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About Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922 | View Entire Issue (June 14, 1903)
City and Its It ' I time of Washington methods of I 4 .x,,,! t j .... n.i.m Ilia aimn They wore limited to the horse and wagon, oars and sail. Then one century outdid tldrty and added first tlio railroad and steamboat, nnd then, with a rush, the trolley, the bicycle, the auto mobile and perhaps the balloon. It is nlmost the same with methods of commu nication. In thirty centuries we Rained only the printing press, but this one cen tury gives us the telegraph, the postal service, the telephone, the phonograph and tho mn.reonlgraph. If we turn now to charity we find that from tho earliest days until almost the present time charity had but two forms, largess and custody. These were Illumi nated by the devoted personal service of good men ond women, but this personal Bervico, liko the forces of steam nnd elec tricity, though not new In the world, did not find effective expression until our own day. largess slowly grew more Intel ligent and custody grew more humane, and even curative; but these still remained the type. The new charity In Its reaction almost goes so far as to discountenance both. The re-actlon against alms was for a time excessive. Charity organisation so cieties are beginning to realize this, and are now placing more emphasis upon the Value of relief, and less upon Its dangers. For the last two decades the protest against mere alms, unaccompanied by per sonal work, has been Incessant, but the protest against institutions Is more recent. Not only Is the cottage system now pre ferred to the congregate, but there Is a disposition to have as little custody as possible; to place children In foster homes Instead of in orphan asylums; to lessen (Copyright, 1903, by K. B. Warner.) raTKAVKLEt was cutting his way through the jungle which clothes - - the peak of Mount Diablo, in the West Indian Island of Jamaica. MP WVJ Suddenly he halted, with uplifted machete "Fee-fee, so tender. Fee-fee, so-o-o-o tender." It was the call of the ground dove, nnd seemed to come from a low bush a few yards to his left. Away in the distance he heard tho answering call of the ground dove's mate. Peering through the bushes the traveler saw not a bird, but a man. He was lying on tho grass In a small clearing, warbling the ground dove's call ns jwrfectly as If he were a ground dove himself. The an swering call grew nearer and nearer, and presently the female ground dove flew into the clearing, perched unhesitatingly on the mnr3 hand and talked to him as if he were her mate. This man whom the birds of wood and forest treat as one of themselves Is nn American named Charles Penlson Kellogg. He was born in California, the son of a "forty-niner," who used to be known at the "Grand Old Man of the Mines." From infancy he was a dreamy, impractical child, with a great love and tenderness for nil living things. In boyhood he used to lie down in the woods and listen to the birds Instead of going to school or playing with other lads. All his life he has studied the languago and habits of the dwellers In the woods in preferer ce to those of his fellow men. He could tuke rank as the greatest living authority on birdlife if he chose to write about birds instead of living among them and learning more about them. "Imagine," said a friend of his, "a hu man being calling birds to him and under Standing nil the little worries and troubles In their seemingly careless lives. Could anything be more wonderful? He can tell you all aliout their woolngs and their love songs, all about the long-drawn, happy notes of the mother bird, who has Just hatched her young. His face in those moments tells the Interesting story of his lonely, yet happy life with his feathered friends in the forests of the far west and the jungles of the tropics. There is not a bird note which Mr. Kel lorrg cannot Imitate pel fectly. He does not whistln or sing the notes, as an ordinary nana would do; he warbles them exactly like the bhds. "It is not Imitation." he tells his friends. "To put it briefly and badly, nature has given rro a bird-throat. I cannot explain It no laxly can. Many scientists have ev amir.ed my throat and listened to my notes anil trills. They ull confess themselves puzzled. They say there is something pe culiar in the formation of my throat which enables me to sing like birds without merely imitating them. I have never met another man who possesses this curious gift " Mr. Kellogg spends the greater part of th ar camplm; out la the wo la n'oi. or wi'h his wife another enthu'i is'li- ! ii-d-lovcr and lerhars a sympathetic iii.-rrl liW Mr Jinn Hurrr .n?hs. lie has Ir'v.i-d all over Ncl'h America, from Aliski to Mexico, making friends with all sorts v l conditions of birds, and he has also pilciu-d Dependents the term of confinement In prison by trying probation before imprisonment, Jid parole ufter it; and even with tho insane and other classes of defectives to try board In decent homes instead of the more or less unnatural institution life. Kit her unwise relief or unwl.'c custody will do more harm than good, but the latter is on the whole less open to abuso than the former, and the doctrine of the present day Is that city governments should support Institutions for "indojr relief" of the poor, or for the sick, but should Rive no relief outside of institutions. No outside relief Is now given by New York, Brooklyn, Philadelphia, St. Inuls, li.iltlmore, Washington, San Francisco, New Orleans, Kouisvtlle or Kansas City, and In our other large cities the amount of public outside relief Is steadily decreas ing. In New York, Brooklyn, Philadelphia and Washington city outdoor relief was abandoned after it had been given for years. It is now generally agreed that this form of relief Is better left to the more flexible and personal methods of pri vate charity. In private charity wo are not so apt to have the bare gift without the giver, but the giver follows his giving with continuous care; and, moreover, in private charity, love. Ingenuity and patience will often lind substitutes for lclief which help more safely. These substitutes for relief are the glory of modern charity. In both public and private charity it is being realized that cure is better than care, but that preven tion is better than cure. Vaster sunn are Icing given In charity than ever before, but they are going largely to libraries, to Industrial schools and to reforma tores. The good Samaritan is no longer the very highest type of charity. Beautiful and rare as such personal charity is, it has Wonderful Man Who Talks with Birds his tent In Jamaica and other West Indian islands In search of birds which have been exterminated in the United States, such as the blue heron. Ho Is not fond of taking people with him into the woodland; he will take no on? unless he knows that person is a lover of birds. He Jrei'ts the birds as a gentleman treats his friends, introducing only desir able acquaintances to them. Men who havo accompanied him into the woods spe.ik with imazement of his Intimacy with every thing that flies. "The moment wo entered the shady pre cincts of the woodland," said Stephen Chalmers, a plantation overseer, who ac companied him on one of his expeditions In Jamaica, 'Kellogg's manner chang?d. He had been talking to mo about his ad ventures in various parts of America, but Instan.ly he forgot my very existence and bexin calling to his beloved birds. What puzzled me was that the birds seemed to know him. "Somewhere among the trees a wood pecker called. The call was answered, seemingly by another bird where Kellogg was standing. Again the woodpecker called, and again It was replied to. " 'Did you do that?' I asked in amaze ment. "Kellogg did not reply. He was staring at the trees. In a little while a tiny wood pecker lluttered on to a tree near to us, and then on to Kellogg's outstretched hand. It looked up into his face, opened its little beak and talked volubly to him, while hi talked back. They kept up a friendly con versation for several minutes and then the woodpecker flew away. I don't know what he said to It, but it seemed to me that hi was asking about the health and prosperity of its brothers of the woodland. "Presently we saw a black-and-golden banana bird fluttering around a plantain blossom. It suddenly stopped and uttered Us sweet call, 'Tom Paine! Tom Paine!" Kellogg Instantly responded, and the bird looked at him and flew rearer. Then, for quite five minutes, they kept up an ani mated, melodious conversation. At last tho gaudy-colored bird Hew away, and at the same moment the naturalist wheeled around and replied to the 'Coo-coo-coo-coo of a dove In a cottonwool tree." When he is asked to explain the reason of this instinctive friendship between him self end the birds Kellogg replies: "It is love. Anybody who goes Into the woods with the spirit of love In his heart, and without the faintest deslie for destruc tion or for possession, can make frtendi with the birds, if he is moderately tactful and patient. Birds can read the heart bet ter than men can. They know their friends and are ready to love them. "In all my travels I have never carried a gun and have never found It necessary to harm bird, beast or mnn. The man who carries a gun in wild parts Is likely to make trouM- for himself; the man without firearms is practically certain to find peace and a warm welcome wherever he goes." Mr. Kellogg owns a big Newfoundland dug, which usually accompanies him on his expeditions Into the woods. Hi hits taught It from T':r pvhood to love all living things ns he himself loves them. Wild birds will pen h i 'i this dog's head as they do on the be d of its mafter. Once the Newfoundland found a sparrow By Frederick Almy, National Conference been cleverly said that it would have been UU Utter charity to keep tho road to Jericho free from thieves. This would have been not merely wiser, but also kinder for the man who was set upon and robbed. Cities now know that a good pcllce de partment and good scnool ana iieaiin depart ments will lessen poverty. The police and health departments decrease crime nnd disease and the school department Increase's education. In Huso ways they lessen puuperism Instead of relieving it. Munic ipal libraries, playgrounds, baths, kinder gartens and manual schools and municipal lodging houses all help to reduce vice and pauperism. Municipal summer concerts compete with the more dangerous attrac tions of the salotn. Municipal tenement bouse ordinances, and In Greater New York the pdmirable Tenement House Commis sion, are routing poverty In Its chief strong hold. Where municipal ordinances will not sufnee the state often steps In, with com' pulsory education laws, and laws regulat ing the employment of women and children In factories and stores and on the streets. Hereafter, for instance, In New York and Buffalo, boys under 14 cannot p,e' papers late at night, and boys under If. cannot sell nt all. In city after city juvenile courts are being established, so that delinquent children will be saved from all contact with adult vice. Through probation they are given a chance to reform, while a personal Influence is brought to bear to which Uie children respond wonderfully. Most cr all of the measures Just men tioned were first tested by private philan thropy, and even where the action has been othclal it has often been on the motion of a society or individual. The charity organization societies and settlements alone are responsible for much good social work with a broken wing fluttering on the ground and pounced upon it. "Ah!" thought Mr. Kellogg, "tho desire for prey has broken out again, and the teaching of years Is undone." But It was not so. The dog lifted the sparrow gently In its mouth and bore It unharmed to Its master, evidently desiring him to mend tho broken wing. The bird was In hospital for some time, and every day the dog visited it to inquire sympa thetically how the wing was getting on. When at last the bird flew away its canine friend barked joyously and rolled on the ground with delight. More marvelous still, the sparrow returned several times to pay a friendly call on the dog. Now and then Mr. Kellogg emerges from the woods to visit his friends and give a few lectures on blrdcraft. Ho is an un practical man, quite out of tune with the age in which he lives. Ho cares nothing for money. He would Just as soon lecture for nothing as for pay. His only purpose in lecturing Is to teach people to under stand and love birds as he does, and in this he Is successful. Sportsmen go away from his lectures vowing they will not slaughter another bird, and women make up their minds never to wear another feather In their hats. A fashionable woman, wearing a bird In her bonnet, sat in tho front row of the audience, at one of Mr. Kellogg's lectures. As he talked aliout the romance and tragedy of bird life, making the loves and sorrows of his feathered friends seem as real to lils hearers ns their own, people looked at the offensive bonnet with re proachful eyes. The poor woman blushed vividly and tried to remove the bird fur tively. At last the lights were turned down to enable lantern slides to be shown, and when they were turned up again the bird had disappeared from the bonnet. "I never felt so bad In my life," said the woman afterward. "The people looked at me as if they would have liked to treat me as the bird had been treated. But that was not the worst of it. I felt such a monster. I'll not wear another bird or another feather as long as I live." Animals as well ns birds love Mr. Kellogg on sight. He visited a house where a fierce dnschshund was kept. The dog al ways flew at strangers and had bitten sev eral. 'Take care," cried the host, as Kellogg walked Into the garden. "The dog's loose." The dog, hearing a strange footstep, rushed out intent on slaughter. But when It saw the Callfornlan sdvnnclng with out stretched hand, It stopped with a puzzled look and wagged Its tall doubtfully. Kel logg tapped lis head lightly with the tips of his fingers ami looked steadily Into its eyes. Immediately It rolled on the ground with delight, li'ked Ms boots, nnd could hardly te Ind'ieed to leave his side. "Don't pat a dog or stroke its head," said Kellogg, turning to his host. "Tap Its head lightly wich your fingertips and It will love you forever." There M only one animal whl'-h does not endorse the naturalist, nnd that is the harmless, necessary c it. He doesn't like cuts, bccins? they prey upon his beloved blrils. When n cat Is around he delights In plviii"? the fluttering cry of a bird with a broken wing. Pussy, scenting an "easy Chairman of Committee of Charities, 1904 in our cities, which will bear rleh fruits. Nothing In this modern work is more vlta.1 than its personality. The early conception of a charity organization society In the popular mind 'iis a sort of detective bureau to sift out fraud. Such societies now nialio their trained workers a nucleus for a great amount of intelligent volunteer serv ice which enters the homes of the poor with patient, continuing friendship, trying to niter herd conditions and with the aid of church and school to lift and build character. Such work Is winning the battle against pauperism. In one of our larger cities, where there has been a charity organiz ation society for twenty-ilvo years, it has been shown that there ure not as many dependent families today as there were twenty-five years ago when the city was only one-third us large. The society Is much more closely In touch with all tho poverty of tho city now than then and Is working with many families which would not have been on Its books nt all formerly because they do not need material relief, but nevertheless tho total number of dependent families has grown smaller while the city has grown larger. Pauperism Is being re duced nnd not merely relieved; and with the better work now done, and the better outside Influences, still better results enn be expected In the near future. Nearly all voluntary poverty rests on some fault of character on sloth or appetite or weak will and It Is here that the churches help. Even with the aid of all the new social forces It Is slow work, but it Is succeeding. To the end of the world, as long as human nature and human Institutions are Imper fect, there will be richer and poorer, but the squalid, bestial poverty of tho past It certainly passing. Buffalo, N. Y. mark," rushes vainly about the room until she is nearly frantic, but, of course, she cannot find tho bird. Mr. Kellogg was ono of the first of tha new school of sportsmen who hunt with the camera Instead of the gun. He has found photography of great assistance in probing the mysteries of bird life. Soma of his snapshots are wonderful. They show the mother bird feeding her young, or quarreling with the intrusive cuckoo. One series of photographs Illustrates the love, courtship, marriago nnd family life of a pair of wrens. Great pntlence and care were needed to secure theso views. The photographer had to conceal bis cam era In a mantle of foliage, with only the lens visible, nnd wait for days to get a satisfactory snapshot. At Salem, In New Jerrey, there Is nn 1m menso rookery, whither crows flock nt certain seasons of the year from hundreds of miles around. This was the siene of one of Mr. Kellogg's grentest exploits. For many years It had been the nrdent desire of many ornithologists to obtain a photograph of this rookery when tho vnst flocks of birds were assembled. No one had ever succeeded In achieving this dif ficult fent until Mr. Kellogg did It. This was how he managed it: He reconnoltered the ground, and de eldad that the only way to succeed was to ambush during the day, and trust to a flashlight camera to take the photograph at night. In stalking strange birds, with which he Is unacquainted, he uses artificial hayricks and bushes, tinder cover of which he moves slowly towards them. One winter's night, when the crows ar rived nt their usual meeting place, they observed nothing unusual in an ordinary looking hayrh-k which had found Its way to the spot. Inside that hayrick was Mr. Kellogg with his powerful flashlight cam era. There ho lay nil night in the snow, with tho temperature several degrees be low zero, taking photographs, while the deafening cawing of 100,000 crows mado the night hideous. Mr. Kellogg was the first man to tackle the celebrated "Bird Rock," In the Gulf of St. Kawrenee, tnd take photographs of the, millions of gannets that nest there. He was lowered down the face of a pre cipitous cliff In a rope chair, with his camera slung around his neck. Swinging dizzily on the rope; with hundreds of gan nets shrieking around him ond beating him with their wings, ho took several pictures, which have proved to be of great value to naturalists. And Yet He Meant Well He was extremely bashful nnd very much In love, and the combination made his life miserable. One evening he cnlled and found the whole family, with the great exception of Herself, assembled In the library. He discussed politics with Her father and the servant question with Her mother, when suddenly his tongue faltered, for She uppeared In the doorway. lUsing hastily, ho exclaimed, more cor dially than gracefully, "Ah, nt hist, here, comes the missing link." Llpplncott'a Magazine.