Rensselaer Republican, Volume 27, Number 4, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 September 1894 — FATE OF TWO SPARROWS. [ARTICLE]

FATE OF TWO SPARROWS.

They Were Guying People on a Steamship When Something Happened. Two impertinent sparrows met a curious and untimely death in the presence of an interested New York crowd a few days ago. One of the Cunard steamships was being warped in to her dock while crowds of people on the pier and the vessel were chafing at the delay and slowness of the tedious process. . A .thick hawser fastened to a capstan near the bow was being u sed in the warping - process and was stiff as a pole under tire tremendous strain. The sparrows who had been twittering and chirping about the place fluttered out to examine the hawser. Evidently it was a new perch stretched for their benefit where it would afford a good view of both boat and pier, they thought. They settled on it half way out. At first the slight vibration of the big rope caused them some uneasiness, but they soon got over it and fell to poking fun at the waiting people. They would glance pertly first ht the travelers; then at the expectant friends, and then they would turn to each other and chirp out impertinent, guying remarks and twitter with glee, until they nearly fell off "their percli.."' In the very midst of their enjoyment feomething "happened. There was a mv.iiled report and the thick hawser parted like a thread justi where the feathered jokers had been, standing, causing the dockmen to run as one end came'writhing toward them like a snake. It was like the burst of thunder sound in Mrs. Hernans' poem; the birds, oh, where were they? Two little Huffy bunches of feathers rode the crest of a ripple in the water and disappeared, under the pier. “I’oor little things. It killed them,” said a lady .011 thejpier. Then a new hawser took the place of the old, the big ship swung in, and everybody pushed forward to greet long-absent friends.