•PiSQE«QV^SI-SEAPti\-\/ig'\/fyS' •\/ivt-qV^Sl-Qf^AS/\Oi\iT\/l^\/S- VOL. XXX. NOTRE DAME, INDIANA, JUNE 12, 1897. No ^=OD' - grays, dull. vermilion, and cool yellows. Up An Oriole's Song". near the Novitiate those Dutch belles, the tulips, were loitering along the walks in flame- AUSTIN O'JIALLEY. colored taffeta and sulphurous, silk. -The " pansies freaked with jet," soft as a fawn's HIS morning while the eye, nestled by absurd white-washed stones: dew twinkled in tiny globes good, honest stones that might be.holding of azure and gold and crimson rich lichens. One little wild pansy l.ay in the on the tips of the grass-blades, wayside grass, and at the feet of a statue of I listened to an oriole calling. the Madonna was a faded bunch of " spring- He stood in his black hood and beauties," the veins under the white petals orancfe vest on a white limb of still pink in spite of death. The slanting.sun o struck along a hedge and covered it with a buttonwood tree among the young greenish- yellow blossoms till I drew near and found gray leaves, and the sky was blue as a tropical only lilac-leaves. The new wheat was still: no sea behind him. That jolly fellow is the ripples, no quivering lines of running shadows beauty and music of May incarnate. This is and pale-green light. the tune of his song: Beyond the Novitiate live three woodpeckers, .^_^-i£ whose acquaintance I made last year, but they -f- :t are still shy. One is a large " flicker." He m wears a crimson hood, and his buff wings are I did not catch the key. The notes, especially lined with yellow. The other two are common- the lowest one, are exquisitely full, limpid, folk woodpeckers. They look like Minims in satisfying; no musical instrument can repro­ chapel: each wears a black soutane, over this duce all their harmonics. They are living a long white surplice, over this again a black" tones, sweeter than the chime of water drip­ cape, and the biretta is red. They float up ping into a caverned pool. Sometimes he sets through the tall oaks, sit on a dead limb, shut in a quaint, gurgling catch-sound before the their eyes, and ta-ta-ta-tap, quick as the clapper first " g " in the third bar. of an alarm-clock, with the end of their I saw the first oriole this spring on the noses on the tree, till you wonder they do morning of the sixth of May. It was beside St. not get a headache. One of them that day- Joseph's Lake. The faint wind crinkled the chiseled a grub out,of a limb, and then, he water into chased silver, and suddenly a tiny accidentally dropped it; he leaned over and purple flame of violets surprised me from the watched the grub falling, tail over head, and dewy grass at my feet. There was a murmur of said: "Well! You zvere slippery." bees above my head; T looked up, and lo! a Near the western end of the lake a blue jay cherry-tree veiled in white, and there the was quarreling with a robin, and of course gleam of an oriole's breast. the robin withdrew from Larissa. A pair of The oaks then were only brown with a chipmunks were going to .market through the faint vermilion flush along the mass; now grass at the foot of the tree in which tlie they are indescribably beautiful in green- angry robin was sulking; suddenly this rascally 578 NOTRE DAME SCHOLASTIC. bird dropped down as a stone would drop, thou who whilom didst recount the slaughter snapped in sheer malice at Mrs. Chipmunk, in those fields where Hudibras and Trulla and scared the poor lady into hysteria. Her fought, if thou wert not starved with thy friend husband, his small test-tube cleaner of a tail Butler, assist me on this great occasion." All quivering in righteous indignation, rushed at things are not in the power of all, and I would the robin and routed him. I once considered tell of a fight that surpassed the mighty deeds the sparrow the street-ruffian among my bird- done of the hero Mulvaney. Him ( Corporal acquaintances, but the "robin" (a migratory Mulvaney, of course) the cowslip-broidered thrush and no robin) is no better in his morals. banks of gently-winding Liffey had nourished, That the sparrow refuses to eat insects, that he where he first learned the noble art of war, injures plants, that he drives away other birds, sauntering proudly through crowded fairs with have been conclusively proved by our Depart­ trailing coat, when no hero from all the lands ment of Agriculture. This little British ruffian within that Isle begirt by the many-twinkling evicts all birds that build nests in boxes pro­ ocean-stream was found brave enough to tread vided by man, in cornices and holes in buildings,' upon the subjacent fruit of the maternal loom in holes in trees, in any place the invader likes. of Mulvaney. Great was Mulvaney, but greater He must have read up, before emigrating, the the Three-Horatii-In-One! methods used by the English lion, and his That day of days Apollo had turned all the small tail should be twisted. He is a bully, but tropic desert-sands to frying-pans, but our hero, the robin is no better. The egg-collecting boy, bred as warriors are bred, heeded not the however, and the multitudinous woman that arrows shot of Helios. Shield had he none, for wears birds' wings in her wonderful hat are the he scorned to carry the fort about with him "sparrows" that destroy the wild singers. wherever he went, and it is not the part of a It is surprising how tame the robins are at wise man to bear heavy weapons while a bag­ Notre Dame. One family has built its nest in gage wagon is close at hand. From ambush the a spruce, tree on the main campus about two Paythens saw the hero, fit to be the shepherd feet above a spot where the mortar-boards of of the people, and not otherwise than when the well-lunged Sorinese habitually congregate. three ravening lions, portentous beasts, rush There are three fat children in that family roaring down upon a circumvented stag, did alread3^ TKese babes hop! hop! hop! along these savage Orient spearmen, robed princi­ the road, like the ghost in Le?iorc, until their pally in black skins, sweep outward against our mother brings a worm to one of them. Then mighty man. Was he as a stag? Nay, by Zeus the youngster splits almost into two by open­ and the ox-eyed Here! But catching the fore­ ing its mouth rapturously from shoulder to most Paythen by his ample ears, the beloved of shoulder, and instantly it is ready for another Ares lifted high the writhing Indian, and drove worm. Where do young birds and young boys him even unto the neck, feet downward, into put all they eat? There is a question for the desert sand. A like disagreeable accident naturalists! I suppose the tameness of our befell the other rash salvages. robins may be explained when one thinks that That night when the heroes sat before the among the hundreds of boys here there is tents, and the smoke of a burning weed, first no bird-killer known. Even " Vic," the small found in far Columbia beyond the ocean-stream, negro dog, beloved of Brownson Hall, does was curling up a sweet savor to the gods, did not annoy the robins. ' When she was young The-Three-Horatii-In-One recount his deed and frivolous she did bark at the sparrows, but while men were silent and the tethered steeds they were too wise to fear her. champed golden grain. He uttered speech Vic's reign over hearts is ending: our friend. and said: "Arrah, man! I stuck them in the Brother B., who in India surpassed the deed sand up to the chin, and left them there to of the Horatii, has a pair of aristocratic Irish starve!" Then did the well-fed men of Britain terriers that are growing to be the objects of shout approval, and they poured a thank- universal admiration. Perhaps you do not libation to Dionysus, not outwardly, as did the remember how three Paythens were once fool­ Greek, but in another direction. hardy enough to attack Brother B., while he Why should this sound of arms clash brazenly was separated from his regiment. Let me nar­ athwart my Maytide idyl? The thought was rate that historical event. with me that if our hero had had his terriers then, these might have diverted the attack, and With Fielding I cry: "Ye muses, whoever made it unnecessary to treat Indians like seed- ye are who love to sing battles, and principally potatoes. NOTRE DAME SCHOLASTIC. 579 grievances would receive the close attention of *•' Christian Unity. the master-minds of the countries. interested, and that no resort to hostilities would be had M. JAMES NE Y, 97. if sound sense and mature judgment could avoid it. You must agree with liie, when HE recent proposal of Great Britain I say that mediation, when vast and sacred to enter into a treaty of international interests are at stake, is always better than arbitration with the United States rash, impulsive action. Above all the other has brought about the discussion of benefits arbitration would bring about are the a subject which is of first importance unity of Christian nations and the abolition of to Christianity and to civilization.