie plainly before her eyes; since the removal of evils in the condition and position of woman's race is possible only through the emancipation, the cultured German woman is expected to exercise her insight, that insight which always precedes duty and which will always lead her to action. THE HOME OF FRANCES E. WILLARD. BY SARAH K. BOLTON. T has been several years since I have rested It sends out each year many million pages in pretty "Rest Cottage" at Evanston, just out of Chicago. Then it was a neat Gothic house with great elms in front; very cheery, very quiet, and attractive. I had met Miss Willard at the Chicago W. C. T. U. and liked her from the first, so frank, so unostentatious, so well-bred, so cultured. Invited to her home, I saw the noble and dignified mother, enjoyed the bright talk of mother and daughter and other friends, and carried away pleasant recollections of a happy home. And what has happened since then? The warm-hearted school-teacher-just before this she had been the Dean of the Woman's College at Evanston-has become the leader of a great temperance work in this country and throughout the world. And nobody knows where it will end. When the noble Lord Shaftesbury, after twenty and more years of work for the factory children, exposing the cruelties of child labor in dark mines and in over-heated rooms, till the people of England were weary of hearing of suffering and early death from starvation and toil, was asked, "Where will you stop?" he always answered, "Nowhere, so long as any portion of this mighty evil remains to be removed." And Frances Willard makes the same answer to-day. The liquor dealers are weary with this interference with their business-a business which makes men slaves, and women and children paupers. Society sometimes is weary with this agitation which is having its influence on the social customs of the day. Legislators are some of them very weary that women should bother them about these questions of morality. But the work stops "nowhere, so long as any portion of this mighty evil remains to be removed." The present line of temperance work began in a little town in Ohio, where a God-fearing woman went to a saloon to pray. It crystallized into form when a small band of women at Chautauqua united to help free the country from the thraldom of liquor. It has grown to be the largest organization of women in the world, with branches in almost every country. of literature. It has an organized band of lecturers in two hemispheres. It builds a Woman's Temperance Temple at Chicago at a cost of over $1,100,000, which incloses 2,500,000 feet of space. It rears also in Chicago a Temperance Hospital like that in London, where both sexes and all classes can be treated without the use of alcohol. It works in Sunday-schools, in day-schools, before legislators, in churches, everywhere. What will come of it? I am reminded of the work done by the seven men of Manchester, England. In the midst of poor harvests and the curse of heavy taxes, they met in an upper room-the great matters of this world are usually begun in an upper roomand drew a red curtain across the apartment that they might not be discouraged by their own feebleness, and that the outside world might not see how few they were. Soon John Bright, young, eloquent, and in earnest, joined the little band. He and Richard Cobden raised money, scattered millions of tracts, spoke night and day in open fields, in dingy school-houses, and later in crowded theaters. Members of Parliament laughed and said, "You might as well attempt to overturn the monarchy as to attempt the repeal of the Corn Laws," but Bright and Cobden still worked on. Great crowds of people at last marched through the streets carrying banners with the words, "No Corn Laws." People were dying with hunger. They are dying to-day through drink. The crowds that came to hear the orators began to number one hundred thousand, and then one hundred and fifty thousand. Robert Peel, Prime Minister, had been elected in 1841 to sustain the Corn Laws. The voice of the people became too loud to be ignored. In 1846 he moved for the repeal, and the seven Manchester men had won Free Trade for England. History is being repeated. The little band of women at Chautauqua—I doubt if they were so many as seven-has grown to an almost fabulous number. W. C. T. U.'s are numbered by the thousands upon thousands. |